Behind the French Menu

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Lemon Sole Meunier.
Lemon sole prepared with a Meunière sauce. See below.

Photograph courtesy of Herry Lawford

Sole Limande in France.

Sole Limande - Lemon Sole or Lemon Dab. A member of the flounder family with a fine texture. Tasty they may be; nevertheless, they take second place to the European Dover sole, the common sole; on the other hand lemon sole is less expensive than Dover sole. Smaller fish will be grilled or fried in individual portions and the larger fish baked or fileted and fried. Lemon sole will often be offered with recipes originally created for Dover Sole.

Lemon Sole on French Menus:

Papillote de Sole Limande et Julienne de Poireaux Anisée - Lemon sole cooked in baking parchment paper, (grease-proof paper in the UK), or aluminum foil. The fish is prepared together with finely cut leeks, using a cut that is called Julienne in France and lightly flavored with aniseed. When the fish is ready it be opened in front of the diners so that they may savor the aromas of the fish and the herbs.

Lemon Sole on sale in the UK.

Photograph courtesy of Abi Skipp

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9557815@N05/12291222293/ FF

Sole de Limande Meunière – Lemon sole prepared with a Meunière sauce. This is simple but tasty butter sauce, my favorite for Dover Sole. It is made with lemon juice and parsley added to melted butter. (in a restaurant that will be clarified butter). Meunière is a miller wife and the sauce is served with dishes a la meunière, sole prepared in the manner of a miller’s wife

Sole Limande au Beurre d'Orange et Amandes, Tomates et Confit de Fenouil – Lemon sole made with orange flavoured butter and almonds and served with tomatoes confit flavored with fennel. Vegetable confits and or a confit de fruit are vegetables or fruits slowly cooked with wine, wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar and sometimes added brown sugar. The fruits and vegetables do not need to be stored to achieve unique flavors; they will be offered as sweet jams, condiments or garnishes.

Join these early morning amateur fishermen.

In France on the Atlantic coast in the winter with the temperatures between 1-3° C. you may catch lemon sole close to the shore.

Photograph courtesy of quelquepartsurlaterre

https://www.flickr.com/photos/quelquepartsurlaterre/2117764456/

Tartare de Limande Sole aux Algues et Citron Confit – Lemon Sole Tartar prepared with seaweed and a lemon confit, practically a lemon jam.

Sole Limande Entière, Citron Confit et Beurre Noisette. Here a small lemon sole, for a single person will be fried, or grilled. A brown butter sauce, noisette is a hazelnut, and that is the color achieved by cooking butter to a light brown. The dish is served with a citron confit.

Lemon Sole is not to be confused with:

Limande, (not Limande Sole) on French menus. This is a small flounder called Common Dab in the UK and Dab in the USA.

or the

Limande à Queue Jaune. This is another smaller flounder called the Yellowtail Flounder in the USA and Mud Dab in the UK. These two smaller flounders with their confusing names are mostly smaller than the Lemon Sole and they may be daily specials on some menus.

Lemon Sole in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan - palaia groga), (Dutch – tongschar), (German - limande), (Italian - sogliola limanda ), (Spanish - mendo limón).

Lemon Sole in other languages:

(Chinese (Mandarin)- 小头油鲽), (Danish - rødtunge), (Estonian - harilik väikesuulest),(Finnish - pikkupääkampela), (Hebrew - לימון בלעדי), (Icelandic - Þykkvalúra),(Norwegian – lombe),(Polish - zlocica europejska), (Portugues - solha-limao),(Russian - камбала малоротая, malorotaja kambala),(Swedish –Bergskädda), (Latin - microstomus kitt).

Connected Posts:

Algue or Algue de Mer Seaweed, Edible Seaweed. Algue or Algue de Mer on French Menus.

Amande or Almondine – The almond, the nut, in French cuisine.

Beurre - Butter in French. French Butter in French Cuisine.

Citron – The lemon; the fruit behind many of France’s culinary successes. Also the Citron Vert - Lime, the Cedrat – the Citron, the Combava – the kaffir lime and the Chadec - the Pomelo.

Fenouil - Fennel, the Herb, and the Vegetable.

Parsley in French Cuisine.

Sole Française. Dover Sole or Sole Française on French Menus. Dover Sole in France may be on your menu as Sole Française. The Fish are the Same, They Just Have Different Passports!

Tartare, Tartar, on French Menus: Steak Tartar, Fish Tartar and Vegetable Tartar. Tartare on Your French Menu?

What is a Confit? All About That Confit on Your French Menu.

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

An 8-ounce Filet Mignon

Photograph courtesy of Arnold Gatilao

https://www.flickr.com/photos/arndog/3054022064/

When ordering a Filet Mignon in France

rule No 1 is to read the menu carefully.

A Frenchman, an Englishman and an American meet in Paris and decide to have lunch together. Without waiting for a menu the Frenchman chooses the best steak dish he can think of and orders a Filet de Boeuf, the Englishman ordered a Fillet Steak; and the American orders a Filet Mignon. The Frenchman and the Englishman are served excellent cuts from the center of a beef tenderloin, large fillet steaks. The American was served a superb cut, but, from a pork tenderloin! He had not remembered rule number 1.

A Filet Mignon in the USA

Ordering a Filet Mignon in the USA indicates that you want the very best of beef steaks. In the USA a Filet Mignon is the name usually given to the tenderloin, a large muscle that is the most tender of all cuts. Other cuts make great steaks and they may be tastier, but they are not as tender. A Filet Mignon is the most expensive cut that most US restaurants offer and it will generally be served with a sauce.

What is happening here?

The French term Filet Mignon means “dainty fillet” in English. In France, it does not refer to the whole beef tenderloin, rather to the narrow, almost pointed, end of the tenderloin. The thick end of a beef tenderloin, the fillet, in France is reserved for the cuts called a Chateaubriand and a Tournedos. As the tenderloin becomes thinner, about halfway down, the French will cut their Filets de Boeuf, beef fillets. The French beef Filet Mignon is the name given to the last few inches of the narrowest part of the tenderloin. Nevertheless, the term Filet Mignon may be used for a whole tenderloin, but that will be a pork or veal tenderloin! N.B. Confusion for the American traveler in France began in the American kitchen. When US chefs and butchers took French names for their own use but changed their original meanings they omitted to inform would-be travelers.

Barded (fat wrapped) Filet Mignons.

Photograph courtesy of Bradley West

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wyldwest/3519146858/

This cut, even when well marbled, has little natural fat and whether called a filet mignon in the USA or a fillet steak in the UK or a filet de bœuf in France they will be barded, wrapped in fat, before being cooked. Without the barding the steak would dry out. N.B. This cut should never be ordered well done. To see the post on ordering a steak in France cooked the way you like it click here.

A whole beef tenderloin (without any bone) may weigh anywhere from 1.3 kilos (2.5 lbs) to 2.3 kilos (4.5 lbs). In the USA most restaurants take the whole tenderloin beginning at the thickest end and cut 2" to 2.5" thick steaks until they reach the narrow end. A large sized US Fillet Mignon steak is around eight ounces (225 grams). Some North American restaurants offer 10-ounce (280 gram) Filet Mignons.

A whole tenderloin.

Photograph courtesy of Marx Foods.

The smallest part at the end of this cut, on the right-hand side in the picture above, is the French Filet Mignon, the dainty fillet. Nevertheless, cuts taken from here will, in France, rarely be called Filet Mignon, rather they will on the menu as Médaillions, or used for the highest quality Steak Tartar or cut for dishes such as Beef Stroganov. Whole tenderloins of pork and veal are much smaller, and it is for these that the French use the words Filet Mignon. A tenderloin, a Filet Mignon, from an average pig weighs about 500 grams (17.5 ounces, 1.1 lbs), and that is about enough for three people, two if they are very hungry. A veal tenderloin weighs about 700 grams (24.5 ounces, 1.5 lbs), a fair sized meal for three.

Filet de Bœuf on French Menus:

Filet de Bœuf Poêlé, Jus de Cresson et Pommes Grenailles – A lightly fried fillet steak (tenderloin) served with a watercress sauce and small new potatoes.

A Filet de Bœuf.

Photograph courtesy of Bex Walton

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bexwalton/18190822953/

Cœur de Filet de Bœuf Grillé, Sauce au Poivre Vert. A grilled center cut from the heart, the center, of a beef tenderloin, served with a green pepper sauce,

Filet de Bœuf en Brochette Marchand de Vin – A beef fillet cut into cubes and served on a skewer with a Sauce Marchand de Vin; that is a sauce prepared for a wine merchant. A beef fillet served this way allows the use of the thin end of the tenderloin, the French Beef Filet Mignon which may be cut into small pieces. A Sauce Marchand de Vin is made with red wine and beef stock. N.B. The word brochette with two tees may easily be confused with brochet, with one tee, which is pike, the fish.

Filet de Bœuf, Sauce au Porto, Fricassée de Cèpes, Pleurotes et Champignons de Paris – A beef fillet served with a Port wine sauce and a stew of wild Porcini mushrooms and farmed oyster and button mushrooms

Médaillons de Filet de Bœuf Balsamique – Round cuts from the end of the tenderloin (medallions) served with a Balsamic vinegar sauce.

Médaillons de Filet de Bœuf
These three cuts together will weigh less than 6 or 7 ounces,
(170 to 200 grams).

Photograph courtesy of www.boeufinfo.org/

Tartare de Filet Mignon de Bœuf – A Beef or Steak Tartar. The best Tartar will be cut from the end of the tenderloin, no better cut could be used for a steak Tartar

A steak Tatar.

Photograph courtesy of Joselu Blanco

https://www.flickr.com/photos/silverman68/6661991137/ FF

French beef comes from freely grazing grass-fed cattle

There are cattle feeding lots in France, but they are few and far between. When the beef on your menu is named and it has a Red Label or an AOP then you know it is farm raised. You also know the calves were raised by their mother until they were weaned. The cattle graze freely in the summer and only in the winter are they allowed into barns. In the barns they are fed the same grasses, wildflowers and herbs they grazed on in the summer. French beef will, therefore, be tastier, though it may also be slightly tougher as the cattle will have had more exercise. French beef may be well marbled but overall has less fat than beef sold in the USA.

You will nevertheless, see Filet Mignon on French Menus:

Filet Mignon de Porc aux Pêches, Miel, Amandes et Son Jus au Romarin – A pork tenderloin prepared with peaches, honey, almonds and a sauce made from the natural cooking juices and Rosemary, the herb.

Filet Mignon de Porc Jus a l'Estragon – A filet mignon or pork served with a sauce made from the natural cooking juices and tarragon.

Filet Mignon De Veau Charolais, Son Jus Aux Escargots Du Brionnais Et Porto Rouge – A cut from a tenderloin of Charolaise veal served with a sauce made from the natural cooking juices and large-sized farmed petit gris snails, from the area of the Saône and the Loire in South Burgundy, and a red Port wine. The AOP Charolaise cattle were the third breed to receive an AOC to protect their provenance and unique qualities. To that French AOC has been added the Pan-European AOP.

Filet Mignon De Veau, Fricassée De Rattes Et Eryngii, Sauce Au Vin Rouge Et Morilles – A veal filet mignon alongside a stew of ratte potatoes and farmed King Trumpet Oyster mushrooms served with a sauce made with red wine and wild morel mushrooms. (Ratte are a popular strain of potatoes in France. Their name comes from their spurious resemblance to a mouse or a rat; rest assured that their look has nothing to do with their taste which is superb).

Ratte Potatoes.

Photograph courtesy of ilovebutter.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdickert/5604619507/ FF

More French confusion in US Kitchens

Another example of confusion with the use of French in the US kitchen is the use of the word entrée. Entrée in French means “the entrance, the beginning.” Following on that entrée in France is used for the first course. In the USA they took the French word entrée and use it for the main course!

George Bernard Shaw said: England and America are two countries separated by a common language. However, Shaw ignored the confusion that arises when US chefs and butchers take words from French cuisine and bring them into the American kitchen.

A tenderloin steak in the languages of France’s neighbors:

(Catalan – llom de bou), (Dutch - ossenhaas), (German – rinderfilet), (Italian - filetto di manzo), (Spanish - filete de lomo ).

Connected Posts:

AOC and AOP on France's Foods and Wine labels? Why did the AOC become an AOP?

Amande or Almondine – The almond, the nut, in French cuisine.

Bœuf Charolais. Le Bœuf Charolais du Bourbonnais AOC.

Brochet; Pike, the Fish. Brochet on French Menus.

Button Mushrooms - The Champignon de Paris. The Mushrooms of France I.

Chateaubriand Steak and Chateaubriand the Man. Ordering a Chateaubriand steak in France.

Cresson, Cresson de Fontaine - Watercress on the French Menu.

Escargots - Snails on French Menus and How to Order Snails in France. If You Enjoy Cockels, Mussels and Conches, Then Snails will not be Strange.

Jus – Fruit or Vegetable Juice and/or a cooked dish’s natural juices on French Menus.