Steak Tartare

• 2 pounds beef fillet, sirloin, or top round, with no fat
• 2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
• ½ cup capers
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup cognac
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Tabasco
• 6 anchovy fillets (optional)

Garnish:

• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 6 egg yolks (optional)

The best steak tartare is made of chopped (not ground) fillet. Cut the meat into finger strips and then chop it very fine, using a heavy chef’s knife. If this seems too arduous, buy sirloin or top round and have it ground twice.

If you have a food processor, cut the meat into cubes and put into the processor with the onions, roughly cut up, capers, mustard, cognac, parsley, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and anchovy fillets. Do not add egg yolks.

Process until the meat is finely ground and well mixed with the other ingredients.

If you do not have a food processor, combine the chopped or ground meat with the onions, capers, mustard, egg yolks, cognac, parsley, salt, pepper, and Tabasco to taste. You may, if you wish, add finely chopped anchovy fillets (in which case, reduce the salt, as anchovies are very salty), or serve the whole anchovy fillets on the side. Mix everything together very well and taste for seasoning.

Steak tartare can be served in a bowl, sprinkled with the parsley, or formed into 6 mounds and placed on serving plates with a hollow made in the top of each mound. Drop a raw egg yolk into every mound (to be mixed into the beef by each person) and garnish with chopped parsley.

Serve as a light main course for luncheon with toast fingers on the side, or as a snack.

For cocktail food, form the mixture into balls about ¾ inch in diameter, roll them in chopped parsley or chopped hazelnuts, and pile them in a mound, to be speared with toothpicks.