Showing posts with label steak frites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steak frites. Show all posts

Steak de Hampe - A Flavorful French Cut of Beef With no Corresponding USA or UK Cut to Compare With.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
 


Steak de Hampe and French fries.
Photograph courtesy of Susan Lucas Hoffman
https://www.flickr.com/photos/64141731@N00/6834216274/
 

A Steak de Hampe is a flavorful steak that like many French cuts of meat it has no accepted name in the US or UK equivalent.  French chefs
prize this cut for its deep, beefy flavor and while often compared to a bavette (hanger steak) or onglet (flank steak and in the UK a skirt steak)
The hampe tends to be slightly more marbled and is anatomically distinct.
In the USA the hampe would be considered part of the outside skirt steak, often used for fajitas or stir-fries; in the UK, it's typically treated as part of the flank.  However,[BN1] 
French butchery draws fine distinctions between cuts and the hampe is always marinated before cooking to enhance tenderness and is rarely cooked beyond medium-rare. Hampe steaks are meant to be quickly seared and served immediately, and it is a popular cut for France’s great Steak Frites and will nearly always rarely cooked any more than medium-rare.  This cut is never prepared well done; it will be tough and shriveled.  If you only eat well-done steaks order an entrecote.

 

The Hampe is below the Onglet and above the Bavette on this diagram

Steak de Hampe on French menus:

Steak de Hampe de Boeuf et Gratin Dauphinois – A hampe steak served with Gratin Dauphinois.  

Gratin, Au Gratin, Gratiné, and Gratinée, all refer to dishes that are browned before serving, though “browned” barely captures the essence of this cherished French culinary technique.

Our taste buds are activated by sensory memories long before we visit a restaurant offering a favorite dish and French diners considering dishes with names that include Gratin, Au Gratin, Gratiné, or Gratinée will have their sensory buttons pushed. All of these are treasured techniques and tastes in French Cuisine.  

Recipes with Gratin in the name have been part of French cuisine since the late 1600’s. While any dish that is browned in an oven or under a grill may be called a Gratin, even the simplest Gratin dishes will likely see a French chef adding cheese, breadcrumbs, cream and or butter to help it along.

 Gratin Dauphinois: Thinly sliced potatoes cooked in olive oil, then baked in milk and cream, flavored with nutmeg, garlic, thyme, and shallots, with some versions adding onions. The dish is browned under the grill before serving, typically with Gruyere or Parmesan cheese.

On French menus, the names Dauphiné or Dauphinois typically indicate recipes, mostly fairly modern, from the area of the ancient and quasi-independent principality called Dauphiné (now comprising the departments of Savoie and Isère in the Rhône-Alpes region and part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region).  Historically, the ruling Counts, under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled using the title Dauphiné (dolphin).   At the end of the 14th century, the Dauphins sold their land and titles to the French King, with the title Dauphiné becoming the title of the King's eldest son. N.B. Pommes de Terre Dauphine is not the same dish and is not made au gratin; it is a potato croquette mixed with choux pastry and fried.  

 


Gratin Dauphinoise
Photograph courtesy of Karen and Brad Emerson
https://www.flickr.com/photos/karenandbrademerson/3118473571/

 

Steak de Hampe Sauce au Poivre – A hampe steak prepared with a pepper sauce. Nearly all pepper steaks are made with green peppercorns.  Green peppercorns are usually the pepper of choice for a steak au poivre, a pepper steak. Black pepper can override the flavor of the steak.

Green peppercorns are harvested before they ripen, then pickled in brine and dried, but not fermented. The result is a pepper with a light herbal flavor, much less pungent than black or white peppercorns. Green peppercorns are usually the pepper of choice for a steak au poivre, a pepper steak. When black pepper is used for a pepper steak, it's harder to manage its intensity. If black pepper is used, then it will almost certainly be crushed, not left whole, and not ground, as crushed black peppercorns deliver a less aggressive heat.

 


Steak au Poivre.
Photograph courtesy of Xoyos. com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78501770@N05/7232708858/

 

Steak de Hampe Sauce au Poivre – A hampe steak prepared with a pepper sauce. Nearly all pepper steaks are made with green peppercorns.  Green peppercorns are usually the pepper of choice for a steak au poivre, a pepper steak. Black pepper can override the flavor of the steak.

Green peppercorns are harvested before they ripen, then pickled in brine and dried, but not fermented. The result is a pepper with a light herbal flavor, much less pungent than black or white peppercorns. Green peppercorns are usually the pepper of choice for a steak au poivre, a pepper steak. When black pepper is used for a pepper steak, it's harder to manage its intensity. If black pepper is used, then it will almost certainly be crushed, not left whole, and not ground, as crushed black peppercorns deliver a less aggressive heat.

To order a steak to go with the fries see the post: Ordering a steak in France, cooked the way you like it.



Steak frites with a Sauce Bearnaise.
Photograph courtesy of Trevor Pittman
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46485532@N04/8445938443/


La Hampe de Bœuf Grillée, Sauce Bordelaise, Poêlée De Pommes De Terre Et Champignons – A grilled hampe steak served with a Sauce Bordelaise, accompanied by pan-fried potatoes and button mushrooms.

 Sauce Bordelaise - The classic sauce from Bordeaux, with a red Bordeaux wine as its base. The sauce is used with many meat dishes and will be on menus all over France.  To the Bordeaux red wine, veal stock, butter, shallots, thyme, and bone marrow are added.  The wine used in the preparation of this sauce is key, and there is plenty of choice. Bordeaux 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, which produces 25% of all the AOP wines in France.  If you’re visiting the historic center of Bordeaux, you’ll find that it has more heritage buildings than any other French city, except Paris.

Champignons, (also called the Champignon de Paris): Button mushrooms, were the first mushrooms to be successfully cultivated (a related mushroom was first cultivated in the 17th century in very small quantities). However, the commercial production of cultivated mushrooms, which began with the Champignon de Paris, would have to wait for three hundred years. This success spurred significant investment in cultivating other mushroom varieties. Today, we can choose from over fifteen types of cultivated mushrooms, available year-round,

Today’s button mushroom brings you four or more mushrooms in different sizes, with different names, different prices, two colors and close to ten different names. Despite all these differences, the white button mushroom is the same as the brown button mushroom, and the different sizes are simply the same mushroom at different stages in its growth cycle.  The medium-sized Cremini is also known as the Portabellini, and the largest of them all is the Portabella or Portabello.  The only difference between all these mushrooms is their degree of maturity and color. The Champignon de Paris and its siblings are right up there, along with Nouveau Beaujolais, Pink Champagne, and a number of other food products, when it comes to marketing.

 

Hampe de Veau Grillée, Sauce aux Deux Moutardes au Thym – A grilled hampe veal steak prepared with a sauce made from two different mustards flavored with thyme.  Notably, this menu listing highlights the use of two distinct mustards, but interestingly, their specific identities are omitted.  Mustards can have very different tastes, so it's a detail worth asking about.


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Connected posts: 

Ail - Garlic. Garlic in French Cuisine.

Bordeaux and Bordelaise on the Menu, and Bordeaux AOC Wines on the Wine-List.

Champignons on French Menus. The Champignon de Paris, the Button Mushroom in French Cuisine. The Mushrooms of France I.

Darphin. Paillasson, Dauphine and Dauphinois on French Menus.

Échalotes - Shallots. Shallots on French Menus. Shallots are One of the Most Important Herbs in the French Kitchen

French Fries, Frites, Pomme Frites, Chips in the UK. French Fries on French Menus.

Macis and Fleur de Muscade, Mace and Nutmeg. Important Spices in French Cuisine.

Moutarde – Mustard. Mustard (Including Dijon Mustard) in French cuisine.

Ordering a steak in France cooked the way you like it.

 Parmesan, the Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano is an Important Ingredient in French Cuisine.

Poivre - Peppercorns. White, Green, Black and Red Peppercorns. Grey Pepper and the Misnamed Pink Peppercorns. Pepper in French Cuisine.

 Steak Frites - Great Steaks from France. Onglets and Bavettes in French Cuisine 

Thyme in France. Thym, Serpolet, Farigoule and Thym Citron, Lemon Thyme in France. Thyme. One of the most important herbs in French cuisine.

 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2017, 2025.


 [BN1

Bistros - French Bistro Menus. The History of the French Bistro.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

    
Bistro on Rue Lepic, Montmartre, Paris.

www.flickr.com/photos/frankblacknoir/4579308613/
   
The History of Bistros
   
With the advent, of the French revolution in 1789 and the breakup of the large estates owned by aristocrats, the staff, including all the kitchen staff were out of work.  They went back to their homes in France’s villages, or they went to poorer parts of the cities and towns; this was a very hard time to find work.  Nevertheless, some of these graduates of aristocratic kitchens had learned a great deal and had saved a few Francs; they opened France’s first small bar/restaurants. (Brasseries have a different history and different menus).
  
 Parisian Bistro.
Photograph courtesy of Amy Glaze
www.flickr.com/photos/msglaze/2198386877/

The menus of the first bistros.
   
These first bar/restaurants would have a menu of maybe five to six dishes. Everything that was offered would be well prepared and inexpensive. Acceptable, low-priced, wines were offered, and they came from barrels, not bottles.  Most of these nameless bar/restaurants would later be called Bistros while a few would go on to be really excellent full-service restaurants.
   

Braised Short Ribs of Beef mashed potatoes, roasted beets.
Photograph courtesy of Larry Miller

In 1815 came the soldiers of the Royal Houses of Europe.
   
The soldiers came from Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, and Portugal and they defeated and exiled Napoleon I for the second time. However, this time the armies occupied France, mainly in the cities, and many NCOs and lower level officers were quartered in private homes.
  
NCOs and lower level officers do not have the time to sit down for a three, or a possibly four or five-hour meal like their commanders, and at that point, four hours was the norm for a full multi-course dinner at the few high-class restaurants that existed.  In all of Paris, in 1815, there were less than 50 full-service restaurants. Today, in Paris, there are over 20,000 full-service restaurants.


The meaning of the word. 
  
These soldiers demanded a whole, well-cooked, meal that could be served in less than an hour and a half at a price they could afford. The Russian soldiers were among those who shouted the loudest, and when they entered these small restaurants, they shouted, быстро “Bistro,” which means “quickly” in Russian.  Within a few weeks all the soldiers from the different armies had one word in common and on entering a restaurant they would call out Bistro and dinner would be cooked and served in less than an hour and a half.
     
Boudin noir et gambas grilles,
Black pudding sausage and large shrimps, bistro style.
www.flickr.com/photos/puce576/17184975237/

     
   Bistros were  France's first fast-food restaurants.  
  
With high quality and low prices, these new restaurants also drew in skilled workers from the area around about, those who could pay for an inexpensive lunch.  This took business away from the carts in the streets that sold stews; the first French fast food restaurants had arrived!  In a Bistro today expect dinner for four still to take about one and a half hours.

From then on, and for the next one hundred and fifty years Bistros were a uniquely French mixture of bar, cafe and restaurant with even the smallest village having one or more. Many are or were family-owned with Monsieur cooking while Madame runs the dining room and keeps an eye on the cash register. The reverse is also seen.

The words Bystro, Bistro and Bistrot first appeared in French dictionaries in 1884. That tells us that from the time that the foreign soldiers had left France in 1818 the Bistro had remained popular. Bystro, Bistro, and Bistrot had become part of the French language and are part of France’s culinary history.
   


www.flickr.com/photos/flem007_uk/3625173675/

Today's Bistros  today offer France's favorite comfort foods

Then came WWII and the economic turn down after the war; that and the move to the cities closed tens of thousands of small Bistros all over France. The Bistros that remain (not the contemporary bistro variety), still offer local comfort foods along with national bistro favorites such as Andouillettes and other sausages, snails, frog’s legs, roast chicken and steak frites. Organ meats (calf's liver, pig's feet, sweetbreads, etc.) are also essential to the bistro menu, as is such homey fare as pâtés and terrines and more. Apart from towns where tourists are valuable customers Bistros depend on their regular clientele, and these are locals who demand their timeless favorites served in pleasant and moderately comfortable, but not hi-tech surroundings. The traditional bistro is small, intimate and low-key.
    
Duck Leg Confit and Slow Cooked Duck Breast with Cabbage.

  
Some bistros have remained much as they were with plain tables and simple glasses and cutlery; others have linen tablecloths and serviettes. Neither format will tell you much about the food being served though you will notice a difference in the prices on the menu. Nevertheless, since the traditional Bistro has a limited and recurrent menu both will produce well-prepared food day after day.

Contemporary Bistros, Gastro Bistros and more.
   
Contemporary bistros are something else.  It seems to me that many excellent French chefs, after achieving success while working for a restaurateur in a Michelin guide restaurant with one or more stars will go back to their childhood dream and opens a bistro they own themselves.  However, these are chefs with lots of knowledge will be constrained by the traditional bistro’s menu; their Bistro will become a “contemporary bistro”. Alongside Contemporary Bistros are Gastro Bistros, Néo-Bistrots and other versions of Bistros with upgraded menus; some are now owned by celebrity chefs.  When you visit France first try the traditional Bistro first and only then branch out; in Contemporary Bistros expect unique dishes not usually seen. 

The Bouchons of Lyon

In addition to bistros, there are the Bouchons of Lyons. Bouchons were formerly coaching inns where passengers could eat and rest while the horses from their carriages were changed. When coaching inns were no longer required many became a unique Lyonnais restaurant that served local comforts foods. Unfortunately, few remain, there are maybe 20 Bouchons in all of Lyon.

 
  


Sweetbreads in French cuisine, Ris de Veau (d'Agneau) on French Menus. When sweetbreads are on the menu in France do not pass them by.
 
Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
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French menus?


Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" and search with Google. Behind the French Menu’s links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 400 articles that include over 3,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.fr
  

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2016, 2018
  

Ordering a Steak Rare, Medium-Rare, Medium or Well-Done in France.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 


All the French you need to order a perfectly cooked steak.
   

Steak and French fries (chips).
www.flickr.com/photos/dongkwan/2943140653/


The short version
for ordering a steak in France.
  
Very, very rare Bleu
(Pronounced ble).

Rare -  Saignant
(Pronounced say-nyon, do not pronounce the T).

Medium Rare with the accent on the rare -  À Point
(Pronounced ah pwa).
  
À Point
Medium-rare.with the accent on the rare.
www.flickr.com/photos/bokchoi-snowpea/4454588117/

Medium rare,  closer to medium  -    Entre à Point et Bien Cuit.
(Pronounced awntr a pwan ay bien kwee).

Medium to well done -   Bien Cuit
(Pronounced bien kwee).

Well done - Très Bien Cuit
(Pronounced tray bien kwee).
N.B. An exceptionally well-done steak; however, “très bien cuit” is not in any French chef’s dictionary though it will be clearly understood.  Be careful when ordering!,  Do not order France's popular steak frites very well-done; you will be served cooked cardboard or leather, that is if the server agrees to take your order.         

For an in-depth answer on ordering steak in France click on this post:

More detail in this post.

To begin with there is no direct translation
 for medium or medium-rare.
Read on.

North American and UK steakhouse terms such as medium, medium-rare, or well-done do NOT translate, conceptually, into traditional restaurant French. Your English-French travel dictionary may offer the word Moyen as the translation of the word medium, and that is correct.  Unfortunately, in French Moyen is not used as a cooking term.

Ordering a steak requires little French. It does not matter whether you order a steak in English, or in perfect or poorly accented French.  Every French waiter understands an order for a steak.  Problems only appear when the waiter asks:  Quelle cuisson, votre steak?  How would you like your steak cooked?  
      
Check these pictures.

A lexicon of French terms for ordering a steak or cuts of beef

Bleu – Bleu is also the French word for the color blue, and for a steak, it means very, very rare; leaking onto the plate when cut.  When you feel the need for an almost raw steak, then a steak bleu will fill that need. A steak bleu indicates that the chef will have allowed the steak to take a quick peek at the grill or frying pan, in passing, on its way to your plate. A steak bleu is just sealed on the outside; when cut that steak will leak copiously onto your plate; it will have been cooked, maybe, for one to two minutes on each side.    (Bleu is pronounced ble).  
   
Saignant – French for a rare steak.  The direct translation into English of the word saignant would be bloody, or bleeding; despite that, a steak saignant will have been cooked a little more than a steak bleu. A steak saignant will also leak, when you cut into it, though less copiously than a steak bleu.   In North America and the UK, a steak saignant will still be considered a rare steak. (Pronounced say-nyon, do not pronounce the T).
   
Saignant
A rare steak.
www.flickr.com/photos/bhamsandwich/5520541126/
   
À point - Perfectly cooked, just ready or just right. À point is the term used, in France, for all perfectly cooked foods, and not for steaks alone. Unfortunately, many guidebooks give the term à point as the way to order a medium-rare steak. A perfectly cooked steak, for most French men and women, is NOT medium-rare; rather, it is a rare-to-medium-rare, a lot closer to rare than the US or UK medium. (Pronounced ah pwa).

À point
Medium-rare.with the accent on the rare.

  
I prefer my steaks cooked à point, (medium-rare with the accent on the rare), but that is my choice. French servers with experience with English-speaking tourists will agree, generally with a smile, to take your à point steak back into the kitchen for a few more minutes on the grill, or the frying pan when à point is too rare for your tastes.
       
 When English speaking diners, in France, wish to order their steaks medium-rare, I suggest they order steaks cooked entre à point et bien cuit.  That translates as “between well cooked and à point” the result will be a US or UK medium-rare steak, closer to medium than rare. For a medium-rare steak just ask for your steak entre à point et bien cuit. See the following paragraph.
       
Entre à Point et Bien Cuit  –  In France, entre à point et bien cuit has worked well for me when ordering a steak cooked to medium  for friends.  All French servers will understand it. A French diner sitting near you, and observing you order a steak cooked entre à point et bien cuit may consider your steak as overcooked; however, you are paying the piper. (Pronounced awntr a pwan ay bien kwee).
   
Entre à Point et Bien Cuit - Medium
www.flickr.com/photos/140547216@N04/42441238032/
   
Moyen   Average or the middle. In the French kitchen, the word moyen has nothing to do with steaks.  Look to the two previous paragraphs and the terms À point or Entre à Point et Bien Cuit to order a medium-rare or medium steak.
    
Bien Cuit  Bien cuit translates into English as well done; however, an order for a steak bien cuit, in France, generally produces a medium-to-well-done steak.  A steak bien cuit will not run at all; however, its center will still be slightly rosé, pink. (Pronounced bien kwee).
  
Bien Cuit
Very slightly rose in the center.
www.flickr.com/photos/suburbanadventure/6855666864/
          
Très Bien Cuit   Very well cooked; an extremely well-done steak.  Unfortunately, très bien cuit is not used for steaks in French kitchens; I made it up.  Despite that, all servers with some experience with overseas visitors will understand the request. For the French très bien cuit means a very overcooked steak, and the server may ask you to repeat that instruction. If you have ordered steak frites, an experienced server may advise you re-consider, or order something else.  The cuts used for France’s relatively inexpensive steak frites are usually flank steaks or hanger steaks, and a well-done flank or hanger steak will be tough and tasteless, practically inedible. For an enjoyable meal with a well-done steak, I suggest that you look through the menu again.  Consider ordering a more expensive entrecôte, or change your request for your steak très bien cuit to just bien cuit. (Pronounced tray bien kwee for very, very well-done).
    
The French view of a steak cooked très bien cuit, very well done.

 
------------------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019.
 
----------------------- 

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French menus?

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" (best when including the inverted commas), and search with Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGO.   Behind the French Menu’s links, include hundreds of words, names, and phrases that are seen on French menus. There are over 450 articles that include over 4,000 French dishes with English translations and explanations.


Steaks and cuts of beef on French menus:



  
  


  







When ordering your steak remember the French
also make great French fries, chips.
   
Photograph by MonkeyBusiness/YayMicro.com
  

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