Steak Tartare (Hand-Chopped, Not Minced)

Variations

• Non préparé: one of the two standard French services — the chopped beef and the garnishes come separately and you mix it at the table. The other is préparé, seasoned in the kitchen. Same dish; the only difference is when salt and acid reach the meat, which is why non préparé is in principle the fresher of the two.
• Carne cruda all'albese: the Piedmontese version, dressed with olive oil, lemon and salt alone — no capers, no mustard. Minimal, so the beef itself is fully exposed.
• Filet américain: the Belgian and Dutch form, bound with mayonnaise into a spread for bread.
• Tartare de cheval: horse, still common in Lyon and Switzerland. Sweeter and leaner than beef.
• Tuna or salmon tartare: the same structure with fish — more acid, fewer capers, often avocado or soy. Unlike ceviche the acid is not there to cure it; it goes in at the end.
• Yukhoe: the same raw beef pointing the opposite way. Sesame oil and pear build nuttiness and sweetness, with no acid, mustard or capers anywhere. Make the two side by side and you can see how far apart one ingredient can be taken.
• German Mett: raw pork. The name looks adjacent and the food-safety picture is not, so do not transfer the method here to it.

Tips

• Knife-chopped and machine-minced are different foods. This is the single decision that matters most. A mincer's blades push and crush, rupturing cells, so the juice leaves and the texture goes mealy. A knife cuts (knife skills).
• Buy a whole piece and chop it yourself — and not only for texture. Pre-ground beef has tens of times the surface area, with whatever was on the outside distributed through all of it. Meat to be eaten raw is bought whole, trimmed, and cut at home. Tell the butcher it is for raw eating and use it the same day.
• Half-freezing decides the chop. Twenty to thirty minutes firms the surface so it dices cleanly; lean beef at room temperature sticks to the blade and tears. Same preparation as yukhoe.
• Salt and acid start a clock. Salt draws water out by osmosis, and acid — the brine on the cornichons and capers, the Worcestershire — denatures surface protein and takes the colour with it. Tartare that has stood thirty minutes is grey and sitting in liquid. Hence dressing at the last moment (salt and seasoning).
• The mustard and yolk hold the dressing together. Both are emulsifiers, so the olive oil, the acid and the water coming out of the beef stay as one thing. Leave the mustard out and the sauce slides off with oil pooling on the plate (emulsions).
• Rinse the shallot. The harsh bite of raw onion and shallot is water-soluble; five minutes in cold water and a squeeze removes it and leaves the aroma. Skip it and the tartare tastes of onion.
• Pat the brine off. Cornichons and capers added wet thin the dressing. Acid belongs in this dish under control, through the sauce, not arriving by accident (balancing flavour).
• Parsley last. Its aroma is volatile and folding releases water (fresh herbs).
• Cold, including the plate. With almost no fat in the meat, lukewarm pushes the smell of the beef forward. Chill the plates and do not dawdle (serving temperature).
• Press the mould gently. Packed hard, the chopped beef compacts back into a paste and the knife work was for nothing.
• Do not use beef that was frozen and thawed. Thawed lean beef has ruptured cells, weeps, and will not dice (freezing and thawing).
• Serve it with something crisp. Toasted baguette or fries. Alongside soft bread the whole texture collapses into one thing.