Showing posts with label Aubrac Plateau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aubrac Plateau. Show all posts

Bœuf Fermier d’Aubrac, Label Rouge – The Red Label Beef from Aubrac in the Center of Southern France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com  

 
Aubrac cow and calf.
Photograph courtesy of Jean Weber
        www.flickr.com/photos/inra_dist/25371239801/


When you want great beef, and Bœuf Fermier d’Aubrac is on the menu expect something special.  From farms over 800 m. (2600’) high, for five to six months a year the Aubrac cattle are free-range on the Aubrac Plateau where they graze on grass and wild herbs and flowers.  In the winter they are fed hay from the same grass and herbs that they eat in the summer; after two to three seasons on the plateau, their beef is flavored and well marbled.
   

The Aubrac Plateau is close to the center of southern France.
The plateau is to the South of the Massif Central where the departments of Lozère, Aveyron, and Cantal meet.
    
The Aubrac Beef’s Label Rouge

The Bœuf Fermier d’Aubrac must meet yearly standard checks, unlike many wines that bear famous labels but were last checked one hundred or more years ago.  For their Label Rouge IGP, (the UK PGI) the calves must be raised by their mothers until weaned and no antibiotics or growth hormones may be used.  Every year there are organoleptic tests, where highly trained professional tasters use their very special noses and taste buds to ensure the quality never drops.
   
Statue to the Aubrac Bulls in Laguiole.
www.flickr.com/photos/marlened/5131867074/
 
To meet the requirement for the Label Rouge cattle, there must be at least 10,000 sq. m. (2.50 acres) for each cow and calf.  This beef comes from small farms with the average herd less than 100 head including calves and bulls.  Many of the farms are also AB (Agriculture Biologique) certified organic farms.
  
Aubrac Plateau in winter,
www.flickr.com/photos/rolandbrossy_photographies/32611740535/
  
Bœuf d’Aubrac on French Menus:

Côte de Bœuf d’Aubrac pour 2 (800 g), Frites Maison –  A  bone-in rib-eye steak from the Bœuf Fermier d’Aubrac for two,  with 800 grams (28 ounces) including the bone, served with the restaurant’s special French Fries.  The bone will take 50% of the weight served, and so each diner may expect 200 grams (7 ounces).  When a menu listing reads Frites Maison that indicates the restaurant has its own particular take on French fries. Ask.
  
Daube de Boeuf Aubrac Label RougeDaube is a famous beef stew that originated in Provence.  It is made with a red wine and tomato base; the vegetables and herbs depending on the time of year and the chef.  When good chefs begin with good beef, they make seriously good steaks.  However, with good ingredients, it is the rare gourmand who can tell one good steak from another.  That is not so true for stews where it takes more than a very high temperature and a little salt and pepper to cook.  A good stew takes hours of preparation at a low temperature, the herbs have to be just right, and when the meat used is not just good but seriously good then you will taste the difference. 


   Daube
Photograph courtesy of tpholland
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tpholland/4122574973/

 

Faux-Filet de Bœuf d'Aubrac au Poivre Noir de Kâmpôt, Lit de Fèves - A UK sirloin steak, a US strip steak. (The UK and USA sirloin are not the same cuts).  This is a pepper steak made with the Kampot black pepper from Cambodia and served on a bed of fava beans, also called the Windsor or broad bean.  Poivre de Kâmpôt from Cambodia is real pepper, from peppercorns, not a chili pepper, and holds a European Union IGP.  Pepper enthusiasts claim its taste speaks to gourmands and of course the pepper’s origin makes the menu listing more interesting.
 
Pièce de Bœuf d’Aubrac Cuite au Barbecue, Panisses aux Herbes et Sauce Foyot – The butcher’s choice of unique rump steaks cooked on a barbeque and accompanied by  Panisses and served with Sauce Foyot. The cut called the Piece de Bœuf, or Piece Boucher indicates the butcher’s choice and that is the name given to a few uniquely tasty cuts from the rump with only enough steaks for six to eight servings from a whole steer.  A skilled French butcher knows the real value of these cuts that are overlooked and wasted outside of France,
 
The Panisses began as a street food in the City of Nice on the Cote d’Azur on the Mediterranean and have made it to the best restaurants.  They mostly look like wide oblong fries (chips) and are made with chickpea flour, and like the best fries (chips) are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  The shape of  Panisses differs from street vendor to chef as each has his or her favorite.  Traditionally they are offered with just a sprinkling of with salt, but now grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese may be added.  The Sauce Foyot was created by adding to a Sauce Béarnaise the glazed cooking juices of roasted meats making it the perfect sauce for grilled meats.  (Sauce Foyot is also called Sauce Valois). 
   
Tartare de Bœuf d'Aubrac (Cru ou Aller-retour), Frites Maison Steak Tartar cru, uncooked, or aller-retour, ever so lightly seared on both sides, accompanied by the restaurant’s particular take on French fries.  Steak Tatar is a steak in the manner of the Tartars, the frightening fighters, the hordes, who rode to war under the direction of Genghis Khan in the 13th century.  Twentieth-century folklore has the Tartar tribesmen riding to battle with raw meat under their horses' saddles.  As they rode they were said to cut off pieces of the raw meat with a knife, and eat as they rode; they only stopped riding to sleep.

Today’s Steak Tartar begins with hand-cut or ground steak.  The texture is very important, and with this dish, you can really taste the meat so you do need seriously good beef and Aubrac beef fits that requirement.  Despite the lack of a frying pan or grill, this may be one of the greatest steak dishes that you have ever tasted.  Steak Tartar is made with tender, flavorsome steak, onion, parsley, cornichons, capers, and Cognac with Tabasco or Worcester sauce adding spice.  In many recipes, a raw egg yolk will be mixed in just before serving.  For those who enjoy good restaurant theater, you may an enjoy a true professional mixing the ingredients in front of you; there is no cooking involved.  For the French, a Steak Tartare is a spicy dish, but for most of us, spicy French dishes are not really very spicy.

 Steak Tatare Aller-Retour

This menu listing offers a choice of the traditional uncooked (cru) Steak Tatar or  very very slightly seared on the top and bottom "aller-retour".  Aller-Retour means go and come back, and when I use to travel from Paris to Lyon by train to see customers, I would order a cheap day-return train ticket known as an “aller-retour” a same day return ticket.  But how did this name jump to Steak Tatar and other dishes very lightly seared on both sides?  A French friend explained that for a new dish a chef must choose a name and "aller-retour" caught on.  So a Steak Tatar with a go and return ticket indicates the beef pate is taken from its starting point on a plate for a very very short searing of the beef on one side and that is the “go- aller,”  then the beef pate is flipped to the other side for the  “return – retour."  This creates a Steak Tatar sandwich of different flavors and textures.

The cities of Paris and Lyon compete for the name of the center of all that is good in French Cuisine and “aller-retour” Paris-Lyon- Paris tickets are still on sale.  When you visit Paris consider a side trip to Lyon for lunch, a visit to one of its three major art museums, the Bartholdi Fountain, and and then back to Paris for dinner.  Travel time each way is a pleasant two to two and a half hours.  Whether you try a Steak Tatar “aller-retour” in Paris or Lyon is up to you.


Steak Tatare
Photograph courtesy of Joselu Blanco
https://www.flickr.com/photos/silverman68/5457046330/

  
The Aubrac cattle
 
The Aubrac cattle were, until the French revolution, bred by monks on the Aubrac Plateau.  There they were raised to pull plows and provide milk as well as meat.  The cows provided the milk for the fabulous Laguiole cheese though now other breeds have taken their place and tractors replaced the Aubrac cattle pulling plows.  Nevertheless, despite the changes, a few farmers still make cheese with Aubrac milk.
  
Transhumance
   
Aubrac beef farmers continue a tradition of “transhumance.” the seasonal movement from the winter farms and barns to the summer pastures.  Every year a few thousand visitors come to watch as the herds meet near the village of Aubrac on the 25th of May when the herds with the cows and their calves begin their trek to their summer pastures.  To learn more about this tradition see the website below.  The Google or Bing translate programs allows the French language website to be clearly understood in English.
 

The village of Aubrac where the transhumance begins is just 20 km (12 miles) from the small but famous town of Laguiole.

Laguiole is home to three famous products.
N.B. Forget about the spelling, Laguiole is pronounced lie-yole, the G is silent. 
 
Laguiole AOP cheese.

The excellent Laguiole AOP, 45% fat, cow’s milk cheese is aged from 4 to 24 months before sale and to reach its own post click here.


Laguiole Cheese.
Photograph courtesy of Au Fromager de Rungis.


Maison du Laguiole
   
Maison du Laguiole, the House of Laguiole.  The creator of the original Limonadier, the traditional French corkscrew, and the Laguiole knife along with some of France’s best cutlery.
   


Laguiole en Aubrac - Brown Horn
Photograph courtesy  of Amazon


Restaurant Bras
 
Restaurant Bras, one of France’s most celebrated restaurants.  I do not usually name restaurants as chefs change fairly frequently and an up-to-date newspaper or magazine review is better than a post in a blog that can be around for a number of years.  However, the Bras restaurant under the imaginative command of Michel Bras and his son Sébastien has held three Michelin stars for fifty years.  That is just about long enough to tell me that they are doing something right and unlikely to change very soon.  Michel studied under the master chef Ferdinand Point who in the 1950's taught French chefs to throw out the heavy sauces and heating pans of Haute Cuisine.  Point’s students created today’s modern French cuisine then called Nouvelle Cuisine.  Those students are today, like Michel Bras, the grey-headed patriarchs of French cuisine.  The Bras restaurant and its associated hotel and restaurant have an English language website:
 

Traveling to Laguiole
 
If you are traveling to the Mediterranean and the town of Sete or Montpellier from Paris you will probably take the A71 and A75 highways.  The A75 passes close to the Aubrac Plateau and Laguiole.  The ThinkLink.com web page below shows Laguiole in the center and clicking on the letter “i “  will pop up websites of all the French Government Tourist Information Offices in the area. 
 



On the menu in the region as well as many restaurants around France will be Aligot, a wonderful dish of cheese and mashed potato and garlic that is important enough to have its own post.  There are purists who believe that the real aligot can only be made with a young Laguiole cheese, a local tome fraiche, or a young Cantal cheese.  However, I can attest to having enjoyed, outside the region, excellent aligots made with other cheeses.
   

Aligot
   
The Laguiole French Government Tourist Information Office has an English language website:


Connected Posts:
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 3,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman 
Copyright 2010, 2018, 2023.

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Laguiole AOP Cheese. One of France's finest cheeses.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


Aged Laguiole cheese.
Photograph courtesy of Céline MOSNIER
www.flickr.com/photos/hirondellecanada/3073174098/

Laguiole AOP is a 45% fat (30.5% dry weight), hard, unpasteurized, cow's milk cheese; it has a light golden color with a pleasant smell and a light, slightly fruity taste. The cheese is aged from 4 to 24 months. From a blind tasting of a six-month and an 18-month Laguiole AOP, the younger cheese was excellent, while the 18-month-old cheese was more like an aged cheddar with a slight bite.


The Aubrac cow.
Photograph courtesy of Olivier Bacquet
www.flickr.com/photos/olibac/6008729138/

The Laguiole AOP cheese may only be made with milk from the Simmental and Aubrac cows. The cows graze freely for seven months a year on the Aubrac high basalt plateau between 800 and 1400 meters for close to seven months a year. In the winter, the cows are brought into barns and fed on the grasses and wild herbs collected from the Aubrac plateau during the summer. Milk production and refining of cheese must be carried out in the geographical area of the Aubrac, where less than 80 farms in the departments of Aveyron, Cantal, and Lozère are authorized to provide milk for this cheese. The cheese is named after the village of Laguiole. (The village and the cheese's name Laguiole AOP is pronounced is lay-ole, do not pronounce the g). 

There are another eight AOP cheeses linked to the Aubrac Plateau, and they have their own French language websites. These unique cheeses are Laguiole, Salers, CantalFourme d'Ambert, Pélardon, Rocamadour, Saint-Nectaire, and Bleu d'Auvergne).


The village of Laguiole.
Photograph courtesy of lns1122
www.flickr.com/photos/minijoegreen/21512662653/

Buying Laguiole Cheese

Should you decide to take a whole Laguiole AOC cheese home from France, you may encounter some difficulties; the smallest cheese weighs 20 kilos, and others weigh up to 50 kilos. I imagine all airlines would appreciate the extra income when you bring one of these cheeses as excess baggage. To avoid problems, buy a large wedge, maybe one kilo, and pack it well in a plastic bag. Where possible, buy from a professional fromager, a cheese shop, since most offer packaging in vacuum bags and may well provide a taste of a mature cheese as well. However, as this is not a soft cheese, it will travel well even if the bag is not vacuumed. Once home, keep this and all hard-yellow cheeses wrapped in plastic wrap in a refrigerator, but not in the freezer. When you open your cheese and cut a wedge, an hour before serving, rewrap your cheese and return it to the fridge; it should keep well for 8 -10 weeks if you let it last that long. Laguiole, the village, is in the department of Aveyron in the administrative region of Occitanie. For more about buying cheese in France and taking it home, click here.


Aligot.
Photograph courtesy of Tavallai
www.flickr.com/photos/tavallai/5850019237/

One of the most popular dishes made with Laguiole is Aligot, a traditional, very tasty, potato, and a cheese-based dish made in Aveyron with a young Lagouille cheese or an unsalted Tome (Tomme) Fraîche d'Aubrac. For Aligot, the cheese is mixed into mashed potatoes along with garliccrème fraiche, milk, and butter. This combination is carefully stirred until long threads of cheese and potato may be drawn from the pot. The Aligot will usually be served with a small, pork, salami type sausage. In an upscale restaurant, the Aligot may have slices of beef added. (The original Aligot recipe is claimed as their own by two neighboring departments, Hérault and Lozère, and the cheese differs in each of the departments).


The ski station in Lagouile
Photograph courtesy of Tourism Aveyron.

There is more to Aveyron and Laguiole than excellent cheeses.

The Aveyron department is a beautiful place for fishermen and women as it has five major rivers plus hundreds of streams and tens of lakes. Aveyron will be on many menus throughout France including their Bœuf Fermier d'Aubrac, Label Rouge, their mostly free-range red label Aubrac beef-cattle. Also look-out for their Label Rouge, red label, Agneau Laiton de l'Aveyron, lambs between 70-140 days; that and Aveyron's famous veal, their Label Rouge, red label, Veau d'Aveyron et du Ségala I.G.P.  

The cutlery of Laguiole

Laguiole's village is also famous for "La Maison du Laguiole," the Laguiole knife's creators. Their knives, other cutlery, kitchen equipment, and their very individual corkscrews are appreciated worldwide. If you are in the area, worry not, they do have a factory outlet shop for visitors! Many French sommeliers, wine stewards, pride themselves on only using Laguiole corkscrews; this is the Rolls Royce of the limonadier type of corkscrew. The French for a corkscrew is Tire-Bouchon, the most famous of these French corkscrews in the "Limonadier," also called the Couteau Sommelier.


Maison du Laguiole “Limonadier”
Photograph courtesy of La Maison du Laguiole

The name Limonadier comes from its original users' trade, for whom this particular corkscrew was created, they were soft drink vendors. Three hundred years ago, most wines were not sold in bottles; they were sold in barrels, though soft drinks were sold in bottles, and sealed with a cork. When this corkscrew was created, only a few fine wines were corked, and 99% of the population never saw them. The Limonadier is the corkscrew with a lever to assist in pulling the cork out. The name came from the shops, also called Limonadiers, which were early 17th-century soft drink shops and also the name of the profession of those who sold soft drinks. These stores opened the bottles of the non-alcoholic beverages they sold with the corkscrew called the Limonadier. Three-hundred years later, The French national association representing café owners is still called the Syndicat National des Limonadiers. 


A Laguiole bread knife.
Photograph courtesy of La Maison du Laguiole

If you are visiting Aveyron

The local Aveyron Tourist Information Offices will give you a list of over 100 wineries, farms, dairies, and other local producers in the department who open their farms and wineries to visitors. N.B. When visiting most farms and wineries, a small contribution to the local economy is expected. You may also have the list sent to you long before you leave home and plan your visits.

The Aveyron Tourist Information English language website is:

http://www.tourisme-aveyron.com/index_en.php

I have intentionally avoided recommending restaurants, as chefs and menus change; however, in the case of the village of Laguiole, I have made an exception. If your credit card is in good shape, consider the two-star Michelin Guide restaurant, Le Suquet, above the village. Le Suquet is owned and run by one of France's true master-chefs, Michel Bras, and his son Sébastien who, since 2009, is in charge. Fifty years with the same chef and all those Michelin Stars is long enough to consider making a recommendation. In 2017 Sébastien Bras turned down their three Michelin stars saying he no longer wished to be included in the Red Michelin Guide and "wanted to give a new meaning to my life." Nevertheless, in 2019 Michelin returned two stars, Le Suquet is simply too good.

The Le Suquet English language website is:

http://www.bras.fr/en/

Wine in Aveyron

When ordering wine, consider the Marcillac AOP, the most famous red wine of Aveyron, and try the local IGP Aveyron (previously the Aveyron Vin de Pays). These wines include whites, roses, and red.

--------------------------------

 


Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright, 2010, 2016, 2020 

--------------------------------

Are you searching for words, names,

or phrases on French Menus? 

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu's links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 470 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.

------------------

Connected Posts:
 
Ail - Garlic. Garlic in French Cuisine.
 
AOP, IGP and Vin de France. What are These New Wine Labels?
 
Aligot on a French Menu; What's That?
 
Bleu d'Auvergne AOP, - The Bleu d'Auvergne French Blue Cheese. Bleu d'Auvergne in French Cuisine.
  
Bœuf Fermier d'Aubrac, Label Rouge – The Red Label Beef from Aubrac in the Center of Southern France.
 
Buying Cheese in France. Bringing French Cheese Home and a Lexicon for buying French Cheese.
 
Canard – Duck. Duck on French Menus.
 
Cantal and Salers; Two of the Best Cheeses From the Auvergne, France.
 
Crème Fraîche - Creme Fraiche. What is Crème Fraîche? Why is Crème Fraîche Part of so Many of France’s Famous Sauces.
 
Nouvelle Cuisine? What ever happened to Nouvelle Cuisine? Where is Nouvelle Cuisine?
 
Saint Nectaire Fromage - Saint Nectaire Cheese. Saint Nectaire is an AOP Cow's Milk Cheese from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
 
Sausages, an Important Part of French Cuisine. A Short Introduction to France's World of Sausages. The Sausages of France III.
 
Tastevin – A Sommelier's Odd Looking Cup, Worn on a Neck Chain Around the Neck. The Sign of Wines from Burgundy.
 
Regions - France's Mainland Regions and Their Borders Have Changed. France's New Super regions. Keep This List With Your GPS and Map.
 
Rocamadour Goat’s Cheese, AOP and the Medieval city of Rocamadour.
 
The Fourme d'Ambert AOP; One of the Auvergne's Very Special cheeses.
 
The Pelardon AOP or Pelardon des Cévennes AOP Goat Cheese
 
Tomme de Savoie IGP and Cows’ Milk Tomme Cheeses.
 
Volatile – Poultry. The Word Volaille, Poultry, on French Menus Only Includes Chickens and Turkeys. Volaille in French Cuisine.
 
 
 

Responsive ad