Carpaccio is the most popular dish served at Harry's Bar. It is named for Vittore Carpaccio, the Venetian Renaissance painter known for his use of brilliant reds and whites.
My father invented this dish in 1950, the year of the great Carpaccio exhibition in Venice.
The dish was inspired by the Contessa Amalia Nani Mocenigo, a frequent customer at Harry's Bar whose doctor had placed her on a diet forbidding cooked meat.
Carpaccio, which has becn copied by any number of good restaurants all over the world, is made by covering a plate with the thinnest possible slices of raw beef and garnishing it with shaved cheese or an olive oil dressing.
The genius of my Father's invention is his light, cream-colored sauce that is drizzled over the meat in a crosshatch pattern. We make Carpaccio with shell of beef, a tender and flavorful cut, and we never freeze it before slicing.
Carpaccio can also be made with beef fillet, which has less flavor than shell but is much easier to handle.
Ask the butcher to trim the meat for you. You may even be able to convince him to slice it but do so only if you plan to serve it an hour or 2 later.
If you slice thE meat yourself, use a razor-sharp knife with a long blade.

Ingredients:

(serves 6 as a first course)