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We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples were the first sovereign nations of Australia from time immemorial, and they never ceded this sovereignty.
Recipe: Beef Tartare
A guest favourite from the Attica menu, born on Chef's Table and now developed for cooking at home.
Word by Ben Shewry
Published 04.08.26
Beef Tartare, covered with carrots
In cooking, there is distinction between miscellany and layered clarity. Often, a classical vegetable soup will have more flavour before it is pureed, and disappointment follows the blending. A blended soup is a good example of miscellany in cooking. The ingredients no longer play to their individual strengths, instead becoming a homogeneous one.
If you’ve watched my episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix, you may recall a struggle to make a dish work in our test kitchen. It was a kangaroo tartare, a more complex version of the recipe below. In the episode, I had thrown all the ingredients together and tossed them, creating a kangaroo miscellany.
For my next attempt, I layered everything-keeping the dressings and components separate. As I tasted it, I was shocked at how much better it tasted. It was a huge breakthrough, exactly the same ingredients, plated in a slightly different way.
Key Lime Pie at Joe's Stone Crab
Serves 4 as an entrée
For the garlic dressing
25g neutral oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
¼ tsp black pepper
25g red wine vinegar
8g sugar
use 4 tbs over the carrot
For the miso dressing
40g chickpea miso (I used an unpasteurised ‘fresh’ miso. Shelf stable miso can be intense so you may have to reduce by half if you use that)
15g rice wine vinegar
20g neutral oil
10g water
5g sugar
Use 3 tablespoons of dressing with the beef
To finish
300g sirloin steak, sinew and excess fat trimmed off, and hand-chopped into a 1/2cm dice
60g kimchi, sliced
8 baby carrots (I used a mixture of purple, orange and yellow), thinly sliced
12 mint leaves, shredded
Salt and black pepper to taste
A bag of potato chips to serve
4 tablespoons of something creamy for the bottom of the plate- it could be sour cream, cashew cream, macadamia puree
Method
1. Begin my making the garlic dressing first. Heat oil over a medium heat, add garlic and fry lightly for 3 seconds. Add pepper, red wine vinegar and sugar and mix well. Set aside at room temperature to cool.
2. Next make the miso dressing by combining all ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Set aside at room temperature while you prepare the tartare.
3. In a bowl, combine beef, kimchi, mint and salt pepper. Add 3 tbsp of the miso dressing and toss gently.
4. On a large plate, spoon sour cream across the bottom. Place tartare on cream in an uneven manner, creating valleys and peaks.
5. Lay sliced carrots over tartare - building ‘tents’ so the dish has a textured appearance.
6. Finish by dressing with tbsp of the garlic dressing evenly over the carrots. Serve with the potato chips. Eat immediately.
