fromBehind the French Menuby
Bryan
G. Newman
Oxtail stew
(Accompanied by mashed
potatoes and Brussels sprouts)
Photograph
courtesy of CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/charmainezoe/33685622388/
Oxtail stew
(Accompanied by mashed
potatoes and Brussels sprouts)
Photograph
courtesy of CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/charmainezoe/33685622388/
Oxtail
soups and stews are slowly cooked to unlock the magic in the meat’s soft, silky
texture that you can feel on your tongue. The flavor comes from the tails’ rich
beef bone marrow, as well as the herbs, spices, and vegetables used in the
dish’s preparation. It's no wonder oxtails (and cows’ tails) are a cherished
ingredient France and, in many cultures’ traditional dishes.
Many
of the recipes came to England from northwest France where the historic
province of Flanders has long been celebrated for its hochepots, hearty
oxtail stews. (Interestingly, the term itself can include vegetarian
adaptations.) For many years, oxtail soups and stews (on the menu as hochepot
or queue de bœuf) were overlooked by Michelin-starred French
restaurants as they were often seen as too "bourgeois." It took the
discerning palates of celebrity chefs to rediscover the incredible tastes
hidden within these traditional dishes. Now, you'll find oxtail soups, stews
and hochepots gracing menus in France's most prestigious dining rooms.
(For
clarity, an ox is a castrated bull, also referred to as a bullock or steer in
North America. That said, in culinary practice, you'll find that cows' tails
are used interchangeably and just as frequently as those from an ox).
The Queue de Bœuf, oxtail,
on French Menus:
Chiffonade de Queue de
Bœuf, Vinaigrette à la Moutarde à l'Ancienne : Strips of beef
from the oxtail served with a vinaigrette sauce flavored with a coarse-grained,
mild mustard sauce.
Chiffonade: While
your French-English dictionary might translate "chiffonade" as
"rags," on a menu it indicates thin strip or ribbons; on this
listing, it's thin strips from oxtail. The technique first described leafy
herbs and vegetables finely sliced into thin ribbons. Now i is also used for smoked salmon, cured hams, and other finely
cut fish and meats
Moutarde à l'Ancienne translates to
'mustard in the old manner,' made by soaking mustard seeds in water for a few
days, then lightly crushing them to retain a grainy texture. France
boasts many different mustards with
Dijon beingthe most
well-known, however, there are indeed many others.
Hochepot de Queue de
Bœuf –
This slow-cooked, hearty, oxtail stew is a traditional dish that typically
includes carrots, turnips, and onions. It is usually a
prepared in the style of a Pot-au-feu, which is a classic French stew known
for its rich, slow-simmered flavors.
Hochepot: the
first French recipes for "hochepot" arrived in England with the cooks
who served William the Conqueror, his barons, and his soldiers. Many of these early
culinary professionals came from the old French County of Flanders. The year
was 1066, and William had invaded England to claim the throne based on some
disputed promises. In the pivotal "Battle of Hastings," his armies
decisively defeated the English King Harold II, the last of the Anglo-Saxon
kings, and William was subsequently crowned King of England.
With hochepot and many
other dishes, the cooks of William's army brought a significant French connection to the English
kitchen. (Today’s king of England, King Charles III is
a great-great-great… of William the Conqueror).
Oxtail
soup
Photograph
courtesy of Dion
Hinchcliffe
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dionhinchcliffe/5440344228/
Parmentier de Queue de
Bœuf au Vin Rouge de Touraine – Oxtail flavored with a red wine from
the Touraine and served covered with mashed potatoes.
Parmentier Antoine-Augustin:
The French pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737–1813),
made the potato a staple part of the French diet and he is honored with his
name on this and many other potato dishes."
Touraine: A
historic province that is a cultural, and agricultural region. Touraine is today
within the department of Indre-et-Loire in the center of the Val de Loire
wine region that is home to many fine wines and cheeses, including the Chinon
and Vouvray wines, and the Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine AOP goats'
cheese.
The
Château de Chenonceau in Touraine is the
second most visited château in France, after the Château de Versailles. The historical capital city of Touraine is Tours,
and it is close to another one hundred or more famous châteaux. To
name a few: Amboise, Azay-le-Rideau, Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chinon, Langeais, Loches, Ussé and
Villandry.
Préssé de Queue de
Bœuf et Salade – In this dish
the meat from the oxtail is interleaved with vegetables and pressed into a
square or rectangular form from which it will be served. On this menu listing,
it is accompanied by a salad.
Raviolis de Queue de
Bœuf –
Ravioli filled with the tender meat of an oxtail. Typically, this dish is
served with a meat and red wine sauce.
Soupe de Queue de Bœuf – Oxtail soup.
Salade de Mesclun et Terrine de Queue de Boeuf Maison – A mesclun salad
and the restaurant's special oxtail pâté.
Describing a Salade
Mesclun as a mixed salad in the usual North American or UK construct is an
insult. A salade mesclun correctly prepared is an art form, balanced and
carefully constructed, not thrown together.
The word "mesclun" itself means "mixed" in
the Provençal language of southern France. While a small Salade Mesclun can
certainly serve as an entrée (the French first course), it more commonly
accompanies a main dish or may be part of a light lunch.
Typically, a salade mesclun will feature
five or six distinct ingredients chosen for their harmonious yet contrasting
tastes, textures, and colors. It's traditionally served with a vinaigrette
sauce. While the exact ingredients change with the seasons, you might encounter: Pissenlit (dandelion leaves),
for a pleasant spicy note.
Treviso Radicchio or Chicorée Rouge di Chioggia (radichio), chosen for
its beautiful flash of reddish-purple color and a touch of bitterness.
Endive
(Belgian
endive), for a satisfying crunch.
Chicorée Frisée
(curly endive), is often included for its slightly bitter taste and attractive
look.
Feuille de Chêne
(oak leaf lettuce), which can be red or green.
Haricot Vert (fresh green
beans), likely cooked but served cold.
Mâche or Mâche Nantaise (Lamb’s lettuce or Corn Salad), France’s tastiest
contribution to a mixed salad. Mâche leaves are nutty, juicy, with just a tinge
of spice, and a texture that expands when tasted with other salad greens.
Roquet
(rocket/arugula) added for the spice.
Sucrine
(bibb lettuce), buttery
texture and mild, slightly sweet flavor.
Laitue Iceberg
(iceberg lettuce), included for the crunch.
Even if a chef gets a little "carried away" and adds herbs, tomatoes,
and its ubiquitous Haricots Blanc, white beans you're guaranteed a great
salad.
Terrine:
While the term 'terrine' originally referred to the shape of the mold (an
earthenware dish) used to make a pâté, it's now often used
interchangeably with the term pâté itself. Pâtés are not made
exclusively from the meat or vegetable on the menu listing. To make a pâté,
other meats, usually pork liver along with vegetables and egg may be added. The
use in this listing of the term "Maison" signifies a special,
house recipe.
A
salade mesclun.
Photograph
courtesy of Gemini
The conjoined letters Πin French:
Since I began writing
about French cuisine, I've had quite a number of questions about the
conjoined letters Œ in bœuf (beef), and œufs
(eggs). How are they pronounced and typed? Here, I am taking the opportunity to
explain the sound of Πand how it is typed on a Windows QUERTY
keyboard.
ΠРThe two
letters O and E linked together have a
history much longer than the few French grammar lessons that I bothered to
participate in in school. You can, as usual, blame the Romans and Greeks
for this strange letter or ligature, (as it is properly called). When
the letters are separate, they have their individual sounds. In English,
we mostly hear the letters O and E sounded
separately, as in phone and alone for O and
she and Peter for E, and there are,
of course, many other sounds for O and E in English.
However, in French, when linked together as Πthey form the sound,
"er." So bœuf for beef, is pronounced berf and œuf for
egg is pronounced erf.
What I learned when trying to type the
letter Œ
To type œ in
lowercase letters on a PC keyboard, hold down the "Alt" key and type
0156, and the lowercase œ will appear. For the
uppercase Œ, type Alt and 0140.
N.B. From experience,
I also learned that the typed letters only appear when you take your finger off
the Alt key. Also, ensure the Num Lock is off before typing; otherwise,
in a similar manner, nothing will appear.
Alt
0156…. Voila œ
Alt
0140…..Voila Œ
To
type "œ" on a Mac
Hold down the Option
key and press the q key, then release both keys. If you need the
uppercase Œ, hold down the Shift and Option keys and press the q key.
-----------------------------------
Behind
the French Menu
by
Bryan
G. Newman
Copyright
2010, 2019, 2023, 2025.
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Connected
Posts:
Carottes – Carrots; in French
Cuisine.
Mâche or Mâche Nantaise (Lamb’s
lettuce or Corn Salad).
Moutarde – Mustard. Mustard
(Including Dijon Mustard) in French cuisine.
Oignon or Ognon –
An Onion. Onions on French menus. France's most famous onions and their history.
Parmentier -
The Man Who Brought the Potato to French Menus.
Pâtés and Terrines. An
introduction to the meat, fish, vegetable and fruit pâtés on French menus.
Pot-au-Feu or Pot Bouilli – Pot
on the Fire - France's Most Famous Stew.
Radicchio or Chicorée Italienne on French Menus
Sainte-Maure
de Touraine AOP -The
Sainte-Maure de Touraine Cheese. One of France's Finest
Goat's milk cheeses.
Salade Mesclun –
Salad Mesclun in French Cuisine.
Navets (Turnips), Panais (Parsnips), and Chou-Navets or Rutabaga (Swedes)
are traditional root vegetables but also very much part of modern French
cuisine.
Vinegar, Vinaigrette and Verjus in
French Cuisine.
Searching
for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French
menus?
Just
add the word, words, or phrase you are searching for to the phrase "Behind
the French Menu" enclosed in inverted commas (quotation marks) and
search using Google, Bing, or another search engine. Behind the French
Menu's links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases commonly seen on
French menus. There are over 450 posts featuring more than 4,000 French dishes,
all accompanied by English translations and explanations.
Oxtail soups and stews are slowly cooked to unlock the magic in the meat’s soft, silky texture that you can feel on your tongue. The flavor comes from the tails’ rich beef bone marrow, as well as the herbs, spices, and vegetables used in the dish’s preparation. It's no wonder oxtails (and cows’ tails) are a cherished ingredient France and, in many cultures’ traditional dishes.
Many
of the recipes came to England from northwest France where the historic
province of Flanders has long been celebrated for its hochepots, hearty
oxtail stews. (Interestingly, the term itself can include vegetarian
adaptations.) For many years, oxtail soups and stews (on the menu as hochepot
or queue de bœuf) were overlooked by Michelin-starred French
restaurants as they were often seen as too "bourgeois." It took the
discerning palates of celebrity chefs to rediscover the incredible tastes
hidden within these traditional dishes. Now, you'll find oxtail soups, stews
and hochepots gracing menus in France's most prestigious dining rooms.
(For clarity, an ox is a castrated bull, also referred to as a bullock or steer in North America. That said, in culinary practice, you'll find that cows' tails are used interchangeably and just as frequently as those from an ox).
The Queue de Bœuf, oxtail,
on French Menus:
Chiffonade de Queue de
Bœuf, Vinaigrette à la Moutarde à l'Ancienne : Strips of beef
from the oxtail served with a vinaigrette sauce flavored with a coarse-grained,
mild mustard sauce.
Chiffonade: While
your French-English dictionary might translate "chiffonade" as
"rags," on a menu it indicates thin strip or ribbons; on this
listing, it's thin strips from oxtail. The technique first described leafy
herbs and vegetables finely sliced into thin ribbons. Now i is also used for smoked salmon, cured hams, and other finely
cut fish and meats
Moutarde à l'Ancienne translates to
'mustard in the old manner,' made by soaking mustard seeds in water for a few
days, then lightly crushing them to retain a grainy texture. France
boasts many different mustards with
Dijon beingthe most
well-known, however, there are indeed many others.
Hochepot de Queue de
Bœuf –
This slow-cooked, hearty, oxtail stew is a traditional dish that typically
includes carrots, turnips, and onions. It is usually a
prepared in the style of a Pot-au-feu, which is a classic French stew known
for its rich, slow-simmered flavors.
Hochepot: the first French recipes for "hochepot" arrived in England with the cooks who served William the Conqueror, his barons, and his soldiers. Many of these early culinary professionals came from the old French County of Flanders. The year was 1066, and William had invaded England to claim the throne based on some disputed promises. In the pivotal "Battle of Hastings," his armies decisively defeated the English King Harold II, the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and William was subsequently crowned King of England.
With hochepot and many
other dishes, the cooks of William's army brought a significant French connection to the English
kitchen. (Today’s king of England, King Charles III is
a great-great-great… of William the Conqueror).
Oxtail
soup
Photograph
courtesy of Dion
Hinchcliffe
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dionhinchcliffe/5440344228/
Parmentier de Queue de
Bœuf au Vin Rouge de Touraine – Oxtail flavored with a red wine from
the Touraine and served covered with mashed potatoes.
Parmentier Antoine-Augustin:
The French pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (1737–1813),
made the potato a staple part of the French diet and he is honored with his
name on this and many other potato dishes."
Touraine: A
historic province that is a cultural, and agricultural region. Touraine is today
within the department of Indre-et-Loire in the center of the Val de Loire
wine region that is home to many fine wines and cheeses, including the Chinon
and Vouvray wines, and the Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine AOP goats'
cheese.
The
Château de Chenonceau in Touraine is the
second most visited château in France, after the Château de Versailles. The historical capital city of Touraine is Tours,
and it is close to another one hundred or more famous châteaux. To
name a few: Amboise, Azay-le-Rideau, Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chinon, Langeais, Loches, Ussé and
Villandry.
Préssé de Queue de
Bœuf et Salade – In this dish
the meat from the oxtail is interleaved with vegetables and pressed into a
square or rectangular form from which it will be served. On this menu listing,
it is accompanied by a salad.
Raviolis de Queue de
Bœuf –
Ravioli filled with the tender meat of an oxtail. Typically, this dish is
served with a meat and red wine sauce.
Soupe de Queue de Bœuf – Oxtail soup.
Salade de Mesclun et Terrine de Queue de Boeuf Maison – A mesclun salad
and the restaurant's special oxtail pâté.
Describing a Salade
Mesclun as a mixed salad in the usual North American or UK construct is an
insult. A salade mesclun correctly prepared is an art form, balanced and
carefully constructed, not thrown together.
The word "mesclun" itself means "mixed" in
the Provençal language of southern France. While a small Salade Mesclun can
certainly serve as an entrée (the French first course), it more commonly
accompanies a main dish or may be part of a light lunch.
Typically, a salade mesclun will feature five or six distinct ingredients chosen for their harmonious yet contrasting tastes, textures, and colors. It's traditionally served with a vinaigrette sauce. While the exact ingredients change with the seasons, you might encounter: Pissenlit (dandelion leaves), for a pleasant spicy note.
Treviso Radicchio or Chicorée Rouge di Chioggia (radichio), chosen for
its beautiful flash of reddish-purple color and a touch of bitterness.
Endive
(Belgian
endive), for a satisfying crunch.
Chicorée Frisée
(curly endive), is often included for its slightly bitter taste and attractive
look.
Feuille de Chêne (oak leaf lettuce), which can be red or green.
Haricot Vert (fresh green beans), likely cooked but served cold.
Mâche or Mâche Nantaise (Lamb’s lettuce or Corn Salad), France’s tastiest
contribution to a mixed salad. Mâche leaves are nutty, juicy, with just a tinge
of spice, and a texture that expands when tasted with other salad greens.
Roquet
(rocket/arugula) added for the spice.
Sucrine
(bibb lettuce), buttery
texture and mild, slightly sweet flavor.
Laitue Iceberg
(iceberg lettuce), included for the crunch.
Even if a chef gets a little "carried away" and adds herbs, tomatoes,
and its ubiquitous Haricots Blanc, white beans you're guaranteed a great
salad.
Terrine:
While the term 'terrine' originally referred to the shape of the mold (an
earthenware dish) used to make a pâté, it's now often used
interchangeably with the term pâté itself. Pâtés are not made
exclusively from the meat or vegetable on the menu listing. To make a pâté,
other meats, usually pork liver along with vegetables and egg may be added. The
use in this listing of the term "Maison" signifies a special,
house recipe.
A
salade mesclun.
Photograph
courtesy of Gemini
The conjoined letters Πin French:
Since I began writing
about French cuisine, I've had quite a number of questions about the
conjoined letters Œ in bœuf (beef), and œufs
(eggs). How are they pronounced and typed? Here, I am taking the opportunity to
explain the sound of Πand how it is typed on a Windows QUERTY
keyboard.
ΠРThe two
letters O and E linked together have a
history much longer than the few French grammar lessons that I bothered to
participate in in school. You can, as usual, blame the Romans and Greeks
for this strange letter or ligature, (as it is properly called). When
the letters are separate, they have their individual sounds. In English,
we mostly hear the letters O and E sounded
separately, as in phone and alone for O and
she and Peter for E, and there are,
of course, many other sounds for O and E in English.
However, in French, when linked together as Πthey form the sound,
"er." So bœuf for beef, is pronounced berf and œuf for
egg is pronounced erf.
What I learned when trying to type the
letter Œ
To type œ in
lowercase letters on a PC keyboard, hold down the "Alt" key and type
0156, and the lowercase œ will appear. For the
uppercase Œ, type Alt and 0140.
N.B. From experience,
I also learned that the typed letters only appear when you take your finger off
the Alt key. Also, ensure the Num Lock is off before typing; otherwise,
in a similar manner, nothing will appear.
Alt
0156…. Voila œ
Alt
0140…..Voila Œ
To
type "œ" on a Mac
Hold down the Option
key and press the q key, then release both keys. If you need the
uppercase Œ, hold down the Shift and Option keys and press the q key.
-----------------------------------
Behind
the French Menu
by
Bryan
G. Newman
Copyright
2010, 2019, 2023, 2025.
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Connected
Posts:
Carottes – Carrots; in French
Cuisine.
Mâche or Mâche Nantaise (Lamb’s
lettuce or Corn Salad).
Moutarde – Mustard. Mustard
(Including Dijon Mustard) in French cuisine.
Oignon or Ognon –
An Onion. Onions on French menus. France's most famous onions and their history.
Parmentier -
The Man Who Brought the Potato to French Menus.
Pâtés and Terrines. An
introduction to the meat, fish, vegetable and fruit pâtés on French menus.
Pot-au-Feu or Pot Bouilli – Pot
on the Fire - France's Most Famous Stew.
Radicchio or Chicorée Italienne on French Menus
Sainte-Maure
de Touraine AOP -The
Sainte-Maure de Touraine Cheese. One of France's Finest
Goat's milk cheeses.
Salade Mesclun –
Salad Mesclun in French Cuisine.
Navets (Turnips), Panais (Parsnips), and Chou-Navets or Rutabaga (Swedes)
are traditional root vegetables but also very much part of modern French
cuisine.
Vinegar, Vinaigrette and Verjus in
French Cuisine.
Searching
for the meaning of words, names or phrases
on
French
menus?
Just
add the word, words, or phrase you are searching for to the phrase "Behind
the French Menu" enclosed in inverted commas (quotation marks) and
search using Google, Bing, or another search engine. Behind the French
Menu's links include hundreds of words, names, and phrases commonly seen on
French menus. There are over 450 posts featuring more than 4,000 French dishes,
all accompanied by English translations and explanations.
