Steak Tartare with Herby Tonnato Sauce
oooooooooooh she's fancy
True story: I have been thinking about developing a tartare recipe for over a year, and used my obsessive preoccupation as an excuse to ask all my “cook friends” what kind of meat they used. My friend and food stylist for the show, Cybelle Tondu, worked at Estela back in the day, and she had stories about portioning lots of diced aged grass-fed beef into half-pint containers before service. Sirloin, top round, and chuck are popular choices—they’re lean but not dry, and deliver good beefy flavor. Other sources touted ribeye, but to me there’s way too much fat, not only in the marbling, but also in fatty pockets here and there. I love how that fat melts when you’re cooking a thick steak, but I don’t want to have to trim that to make tartare (waste of product and money).
In the end, Alivia Bloch, who also food styles on my video shoots, was most clear with me about fillet: lean but rich, fluffy when cut, soft-textured but not mushy on the tooth. I trust them, so that’s what I went with.
I think we as home cooks worry a lot about making raw protein dishes at home, but if you put your fear of food-borne illness aside, this dish is as easy to make as a chopped salad. Plus, it’s fun! And feels decadent! And probably surprising if you’re having friends over for a meal (or even just snacks). With regard to handling raw meat, my advice is the same as when purchasing any animal protein: buy from a vendor with a good track record, tell them what you are using it for (they don’t want you to get sick, either!), and make this dish within a day of buying the meat. Make sure it stays very cold and this is akin to eating a runny egg or a rare steak.1
I had other fears, to be honest with you. I didn’t want to make a dish that required you to prep and assemble all the ingredients separately, the way they do in actual restaurants, before spooning a raw egg yolk on top and telling you to mix it all together at the table. If I’m encouraging you to eat raw meat, I don’t want to complicate that by also suggesting you eat a raw egg. Slow down, sister! I also didn’t want you to make your own aioli as part of this journey. The goal was a delicious tartare mixture that you could season and adjust before serving, and a nod to the creamy things that are usually served with it—whether it’s the raw egg or the homemade mayo, there’s always something. There was some thinking to do.