Probably the steak tartare, according to the source of all knowledge, wikipedia. Steak tartare originated in the early 1400s because the cattle the mongolians were eating was too tough, so they had to chop it up.
Now, I have a slightly evil confession. Or maybe it's just a "devil may care" confession - I LOVE steak tartare. As a child, I used to eat raw hamburger covered in salt. Then one day, someone told me I would love steak tartare. But by the time I was an adult and could afford to take myself to restaurants that serve it, mad cow had swept the nation and people were strangely (really what's so harmful about eating raw cow raised in horrible conditions fed the diseased brains of other cows? I'm FINE!) nervous about raw beef consumption.
I did have it once, years ago, made by a friend who is a fine, fine chef. He purchased free range happy organic vegan raw foodie yoga cow meat to make his own. Such a delicious flavor - but I think the thing I like most is that there's lot of spices and things and CONDIMENTS that go into a successful tartare.
Which has nothing to do with tartar sauce, which, according to The Straight Dope is:
"Tartar sauce, or as the French refer to it, sauce tartare, consists of mayonnaise, mustard, chives, chopped gherkins, and tarragon, according to C. Owen's "Choice Cooking," circa 1889. In French, it is loosely translated as 'rough,' as the Tartars were considered rough, violent, and savage. It is commonly served with fish. Yum yum."
It's such a hodge-podge of a sauce (and the inclusion of the gherkin also qualifies it as a "vegetable" as much as ketchup). Mayo and pickles and green things and vinegar. The thing is, I don't like it that much.
Wait, scratch that.
I do like it, but it's not at the top of my ranking. When I walk into one of those delicious frites shops that dole out about a billion kinds of dipping sauce for your double deep fried potatoes (why, god, why did the Frite shop in Seattle have to close?), tartar sauce is usually included, but only as an accompaniment to ketchup. It's odd - I like mayonnaise, I like pickles, I LOVE vinegar, but tartar sauce is almost too much for me, unless I dilute it with ketchup's sweet kiss. Am I too genteel a condimentgrrl to enjoy a "rough" condiment?
Although, if you think about what the sauce turns into when you add ketchup to tartare sauce - thousand island sauce - it begins to make sense. It's a "rough" version of my childhood comfort snack - red wine vinegar, ketchup, and mayonnaise. It's a distant echo of childhood, but not *quite* the thing I want.
In regards to seafood - not crazy about it with fish. It's too heavy for fish. I much prefer malt vinegar with my fish and chips. I don't have any tartar sauce in my collection. It's just not the first thing I reach for.
If I could, however, I would reach for steak tartare, even though it is so so so wrong...
Condiment Grrl
