In the Czech kitchen: Make authentic tatarák at home with help from Prague chefs

Beef tartare (hovězí tatarák) may seem like one of the simplest dishes on the Czech menu and yet there are a multitude of ways to enhance it and some pitfalls to avoid during its home preparation. We asked Prague steakhouse Čestr’s head chef Pavel Brichzin to guide us through the process.

Once you're comfortable with the basics, you can experiment with innovative ingredients like beetroot, horseradish, and rye leaven (žitný kvásek) to create the same bold combination that has become one of the most popular items on Čestr’s menu.

But first, a bit of history. Tatarák is another of the "Czech" dishes that may not have roots in Czech cuisine, despite being on every Czech pub menu. Tatarák with fried toast (s topinkou) is a popular beer pairing, and its recipe has many variations. Čestr’s version is more luxurious and requires slightly more preparation than others, but your taste buds will appreciate the effort that went into it. 

Almost all gastronomic journeys lead to France, and tartar steak was in vogue in Paris at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, served with capers, egg yolk, and onions, and later with Dijon mustard. However, steak tartare (tatarský biftek) was first named Steak à l'Americaine by French chefs who liked to joke that Americans are barbarians who don't even know how to cook meat.

Eventually, the dish, which originally evolved from the French Polynesian tradition of eating raw meat, began to be served with mayonnaise instead of an egg yolk. But not just any mayonnaise. French chefs added pickles, garlic, shallots, and various spices to the mayonnaise served with the raw dish. 

Chef Brichzin said the original tatarák recipe has had its glory days and that "it was time to come up with another recipe using Czech ingredients” that showcases the Čestr team’s creativity. "While the original recipe involved pasteurized egg yolks, the new one replaces them with fresh eggs," he said. 

Čestr‘s young kitchen team serves a new generation of tartare, which is coarsely minced or merely chopped and includes a couple of ingredients that take into account seasonal products. “We want to emphasize, among other things, the flavors that Czechia has to offer," Brichzin adds. 

The beef rumps (hovězí kýta) selected for tatarák are cut and processed (staří a bourá) directly at Čestr. "We use the whole back quarter (of the beef rump) and after breaking it down we let it dry overnight for twelve hours. This allows excess juices to leave the meat, which is easily ground coarsely in the morning without turning into pâté. The drying also brings out the character of the beef," Brichzin explains.  

He adds that the rump “gives the steak a perfectly fine texture, just like, for example, sirloin, which is not normally minced but cut into small pieces. Good meat then needs nothing more than good quality oil, salt, and smoked pepper."

Čestr’s regular guests are accustomed to tatarák which incorporates vegetables in various arrangements and consistencies. "Beef, beetroot and horseradish go beautifully together. We add the freshly roasted beetroot (freš z upečené) to the minced meat because it doesn't release as much earthiness as when juiced raw. It gives the tartar a specific taste and a rich, bloody color," says Brichzin. "In addition, we mix the beet juice with apple cider vinegar, pepper, and rapeseed oil."

The mix made from rye leaven and horseradish juice (žitného kvasu a křenové šťáv) is the first ingredient of the recipe. "Sufficiently fermented sourdough (prokvašený chlebový kvas) plays an important role. We have been feeding it for about two years now with rye flour from the family mill in Střížov," Brichzin says. "We whisk the sourdough starter with mayonnaise and horseradish juice until an emulsion is formed that gives the tatarák the desired acidity. In addition, we bake bread from it, and this bread is also used for topinek."

Before serving, tatarák is sprinkled with chives and dried egg yolk. "We brine the raw egg yolks in salt and sugar until the moisture evaporates and they get the texture of hard cheese. After some time, they are rinsed and left to dry in the sauna (v sauně)," Brichzin says. "Grated fresh horseradish is also on the plate; it pinches the nose and sharpens the taste of the tatarák instead of garlic."