High Mountain Signature · carnivore
Beef Tartare, the Classic Preparation
Tartare is one of those dishes that separates cooks who use recipes from cooks who use standards. There's nothing to hide behind here — no sear, no sauce, no long braise — just cold beef, sharp acid, and your own judgment about the meat in front of you. That's exactly why we make it, and why we tell you to only make it with a strip you can trace back to a real pasture.
The Ranch Family
Ranch cooks · Northern Utah
The Story Behind It
Tartare a la Parisienne is a bistro staple that goes back to the late 1800s, when the beef was scraped from a whole cut with the back of a knife and served over toast with a raw yolk. The point was always texture — distinct grains of beef that stay separate on the plate and cool on the tongue. Grinding or food-processing it turns tartare into paste and defeats the whole preparation. What makes the dish intimidating isn't the technique; a sharp knife handles that. It's the meat: every step of the supply chain — pasture, processing, aging, cutting, temperature — matters when you serve it raw, which is why the good tartare only comes from kitchens that control their own beef.
Beef Tartare, the Classic Preparation
Raw beef, sharp knife, cold plate — the classic that only works with meat you trust.
- Total45 minServings4DifficultyAdvancedVibecarnivoreModecarnivore
Method
- 1
Chill everything cold
Set your strip steak in the freezer for 25-30 minutes — you want it firm and cold, not frozen solid. A knife slides cleaner through cold beef, and cold beef stays raw-tasting instead of sliding into that gamey warm-blood note that ruins tartare. While it firms up, put your cutting board, chef's knife, and a stainless mixing bowl in the freezer too. Set a second bowl nested inside a larger bowl of ice — this is where the diced meat will live once you're done. Any warmth in your tools is warmth transferred to the beef, and the beef doesn't have a sear to hide behind.
- 2
Trim and slice thin
Pull the steak from the freezer. Trim off every scrap of external fat, silverskin, and any grey oxidation on the outer surface — you want only ruby-red muscle on the board, nothing else. Lay the steak flat and slice against the grain into 1/8-inch sheets. Stack two or three of those sheets at a time, cut them into 1/8-inch strips, then cross-cut the strips into 1/8-inch cubes. Small brunoise, roughly the size of a grain of cooked rice. Move the diced meat into your ice-chilled bowl as you go and keep it cold — don't let it sit warm on the board.
- 3
Mise en place the aromatics
While the meat rests on ice, fine-dice one small shallot (about 2 tablespoons), 8-10 cornichons (about 2 tablespoons), and chop 2 tablespoons of drained capers. All three should be cut to roughly the same size as the meat cubes — this is a texture dish, and one clumsy chunk of shallot ruins the bite. Chop 1 tablespoon of flat-leaf parsley leaves, no stems. Separate 4 egg yolks into their own small ramekins or clean half-shells; keep them cold. Squeeze half a lemon into a small ramekin so you can measure the juice cleanly rather than squeezing over the bowl.
- 4
Season and fold
To the diced beef, add 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire, 4-6 dashes Tabasco (optional), 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Fold gently with two forks — don't crush the meat or you'll turn it into paste. Add the shallot, cornichons, capers, and parsley. Fold again just until distributed. Taste one small spoonful. It should be bright, savory, and sharp on the finish, with the mustard and pickle carrying it. Adjust with flaky salt and fresh-cracked pepper. It almost always needs more salt than you think — season by taste, not by measure.
- 5
Plate cold, top with yolk
Divide the tartare into four portions of about 3 ounces each on chilled plates. Use a 2.5- or 3-inch ring mold if you have one — pack the tartare in gently, don't compress it, then lift the mold straight up to leave a clean cylinder. If you don't have a mold, mound it with two spoons into a low dome. Make a small well in the top center of each portion and slip a raw yolk into it. Finish with a few more flakes of Maldon, a fresh crack of pepper, and a small drizzle of olive oil around the plate, not on the tartare itself.
- 6
Serve immediately with warm toast
Set the tartare in front of your guests within five minutes of dressing — the acid and salt will slowly cure the surface if it sits too long, and the yolk warms fastest of all. Serve with warm toast points: a good baguette sliced 1/4-inch thick on the bias, brushed lightly with olive oil, toasted at 400 degrees F for 6-8 minutes until crisp and gold at the edges but still with a little chew inside. Guests break the yolk into the meat themselves at the table, fold it through with the tines of a fork, and spread each bite onto toast.
Chef's Pro Tips
- →Hand-cut only. No grinder, no food processor, no meat pounder — grinding turns tartare into paste and defeats the entire dish.
- →Trim aggressively. Silverskin and connective tissue don't disappear in a raw preparation the way they might in a braise; you'll feel every strand.
- →Salt at the last possible moment. Salt applied early draws moisture out of the meat and the tartare goes tacky instead of clean.
- →If your chef's knife hasn't been sharpened in the last month, sharpen it now. A dull edge tears fiber instead of severing it, and you'll taste the difference in every bite.
- →One yolk per person, non-negotiable. Two makes it feel like breakfast.
Perfect Sides
Warm toast points
A good baguette sliced 1/4-inch thick on the bias, brushed with olive oil, and toasted at 400 degrees F for 6-8 minutes until gold at the edges with a little chew inside. Do not skip these — tartare without a vehicle is just seasoned beef.
Slide into the oven the moment you start plating the tartare; they should hit the table warm.
Frisee salad with Dijon-shallot vinaigrette
A small handful of frisee per person, tossed with a sharp vinaigrette (2 parts olive oil, 1 part red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon, minced shallot, salt, pepper). The bitterness cuts the richness of the yolk and beef.
Dress at the moment you sit down; frisee wilts fast under vinaigrette.
Bistro frites
Twice-fried Yukon golds cut 1/4-inch thick, first at 300 degrees F for 6 minutes to cook through, then at 375 degrees F for 3 minutes to crisp. Salted with flaky salt the moment they come out of the oil.
Do the first fry an hour ahead and hold on a rack. Do the second fry the moment guests sit down.
Pairings
Wine
Beaujolais cru — Morgon or Fleurie
Bright cherry fruit, low tannin, easy to drink cold. Tannin fights raw beef; Beaujolais gets out of the way and lets the yolk and Dijon do the work.
Beer
Belgian saison
Dry, peppery, high effervescence. The bubbles cut through the yolk richness and the yeasty finish echoes the shallot and cornichon.
Non-alc
Sparkling water with fresh grapefruit and two dashes of Angostura bitters
The bitter-citrus profile mirrors what wine or saison does at the table — bright, dry, structured — without the alcohol.
Shopping List
Your New York Strip Steaks (2-pack) is already in the fridge — this is for everything else.
Meat
- · 1 lb New York strip steak (High Mountain Meats — trim yields about 12-13 oz for 4 servings)
Produce
- · 1 small shallot
- · 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley
- · 1 lemon
Dairy & Eggs
- · 4 large pasture-raised eggs (for the yolks)
Pantry
- · Dijon mustard
- · Worcestershire sauce
- · Capers
- · Cornichons
- · Tabasco
- · Extra-virgin olive oil (a good bottle)
- · Flaky sea salt (Maldon)
- · Whole black peppercorns
Bakery
- · 1 baguette
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