from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Pavé de Rumsteck, Sauce Béarnaise, Frites,
A thick-cut of rump steak served with sauce Bearnaise
and fries
Romsteck and Rumsteck in French cuisine.
The French terms Romsteak and Rumsteck often
confuse English-speaking visitors, which isn't too surprising given that North
American and UK butchers can't even agree on what a rump steak is. French rump
steaks, for example, include parts of what the UK calls Rump, Silverside, and
Topside cuts. In the USA, those same French cuts are part of what's known as
sirloin and round. (It's worth noting that the UK sirloin and the USA sirloin
are also different cuts altogether.) Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw
acknowledged long ago that Britain and the United States are “two countries
separated by a common language.”
The French, USA and UK cuts
France
UK USA
French
chefs require their butchers to carefully prepare their cuts of beef and veal.
France has no grades similar to the USA Prime or Choice, and so French chefs
learn in school how to grade, choose, and prepare every kind of meat. That
promises rump steaks, cut so that if they are not the tenderest steak on the
menu, they will be among the tastiest. Two cuts on French menus include the
word romsteak or rumsteck and in butcher's shops and recipes, you will find a
third.
The
three cuts from the Romsteak or Rumsteck:
Coeur
de Romsteak
The (Coeur de
Romsteak), which translates as the heart of the romsteak, is the
least expensive of the French rump steak cuts despite using the name
"heart". Coeur de Romsteaks are good, but nearly always
served with a sauce.
Pavé de Rumsteck
These are usually
thick steaks. The term pavé means "paving stone," and refers
to its shape. It's considered one of the tastiest steak options. While the Pavé
de Rumsteck is not as marbled as ribeye (entrecôte), it's a tender
cut with great flavor.
(Pavé means a
paving stone in French, and the word will be seen in the names of certain thick
French cheeses and in the setting of diamonds or other stones set like paving
stones into gold or platinum).
Some Pavés de
Rumsteck are carved from the larger Coeur de Romsteak, which is
generally considered the cheapest cut from the rump. From there, it's divided
into the thick, delicious steaks known as Pavé de Romsteck. The
meat is marbled and rich, and it cooks into a tender steak that will be
reminiscent of your favorite tenderloin (fillet).
The Filet de
Rumsteck (Fillet of Rump Steak)
The Filet de Rumsteck is
a cylindrical column of beef, about a foot long, which resembles a small
tenderloin (fillet) in both appearance and texture.
The Filet de
Rumsteck is lean yet flavorful and is sometimes cut and served as Pavé
de Rumsteck, as this cut produces some of the best rump steaks on French
menus. N.B. All the Rumsteck cuts are at their best served medium-rare to
medium.
I read an article
where a French butcher, after visiting the USA, accused US butchers of selling
a thick cut from the USA top sirloin as a Chateaubriand. If correct, the cut
used would be similar to the French Filet de Rumsteck. Despite that
accusation of Lèse-majesté, the French are themselves not sure of the
original cut used for a Chateaubriand. In
any case, since a Filet de Romsteck will provide a delicious steak, an
American diner will have little to grumble about
Cœur de
Romsteck on French menus:
Cœur de Romsteak, Beurre Maître d’Hôtel –
The cœur de romsteak served with Maître d’Hôtel Butter.
Beurre Maître
d’Hôtel: This is a compound butter flavored with
lemon juice and parsley and
placed on a steak, roast or fish just before serving so that it adds flavor as
it melts.
Cœur de Romsteak
Photograph courtesy of Trip Advisor
Bistro Régent, Aubiere France
(Aubiere is about 4 kms
(2.5 miles) from the city of Clermont-Ferrand, the headquarters the Michelin tire company who also publish the red and
green Michelin guides.
Cœur de Rumsteck
Grillé, Sauce au Bleu et aux Baies de “Sansho” - A grilled Cœur de Rumsteck served with a
sauce made with blue cheese and sansho berries.
Sansho : The Sancho berry originated in Japan (where it’s called the Kona- Zansho). It looks somewhat like Szechuan pepper but it’s much milder and comes from a spiny shrub where its lemon tang gives away its origins as a member of the citrus family, though it has a slightly numbing effect if eaten in quantity. The Shansho (Kona-zanshō) berry is used in many Japanese dishes, including the Shichimi Togarashi spice group.
Cœur de Rumsteck en
Carpaccio - A Carpaccio
made from the heart of the rump steak.
Carpaccio: An original Italian creation that has made France a second home. The steak is paper thin, marinated, uncooked beef, and here it’s taken from the rump. The traditional recipe calls for the beef to be marinated and when served drizzled with a white sauce made from fresh mayonnaise, Worcester sauce, and lemon juice. To that may be added copeaux, shavings or flakes, of Parmesan cheese.
Coeur de Rumsteck Sauce au Poivre et Pommes Sautées - A cœur de rumsteck pepper steak. with a green peppercorn sauce and sautéed potatoes."
Pepper steaks: Unless
otherwise noted French pepper steaks are made with green
peppercorns. When black peppercorns are used, it is difficult
to control the peppers’ heat, and green pepper adds a light herbal accent. Green peppercorns are picked before they
ripen; then, they are pickled in brine and dried but are not fermented. The
result is a pepper with a light herbal flavor, much less pungent than black or
white peppercorns.
Tataki de Cœur de Rumsteak - Tataki from the heart of the rump
steak.
Tataki: Tataki is a Japanese cooking method for beef and fish. It's a dish that's often
served as an appetizer in Japan wheren it’s known for its contrast in textures
and flavors; outside Japan Tataki is often served as a main course.
To prepare
the steak it is briefly seared over very
high heat, creating a browned crust on the outside while leaving the inside
very rare, almost raw. The goal is to cook the outer layer without letting the
heat penetrate too deeply.
After
searing, the steak is rested and then thinly sliced. This thin slicing is
crucial for achieving the dish's delicate and tender texture.
The thinly
sliced beef is, in Japan, typically served with a citrusy and savory sauce,
often a ponzu sauce (a Japanese sauce made with soy sauce and citrus juice).
The sauce complements the rich flavor of the beef. French chefs have
experimented and changed the flavors enriching the options.
The term tataki
includes two different
techniques. In the case of beef or fish tataki, it’s the
method of lightly searing meat or fish and then slicing it thin. The other
technique that is often used with bonito tuna
involves pounding the fish with aromatics. (The word tataki means “pounded” or “hit”).
Tataki
de Cœur de Rumsteak
Tataki of beef from the heart of a rumpsteak.
Photograph and recipe courtesy of Atelier
des chefs
Cœur de
Rumsteck, Ratatouille et Pommes Boulangère
– Cœur de rumsteck served with the classic Ratatouille
from Nice on the Côte
d'Azur and Pommes Boulangère.
Ratatouille: A
classic recipe from Nice, with eggplants (aubergines in the UK), zucchinis
(courgettes in the UK), onions, tomatoes,
sweet peppers, garlic, herbs, and olive oil. Seasonal
variations are accepted, and to the ingredients, chefs may add champignons, button mushrooms,
lardons, which are fried
or smoked bacon bits, and occasionally eggs. Many chefs present their Ratatouille
with gruyère cheese browned
on top (gratiné) or grated and placed on the side for the diners to add
to their taste.
While in this listing, the Ratatouille will be served hot, it may be served hot or cold, and that was always part of the dish's history. Ratatouille began as a main dish and only later gained popularity as a side dish, as it is in this listing. Now, in a return to its origins, Ratatouille is again often offered as a main dish accompanied by rice or pasta.
Pommes Boulangère: The
baker's potatoes. Pommes Boulangère is a traditional dish of sliced
potatoes baked in a vegetable or meat broth and allowed to simmer until all the
broth has been absorbed or evaporated. Its name gives away its origins. In
villages and towns, people without ovens would bring their potatoes in their
own dishes to cook in the baker's oven as it cooled after making the day's
bread.
Pavé de Rumsteck on
French menus:
Cœur De Rumsteck De Charolais 180
G - A 180 gram (6 oz) Cœur De Rumsteck steak
from France’s famed Bœuf
Charolais du Bourbonnais AOP.
The Charolais herds are free range for seven months a year and feed on grasses, wildflowers, and herbs all year. All Charolais calves are raised by their mothers, and their beef is antibiotic and growth-hormone free.
Pavé De Rumsteck
Photograph courtesy of Trip Advisor
Beef & Co, Metz, France.
Pavé de Rumsteck
Grillé, Crème de Camembert -
A grilled pavé steak served with a cream of camembert cheese sauce.
Camembert: Camembert is a soft, 22% fat, cow's milk cheese, and when perfectly ripe, has a fresh mushroomy smell and is creamy and spreadable, but not runny. (This menu listing is for a cream of Camembert sauce).
Among the French
Camemberts, those made with unpasteurized milk are considered the very best,
though from my experience, there are plenty of excellent French Camembert
cheeses made with pasteurized milk. Only real cheese addicts can tell the
difference when two well-aged cheeses meet in a blind tasting.
Camembert's rind is natural (and edible) with a white to light brown
color. When choosing Camembert from a restaurant's cheese tray or
trolley, the center should be soft, just beginning to bulge, but not
running. (Any cheese that looks hard and doesn't smell like Camembert
should be left for the mice.) Camembert is the most famous of all French
cheeses. However, the tiny village of Camembert in Normandy (population
200) never got around to registering its name. So, the outside of the European
Union Camembert cheese may be made anywhere in the world. Among French
Camembert cheeses, the very best can be identified if you look for the yellow
AOP label on the box. The wording will also be precise: "Camembert de Normandie" with the giveaway yellow AOP label (in
English, the same label would read PDO).
Pavé de Rumsteck
aux Échalotes, Purée Mousseline, Légumes Grillés -
A pavé steak prepared with shallots and served with
very fine mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables.
Mousseline: A
very fine mousse. The name originates from the use of
muslin fabric to sieve vegetables for a mousse. In the past, before the
availability of the thinnest metal sieves, mousses and the finest mashed
potatoes (or other vegetables) were sieved through the material muslin. The
results would become a mousse or a purée mousseline if they were finely
sieved.
Pavé de Rumsteck Mariné à l'Ail des
Ours, Sauce Pinot Noir – A pavé steak
marinated with wild garlic served with
a sauce made from the mild red Pinot noir wine.
Ail des Ours:
Wild garlic grows all over Europe, the UK, and North America. There are other
young wild plants that do look somewhat similar, especially wild onions and
leeks. Despite the similarity in looks, worry not, wild garlic's clearly
different smell makes it hard to make a mistake. French market gardeners also
grow wild garlic for restaurants, and wild garlic can be replanted in private
vegetable patches.
Wild garlic leaves may be used raw in salads and
cooked in other recipes; the wild garlic bulb itself is very small and
generally imparts a lighter garlic taste and odor than the cultivated
varieties. Despite that, you should still be careful when cooking with wild
garlic; I have had a dish where the wild garlic plants involved had not read my
comments.
Pinot Noir: Pinot Noir in France is most famously associated
with the Burgundy region, where it is the most important red grape. It is also
very important in Champagne, Alsace, and the Loire Valley. For a sauce,
Pinot Noir is often used to deglaze
the natural cooking juices, and as the wine reduces, it will concentrate the
flavors and make a sauce that is perfect for steak.
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Camembert Cheese; France's most Famous Cow's Milk Cheese.
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Copeaux on a French Menu? Copeaux means shavings or slivers.
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
Copyright 2010, 2017, 2023. 2025
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
