In support of the above, most beef eaten in the uk is under 2 yrs of age and often nearer to 1 year so the nearest that you will get here is a rose veal.
Carol that article was written by Brent Curtiss he has a beef farm in the Gers all his cattle are grass fed Salers, we can vouch for his beef thinking it well worth the 4 hour round trip to collect a box of a mixture of various cuts , it works out at 120€ for 10kg i know lots of people have said but add your fuel onto that and its expensive its far cheaper from the local supermarket yes it may be but you dont get to chat to the farmer over a coffee and munch on a brownie baked by his wife and daughter with the added satisfaction of eating a meat dish worth talking about, its so well sort after you have to order a box well in advance
I too will give this a go...
I will give it a try
Strange when you think the national dish was Steak and Chips!
Sandra you have me dribbling! I too thought it was just the hanging Jenny...but the article points out we are eating old retired dairy cows...not young steer which is what you tend to get in the US, Canada and the UK... I dont think it matters how long you hang old cows...they wont tenderise the same as young beef.
As far as meat goes...I also have some probs with sausage meat. I make my own sausages as I miss the herby, garlicky sausages I buy in the UK. I was buying pork and grinding my own...but my mincer isnt great so I bought ready ground sausagemeat and was horrified when making the sausages to find splinters of bone throughout the meat, (which I bought at a supermarket) its happened a few times...so now I have to buy boneless pork in France and get them to grind it for me.
I only ever buy entrecote now with the most fat I can find - filet is tender but has no taste, faux filet is tough time and time again.
The entrecote is tender provided you're not cremating it. I cook it in a very hot pan for a very short time each side to really brown the outside and crisp any fat leaving the middle beautifully pink and tender but properly hot through. I don't know what people who like medium or well done steak do, but I find that this method works for me.
I usually buy my prepacked entrecote from Le Clerc which isn't my nearest supermarket but around here seems to have the best entrecote steaks. If they butcher is available in my local SuperU then I have an entrecote cut from the slab of meat and that's good too.
I live alone, but if I've got company eating then I like a rib - seasoned with salt, black pepper and sprinkled with Colman's English mustard dry powder through a tea strainer, browned in a pan and to crisp the fat, then in a very hot oven for about 35 minutes. Leave to rest - essential - and then enjoy - really lovely and tasty and tender with buttery mashed potatoes, roasted tomatoes, French beans and garlicky mushrooms.
I only ever buy entrecote now with the most fat I can find - filet is tender but has no taste, faux filet is tough time and time again.
The entrecote is tender provided you're not cremating it. I cook it in a very hot pan for a very short time each side to really brown the outside and crisp any fat leaving the middle beautifully pink and tender but properly hot through. I don't know what people who like medium or well done steak do, but I find that this method works for me.
I usually buy my prepacked entrecote from Le Clerc which isn't my nearest supermarket but around here seems to have the best entrecote steaks. If they butcher is available in my local SuperU then I have an entrecote cut from the slab of meat and that's good too.
I live alone, but if I've got company eating then I like a rib - seasoned with salt, black pepper and sprinkled with Colman's English mustard dry powder through a tea strainer, browned in a pan and to crisp the fat, then in a very hot oven for about 35 minutes. Leave to rest - essential - and then enjoy - really lovely and tasty and tender with buttery mashed potatoes, roasted tomatoes, French beans and garlicky mushrooms.
The trouble is they do not hang the meat for long enough. In the UK they hang beef for over 21 days and in France i think its about 10 days!
yes, this is exactly how we felt. After having enjoyed some great Canadian beef for th elingest time, we thought this is impossible.
Finally, our local butcher here in town recommended some premium "Basse Cote" cuts. It is excellent. Tender and tasty. It took us a long time to be happy with the beef here in France. I even bought a whole tenderloin at METRO once, but even that piece of meat was nothing compared North American standards.
Let's face it, even ground beef is completely different here than back across the Atlantic......
The only thing I have done successfully is get a cheap joint of meat for stewing and slow cook it overnight and that has turned out tender, I think the french cook things long and slow and of course there is always a sauce
Me too Roz...I bash it with my meat hammer....marinade it, leave it in salt for another half an hour...no matter what I do...unless I braise it for hours...its tough and no joy to eat.
That would explain why all steak I buy is very tough no matter what I do to tenderize it, I have marinated it overnight, cooked it in wine, the only way it is really edible is to almost eat it raw or Barbecued..