Steak Tartare Is the Dish of the Moment: A New Generation of Chefs Reinterprets the Classic — vogue.com

Opinions vary on the proper method of preparing tartare—cut by hand or passed through a meat grinder. Photographed by Eric Boman, Vogue, November 2014 Opinions vary on the proper method of preparing tartare—cut by hand or passed through a meat grinder. Photographed by Eric Boman, Vogue, November 2014 Some classics are untouchable, so sacred they could fall under the protection of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Laguiole corkscrew with a bone handle, the Dark and Stormy, the Vans lace-ups you wear on weekends: There’s little point in trying to improve on perfection. Other classics are more agile and can be refashioned—or even completely reimagined—while keeping their pedigree. For years, steak tartare fell in the first category; now it belongs in the second. A dish that spent a few quiet decades on the menus of steak houses and French restaurants, tartare appealed to a sophisticated kind of adult who knew where to find his or her pleasure. Raw meat bound with raw egg, it was a rite of passage that often arrived with a push: Chances are, somebody more worldly first persuaded you to try it.

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