steak tartare, dish made of chopped or minced raw beefsteak bound by raw egg yolk and seasoned with mustard, capers, and other ingredients.
In French, tartare refers to the Tatar people of Central Asia, which was perceived as a place from which exotic foods came. One such food was the gherkin, incorporated into a sauce made with mayonnaise and sharp mustard that was perfected by the iconic French chef Georges-Auguste Escoffier. The name and basic recipe survive in tartar sauce, which is used to dress fish that, usually, has been breaded and fried.
Writing in 1894, the Swiss-born French chef and encyclopaedist Joseph Favre traced the sauce not to Central Asia but instead to Poland, calling it à la polonaise, “in the Polish style,” but the term tartare was by that time well established. The term was later extended to refer not to the sauce but instead to the result of chopping raw meat or raw fish into a hash with a sharp knife, as in tartare de saumon (salmon tartare) and tartare de thon (tuna tartare) as well as tartare de boeuf (steak tartare).
Originally, at least in some dining establishments, beef thus treated was called à l’Américaine, “in the American style,” presumably because in popular belief Americans ate meat raw. Thus, in his classic Le Guide culinaire (1903), Escoffier included a dish called “Beefsteak à l’Américaine,” with tartar sauce served on the side. Steak tartare had begun to appear on a few menus in French bistros and restaurants in the late 19th century, but it became more common in the early 20th century and truly popular in the 1950s.
It is said that the original meat in tartare was not beef but horse, though this is likely a myth. Today, classic steak tartare is made by mincing high-quality beef, such as sirloin or tenderloin, that has been trimmed of fat and sinew. To beaten egg yolks are added ingredients such as Dijon mustard and chopped anchovies. Other ingredients such as Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, cognac, and ketchup may be added as well. (The American chef Anthony Bourdain, who once helmed the New York upper-end French restaurant Brasserie Les Halles, used them all, as well as parsley, capers, and cornichons.) The meat and egg mixture are then combined to form patties. Often topped with diced onion, greens, or a raw egg yolk, steak tartare may be accompanied by bread, such as toast points, or fried potatoes.
Because meat contains high levels of protein, it is highly valued as a food source. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture explicitly warns that eating raw or undercooked meat carries a high risk of exposure to bacterial or viral foodborne illness. The agency advises that raw beef, pork, lamb, and veal be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F (62.8 °C) as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source.