Recently I had some hunters from Slovakia hunting with me. They made a delicious meal from grated tenderloin, raw but marinated in Olive Oil, Garlic, Onions and Raw egg and spices like Caraway.
This was spread on toast.
I did not get the recipe, does someone know how to make this?
It was called Tartar or something that sounds like that.

Thank You

quote:

Originally posted by TrackersNZ:
Recently I had some hunters from Slovakia hunting with me. They made a delicious meal from grated tenderloin, raw but marinated in Olive Oil, Garlic, Onions and Raw egg and spices like Caraway.
This was spread on toast.
I did not get the recipe, does someone know how to make this?
It was called Tartar or something that sounds like that.

Thank You

Do a search for steak tartar. You will find what you want.

Just what you described.

Steak tartar:

fillet mignon-knife diced, very small. NOT through a meat grinder.
yolk of one egg just enough to bind it.
freshly cracked black pepper
salt
finely chopped onions
capers
fresh herbs- such as thyme,rosemary etc.

Serve it all up with some toast to put it on. Spread it sparingly on the toast, not in huge mounds or you'll gross yerself out.

the chef

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
Just what you described.

Steak tartar:

fillet mignon-knife diced, very small. NOT through a meat grinder.
yolk of one egg just enough to bind it.
freshly cracked black pepper
salt
finely chopped onions
capers
fresh herbs- such as thyme,rosemary etc.

Serve it all up with some toast to put it on. Spread it sparingly on the toast, not in huge mounds or you'll gross yerself out.

the chef

Chef, Should'nt really be a scraping of the meat against the silver skin?

Baboon, it might be but damned if I could find any mention of that in my classical cooking books. Here's what I was told many moons ago. The tartars were a fierce warrior clan, as we all know. While on campaign they would chop less than tender meat up into small pieces to make it tender enough to eat. I forget though if the intention was to eat it raw or cooked like a burger...that one is probably lost in the mists of time.

We've adapted the idea to using tenderloin. I think that when eating something like this the last thing you want is an uncooked piece of tendon caught in your teeth, so that's why we use tenderloin. I'd probably add that one should use pieces from the very middle of the tenderloin to avoid bacterial contamination that might occur on the exterior of the meat.

personally it aint for me, the older I get and the more animals I butcher the more I want my meat cooked a bit more. I used to love bloody rare meat, but not a nice med rare is just fine. I've noticed that rural people "tend" to eat their meat more well done than city folk. Probably because they know what they are eating-dead meat.

the chef

Chef, I like to remind people that meat is nothing more then decaying flesh. We try to control the rot with refridgeration and sanitation. And at the same time vegetables are really no different as they were once living as well. I also point out that over cooking meat like veggies destroys the nutriants.

As a butcher when folks get worried about bacteria and what not I gennerally ask them if I look healthy. They always say yes why do you ask? I remind them that 40 hours a week I handle their meat. And I get blood from that meat from time to times in my eyes,nose and mouth. If I look healthy handleing all that raw meat they should not worry.

It's true that meat doesn't pose the risk that we've come to think it does. How much of the world has no refrigeration, and they still live. I'm pretty anal about food handling safety though including meat and anything perishable. Some of the high rish ones we don't always think about are melons, and bean sprouts. I've never had even a suggestion of food poisoning from any of the thousands of meals I've prepared. I want to be famous someday but not from killing people from my food

the chef

I always thought that most of those raw meat type dishes were first marinated in some sort of acid like lemon juice or lime juice, which actually cooks the meat to some degree.

If that isn't called Tartar, what is that particular method of prep called?

22wrf I think you're thinking of sashimi. Steak tartare is definately not marinated but a lot of seafood is.

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I always thought that most of those raw meat type dishes were first marinated in some sort of acid like lemon juice or lime juice, which actually cooks the meat to some degree.

If that isn't called Tartar, what is that particular method of prep called?

Thats more like Beef Capaccio.

Everytime I go to a local Sushi buffet they have a very thin sliced rare/raw beef. The outside edge appears to have been cooked. I am not sure if this is done with heat or by an acidic marinate. Its very good and I will wipe out the plate everytime. They never have more than 4" plate of it out,and are in no hurry to refill it .

the brazzilians have the recipe for fish, thin slices in thin slices with grated lime or lemon skin over and the juice over it aswell. thats called ceviche. the acid in the lime makes the fish like cod or so be cooked ,without the heat ,its a chen\mical process, its very good.

For ceviche you can use practically any fish. My wife uses canned tuna if nothing else is available. It's great, particularly the second day if there is anything left after the first day. The lemon flavor mellows.

Black bass ceviche is very good as is peacock bass ceviche.

The key is to marry a Venezuelan, or in my case an Argentine/Venezolana/Ecudoriana mix. The ceviche seems to always come out right.

Let's see, to cover a couple of points, sashimi is sliced raw fish, usually of the freshest (or flash frozen if you're in some remote areas) and highest quality. Basically sashimi is sushi without the rice, usually a bit heftier per slice.

There are risks to almost every food, but MANY freshwater fish and some saltwater fish, including some species (and maybe all, not sure of that) of Salmon have some pretty nasty parasites in them that most cerviche type marinades will not kill very quickly if at all. I'd avoid cerviche made with freshwater fish if possible. That said, I've eaten a boatload of cerviche and, for that matter, a trailer truck load of raw oysters with no obvious ill effects.

I'd avoid raw venison for the same reasons but am not really sure of any potential parasites in it, but believe there are some.

I'm not squimish, you can load my toast up with steak tartare or caviar anytime.

And, I'm so far out in the country I have to go back towards town to squirrel hunt AND I like my steaks very slightly wounded, but can stand it up to a very lightly cooked medium rare.

Game meats all have the potential for harboring parasites. Field dressed game opens the door to bacteria -- as in e coli -- which is present in the gut of the animal. There's a fair risk of exposure to an array of "nasties" if the animal is field dressed. I'd guees the leather sheath on your knife probably grows some mold, mildew, fungi. Then there's just plain dirt where the game falls.

Adding a raw egg just gives the bacteria more media to grow and thrive in.

Tartar was a Mongolian tribe, chopped up meats and tossed it under the saddle. Horse sweat and whatever "culture" might be growing in the "tack," blankets. Yummmmmmmm . . .

My biggest worry would be parasites -- round worms -- and e coli.

Sashimi is raw fish, Wasabi, ginger root. But these days you specify "sashimi grade" fish for sashimi and sushi. Most of this fish is "flash frozen" which kills off the bugs.

Japanese colleague of mine noted that if you order sushi in Japan, you want to see it swimming before you order. Japanese sushi chefs are trained in preparation to look for worms and parasites on the fish, keep the preparation immaculate.

Marinades are typically acid based and tenderize the meat. To some degree they will raise the Ph beyond that which bacteria can survive. But vinegar is nothing like Listerine, isopropyl alcohol as a disinfectant.

But let's remember here the recent spinach/e coli deaths where even freezing, washing, and cooking was not killing the e coli.

I like my meat cuts cooked to an internal temp of 135 F minimum. 140 F for ground beef/pork, and let's hold it at that temp. for at least five minutes, eh?

I don't want to create a war here....but ground meat should be 160 degrees or higher. That's med well and is enough to destroy most backeria. I've had lots of people request rare burgers-I've always refused that request. Better safe than sorry, e-coli is nasty as it comes.

the chef

E. Coli will be much more prevelant in Hamburger than in solid meat because the oxygen can get to it in Hamburger. I would never ever eat an underdone hamburger but eat very rare unground meat all of the time and have never gotten sick from it.

Keep in mind that steak tartar is intended to be eaten immediately, not left sitting around for a day, or even a couple of hours.

That's what the issue with ground hamburger is, that the bacteria has a chance to grow in the meat, so it is absolutely necessary to cook ground meat to well done. The risk is generally that any bacteria is on the outside of the meat, and then is ground up into the interior, so it multiplies.

If you've used good meat handling practices in butchering your game, you shouldn't have a problem. Keep in mind, though, that making tartar should only be practiced with venison, not fowl, or bear, as they both carry their own issues of salmonella and trichinosis.

In Canada, all of our eggs are required to be pasteurized, so there is little risk of bacteria from raw eggs - again, as long as they are eaten immediately.

Keep in mind that herbs and spices used around the world were originally intended to do two things - help preserve the meat, and to help meat that is "less than fresh" be more palatable.

My wife and I love steak tartar, and our steaks are always cooked blue rare. Mmmmm.

I was gently nudged about my claim about pasteurized eggs, and have been trying to find a reference on it, but no luck so far.

However, it is possible to pasteurize eggs in the shell, so if you are interested in doing it yourself, I found this link: http://www.kitchenproject.com/BBQ/PasteurizedEggs.htm

TBH, other sources I saw indicated that salmonella bacteria is only present in about 1 in 20,000 eggs, so the risk is pretty low, anyway. However, for those of you who are a bit squeamish, try pasteurizing before using a raw egg recipe.

My wife used to buy cracked eggs at a discount from an egg producer here. Later she got a recipe for making milkshakes which included a raw egg. Neiher her nor I had the molk shakes and in a short time both of our kids and the dog became ill and lost considerable weight. The doctor sent in stool samples from the kids and the dog ( that must have made the lab tach wonder) It seems the contamination was through the cracked egg shells.