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[quote user="sweet 17"] JJ, that's what I call inspired.  In fact, I think I might just cook that myself.  But, do you know where to find porter or proper ale? I don't think that lager quite cuts the mustard? [/quote]

I found quite a few imported British Beers, Spitfire & the like in Lidl, or if absolutely desperate you could use Pelforth Brun [:)]

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[quote user="Stan Streason"]

Only 2 choices as far as I am concernerd.

Play to everyones predjudices and go for roast beef.  As big a rib joint as you can get your hands on and supervise the cooking so its not overcooked.  Cut it in front of people like a carvery.   Yorkshire puddings (next time someone is coming from England get them to bring a ton of Aunt Bessies (other makes are available!) they are cheap and easy).  Proper roast potatoes cooked in duck fat (see any Jamie Oliver recipe), roast parsnips in honey. broccolli and swede.

Steamed jam or syrup pudding and custard. (I prefer jam).

Or

Steak and kidney pudding, onion mash and 2 veg.

Apple and blackberry pie with custard, cream or ice cream.

[/quote]

I've followed this thread with great interest & IMO most of the suggestions have merit. Have to say though that this post sums it up for me (I appreciate it wasn't the 1st rosbif suggestion). It's what the French will be sort-of expecting and probably looking forward to. Much as I like Cottage Pie / Shepherds Pie and the like, they're not the kind of thing that would be memorable are they? Having said that, they do have the advantage of practicality when trying to cook and serve for a large number of people.

If you can be organised in a sort-of carvery way, then SS's suggestion would be really good ............ & memorable!   

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My opinion for what its worth (usually zero) is that as you are going to have caterers prepare, cook and serve your meal you are on a hiding to nothing with most of the excellent suggestions that I have enjoyed reading even if you speak good French . A safe option would be to play to the strengths of the caterers and the expectations of the diners and serve assiette anglaise for a starter which always goes down a storm even though it is not remotely English.

You could ask them to cook saucisses de Toulouses or saucisses fumées with patate purée making no mention of bangers and mash to confuse them but you can write that of course on the table menus, you will have to smuggle in your own gravy but dont expect anyone to accept any.

And for pudding.............. well naturally you must have pudding, [:P] - You could ask the caterers to serve it with hot creme anglaise but again you will probably be better off smuggling it in yourself but dont expect anyone to eat it unless it is served cold from the fridge!

A cheese course is a good idea but definitely not after the dessert, you could try getting the guests to eat it with biscuits but you will have to insist that there is no bread or salad on the premises and bar the doors so that they cant slip home to find their own.

On a positive note I dont think that you would have any worries about them overcooking the Rosbif as was suggested, quite the opposite in fact.

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One slight problem with Roast Beef in France is the reality they butcher the carcass differently.

And French carcasses are not hung as they are traditionally in Britain.

Useful little guide to French cuts here:

I am always wary about trying to recreate a traditional event for non Brits: after a salutory lesson some years back............

My Rotary club twinned with a Dutch club in Northern Holland.

Now for those who have not been involved in or with Rotary, apart from the obvious aspect of charity funds raising and hands on charity events and social works, it is also much about formal dinners and entertainment: so we decided to entertain our new lovely friends with a Pearly King and Queen parade, all danced to Lambeth Walk - Oy! I had a professional musician chum cut me a backing tape on his synth, so that was OK.

Which all took some explaining! And I had to later write a long article about Pearlies and costermongers for the club mag for our new Dutch chums.

I also arranged a small wooden cask of real conditioned ale from a local real brewery: and this was personally taken over by one of the members who was driving; with strict instructions to place it on the loan rack and leave it to settle for 24 hours................

Whereupon at the last, the facility managers decided to relocate the function in another area: lifted the ale, shaking it nicely in the process and re-siting it on another bar!

And of course, as the ale was drawn off, it was foul looking and tasting and had a cloudy miasma of sediment floating around like a Christmas snowstorm paperweight!

The Dutch said how nice it was, however I fear they were being polite and might well have changed their minds sometime between the middle of the night and early morning!

Since it was brewed just up the road in Enskede, I stuck with the Grolsch.

[:)]

 

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She's got a point, Richard.  The only beef I do is browned in seasoned flour, then some sort of booze added and cooked for something like 6 to 8 hours in a wood-fired oven.

Never any other way though I will, on occasion, cook a bit of fillet steak cut into fine strips and fried Chinese style.

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French beef junk?

Ummm. Not Charolais beef.

See here:

Trouble is, much French beef comes from milk cows which are past their useful milk production life: whereas decent british beef comes from steers and bullocks.

Interesting comments I culled earlier from a Google search:

Perhaps it might be interesting to look at the price of beef from the producers angle. When I say beef, I don't mean the meat taken from the carcass of a cull milking cow (laitiere), that may have spent most of its working life enhanced by who knows what in its food and anti biotics.

As a producer of beef, I can only talk about breeds intended exclusively for the meat trade. Traditionally (in France) bullock beef came from animals over ten years old, fattened in their last six months following a life as a draught animal.
Bullock beef under 30 months as in the UK, was and is indeed still a rare commodity. Most of the beef found in the butchers or supermarket comes from older females of beef breeds that have already had several calves. To my mind that is why French beef in general does not come up to UK standard.

From experiance both as a beef breeder and an eater of beef, the best meat comes from a three year old heifer. That is the type of animal rarely found in France. Tradition is slow to change. There is now a trend towards younger beef in the form of "broutard" which is an animal of about 10 to 15 months old. These are usually entire male animals reared out on grass. They are becoming more common in the abattoirs as the trade in bull beef to Italy has declined following various embargos, cjd, F&M etc.

Why does beef cost so much?. Well.. take an average live weight beef animal of 500kg. Once slaughtered and ready to leave the abattoir the carcass will weigh about 250kg. Of that carcass weight there will be a further loss of anything up to 75kg once the meat is boned out. So an animal that started out at 500kg turns into about 165kg of usuable meat. Now..of that 165kg of meat only about 50 kg will be made up of top quality cuts, ribs, entrecote, filet rumpsteaks etc, the rest of the meat will be the stewing steaks, mincing beef, daube, pot au feu etc.

The farmer will have been paid (if he is lucky!) an average of of about 2.5 euros/kg live weight., 1250 euros. The butcher has to add slaughterhouse fees, transport to and from and wages to cut up the carcass.
That will bring his costs to about 10 euros/kg of beef by the time he comes to start selling it. He has to factor in running costs of shop, cold storage, unsold meat, collecton of waste material(bones) etc. If the butcher applies a mark up of 35% ( supermarkets are about18%) that means selling his meat at an average of 13.50/kg, no way is he going to sell pot au feu, daube etc for that price, to compete with supermarkets he has to sell at no more than 3.50 a kg.

You don't have to be a genius to work out that to cover his costs the superior cuts have to make up the difference.

(NB: two years old prices).

[quote user="sweet 17"]

She's got a point, Richard.  The only beef I do is browned in seasoned flour, then some sort of booze added and cooked for something like 6 to 8 hours in a wood-fired oven.

Never any other way though I will, on occasion, cook a bit of fillet steak cut into fine strips and fried Chinese style.

[/quote]

I agree very much with Sweets.

Bourguigno is a very cheap cut (Typically on Promo from Carrefour € 4 per plateau, last week) and makes a stonkingly good slow casserolled dish cooked in red wine with champignons, onions and seasoning.

That said, I purchased a plateau of  Tournedos, 3 off, last week in Carrefour at less than € 4 on Promo! And after a good beating, fried carefully in olive oil, butter, garlic and Tarragon and the juices from mushrooms cooked separately, made a very nice dinner a doux.

I have always brought decent beef joints (Aberdeen Angus) over from UK for special events for our French chums and they have much enjoyed it.

If I was doing this event, then I would probably opt for steak and mushroom pudding, in a suet pastry: using vegetarian suet (Attora); only prob with this is it's hydrogenated fat. Slivers of margarine work just as well in fact.

Nothing nicer than a good old English steak and kidney pud: except these days we do not eat offal. So use mushrooms and copious fresh ground black pepper instead.

 

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I have the wrong plumbing down below to be a good cook but when you look at the very appealing joints of beef on sale in the supermarkets they are all to me at least far to lean to roast in an open oven.

I do as others do and pot roast using a cocotte en fpnte, I find that adding a little water into the well in the lid can also help..

When in Rome and all that.

I have just bought one of those pyrex bowl halogen "ovens" and so far am quite impressed, it did a very good job on a leg of lamb, OK it was bought in the UK but I doubt that the New Zealand gigots are any differnt in France. I am going to save up to sacrifice a French beef joint to it to see what results it gives, I reckon it will be an improvement on an open oven roast.

I have eaten very nice roast beef in France, it was a huge joint and cooked for 30 minutes only in a preheated oven and it was divine, OK it was only what we would call cooked to a depth of about 1.5cms and the inside resembled the skin on the back of a drunken brit after his first afternoon sleeping off his liquid lunch on the Cote D'azure but that is after all why they call us Les Rosbifs [;-)]

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[quote user="Gluestick"]

Useful little guide to French cuts here:

I am always wary about trying to recreate a traditional event for non Brits: after a salutory lesson some years back............

My Rotary club twinned with a Dutch club in Northern Holland.

Now for those who have not been involved in or with Rotary, apart from the obvious aspect of charity funds raising and hands on charity events and social works, it is also much about formal dinners and entertainment: so we decided to entertain our new lovely friends with a Pearly King and Queen parade, all danced to Lambeth Walk - Oy! I had a professional musician chum cut me a backing tape on his synth, so that was OK.

Which all took some explaining!

[/quote]

Extremely useful guide - thanks.

Well, can you imagine what it is like when you twin with a francophone club - I well remember trying to explain the rules of cricket to our French Rotary visitors ..... (when I was still in the UK).

So which Rotary club are you - and do you fancy  twinning with a Rotary club here - mine, for example??? (we do have English speakers apart from me.....:):)!!

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[quote user="Judith"]Extremely useful guide - thanks.

Well, can you imagine what it is like when you twin with a francophone club - I well remember trying to explain the rules of cricket to our French Rotary visitors ..... (when I was still in the UK).

So which Rotary club are you - and do you fancy  twinning with a Rotary club here - mine, for example??? (we do have English speakers apart from me.....:):)!!
[/quote]

I was, Judith: sadly, no longer as too many professional commitments left too little time to do justice to membership and made hitting the then mandatory 80% attendance minimum impossible. My old club was in Essex.

I much enjoyed my time and we had loads of excellent fellowship, raised sheds of cash and met some wonderful people.

The most amusing experience for me was attending the Rotary Club of St. James's in Barbados, where Mrs Gluey and I were staying.

I had naturally packed a jacket and a tie: and boy did I sweat, despite the hotel's aircon - Feb in Barbados is not cool; plus 90+% relative humidity!

Only to discover all the officers wore bermuda shorts, flip flops and Haiwaiian shirts!

[quote user="NormanH"]My God!! Rotary let in women??
[/quote]

Certainly did: my club was based in Essex: and was the very first mixed gender club in Essex and Herts.

Rotary in the USA (Where it started) had to allow female members: and gradually, UK clubs have naturally followed suite.

And why not?

So many ladies now are in the professions: and what's more, added another valuable dimension to Rotary.

 

 

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[quote user="NormanH"]My God!! Rotary let in women??
[/quote]

Mais oui..............OH and I have been wined and dined and more or less courted to join.  We haven't yet and that's partly because we might be moving and we didn't want to get too involved before we do so.

Mind you, OH was a member for a few years but that was at least 40 years ago.  We do find that here in France the emphasis seems to be more on the social side, eating, drinking, excursions and not so serious about raising money as they did in the UK.

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[quote user="Gluestick"]

[quote user="Judith"]Extremely useful guide - thanks.

Well, can you imagine what it is like when you twin with a francophone club - I well remember trying to explain the rules of cricket to our French Rotary visitors ..... (when I was still in the UK).

So which Rotary club are you - and do you fancy  twinning with a Rotary club here - mine, for example??? (we do have English speakers apart from me.....:):)!!

[/quote]

I was, Judith: sadly, no longer as too many professional commitments left too little time to do justice to membership and made hitting the then mandatory 80% attendance minimum impossible. My old club was in Essex.

I much enjoyed my time and we had loads of excellent fellowship, raised sheds of cash and met some wonderful people.

The most amusing experience for me was attending the Rotary Club of St. James's in Barbados, where Mrs Gluey and I were staying.

I had naturally packed a jacket and a tie: and boy did I sweat, despite the hotel's aircon - Feb in Barbados is not cool; plus 90+% relative humidity!

Only to discover all the officers wore bermuda shorts, flip flops and Haiwaiian shirts!

[quote user="NormanH"]My God!! Rotary let in women??

[/quote]

Certainly did: my club was based in Essex: and was the very first mixed gender club in Essex and Herts.

Rotary in the USA (Where it started) had to allow female members: and gradually, UK clubs have naturally followed suite.

And why not?

So many ladies now are in the professions: and what's more, added another valuable dimension to Rotary.

 [/quote]

Norman, yes, over 20 years now!  I have just broken the gender barrier on my transfer to my new club, Lezignan Corbieres et Minervois.

Gluey, sorry to hear you are no longer in Rotary, though the attendance requirement is now only 50%, and sensible clubs (like my "old" London one) count all sorts of meetings you go to as part of it.  In France, I'm not sure they count attendance at all!  And I do so agree, and most of our members do, females do change the dimension - but only for the better.  We were talking last night about a new club at Albi (sorry forgotten its name) which has 21 men and 21 women, with average age in 40's,  Can only be for the better good.  

Sweet - I think the French clubs are more socially oriented than some of the UK ones, but they still raise good money - and support many of the district's targets.  They do tend to support French countries, and di a splendid job in sending Shelterboxes to Haiti (we were told last night that need is now over, but the eathquake in ?Peru now needs them).  I just wish that at the moment my French was up to following it all, but it does get better,  Last night I almost understood quite a lot of it!! I'm sure you would be made very welcome and find it good for getting to know people.  Do consider it seriously once you are more settled.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

[quote user="NormanH"]My God!! Rotary let in women??
[/quote]

Mais oui..............OH and I have been wined and dined and more or less courted to join.  We haven't yet and that's partly because we might be moving and we didn't want to get too involved before we do so.

Mind you, OH was a member for a few years but that was at least 40 years ago.  We do find that here in France the emphasis seems to be more on the social side, eating, drinking, excursions and not so serious about raising money as they did in the UK.

[/quote]

Yes indeed, Sweets: as Judith says do seriously consider this: probably one of the very best ways to truly "Integrate" in France.

And what is more, meet people all over the World when travelling: a member of Rotary is welcome to attend local clubs for their weekly meetings: which vary from breakfast, through lunch to dinner meetings.

Once eventually settled I will re-join.

And by-the by, Rotary International have led the global project to distribute the Salk Vaccine which has now nearly erradicated Polio, Worldwide.

Amongst many other international initiatives.

For example, Rotary and Interact support and work closely with Medecins Sans Frontieres, amongst many other global relief organisations.

 

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[quote user="Christine Animal"]

[quote user="NormanH"]By the way what a pleasure to see a thread with no bad feeling and just positive suggestions [:D]

[/quote]

Uh oh, spoke to soon !   [6]

 

[/quote]

Glad to say I have not seen a single unpleasant comment anywhere on this thread.

Anyway, back to English food perhaps. Bon appétit.

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Back to food!

How about Queen of Puddings for pudding?  It's quite light (and lovely made with brioche crumbs rather than plain bread) - always goes down very well with French guests

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Heat some milk and butter in a pan.  Add crumbs and sugar. Beat in a couple of eggs.  Leave to do it's thing for about 10 mins.  Pour into a buttered baking dish (a shallow le creuset oval dish ideal).  Bake in a medium oven for 30 mins until set but not hard - should be slightly wobbly, but not liquid.  Leave to cool.  Put a thin layer of jam on the custard, then top with meringue.  Bake in a hot oven for 10 mins or so until golden.  Eat tout de suite (wth pouring cream if you are greedy - we are).  I prefer the goodhousekeeping recipe to Delia, mainly because her over-use of the word squidgy really gets on my bits!  Either will give you correct quantities, but use your imagination as follows!:

I used to individual puddings in ramekins when I was a chalet host, and currently I use any sort of preserved fruit (sans sirop), rather than jam.  I do the "Reine des Puddings Lorraine" with mirabelle jam, mirabelles  being the local produce.  C'est a vous!

As long as your breadcrumb mixture isn't doing a concrete impression, the second baking makes for a really light, yet yummy and substantial pudding!

Enjoy!

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  • 1 month later...
Surprised to see fish and chips mentioned only once - should go down well - perhaps you could get some English newspapers (probably just to go underneath the plates).

For dessert, there was a mention of Victoria Sponge. My wife made one of those (raspberry jam) and a Dundee cake for the grand picnic at the village vide grenier the year before last - they were both much appreciated, especially the sponge.
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