How to Scrape Beef
 

Does anyone have a good video of how to scrape beef for Tartare? Not grind, but scrape with a spoon or a knife. I just don't seem to be able to get the hang of it.

Thanks!

Can't you just finely chop with a nice sharp chef's knife? A while back I took a multi week cooking class at a high end French restaurant, and that's how the chef did it. Then mixed with onion, caper, mustard etc

Scrape meat with knife from lean beef cut from round until nothing but connective tissue is left. Form into small balls and broil on both sides for about 2 minutes. Season and serve. For sandwiches spread uncooked scraped beef on thin slices of bread and season.

Tartare will not be cooked.

Correct. It is placed under the saddle and the horse ridden hard to tenderize and flavor it.;)

This reminds me that I need to go to South America to try the horse saddle & sweat cured beef jerky.

NYT article on tartare:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-tartare.html?

-

If you use a high-quality piece of beef without a lot of connective tissue, mincing is just as good as scraping. (In fact, if you are trying to scrape filet or similar, I can see why it would be hard to get the hang of it :D) If you are trying to work with a cheap cut, which can be more flavorful, scraping separates the meat from the connective tissue and is a better technique.

The description here is pretty clear: http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/171...at-Monte-Carlo

Although there's really no need to use a very sharp knife... I've seen suggestions to use a spoon, and I suppose a butter knife would work just as well. Just hold the blade (knife or spoon) perpendicular to the meat surface and scrape it across. You should see meat on the spoon and the connective tissue should get left behind. All you are really trying to accomplish is blunt dissection. <shrug> It will take forever, which is why most recipes now just default to high-quality meat that is minced.

I bet this would be awesome with flap meat from costco. Love that stuff! Now I want to try it. :eek:

Perpendicular?

Maybe that is why I didn't get it to work. Seems a little counter-intuitive, but maybe that is the trick.