The story of beef tartare goes all the way back to the Tartars, the nomadic warrior people credited with inventing this particular way of eating raw meat. Constantly on horseback and covering huge distances, the Tartars are said to have tucked raw meat between the saddle and their horse’s back to sustain themselves on long journeys. The motion of riding would tenderize and shred the meat, leaving it ready to eat as soon as they stopped.
Today, tartare has travelled a long way from its origins to become a genuine fine-dining dish, prized by discerning diners with refined palates. Chopping the meat by hand with a knife isn’t just a stylistic flourish — it makes a real difference. The gap between a hand-cut tartare and one run through a meat grinder is obvious at first glance, and even more so on the palate.
A well-made tartare uses raw beef and should be served fresh, never cold. Straight out of the fridge, the meat can’t properly release the aromas of the seasoning or its own flavour — the ideal serving temperature sits around 12-15°C (54-59°F).
Cutting and hand-chopping the meat with a knife, rather than grinding it, keeps its nutritional and textural qualities intact. Ground meat, by contrast, heats up during processing and loses flavour in the process — the result ends up closer to a flattened meatball than an authentic tartare.
What really matters in a great tartare is striking the right balance between the flavour of the meat and its seasoning — and here too, the quality of the raw ingredients makes all the difference.
If you’d like to try a top-quality beef tartare while you’re in Florence, come taste ours at Benedicta!