OMG I just tried steak tartar for the first time!

[surfsteve]

I just tried steak tartar for the first time and my first reaction was Oh My God! I got the idea from watching the video below but I made it a lot differently . In my version instead of cubing the steak I took it out of the freezer for about an hour and popped it into my food processor semi frozen with the slicing blade on it. I cut the meat up just so it would fit in the food processor and left the slices whole. It was probably a lot chewier that way. I just did it because I was too lazy to cut it up and thought the slices would be nice. A little like beef jerky. Also I only used lemon juice, salt and pepper to spice it. I can't believe how good it tastes. Why haven't I made this before? Though this was my first time eating raw steak I've been eating it practically raw for quite some time only cooking it enough to brown the outside. Sometimes it was even cold in the middle. So I guess I've  been eating it semi tartar for a while. I had no idea going totally raw would taste so good! Who knew?

p.s. It was way better than beef jerky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2E86dE_law

[surfsteve]

Also instead of using expensive filet mignon I used cheap tri-tip. Tri-tip has a lot more fat in it so I didn't need any olive oil like in the video. Besides. I forgot about it anyway.

[RogueFarmer]

My favorites are chuck steak, shanks and short ribs.

[surfsteve]

You guys must have a million recipes for tartare. Anyone got any good ones to share? I love the name. It is so politically correct. I told my girlfriend I was preparing steak tartare and she acted like it was cool because of the name. When I tell her I'm eating raw meat she just tells me how gross it is. A rose by any other name...  while the saying is technically true, it's not true at all in peoples minds. Perhaps it's time we all stopped calling it raw meat and gave everything we eat fancy names. I'm still not sure what to call my bull testicle smoothies. I just know it gives a whole new meaning to the term "juicing" at the gym!

[TylerDurden]

Yeah, people do react better when they are told that the raw meat dish is a long-term national cuisine like sashimi, beef carpaccio etc. Best to mention that raw meats were staples of Inuit and Nenet diets, rather than implying that you are some loner trying out something that might supposedly kill you over time, according to the nutritionists.

[surfsteve]

I don't recall seeing any kind of recipe section on here. Did I miss it? I'm going to have to hunt for some after I make this post. I would like to find some new ideas so I don't get tired of having the same thing every day. Steak tartare has killed my craving for beef jerky. Who wants to eat a piece of leather after eating that?

In a way I feel as if the beef had been cooked when it soaks in the lemon juice and spices and it doesn't even seem raw.

I'd like to try something with heart meat but all my heart in the freezer has been cut up into tiny chunks to make smoothies without properly cleaning it to be appealing. I'll have to get a fresh one and clean it properly. I've eaten sliced heart raw before, recently and as long as 30 years ago and I didn't care for it's texture. Hopefully I can discover some fancy recipe that will get me past that or mix it with some sort of vegetable to take the focus off of it.

I'd like to find more on preparing organ meats. I'm looking forward to incorporating them as part of my meal rather than chugging them down in smoothies.  I've got a hunch that maybe part of my addiction to cooked foods is mental and I just miss sitting down to a meal and eating it rather than chugging it down from a glass.

[TylerDurden]

http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/display-your-culinary-creations/

[surfsteve]

I saw that but thought it was only for members to display what they have created. Not for recipes found on the internet. It would be interesting to find a section on how many ways you could prepare tartare. Already I'm falling into a rut and have made it the exact same way 3 times in a row. (for some reason that's all I want to eat anymore since I discovered it.) Why mess with perfection? Answer: for variety!

[TylerDurden]

I think most of us  long-termers prefer to not bother with recipes and just go in for mono-eating. It`s a lot less pressure on the digestion and saves a lot of time. Female RPDers  are often an exception in this case.

[surfsteve]

I guess that makes me an ever rarer exception than the females. My girlfriend likes to waste money ordering take out and prepared foods. While I prepare everything I eat myself. Mostly out of necessity due to economics but I also like to take pride in my creations. I often find myself cooking something that she gave me for her entire family. None of them are very good cooks while I on the other hand can prepare a seasoned chicken in under 5 minutes and take it over to their apartment and get to listen to them rant and rave how good it is for hours.

I am a thrifty cook and food preparer but I am also a highly efficient one. My version of steak tartare takes me less than three minutes to make. Five if I include washing out the food processor and lemon juicer.

Since I started making steak tartare I've been eating it every day. The only cooked food I've had during that time has been an occasional cup of coffee. The best part is that I have had almost no cravings for anything else cooked. Very strange. I'm beginning to think my addiction to cooked foods was more mental than any kind of actual physical craving. The only bad thing is that I haven't eaten  very many organ meats lately. Two steps forwards and one step backwards yet once again!