The word "tartare" refers to several dishes of French cuisine. In one case, this is a sauce served with fish, in the other, finely chopped raw beef with egg yolk, spices, capers, onions and pickles. And in some situations, other dishes prepared in a similar way are called so. In this section, we will look at how to cook, serve and eat beef tartare - a delicious dish that will never be superfluous on the festive table.

What is beef tartare and its history of origin

Before proceeding to the methods of preparation, it is worth turning to the history and find out what tartar is in general, and how this dish appeared.

Initially, it was called spicy sauce, in which French cooks added capers or pickled cucumbers. Such an addition to dishes in Europe was considered a real symbol of Tatar cuisine.

However, the story does not end there. At that far time, European peoples knew about the Tatars only by hearsay, and therefore their culinary preferences overgrown with many speculations. About the same thing happened with the famous Tatar beef steak, which in France was made from raw horse meat or beef. The dish got a similar name and it remains unclear why the French considered pickled cucumbers and raw / dried meat as the basis of the diet of ferocious Asian nomads.

Over time, various variations of this dish appeared, and today you can easily find a recipe for fish and even fruit tartare. Of course, such dishes have nothing to do with the food that the nomads consumed, but this fact does not in the least diminish their excellent taste.

Classic recipe

The main component of traditional tartar is raw meat. It is complemented by various spices and herbs.

In the classic version, the dish is prepared from the following components:

  • 350 to 400 g of beef;
  • 2 eggs;
  • canned cucumber or capers;
  • white onion head (you can use ordinary onion);
  • some Worcester or soy sauce;
  • olive oil;
  • mustard;
  • any greens;
  • hot peppers;
  • salt.

It is interesting: Dijon mustard

Meat volume and egg number are based on two servings.

How to cook beef tartare:

  1. Finely chop the onion, cucumber and herbs.
  2. Wash beef, dry with a towel, remove grease, film and veins.
  3. Grind the meat so that you get neat cubes of small sizes.
  4. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Add sauce, olive oil, put mustard and mix thoroughly.
  5. Form two “cylinders” of meat, decorate each of them with raw egg yolk.
  6. Sprinkle the dish with onions and herbs, and put chopped capers and cucumbers at the edges.

Attention! Since the meat in the manufacture of tartare is not subjected to heat treatment, it must be of high quality and very fresh.

How to cook a dish in French

This dish differs from the classic one in composition and in some subtleties of cooking.

For one serving of tartare you will need:

  • 250 g of beef;
  • 2 yolks;
  • half of the onion;
  • 2 garlic prongs;
  • pickled cucumber;
  • several seedless olives;
  • 4 to 5 sprigs of parsley;
  • 10 - 15 g of olive oil;
  • salt and pepper.

Operating procedure:

  1. Grind garlic cloves, half the onion, olives and pickled cucumber.
  2. Add salt and pepper to the mixture. Then add olive oil, chopped parsley and raw yolks, then carefully beat the resulting composition with a whisk.
  3. Finely chop the washed beef and mix with half the prepared sauce. Leave the meat to soak for a quarter of an hour.
  4. Form a serving, place on a plate, garnish with sprigs of herbs and serve with the remaining sauce.

Important! In order for the beef to properly soak in the sauce, it is necessary to cut the tartare meat into very small square pieces, the size of which would not exceed 6 - 7 mm.

The secrets of making the perfect meat tartare

To make beef tartare correctly, it is necessary to take into account several subtleties of its preparation:

  • prepare a tenderloin dish, since this part of the carcass has virtually no cores and films;
  • choose only fresh meat;
  • the desired piece will be red, but in no case a burgundy color;
  • pay attention to the smell of the product - fresh beef and veal exude a light milky aroma;
  • grind meat only with a knife, in no case using a meat grinder;
  • cut onions and other ingredients as small as possible.

If at the choice of beef there was at least the slightest doubt about its freshness, it is better to refuse such a purchase. The taste of stale, old meat cannot be masked with any sauce. Such a dish will be hopelessly spoiled, and, among other things, also dangerous.

Beautiful serving

You will need to follow certain rules not only during the cooking process, but also when serving tartare.

There are several ways to do this:

  1. Place the meat in the center of the plate and lay the chopped vegetables at the edges.
  2. Make the tartare puff using the cooking ring, laying out all the ingredients in turn in a convenient manner. The main thing is that the bottom layer consist of meat.
  3. Serve the dish in two plates when meat will be placed on one and vegetables on the other.
  4. To form a short “cylinder” from chopped beef, sprinkle it with greens, break an egg on top, and lay chopped vegetables around.

On a note. In some French restaurants, tartar is served not only with pickled cucumbers and onions, but also baked potatoes or toasts on a plate. In this case, the dish may well replace a full meal.

How to eat tartar

Having studied the cooking methods and options for serving dishes, it remains only to figure out how to eat tartare.

 

If the chopped vegetables and spices are served separately, they will need to be added to the meat on their own in the right amount, seasoned with sauce, then stirred with a fork and proceed to the meal.

When the dish is served with toast or bread, you can make a sandwich by laying on them the right amount of tartar.

In addition, many gourmets recommend eating tartar, washed down with rich red wine. In their opinion, this particular drink is able to most advantageously emphasize the unusual taste of the dish and allows you to fully enjoy it.

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