Steak tartar – forbidden food
While we were in Paris we dined on steak tartar and we loved it. It’s a shame that one can’t order this simple pleasure in a restaurant here in the states; but alas our government feels compelled to protect us from food…cigarettes and other carcinogens, not so much… food, but of course! I’ll leave it at that because if I contemplate it any further and attempt to write another word about it I’ll end up on a ranting screed. I’m sure you can guess how I feel about this issue.
Since we cannot enjoy this elsewhere I made it for dinner the other night. The thing about steak tartar is that there are so many recipes and I guess you just have to pick one and go with it. Some listed ketchup or mayonnaise as an ingredient and others listed anchovies. This is the recipe I used and I wasn’t crazy about it. Next time I will do it as per the instructions of Richard Olney in his book The French Menu Cookbook :
-
8 oz beef, sirloin or filet
Salt and pepper
Dash of worcestershire sauce
Remove fat, tendon, and sinew from the meat. Chop the meat finely with a sharp knife. I used my cuisinart and it chopped it too fine…it was mushy. Toss all this together in a large bowl. Divide it into 2 servings and mound it on each plate. Put an egg yolk in a well atop each mound. Around the edge of the plate arrange:
-
Red onions, diced fine
Cornichons, diced fine
Capers, chopped fine
Parsley, chopped fine
About 1 tablespoon of each should be sufficient. Also make available oil and vinegar, hot sauce, catsup, and dijon mustard. So each plate can be adjusted to the diner’s preferences.
comments
30 Responses to “Steak tartar – forbidden food”
Leave a Reply
-
Recent comments...
- KK on Snicker your doodle a muffin: I'll admit, I had my doubts when spooning these in ...
- ............................................................
- Judi on Brioche Cinnamon Rolls: I thought the cinnamon rolls looked great! I have ...
- ............................................................
- Sara on Steak tartar – forbidden food: There is indeed an "e" on the end. http://www.merr ...
- ............................................................
- rachel on Fried Chicken Sandwich and Poppyseed Coleslaw: I made the slaw last night as a side for BBQ beef ...
- ............................................................
- evain on Equal Pay For Equal Work Chocolate Crinkle Cookies: I made these for a cookie exchange this week and t ...
-
Vanessa, you rock! You’ve got guts and the kitchen chops…I’d devour this quicker than Hannibal Lecter in presence of flesh!
We love this!
It used to be standard bar fare back in the ‘beer bar’ days in the Wisconsin of my youth…. There would be big platters of it sitting out on the bar for games, B-day parties….
And we lived to tell the tale!
We can still get it out here, but it’s no longer very common!
Hm. Raw steak, and raw egg.
You’re trying to kill yourself, aren’t ya?
Steak tartare has really gone off the menu lately, despite being quite delicious. A bit of raw meat never hurt anyone (actually, maybe it did)!
Peter, thanks…you made my day!
katie, oh, those good old days.
Eric, Nope, I know where my meat was raised, I see the farmer every week. I know where and how it was processed…same for the eggs. Not to worry…I’m alive and kicking. But thanks for your concern.
luckily i can still get beef tartare at japanese places around here, but i might be tempted to try out this recipe anyway.
You know, while I really do love raw fish, I just can’t do raw beef.
I can’t believe you topped it off with a raw egg. Really, the food police will be knocking on your door if you aren’t careful.
Scott, surely a burger at McDonalds is more dangerous?
prayer, give it a try, you’ll love it. Just make sure you use high quality beef, preferably from someone you know…same with the eggs.
jef, what can I say…I’m a scandalous wench and they’ll never catch me…never!!!
Great picture! Are you not allowed to serve steak tartare in the States?
I had my first steak tartare in Hong Kong (Landau’s Restaurant) when I was about 10 or 11. I was really miffed that I had to share it with my sister as my mum wouldn’t let me eat a whole one. I’m still alive!
My Beloved adores this, too – he calls it a “cannibal sandwich.” We can get it at restaurants here in the Bay area and I sneak him a little fresh ground beef whenever we make hamburgers at home. His daughters shudder but he smacks his lips!
I liked this as a kid, but not quite so much these days. My attraction to beef is waning the older I get (pork on the other hand..) My grandfather in Rome LOVED this dish, he made it somewhat regularly (as a young man he also drank plenty of raw eggs, smoked 2 packs a day and lived to 91, so there you go…). I don’t know if restaurants in Italy are serving it anymore. I agree–best to make your own!
Hi Vanessa,
Love your blog and this salad especially. I’d like our sites to link up, perhaps you would get in touch. BTW my site is http://www.foodari.com
Thanks,
Jonathan
PS Just realised I’ve left my comment on the worng recipe!
Here in the Tampa area we can still get it. First time eating it was in Vermont…loved it and still do. You would never know you are eating raw steak. Served with onions,capers and toasted french bread slices…Deelisious
Does anyone know about marinating meat at room temperature? A friend from Puerto Rico told me about placing any cut of meat in a bowl and adding vinegar and herbs and spices to taste. Your turn the meat when you think of it and each day you add more vinegar and spices. She said it made the most flavorful and tender meat ever. She said her grandmother did meat this way all of her life and to her knowledge no one was ever sick. She thinks that the acid in the vinegar is what kept the meat safe.
Hey I was so glad to see you picture of tartare steak on this site. I had never even heard of it, but two weeks ago I was in Oslo, Norway and wanted to try some local food in a little cafe. Tartare was on the menu and so I ordered it. Was I surprised when I was surved a raw ground meat burger, capers, red onions and a raw egg. I really did try to eat it but just couldn’t. Oh, well I was glad to get acquainted with the dish and may give it a try again some time. Carol
PS I would like to know this history of this dish.
I don’t know where you live, but in New York City it is on the menu at a ton of places. I also like the Korean version, which is on the menu at every Korean restaurant I have ever been to. It has spicy bean paste and chopped Asian pear besides the marinade and raw egg, and is usually made table side.
I was in Paris recently – among other French cities – and had steak tartare (note the correct spelling has an “e” on the end) made several different ways. One with a mayonnaise base (which is not good) and the other with only spices (my preferred way), neither of which were served with an egg. However, I was first introduced to raw steak in the States, years before ever going to France. Particularly Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa, FL. It is served considerably mushy with spices and meant to be “spread” on rye or pumpernickel break. Onion and capers are provided. I highly recommend it!!
Steak tartare is regularly on the menu at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, CA, although it evident that some people ordering it do not know what it is.
Here in Atlanta, the best tartar is at McKendrick’s – a great steak restaurant. It is also prepared table side. Yummy! I love beef cooked very rare (I want to hear the cow moo), but even if you do not, my advice is to never eat beef at a restaurant that is not wiling to cook it rare or “cool in the center”. If they won’t, that means that they do not know where their meat comes from. Ditto on eggs if a restaurant will not cook them “over easy”.
the steakhouse at sunset station in las vegas has a good steak tartar and Rain Water steakhouse in downtown San Diego has an awesome one.
Life is short. Cancer and car accidents are more likely to take you out than tartare. Enjoy one of life’s few pure risky pleasures. Eat the meat…raw!
Hello,
I’m french (so my english is not very good), and i wonder if it is humor when you say that eat raw beef or raw eggs can be dangerous…? In France , many people eat “steak tatare” . It can be order in the majority of the restaurant! And, when we eat raw beef, we never know who is the farmer: We are very confident with the quality of the meat we buy. It is the same for eggs!!! I know a lot of people who eat the raw eggs doing a hole and suckin it… So , does american people really affraid of raw eggs and raw meat???
More, I’m very astonished because in france the “steak tartare” is also call “filet américain” what means “american fillet”, so i thought that the US is the king country of steak tartar…. I was wrong!
The mainstream recipe is raw beef, mayonnaise, and often a little bit of ketchup ( In france, it is the only recipe in which it’s not a shame to put ketchup… I’m sorry but ketchup has a very bad reputation…). Then each person adds condiment they like..
Thank you for your answers (and you can correct my english, i try to improve it ;-) )
I was in Belgium in1996, visiting some friends of a friend, and they had this horribly weird (I thought, at the time), raw meat mixture that they would serve on sourdough bread for breakfast. I had never had anything like it but it was incredible! So much flavor in a raw meat.? I only remember that they called it Hamberguesa Americaine… With the ingresdients, it sure sure sounds like steak Tartar…
Anyways… it was amazing and I have never seen a recipe for this so I am glad to find it. It’s been a long time but all the ingredients that you listed bring the taste back to life. Thanks!
Shannon
As a kid we had steak tartare on pumpernickle with tea on Sunday nights. After a large Sunday afternoon meal this was a nice light easy supper.
I had it last night at home and recalled how much I like it. Capers, onions, salt pepper, egg..that’s all and serloin chopped from Fresh Market.
Story I heard when I was a kid. People had a dislike for the Germans because they ate these Cannable sandwiches.
Whatever, you don’t get that stuffy feeling afterwards and it’s very fulfilling.
There is no “e” on the end. It is Tartar; it’s named after the Tartars of western Asia.
In Germany, they eat a dish called “Mett” which is a tartar made from chopped or ground pork and onions, salt and pepper. It’s eaten on hard rolls or rye and is absolutely delicious.
To Alex from France; Americans are often fearful of certain foods because of the methods of processing things like our beef can cause problems which are hyped 1000x the reality by our disreputable and sensationalist news media.
If you get your meat from a butcher, and he is worth a damn, tell him you are going to make steak tartar, he will grind you the freshest leanest cut, if you like tartar, try kibbie, at a lebanese restaurant , its raw lamb with wheat and spices with olive oil, eaten with sliced flat bread, to all detractors out there, I have been eating raw hamburger, since I swiped one of my mothers meat balls she was making when I was 5 0r 6, I am pushing 68 now.. and I have never gotten sick, when I buy ground beef at the store, I always go for the leanest best ground sirloin, if I know I will probably eat half of it raw in a samwich . and 3 cheers for the government, we are so stupid if it weren’t for the government, we would not even know how to dress ourselves.
I can back up the reports that steak tartare is much more popular in France…many Brits are also afraid…..
I love this recipe, I recall eating it for the first time with my sister at home, :D I had a hard time with the raw egg…. not for me. However, to all the detractors, I am 40 yrs old, and have eaten ground beef from right here in the US since I was like 4 yrs old, to this day I still like my cow to moo at me :D I taught my kids to eat it raw just like my momma did me, the only time she ever got on me about raw meat was when she caught me eating the bacon :D
There is indeed an “e” on the end.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tartare
My mother started making this for us when I was a young girl and insisted then, correctly, that it is tartare with an “e”. Yes, the origins are based on the raw meat eaten by the German Tartars, however, the adaptation is French, with an “e”.
Either way…yummy stuff. I am actually making a batch as we speak to take to a friend’s holiday party.