Seiche – Cuttlefish. Cuttlefish in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

    
 
The common cuttlefish
www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/4695864776/
 
Seiche - Cuttlefish  (Sùpi in Occitan)  will be on menus all over mainland France and Encre de Seiche or Sépia, cuttlefish ink, will not only be coloring and flavoring risottos and pasta in restaurants but may be bought in the supermarkets for home cooks. All the fresh cuttlefish on restaurant menus will have been caught in the Mediterranean or the North Sea and those will rarely be more than 25 cm (10”) in length.  Like calmar, calamari, (squid), a close cousin, cuttlefish have eight legs or tentacles, and two feelers, but the tastiest part of the cuttlefish is the Blanc de Seiche, the entirely white, tender meat from the head.

Cuttlefish was a beloved part of the Romans’ diet.
Detail of mosaic floor in the city of Herculaneum, Italy.
Herculaneum, like its sister city Pompeii, was destroyed by the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.
www.flickr.com/photos/70125105@N06/28918775427
  
Baby Cuttlefish - Supions, Supiouns, and Sepions

Baby cuttlefish are often prepared together with baby calamari, and while you may see the difference no one can taste them.  However, adult cuttlefish have a more flavorful taste than calamari (but less so than those of their other cousin the octopus), and so they have their own recipes.
  
Supions en persillade
Baby cuttlefish prepared in a garlic and parsley sauce.
   
Encre de seiche -  Cuttlefish ink.
 
In the kitchen, the color and taste of cuttlefish ink is an important ingredient, and from risottos to pasta, its color will be brightening the table. The ink is not black, but, rather like the name it gave to the color, sepia, it is a brown tinged with purple and in the kitchen, it will be added just before serving as cooked cuttlefish ink fades.

Cuttlefish on French menus:
  
Blanc de Seiche, Crème Infusée au Lard Fumé The prepared white meat from the head of the cuttlefish served with a smoked bacon flavored cream sauce.
     
Blancs de seiche a la persillade
Cuttlefish heads in garlic and parsley sauce.
    
Brochette de Seiche et Chorizo Accompaniment Riz de Camargue -  Skewers of cuttlefish and chorizo sausages accompanied by rice from the Camargue. The Camargue is an enormous natural biosphere in the Rhone River Delta in an area shared by the regions of Provence and Occitanie along the Mediterranean coast. Part of the Camargue is a working national park and famed both for the Taureaux de Camargue, its AOC/AOP beef cattle and its harvest of fruits and vegetables, especially its rice.
       
Maigre Sauvage, Risotto à l'Encre de Seiches, Navets et Radis Noirs Glacés au Bulldog - Wild Meagre, the fish,  also called Croaker or Salmon Bass served with a risotto flavored and colored with cuttlefish ink and accompanied by turnips and black radishes glazed with Bulldog Gin.
   
Parillade de Poisson (Seiches, Moules, Saumon, Crevettes et Gambas) – A parillade of fish and seafood, (cuttlefish, mussels, salmon, and small and large shrimps). The originally Spanish parillada may be any assortment of fish, shellfish and or meat marinated in olive oil and grilled; the dish is usually accompanied by a persillade, a mixture of chopped parsley and garlic.  A drizzle of virgin olive oil  for flavor will often be added just before serving.
  
Saint Jacques Snackées, Spaghetti à l'Encre de Seiche, Crème de Maviar et Poutargue Lightly seared meat from king scallops served with spaghetti flavored and colored with cuttlefish ink accompanied by a creamy sauce of maviar and poutargue.  Maviar is caviar stand-in made with smoked cod eggs. Boutargue or Poutargue is the salted and dried roe of the gray mullet and a Provençal delicacy.
  
Poissons variés et riz à l'encre de seiche.
Fish with rice flavored with cuttlefish ink.
www.flickr.com/photos/lesphotosdejerome/7973276022/
     
Seiches Grillées à la Plancha, Coulis de Poivron Rouge - Cuttlefish grilled on the plancha and served with a thick sauce of red sweet peppers. The plancha, or planxa in Basque, is a heated thick iron sheet that provides a unique taste, somewhere between grilling and frying, as very little oil is used. Both the Spanish and the Basque claim the invention of the plancha and while cuttlefish will be on menus all over France in the Pays de Basque, the French Basque country it is almost a national dish.
 
Supions Sautés à l'Ail et Persil – Baby cuttlefish lightly fried with garlic and parsley.

Cuttlefish bone
 
Calmar, Calamari, (squid) and octopus have no bones, but the cuttlefish has a porous bone type material inside its head.  This internal structure helps the cuttlefish rise and fall in the sea.  The bone is often used for caged birds to peck at and get grit for their gizzards and it has other uses including that of a casting material for jewelry and small items.
  
Cuttlefish, grass, and bamboo treat on sale.

Cuttlefish ink.
 
Encre de seiche, cuttlefish ink, is much more highly valued for color and taste than the ink of calamari or octopuses which is usually discarded.  The ink’s Roman/Latin name is sepia, and from Greek and Roman times the brown and purple tinted ink was used for writing, of course, is now associated with the color seen with white and brown images of early photography
   
Sepia photograph of a young woman
www.flickr.com/photos/simpleinsomnia/12906618504/
   
The cuttlefish name
Despite its English name, the cuttlefish is obviously not a fish.  The name, according to Dictionary.com comes from the old English name for the species cudele which when added to fish became cuttlefish.
   

Large cuttlefish on sale in the Chinatown market Bangkok.
www.flickr.com/photos/68166820@N08/29024902148/
 
Cuttlefish in the languages of France’s neighbors:
 (Catalan - sipia), (Dutch -  gewone Inktvis, zeekat), (german – tintenfisch, sepie), (Italian – seppia ), (Spanish - calamares), (Latin - sepia officinalis).

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Searching for the meaning of words, names or phrases
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Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" 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
Copyright 2010, 2018. 2023.

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com


Macreuse de Bœuf - One of the Tastiest Steaks on French Menus.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
 

Macreuse de bœuf.

The steak called a masseuse à bifteka  in French supermarkets is nearly always called a masseuse de bœuf on French menu listings, and there is no similar cut on USA or UK menus, outside of a real French restaurant.  Back in France, chefs have to learn nearly as much as a butcher to graduate cooking school. Chefs have knowledgeable customers who expect economic but very flavorful cuts in restaurants as well as butcher's shops and supermarkets. 

This macreuse à biftek comes from the same place North American and UK chuck,  the shoulder, but the French cut it differently. Chuck steak are cut across and combine different tastes and textures which, however, if cut like the French it can provide a steak with a bigger bang for the buck.
  


The cut.

Talking to a butcher in the US showed me that better cuts, which are rarely seen, are available.  They include the chuck tender steak, the shoulder petite tender, the chuck eye steak, and the flat-iron steak. Despite his research, this helpful expert couldn’t give a name for a US cut like the macreus à bifteck in France.

Macreuse a bifteck on French menus:
 
Macreuse de Bœuf, à l'Echalote et Poivre Vert  - A macreuse pepper steak prepared with shallots and green pepper.  Controlling the taste of a dish with black pepper is not easy, so when French chefs prepare a pepper steak they prefer green pepper that allows a controllable heat.
  

Grilling macreuse de bœuf,

Macreuse de Bœuf Cuite 6 h, Bacon de Sanglier des Bois et Champignons Sauvages - A macreuse steak slowly cooked for six hours and prepared with bacon from a wild boar from the woods and wild mushrooms. A steak like this will have been seared on the outside and the allowed to cook at a low temperature for over six hours; the result will be a steak with all the flavor locked in and a texture that will almost melt in your mouth.  France farm-raises wild boar, and it is available all year round but this menu listing tells the diner that this is wild boar from the woods and real wild boar have a much stronger flavor. (For flavorful wild mushrooms in the season the cèpe, the French porcini mushroom fit the bill).

Sanglier - Wild boar populations are ever expanding in France, and they do not just stay in the woods and forests that cover over 25% of the mainland. At night the wild boar come out, and in addition to eating the crops in the fields they also tear the grapes from vines and you can't expect the French to allow them to consume the source of their wines.    Even though wild boar can be hunted nearly all year round, their populations keep on growing and they cause over 30,000 car accidents every year that include fatalities.  To ensure consumer safety every single wild boar must have its meat tested in a government approved laboratory before it can be served in a restaurant or home and this steak dish with wild boar bacon, wild mushrooms, will be making a memorable dish.
   

Watch out when you are driving in the French countryside.
Photograph courtesy of Nadine.

Macreuse de Bœuf, Légumes Racines Confits – A macreuse steak accompanied by root vegetables that have been slowly cooked with a slightly sweetened wine or balsamic vinegar.  In North America and the UK, root vegetables are often overlooked or consigned to soups with only the celebrity chefs taking them out of the heirloom vegetable cupboard.  In France from the smallest restaurant to the bistros and brassieres and up on to the three-star Michelin Guide restaurants parsnips, turnips and Swedes (rutabaga)  will be on many of their menus, these are tasty vegetables and a welcome addition to the ubiquitous peas, green beans, and carrots.
 
Macreuse de Bœuf Sauce au Poivre et Whisky, Salade Composée, Vinaigrette au Cidre et Frites A macreuse steak prepared in a pepper and Scotch whisky sauce served with a salad made with a cider vinaigrette and French fries.

Macreuse de Bœuf, Sauce Béarnaise Purée de Panais et Legumes Grillé – A macreuse chuck steak served with Sauce Béarnaise and accompanied by a parsnip puree and grilled vegetables. Sauce Béarnaise has been topping France and the world's sauce popularity polls for nearly two-hundred years. It is one of the few sauces that may be served with steaks and roasts as well as salmon and vegetables.  In 1830 the chef Louis Françoise-Collinet took the recipe for Sauce Hollandaise, omitted the lemon juice and added white wine vinegar, shallots, chervil, and tarragon and made Sauce Béarnaise. It's the tarragon and white wine vinegar that change the Hollandaise base and supply the tang that makes us Sauce Béarnaise devotees.
  


Steak Tatare is often made with the macreuse à biftek
Photograph courtesy of Hotel du Vin & Bistro
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hdv-gallery/7138285281/

Don’t waste your time looking up macreuse steaks in a dictionary because it won’t help. Macreuse in French translates as scoter and scoter is the name for a family of ducks; in today's France, the macreuse on your menus will be a steak and not a canard, a duck.   Despite that, Alexander Dumas (père) who is most well-known for his books that include the Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo was also a gourmand.  In 1870 Sumas published an over one thousand page Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, his grand dictionary of cuisine.  The wild scoter duck was very popular at the time and there are at least six recipes Alexander Dumas's dictionary.  Members of this duck family may be hunted during a one month season, but I've never seen one on a menu.
   
Scoter (macreuse) ducks.
www.flickr.com/photos/jmvdmaren/10316987185/

If you live in France and want this tasty and economic steak read the description in the supermarket or at the butchers carefully.  There is a second cut called a macreuse à pot-au-feu which as its name describes is for stewing.  The traditional pot-au-feu includes beef, marrow bones, carrots, turnips, leeks, celery, onions, potatoes, a clove-studded onion, garlic, and a bouquet garni and one of the cuts of beef will always be the macreuse à pot-au- feu. Pot-a- feus may be on menus as Baeckeoffes, Garbures and other local names where the ingredients are often pork based with beef added as an afterthought.

If you have a butcher, who does not only sell hunks of beef that he or she receives already packaged in cellophane ask what different steak cuts he or she can offer from the whole chuck and brisket, and not just the all-inclusive chuck steak. Who knows you may have found someone who knows how to cut steaks.

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

Just add the word, words, or phrase that you are searching for to the words "Behind the French Menu" 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, 2018, 2023.

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