Steak tartare occupies an interesting space in the French culinary canon – it’s never quite in fashion, but it’s also never out of fashion. It just is. Perennially and unashamedly itself.
Originally, steak tartare was served with tartare sauce (hence, the name). But over the course of the 20th century, this dish gradually merged with another one called steak à l’americaine. Eventually, the tartare sauce was dropped and the now classic line-up of capers, onions or shallots, Worcestershire sauce and cornichons – with a raw egg yolk on top – was landed on. These days, it’s a brasserie classic, usually served with some form of crisp carb – sometimes toasts, sometimes French fries or gaufrettes. It’s hard to go wrong.
Raw meat served with an array of garnishes and accompaniments is of course not an idea that’s exclusively French – most of the world’s cultures have arrived at variations or analogues for steak tartare in their own cuisines at some point or other – Levantine kibbeh nayyeh, Ethiopian kifto, Polish befsztyk tatarski, Brazilian carne de onça – which is why we’ve decided to include those steak tartare-adjacent dishes in this collection, too.
Thi Le’s beef tartare with herbs and nuoc cham
Wagyu kafta nayeh, radish and fried pita bread
Steak tartare with horseradish cream and shoestring fries
Steak tartare with toasted brioche and cornichons
Beef tartare with baharat spice, hummus and lemon sauce
Alla Wolf-Tasker’s tartare with pickled shallot
Summer-vegetable tartare with potato gaufrettes
