Steak Tartare

I admit Steak Tartare may not be something you associate with winter food.
It's cold, it's fresh and would fit much better into a light summer dish.

However, after lots of braised meat, we felt like having something lighter for dinner.

When younger I used to be absolutely disgusted by the idea of eating raw meat.
Sushi kind of paved the way at the turn of the millennium for me to be more open-minded and willing to experiment with raw fish and meat.
But it certainly took me a while and an incredibly good Steak Tartare hors d'oeuvre I was served in a restaurant once, to get used to the idea.

Most important with dishes like this is definitely the freshness of the ingredients.
Therefore get your meat from a butcher you trust and fresh (organic) eggs.

Here is what you need for two servings (large portions) or 4 servings (appetizer size):

400g of beef tenderloin/filet
2 shallots finely chopped
2 tsp parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp chive, finely chopped
1 tsp of capers, finely chopped
2 small pickles/cornichons finely chopped
1 tsp (hot) mustard
6 splashes of Tabasco
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper

Also:
two egg yolks (4 small egg yolks, if it is for 4 servings)
good balsamic vinegar or crema di balsamico

Directions:

Remove fat and connective tissue from the meat if necessary.
Chop the meat very finely with a sharp knife (NOT in the meat grinder)
Mix together with all the other ingredients.
Form 2-4 patties and create a little crater on the top surface of each of them.
Carefully place an egg yolk in each crater.

Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar or crema di balsamcio.

Serve immediately with salad and (toasted) bread.

Notes:
All the measurements for the ingredients are approximately. Feel free to adjust and season to taste.
I used more mustard, worcestershire sauce and capers then asked in the recipe for example.

Oh yeah, and the birds are happy about their never ending winter food supply as well!

Why Onglet and Bavette is the new Filet

I love a good medium-rare Filet Mignon. It's tender and when prepared correctly almost melts in your mouth. The only problem with filet, compared to other parts of a cow, is that it is not as flavorful. It doesn't have much fat and comes without a bone, which both usually add quite a bit of flavour to the meat. It's also kind of "lazy" meat and doesn't get used much by a cow, means, it sits nicely protected in a body part where there is not much muscle activity, which as well, would make more flavourful meat.

There are however parts that get used a lot and are quite active. That's where butchers cut steaks such as Bavette or Onglet. Bavette, which is also called Flank-steak is cut from the abdominal muscles of the cow. Onglet, or Hanger-steak, is V-shaped and obtained from the diaphragm of the heifer or the steer. Both are significantly tougher than other meats. Therefore it's best prepared when marinated and quickly seared on both sides for about 3 minutes in a hot cast-iron pan. When served you're better to cut it into thin slices. With thin and tough cuts like this, you should only salt the meat after searing it.

original image found on wikipedia

Especially Onglet used to be what butchers would rather keep for themselves. Everyone likes their meat to be as tender as possible, so there has not been much interest in those kinds of cuts, until now.
But a butcher's preference can't be that bad, right? And really, it's not that tough if you prepare it right. Just make sure it stays medium rare or absolute maximum medium. Then everything should be fine.

In a very hot (cast iron) pan sear the steaks on both sides for 2.5-3 minutes

Onglet is so strong in flavour that it almost tastes organy, like liver or heart. For some people maybe a bit too intense. Bavette is a little milder, so that might be a better to start off with. But really Onglet is pretty damn good. You should try it.

After searing, wrap the steaks in aluminium foil and let it sit for at least 6 minutes.

Here in Germany Onglet and Bavette are so unpopular, or let's better say unknown, that they get sold (if they get sold) surprisingly cheap. We bought both at Galerie Lafayette, that fancy department store on Friedrichstraße. They were well-aged and each costed around 10€ for about 500g. That's nothing over here, where 100g of filet usually ranges between 4 and 8€.

it's perfect when it's medium rare!

PS: we ate ours unmarinated. Just had it reach room temperature, rubbed it in crushed pepper corns and a tiny bit of olive oil and seared it from both sides for 2.5 - 3 minutes in an extremely hot cast iron pan. Than wrapped the steaks in aluminum foil and had them rest for at least 6 minutes.

Donald Russell- a welcome visitor from Scotland

A few days ago Donald Russell from Scotland was

paying a visit to our little Berlin apartment.

That's one of the best beef you can get, 

especially in Europe/Germany. 

It is indeed a bit pricey (7.80Euros per 100g of filet). 

But you have to invest in good dry aged meat...

The filets came in a box and were dark red. 

Due to the dry aging they weren't very wet and 

bloody either.

We almost got no drippings out of it.

But believe me: that's always a very good sign. 

Who needs drippings when the meat is outstandingly 

flavourful and tender.

For filets they were surprisingly fatty and rich. 

A good sign, as well cause the fat made them even 

more tender and yummy.

precious looking filet

We took it out of the oven after 20-25 minutes...

...and it turned out to be perfectly medium rare!

And: Truffle...

I bought my first truffle. It smelled fanastic and wasn´t even as expensive as I thought.
Maybe because I didn´t get a summer truffle.
Ten grams of that would have been 43 € whereas mine was only 5,98 € for ten grams.
I guess that's a bit of a difference.
I grated it into thin slices and served it on top of filet and pasta.
But I have to say I wasn't really impressed.
I don't know what I did wrong but I could hardly taste any truffle.
My white truffle butter was far better! And less expensive...
I know using truffle oil is one of the major sins, because they always use
artificial flavors to create/imitate the typical truffle aroma.
Nevertheless: I LOVE TRUFFLE OIL.
It tastes like truffle and that's what's most important to me...


















That's my "Guilty-face"while buying the truffle.

 


















  That´s my "Happy-Face" after buying the truffle.