Previously I wrote down my recipe for a Pancake Parlour-style Pancake Tabriz, and I must say I was very happy with it. But this update is even better!
But after extensive searching I felt that I needed to revisit this recipe and analyse it just a little more. So instead of a traditional recipe this is going to be a bit more of a “Talk Through” of the changes and reasons for the changes.
First off, that elusive, Tabriz Sauce. Its been the cause of much frustration for myself and for others for some time. At one end is that Sauce, in this case stew-like sauces in arabic are called Khoresh whereas Sauce in the genreal sense is refered to as Salsa. Add into this the way words are combined and you get search terms such as khoresht-e Tabrizi and Tabrizi khoresht and other odd things i don’t really understand that google translate doesn’t explain. 
It turns out that a lot of these khoresht sauces use a base spice mix which is then enhanced or “seasoned” to taste. This base spice mix is called, Advieh Koresht. That’s cool, I’ve got most of these spices in my pantry anyway, so then what changes to the sauce might make it a Tabriz? Well, most references seem to refer back to variations on one recipe, Koofteh Tabrizi whereas wikipedia has doesn’t have it listed as Iranian food famous to Tabriz.
Disecting this recipe we find that the broth in which the meat balls are cooked consists of: water, some onion, some savoury, tarragon, leek chives, mint, tumeric, advieh khoresht and tomato paste. As for the meatballs, they consist of: split yellow peas, ground beef, salt, ground chili peppers, onions, and the previously mentioned herbs; everything else in the recipe are fillings for the meatball centers.
Of course all of this adds to the overall flavour and texture of the dish. But that’s not our meat sauce, really, is it. Even turning it into a stewed meatsauce isn’t on the money, there’s no wine, bacon or mushrooms in it for starters. Thus we confront the question, How true to regional flavour is Pancake Parlour’s Tabriz Sauce? Another question is, is this Tabriz Sauce an Aussie-fied recipe or something that’s had a hint of the exotic added to it and then named accordingly to make it seem even more exotic?
I suspect the last part, a nice bit of marketing – and look how successful it’s been, people are chomping at the bit trying to find this recipe, which effectively doesn’t exist except as a standard resipe for use in Pancake Parlour.
So, going back to my old recipe, what have we got?
Pancakes Tabriz
With part by part analysis
Ingredients
- 100g Whole bacon or bacon rashers
- 1/4 cup Diced Mushroom
- 1/2 cup Diced, seeded, skinned tomatoes (optional) or
- 1 tbsn Fine diced carrots (optional)
One thing that can westernise, Aussiefy any recipe is to toss bacon into it. Because, everything is better with bacon, right? Another is to add carrots. Mushrooms are used in another Khoresht recipe and diced tomatoes are also not out of place but in pieces small enough but just large enough the add comfortable recognisable flavours that we know. As such these items are really not optional… well maybe the carrots.
- 2 tspn Tarragon
- 2 tspn Parsley
- 1/2 Leek
These are the herbs I guessed at, and looking at the Koofteh Tabrizi recipe are certainly not far off from being right, but I’d recoment changing them out and using the other herbs: Savoury : Tarragon : Leek Chives : Mint in a ratio of 4 : 4: 4: 1 – this ratio is important other the mint will overpower every thing.
- 1/4 tspn Tumeric (optional)
- 1 tspn Coarse ground back pepper
- 1 tspn Rough crushed sea salt
Here we can certainly spice things up a bit more to bring it a little closer to traditional Irranian Sauce spices. For authenticity I’d suggest making the Advieh Khoresht mix listed above. However the key ingredients seem to be Cardamon : Tumeric : Nutmeg, in a ratio of 4 : 2 : 1 with tumeric adjusted dishside for colour and flavour.
- 250g Ground beef
- 1/4 cup Diced Onion
- 400ml Beef/Chicken Stock
- 1/4 cup Red wine
- 1-2 tbsn Olive oil &/or butter
This last bit is classic French cookery and a mainstay typical Aussie meat sauces. The fancy bit being the plonk! (red wine) 😜
So, where does that bring us to now? Tabriz Sauce as I remember it from the Pancake Parlour in Melbourne, Australia always seemd like a Burgundy sauce with aliitle bit of something else, It was salty, oh boy definietly salty I would have never called it sweet, certainly winey and a touch peppery, but no noticeable heat.
Let’s take our experiences and thoughts on this and bring together a new recipe One that is true to my memories and one that would do well to tantalise with Hints of the exotic, subtle, understated, and not in your face, Here I am, taste me!”
Tabriz Sauce
ala Pancake Parlour, Melb. Aust.
Ingredients for Advieh Khoresht Mix
- 1 tsp of each of the following: star anise, black cardamom, green cardamom, tumeric, corriander seeds, ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of the following: groung black pepper, ground nutmeg
Ingredients for Tabriz Herb Mix
- 1 tsp mint
- 4 tsp of the following: Savory, Tarragon, Leeks/Chives
Methods
- Remove the skin(cases) from the cardamom pods and discard, keep the seeds; combine all spice ingredients in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and reduce to a fine powder. Bottle and store in a cool dark place, ready for later use.
- If using fresh herbs, wash and shake off excess water, place in a blender and add a scant amount of olive oil and process into a pesto-like paste. bottle and store in the fridge ready for use.
Ingredients for Tabirz Sauce
- 250g ground beef
- 100g finely diced bacon
- 1/2 cup diced, seeded skinned tomatoes
- 1/4 cup finely dices white onion
- 1/4 cup finely diced field mushrooms
- 400ml Beef stock
- 1/4 cup dry Red wine
- 1 Tbsn Tomato paste
- 1-2 tbsn Olive Oil
- 1-2 tsp Advieh Khoresht spice mix
- 4-6 tsp Tabriz Herb Mix
- ground salt and black pepper to taste
Method
- Heat olive oil on a medium heat and warm the spices on the dry pan.
- When fragrant and aromatic, spread half the mix on a cold plate and place into the fridge
- add oil to the other half in the pan increase the heat
- add dice onions and sautee over medium-high heat until soft and translucent
- add the bacon and cook out a little
- add the mushrooms and the carrots
- drain and keep the fat and set the cooked ingredients aside
- add the fat back to the pan and start to brown the mince
- add the tomato paste to the browned beef, mix together well and caramelise for 2-3 min
- deglase pan with red wine and reduce to 1/3 the volume
- add the previously cooked ingredients and mix well
- add beef stock and check the flavours and seasoning, adjust to taste
- bring the stew to a boil and then simmer uncovered for 20 min or until the liquid has a sauce starts to thicken
- Check the seasoning anf lavour once more and adjust accordingly and slightly thicken with a tsp of arrowroot/tapioca starch mixed with a little water.
And there you have my new and improved take on Pancake Parlour‘s Tabriz Sauce. That’s all from the Bait Layer today,Get that int’ ya!