Behind the French Menu: 2017-04-16

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

The paleron, a French beef center shoulder fore cut.

Braised beef daub in red wine.

Crispy onions, green beans, horseradish and puree potatoes.

Photograph courtesy of Nikki Tysoe

www.flickr.com/photos/fimbrethil/8019717298/

This cut, for beef, is often used for Provencal Daubs and other stews. Within the rules of French cuisine, it comes from the center of the shoulder. This cut is full of flavor, a while a well-cooked steak is precisely that, a well-cooked stew, when not over spiced allows to you taste the full flavor or the meat that no grilled or fried dish can offer. The better restaurants will identify the origins of the beef, and the cuts they offer — their knowledgeable clientele will return again and again they see named and highly rated additions to the menu.

There is no exact UK OR USA cut that matches a paleron.

There is lots of confusion with the French, UK and USA cuts from the shoulder. Many shoulder cuts make excellent steaks, and the whole shoulder area is often referred to in the UK and USA as chuck or chuck steaks, and the paleron is a center shoulder cut sometimes identified in the USA as the top blade or flat-iron. Now steaks may be prepared from this cut, but there are others that are better. In France, the paleron is nearly always used for slowly braised or stewed beef and veal dishes along with the occasional pork dish.

UK fore cuts.

Photograph courtesy of Barton Farms Shop

Paleron on French Menus:

Ravioles de Paleron de Bœuf, Toast de Moelle et Mousseline de Carottes à l’Orange, Émulsion Réglisse – Ravioli stuffed with meat from a daub or another stew served with toast with bone marrow and a moose of carrots flavored with orange and a thick licorice sauce.

Brochettes De Paleron De Bœuf Marinées – Skewers of marinated beef from the paleron.

Cuts from a paleron.
The USA top blade, or flat-iron.

Photograph courtesy of Les Producteurs Reunis

Le Paleron De Bœuf Irlandais Aux Champignons Et Lard Gras, Pressé De Cèleris et Carottes Confites – A stew of the paleron from Irish beef prepared with button mushrooms and fatty bacon and served with a jam (confit) made with celery and carrots.

Paleron de Bœuf Servi Avec son Jus, Risotto aux Truffes et Croûtons de Pain – A beef paleron served with its natural cooking juices, a risotto flavored with truffles and accompanied by bread croutons

Paleron de Bœuf à la Crème d’Échalotes

et Risotto aux Topinambours

A braised beef paleron prepared with cream of shallots

and risotto with Jerusalem artichokes.

Photograph courtesy of La Viande Francais.

Paleron de Bœuf Charolais Braise Doucement au Four, Jus au Poivre de Java, Legumes Glaces, Galette de Patate Douce. Paleron of Charolais beef slowly braised in the oven with a natural gravy flavored with the Balinese long pepper and served with glazed vegetables and a sweet potato crepe.

Poivre de Java - Cubeb Pepper (also called Tailed Pepper), is a real pepper cultivated for its fruit and essential oil. It is mostly grown in Java and Sumatra and so it is often called Java pepper which is then confused with Long pepper that also comes from Java and is related.

Cubeb pepper

Photograph courtesy of Zamouri Spice

Paleron de Porc aux Légumes de Saison – A paleron cut from a pork shoulder and served with the season’s vegetables.

Salade de paleron de bœuf

Photograph courtesy of Elle

Le Paleron De Veau Français Confit À Basse Température Jets De Houblon, Garniture Maraichère – A paleron of French veal confit (slowly cooked) at a low temperature and served with hop shoots and market garden vegetables.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

The Haricot Tarbais

Photograph courtesy of Keldelice

The Haricot Tarbais Bean

The Haricot Tarbais bean, like all beans, was discovered in South America and brought back by the conquistadors. The area around the town of Tarbes is called the Commune of Tarbes and it is a very important farming community in the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées in the new super region of Occitanie. In Tarbes, they have been selecting and improving on this strain of imported bean since the 18th century. The dried white Haricot Tarbais was, in 1997, the first dried bean to be awarded the Label Rouge, the red label, for its unique and consistent quality.

Buy the Haricot Tarbaise in the supermarket.

Photograph courtesy of the Cooperative Haricot Tarbais.

If you are close to Tarbes during the picking season, from Mid-August to October, it is worth visiting the town for many excellent and tasty reasons that include the fresh bean. Elsewhere in France, the Tarbes bean will still be on your menu but then it will be the rehydrated dried white bean. The town of Tarbes has a population of 47,000 and is one of the oldest communities in France; continually settled for at least 1,500 years.

The Haricot Tarbais on French Menus:

Bar De Ligne, Purée De Haricots Tarbais, Jus Au Pécharmant, Rouelle d’Oignon Doux Des Cévennes – Wild European Sea Bass served with a Tarbais Bean puree prepared with a sauce from the Pécharmant wines (wines from the North East of Bergerac) and onion rings from the AOP Sweet Onions of Cevennes.

Roast lamb with Tarbais beans

Photograph courtesy of SBS.com with Gabriel Gaté

Pécharmant is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, AOC/AOP wine produced in the hills to the North-East of the town of Bergerac, in the Dordogne-Perigord in France's South-West in the new super region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. (The new region of Nouvelle Aquitaine includes the old departments Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes. The change was made on 1-1-2015 when France reduced the number of mainland departments from 22 to 13).

Souris d'Agneau à l'Échalote Confite, Purée de Haricots Tarbais - Lamb shank prepared with a shallot jam and served with a puree of the Tarbais beans.

Tarbais beans with quinoa

Photograph courtesy of the Coopérative du Haricot Tarbais

Coques et Haricots Tarbais en Salade - Cockles, that popular member of the clam family served in a salad with the Tarbais Beans.

La Dorade Croustillante, Mousseline de Haricot Tarbais, Palourdes, Piment Doux - Crisply cooked Gilthead Sea Bream served with a moose of Tarbais beans, clams, and sweet peppers.

The Confrérie of the Haricot Tarbais.

Photograph courtesy of LaDePeche.fr

Carré de Porc des Montagnes Braisé au Jus et Haricots Tarbais - A braised pork chop from the pigs raised in the mountains and cooked with their natural cooking juices and the Tarbais beans.

Tarbais is the center of one of France’s major agricultural centers.

So much is grown and raised within the area of the Commune Tarbais that they have their own annual agricultural exhibition every March. Within the Hautes-Pyrénées department of Occitanie, where Tarbes is situated they also raise the famous Mouton Barèges-Gavarnie AOC, the only AOC mutton in France. The local farmers also raise the Label Rouge, red label, Blonde de Aquitaine cattle as well as other breeds for both beef and milk. Apart from beans, mutton, and beef, you will also find on local menus the pork and ham from the unique Porc Noir Gascon pigs. These Black Gascony Pigs also called the Black Pigs of Bigorre, the Noir de Bigorre AOC/AOP pigs, were nearly extinct until brought back from the brink less than thirty years ago. With the area of Midi-Pyrenees are also the Label Rouge Poultry of Gers, Lauragais, Tarn, and Quercy. Tarbes is also not at a loss for many other fruits and vegetables, from potatoes and lettuce to tomatoes, clémentines, and lemons; Tarbes supplies much more than just beans to the rest of France. In local restaurants expect fresh farmed trout as well as wild trout from local rivers and streams.

The website of the Tourist Information Office of the city of Tarbes is in English if you click on the British flag as you enter the site:

http://www.tarbes-tourisme.fr/

The cheeses produced around Tarbes include:

Roquefort AOP,

Bleu des Causses AOP,

Le Laguiole AOP,

Le Rocamadour AOP and

Tomme des Pyrénées IGP.

Roquefort Cheese,

Photograph courtesy of Nacho

There are many restaurants in and around Tarbes with excellent chefs and most with prices that are half those be found in the big cities. Local wine lists include the Madiran AOP red wine and the uniquely named Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec AOP, a dry white wine. Both these wines are grown around outside the small village of Madiran which itself is just 12 km (7.5 miles) away from Tarbes.

The lemons of Tarbes

Photograph courtesy of Frédérique PANASSAC

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10699036@N08/2112930127/

If you are visiting the area around Tarbes and are interested in food products in general and the products of Tarbes, in particular, visit the Halle Brauhauban with its daily morning food market. Also of interest may be the Grand Marché, the grand market; here in the Place Marcadieu, they have a flea market every Thursday morning and farmers' markets twice a week.The local Tourist Information office will supply days and hours.

The market at Halle Brauhauban.

Photograph courtesy of centre-ville.org

For visitors to the area, the pilgrimage town of Lourdes is just 50 km (31 miles) away. In the winter Tarbes and Lourdes are both fully booked as they are short distances from important skiing areas. The city of Tarbes is close to the Parc National des Pyrénées. The website of the National Park of the Pyrenees is in French but easily understood using the Google or Bing translate apps:

http://www.pyrenees-parcnational.fr/fr

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