Beef tatar
About this recipe
Hand-chopped raw beef tenderloin plated with a raw egg yolk, pickles, and onion, mixed together tableside to taste.
Ingredients
- For the tatar
- For the garnish plate
- To finish
Method
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01
Place a mixing board and your knife in the freezer for 10 minutes. Keeping everything cold limits bacterial growth while you work with raw beef.
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02
Finely dice the pickles and onion into pieces roughly 3 mm (1/8 inch). Arrange the pickles, onion, butter pats, salt, pepper, and paprika in small separate mounds on two serving plates, leaving room in the centre of each for the beef.
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03
Trim the beef tenderloin of all visible silverskin and connective tissue, since these do not soften when raw and will be noticeable in the finished tatar.
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04
Using a sharp knife, slice the tenderloin into thin strips, then stack and cut into fine dice, and finally rock the knife back and forth over the pile until the beef is uniformly minced into a coarse, cohesive texture. Chopping by hand rather than machine-grinding keeps the meat's surface bacteria from being pulled through the interior, and gives a better bite than the pastier texture of ground meat.
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05
Divide the chopped beef between the two prepared plates, pressing each portion into a neat, low mound with a shallow well in the centre.
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06
Carefully separate each egg yolk and set one whole yolk into the well of each beef mound, keeping the yolk intact so it stays raised and unbroken.
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07
Tuck a lemon wedge onto each plate and scatter a parsley sprig over each for colour. Serve immediately, with each diner breaking the yolk and folding in pickles, onion, butter, salt, pepper, paprika, and a squeeze of lemon to their own taste.
Notes & swaps
- Buy tartare-grade beef from a butcher you trust, the day you plan to serve it. Because the meat is eaten raw, freshness and sourcing matter more than in any cooked application; ask specifically for tenderloin suitable for tatar.
- Keep everything cold until the moment of serving. Raw beef held at room temperature for even a short time is a food safety risk; chop and plate just before serving, not in advance.
- Use pasteurized eggs for the yolks. Raw yolk is essential to this dish, and pasteurized eggs remove most of the salmonella risk that comes with standard raw eggs.
- Keep the yolk whole until the table. Nesting it unbroken in the well of the beef is both the traditional presentation and lets the diner control exactly how much yolk mixes in.
- Make ahead: the pickles and onion can be diced up to a day ahead and refrigerated. The beef should be chopped and plated no more than 30 minutes before serving.
- Storage: tatar does not keep. Discard any leftovers rather than refrigerating them, since raw chopped meat spoils quickly and unsafely.
- Swap — beef tenderloin: sirloin or top round can substitute at the same weight if very fresh and trimmed well, though the texture will be slightly less tender.
- Swap — hand-chopping: a meat grinder fitted with a coarse die saves time, but the result is denser and less distinct, and it increases the risk of surface bacteria being distributed through the meat.
- Swap — dill pickles: cornichons, finely diced, can replace dill pickles at the same quantity for a sharper, less sour bite.
- Swap — butter: can be omitted entirely for a leaner, less rich plate; traditional versions vary on whether butter is included.
- Do not substitute pork. Raw pork carries a materially higher risk of parasites such as Trichinella and is not safe to eat raw regardless of sourcing. If using pork, cook it fully to an internal temperature of 63°C (145°F) with a rest, rather than serving it as a tatar.
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