Tartare-Grade Beef? [Science]
2010 Oct 24
I can help with some of this. They take a fresh cut of meat for tartare. Commercial meat coolers are a lot colder than a house hold fridge, so microbial counts are kept very low. The meat is cut and minced to order. I believe the classic method is to mince by hand. Working quickly with as little hand contact as possible with the meat is important when preparing the dish.
How do you ensure that you're not going to get sick?
Order it from a restaurant that is known for it and has high turnover (table turnover). Chances are they are moving product fast enough and they have been trained to prepare it properly.
Flash freezing the beef will kill off parasites but I am not sure that that won't ruin the texture/taste. Regardless of bacteria, beef tapeworms are still a risk with raw beef and more so with horsemeat. Horsemeat is the meat of choice for tartare in Europe.
I think it comes down to luck of the draw. I have studied Parasitology, Prokaryote Biology and Microbiology. I have had a parasite before(Not from raw meat/fish) and I still continue to eat sashimi,tartare and raw oysters.
How do you ensure that you're not going to get sick?
Order it from a restaurant that is known for it and has high turnover (table turnover). Chances are they are moving product fast enough and they have been trained to prepare it properly.
Flash freezing the beef will kill off parasites but I am not sure that that won't ruin the texture/taste. Regardless of bacteria, beef tapeworms are still a risk with raw beef and more so with horsemeat. Horsemeat is the meat of choice for tartare in Europe.
I think it comes down to luck of the draw. I have studied Parasitology, Prokaryote Biology and Microbiology. I have had a parasite before(Not from raw meat/fish) and I still continue to eat sashimi,tartare and raw oysters.
2010 Oct 25
I'm under the impression that there is a (provincial?) law that stipulates a commercial establishment must cook it's ground beef to a particular temp., which works out to be medium. The only place I've been to in town that will cook you a rare or med-rare burger is the Work's, and they require you sign a waiver!
Can anyone confirm this?
Can anyone confirm this?
2010 Oct 25
The reason why ground beef is more likely to be contaminated by e-coi is not that "It's a byproduct of factory farms in which feces-caked animals are chopped up for food." The animals may have feces on their skin after killing, the skin, organs, and bones are removed long before meat is ground. The reason for the more likely contamination is that meat from several animals may be included in the same batch of ground meat, and taht the grinder may not be cleaned between batches. So if one animal has the parasite, the whole batch is contaminated.
Other important point : tartare should not be made with ground beef. It is supposed to be hand chopped filet mignon. It should be hand shopped to order or at worst a few hours before the meal (then refrigerated, of course). Some chefs go so far as using a refrigerated board and knife to ensure meat freshness.
Now, all that is just being extra careful. I've eaten tartare in many restaurants and at home without problems. But I also always cook my burgers rare (extra-lean beef is really not very good when well done). And I've been eating raw ground beef fresh from the pack since I was a little kid (learned it from my father). Either I've been very lucky or my immune system has gotten used to it.
Blue Nile on the other hand... I ate there once a couple years ago, especially because they had raw beef as both me and my husband really like raw beef. It was very tasty, but it is the only time we ever got food poisoning at a restaurant (yes, I'm sure, as it's the only time we had both eaten the same thing in the previous days, as I was coming back from a trip). Medical opinion was that improper hand washing by the kitchen staff was a much more likely cause of this problem than the meat itself.
I won't go back to Blue Nile, but I'll keep eating raw beef!
Other important point : tartare should not be made with ground beef. It is supposed to be hand chopped filet mignon. It should be hand shopped to order or at worst a few hours before the meal (then refrigerated, of course). Some chefs go so far as using a refrigerated board and knife to ensure meat freshness.
Now, all that is just being extra careful. I've eaten tartare in many restaurants and at home without problems. But I also always cook my burgers rare (extra-lean beef is really not very good when well done). And I've been eating raw ground beef fresh from the pack since I was a little kid (learned it from my father). Either I've been very lucky or my immune system has gotten used to it.
Blue Nile on the other hand... I ate there once a couple years ago, especially because they had raw beef as both me and my husband really like raw beef. It was very tasty, but it is the only time we ever got food poisoning at a restaurant (yes, I'm sure, as it's the only time we had both eaten the same thing in the previous days, as I was coming back from a trip). Medical opinion was that improper hand washing by the kitchen staff was a much more likely cause of this problem than the meat itself.
I won't go back to Blue Nile, but I'll keep eating raw beef!
2010 Oct 25
I side by Isabelle's reasoning. Interesting thing is when I was a kid travelling in Germany many of the highway Ibis (cafe/cafeteria) places had tartare. I was fascinated - as my parents pointed it out to me - as I had never had raw beef. It was served with a raw egg too. Lot and lots of places had this sitting in the coolers, not prepared fresh, and supposedly lots of people at it - probably with minimal health effects, otherwise it would/could not continue to be served. None of these places were high end - pretty much truck stops - so I doubt they sourced their meat from anything but some commercial source. I'm not suggesting to go out and dig into a pound of raw ground beef, just suggesting that the chance of illness is probably minimal.
warby
Sushi-Grade fish has been deep-frozen long enough to kill any worms or their eggs that could cause infestation in those who eat the flesh raw. But what steps are taken to ensure that beef can safely be served raw?
Commercial ground beef is loaded with E.Coli bacteria. It's a byproduct of factory farms in which feces-caked animals are chopped up for food. Everyone knows to cook their hamburgers thoroughly if the meat has been factory-ground. Or maybe we rely on it being well-irradiated?
But in the case of steak tartare, or freshly-ground beef being used to make extra juicy pink burgers, how does a restaurant ensure that its customers will not fall ill? Does the cook carve off (and cook or discard) the entire exposed surface area of a chunk of meat before grinding it up to serve? Anything else would seem risky.