Gored gored

Ingredients

Beef

• 500 gvery fresh lean beef fillet or top round
• salt

Dressing

• 60 gniter kibbeh, melted
• 2 tbspmitmita

To serve

• injera
• awaze paste
• ayib

Directions

1. Sourcing matters more than technique here. This is raw beef, so it wants meat butchered the same day from a supplier you trust and kept cold throughout, and it is not a dish to improvise with supermarket steak of unknown age.
2. In Ethiopia it is eaten at butchery restaurants where the animal is slaughtered on the premises and the meat never sees a fridge.
3. Trim away every scrap of sinew, silverskin and fat.
4. Trim it thoroughly. Raw, any connective tissue is simply unchewable, and there is no cooking here to soften it.
5. Cut the meat into cubes of about 2 cm with a very sharp knife on a clean, cold board.
6. Cube it rather than mince it. That is the whole difference between gored gored and kitfo, which is finely chopped.
7. Melt the niter kibbeh gently until it is just liquid but not hot.
8. Toss the cubes with the warm niter kibbeh, the mitmita and salt, using your hands so that every face is coated.
9. Warm butter, never hot. Hot butter starts to cook the outside of the cubes and greys them, when the point is that they stay glossy and red.
10. Serve it immediately on injera, with awaze paste alongside for dipping and ayib to cool the heat.
11. Some cooks turn the cubes in a hot pan for barely a minute, which gives the version called leb leb, and it is served in the same restaurants without anyone thinking less of it.
12. Eat it the moment it is dressed, with the fingers, straight from the platter.

Technique

• Mitmita is the fierce blend of bird’s eye chilli, cardamom and clove; awaze is the thicker paste of berbere loosened with wine or water.
• Kitfo is minced and gored gored is cubed, and Ethiopians do not confuse the two.
• Raw meat carries real risk, and cooking it briefly or right through is a normal choice rather than a compromise.

Substitutions

• Cooked right through, which makes it a form of tibs using the same seasoning.
• Clarified butter infused with ginger, garlic, cardamom and fenugreek, in place of shop-bought niter kibbeh.

Variations

• Leb leb, warmed for a minute in the pan.
• Kitfo, the minced version, served warm or raw.
• Tere siga, plain raw beef cut from the joint at the table.

History

Raw or lightly cooked cubed beef, seasoned with berbere spice blend and clarified, spiced butter, documented across Ethiopia as a dish closely related to kitfo, the country’s more internationally known raw minced beef dish, though gored gored is cut into larger cubes rather than being finely minced. Its use of high-quality, very fresh beef, required given the dish’s raw or barely cooked preparation, reflects a significant degree of trust in the meat’s freshness and quality, making gored gored a dish traditionally associated with celebration and hospitality within Ethiopian culture. Gored gored remains a prized traditional dish across Ethiopia, closely tied to the country’s broader tradition of raw and lightly seasoned beef preparations.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gored gored?

Gored gored is a main from Ethiopia: raw beef cubes tossed with awaze chili and spiced butter. Raw or lightly cooked cubed beef, seasoned with berbere spice blend and clarified, spiced butter, documented across Ethiopia as a dish closely related to kitfo, the country’s more internationally known raw minced beef dish, though gored gored is cut into larger cubes rather than being finely minced. Its use of high-quality, very fresh beef, required given the dish’s raw or barely cooked preparation, reflects a significant degree of trust in the meat’s freshness and quality, making gored gored a dish traditionally associated with celebration and hospitality within Ethiopian culture. Gored gored remains a prized traditional dish across Ethiopia, closely tied to the country’s broader tradition of raw and lightly seasoned beef preparations.

How long does Gored gored take to make?

Gored gored takes 20 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Gored gored?

Yes, within limits. Cooked right through, which makes it a form of tibs using the same seasoning. Clarified butter infused with ginger, garlic, cardamom and fenugreek, in place of shop-bought niter kibbeh.

What is the most important thing to get right in Gored gored?

In Ethiopia it is eaten at butchery restaurants where the animal is slaughtered on the premises and the meat never sees a fridge.