It’s Donner Party Day already?
2 Likes
Let me recommend “Habeus Codfish”, an overview of US Food Law by Barry Levenson a former Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General, and curator of the Wisconsin Mustard Museum. Mr. Levenson addresses Cannibal Sandwiches directly in chapter 1.
As I recall, the advice is to order your undercooked burger from a bar that doesn’t have insurance or lawyers, they’ll probably make you one.
If people are having steak tartare, I’d say don’t bother. In my opinion the gustatory pleasure is too slight vs. the risk. Try cheese curds instead.
1 Like
This is what I came to say. Last time I was in Germany I was there for a funeral where the traditional funeral Mett was served. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but it was pretty good. I still can’t believe I willingly at raw ground pork. Anyway, my German Minnesota Grandma ate raw ground beef at the holidays. And made lutefisk for her Norwegian husband.
4 Likes
Having had tartare several times, I personally agree. It’s fine, but not earth-shattering.
Beef carpaccio, usually served with arugula and shaved parmesan cheese (at least in Rome) is absolutely delicious, however. (Also probably the first ten times I had it (as a child) I didn’t even twig that it was raw beef.)
8 Likes
Another consumer of steak tartare here-my dad would go to the butchers and get a nice piece of tenderloin and have them chop it, then we would eat it that day.
We were eating at a very fancy restaurant once with steak tartare on the menu. When the (obviously very new) waiter removed the cloche from dad’s plate he exclaimed “oh no! The kitchen forgot to cook it!” Dad had to grab the plate to prevent disaster.
7 Likes
This: had chicken sashimi last time I was in Osaka:
Pasteurised, then seared on the outside. I’d swerved this before on a previous visit, but it was oishii!
2 Likes
I had horse sashimi in Roppongi…
2 Likes
That’s a delicacy down in Kumamoto, didn’t get to try basashi last time I was there. Ah well, next time - Tokyo 2020 here I come!
2 Likes
Different kinds of animal flesh, different risk factors.
I enjoy my steak Medium Rare but I would never cook chicken that way.
6 Likes
You can not pasteurize foods via sous vide below 131f. Which is hot enough to cook things to medium rare. Below that you basically just force spoil things, and lower temp cooks must be kept within a safe window, think it’s 4 hours.
You aren’t pasteurizing meat following that article, and may potentially be making it more dangerous. Certain food bourne pathogens aren’t killed at temps that low, but they will breed faster. It’s generally considered safe for those that aren’t immuno compromised if kept within the safe window. Provided you start with a whole muscle. But it’s not necessarily any safer than just properly preparing it raw. Particularly since most sous vide foods will be properly seared afterwards.
For low temp cooks for extra safety or longer times you can sear the exterior of the meat before bagging and cooking. Just like you can for raw preparations. Since the interior of a whole muscle is pretty much sterile, and contamination is on the surface.
The one time I forgot to reset my circulator before an overnight cook was really something. We had to take the now inflated back of chuck directly to the dump. And it took 3 days with open windows to get the corpse smell out of the house.
IIRC it had been set at 127f from a previous cook.
9 Likes
Well now I am curious if it tastes good or not…
It’s fantastic.
1 Like
It’s a Piedmont traditional entree.
Besides everyone knows that raw meat mus be certified tapeworm free, be cause you know, gettin’ tapeworms sucks.
3 Likes
There are various versions of steak tartare - the Wisconsin version is rye bread with raw onion, as per the Northern European traditions.
I stopped eating beef tartare when the prions started eating brains… it is delicious, but there are tons of other wonderful foods from all across the planet that won’t kill you. Also, fugu is delicious!
Are unaffected by heat during cooking.
5 Likes
Pretty sure that’s the waiter equivalent of a dad joke.
5 Likes
::shudders:: It’s dead, leave it buried. I always felt bad for the kids who had to eat this at Thanksgiving or Christmas.
More on-topic, the Danish half of my family is about 4 generations removed from the Old Country (landed in Racine, WI), but I have never heard of this raw-meat-at-holidays thing. Kringle? Bring it. Dill? Yeah, crave it fortnightly. Raw land-critter? Dafuq?!?
4 Likes
I hate to break it to you, but if you’re eating meat that has been contaminated with prions, most cooking won’t inactivate them. You can autoclave them at 270 degrees F or 132 C at 21 psi for 90 minutes to temporarily denature them, but they can bounce right back.
You can freeze-dry them, boil them, fix them with formalin, soak them in aldehydes. Generally, prions are one of the most difficult biological compounds to permanently inactivate. That’s why outbreaks in deer and cattle are handled so severely, right at the source.
11 Likes
My local pumas and bears eat meat raw, and do they suffer? I haven’t asked them. I doubt they’re all transplants from Cheezehead country but again, I haven’t asked. Better that I don’t know…
Personally I use both tartare and risotto as a test of a good restaurant/cook, both are ubiquitous and generally pretty ‘meh’ but when you get the real deal I would beg to differ.
