Steak Tartare Classique
A “highly personal” dish, everyone is entitled to their own subjective steak tartare preferences; Le Crocodile adheres to tradition in this bistro classic, and advises against adding any acid to your steak tartare to avoid any change in texture. This recipe makes one portion of Steak Tartare Classique.
Tartare tips from Le Crocodile’s Chef de Cuisine, Chef Borja Del Cerro:
- Look for grass-fed eye of round or tenderloin when buying your tartare beef.
- Freeze your steak before you slice and cut it for the best result.
Ingredients
- 150g/5.5 oz. Piedmontese eye of round, chilled in the freezer until firm
- Controne chili, a pinch
- Salt, to taste
Tartare Sauce:
- ½ tablespoon ketchup
- ½ tablespoon mayo
- 3 dashes Tabasco
- 2 dashes Worchterchire
Anchovy Condiment:
- 1 teaspoon capers, drained and chopped finely
- 1 anchovy filet, chopped
- ½ tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
The Rest:
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives
- ½ tablespoon parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoon white onion, brunoised
To Garnish:
- ½ tablespoon horseradish, grated
- Pepper, to taste
- Potato chips
- Grilled bread
Method
Cutting the beef:
- Put the plate you’ll eat your steak tartare on in the fridge to chill.
- Remove the steak from the freezer, and slice it as thinly as possible–if feasible, on a deli slicer. Once the steak is sliced, turn the meat 90° and cut the steak the other way very thinly. Turn the steak 90° again and cut thinly to yield very small cuts of the steak.
- Refrigerate for 15 minutes, or until thoroughly chilled.
Make the tartare sauce:
- In a small bowl, mix the ketchup, mayo, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.
Make the caper-anchovy condiment:
- In another small bowl mix anchovies, capers, mustard seeds, and olive oil.
For the tartare:
- In a medium bowl, add the steak, Controne chili, salt, and mix together with a fork.
- Add the anchovy condiment and mix again.
- Add the chives, parsley, white onion, and tartare sauce, and mix again. Taste for seasoning, adjusting as needed.
To plate:
- Remove the chilled plate from the fridge, and place a ring mold–or a piece of aluminum foil sculpted into the shape of a ring–onto it. Scoop the steak tartare into the ring mold, and using the back of a spoon, shape it so that the tartare is flat. Remove the ring mold.
- Crack some pepper, and grate a bit of horseradish on top of the tartare.
- Shingle the potato chips on top of the tartare in a circle and serve with grilled bread.
Chef Aidan O’Neal indulges us in a few questions
Is there a best time of year for steak tartare?
Nope. Zero seasonality. Steak grows year ‘round.
Biggest tartare faux pas?
I don’t know if I can say there are any faux pas with tartare, because tartare is pretty personal in terms of how people like it. The only revelatory thing I would say that I learned later in life is that tartares really don’t need any acid; they don’t need vinegar, or lemon juice. You can find acid through the mayonnaise, the ketchup … really the faux pas is thinking that ketchup is gross in tartare. It’s not gross, it’s good, but you don’t have to put it in either.
On bread or with a fork?
Both. I like to alternate. If I get one bite with too much tartare, then I’ll eat a little bit of bread to balance everything out. And it’s good with fries. And potato chips are good. We serve ours with potato chips and grilled bread.
Entree or appetizer?
That’s tough. It depends on where I'm at in my life. I’m at the point now where I don’t want to eat 150 grams of raw beef–I mean, no one needs to be eating that much meat. I’m just trying to get the cholesterol down, you know? I’m almost forty–gotta keep it clean.
What makes your Steak tartare “classique?”
Oh, we go a very traditional route: Anchovies, capers, ketchup, mayonnaise, parsley, chive. Pretty bistro standard. And we stir it with a fork. You should dress tartare with a fork–always with a fork.
Drink pairing?
Steak tartare? Probably a Kronenbourg. 1664. The best.
