Mini steak tartare on gingerbread toasts (EN)

Credit photo Ketchup Book

And this is how I made an American girl eat steak tartare! Quite a challenge actually, considering American have a natural aversion for raw meat!

But steak tartare is a delicatessy for meatlovers. And the recipe is really simple as far as you get a super tender and good quality piece of steak from your butcher. And lucky as I am, I've got a supernice butchery at the corner of my street. I've bought there super fresh and tender beef fillet, invested in a "chef" knife and here it is, I am ready to try this classic recipe!

Because, as I've just said, all the success of this dish lies in the meat, but also it's so much better when you cut it "au couteau"! Indeed for me, a steak tartare with minced meat is then "steak haché préparé"! Which is called here in Belgium "Américain préparé" and used as spread for sandwiches. It's certainly good but has nothing to do with the delicacy you will obtain here.

For this recipe, as always, I tried to revisit my classics and decided to serve a traditionally-prepared steak tartare in small portions and on gingerbread toast. And actually even the less-tempted didn't resist to the unusual contrast between the sweetness of gingerbread with the sourness of capers, pickles and onions mixed to the meat. A real experience! And also less heavy.

As I said, I really followed the traditional recipe but instead of seasoning the meat in the preparation, I let the guests toping their toasts with the sauce, depending on how seasoned they wanted it.

Ingredients for 8 people

600g beef fillet
8 big gherkins
2 tbsp capers
3  shallots
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1 tablespoon of chopped basil

For the sauce :

3 egg yolks
7 drops of Tabasco
1½ teaspoons of Worcestershire or soya sauce
25g Ketchup
10g Mustard
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Beef preparation

Finely chop the gherkins, capers, shallot and parsley.

Finely slice the beef and then dice the slices in tiny pieces.

Put all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Season it with salt & pepper. Mix the ingredients together until they are thoroughly combined. 

To make the typical, rounded shape, put a large pastry cutter on your toast (or plate if you eat it the traditional way), fill it with the mixture remove the pastry cutter and serve.

For the sauce :

Beat the yolks. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it thoroughly. Serve it apart or mix it directly to the beef.

My tip : as this is raw meat, you can store your preparation. If you get some leftovers, directly freeze them or cook them. The preparation will be delicious for a burger for instance or as stuffing for vegetables.