Tartare

Tartare is a dish or culinary preparation consisting of finely chopped or minced ingredients, usually served cold and seasoned. The original form was steak tartare, made from beef; the technique is now used for other ingredients as well.

Origins and development

Tartare comes from French gastronomy, particularly with steak tartare, which was popular in Parisian brasseries in the early 1900s. The name likely derived from the 19th-century fascination with "Tartar" culture rather than any direct Central Asian connection. Over time, the technique expanded beyond beef to other ingredients.

Preparation

Tartare relies on high-quality, fresh ingredients suitable for raw consumption. The base ingredient is minced or diced finely by hand to preserve texture, then mixed with seasonings such as Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, capers, shallots, and fresh herbs. It is often formed into a mound or ring and served with toast, bread, greens, or a raw egg yolk on top.

Variations

The tartare technique is applied to various foods:

Meat

Fish and seafood

Vegetables

Experimental

The use of seaweed tartare has been proposed as a way of providing nutritional supplementation.

Tartare is often compared with other raw preparations such as ceviche and crudo.

Examples include:

References

  1. ↑ Maubourguet, Patrice; Flavigny, Laure (2000). Larousse gastronomique (Nouv. éd. ed.). Paris: Larousse. ISBN 2-03-560227-0.
  2. ↑ "Tartare Recipes - Great British Chefs". www.greatbritishchefs.com.
  3. ↑ Gaulin, Colette; Ramsay, Danielle; Catford, Angela; Bekal, Sadjia (July 2015). "Escherichia coli O157:H7 Outbreak Associated with the Consumption of Beef and Veal Tartares in the Province of Quebec, Canada, in 2013". Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. 12 (7): 612–618. doi:10.1089/fpd.2014.1919.
  4. ↑ Robbins, Katie (8 June 2010). "The Man Who Invented Tuna Tartare". The Atlantic.
  5. ↑ Nour, Moustapha; Stiger‐Pouvreau, Valérie; Daher, Abdourahman; Connan, Solène; Ali, Ahmed; Marchand, Louna; Waeles, Matthieu; Petek, Sylvain (September 2025). "Nutritional Value and Antioxidant Potential of Djiboutian Abundant Seaweeds, With Their Food Applications in Doughnut and Tartare". Food Science & Nutrition. 13 (9). doi:10.1002/fsn3.70956. PMC 12440808.