Steak Tartare

Raw beef chopped by hand at the last minute, where everything depends on the meat and on how recently it was cut.

Beef, Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef, fish.

Ingredients

• 400 g beef fillet or rump, trimmed of all fat and sinew
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 shallots, very finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers, chopped
• 4 cornichons, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• a few drops Tabasco
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• salt and coarse black pepper
• toast, to serve

Method

1. THE BEEF IS RAW, SO THE MEAT AND ITS HANDLING ARE THE WHOLE RECIPE. Buy a whole piece from a butcher the same day, tell them it is for tartare, keep it cold, and cut it within the hour of eating. Never mince that has been through a machine and never anything bought pre-cut: both have far more surface area and have been warm. This is the one dish on this site where the shopping matters more than the method.
2. CHOPPED BY HAND, NEVER MINCED. A knife cuts clean faces and the texture stays meaty and distinct; a mincer crushes and smears and gives a paste that reads as wet. Half-freezing the beef for twenty minutes makes it far easier to cut small.
3. AND IT IS MIXED AT THE LAST MINUTE. Salt and acid begin curing the surface within minutes -- the colour goes from red to brownish and the texture firms. Everything is prepared, and the meat is folded through just before it goes to the table.
4. Beef trimmed of every scrap of fat, silverskin and sinew. Half-frozen 20 minutes.
5. Sliced thin, the slices cut into strips, the strips cut across into a fine dice. Keep the knife sharp and work quickly; the meat should stay cold throughout.
6. Returned to the fridge while everything else is prepared.
7. Shallots, capers, cornichons and parsley chopped fine and combined in a bowl with the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.
8. TASTED NOW, on its own. It should be sharper and saltier than seems sensible, because 400 g of unseasoned meat is about to go into it.
9. The beef folded through with a fork, lightly, until just combined. Salt and plenty of coarse pepper.
10. Shaped into two rounds on cold plates with a ring or two spoons, and a hollow pressed into the top of each.
11. A yolk slipped into each hollow, in its half-shell or directly.
12. Served immediately with hot toast, and stirred together by whoever is eating it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes