Primitive instinct: how tartars became a must-have on the menu
Even 10 years ago, a dish of chopped raw meat with spices would have caused confusion among most restaurant guests and would most likely have been asked to heat it. And today, without tartare, it is already impossible to imagine a section of cold appetizers, where it can be presented in several varieties. Izvestia looked into the secret of the success of this dish in our country and what varieties of tartare are found in Russian restaurants in different cities today.
Why tartars have become so popular
Over the past decade, tartare has become an almost obligatory restaurant snack, with which it is customary to start a dinner or other feast. Ideally, this is a delicious dietary dish with a delicate and at the same time piquant spicy taste, which is easily digested and goes well with a glass of wine.
"Tartare is the most versatile dish that is perfect for any season and time of day," Evgeny Alexandrov, chef of Bruno Steakhouse (Moscow), told Izvestia. — In summer, it can be a fresh, bright and juicy seafood option, and in the cooler season, a more restrained beef option.
Classic beef tartare
Today, there is no standard or reference recipe for tartare, but there are several classic combinations, our interlocutor continues. For example, simple and natural Italian, in which good olive oil, lemon juice, salt and black pepper are added to raw meat, or French, which is more intense in taste, where, in addition to beef, there are also shallots, capers, gherkins, mustard (often Dijon), egg yolk and Worcestershire sauce. The Bruno menu features Japanese wagyu beef tartare with a maximum degree of marbling, characterized by special juiciness and tenderness. The meat in the dish is combined with pickled white onion, dark soy sauce, fried bone marrow, onion, black caviar and egg yolk.
— I think the phenomenon of tartare's success is that in this form the product reveals itself very well in taste, and it is also a very good starter snack — tasty, understandable, interesting, — says Sergey Balashov, brand chef of Leo and 800°C Contemporary Steak restaurants (Moscow). — And in the last 10 years, chefs have started to cook them really cool from all kinds of ingredients, they have more subtleties and meaningfulness.
Bonfire tartare with cheese and horseradish
For meat tartars, our interlocutor uses veal and marbled beef. At the same time, he explained that each cut reveals itself in its own way in terms of saturation, meat aromatics and texture. In order to better convey all the subtleties of taste and the maximum number of useful properties already embedded in the raw piece, in each case it is necessary to use a certain chopping (with a knife or meat grinder), taking into account its cutting angle and the size of the cube. For tartare in Leo, the brand chef chose the upper part of the rump, because, in his opinion, despite all the versatility, this part has a special "character". Sliced meat is combined with spices and a sauce cooked on yolks with mustard, white onion, herbs and a small amount of tabasco and vinegar. An additional creamy touch to the snack is given by a finely grated mixture of cheese and horseradish root.
How to choose meat for tartare
In the classic version of tartare, raw beef is used. In this case, the extreme parts of the tenderloin are usually taken — this is the tender part of the meat, which is easy to chew even in its raw form.
— Different types of meat are suitable for tartare, for example: beef, veal, goat, venison, horse meat, mutton, — says Igor Shiyanov, chef of the Red Wall restaurant (Nizhny Novgorod). — Various Russian regions consume more meat of one kind or another, so sometimes you can start getting acquainted with their gastronomic traditions with local tartare.
Beef tartare with pickled fern and tete de moine cheese
To prepare tartare, they usually take the thin edge of a meat tenderloin, thigh flesh, rump and pickle, our expert continues. There is no clear opinion about which meat is better — fatter or leaner. It is important to choose high-quality pieces, paying attention to the smell, color and elasticity. In addition, it must be refrigerated. For safety reasons, it is better to buy a tenderloin or a prepared steak from a well-known and trusted manufacturer packaged in a vacuum for a raw snack. Tartare at Red Wall is made from farmed beef tenderloin, as it is leaner. Instead of capers, fern is added to the dish, as well as a barrel cucumber, which is not often found in this snack.
Another promising area in Russian gastronomy is related to the use of wild animal meat in tartars. This trend is typical for both metropolitan restaurants and local projects in regions rich in game. In a sense, tartare even echoes the gastronomic traditions of those places where there are local meat dishes eaten raw or with minimal heat treatment.
—The meat of animals such as deer, elk or roe deer has unique features, and their tartars have a denser texture and a rich sweet taste, often with nutty notes," Oleg Belyakov, chef of Sampo restaurant (Murmansk), shared his feelings. — Wild boar meat and even badger meat are also promising for tartars. Wildlife gives it interesting distinctive properties that cannot be found in products produced on farms.
Tartare with venison
Game meat used in its raw form requires very careful processing, even if it comes from trusted suppliers, our interlocutor continues. To eliminate possible parasites, the meat is initially frozen at a temperature of no more than -18 ° C. Ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, and spice sauces are added to it, which on the one hand perform sanitary tasks, and on the other — emphasize the taste. The Sampo restaurant prepares tartare from deer meat, which is most suitable for this dish and perfectly combines with northern berries and herbs.
What kind of tartars are made from fish and seafood
Fish tartars are no less popular today than meat tartars. Such dishes provide an opportunity to fully enjoy the natural and fresh taste of fish. In addition, they are useful because they contain many vitamins, fatty acids, minerals, are not very high in calories and are well absorbed.
—Any fresh wild or farmed sea fish is suitable for tartare, most often the appetizer is made from salmon, trout or tuna, but there are many other options," Denis Krupenya, brand chief of Atlantica Group (Atlantica and Atlantica Bistro in Moscow), explained to our publication. — As for the proportions, I like it when the tartare is 100% fish, but I have often seen good combinations with algae, avocado, vegetables, caviar, fruits, etc.
Trout tartare with avocado, wakme and wafu sauce
According to our expert, fish grown in aquaculture is safer because their health is carefully monitored and, if necessary, antibiotics are used, so they are less susceptible to infection by parasites. When preparing tartare from such a product, you can limit yourself to salt only or use an acidic component for sanitary purposes, for example, sauce for ceviche or ponzu. At Atlantica Restaurant, you can taste wild sockeye salmon tartare with scorched avocado and red caviar, with bright notes of teriyaki sauce. Another version of this snack is made from yellowfin tuna with chimichurri sauce, tobiko caviar and sesame seeds. And Atlantica Bistro recently introduced tuna tartare enhanced with tonatto sauce, which is served in a ring of custard dough, in the manner of the French dessert Paris-Brest.
— Fish and seafood tartars originally appeared in France, and it seems that this still had nothing to do with the fame of their more ancient meat counterparts, so both culinary trends were actively developing independently of each other, — Alexey Pavlovsky, chef of the Alaska gastrobar (Moscow), shared his opinion. — I think it would be correct to say that tartars appeared in Russia and gained serious popularity with the advent of foreign chefs.
According to our interlocutor, tuna and farmed salmon are ideal for fish tartars. The first one has a dense texture, which seems to bring it closer to beef. Red fish meat, on the contrary, is more tender, retains its shape well when sliced, has a special pleasant taste and delicate aroma.
Tartarus philadelphia
Sauces that neatly and appropriately emphasize the taste of fish and seafood play an important role in sea tartars. For example, for the sockeye salmon version in Alaska, a sauce based on capers, fresh lime and olive oil is used. And for scallop tartare, a dressing is prepared with the addition of soy sauce and kimchi sauce.
— I think that seafood tartars are still the legacy of sashimi and the boom of Japanese cuisine that came in the 2010s, — suggests Alexander Kucherov, brand chef of 0.75 Please Moscow restaurant. — When raw meat in a plate still raised questions among most guests in the regions, raw seafood was already the norm for them.
Shrimp tartare with pickled tomatoes and masha sprouts
For seafood tartare, our expert definitely advises choosing Murmansk scallop or ama ebi shrimp. In order to balance the natural sweetness of these products, it is enough to add salt and the acid component from citrus fruits. In one of the special sets of 0.75 Please Moscow, tartare from the aforementioned Magadan shrimp was presented with tarragon and parsley aioli, powdered dried dill, which gave the dish an additional flavor of herbs, as well as lime juice and zest, responsible for light notes of freshness.
What are vegetable tartars made with?
The evolution of tartars in Russian restaurants continues, and today it is increasingly possible to find vegetable versions of this dish.
— Vegetable tartars appeared in our country due to the trend towards veganism and healthy eating, — Dmitry Golenin, chef of the Sage restaurant (Moscow), shares his opinion. — People are looking for an alternative to meat dishes, and chefs offer them popular items, but with completely new flavor combinations. This happened with tartare, which in recent years has become not just a way of cooking, but a whole trend in gastronomy and has grown beyond a purely meat snack.
Dried eggplant tartare
This spring, Chef Golenin has included eggplant tartare with almonds in a special vegan menu at Sage. Interestingly, the texture of this vegetable, with a certain cooking technology, begins to resemble meat. Before being served, the eggplant goes through five stages of preparation — it is cleaned, baked, pressed, marinated and wilted. The entire cooking process takes a total of several days. Tartare also uses three types of tomatoes — salted, dried, fresh, as well as two types of onions. The dish is balanced with tarragon, basil, almond petals. There are no eggs, cheeses, or mousses in it — only natural, fragrant, and delicious vegetables.
— It's still not quite right to call vegetable dishes tartare, there is a substitution of the concept, - says Alexey Alekseev, restaurateur and concept chef of the restaurants Futurist, Inner and Itameshi (St. Petersburg). — There's nothing wrong with that, it's just that we're no longer dealing with a classic recipe, but rather with a more fashionable item name. From the original tartare in such dishes, in fact, only the slicing method remains.
Beef tartare with marinated pike caviar and potato chips
The most common vegetable option today is cucumber tartare with green butter, classic olive oil citronette with lemon juice, or some more complex fermented dressing, our expert continues. Vegetable tartars can also be based on cauliflower, broccoli, celery root (both fresh and baked), that is, almost any root vegetables that can be eaten raw.
But with the help of vegetables, you can enrich a meat snack with new interesting meanings. As an example, the concept chef cited beef tartare from the menu of the Futurist restaurant, the recipe of which includes potato chips, a lightly salted cucumber and a spoonful of pike caviar, which gives it the flavor of a Russian dish.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
