Delicate and packed full of flavour, these steak tartare delicacies make the perfect finger food. The ingredients list may be slighter longer than most, but don’t let that put you off creating these Japanese inspired bites.
Firstly, you’ll need to prepare the egg. Most steak tartare recipes use raw egg, but for this recipe we’re going to use sous-vide egg. If you have a sous-vide machine to do this then great, but if not, you’ll just need to buy pasteurised eggs, which will have been pre-cooked for two hours at a certain temperature to ensure they’re safe to eat.
We’re just using the egg yolk here, so crack the egg into a bowl and gently scoop the yolk in your hand, placing it in a separate bowl. Discard the remaining egg white.
If you have a sous-vide machine, fill a jug about a quarter full with extra virgin olive oil, and then add the egg yolk. Make sure the egg is completely submerged in the oil. Clamp the jug to the side of the machine and cook the yolk for one hour at 65 degrees Celsius. If you don’t have a sous-vide machine and are just using a pasteurised egg, you can skip this step and just leave the egg in the bowl until you need it later.
Step 2: Prepare the wasabi cream
To make the wasabi cream, you’ll need to scrape two thirds of a tub of cream cheese into a mixing bowl. Then add a generous splash of cream.
Next you need to grate your wasabi very finely using a sharp-skin paddle. If you need to find out more about wasabi, you can here: Wasabi Paste
Scoop the wasabi that you have grated, about ½ a teaspoon, with your finger and put it in the cream and cheese mixture. Blend the ingredients together in a mixer. When the ingredients are mixed, taste the mixture and add more wasabi if necessary, make sure that you don’t add an excessive amount straight away, just add little bits and keep tasting until it’s perfectly balanced.
Next, make a piping bag by grabbing a small plastic bag in the corner with your thumb and index finger and rolling the rest of the bag back over your clenched fist. Open your fist slightly to make an opening in the bag, and scoop the wasabi cream into it. When it’s filled with the mixture, pull the bag back over your hand and squeeze all the mixture down into one corner.
Twist the top of the bag and set it aside for later.
Take the baguette and slice one of the ends away diagonally. Then, taking your sharp knife, slice the baguette as you would sashimi, taking the knife from the top of the baguette and slicing diagonally towards the edge until you have a very thin slice.
Next, roll the slice into a cone shape and secure with a toothpick to keep the ends in place. Repeat these steps until you have the amount of cones you want.
Place the cones face down in the oven at about 180-200 degrees Celsius. Keep checking on them every 5 minutes, removing them from the oven when they’re crispy.
Step 4: Prepare the best quality steak you can find
Next, prepare the meat. You should have a high quality, fresh piece of steak from your butcher, ensuring there’s minimal fat and no connected tissue on it.
Slice the steak into 1cm thick slices, then take each slice and cut it in lengthways strips of about 1cm thickness. Pile up the strips and cut them into small, even sized cubes. Continue cutting it until the meat is finely chopped.
Put the chopped steak in a mixing bowl and place to one side.
Step 5: Creating the tartare sauce
Take a medium sized mixing bowl and add the egg yolk, popping it. Add a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and 1 or 2 drops of tabasco (according to your preference).
Then add a splash of Lea & Perrin’s, a squeeze of lemon juice and 2 squirts of ketchup. Mix it all together with a whisk. Taste the mixture to make sure that the flavours are balanced and that nothing is overpowering, adjusting the ingredients as you go along until it’s perfect.
Step 6: Creating the tartare mix
Take the tartare meat and add a generous pinch of chopped parsley and a small handful of chopped capers. Add a handful of the chopped shallot and season with black pepper and salt.
Mix all the meat and the other chopped ingredients, ensuring that they’re all evenly distributed.
Step 7: Adding the sauce to the mixture
Now add the sauce to the steak mixture, a little at a time, mixing it together as you go.
Taste the mix at regular intervals, adding more sauce if necessary and mixing until you get the right consistency. Keep going until its right and be patient- it’s easy to add sauce, but not easy to remove any excess.
Step 8: Assembling the cornetto
To assemble the cornetto, take one of the bread cones you made earlier and place it inside a shot glass so that the opening is facing upwards. Take a small amount of the steak tartare and fill the cone to the top.
Take the piping bag that you laid aside earlier and snip a very small opening in the corner. Pipe a small amount of the wasabi cream onto the top of the tartare mixture. A little will go a long way here, so you only need a really small amount- you can always add more later if you think it’s needed.
To finish off the cone, sprinkle with a pinch of chopped chive. Repeat until all of your cones are filled.