Tough beef

[FairyNuff]

Hello all you good cooks out there

I bought some beef last week labelled "Viande bovine gite noix à bifteack" (that's their spelling mistake, not my typing) which was cut along the grain of the meat. I fried it in a fancy ridged frying pan, and unfortunately it was as tough as old boots. Should I have cooked it slowly as a stew or casserole instead of frying it? Would it have been less tough if I'd bashed it with a meat mallet?

Thanks

FairyNuff

PS: we ate it anyway![geek]

[Cendrillon]

PS: we ate it anyway![geek]

Do you have any teeth left? [Www]

[Suze01]

My book describes Gite a la Noix as being a cut to roast or stew.

[FairyNuff]

[quote user="Cendrillon"]

PS: we ate it anyway![geek

Do you have any teeth left? [Www][/quote]

Yes, fortunately I'm of the generation that had a wee bottle of milk every morning at school. With luck it was nice and cold, but in the summer it was often nearly yogurt!

[:D]

FairyNuff

[Benjamin]

We bought a Rôti de something which was a very square regular shape some weeks ago "on offer" and rosted it.

It was tough and generally tasteless and awful.

[FairyNuff]

Thank you Lisleoise, next time I should really be less lazy and check what I'm buying![:$]

FairyNuff

[Tresco]

[quote user="FairyNuff"]...next time I should really be less lazy and check what I'm buying![:$][/quote]

We still make the odd mistake. The last was a chicken (which we roasted) that couldn't be cut into and bounced off the plate at every attempt. It was meant to be boiled for several hundred hours (or something).

Oh well, it saved me polishing the floor for a while.[:D]

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="Tresco"][quote user="FairyNuff"]...next time I should really be less lazy and check what I'm buying![:$][/quote]

We still make the odd mistake. The last was a chicken (which we roasted) that couldn't be cut into and bounced off the plate at every attempt. It was meant to be boiled for several hundred hours (or something).

Oh well, it saved me polishing the floor for a while.[:D]
[/quote]

LOL[:D][:D][:D]

I'm off to the paper striping now promise

[Tresco]

[quote user="Jacqui Too "]I'm off to the paper striping now promise[/quote]

Are stripes in this year then? [:D]

[Framboise]

I have bought chicken in the supermarche and been very disappointed, not least through the moaning I had to put up with over the fact it tasted more like pterodactyl.   Leathery and ancient[+o(]

Is ropey chicken a common thing in France, perhaps because many people have their own chooks?   Otherwise what ought I be looking for  on the shelves so I don't inadvertantly buy another flying dinosaur?

[chrisb]

There's a much wider choice of chicken in France including boiling fowls that we never get in the UK any more. But you do have to make sure of what you're getting! For roasting you'll need to go for the more expensive ones on offer.

I think it's easier to spot the differences when buying at a market where the birds are not all wrapped up and sanitised - and if they still have their heads on (and they will) you can choose one with a nice face.

The boiling birds make a really good chicken stew - which we can never do properly "at home" because the chicken is just too young and tender for the job.

As for beef - we just avoid it when in France.

[Clair]

There is some info about buying chickens in this thread: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1134780/ShowPost.aspx

[Hoddy]

"There's a much wider choice of chicken in France including boiling fowls that we never get in the UK any more."

This is one of the many things I like about France. I've even had a dish of boiling fowl and salsify in a restaurant. I've not been able to find a recipe for it though. So much tastier than most of the stuff on sale in the UK.

Hoddy

[mint]

I am that lucky person who has a bois-charbon oven and, as it's already on to warm the kitchen, I put all my meat (chicken, beef, pork, whatever) in it about mid-morning and eat it when it's falling off the fork with tenderness in the evening.

To begin with, I used to brown the meat (as per Delia Smith) and brown onions, carrots, celery, etc and put in some stock with the meat.  Now, I just bung it in, don't even bother seasoning it and voila, by the evening, the very air in the kitchen smells scrumptious and the dog is drooling.

I buy tough cuts of meat with lots of connective tissue (they do really taste best).  The beef usually says for bouguignon on the label and the pork says whatever.  I do pay more for chicken, however, usually going for the sort with a metal label to say it's free-range and, sometimes, identifying the farm on which it grew up.

It's really strange but, considering that I do nothing to the meat, it comes out actually tasting as though I had seasoned it in some way.  I then add plenty of freshly ground black pepper, slice it all up carefully (as it's so tender), skim the juices to remove some of the fat and just serve the rest of the "gravy" in a jug to be added separately by the individual diner.

Nowadays I usually serve the veg or a plain salad like les Françaises do, that is, separately, and I must say that I find this way of doing a meal dead simple. 

Best of all, no greasy roasting pan to clean up and, even worse, greasy oven shelves and sides to scrub.  All the meat goes in a heavy-based casserole thingy and, because nothing has been cooked at a really high temperature, no spatters and only the one pot to wash.  Job done! 

[Frederick]

When it comes to beef in France ....you now know why so many people use pressure cookers ! 

[Rob Roy]

The problem with a lot of cooking in the UK now is that everything is done quickly and there is this great fashion for undercooking food. I'm with Sweet 17 in that leaving the meat to slow cook for many hours really brings out the flavour and once put in the dish it can be forgotten about. Even when I roast pork or chicken here I put it in foil and increase the cooking time quite a bit more than I used to do it for in the UK.

But oh, how I wish for some nice crackling on the pork!

[Gardian]

[quote user="Rob Roy"]

But oh, how I wish for some nice crackling on the pork!

[/quote]

We had more or less given up on pork as a roasting meat - most of the stuff from UK (and French) supermarkets is (admittedly cheap) but tasteless.

However, OH saw a recipe in one of her UK mags and we ordered a carre de porc from a local butcher - ribs left in, skin (maybe 1.5cms deep) left on. It was a good 2 kilos in weight, 7 ribs.  Scored the skin, rub in some olive oil, generously salted.  25 mins at 200C, then 2hrs at 170C.

It was fantastic:  great crackling, juicy / tasty pork.  About €20 I think, but it fed 7 generously. 

[Suze01]

With regard to roast pork, I always buy the joint labelled Echine and then buy the couenne seperately.  I score and salt the couenne and drape it over the joint.  I always use a meat thermometer for roasts and it always comes out perfectly and very tasty.  When the meat is cooked I remove it and cover it with foil and a teatowel to stand for about 20 minutes while the crackling gets really puffy and crisp and the spuds golden.

[Framboise]

Sweet17 - You are cooking as our forbears would have.  Long, slow cooking over a low heat.

Also, if you use one of those iron casserole pots with a lid as I do, the idea is that you don't use loads of chemicals to scour it out afterwards but after a wash in mild soapy water you then lightly coat it with olive oil and put it away until next time.   The pan becomes "seasoned" from all the yummy stuff it creates, each one imparting a bit more flavour to the dish, and thats probably why you say you added nothing but it tasted as if you had.

We call ours the "Turbo Pan"!   It acts like a mini-oven-within-the-oven.  And less washing up of course hurrah [:)]

[Frenchie]

I am French, and I read this thread with great interest..

If you want to buy chicken to roast, never buy a " poule" !! It is meant to be boiled in a " Poule au pot" .. If you want to know the origin of this dish, check Wikipedia for Henri IV .. He would have decided the French could have a " Poule au pot" every week.. [:)]

By the way, it is a nice winter meal.. If anyone's interested, I can provide a recipe..

As for steak, I can't believe you are so unlucky !!

What I do is that I cook steak in a frying pan, the pan  needs to be hot, then a bit of oil, a bit of butter ( not a lot !!) , then cook it quicly on both sides..   yummy

I buy " rumsteak   " or " faux filet"'   both are tender and excellent.

If you live in Deux Sevres ( department 79) try the " Parthenaise" beef, excellent quality.  

[londoneye]

Sweet 17, do you put everything in together?   I have often wanted (well, actually not that often,now I come to think of it!!), to try something like that, but am worried that all the veggies will cook before the meat.   How small do you cut the meat pieces and make sure its all cooked at same time?

I have stopped buying beef in France, because I have not had a good roast beef (roast dinner is about the one thing I actually cook very well generally !) in two years.    I quite like the roti pork here, and have had no problems with that.

As for the chicken, yes you can get good chicken, if you pay an arm and a leg for it, it really is good.   But what are they doing to their chickens here, are they starving them ?    I had four people for Sunday lunch not that long ago and I had, believe it or not, to buy two chickens, because they were so small.   In UK I would easily have fed four people out of one large chicken from any supermarket, and had enough left over for chicken soup (the other thing I can cook !), the next day.    Why are chickens so mini here ??!!!

[mint]

Yes, Londoneye, it is perfectly simple.  I like the meat pieces quite big, good chunky 2-inch cubes.  Think of a British electric plug; at least that sort of size as they shrink a little in cooking.  I usually buy beef that says it's for bouguigonon (they are then really chunky and the sizes are not all uniform, so it looks more interesting).

Half or quarter onions if they are big or, if you use shallots, use them whole.  Carrots can be chopped into big chunks about the same size as the meat.  Sometimes I use a few celery pieces as well. 

If you want a lot of flavour, it's best (as instructed by Delia) to coat the meat in seasoned flour (not too much flour as the liquid thickens up beautifully during cooking) and brown on all sides before transferring to a suitable heavy pan.

Then brown the vegetables in the same pan as you fried the meat in.  Put in some water (add a half glass of red wine if you like), "deglaze" the pan by scraping all the yummy bits in it and put it all in with the meat and veg.  The liquid should cover all the contents.

Leave it on low for 4 or 5 hours.  If the temperature is low enough, you shouldn't even have to stir it.  I use my woodburner oven in this weather for all cooking of this sort. 

Sure, some of the softer veg like the celery and onions will disintegrate but it doesn't matter because they thicken and flavour the cooking juices.

If I am roasting meat, I don't even bother doing any of the above.  I just put the meat in a le Creuset type cast-iron casserole and leave it in the oven for the day.  I don't baste it or even look at it.  Have cooked like this all winter and not yet had any disasters!

I think that if I did want crackling, I will simply put it in a shallow tin on its own and cook that in my electric convection oven and serve it separately.

Don't know about you, fellow cooking enthusiasts, but nowadays, I need to watch the weight and so I don't want too much fat with the meat.

By the way, there is a French dish called, I think "daube" (have I spelt it right?) and that is beef marinated in red wine and cooked for hours on end.  Frenchie, do you know anything about this dish and, if you do, can you describe how to prepare it, svp? 

[Frenchie]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

 

By the way, there is a French dish called, I think "daube" (have I spelt it right?) and that is beef marinated in red wine and cooked for hours on end.  Frenchie, do you know anything about this dish and, if you do, can you describe how to prepare it, svp? 

[/quote]

Of course I know this dish, and it s my speciality!!  I don'tt have time right now, but I will post a recipe later tonight.

I ve cooked one on monday , son said it was delicious, it s easy to do, but it needs cooking for at least 3.30 hours.. preferably in a Le Creuset cast iron casserole ..

YUMMYYYYY      [:D]

[rusheslake]

I have come to the conclusion I must be living in a different France to some of you!

A good 'Loue' poulet (as opposed to a poule roasts well and is unctious!

Braising steak (bourgignon) is good especially the one sold in Lidls, is great for casseroles, pies etc.

I agree that for roasting or grilling the beef isnt that great as the French fail to hang their beef for long enough...

I rely on Lidls for their paves de beouf (2 marinaded in garlic butter) about 4.79 for 2 it really is superb... and visitors are 'encouraged' to bring a nice rib of good old english beef when they come to visit!

[londoneye]

Thanks Sweet 17.   Will have a go this weekend.      At least now I have a large (unfussy) dog, if I have a cooking disaster it doesn't go to waste !