Entrecôte – The tastiest of steaks.
from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Cœur d'
Entrecôte
The entrecôte, called
a ribeye steak in the US, is one of the most flavorful cuts you’ll find on a
French restaurant menu. Its name translates to “between the ribs,” which
precisely describes its origin: a cut from the rib section.. In France, this
steak is typically prepared boneless, with chefs leaving a strip of fat along
the edge to keep the meat moist and tender during cooking, then trimming it
before serving. In the UK, this cut is known as ribeye, forerib, sometimes as a
sirloin. (Note: A US sirloin is a different cut from UK sirloin; many consider
the UK sirloin superior because it comes from just behind the ribs.)
Entrecôte on French menus:
Entrecôte
Bordelaise - An entrecôte in the manner of
Bordeaux. This is the most famous of France's many entrecôte recipes and is
made with Sauce Bordelaise.
Sauce Bordelaise -
The sauce is used with many dishes and is made with Bordeaux red wine, veal stock,
butter, shallots,
thyme,
and bone marrow. The wine used in the
preparation of this sauce is key and there is plenty of choice. Bordeaux
is a port city that is close to the center of France’s Atlantic coast and the
cultural center of the nearly 60 wine appellations that make up the famous
Bordeaux wine-growing region. The city has more heritage buildings than any
other French city, except Paris, and the wines of Bordeaux represent 25% of all
the AOP wines in France.
Ordering wine to accompany your
Sauce Bordelaise - When ordering wine to accompany a
dish with Sauce Bordelaise, remember there are over 3,500 wine châteaux
and wholesalers in Burgundy. While you may know some famous names on the
wine-list that alone does not guarantee a good match and the restaurant’s wine
list may offer 20 more options with excellent wines with names that you don’t know.
In a good restaurant, this is where the
sommelier, the wine steward, demonstrates his or her skills. Together with your
preferences and budget, the sommelier can suggest a wine that pairs well with
the dish and complements the sauce without overpowering it. If you want to make
your own choices buy an up-to-date pocket wine book or
an ebook so that you can search the wine list with your phone.
Choosing a Bordeaux wine to take home:
An attractive label and a famous name are not enough and if you see a
four-year-old—or even older—Bordeaux wine in a French supermarket or wine shop
with a suspiciously low price, don’t buy it. Just as there’s no such thing as a free lunch,
there are no cheap and good, aged Bordeaux wines. Knowledgeable locals will
have snapped up the real bargains long before you or I arrived.
Visiting
the châteaux and trying the wines: There are Tourist
Information Offices in every major town and village in the Bordeaux wine
region, offering directions, maps, and visiting hours. The Central Tourist
Information Office in the city of Bordeaux has an English-language website,
which serves as an excellent introduction to the region. You can also email
them for information before your visit:
https://www.bordeaux-tourism.co.uk/vineyards-wines
Entrecôte
Bordelaise à la Moelle – This is the
same dish as the one above, featuring additional bone marrow.
A traditional Sauce Bordelaise typically includes a small amount of bone marrow; however, when the dish is listed as à la Moelle, it indicates that more bone marrow has been incorporated into the sauce, giving it a rich, velvety texture. Just before serving, extra pieces of bone marrow are often placed atop the steak.
Entrecôte Bordelaise à la Moelle
In this photograph the small beige circles on the
steak are pieces of bone marrow.
Photograph by Monkey Business/Yaymicro.com
Entrecôte Marchand de Vin – An entrecôte steak prepared in the style favored by
wine merchants. Sauce Marchand de Vin is made with a slightly
fuller-bodied red wine sauce than that used for Sauce Bordelaise. It is
typically prepared with beef stock rather than veal stock, and without the addition
of bone marrow. Depending on where in France you order this dish, different red wines will be used.
Chateau
Lafite Rothschild 2001 Pauillac, Bordeaux.
USD 1,000.
Photograph courtesy of @ccfoodtravel
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cumidanciki/5943331080/
Entrecôte Maître d'Hôtel –
An entrecôte steak as preferred by the head waiter; this is a classic
French compound butter sauce. The steak is grilled to the degree requested, and
then a cold (compound) butter flavored with white wine, parsley and lemon
is placed on top of the steak
just as it is served. Very few other herbs will have been added during cooking,
often just a little salt and pepper. The Maître d'Hôtel
butter will melt and flavor the steak.
Entrecôte Maître d'Hôtel
Entrecôte au Beurre Café de Paris – Entrecote and another
classic compound butter sauce: Beurre Café de
Paris . The butter is flavored with garlic,
shallots, white wine, egg yolks, anchovies,
cornichons,
mustard, Worcestershire sauce and herbs. Depending on the
chef additional spice may come with a small amount of cayenne pepper, paprika,
or horseradish.
The sauce was not named after a café in Paris but after the Café de Paris in Geneva,
Switzerland, where it was first served in the 1930s. While originally created to be served with an entrecote steak it is often served other meat and fish dishes.
Entrecôte
Bercy – Entrecôte and Sauce
Bercy. This famous Sauce Bercy was created in the village
of Bercy when in the 17th century it was Paris’s main wine market
and just outside the walls that then surrounded the city.
Two famous sauces and a compound butter were created in Bercy; all three have a white wine base. For meat the sauce is made with white wine and butter, shallots, and parsley, beef stock and bone marrow. Today, Bercy is within Paris's 12th arrondissement, and while the wine trade has moved on streets named Cour Saint-Émilion and Rue de Pommard remind passers-by of the area's connection to the wine trade.
Noix d’Entrecôte or Cœur
d'entrecote
Noix
d’Entrecôte (the nut or kernel) and Cœur
d'Entrecôte (the heart) both refer to the center cut of an entrecote and
considered its finest and most flavorful part. These names emphasize the
central, homogeneous, and succulent portion of the cut.
Cœur d'Entrecôte Pommes Grenailles et
Sauce Béarnaise - This classic dish features the heart
of an entrecôte served with small, early new potatoes and Sauce Béarnaise.
Grenailles - While a
French-English dictionary might translate "Grenailles" as
"pebbles," in culinary terms, you'll be served small, early, new
potatoes.
Sauce
Béarnaise - Sauce Béarnaise is called a
"child" of Sauce
Hollandaise which was called a mother sauce by Antonin
(Marie-Antoine Carême) and for good reason. In the 1830s, chef and
restaurateur Jean-Louis Françoise-Collinet adapted Sauce Hollandaise
and by omitting the lemon juice and adding white wine vinegar, shallots, chervil,
and tarragon
he created Sauce Béarnaise. It's the tarragon and white wine
vinegar that supply the tang that makes us Sauce Béarnaise devotees. Interestingly,
the same Chef Collinet, at his restaurant Pavillon Henry IV, 20 km (12.5
miles) from Paris in 1837, is also credited with creating soufflé potatoes –
but that story is for another time!
Entrecôte
Façon du Chef - An entrecôte
prepared in the manner of the chef’s choosing. Since about 90% of entrecôte steaks in France
are grilled, this phrase typically indicates the chef’s specific choice of
herbs, seasonings, or a particular sauce. It’s always a good idea to ask your
server for more information.
Entrecôte Minute -
A smaller, thinner cut of entrecôte. Due to its reduced thickness, it’s
generally pan-fried rather than grilled, allowing for a quicker cooking time.
Outside of France a Minute Steak may be understood to be a lower priced
cut. In France the savings will be in
the thinner cut.
Entrecote-Légumes -
An entrecôte served with vegetables. In many French restaurants, especially
smaller, unpretentious establishments, menus often use shorthand like this. The
inclusion of légumes can imply that French fries (frites) are not included. Ask for clarification.
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Connected posts:
A
Contre– fillet, or Faux Fillet; a
UK Sirloin, A USA Strip. Ordering a steak in France.
Beurre
- Butter in French. Butter in French
Cuisine.
Bordeaux
and Bordelaise on the Menu, and Bordeaux
AOC Wines on the Wine-List.
Échalotes
- Shallots. One of the Most Important Herbs in the French Kitchen
French
Fries, Frites, Pomme Frites, Chips in the UK.
French Fries on French Menus.
Ordering
a Steak in France, Cooked the Way you Like it.
Persil
- Parsley in French Cuisine.
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
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2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2025
