I am wondering about the quality of the pork in Poland. What are most of your livestock animals fed? Are they pretty much free-range, or are they kept in pens, like most American livestock, where they are forced to eat an unnatural diet of mostly corn?
The quality of meat isn`t so bad in Poland if Poles eat tatar - a dish made with raw meat. I think the recipe advises beef but pork seems OK too. See a few photos and read some expert explanation:
I wouldn't eat anything that consisted of not properly cooked pork, theyt eat there own fesis for goodness sake. Providing the pork is cooked properly its the best ive ever tasted. Turkey here is fantastic too.
Many years ago, I bought what looked like fresh tatar on Saturday morning from a meat stand. Little did I realize that it was probably from Thursday and the weather hadn't been that cold. I bought it thinking to make hamburger steak (which might have been okay) but a 'friend' said it looked like tatar so I had it that way (minus egg or sardine or pickle or vodka). About 36 hours later I became sick as a dog with a splitting headache and really bad case of the shakes. Strangely I don't remember throwing up though I assume I did.
I still enjoy tatar but only from places I trust (and lots and lots of vodka, did I mention lots of vodka?)
The quality of meat isn`t so bad in Poland if Poles eat tatar - a dish made with raw meat.
My Girlfriend made tatar, the important thing is to use steak mince, or at least a proper cut of meat (always beef). The general mince that is in most supermarkets contains the sort of stuff that NEEDS to be cooked to kill all those nasty bacteria , that will indeed upset any but the most battle hardened stomachs.
Me being a bit of a big girls blouse with raw meat, turned mine into burgers, and they were absolutely gorgeous!
Steak Tartare is NOT cooked, not "cooked" in any way. It's raw beef, with a raw egg yolk, a mashed salty anchovy, minced onion, powdered dry paprika, and maybe a bit of mustard. It's delicious on a bit of bread, with icy-cold wodka to accompany. The usual garnishes are chopped boiled egg, or capers, but these are also optional.
Other considerations: -- It's best to have the meat minced at the latest possible moment before serving and not to use ground or minced beef that has been sitting in the meat display, to avoid food poisoning. If at the market, ask the butcher to grind it at your request, ideally using a clean machine.
-- Use the leanest beef there is, for best taste and for your health and digestion. -- Pigs are rather more likely than cows to pick up parasites (trichina worms, for example) that lodge in the muscle meat and that can be equally injurious to humans. Therefore, eating uncooked (or very rare) pork is a bad idea, and pork tartare just isn't done. (Tuna tartare is a modern fad, but be sure to use sushi-quality fish, to avoid oceanic parasites.)
Ceviche is made with lemon or lime juice, which has enough acid to reduce the bacteria count somewhat, but ceviche as normally served is not "cooked" as far as breaking down the muscle fibers or aiding digestion. The protein fibers *begin* to break down a little if the ceviche is held at least three hours, by which time it has become unpalatable.
you can get trichnosis from eating the neighbors garbage disposal pig raw. millions of fresh mettwurst sandwiches are sold in german every week without a problem. if you don't trust your source, you probably shouldn't be eating it.
another quick tip for having tartar at a restaurant. the decent places will take the slab of beef out and grind it in front of you. i'm not sure if it's true or not, but i heard that there are a certain additional set of criteria that a restaurant has to achieve with regards to the storage and prep area if they want to sell tartar.
side note, any suggestions for good tartar? there is a place in klodko that was awesome, will dig out the name...
