A firm favourite, I made this on Monday for a neighbour who claims only to eat raw meat and fish (so we won't be going there for lunch any time soon!). Yes, it is eaten raw but don't be afraid: in reality it's lightly cured by the tartare, ideally for a couple of hours. Anything left over can be cooked up the next day as a hamburger, unusually for me, one to have with ketchup rather than barbecue sauce (I found a fantastic version of this which involves chillies and liquid smoke. All other barbecue sauces can get lost as far as I am concerned).
Anyway, this is made from the loin or fillet which MUST be very finely hand cut (never minced despite what some recipes may recommend - or restaurants do) so it's a lot easier to do this in a semi-frozen state (the meat, not you). Of course, most recipes call for beef steak or, in Piedmont, veal, but venison is every bit as delicious and can also take a mild smoking.
For four people, you will need around 500g lean meat (see previous paragraph). In a bowl, mix 200g finely chopped shallots, 75g finely chopped capers (rinsed!), 1 tbs tomato ketchup, 10ml brandy, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, as much Tabasco sauce as you care for and a liberal amount of freshly ground salt and black pepper. Mix the meat in with this and leave it in the fridge for an hour or two before serving.
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Chips are an essential accompaniment and a simple salad works well too. Purists would no doubt insist on a French wine with beef steak tartare and a Barolo/Nebbiolo for veal tartare but this is venison so I made my own call and went with Fabrizio Battaglino's Roero Riserva (but any of his red wines would work wonderfully with this). The neighbour loved it, by the way. More importantly, so did I. |
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