The Belgian Martino

The Martino is a Belgian sandwich consisting of filet Americaine–that is, raw minced beef mixed with seasonings, mayonnaise, and egg yolk then blended to a pink paste–spread on a split baguette and served with pickles, onions, boiled eggs, etc. Normally these sandwiches are served at snacks, which are casual food stands in Belgium serving frites, paninis, mitraillettes (which we’ll be covering here at the Tribunal soon), and other Belgian street foods. Apparently Belgians eat this raw beef concoction all the time. Belgians also drink all the time. As far as I know, there is no demonstrated correlation between these two facts.

Making filet Americain starts with a piece of nice beef. I used a sirloin steak.

You deserved better, little buddy

I coated this steak with several tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, working them into the meat with my fingers, then chilled it for several minutes before cutting away the fat and sinew, dicing the steak, putting it in a food processor along with chopped gherkins, red onions, capers, mayonnaise, egg yolk, dijon mustard, hot sauce, salt and pepper and pulverizing it into an unrecognizable gelatinous mass.

Filet Americaine

There’s pickle and onion in the filet Americaine, sure, but there’s going to be more in the sandwich as well, so good thing I hadn’t used it all up at this point.

For the bread, I’d bought a baguette at a local bakery–not the best baguette in the world, not the worst, but adequate for the purpose of smearing raw beef and egg paste on and hoping I don’t get sick.

split baguette

My mise en place for this sandwich consisted of the baguette, the meat paste, pickles, onions, tomatoes, boiled eggs, and a version of “Martino sauce” that was basically a mixture of ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, and hot sauce.

Martino fixings

You may have noticed that I am preparing this sandwich outside on the patio. There are a number of good reasons for this, not least of which is ease of cleanup in case of projectile vomiting.

Diving right in, I start with the filet Americaine and the Martino sauce. The filet spreads easily, in texture and color very much like one of those awful “potted meat food products.”

Filet Americaine and Martino sauce

Next I’ll add the onions and eggs

eggs and onions

And then the pickles and tomatoes

Martino with egg, tomato, onion, pickle, and Martino sauce

Not all of these ingredients are strictly necessary, nor am I using all the possible ingredients. Some will use a leaf of lettuce, or a handful of arugula. Certain types of Martinos are made with anchovies. I’m going with a fairly basic set of common accoutrements.

And now the moment of truth

Martino with egg, tomato, onion, pickle, and Martino sauce

It’s… not terrible. The filet Americaine is much like a pate, but without the livery richness. Texturally, if I’m eating raw meat I think I’d rather have it in more discrete chunks, like the raw beef laab we had in Minneapolis/St. Paul back in February, but this is palatable. I’d also like some more acidity, which I could have adjusted my recipe for, but overall this is better than I’d anticipated, on a moderate July day, sitting on the patio with a beer on a Sunday afternoon.

Martino with egg, tomato, onion, pickle, and Martino sauce

Not so great that I used up all that raw beef paste though. It doesn’t keep well, and that one steak made far more than I was going to eat in a 24 hour period. Sadly, much of it was wasted.

I didn’t think much of this sandwich, but I also know that I didn’t give it the thorough investigation that I have done for many other of the sandwiches we’ve explored. Perhaps one day I’ll have the opportunity (the budget, the free time, etc) to go to Belgium and try a few in the wild. Who knows? With a bellyful of that good Belgian ale, a Martino might be just the thing.

Jim Behymer

I like sandwiches.

I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great