Befszyk Tatarski (Steak Tartare) is popular in Poland, so much so that you can buy commercially prepared packets for ground beef for tatar. It’s something I hadn’t eaten until I moved to Poland.
We enjoyed it in restaurants and our friend Bill made Befszyk Tatarski for us when we dined at his home. We had a fabulous batch when we vacationed in the Czech town of Pilsen with our youngest daughter.
We were eating a steak house near our hotel, and they had a special platter for tartar, with a little compartments for the many add-ins that accompany the ground beef, and diners mix it up themselves.
The history of Befszyk Tatarski or Steak Tartare, of course, has a couple of interesting stories. The tale with the most Polish roots says that the dish is named after the Tatars (Mongols) nomadic horsemen who often raided Poland, but in 1410 sided with the Polish at the Battle of Grunwald.
Legend has it that the Tatars would place raw meat under their saddle to tenderize it, and later slice it up to eat raw because they had no time to stop and cook their meat.
The second version has the dish originating in France about 1900. It didn’t really catch on until the 1950s.
Beefsteack Ć l’AmĆ©ricaine as it was called originally became Beefsteack Ć la Tartare, for the tartar sauce that was served with the raw beef. Whatever the story, Tatar will bring out strong reactions.
Our usually adventurous gastronome friends were put off to find out what wasn’t cooking at our house the night we made Tatar. Only one friend, a big fan of anchovies, has had a positive reaction. So choose your dinner guests carefully.
Recipes for Tatar vary of lot, so your might be different than mine and still be authentic and wonderful.
The key ingredients are ground or finely diced beef tenderloin (filet mignon), egg yolk (if you don’t eat raw cookie dough, you may want to find pasteurized eggs), salt, pepper, something pickled (pickles, capers, or both), something onion-y (red onion- better raw, shallots, green onion, leek, chives), maybe mushrooms. It might be served with bread or alongside fried potatoes or salad.
Smacznego!
Lois
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Befszyk Tatarski (Steak Tartare)
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
Easily doubled for larger portions or more servings
Ingredients
- 8 ounces very fresh, high quality Filet Mignon
- 1 egg yolk
all of the following are suggestions, season to taste:
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon diced flat leaf parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon finely diced shallot
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 anchovies
- 2 tablespoon finely diced dill pickle
- 2 tablespoon finely diced red onion
- 2 teaspoons Worcester sauce
Instructions
- Place the serving plate in the freezer to chill
- Grind of finely dice the beef
- Combine all of the ingredients and serve on the chilled platter with toasted bread
- Or plate the ingredients and mix table-side
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in PoznaÅ, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com,Ā she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Kathy sands
This is one of the recipes I remember my mom making for my dad. Only it would be patties on rye bread with cucumbers on top.i remember going to the polish butcher and having my mom watch closely while the butcher ground the meat.
David
One of the best things about having an “egg dealer” is that I get really fresh eggs so raw yolks are not a problem! Can’t wait to try this, Lois.
P.S. – I made your pork schnitzel the other evening and it was amazing.
polishhousewife
How nice to have an egg dealer!
Jonny Blair
Hi! What a coincidence! I also live in Poland, run a travel blog, love Tatar and wrote about it recently. Where in Poland are you based? I am in Warszawa. Safe travels. Jonny
polishhousewife
Hi, Jonny! We were in PoznaÅ from 2009-2014. We’re back in the States now, but look forward to visiting PL again.
Octavia
Yes. It always tastes fantastic. And is so easy to prepare if you have proper meat. We started to include it when celebrating Easter breakfast in South Africa. Octavia.
polishhousewife
Sounds great!
David
I love it but I eat it as a sandwich and since it is chopped fine you can use cheaper cuts of mear, I use top round/London broil when on sale. I chop with a sharp knofe, on rye bread with chopped red onion, a drizzle of olive oil and a smear of anchovy paste on the top slice of bread. Of course donāt forget some coarsely ground black pepper and a little sea salt
polishhousewife
Sounds delicioius, David!
shi
the recipe is great although you cannot spread misinformation. tartar (tartare) is a French dish and was created in france so please do proper researches next time
Lois Britton
Did you read my post? I mention France as a possible beginning for the dish.