Hand Cut Steak Tartare Recipes

Steps:

• Cut the steak into 1-inch cubes and park in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Whisk the vinegar, dry mustard and egg yolks together in a small bowl. Whisk continuously while streaming in the oil until emulsified, then whisk in the shallots, capers, salt, and roughly 2/3 of the celery leaves and parsley.
• Hand chop the meat to your desired texture. (Alternately, divide the meat into 4 batches and pulse each batch separately 3 to 4 times in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the standard S-blade.)
• With clean hands, quickly fold the meat and dressing together. Plate using a 3 3/4-inch pastry ring and garnish with the reserved herbs and lemon zest.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, ketchup, and brandy, if using. In another bowl, combine the shallots, garlic, capers, herbs, and hazelnuts, if using. This can be prepared up to an hour ahead.
• At the very last minute, chop the meat into 1/4 inch dice (not too fine) using a large sharp knife. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the meat, egg yolks, and mustard mixture with a fork. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in the shallot mixture and blend well.
• Divide the meat in four equal portions and arrange them in patties on serving plates (use cylindrical moulds if you have them). Serve immediately, with additional mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, ketchup, salt, and pepper on the table for each guest to adjust the seasoning.

Steps:

• Place the trimmed beef in the freezer for 20 minutes while you prep the rest of the ingredients. Meanwhile, butter the bread, wall to wall, then slather the mustard evenly among the two buttered slices. Finish each slice with a healthy schmear of the Vegemite.
• In a bowl, toss the red onion slices with a healthy pinch of salt, allowing the rings to separate, and soften a bit from the salting. Add the capers with a bit of their brine and the cress, celery leaves and parsley, and toss well, making a little salad.
• Working quickly, remove the meat from freezer. It will now be firm and easy to cut. Slice into 1/8-inch-thin slices. (We often wear doubled-up latex gloves to help keep the heat from our hands from transferring to the beef. The warmer the meat, the more difficult to cut beautifully. Also, this is the occasion for your sharpest knife.) Shingle the meat slices ever so slightly, and slice into 1/8-inch matchsticks.
• Turn your cutting board 180 degrees, and cut the matchsticks into 1/8-inch tiny dice, resembling the cut called brunoise.
• Transfer your elegantly hand-chopped meat to a glass, stainless or ceramic bowl, and season with the Worcestershire sauce, a couple pinches of coarse kosher salt and a few good grinds of black pepper, and toss together distributing the seasoning, using a fork.
• Distribute the seasoned beef evenly between the two slices of buttered, seasoned bread, and form into a patty, more or less, still using the fork. Arrange the salad over the beef artfully, distributing evenly between the two portions. Give the whole enterprise a healthy finishing grind of black pepper.
• Nestle each yolk, still in its half shell if using raw, into the mound, and let each guest turn the yolk out onto the tartare before eating. If using cooked yolk, microplane the yolk over the tartare to finish.