When Kevin Sloan was a kid, he wasn’t eating ropa vieja. “Not a very adventurous eater,” he was nevertheless “turned on to” beef tartare – by his mom – when he was young and he “loved it from the word go.” Being from Wisconsin, eating a cannibal sandwich, as it’s also called, is a rite of passage.

Now, many years into his career as a chef, he still makes it and thinks of his mom. He says he prepares it every other weekend with his girlfriend, Paulette. “I’ve got a little hand grinder at the house that I use now,” Sloan says. “But before that, I would go out to Karl's [Country Market] of Menomonee Falls and call ahead and [have them] grind some sirloin or tri-tip for me, so it was nice and fresh. And I’d get the good rye bread from Karl's as well. So yeah, it's just always been one of my favorite things to make.”

He can’t underestimate that freshness, especially of the meat, is key. Sloan has tried different cuts of meat but says he likes tri-tip best. Before you head out to your local butcher, call ahead. Tell them what you plan to make – “don’t go grab a pack of ground beef out of the deli,” he says. The quality of the egg is crucial too – it’s used to hold the meat mixture together. Sloan also likes to have a high-quality rye bread for this. “I have an electric bread slicer here, too. So, I usually just slice the bread up, so it’s nice and fresh.”

Other than that, the accompaniments are “pretty traditional” – chopped onion and cornichons, some Penzeys Quebec seasoning, and a little black pepper and finishing salt.