Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sharp chef's knife, freshly sharpened
• •Heavy wooden or plastic cutting board
• •Small mixing bowl
• •Microplane grater for the horseradish

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill everything

   Put your knife, your cutting board, and a small mixing bowl in the freezer for fifteen minutes before you start. Keep the beef in the coldest part of the fridge until the very last moment. Raw beef is a dish about temperature and texture, and warm meat on a warm board starts to break down before you've even finished chopping. Cold tools give you clean cuts and clean flavor.

   If the beef has any silvery sinew left on it, trim it off now. Sinew is chewy when raw and it ruins the texture. You want muscle only, deep red and fine-grained.
2. 2

   Hand-chop the beef

   Take the beef out, place it on the cold board, and slice it into thin strips. Then cut the strips into fine dice, and then go over the dice with the knife until you have something between a mince and a rough chop. Never use a food processor. The blades heat the meat and turn it to paste, and paste is not what you want. You want grain, a little give, a little bite. Work quickly and with confidence. Three minutes of chopping is enough.

   A sharp knife is not a suggestion, it's a requirement. A dull knife crushes the fibers instead of cutting them, and the meat weeps and goes grey. Sharpen before you start.
3. 3

   Season the meat

   Tip the chopped beef into the cold mixing bowl. Season with a good pinch of flaky salt and several turns of black pepper. Don't add anything else yet. No oil, no mustard, no Worcestershire. The Danish version trusts the beef to carry itself, and the condiments arrive on top at the table, not mixed through. Stir gently with a spoon, just enough to distribute the seasoning, and put the bowl back in the fridge while you prepare the bread.

4. 4

   Butter the rugbrod

   Spread each slice of rugbrod with a thin, even layer of softened butter, going right to the edges. This step is not optional and it is not decorative. The butter is the waterproof layer between the bread and the beef, and without it the juices from the meat soak straight into the rye and turn it soggy. Cold butter tears the bread. Soft butter glides. Take your time with it.

5. 5

   Shape the beef on the bread

   Divide the beef into four equal portions and shape each one into a neat oval mound on top of a slice of rugbrod. Don't flatten it into a puck and don't let it spill over the edges. You want a generous dome of meat in the centre of the bread, with a clear frame of dark rye showing around it. Make a shallow well in the top of each mound with the back of a spoon, deep enough to hold an egg yolk but not so deep it goes through to the bread.

6. 6

   Crown and garnish

   Separate the yolks one at a time, cupping each one in your hand and letting the white slip through your fingers, then slide the yolk gently into its well. Scatter the chopped onion and capers around the yolk. Grate a generous blanket of fresh horseradish over the top of each piece, using a microplane, so it falls like snow. Finish with snipped chives, a last pinch of flaky salt, and another turn of black pepper.

   Fresh horseradish is the whole point. Jarred horseradish is vinegary and flat, and the dish loses its heat. If you can only find jarred, use less and expect a quieter result. Fresh root grates into something alive and sharp and perfumed, and you'll taste the difference immediately.
7. 7

   Serve immediately

   Bring the plates to the table at once, with lemon wedges alongside and a cold beer or a glass of aquavit if the moment calls for it. Tatar is eaten with a knife and fork. The diner breaks the yolk themselves, folding it through the meat at the table, and that small gesture is part of the pleasure of the dish. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •The beef is the whole dish, so buy it from a butcher you trust and tell them what you're making. Ask for a centre-cut piece of tenderloin, trimmed clean, and use it the same day. This is not a dish where corners can be cut on sourcing.
• •The yolk should be as fresh as you can find. If you can get eggs from a farm or a market where you know the date, that's what you want. The colour of a truly fresh yolk is the colour this dish depends on.
• •Grate the horseradish at the very last second, directly over the plate. It loses its aroma within minutes of being grated, and half the pleasure of the dish lives in that first sharp breath when you lean over it.
• •A cold pilsner or a small glass of aquavit is the drink for tatar. Red wine overwhelms it. The dish wants something clean and bracing to sit beside the richness of the raw beef and the yolk.

Advance Preparation

• •Chop the onion and the capers up to two hours ahead and keep them covered in the fridge.
• •Butter the rugbrod slices up to an hour before serving, but no earlier. The butter needs to stay soft and the bread needs to stay fresh.
• •The beef itself must be chopped no more than thirty minutes before serving. Raw meat starts to oxidize and darken the moment it's cut, and the bright red colour is part of the dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 210g)