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,
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.
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 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.
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