Steak tartare
Steak tartare is a dish of finely chopped or minced raw beef, commonly seasoned with ingredients such as capers, onion, mustard, and egg yolk.
Beef: Beef is meat from cattle, used in cuisines around the world. The dish is made from beef served without cooking.
Knife skills: Knife skills are techniques for safely and accurately cutting food with a knife. Hand-chopping beef creates a coarse texture and avoids the heat of cooking.
Tartare sauce: Tartare sauce is a cold mayonnaise-based sauce commonly flavored with pickles, capers, and herbs. Despite the shared name, the sauce is not the defining preparation of steak tartare.
Steak: Steak is a slice or cut of meat, usually beef, commonly cooked and served as a main dish. Tartare uses beef in the same broad food tradition but serves it raw and finely cut.
Beef tenderloin: Beef tenderloin is a tender, lean cut from the muscle along a cow’s spine. Its tenderness and relative leanness make it a common choice for tartare.
Meat grinder: A meat grinder is a machine that forces meat through a perforated plate to produce ground meat. Grinding is an alternative to knife-chopping, though it changes texture and spreads surface contamination through the meat.
Beefsteak à la tartare: Beefsteak à la tartare is a historical name for seasoned raw beef, often served with a raw egg yolk. The dish’s older French name records an earlier form of steak tartare.
Carpaccio: Carpaccio is a dish of very thin slices of raw meat or fish, commonly dressed and served cold. Carpaccio is sliced rather than minced, giving it a different texture from tartare.
Capers: Capers are the pickled flower buds of Capparis shrubs, used as a sharp, salty seasoning. Their briny acidity offsets the richness of raw beef and egg yolk.
Food safety: Food safety is the handling and preparation of food to prevent illness and injury. Raw beef lacks the pathogen reduction that cooking provides.