Can any ex butcher or Beef farmers help?

[Gardener]

The village butcher we shopped at in the UK used to sell us something called BED steak for cutting into cubes for BBQ kebabs.

I had never heard that term anywhere else before or after and only found one (not helpful) reference to it on the internet.

I would like to try and get the same cut of meat in France, but I first need to know what it is ordinarily called.

It was Bed and not best steak, probably a regional name as the butcher wasn't a local, it wasn't extremely expensive, but still quite tender.

Any ideas ?

[Pierre ZFP]

Tranche a fondue?

Slab of beef with no fat on it at all, excellent for all sorts of quick cooking and great for kebabs (ie not tough and needing hours like pot au feu)

Varies in price in my local Auchan, I get it sometimes when its of offer at around €6.50 per Kg.  Today it was over €10 so no thanks, I'll wait.

[ericd]

Very difficult to compare cuts of meat in the UK and in France....We have a great very friendly traditional butcher on our high street and his meat is sourced from Scotland. One day I came in his shop with a piece of French purchased steak (hampe) which is particularly tender and tasty (I had flown in that same day) to ask him if he could serve a similar cut in the future. Half dozen butchers prodded the piece, cut pieces from it and were unable to tell me which part of the cow it came from !!!! I consol myself by buying his Ribs with bone on (matured and in excess of 21 days old).

[Les]

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampe_%28viande%29

[ericd]

Thanks Derf. I did google it too but the butchers in the UK don't differentiate between these many cuts. It all goes into minced meat i guess......and i am not prepared to give them a course on cow anatomy

[Gardener]

Tranche à fondue is good I agree but more grainy than whatever bed steak is, hampe looks worth a try too.

[minnie]

On the subject of beef I can never seem to see fillet steak around - plenty of faux filet (which I believe is sirloin)

[ericd]

Ask for " tranche de fillet" and as it is France, there will be a choice of hampe, araignee, persillee etc....