from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Finely marbled beef.
www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/4450266254/
The Fin Gras du Mézenc cattle are raised
on the Mézenc Massif that runs through the departments of Ardèche and
Haute-Loire in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France’s mountainous Massif Central.
Here, the pastures are over 1,100 meters high and the rich grasses, upon which
the cattle graze for over six months a year, include over forty different herbs
and mountain flowers.
These AOP cattle have
finely marbled beef and will only be on the menu between February and early
June. The cognoscenti watch specific restaurants that every year will have this
beef on their menus with their calendars in hand. Even in Paris and Lyon,
France’s two capitals of fine-dining, relatively few French diners have the
opportunity to taste this remarkable beef. Less than 800 head of cattle reach
the market every year, and France has a population of over 65,000,000.
This beef makes excellent steaks, but the real flavor
and texture of this beef is best tasted in a Carpaccio or a Fin Gras du Mézenc
Steak Tartar, as well as in stews and roasts. The steaks will be excellent, but
the unique taste of beef from the Fin Gras du Mézenc is best appreciated when
its taste and texture may be noted without grill or frying flavors.
Hikers with a farmer and his calf in Mézenc
Photograph courtesy of Peter Lorre.
www.flickr.com/photos/weddingwithedouard/1073177953/
On a few select menus between February
and early June:
Belles Tranches de Bœuf AOC Fin Gras du Mézenc Justes Marinées et
Condiments d’une Béarnaise – Beautiful slices of Fin Gras du Mézenc AOC beef lightly
marinated and served with a Sauce
Béarnaise. This dish is a Fin Gras du Mézenc take on a Carpaccio.
Pièce
de Bœuf Fin Gras du Mézenc Rôti à la Plancha
et Purée aux Cèpes – A rump steak, fried-grilled on a plancha accompanied
by mashed potatoes with porcini mushrooms.
A Pièce
de Bœuf might seem to translate as a Piece of Beef which doesn’t inspire,
but there are four unique French cuts from the rump that may be called a Pièce de Bœuf; cuts that
are the very best but usually considered too much work and preparation for the
UK and North American butchers.
A plancha, which was initially a Basque cooking tool, is a solid,
thick, flat sheet, that achieves a taste somewhere between grilling and frying.
The Basques claim ownership of the plancha, as do the Spanish. The modern
plancha may look like the flat cooking plate of a fast-food restaurant, but
look again carefully, it has three times the thickness and produces a very even
heat.
Bourguignon
de Boeuf "Fin Gras du Mézenc" AOP - A beef Bourguignonne made with the beef from the Fin Gras du
Mézenc AOC. Bœuf Bourguignonne is the most famous beef stew of
Burgundy and the beef from Fin Gras du Mézenc is especially noted for the taste
given to these types of dishes. In this dish, the chef is matching burgundy red
wine with the Fin Gras du Mézenc.
Bœuf Bourguignonne
www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/16627591978/
Tartare Fin
Gras du Mézenc de en Rouleau, Croquette de Joues et Queues
de Bœuf au Sésame – A steak
tartar from the Fin
Gras du Mézenc rolled and served alongside fried croquets made using the meat
from the beef cheeks and tail
flavored with sesame.
Steak Tartar
www.flickr.com/photos/nwongpr/6999679796/
Côte
de Boeuf de Fin Gras du Mézenc, Simplement Poêlée, Jus Corsé à la Syrah (pour deux personnes) - A bone-in beef
rib simply fried in a jus corsé, the natural cooking juices, flavored with a
Syrah red wine. A jus corsé is made with the natural cooking juices and here
the Syrah red wine flavors this sauce. Syrah is best known outside France as
Shiraz. This serving is for a minimum of two diners as a beef rib is a very
large portion.
Here in the Mézenc Massif that one may
begin to understand the importance of the French concept of Terroir. Terroir indicates a single location where land
and climate combine to provide consistently superior and unique food products,
wines, and as in this case, the finest beef. Here, the contribution of nurture
combined with nature clearly shows the difference as the other French AOP
cattle are specific breeds, and the Fin Gras du Mézenc is not. They are mixed
herds, and their taste can only be down to Terroir.
Before being taken to market, these
animals must have passed two summers freely grazing on the Mézenc Massif above
1,100 meters. When they are brought down for the winter, they may only be fed
hay that was grown in the same pastures where they grazed in the summer. Also
permitted in winter are limited amounts of cereal and other naturally grown
products
Mont Mézenc, 1754
meters
and La Grosse Roche, Haute-Loire.
www.flickr.com/photos/96064256@N04/35865172485/
The cattle are only sent to market from
February through June, and that means that the youngest animals go to market at
24 months, while most are over 30 months. As with all AOC cattle, they must be
raised free of antibiotics and growth hormones and the calves raised by their
mothers.
How do you know the
beef really is the Fin Gras du Mézenc?
The Fin Gras du Mézenc AOP also has
traceability, which prevents other cattle from being sold under this valuable
name. All animals raised for sale will have a piece of cartilage taken from
their ears, and that allows a DNA test to made at any time in the marketing of
the beef. Now high tech tests can
connect the meat on your plate to the farmer who raised the beef.
The Mézenc Massif set with France’s
mountainous Massif Central is very sparsely populated; for the visitor, this
area offers a view of a distinctly different France well away from the
crowds. Even in the winter, when the
Massif has cross-country and some downhill skiing, those who visit are the
sports lovers who want to get away from the crowds in the most popular skiing
areas. In the summer, here is rock climbing, hiking, fishing, and mountain
biking.
Winter in the Mézenc Massif
The Fête du Fin Gras
du Mézenc
The first weekend of June is the Fête du
Fin Gras du Mézenc AOP, the feast of the Fin Gras du Mézenc AOC. Then during the fete, the villages grow from
a few hundred inhabitants to 4,000 and more. All the visitors will have come to
watch parades of the cattle along with sales of other farm-made products that
include local cheeses, conserves, honey, and more. Then, of course, the festive
dinners based on the Fin Gras du Mézenc AOC are the main attractions. The villages in the départements of Ardèche
and Haute-Loire alternately divide the responsibilities for the fete.
Farmer with a young bull he is bringing to the fete.
The French government tourist office will have
the names of the villages hosting next year’s fete as will the website of the
Fin Gras du Mézenc AOC beef. The website
is in French but easily understood using the Bing, Google, and other translate apps
Parade in the Fête du Fin Gras du Mézenc
Alpine fennel
if you are in the area of the small
village of Chaudeyrolles at any
time of the year, in the Haute-Loire, visit their Maison du Fin Gras du
Mézenc AOP; their information center for this fine cattle. Here,
they will tell you all about their cattle, emphasizing their traditional
methods of farming, show videos, and also offer recipes; the information center
also sell jars of Sel de Cistre, a salt made from the plant called the Cerfeuil
des Alpes or Fenouil de Montane, Alpine fennel. This wild herb, according to
the locals, adds tremendous flavor to any steak.
Alpine Fennel
Cerfeuil des Alpes, Cittern, Fenouil de
Montagne or Fenouil de Alpe - Alpine
fennel or baldmoney in the languages of
France’s neighbors:
(Catalan – fonoll), (German - bärwurz), (Italian
- finocchiella or finocchio montano),
(Spanish - eneldo ursino). (Latin - meum athamanticum).
--------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019
--------------------------------
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Connected Posts:
The Plancha or Planxa in French Cuisine. The Plancha on French
Menus.
The Cèpe Grows Wild in France. The Cepe
is the French Porcini Mushroom. The Mushrooms Of France III.
