Pt. 3 Cooking With Offal - Beef Heart Tartare
This was probably one of the most risky recipes I have ever made, but you know what they say - higher the risk, higher the reward. And I have to say, this one really turned out to be super yummy! If you have never had tartare before, it is a dish made from finely chopping raw meat. This is believed to have originated in Mongolia and eventually made its way to the West, where variations of it have since been adapted.
Tartare as I have known it was typically Tuna or Steak/Beef. It is mixed with some sort of sauce, and served with fries, bread, or crackers. If you have never had this dish before you might be thinking “but it’s raw beef, that can’t be safe to eat.” I promise it is, as long as it is made with high quality ingredients that have been handled properly.
For my tartare, I wanted to utilize my over 2 pound Beef Heart from the farm. Beef heart is very lean which means it is extremely easy to overcook; had I cooked this, it likely would have been prepared very rare anyway, so I figured I would just not cook it at all!
By the way, just a few pros for consuming Beef Heart:
Very lean
Highly flavorful, deep beefy richness to it
Inexpensive
High in Iron and Vitamin B-12
Once my beef heart was completely cleaned, with all skin and tissue removed, I refroze it for about an hour until it was really firm - this makes it so much easier to dice up. I then very finely minced it up into the smallest pieces I could manage.
Working quickly, I mixed my minced heart with the following (all ingredients are to taste, I didn’t measure anything on this one… SORRY)
Mayonaise
Dijon Mustard
Minced Capres
Grated Garlic
Grated Shallot
Salt & Pepper
1 Full Egg
Minced Fresh Parsley
I formed the mixture onto my serving plate into a sort of round, cylindrical shape and made a small well in the middle. In that well, I added the raw yolk from a fresh brown egg. When you dive into the tartare, the yolk will act basically as an additional layer of flavor like a sauce.
We enjoyed this on some toasted baguette with a bit of sriracha for a spicy kick. Highly recommend! Trying new foods can seem a little scary, especially when the dish is comprised of raw meat, but it really can be fun to experiment a little with adventurous recipes.
If you don’t have the stomach to prepare it at home yourself, definitely order tartare when it’s on the menu in a restaurant!
Oh, by the way, the heart itself cost $8 and was over two pounds - you would likely see tartare in a restaurant that is a fraction of this quantity but for triple the price! Another perk of trying new things at home.
I hope you guys give this one a try or tartare in general a try… cheers!