A Chateaubriand steak.
Traditionally Chateaubriand is prepared as a roast for two people
as seen here.
It is separated into two steaks just before serving.
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Chateaubriand, the man:
François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand,
(1768-1848): Writer, hereditary aristocrat, gourmand, and politician. There will
be more about the man later, but first, Chateaubriand the steak.
The Chateaubriand
steak.
Many diners are puzzled when they arrive
in France and find that the Chateaubriand on the menu is a dish for two
diners. The reason behind this is the
size of a real Chateaubriand. A real Chateaubriand is a roast, not a grilled or
fried steak and that is far too much for a single diner. A true
Chateaubriand may weigh close to one kilo (2.2lbs) and is at least 8 - 10 cms
(3" - 4") high. Half a Chateaubriand, which is the single serving,
should be, at the very least, 350 grams (12.5 ounces) with most even bigger. The cut comes
from the best and thickest part of the US
Filet, the tenderloin, the UK fillet, and the French Filet de Boeuf. The
Tournedos, the cut used for the Tournedos
Rossini also comes from the same cut but is half as thick and maybe fried
or grilled.
Another well-prepared Chateaubriand
Photograph courtesy of Ben Stiefel
A Chateaubriand is barded and then
roasted. Barding means attaching fat around the exterior of the steak. Without
barding, a thick steak like a Chateaubriand, which has no exterior fat, would
dry out, even if the fillet itself was perfectly marbled internally.
Tradition gives the creation of the
Chateaubriand steak to Chateaubriand's chef Montreuil. Historically, that is
probably correct. Nevertheless, when searching in France, for more information
on Chef Montreuil, I found none. None of the chefs or Maitre D's I asked could
give me Montreuil's first name, or any of his history, beyond his creation of
the Chateaubriand steak and a now almost forgotten pudding called the
Diplomat's Pudding. In French culinary history like today, many of the famous
chef's either wrote books or became famous as they changed employers quite
often. Chef Montreuil; however, remains an enigma, and even the Larousse only
notes his family name.
A Chateaubriand for one
Divided into three with three sauces.
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Ordering a Chateaubriand steak
If you are considering ordering a
Chateaubriand steak, never, ever, ask for it well done. Cooking this cut all the way through would
produce a dry inside and a burnt exterior, a real disaster. A French chef
preparing a real Chateaubriand will, in any case, refuse to carry out such a
request. If you are in France, or going to France, and prefer your meat very
well done then order an entrecote
which usually has enough internal and external fat to sustain prolonged
cooking.
A good wine for a Chateaubriand would be a Bordeaux.
These barrels contain Saint Emilion from Château
La Rose Brisson, Bordeaux.
A wine bottled from this barrel and aged for ten years will do nicely.
Caveat Emptor a ten-year-old Saint Emilion from a recognized chateau
will cost more than the Chateaubriand
When traveling in France make sure you have a good book on French
wine.
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A Chateaubriand is always served with a sauce.
The Chateaubriand steak, like all cuts from the fillet, provides very tender meat, but, the tenderloin/fillet has less taste than other cuts. A Chateaubriand, in France, will always be served with a sauce. A traditional red wine sauce may be offered, or a Béarnaise sauce, or other sauce. It would be a brave French chef who offered a Chateaubriand without a sauce.
The arguments over the real Chateaubriand cut.
I read an article, about ten years ago,
in the early 2000s that claimed the US
cut was not a real Chateaubriand. A French butcher after visiting the USA
accused US butchers of selling a thick cut from a USA top sirloin as a
Chateaubriand. This, he said, was an act of lèse-majesty. (Lèse-majesté means
insulting the crown, or, in this case, the King of Steaks)! Remember that this
was an accusation and is not proven. I also read somewhere else that the
original Chateaubriand steak was not a cut from the tenderloin, the fillet; so
who knows what the original cut was? If
it works and has the texture of the best fillet steak use it.
A USA
take on the Chateaubriand, this one with veal.
Chateaubriand
of March Farms Nature-Fed Veal
www.flickr.com/photos/arndog/4202805472
Giacomo
Rossini met with Chateaubriand in Verona, Italy, in 1822. Then, Chateaubriand was
representing the French Government at the Congress of Verona, and Rossini was
invited to make music and impress the politicians. Rossini was then a famous
gourmand as well as a composer. He came home to Paris after dining with
Chateaubriand determined to have a steak dish created for himself that would
not take second place to Chateaubriand's. His first choice was Rossini's
best friend, the most famous chef of the period Antonin
Carême. However, at that time, Antonin was the personal chef of the British
Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and based in Vienna. The
result was the Tournedos
Rossini was created by another of Rossini's chef friends (and he had many),
the 19th-century-star chef Casimir Moissons.
Casimir Moissons was the chef at La Maison Dorée, one of Paris's most
famous 18th-century restaurants where Rossini was a frequent visitor when in
Paris.
Chateaubriand the man and the French revolution.
Chateaubriand was a rather lowly member
of France's aristocracy. At 25 left France to escape the prospect of being
guillotined during the revolution. Outside France Chateaubriand traveled
extensively and wrote profusely; he spent over half-a-year in the USA,
including the time he spent with Native Americans. Despite his background,
Chateaubriand was not wealthy and when outside France he was practically
penniless; his base was in England, where he lived in an attic in Holborn,
London. There gave French lessons to survive; he was in self-imposed exile for
nine years beginning in 1791.
A full-size replica of a Guillotine.
France had real traveling Guillotines that went from town to town,
Many aristocrats were dispatched with the Guillotine.
If Chateaubriand had he remained in France???
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Chateaubriand the traveler.
Chateaubriand could be called an early
backpacker as he traveled outside England whenever he had saved enough for
another trip. This period was the late 18th century, and travel was cheap at
the time. Nevertheless, it meant traveling on barely seaworthy wooden
ships that came with bad captains, shipboard diseases, along with bad and
inadequate food. On his travels, the ships Chateaubriand sailed on were attacked
by pirates and privateers. When he moved on land, there were highway robbers
and kidnappers to be avoided. From France, there was only bad news, and in 1794
his brother was guillotined and his mother and sisters imprisoned. Despite
everything Chateaubriand survived.
Portrait of Chateaubriand by Guerin.
Photograph courtesy of Art Gallery ErgsArt - by ErgSap
Chateaubriand the author.
When Chateaubriand was traveling,
whatever the circumstances, he was writing, and when he was not traveling, he
was also writing. In 1797 he wrote he wrote a travelogue: l'Itinéraire de Paris
à Jérusalem, the Itinerary from Paris to Jerusalem. He also wrote several other
books which sold well in France even in his absence; when he returned they sold
even better. Chateaubriand is considered the founder of the French Romantic
School, and when he came back to France in 1800, he continued writing
successfully. Chateaubriand then developed into an influential politician and
was also able to afford a personal chef.
Memoirs, from Beyond
the Tomb.
Chateaubriand's bestselling book was
entitled Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe, memoirs from beyond the tomb. This book has
had selected sections translated into English by Robert Baldick, Penguin 2014
edition.
Chateaubriand, the
diplomat.
Back home in France Chateaubriand served
Napoléon I as a diplomat. That is until Napoléon I had Louis de Bourbon, the
Duke of Enghien, a claimant to the throne of France kidnapped and shot.
Kidnapping and murder do not fit well into my book on French cuisine, and so I
will not go deeper into that story. It is enough to say that Chateaubriand
resigned Napoléon's diplomatic service and became an anti-Bonapartist.
Napoléon I was exiled for the second time
in 1815 after his defeat at Waterloo. Under the restored monarchy of King Louis
XVIII (1755- 1824), Chateaubriand re-entered the French diplomatic service
becoming foreign minister from 1823 to 1824.
Chateaubriand ended his political career
in 1830 after the then king, Charles X (1757 – 1836), abdicated. He did not
approve of the way the new King Louis XVIII was chosen, and refused to take the
oath of office. Chateaubriand left politics and retired to private life and
writing; he died, age 80, in 1848.
Chateaubriand’s grave on the island of Grand Bé at St Malo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wikimediacommons/16508046876/
Chateaubriand was careful in all things,
and he carefully chose the site for his burial. That was the tiny deserted
island on France's Atlantic coast of Brittany called the Grand Bé. Grand Bé is
just off the shore from the town of Saint-Malo. It is only 70 km (43 miles)
from where Chateaubriand was born in the village of Bon-Secours. When
Chateaubriand died, St Malo was still a small town. Now its year-round
population is over 50,000, and with its suburbs, the year-round population is
over 100,000. In July and August when France closes down for the summer
vacations the population triples! A good photographer and family members have
told me that despite the crowds in the summer, the fish and seafood restaurants
of St Malo are second to none.
The plaque close to Chateaubriand's Tomb on St Be.
The plaque reads:
Un grand écrivain français a voulu reposer ici pour n'entendre que la mer et le vent.
Passant
Respecte sa dernière volonté.
A great French writer wanted to rest here to hear only the sea and wind.
Passerby, respect his last wish.
Visiting Chateaubriand’s grave.
Admirers of Chateaubriand steaks or Chateaubriand's writings may visit the island and view his last resting place. At low tide, you may walk to Grand Bé from the beach of Bon-Secours. At high tide, in the summer season, you may sometimes rent a boat from the nearby small fishing port. When you visit his tomb remember that Chateaubriand's bestselling book is entitled Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb; its contents are riveting!
Whenever you do enjoy a Chateaubriand or go to St Malo for lunch or dinner, then raise a glass to the memory of François-René Chateaubriand, and do not forget the dish’s creator the chef Montreuil.
Even today the time that Chateaubriand spent in the USA is not ignored; France offers a Chateaubriand Fellowship for doctoral students enrolled in American universities. It pays for them to conduct research in France for up to 10 months. The French Embassy in the USA handles the inquiries.
Connected Posts:
Tournedos Rossini, after 150 years still the most famous of all steak dishes.
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