Dinner: Steak tartare and oysters

I made myself to Stockholm's Östermalmshallen market yesterday afternoon with steak tartare on my mind. I was initially planning on using either 30 or 60-day dry aged beef but, well, I'll get to that...

I started by picking up some oysters. I knew I wanted several wild Swedish belons but asked for help/suggestions as well. The answer I received was "Royale Carbonon". They had probably 4 or 5 cultivated French oysters but Royale Carbonon were, apparently, the only way to go. So, I picked up 3 belon and 3 Royale Carbonon.

I then made my way to Willy Ohlsson's (my favorite butcher) and asked for some help with my tartare. However, the butcher really didn't think that using entrecote for tartare was a good idea. "Too fatty" Hmmm... His recommendation was a thick slice of a very nice looking (yet unaged) well, yeah, what was it? Some part of the round, perhaps? "Innanlår" is the Swedish name (translates roughly to "inside of the leg"). I'm having a hard time finding the American verison of this exact cut as I don't believe it is normally seperated out and sold in the States. It seems to be part of the round (bottom round? eye of the round?). I pondered and decided to go with his suggestion. I did, however, manage to stop him just as he was placing the meat in his grinder. I wanted to mince the beef myself.

A dash by the liquor store netted a bottle of Mikkeller "Til Fra" as I wanted to drink porter with both the oysters and the tartare.



"Til Fra" is made by a Danish "brewer". I use "brewer" loosely as this particular craftsman does not actually brew beer himself. Instead, Mikkeller thinks of a recipe and contacts an established brewer to brew the beer for him. In this case, "Til Fra" is brewed by De Proef Brouwerij in Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium. Additionally, this porter was meant to be a Christmas beer (hence the name - meaning "To" and "From" and the label). So, the result is really a spiced porter/Belgian-style ale. It is dark and creamy like a porter but gradually (especially as it sits and warms) becomes more and more trappist in style and taste. The website lists the beer as including pale, cara-crystal, pale chocolate and chocolate malt, centennial and cascade hops as well as star anise, cinnamon, cloves and coriander seeds. An outstanding beer that matched both the oysters and the beef well.

Once home, I started with the oysters.



That's the three Royal Cabonon on top and the three wild Belons on the bottom. I made a little batch of mignonette that I used sparingly.

The opened oysters:



They were all magnificent! The wild Swedish belons are always a treat and I'm honestly buying them almost exclusively these days. They are initially sweet and refined but gradually set in with a metallic brininess that is powerful and delicious. I've mentioned it before but these oysters are wild and hand-harvested by divers on the West coast of Sweden. The industry is still small enough to practically be run by 3 or 4 divers.

The Royal Cabonon were also spectacular. After a little searching, I found a description of them on David Herme's website. David is the producer and these oysters seem to be his top of the line. If not, I'm having a hard time imagining how an oyster can be more pampered than living three full years before harvest and not needing to share his/her clarie with more than one neighbor per square meter. These were massive oysters:



They were sweet and creamy with a wonderful, long aftertaste.

Finally, the tartare.

The ingredients:



Dijon mustard (for serving), capers, an onion, an egg (only the yolk is needed), potatoes for frying and the beef

I started by slicing the potatoes into fries and soaking them briefly in water.

I prepared the meat by mincing it finely by hand. I wanted a rougher texture than what a grinder would have made. I stopped right around here:



I mixed salt and pepper into the beef as I minced it.

After dumping the potatoes into hot oil, I assembled the tartare by simply patting the beef into a mound and topping with minced onion, capers and an egg yolk.



The finished fries:



The finished dinner:





The fries were excellent. I used Amandine potatoes. I grew Amandine potatoes last summer as was truly disappointed as to how they tasted fresh and boiled. Sadly, it wans't until I'd pulled up my last plant that I discovered how incredible they are fried. Fried, these potatoes crisp wonderfully on the outside while becoming pillowy and creamy on the inside. They also develop a head's-on potato flavor in oil that seems to wash out when boiled in water.

The beef was excellent but, and I suspect this is impossible to get around when dealing with raw beef, somewhat mild. My initial thought was that aged beef would make up for this mildness and I can't shake that thought. I'll just have to try again some other time...

Bridgestone,

Flabbergastingly delicious tutorial, photography so clear, clean, concise I'm tempted to squirt a bit of lemon on my monitor.

Enjoy,
Gary

Wow. Now that's a raw meat photo! Beautiful job as always, Bridgestone!

As a kid my Dad turned me on to eating raw beef. Most people freak out when I say I’ve eaten it raw, but I absolutely love it. We used to mix in some raw onion and a little salt and pepper and we were good to go. Oh the memories.

You've not only inspired an intense craving for hackepeter at Laschet's, your post gives me the courage to make tartare at home. Truly drool-worthy.

Thank all of you!

I'd nearly forgotten how fun it was to make a new post!

Thanks.

You are a very impressive home cook. How do you think you acquired the passion for food?

Wow. Three of my favorite foods -- oysters, fries, and steak tartare. And, with a delicious looking beer.

I'm quite appreciative of the pictures and your dinner story. At the same time, though, I must admit to being a bit jealous. I do have plans tonight at Avec, and yet am concerned that my dinner won't come close to your recent meal.

Thanks for the inspiration,
Ronna

Quite possibly my last meal. Bridgestone, thanks for the document, as always.

BTW, steak tartare has become something of a high-end "fad" in the gastro-pub, smarty pants places in the US, at least in the big dining cities like Chicago, NY, LA. This is one fad that I am enjoying. Of course, the old fashioned German and Polish places in Chicago have always done a good job with tartare, at a much more reasonable price.

Is there a raw red meat thread? Tartare, kibbeh nayeh, yook hwe, bo tai chanh, kifto...

As always, your dishes look excellent and delectable; I'm especially jealous of those oysters. I'm beginning to think Stockholm is a real food mecca...

Thanks again, everyone!

teatpuller: Your question re: how I developed a passion for food would probably make an excellent post on its own. I was allowed and encouraged to cook a lot as a child, watched a lot of "Great Chefs" and other excellent PBS cooking shows growing up and have cooked steadily since then.

JeffB: raw beef is big in Stockholm now, too. I don't eat out much but I read a lot of restaurant reviews. That's probably why I've been thinking about it...

Jay K: I certainly didn't think that Stockholm had too terribly much to offer when I got here. However, a few years of searching and learning has found a lot of wonderful gems. Of course, I focus mainly on food shopping and cooking. Restaurant-wise, Stockholm doesn't have a fraction of what Chicago has to offer in terms of diversity (serving authentic regional food) or non-luxury restaurants.

Thanks once again, everyone!

Bridgestone--

Superb, as always. You're driving us crazy! However, I do have a sort of a minor riposte/respite: Today (Friday 23 Jan) supermarkets in Montréal began offering us malpeques from PEI. Nice, fresh, very briny, but quite a bit smaller than your beauties (damn but don't I envy you your belons!! ) Still, at 50¢CAN the pop, one can find them a bit of something to enjoy along with a bottle of '06 Quincy! [Arrayed on a bed of fresh snow from my patio... ]

Geo

They look great, Geo and that price can't be beat!

Oysters truly must be the last reasonably priced luxury.