from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Oxtail soup
The first recipe for
an oxtail soup or stew came to English menus when it was called a hochepot.
That recipe was brought by the soldiers of William the Conqueror in 1066 when
they came over from Norman France and invaded and conquered England. Many of William's soldiers came from Flanders in northern France, where hochepot was, and still is, a favorite dish.
Oxtail
soup with its tasty, slowly cooked meat has a soft and silky texture flavored
by its bone marrow that you can feel on your tongue; it would become a traditional
British and Irish favorite. With this and
many other dishes, the cooks of William’s army brought
the French connection to the English kitchen.
The word
hochepot became hodgepodge in English, meaning “a jumble or mixture of any odds
and ends and miscellaneous items;” and obviously, that was the original recipe
for the soup. Anglo-Norman law under which England was ruled for four-hundred
years after the Norman French invasion supported that premise when the word hochepot was given
a legal meaning: “the blending or gathering together of properties;” just like
the blending and gathering together of whatever was available in the kitchen.
The old
province of Flanders, where hochepot originated is today mostly within the
department of Nord on France’s English Channel (La Manche) and North Sea
coast. (And, BTW, William the Conqueror is a great-great-great…of the present
Queen of England).
A hodgepodge mixture of odds and ends
www.flickr.com/photos/sfllaw/70503683/
Until
about fifty years ago, oxtail soups and stews in the UK were considered too
bourgeois for most restaurant menus. Then, celebrity chefs discovered the
tastes locked into the recipes that are now prepared for gourmets.
The Queue de Bœuf on French Menus:
Chiffonnade de Queue de Bœuf, Vinaigrette à la Moutarde à
l'Ancienne – Strips of beef from the tail served with a vinaigrette sauce
flavored with a coarse-grained, mild mustard sauce. The word "chiffonade" in your
French-English dictionary means "rags," but on your menu, it will indicate
thin strips of vegetables lightly sautéed or as here thin strips of meat. Strips
of smoked salmon, cured hams, or other finely cut fish, or meats may also be described
as a "chiffonade." Moutarde à
l'Ancienne means mustard in the old manner that is made by mixing the mustard seeds in
water for a few days rather than crushing them.
Hochepot de Queue de Bœuf – This is the traditional oxtail stew made
like a Pot a Feu, a slowly cooked hearty stew prepared with vegetables, usually
carrots,
turnips,
and onions.
Hotchpot de Queue de Bœuf
Parmentier
de Queue de Bœuf au Vin Rouge de Touraine – Meat from the oxtail
flavored with a red wine from the Touraine covered with mashed potatoes. The French
pharmacist Antoine-Augustin
Parmentier (1737–1813) who made the potato an important part of the
French diet is honored with his name on this and many other potato dishes.
Touraine
was a historical and cultural region and an ancient French province set in the Val de
Loire where it is home to many fine wines and cheeses including the Chinon and
Vouvray wines and the Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine
AOP cheese. During the French
Revolution, the province of Touraine was divided with its larger part becoming the
department of Indre-et-Loire in the region of Centre-Val de Loire.
A few of the wines
from the Touraine
Préssé de Queue de Bœuf et Salade – The meat from the oxtail interleaved with
vegetables and pressed into a square or rectangular form from which it will be
served; here it is accompanied by a salad.
Raviolis de Queue de Bœuf – Ravioli made with the tender meat of an
ox-tail. The sauce with this dish will generally be a meat and red wine sauce.
Salade
de Mesclun et Terrine
de Queue de Boeuf Maison – A mesclun salad and a pate made with the meat from an oxtail. The
terrine here is a pate
that will have been made with vegetables and possibly other meats. The ingredients of a salad
mesclun will change with the season but will include five or six salad
greens chosen for their contrasting tastes and textures.
A salade mesclun.
www.flickr.com/photos/bluehillranch/5277543600/
Soupe de Queue de Bœuf – Oxtail soup.
In North
America and the UK there are many other stews with similar sounding names
to hochepot or hodgepodge including many without oxtails or cows’ tails, (which are just as tasty). (BTW an ox
is a castrated male and in North America also called a bullock or steer).
Bœuf (beef), and the letter Œ.
Œ – The two letters O and E linked together have a history much longer than the few grammar lessons that I participated in in school. You can blame the Romans and Greeks for this strange letter or ligature as it is properly called. When the letters are separate, they have their individual sounds, and so in English, you mostly hear the letters o and e sounded separately as in beachgoer for O and poet for E. However, in French, when linked together o and e form their own unique sound “er” and so bœuf for beef, is pronounced berf and œuf for egg, is pronounced erf.To type Œ in lowercase letters on a PC keyboard hold down the “Alt” key and type 0156 and the lower case œ will appear. For the uppercase Œ type Alt and 0140.
N.B. The letters only appear when you take your finger off the Alt key and also make sure the Num Lock is off before typing or nothing appears.Alt 0156…. Voila œAlt 0140…..Voila ŒFor the other French ALT (ascii) codes with both lower and uppercase letters click here.I am sorry that I have not yet checked and cannot offer any suggestions for Mac keyboards.
-----------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Copyright
2010, 2019, 2023.
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
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