Steak Tartare

Steak tartare, that decadent appetizer, is a fixture of a great many restaurants. Why is that? As a retired chef and restaurant owner, the answer is obvious to me: economics. Beef is expensive and one of the most expensive items on the entire menu. Because it is so expensive, it is very hard—given what diners are willing to pay for a meal—very hard indeed to mark beef up to the extent that less expensive items can be marked up. So it is vital to sell every bit of that beef.

Steak Tartare, Egg Yolk, Cornichons

Think about it this way: all the trim and scrap off of the beef that I purchased cost the same $20 per pound as all the steak cuts. At that price, a restaurateur who wants to stay in business has got to find a way to cover some of the expense of the scrap meat. Steak tartare to the rescue. Ditto for tuna: when I would pay upwards of $20 a pound for #1 tuna, any little scrap was highly likely to end up as tartares. What a delicious way to recoup some of the expense!

Tartare isn't limited to beef. I've had delicious lamb kibbeh at Middle Eastern and Afghani restaurants and even served it at my own. On our tasting menu, we served tartares of elk, antelope, and yak. And during salmon season when we would get fresh king salmon flown in, the belly flaps and other trim would often end up minced and served as salmon tartare, a riff on sashimi. 

We Americans are not alone and we surely did not invent the concept: most cultures have a raw meat preparation that is similar to steak tartare. Think of crudo in South America, carpaccio in Italy, and yukhoe in Korea.

Tartare also is not limited to fully raw meat. Stepping out of the tartare rut, I would do mi-cuit (half-cooked) preparations in which I would briefly sear or grill the meat before chopping it. In France, if you sear a patty of tartare on both sides like a very rare hamburger, you call it steak aller-retour or tartare aller-retour ("steak round trip"). In addition, I used to cold smoke chopped tartare over ice at times. If you use a light hand, the smoke is a wonderful addition to tartare and really wonderfully unexpected to most diners.

I would also note that tartare is not limited to tenderloin. Of all the steak tartares that I have enjoyed at restaurants, my favorite beef version was made from skirt steak and my least favorite from tenderloin. My favorite lamb version was made from heart. Most people are squeamish about heart, but it is one of the cleanest, most flavorful cuts, albeit with a bit of chew. While most people lean toward the soft texture of tenderloin, I find it a bit mushy for my liking. I definitely prefer more texture to less.

As a trained food professional, I'd be remiss if I did not mention that eating any raw food is a risky proposition. E. coli is a very real thing as are other foodborne illnesses. Each person has to decide whether that risk is acceptable. For my part, I will only eat raw meat at a restaurant that I trust.

Capers, Minced Beef, Shallots, Mustard Prior to Mixing

Having run a restaurant, it is ingrained in me to use every single bit of every ingredient and so when I recently purchased a beef tenderloin, it was a no-brainer that we would soon be having steak tartare. When cutting the beef into steaks, I saved all the small bits of scrap from the tenderloin, plus the parts of either end that were too small to cut into steaks.

To make the tartare, I diced the pieces of tenderloin very fine with a knife. Yes, it takes a long time compared to running the meat through a grinder, but the two textures are incomparable. At the restaurant, we always cut the tartare with a knife and as long as we had the labor, we would cut it to order as the tickets came into the kitchen.

What you add to your tartare for flavorings is up to you, in the same way that what you add to your guacamole is up to you. For my part, I default to classic seasonings. I generally add capers, minced shallots, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper as I did in this case. That said, tartare is a wonderful blank canvas that lends itself to experimentation. For example, a favorite from my restaurant days was a Korean-inflected tartare with minced kimchee, green onions, soy sauce, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and dobanjang.

Tartare is easy to make at home, especially if you are buying meat in bulk and breaking it down yourself. But beyond that, it is a really approachable and decadent restaurant-style appetizer to have in your home-cooking arsenal.

Thanksgiving 2014

And another Thanksgiving is in the books, for Ann and me, our 6th, this one a good bit smaller than in years past. But though it was smaller, it is always a pleasure to gather with friends and family at the table to celebrate another year. It was really easy this year. With it snowing on Wednesday, there wasn't any business at the restaurant and I was able to prep most of the meal at work, letting us go slow and relax on Thanksgiving itself.

Ann and her Parents

Who is That Photo Bombing the Girls?

Appetizers: Turkey Rillettes, Galantine, and Cornichons

A Really Nice Right Bank Bordeaux

Ann Always Sets a Beautiful Table



Apple Cider-Brined Turkey Thighs Only This Year; No White Meat for Us

Ann's Bread and Saltine Cracker Dressing

Ann's Bistro Mash: Half Sweet Potatoes, Half Red Skin Potatoes

Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts with Pork Belly

The Obligatory Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Sweet Potato Tart with Cassis Cream and Black Walnut Streusel

And a 1991 Port to Finish off the Meal

Vegetarian Sunday

Let's just start with the disclaimer that we are not vegetarians. Anything but, actually. We love our charcuterie, for example: we are those people that keep a drawer full of salame and cheese in our refrigerator. Though Ann is by nature quite a bigger carnivore than am I. I'm always having to fend off her requests for a big hunk of meat on the grill, which interests me not at all. But now it is summertime and the weather is hot and we naturally gravitate towards eating lighter food. Plus we have all these glorious vegetables at our disposal now. So it shouldn't be terribly surprising that we eat a fair amount of vegetarian meals in the summer. And yesterday was one of those days. We didn't plan it that way purposefully. It just evolved that way from what we really wanted to eat.

Lunch al Fresco

This last week at the restaurant kept me really busy, especially executing a wonderful 50th anniversary menu on Saturday. It meant extra long hours for me and 100% of my focus, leaving no time for Ann or thinking about the weekend. She hates these weeks when she really feels the true chef widow. So Sunday morning dawned without any plan. After I spent a couple hours in the back yard working, Ann finally joined me and we got to thinking about what to eat. Lunch was easy: she wanted a reprise of last weekend's Mediterranean mezes plate that I did when Karen dropped by.

A few chickpeas in the food processor, slicing a few roasted red peppers, and a little baguette in the oven and instant lunch.

Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Some days ago, Ann had brought up the idea of a grilled vegetable sandwich but we never got around to it for some reason or other. I brought it back up Sunday and it stuck. So when I made the roasted red pepper salad for lunch, I made extra for our dinner panini. Slice roasted red peppers, chiffonade fresh basil, mince garlic, add salt, pepper, Sherry vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil. Toss. Done.

Grilled Vegetable Panino

This is one of the very best sandwiches that I have ever had. I split a loaf of focaccia, brushed the cut faces with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and grilled to a crispy golden brown. Then, while the zucchini, yellow squash, and red onions were grilling, I spread the grilled faces of the bread with pesto. From there, it was a simple matter to layer the sandwich: zucchini, red onion, yellow squash, roasted red pepper salad, and provolone cheese. I left the top off and put it under the broiler to melt the cheese and then put the top back on and cut it into small panini.

Ever the expert on all matters, teenager Carter argued with us (but still ate the sandwich) that these are not panini because they have not been pressed. We had to school him a bit in the Italian language. At almost 15 years of age, he still knows that parents are dumber than dirt!