Carne Cruda is a delicious and decadent restaurant quality Italian beef appetizer. Like Steak Tartare this dish revolves around raw beef.
Here the beef is chopped finely and lightly 'cooked' with lemon juice. Then it is dressed with herbs and extra virgin olive oil and served with crisp ciabatta slices.
This Carne Cruda makes a small amount of expensive beef go a long way and can be served as part of a charcuterie board or as an appetizer.
Is Carne Cruda raw meat?
Yes and no. It isn't truly raw as the lemon starts to 'cook' the meat and the color and texture will change. Even if you think that you don't like raw meat, this recipe is definitely worth trying. The tender beef is delicious!
What is the difference between carne cruda and carpaccio?
Italian Steak Tartare/Carne Cruda is finely chopped raw beef often pressed into a round mold, whereas carpaccio is wafer-thin slices of raw beef.
Both are delicious, you can see my recipe for beef carpaccio here.
Ingredient Notes
These notes are here to help make this recipe a success; they cover some but not all ingredients; for a complete ingredient list, check out the recipe card below.
Anchovies: These add a wonderfully savory, salty hit; they don't add a fishy taste. Worth trying. But if anchovies are an immovable hurdle, then you can leave them out, but be sure to add extra salt to the dish.
Beef: You want to use a lean, tender cut of meat for this Carne Cruda. Tenderloin or filet mignon is the most expensive choice and will yield excellent results. However, for a cheaper alternative, try using round steaks, they are significantly lower in price, and as long as they are finely chopped, they give you the same delicious melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Parsley: Use fresh Italian parsley. You can swap it fo some arugula/rocket instead.
What cut of beef is used for Italian Steak Tartare (Carne Cruda)?
You want to use a lean tender cut of beef for this Carne Cruda.
Tenderloin or filet mignon is the most expensive choice and will give you AMAZING results. The recipe uses just 8oz/250g so you can make your expensive cut of meat go along way.
However for a cheaper alternative try using round steak, they are significantly lower in price and as long as they are finely chopped they give you the same delicious melt in the mouth texture.
The key if using round steak for your Carne Cruda is it needs to be a finer chop than a beef filet version.
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How to cut the beef for Italian Steak Tartare
Start by putting the steak in the freezer for 30-45 minutes, this firms up the meat and makes it much easier to cut. Then cut the beef into long thin strips against the grain and cut these strips into smaller cubes.
I buy the meat the day I wish to eat it, get it home, place it in the freezer for 30-45 minutes to make it easier to slice, then chop it ready for the dish, keep it, covered and undressed, in the fridge until I am ready to eat.
I also always chop this by hand. The food processor gives you more of a minced texture and one of the beautiful parts of this dish is the texture.
Is Steak Tartare/Carne Cruda safe?
I know that people get worried about eating raw beef, but as long as you buy your beef from a reputable source you should have no issues. Ensure you buy the freshest meat you can.
Avoid beef that is pre-wrapped in cellophane and instead go to your local butcher or butcher counter in the grocery store and ask for the freshest beef they have. Tell him (or her!) that you are serving it tartare style. He loves meat, he will love that you are trying tartare and will give you something fabulous!
How to Serve Carne Cruda
Serve Carne Cruda up with some crisp slices of ciabatta and watch it vanish. Honestly even people who screw their nose up at raw meat demolish this dish.
You can serve it in small bowls as an individual starter, or dish up a larger bowl for a sharing platter. Your guests will love it. And a little goes a long way. A 9oz/250g steak will serve 4 people as a starter or 6-8 if served as part of an antipasto platter.
What to drink with Carne Cruda?
Carna Cruda is a tough one to pair wine with, the beef suggests a red, but the acidity of the lemon and salt of the anchovy can get lost when you had a bold heavy read.
For those wanting a red, I would go for a Dolcetto or a light pinot noir.
For white wine drinkers, a crisp sauvignon blanc will balance well with all the flavors.
But my personal choice though would be a prosecco or better yet a sparkling rose.
Enjoy x
Get the Recipe
Carne Cruda Appetizer - Italian Steak Tartare
Ingredients
- 9 oz beef tenderloin -see note 1
- ½ lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 anchovy fillets
- salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 ciabatta loaf (to serve)
Instructions
- As soon as you get the meat home, remove it from the plastic/paper, trim it of any fat/sinew and then place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.9 oz beef tenderloin
- Remove the beef from the freezer and chop into long slices against the grain, cut these strips into long thin strips. Rotate the strips and cut into small cubes. Place the meat in a non-metalic bowl, cover and leave in the coldest part of the fridge until you are ready to serve.
- Squeeze the juice of the lemons into a jug and add in the olive oil.½ lemon1 tablespoon olive oil
- Finely chop and squash the anchovy fillet against the chopping board until you have rough anchovy paste.2 anchovy fillets
- Mix this into the lemon oil mixture.
- Season generously with salt and pepper and mix well.saltfreshly cracked black pepper
- When you are ready to serve, pour the lemon mixture over the meat and leave it to sit for 5 minutes.
- Whilst the meat is marinating, thinly slice the ciabatta and crisp lightly under a hot grill.1 ciabatta loaf
- Just before you serve it, stir the parsley through the beef.1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
- Serve the beef with the crisp toasts.
Notes
- You can use a lean cut of round steak as an inexpensive alternative. Just cut the steak slightly finer.
Nutrition
Nutrition is per serving
Gill says
I love this story! How wonderful to have such a great memory of dinner with friends.
I have never eaten raw beef before but I want to try this as you make it sound so delicious.
Signing up for your newsletter 🙂
Claire McEwen says
Thank you Gill. I love sharing my random stories 🙂
I do hope you enjoy the raw beef. Due to the lemon juice the texture feels more like lightly cooked beef in the mouth and unlike a rare cooked steak it isn't bloody. It really is a sublime way to enjoy beef and a little goes a long way.
If you try it please come back and let me know what you thought (good or bad) I would be really interested to know x
Claire McEwen says
And thank you for signing up to my newsletter, I hope you find plenty more foods to enjoy. Don't forget to reply to the email and say hi, I love getting messages back 🙂
Philana says
Yum!!! I've never heard of this dish before so I'm so glad you posted it! It's making my mouth water already, I bet the anchovy really makes it delish! "I live in a world where there are only two ways of cooking beef. Either barely cooked; black and blue steak is my utter favourite way to enjoy steak." - I think we should be best friends haha!!
Claire McEwen says
Hehe, friendship based on beef is as good as a friendship based on wine 🙂
I hope you enjoy it.