Steak tartare is a dish of finely chopped or minced raw beef, seasoned and served completely uncooked. It typically arrives at the table as a neat mound of hand-cut meat topped with a raw egg yolk, surrounded by small piles of mix-ins like capers, minced shallots, and cornichons. The dish is a staple of French bistro cuisine that became widely popular in the 1950s, though it had appeared on Parisian menus as early as the late 1800s.
What Goes Into Steak Tartare
The foundation is high-quality raw beef, almost always a lean, tender cut like tenderloin (filet mignon). Lean meat is preferred because fat in raw beef can feel greasy and unpleasant on the palate. Some cooks prefer sirloin or top round for more robust flavor, but tenderloin remains the classic choice because of its soft, buttery texture.
The meat is dressed simply: olive oil or mayonnaise, salt, pepper, a splash of wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and sometimes a few drops of Worcestershire sauce. Much of the dish’s appeal comes from the finely minced garnishes layered in or served alongside the beef. Capers, cornichons (tiny tart pickles), shallots, chives, and parsley each add sharp, bright notes that cut through the richness of the raw meat. A raw chicken egg yolk or whole quail egg is placed on top as a finishing touch, meant to be broken and stirred into the beef at the table. Toast points or thin slices of bread are served on the side for scooping.
One common presentation style is to season the beef with just the basics and then arrange all the garnishes separately on the plate, letting each person mix in as much or as little as they want.
Why It’s Called “Tartare”
The name has nothing to do with how the dish was invented. In French, “tartare” refers to the Tatar people of Central Asia, a name that evoked exotic, far-flung cuisine in the European imagination. The word first attached itself to a cold, mayonnaise-based condiment called sauce tartare. When Parisian restaurants began serving raw chopped beef in the late 1800s, they originally called it “beefsteak à l’Américaine,” because of a popular belief that Americans ate their meat raw. The legendary French chef Escoffier listed exactly this dish in his 1903 cookbook, served with tartar sauce on the side.
Over time, the sauce’s name migrated to the meat itself. “Tartare” eventually became a general term for any raw protein chopped into a fine hash, which is why you now see salmon tartare, tuna tartare, and other variations on menus worldwide. There’s a persistent claim that the original meat was horse rather than beef, but this is likely a myth.
Hand-Chopped vs. Ground
In most serious restaurants, steak tartare is chopped by hand with a sharp knife rather than pushed through a meat grinder. This matters for two reasons: texture and safety.
Hand-chopping produces small, distinct pieces of meat with a slightly irregular texture that feels more interesting in the mouth than the uniform paste you get from a grinder. Buying a whole piece of tenderloin and cutting it yourself also reduces the risk of bacterial contamination, because the interior of an intact cut of beef is essentially sterile. A meat grinder, on the other hand, mixes surface bacteria throughout the meat. One well-documented 1984 outbreak of Salmonella in Wisconsin was traced directly to an incompletely sanitized meat grinder. For home cooks, starting with a whole cut and chopping it fresh is the safer approach.
Safety Risks of Raw Beef
Eating any raw meat carries real risk. The three pathogens of greatest concern in raw beef are Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli O157:H7, a strain that can cause severe illness. The USDA’s official position is straightforward: do not eat raw or undercooked ground beef. The agency recommends cooking all ground beef to an internal temperature of 160°F to destroy harmful bacteria. In the United States, a zero-tolerance standard exists for E. coli O157:H7 in raw beef products.
Professional kitchens manage the risk through strict sourcing and handling. The cold chain is critical: raw beef must stay at 40°F or below from slaughter through service. Restaurants that serve tartare typically buy from trusted suppliers, use the freshest possible meat, keep it refrigerated until the moment of preparation, and prepare each portion to order. Some producers have begun using high-pressure processing, a non-thermal technique that reduces pathogens without cooking the meat or significantly changing its flavor and texture.
Certain people face higher risks from raw meat. Young children, older adults, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system are more vulnerable to foodborne illness from the bacteria that can be present in raw beef.
Similar Dishes Around the World
Steak tartare is the most famous raw meat dish, but plenty of other cultures have their own versions. Italy has carne cruda, a Piedmontese preparation of raw beef dressed with olive oil and lemon juice that looks similar to tartare but tastes brighter and simpler. Korean cuisine features yukhoe, raw beef seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and Asian pear, often topped with a raw egg yolk. In Lebanon and Syria, kibbeh nayyeh is made from raw lamb pounded with fine bulgur wheat and spices into a smooth paste.
The “tartare” label itself has expanded well beyond beef. Salmon tartare and tuna tartare are now common on restaurant menus, following the same principle of finely chopped raw protein with bright, acidic seasonings. The technique is the same even when the protein changes: fresh, high-quality raw ingredient, cut into small pieces, dressed simply, and served immediately.
What to Expect When Ordering
If you’ve never tried steak tartare, the texture surprises most people. It’s soft and cool, closer to sashimi than to any cooked beef dish. The flavor is mild and clean, with the seasoning and garnishes doing most of the heavy lifting. The egg yolk adds richness and helps bind everything together when mixed in. You eat it by spreading small amounts onto toast or crackers.
Portions are typically small, around four ounces of meat per serving, because the dish is rich and meant as an appetizer or light main course. At a good restaurant, the meat should taste fresh and faintly sweet, with no metallic or off flavors. If anything tastes or smells wrong, that’s a sign the beef isn’t fresh enough for raw preparation.