Steak Tartare
 

Is this being too silly?

I am running away this weekend. I am going ot be staying at one of the residence hotels - will have a cooktop, fridge, microwave, sink and dishwasher. There is also a couple of good markets in the area, too.

I have been craving Steak Tartare for a while, but for various reasons cant make it where I am currently living. I was thinking of stopping by WalMart when I am away, pick up a cheap food processor, and then make it there? I would find one of the goodwill type places to drop it off before I fly home. Or is that a bit excessive?

Not silly at all. I do a similar thing when I go to my villa in Florida. Going out there I take hand luggage only, buy a case for coming back that i've filled with new purchases. I've got a lot of cases now.....

It's all about convenience I reckon, and what you are willing to pay for it. If you went to a fancy restaurant for that Tartare it would likely cost more than a Walmart processor!

I'm not a steak tartare expert by any means but do you actually need a food processor? I had my first steak tartare experience last year (loved it and can't wait to have it again!) during a cooking demonstration by an executive chef from one of high end steakhouses in town and all he did was slice the tenderloin tips into relatively small bits.

I don't think my knife skills are that good to get the dice small enough. And to really do that you need to freeze the beef for a bit, I don't know if there is a freezer or just a fridge. Besides, I actually like the texture from a food processor, although I know many think it is too fine that way.

I love steak tartare in all its ethnic variations, but what always worries me is whether it's safe. Is there any reason homemade steak tartare would be less safe than that found in a restaurant?

The traditional way to make steak tartare is to scrape the meat with a sharp knife. It's time consuming but at least you won't have to buy a food processor.

It you don't buy the beef from the same walmart the food processor comes from, it will be a lot safer :D

not to mention taste better...

You're implying then that a different WalMart would be OK?

That is one thing I am sure of when I make Tartare - that I know where my meat is coming from!

No I am implying not to feed your dog meat from Walmart.

Why not get the butcher at the market to slice it for you - their knife skills should be up to the job!

Special kind of meat?
 

Do you need a special kind of beef for steak tartare? I mean, in Sushi, you need sushi-grade fish; you just can't buy the $5.99 salmon wrapped in plastic at safeway and eat it raw. What about steak tartare, though? Is there a special kind of beef to buy?

Safety wise, how the meat has been processed is more important than the cut (which comes down to personal preference, can't say raw meat appeals at all, but tenderness, taste, etc. is not a safety issue) The 'cut' of meat you buy needs to not to have come into contact with any of the (for want of a better word) poop during processing (as the cow is cut open, it can 'splash' on to other bits of meat). The meat is washed, but not to the degree it would kill nasties such as e.coli, so meat for steak tartare must have been very carefully processed from slaughter on. Another way some restaurants minimize (but not eliminate) the risk, is by cutting off the outer parts of the big slab of meat, and using that for cooked products, keeping the centre for the tartare, but isn't foolproof as the knife, board etc. can all contaminate.

Long and short, I probably wouldn't trust an unknown butcher to give me the product I would want for tartare, and instead would work on developing a relationship with a butcher back home, who can tell me the cow's name if I wanted to know!

I prefer to save dishes like steak tartare for times when I go out to restaurants.

Personally, I would not attempt to make it as an amateur, except perhaps under the guidance/supervision of a chef (e.g. a cooking class). I would be worried not only about the safety, but also how it would taste otherwise.

I also would not think that a food processor would be the right tool, probably one can get a much better texture cutting it with a sharp knife. Anyway, especially since I haven`t made it before, this is not something that I would attempt without expert guidance.

On the first day of a two week France trip I had tartare at a well-known, popular restaurant in Paris. This resulted in a few days food poisoning, not bad enough to ruin the trip but it was a reminder that ALL raw food is risky. Travel with antibiotics and be aware of the potential consequences.

Scary
 

That is wayyyy scary. I would think that of all places to eat Steak Tartare, Paris would be the safest place to do it. That was just scary. I have had steak tartare twice in San Francisco, and I've had no problems. But as I am eating it, I always wonder if I'm going to get sick afterwards.

I think I should stop eating it. It's just not worth the risk.

Just to go a bit off topic and challenge this statement... what is "sushi-grade" fish? The limited research I've done is that there isn't a very good definition what "sushi-grade" is and that it's more of a marketing term than a term relating to food safety or regulation.
I'm not 100% sure but I would care to guess that that $5.99 salmon wrapped in plastic at Safeway is safely eatable raw as long as you follow guidelines to kill potential parasites in it (ie. Freeze it for a few days). Might or might not taste that great but it shouldn't give you the runs if you eat it raw. :D

As others have mentioned, but it's worth repeating, there's always risks when eating raw food. Everyone should understand the risks and make their own choices and consider their situation.

Wanna try it first?
 

Would you want to give it a try and let me know how it goes? :eek:

A way to improve you chances of not dying from e-coli is to buy a large chunk of meat, cut of 1/4-1/8 inch pieces from all sides while constantly sterilizing the knife.

Then you'll have a nice chunk of steak that if more or less uncontaminated. I mean, more or less. You can't ever be 100% certain.

BTW, I love tartare. The very best I've had on a regular basis was at Balthazar in NYC. Superb.

Also, horse tartare (popular in Belgium and France) is to die for, but it benefits a little from extra egg yolk etc. as the meat is extremely lean.

You eat a rare steak, right?

Most of the dangers of contaminated meat are ones that reside on the surface. yes, there are some that do not, but in many cases those aren't going to be killed by cooking, anyway. The reason why hamburg is so dangerous raw is that in the grinding the surface is cut up and chopped into the rest of the meat, thereby contaminating everything.

The safest way to handle tartare is to sear the outside of the beef, then quickly freeze it so you can slice that off. You can also do the Lemon Juice/seviche thing, and cut that off as well, although I would hink that would be slightly more risky. Then again, the risk is relative - has vastly more to do with the meat handling, and if it is something you would pick up just on the surface, chances are cooking isn't going to save you.

Yup, cutting bits off will reduce the risk, but as I siad, the knife, the board etc can all cross contaminate - as the knife slices through it takes whatever is on the surface through with it.

The searing the outside would work better, but then, frankly, that is a rare or blue steak, not tartare.