Luxembourg Sandwiches

These little Luxembourg-shaped sandwiches are filled with a typical Luxembourg salad: Feierstengszalot. It literally translates as ‘Flintstone salad’, probably because there are not many vegetables involved in this meat salad.

I’ve put all the ingredients for the Feierstengszalot in a blender, and transformed the salad into a spreadable paste. Perfect as a filling for my patriotic sandwiches. Maybe an inspiration for national day this year?

If you’re looking to get a Luxembourg-shaped cookie cutter, you can find them here

Ingredients

For the meat:
500g paleron
1 carrot
½ leek
1 bay leaf
3 peppercorns
1 tbsp coarse salt

For the filling:
2 tbsp Luxembourgish mustard (40g)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
30g pickled gherkins (3)
4 tbsp pickled gherkin water
4 tbsp mayonnaise (100g)
chopped parsley
salt
pepper

20 sandwich bread slices, crustless

Method

Makes 40 sandwiches

The day before: Put the paleron, carrot, leek, bayleaf, peppercorns and salt into a large saucepan with 1.5l water. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 ½ – 3 hours, until the brisket is tender.

Take off the heat and leave the brisket to cool down overnight in the cooking liquid.

The next day, take the brisket out of the cooking liquid and cut into big chunks. Cut the gherkins into slices. Put the meat and gherkins into a food processor with all the filling ingredients and blend into a paste. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Flatten a sandwich bread slice with a rolling pin. Spread the filling on the flattened bread slice. Flatten a second bread slice and lay on the filling. Cut out 4 little sandwich with a Luxembourg-shaped cookie cutter.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

** In Luxembourg we use “paleron de boeuf”, which is a cut from the shoulder of the beef, with a large line of fat cutting across the middle of it. It comes close to the US cut of beef chuck or stewing steak in the UK.
**best use German gherkins, as they’re sweeter