from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Charolais cows.
www.flickr.com/photos/45449312@N00/1733676500/
The Charolais AOP cattle are highly rated
for their meat. They are the third French breed of cattle to be awarded an AOC
(now upgraded to an AOP) for their meat's consistent superior quality. For
livestock, an AOP also sets out the manner in which the cattle are raised and
what they may be fed. The Charolais herds are all free-range and feed on
grasses and wildflowers and herbs in the summer. In the winter, when they are
moved to sheltering barns, where they are fed local grasses and cereals that
were collected in the summer from their grazing areas and stored. Additionally,
all AOC cattle must be totally free of growth hormones and antibiotics. The
calves must be raised by their mothers and may not be separated until they are
weaned.
A Charolais Cow
\www.flickr.com/photos/dhwright/6997890059/
Charolais cattle are almost entirely
white; it is marvelous to drive through the countryside in the summer with the
beautiful contrasts of the grass and the white herds of these cattle. However;
I worry that if any of these cattle were left outside when it snows, no one
would find them!
Apart from veal, the Charolais are not
brought to market until they are at least two and a half years old, so their
body fat is distributed with well-marbled beef.
The Charolais Beef on French menus:
Filet de Boeuf Charolais
aux Morilles et Savagnin
Gratin de Pomme de Terre et Légumes de Saison - A cut from a Charolais fillet, the tenderloin, prepared
with morel mushrooms and a Savagnin wine sauce. The fillet is always the tenderest cut of
beef; however, it is not the tastiest, and in France, a cut from the fillet is always
served with a sauce.. Here the sauce is made with the natural cooking
juices, morel mushrooms, and the Savagnin wine.
The Savagnin grape produces some fantastic
white wines in the French department of Jura bordering Switzerland.
The wine’s name in French comes from the word sauvage meaning wild, and that
indicates that the vines and grapes came from wild vineyards.
Le Carpaccio de
Bœuf Charolais,
Mesclun et Copeaux de Parmesan – A Carpaccio of
Charolaise beef served with a mesclun
salad and sprinkled with flakes of Parmesan cheese.
Boeuf Carpaccio
www.flickr.com/photos/marsupilami92/32731729907/
Pavé de Rumsteck "Charolais" Sauce au Poivre Vert – A thick cut of a Charolais rump steak, prepared with a
green pepper sauce. A North American or UK rump
steak comes from a slightly different cut to the French Rumsteck. In
France, a rump steak will be barded while cooking; meaning that it
will be tied around with fat to prevent it from drying out as naturally, this
cut has little fat. The result is that French cuts from the rump will
usually be tastier than similar cuts at home. The sauce offered is a green pepper sauce; nearly all pepper steaks are made with
green peppercorns with good reason. Green peppercorns are picked before they
are ripe, and then they are pickled in brine before drying; the result is a
pepper with a slightly herbal flavor that is much less pungent than black or
white peppercorns. With a green pepper sauce, it is far easier to control
the taste that while white or black pepper could easily under or over season
the dish.
Pave de Rumsteck
A salade mesclun is a
green salad that should include at least five different salad greens. The
most popular salad greens, in France, apart from the many types lettuce,
include roquet, rocket; pissenlit, dandelion leaves; and, mâche, lamb's lettuce.
It may be that your salade mesclun will have colorful additions and that is
acceptable; often that will be radicchio. There are almost 100 varieties of
lettuce and salad greens available in France, so the chefs have plenty to
choose from.
Tartare de Bœuf Charolais,
Pommes Frites et Salade de
Jeunes Pousses – A Steak Tatar made
with Charolais beef and served with French fries, chips, and
a salad of young vegetable leaves. The most popular young leave, shoots,
come from spinach, chicory, Belgian Endives, arugula, and watercress.
Tartare de Bœuf
Steak Tatar.
www.flickr.com/photos/cyclonebill/9382942005/
Tournedos de Bœuf du Charolais
Poêle, sa Béarnaise a la Truffe Noire avec Petits Légumes de
Printemps a la Vapeur d'Estragon et Couronne de Pommes de Terre Rôties – The thickest cut from the end of the fillet, the
tenderloin, is called the tournedos in France. A
tournedos will be the cut used for a Tournedos Rossini, and a
double tournedos will be a Chateaubriand.
Here, the tournedos is lightly fried and then served with a Béarnaise sauce that
has been flavored with the black Périgord truffle. The
dish is accompanied by steamed young spring vegetables steamed with tarragon and served
in a ring of roast potatoes. Béarnaise sauce is one of France's
really awesome sauces; it is part of many beef or fish dishes whether they are
served hot or cold. Sauce Béarnaise was the creation of the chef and
restaurateur Jean-Louis Françoise Collinet. Collinet took Sauce Hollandaise and
replaced the lemon with white wine vinegar and shallots, and the
herbs with chervil and tarragon and
voila we have Sauce Béarnaise. The chef Collinet is also remembered as
the chef when in 1837, created soufflé potatoes. (Family members who traveled
on the Orient Express from Paris to Venice contributed this incredibly tempting
menu listing).
Church in Anzy Le Duc in Brionnais
www.flickr.com/photos/dierkschaefer/15186839006/
Finding Charolais
and Bourbonnais on the map.
Part of the Charolais du Bourbonnais name
for this breed of cattle comes from the village and community of Charolles in
the department of Saone et Loire in the
Bourgogne. (Burgundy, Bourgogne, is now joined
with Franche Comte in the new super region of Bourgogne – Franche-Comte). This area
was home to the Bourbon Kings of France, hence Bourbonnais.
Portions of Charolais and Bourbonnais are
now included in a new voluntary economic and agricultural grouping called Le
Pays Charolais-Brionnais.
How to get to Charolles
www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/34878669824/
The area of Charolais-Brionnais covers
part of the South West of Burgundy and
part of the newly joined super
region of the Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes To make things more
interesting when you ask the locals who they are some call themselves
Charolaise and some call themselves Bourbonnais.
There is much more than beef on the menu
with the names Charolais and Bourbonnais.
Charolais
AOP - Fromage Charolais AOP - A 45% fat, creamy,
goat’s milk cheese made with unpasteurized milk.
Charolais AOP Cheese.
L’Agneau
Charolais Fermier du Bourbonnais, Label Rouge – The highly rated breed Charolais Bourbonnais red label lambsthat
developed alongside the Charolais cattle. When Charolais lamb is on the menu,
do not pass it by.
The Volailles Label Rouge Bourbonnais
IGP - The Bourbonnais poultry. Their highly rated poultry includes their
farm-raised chickens,
their Poulet Bourbonnais Fermier Label
Rouge, and their Pintade
Bourbonnais, Fermière Label Rouge, their red label, farm-raised Guinea
hens.
Guinea Hens.
------------------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2011,2012, 2013, 2016, 2019
For information on
the unpublished book behind this blog, contact Bryan Newman.
at
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