Vegetarians beware – there’s a bumpy road ahead - steak tartare

I know you’re thinking – what’s next. First we went to an ancient festival in Provence where the sheep run through the villages to the mountains to escape the heat of summer and then dined on a delicious leg of lamb. Next I presented a lovely rabbit dish and several of you could only think of the bunny in your garden and said, “oh no, not me.” I understand. I really do. I couldn’t eat the fat little rabbit we used to see in our garden that we nicknamed Edward, and called, “Run Edward run,” every time we let our Collie out the door. But the rabbit we had last time had no name and he was delicious.

But beware. The French love to eat all of the parts and some things can be easily confused. As an example, le ris de veau could easily be confused for rice, which is riz. Le ris de veau is sweetbreads, which we adore and ate several times while we were in Provence. It was prepared in a rich cream sauce and was to die for. But don’t worry, I’m not preparing sweetbreads today. However, if you are a vegetarian, please just enjoy these lovely old vintage cars, mostly from the thirties, as they drove around the ring road that circles Saint-Remy-de-Provence on their way to a car show in Beaucaire. We think the blue one below was a boattail Bugatti, but we’re not sure. If you can identify any of them, please let me know. Now, if you’re ready for a true meat lover’s treat, stay with me.

The next dish is a French classic and one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorites. Anthony, or Tony as he’s sometimes called, is the Travel Channel’s host of “No Reservations. I write, I eat, I travel and I’m hungry for more.” Tony will eat almost anything. The dish I’m about to prepare is from his Les Halles cookbook, which I have and love if you’re into classic French cuisine. Here’s a link to his recipe on The Foodinista. Les Halles is the kind of cookbook you can just sit and read for hours if you enjoy Tony’s matter of speaking, which is pretty blunt for some tastes.

This recipe is one of my husband Meakin’s specialties and it’s been in his family for years. Meakin loves to tell the story about his grandfather Papa sampling some of the hors d’oeurves his mother Bette had made before a cocktail party years ago. Papa found a tray of small party rye breads with a little mound of something he didn’t recognize with sliced French cornichon pickles on top. After he devoured several, he said, “Bette, these are wonderful.” “Dad, I thought you didn’t like raw meat.” “You know I don’t Bette.” “Well you must, because that’s steak tartare.”

Steak tartare is very finely chopped raw sirloin mixed with onions, capers and seasonings served on toast or party rye. It is imperative that you use the finest and freshest steak available since it’s eaten raw. Steak tartare is a bistro dish in France and is traditionally served with frites, French for fries, and a salad. Sometimes Meakin chops his own meat by hand as Bourdain does, but if you’ll tell the butcher that you plan to serve it raw and you know the store and the quality of meat they sell, the butcher can chop it for you. Be sure to take it home promptly, don’t let it get warm in the car, and eat it right away. You can also use a meat grinder, but never, and I repeat, never use the food processor. It turns the meat to mush. Serve it with fries (I made oven fries), a green salad, and pour a nice glass of red wine or a good cold beer. We like a good French Cote du Rhone. Select your guests carefully, because this is way too good to have someone throw it away.

Meakin’s Steak Tartare

Put one egg yolk in a bowl and add ½ teaspoon prepared horseradish, 2 anchovy filets, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce, 3 good shakes of Tabasco and mix well with a fork. Add ¾ of a pound of top quality ground sirloin, ½ of a white onion, chopped, 2 teaspoons drained small capers (chop if large), and a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped flat leaf parsley and mix well. Season the mixture with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and taste. Sometimes he adds a teaspoon of ketchup as he sees fit after he tastes it. Serve immediately on slices of a toasted French bread or little party ryes that have been lightly smeared with good sweet cold butter. Top with thin slices of French cornichons if you like. (We like).

Printable recipe

Note: For some unknown reason he forgot the chopped parsley for the picture above. Don’t leave it out. It adds a fresh flavor in addition to color

Beaucaire