Winning the cold raw
We are living through a vogue for steak tartare. Waiters don’t even ask anymore if you know what it is when you order it.
I think this is probably my favourite way to eat steak in the summer and it’s good to see it around. There is a lot more raw food on menus at the moment, actually, which can only be a good. My guess is better produce – fresher seafood, better meat, better vegetables – is making chefs feel more like serving it raw.
Steak tartare is a very important part of the classic French bistro. Often horse is used. Personally, I prefer the beef. I’ve eaten quite a few versions, using various cuts of meat. I’ve seen it with an aged piece of beef, but I prefer to use fresh cuts. The tenderness is not an issue because you’re dicing the meat anyway, and you add so many flavours that the ageing becomes kind of redundant.
I like to use either rump or porterhouse, for their flavour. Flank and skirt steak are also quite good. Obviously, you want to be using high-quality beef – it’s the whole point of the dish. Don’t waste your time with something like eye fillet, though. It’s too tender and doesn’t have the same flavour structure.
When preparing it, resist the temptation to set up the mincer. The same goes for a pulse setting on a food processor. It will crush the meat. Instead, take a sharp knife and start slicing thinly across the grain, then slice each piece into thin strips. Finally, take those strips, bunched together, and dice them into small cubes. If you find the meat a bit soft to handle, place it in the freezer for an hour to firm up, being careful not to freeze it. This will make it easier to work with.
Traditionally, steak tartare would be finished with Worcestershire sauce, onions, capers and a raw egg yolk. The recipe I use – which is slightly unconventional – was first cooked by a chef I work with named Colin Mainds. It uses anchovies and capers, but has introduced tarragon mayonnaise in place of the raw egg yolk. The tarragon brings a nice sense of aniseed that replaces the old-man
• flavour of Worcestershire sauce.