Tartare recipe | The Ethical Butcher

We've taken this recipe from a classic, adapted by Rick Stein.

When we imagine tartare we tend to think of using fillet tail but the dish can be prepared from the eye round, which is a much cheaper cut. As it is a very lean cut, it works really well.

Many people don't like the idea of raw meat but wouldn't think twice about eating sushi. As long as the meat is fresh and the dish is served relatively quickly, it is perfectly safe to eat. This is great introduction to the wonderful, subtle flavours of our 100% pasture-raised beef.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

300g eye round (or fillet tail)
1 tbsp capers, rinsed, drained and chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 gherkin or 3 cornichons, finely chopped
3 dashes of Tabasco
½ tsp sea salt flakes
20 turns of black pepper
2 medium egg yolks (raw and separated)

Method:

A secret tip is to partially freeze the beef before hand chopping.

Place a 300g piece wrapped in parchment in the freezer. After 40 minutes check the meat to see if it is starting to freeze. If it is not, check again every 5-10 minutes – you want to get it as it's starting to freeze but before it becomes a solid block.

Using your best knife, cut the joint into 2mm slices across the grain.

Cut these slices into matchsticks then across to form a fine chop of cubes of roughly 2-3mm

Chop the other ingredients to the same size as the meat and gently incorporate. Do not include the egg yolks.

Place the mixture in the fridge to keep cool.

Put the chilled mixture into ramekins or other small dishes. You can even use a small glass, espresso cup or cookie cutter. Fill and turn out onto a plate.

Carefully make a dent in the top of the turned out tartare with the back of a spoon and place a very fresh separated egg yolk in the dent.

Season with a few twists of black or pink pepper.

Serve with crackers, cornichons, melba toast or a simple salad as you wish.