How to source "good" steak for BBQ'ing in France.

54and56

Hi all,

I've been travelling to France for summer holidays for about 10 years. We love our family BBQ's there but for the life of me I can never find good steak to cook on the BBQ.

Here I typically buy the 28 day Aldi Rib Eye steaks (or the Dunnes/Tesco equivalent) and find them to be very good.

In France I've tried buying steak from supermarkets, independent butchers and markets to no avail.

I watched Steak Revolution on Netflix a couple of times (highly recommend it BTW) where these French butchers travelled the world to find out which country had the best steak and why steak in France was so tough and whilst I won't give away the answer to the first part of the question the answer to the latter, in their opinion anyway, is that French cattle are bred for size and leanness whereas steak which is good for grilling and BBQ'ing needs to have a high fat content.

Has anyone successfully sourced steak in France suitable for grilling or BBQ'ing?

I'm thinking of trying Bavvette or Onglet Steak's this year rather than traditional rib eye/striploin/filet. It seems to be the only type of French steak which works on a BBQ. It's cooked and served in a different manner but I guess when in France......

odyssey06

I think also that in France beef is matured for 3-5 days rather than here where you can get +20 days matured steaks?

I read that Charolais beef has more marbling than other typical French breeds, in the supermarket the packaging should indicate the breed.

Je_suis_Jean

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

......
Here I typically buy the 28 day Aldi Rib Eye steaks (or the Dunnes/Tesco equivalent) and find them to be very good............

Can't help you unfortunately but at home you should try SuperValue steaks, they are very very good.

odyssey06

On the topic of sourcing good meat in France... any suggestions on what I should be looking for in a 'supermarche' for what we would call lamb cutlets?

CelticRambler

odyssey06 wrote: »

On the topic of sourcing good meat in France... any suggestions on what I should be looking for in a 'supermarche' for what we would call lamb cutlets?

Cotelette d'agneau is what you should look for, but not necessarily that easy to find, and expect it to be expensive.

As for the beef, yes the main problem is that the French don't hang their beef for anywhere near as long as us. They're running a series of ads on the radio at the moment promoting pure French breeds (including the Charolais) but I've never found it to make much difference because none of them are hung for long enough.

In the supermarkets, you'll nearly always get cow meat too, rather than reared-for-beef bullock. Have a close look at the label - if it says "vache" then at best you're getting a young heifer, but more than likely you're getting an cow who's reared five or six calves. A proper independent butcher is more likely to have "real" beef.

After that, it's all down to the marinade, which is how the French tenderise the meat they were too impatient to let hang for a few weeks extra.

Loire

odyssey06 wrote: »

I read that Charolais beef has more marbling than other typical French breeds, in the supermarket the packaging should indicate the breed.

I noticed in France last summer that the meat I was buying was labelled by cow also which was interesting. There was a cut of beef (sorry I can't remember) and it was pretty cheap but tasted amazing. It was Charolais....like a round steak, but had all these lines in it - skirt streak maybe? Anyways, BBQd with some side salad and a carafe of rouge and Bob's your uncle.

odyssey06

Loire wrote: »

I noticed in France last summer that the meat I was buying was labelled by cow also which was interesting. There was a cut of beef (sorry I can't remember) and it was pretty cheap but tasted amazing. It was like a round steak, but had all these lines in it - skirt streak maybe? Anyways, BBQd with some side salad and a carafe of rouge and Bob's your uncle.

Just teasing us you are now... we must find the name - en francais - of this mysterious cut!

Loire

odyssey06 wrote: »

Just teasing us you are now... we must find the name - en francais - of this mysterious cut!

I was Skirt Steak, thanks to a Google image search (thank God I added "Steak" as herself is around ). Anyways, Jupe Steak it's translating as.

54and56

Loire wrote: »

I noticed in France last summer that the meat I was buying was labelled by cow also which was interesting. There was a cut of beef (sorry I can't remember) and it was pretty cheap but tasted amazing. It was Charolais....like a round steak, but had all these lines in it - skirt streak maybe? Anyways, BBQd with some side salad and a carafe of rouge and Bob's your uncle.

I'm pretty sure the steak you are referring to is called Bavvette or Onglet Steak. It's the steak used when ordering steak en frites in France.

It doesn't look much like a "steak" for those of us used to looking at Striploins and Rib Eye's etc and that might explain why I never purchased any in the past.



Great article on these steaks here.

The secret seems to be to keep it simple, BBQ it on a very high heat and cook it rare or at most medium and then let it rest for 5 or 6 minutes before serving.