On 26 Jan 2004 05:19:07 -0800, (William Dieterich)
wrote:

Could someone please fill me in on this or point me to a site.

I was wondering what the origin of Steak American is and why it is
called what it is.

The only thing I can guess is that food label 'american' is considered
fast or without much cooking, but I don't see how it would of caught
on that much in Europe that you see it in most french style
restaurants.

Like another poster, I've never heart of steak à l'américaine, A
single (travel, Brussels) site lists this as "raw, minced steak". This
is more commonly known as 'beef (or steak) tartare'. The name
presumably refers to the Tarter habit of shredding and eating raw
meat.

http://eat.epicurious.com/dictionary...ID=385&ISWINE=

The first 'recipe' I ever saw called for laboriously scraping trimmed,
premium beef so as to separate the meat from every trace of connective
tissue. Now it appears that ground or very finely minced fillet is
more common.

The name *might* come from the resemblence of a heap of ground beef to
a hamburger, but it's *not* a traditional USAsian recipe.