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Steak tartare
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Steak tartare is a meat dish made from finely chopped or ground raw beef or horse meat. Tartare can also be made by thinly slicing a high grade of meat such as strip steak, marinating it in wine or other spirits and spicing it to taste, and then chilling it. It is often served with onions, capers and seasonings (the latter typically incorporating fresh ground pepper and Worcestershire sauce), and sometimes with a raw egg, and usually served on rye bread.
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Encyclopedia
Steak tartare is a meat dish made from finely chopped or ground raw beef or horse meat. Tartare can also be made by thinly slicing a high grade of meat such as strip steak, marinating it in wine or other spirits and spicing it to taste, and then chilling it. It is often served with onions, capers and seasonings (the latter typically incorporating fresh ground pepper and Worcestershire sauce), and sometimes with a raw egg, and usually served on rye bread. The word is derived from the name Tartars or Tatars, an ethnic people from Eastern Europe and part of Asia.
History
The basis of the name is the legend that nomadic Tatar people of the Central Asian steppes did not have time to cook and thus placed meat underneath their horses' saddles. The meat would be tenderised by the end of the journey.
Perhaps the earliest American restaurant version of steak tartare is found at Luchow's, the famous German restaurant in Manhattan near Broadway at 110 East 14th Street. Founded by Guido August Lüchow in 1882, the cited recipe is in the Lüchow’s cookbook (1952 edition). The Lüchow’s recipe (for four portions) was comparatively simple: 2lbs fillet of beef, 4 slices freshly buttered toast, 4 fresh raw eggs, 8 sardellen (anchovy fillets), and 2 tablespoons pickled capers. They would remove the fat from beef and grind the lean fine, arrange on toast, serve a raw egg yolk on top of each slice and garnish with anchovies and capers. The dish was purportedly put on the menu originally to help a well known patron lose weight.
Health concerns
Health concerns have reduced the popularity of this meat dish because of the danger of contamination by bacteria and parasites. The Mexican version of steak tartare typically marinates the meat in lime juice, in the manner of ceviche, which has the effect of disinfecting the meat to a certain extent. The standard version, which marinates the raw beef in wine or some other form of alcohol will have a similar effect, especially if the liquid used is distilled.
Regional variations
Steak tartare is now regarded as a gourmet dish. It is especially popular in Belgium, the Netherlands, Northern Germany, France, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic (Tatarák) and Switzerland. In Belgium, another version is known as filet américain (translated as American Fillet). It is eaten as a main course, typically accompanied with toast or french fries. The preparation of the meat is either done by the waiter, table-side, or by the customers themselves. A fresh green salad may also be served in the summer months to add a further freshness to the dish.
In the American midwest (such as in Urbandale, Iowa and Wisconsin), steak tartare is known and served as "Raw Dog",or "Wild Cats", and is most often served as a winter holiday appetizer.
Filet américain is also sold by butchers as a sandwich dressing; it comes either unprepared (raw ground lean beef) or prepared (with eggs, seasonings, etc.). The latter is also popular in Belgium and the Netherlands.
A variant of steak tartare (called tartarmad) is also present in the Danish lunch where it is served on rugbrød with assorted toppings. In Germany there is a very popular variant using raw minced pork called Mett or Hackepeter, which is typically served on rye bread or rolls, with the onions and pepper, but without capers or egg.
Islamic and Jewish dietary laws
Some scholars of Islamic dietary laws and Jewish kashrut argue that raw meat is haraam (forbidden) or treif (Yiddish: ???? or treyf, derived from Hebrew: ???????? trefáh) (unfit), respectively; however, consensus holds that raw meat is not haraam or treif if properly drained of blood.
Raw-meat dishes are popular across the Muslim world; for instance, kibbeh nayyeh (??? ???, ) which incorporates raw lamb or beef with Bulgar wheat, olive oil and spices, is often considered to be the national dish of Lebanon and is also popular in Syria.
See also
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