Paleron – A French cut from the center of a shoulder of beef or veal and occasionally pork

                                                                

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

   

The paleron, a French beef center shoulder fore cut.
     

Braised beef daub in red wine.

Crispy onions, green beans, horseradish and puree potatoes.

Photograph courtesy of Nikki Tysoe

www.flickr.com/photos/fimbrethil/8019717298/

This cut, for beef, is often used for Provencal Daubs and other stews. Within the rules of French cuisine, it comes from the center of the shoulder.  This cut is full of flavor, a while a well-cooked steak is precisely that, a well-cooked stew, when not over spiced allows to you taste the full flavor or the meat that no grilled or fried dish can offer. The better restaurants will identify the origins of the beef, and the cuts they offer — their knowledgeable clientele will return again and again they see named and highly rated additions to the menu.

  

There is no exact UK OR USA cut that matches a paleron.

There is lots of confusion with the French, UK and USA cuts from the shoulder.  Many shoulder cuts make excellent steaks, and the whole shoulder area is often referred to in the UK and USA as chuck or chuck steaks, and the paleron is a center shoulder cut sometimes identified in the USA as the top blade or flat-iron.  Now steaks may be prepared from this cut, but there are others that are better. In France,  the paleron is nearly always used for slowly braised or stewed beef and veal dishes along with the occasional pork dish.

   

UK fore cuts.

Photograph courtesy of Barton Farms Shop

Paleron on French Menus:

 

Ravioles de Paleron de Bœuf,  Toast de Moelle et Mousseline de Carottes à l’Orange, Émulsion Réglisse – Ravioli stuffed with meat from a daub or another stew served with toast with bone marrow and a moose of carrots flavored with orange and a thick licorice sauce.

 

Brochettes De Paleron De Bœuf Marinées – Skewers of marinated beef from the paleron.

   

Cuts from a paleron.
The USA top blade, or flat-iron.

Photograph courtesy of Les Producteurs Reunis

Le Paleron De Bœuf Irlandais Aux Champignons Et Lard Gras, Pressé De Cèleris et Carottes Confites – A stew of the paleron from Irish beef prepared with button mushrooms and fatty bacon and served with a jam (confit) made with celery and carrots.

                                                                       

Paleron de Bœuf Servi Avec son Jus, Risotto aux Truffes et Croûtons de Pain – A beef paleron served with its natural cooking juices, a risotto flavored with truffles and accompanied by bread croutons

   

Paleron de Bœuf à la Crème d’Échalotes

et Risotto aux Topinambours

A braised beef paleron prepared with cream of shallots

 and risotto with Jerusalem artichokes.

Photograph courtesy of La Viande Francais.

 

Paleron de Bœuf Charolais Braise Doucement au Four, Jus au Poivre de Java, Legumes Glaces, Galette de Patate Douce.  Paleron of Charolais beef slowly braised in the oven with a natural gravy flavored with the Balinese long pepper and served with glazed vegetables and a sweet potato crepe.
  

Poivre de Java  - Cubeb Pepper (also called Tailed Pepper), is a real pepper cultivated for its fruit and essential oil. It is mostly grown in Java and Sumatra and so it is often called Java pepper which is then confused with Long pepper that also comes from Java and is related.

  

Cubeb pepper

Photograph courtesy of Zamouri Spice

Paleron de Porc aux Légumes de Saison – A paleron cut from a pork shoulder and served with the season’s vegetables.

    

Salade de paleron de bœuf

Photograph courtesy of Elle

   

Le Paleron De Veau Français Confit À Basse Température Jets De Houblon, Garniture Maraichère – A paleron of French veal confit (slowly cooked) at a low temperature and served with hop shoots and market garden vegetables.

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

 

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Copyright 2010, 2017, 2019.

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

Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases

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French menus?

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from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

   

Daube de boeuf

Photograph courtesy of Γιάννης Νικόλης

   

Originally daubes were only made with beef, lamb or goat with the meat marinated overnight in herbs, garlic, vegetables, pork rinds, tomatoes and red wine.  Then, the next day, with the addition of more red wine a daube would be slowly braised until ready. Now daubs come with a far wider range of ingredients and recipes that include fish, shellfish and white wine.

Successful local recipes in France, including many from Provence, have often become popular throughout France and daubes are no exception. Today’s daubes or similar stews under that name are an excellent example. Most daubes on French menus are still beef stews, but you will now be offered daubes made with wild boar and others that  are based on goose, duck,  tuna, or seafood.  In Provence, most restaurants will still have traditional daubes on their menu in winter, though each restaurant will claim that theirs is unique. From my experience, those that I have tasted and enjoyed, have all been close to the original version.  All have been splendid but remain fundamentally similar.  Despite that caveat, the disputes over the slight differences among chefs and the cognoscenti are never ending.

Daube on French menus:

 

Daube à l'Ancienne –  Daube in the traditional manner; beef marinated and then stewed with red wine and tomato base. The vegetables include onions and carrots. Dishes offered à l'Ancienne, mean prepared in the traditional manner also offers the diner a chance to ask the waiter what "a l'ancienne" means to the chef. Do ask, I have been surprised by the variety of answers.

Daube de boeuf. (With parsnip puree, button mushrooms, and lardons).

Photograph courtesy of tpholland

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tpholland/4122574973/  FF

Daube à la Niçoise - A daube in the manner of the City of Nice on the Cote d”Azur. On menus in Nice written in Niçard (Nissart), the local dialect, mostly a dialect of Provencal and Italian, the menu may offer La Doba Nissarda -The Stew Nicoise.  Apart from using a local red wine the Nissarde version often includes a local Marc, Armagnac or Cognac. Nice is famous for many other dishes including Salade Nicoise and Ratatouille.

    

Daube de boeuf

Photograph courtesy of Jeremy Keith

https://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/1350135957/    FF

   

Daube aux Cuisses de Canards – Daube with duck’s leg.  This red wine based daube is a local favorite in Lot et Garonne.

Daube de Mouton – A mutton stew; the mutton will be marinated, with most of the fat removed, and then cooked slowly with wine and vegetables as with a beef daube.

Daube d'Agneau

Lamb Daube with Pappardelle

Photograph courtesy if Spud Girl

 

Daube Gasconne aux Pruneaux – Beef Daube in the manner of Gasconne, Gascony; made with added prunes. The old principality of Gascony has an agricultural base firmly anchored in plums for the prune industry.  The center of the French prune industry is the town of Agen.  

Daube de Colombe

Pigeon daube.

Photograph courtesy of Yuichi Sakuraba

Daube de Sanglier avec Raviolis Maison – A daub of wild boar served with home made ravioli.  This, almost certainly, will be farmed wild boar;  real wild boar would be sanglier sauvage or would be part of a "hunting season" menu, a Menu de Chasse.

  

Daube de Thon à la Sétoise – A tuna daube made in the manner of the famous fishing port of Séte on the Mediterranean.

 

Daube de Poulpe à l'Encre de Seiche -  A daube of octopuses flavored with cuttlefish ink.

Daubières,

Daubière.

Photograph courtesy of Office de Tourisme Intercommunal du

Pays d'Aubagne et de l'Etoile

Atelier Barbotine, Aubagne dabiere

Aubagne is in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône

 in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/51162023@N07/

               

Daubes were initially made in metal or earthenware pots called daubières. These are covered pots that were made in a wide variety of shapes, and designed for long cooking as the less expensive cuts were generally used for long-cooked stews. The traditional daubière would be a terracotta or metal pot. The lids were made to allow the water which became steam to condenses on the inside and return to the stew, which allowed for the long cooking time required. Today,  large casserole containers may do; nevertheless, for serving in the better restaurants an antique or specially created daubière may be used to present the dish and the traditional inexpensive cuts may be replaced by better and more flavorful choices.
  

18^th Century Daubiere.

Photograph courtesy of Moinat SA

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2016.

The Basses Côtes on French Menus. Particular Cuts from the USA and UK Chuck and are the Tastiest Cuts of Beef.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Provençal Daube
Photograph courtesy of NwongPR
www.flickr.com/photos/nwongpr/51436460197/ 

The best parts of the chuck are the Basses Côtes   

Dining in France on fabulous meat dishes means more than an excellent fillet or an entrecote steak from grass-fed beef served with perfect French fries.  French chefs use their knowledge of the tastiest cuts for stews and other dishes. An example is the way the French use part of the cut called chuck in the USA and the UK. Chuck comes from the end of the entrecote, and the rib-eye steaks and in the USA continues towards the neck. In France, the first five ribs of the UK or USA Chuck are the Basses Côtes; these cuts offer the best flavor. 

 

The French Cuts.
Photograph courtesy of saprimex.fr     

Before they graduate from cooking school, French chefs must be able to buy, choose, cut, and prepare all cuts of meat. France has no equivalent of the USDA Choice, Select, or Prime, so all French chefs must learn how to select meat themselves. They look for the required marbling, know how to eliminate tough cuts, check the thickness covering the bones, etc. Many French chefs know as much about the different cuts as a professional butcher does.

  

A menu list offering a Bœuf Bourguignon or a Provencal Daube will rarely tell you which cut is used, but a French diner will know that the best of these are from the Basses Côtes. The Basses Côtes offer more flavor than any other cut, and most North American and UK chefs agree. 

The British Cuts 

On your menu in France:  

Basse Côte de Boeuf Black Angus, Effeuillée d'Ėpinards, et Pommes Anna - The best part of the chuck from Black Angus beef served with spinach with the stems removed and Anna potatoes. The meat will be cut thinly and marinated overnight, producing a tasty and delicate cut that will be lightly fried. The Basses Cotes make some steaks, but they cannot be cooked more than medium-rare. For more about ordering steaks in France cooked the way you prefer, click here.

Pommes de Terre Anna

Pommes de Terre Anna is sliced potatoes baked in butter in a casserole and is considered a potato dish with an indiscreet past. The chef Adolphe Dugléré, who created this dish, was the Chef de Cuisine at a famous Parisian restaurant called the Café Anglais in the middle of the 19th Century. An important restaurant customer was Anna Deslions, one of Paris’s most famous courtesans; she entertained her wealthy customers in one of the upstairs rooms of the restaurant. Adolphe Dugléré, a pupil of France’s most renowned chef Antonin Carême, named the dish after this important customer.

Anna potatoes
Photograph courtesy of stu_spivack
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_spivack/4010845467/

Cœur de Basse Côte de Bœuf aux Baies de Séchouan – The heart of the chuck steak flavored with Sichuan Pepper Berries. Sichuan berries, while not a real pepper, can be as hot as chili. Sichuan pepper is also one of the spices used in Chinese five-spice powder.

Basse Côte de Bœuf, Façon Bourguignonne Revisité - Here the beef is prepared and cooked as Bœuf à la Bourguignonne and “revisite” means revisited. Revisiting on any menu listing indicates that the chef will be making some changes in a traditional recipe. Here it would be interesting if you asked the waiter what the changes are.

Basse Côte de Bœuf, Façon Bourguignonne
Photograph courtesy of Arnold Gatilao
www.flickr.com/photos/arndog/2414896865/

Basse Côte de Bœuf Black Angus de U.S.A. Sauce Choron – Chuck steak from imported USA Black Angus Beef served with a Sauce Choron. Sauce Choron is a child of Sauce Bearnaise, itself a child of Sauce Hollandaise. Many sauces were developed from Sauce Hollandaise, and that is why it is called a mother Sauce. Sauce Choron is Sauce Béarnaise with added tomatoes.

Basse Côte de Bœuf Grillée Sauce Barbecue 

au Jack Daniel’s

Photograph courtesy of Cuisine à la Plancha

Jus Vin Rouge et Moelle, Frites - The middle rib from the chuck is served with a sauce made from the natural cooking juices flavored with red wine and bone marrow. French fries will be served on the side. The plancha or planxa is a very thick iron sheet. It is at least two centimeters (6/8") thick and claimed as their own by the Basques, the French, and the Spanish. This traditional cooking method provides very even heat and uses very little oil; the result is a taste somewhere between frying and grilling. 

Noix de Basse-Côte de Bœuf Black Angus
Photograph courtesy of Trip Advisor.  

Basse Côtes Farci de Boeuf Braisé aux Trompettes de la Mort - Here a cut from the Basses Cotes is stuffed with wild Black Chanterelle or Black Trumpet mushroom. The first name for this mushroom in French translates as the "Trumpet of Death," though this mushroom is not poisonous; the second name sounds much better and means "Horn of Plenty." This mushroom is mostly called the black trumpet mushroom in English. The Horn of Plenty mushroom is an important member of the Chanterelle mushroom family, which are all wild mushrooms; they will be on the menu in season, which, depending on the area in France, runs from the end of June through September. 

Basse Côte Grillée
L’Atellier des Chefs

Basse Côtes d'Agneau Rôti aux Girolles – A Basses Côtes of lamb roasted with wild Chanterelle Girolle mushrooms. Lamb does not have a cut called chuck in English; nevertheless, the placing of the Basses Côtes is still the cut between the shoulders. The Girolle Chanterelle mushroom on this listing will be gathered in the wild. Most restaurants have yearlong agreements with professional ramasseurs, professional gatherers; all year round, they gather wild mushrooms, herbs, and spices and sell them to restaurants. Despite that, sometimes the chef is a mushroom addict, and it is he or she that is up early for a long walk and search in the woods after the rain.

Wild Chanterelle/Girolle Mushrooms on sale in the market.
Photograph courtesy of Henry Söderlund
www.flickr.com/photos/hrns/14945340814/

In French supermarkets, as in the USA and the UK, the parts of the chuck used in France will carry different suffixes. However, the Basses Cotes cover a smaller area than the USA or UK chuck, and that part of the list will be much shorter. The Basses Cotes cuts come from marbled meat and make excellent stews. Thinly sliced and marinated, they can be grilled or fried as steak; these are neither tough nor fatty cuts.

  

The USA Cuts
Photograph courtesy of Beef2Live

-------------------------------- 

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

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.  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.  

----------  

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

 

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

 

Copyright 2010, 2016, 2021
 
-------------------- 

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