Can you help me complete the translations of these cuts of beef into French
I'm looking for 'Rib on the Bone' today, but I would like to translate the rest of them too if you can help?
[SOURCE image Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall's book 'Meat']
Thanks!
James
I need help translating the English, let alone the French: where are Brisket and Skirt?
You might all find this book useful:
@ Shirley
It's important to realize that 'bourguignon' is not a specific cut of meat — it just means 'diced or cubed beef', but may come from all sorts of parts of the animal; the main point being that these are cuts that need long, slow stewing.
Shirley - paleron is used for pot au feu, absolutely delicious
Yes, Brent, 'côte à l'os' is very current round our way — this is the Limousin, where the famous Limousin meat breed comes from, and they like to think they know all there is to know about beef ;-)
[disclosure - beef farmer here]
The butcher we use for preparing our beef uses the term "côte" when there's a bone in and "entrecôte" when there isn't, unless it is further back on the rib when it becomes a faux-filet when it has no bone (contre-filet in other parts of France). I've heard côte a l'os but it isn't used much. I'm sure there's a fancy name for t-bones somewhere but we just use the term "t-bone". This is the Gers so your mileage may vary.
@ Shirley Morgan
Not quite, really! In French, 'côte de bœuf' means the piece of meat, but doesn't necessarily make it explicit that it is on the bone (even though you'd usually expect it to be) — whence the existence of the term 'côte à l'os'.
I think the same holds true in EN, to some extent 'rib' refers to the cut, but it might have been boned before sale or cooking.
Really useful - thank you everyone
rib on the bone = côte à l'os
Just a word to add to the discussion: as a professional translator, I am frequently required to translate some of these beef cuts with technical accuracy, and quite apart from the differences between English and French butchery, it's also important to bear in mind that the French terms themselves are sometimes used quite imprecisely, AND there are often several different names for the same cut, often with a degree of ambiguity. hence why so many of the diagrams we see may seem at times to be incomplete or contradictory.
French customers, too, are not always as clued up as they may at first seem!
One name that gets a lot of people caught out, and is quite important to get right, is the important difference between 'bavette' and 'bavette d'aloyau' — which despite the similarity of the names, are actually totally different cuts. I was luck that my former boyfriend was trained as a butcher, and so was able to explain very well how the cuts were differentiated; and as he was also a top chef, he knew how to cook them properly too!
Thanks Brent, I will be placing an order soon, it sounds so good. Probably in the new year when I get this plaster of my foot!
Babette, thanks for the comments!
James, I did a translation post on my blog a while back that might help: http://grasspunk.com/french-beef-cut-translations/
That diagram you put below is a bit misleading. For example, there is a lot of entrecôte on a cow, it is the front half of the rib section from whence you get rib roasts. If you really want to get geeky here is a list of all the cuts (French cuts) we got from a large carcass. The butcher gives me this page when I pick up my beef and pack the boxes. http://grasspunk.com/2013/03/31/what-cuts-do-you-get-from-a-french-cow/
With all this beefy discussion going on survivefrance.com should be in the grasspunk links section!
No need to ad to info about cuts, nor further comments about the not always wondrous quality of beef from indifferent butchers. Would however just like to point you in the direction of Bret Curtis of grasspunk.com, where you can buy beautiful old-fashioned grass fed and slow reared veal, calf and beef from Salers cattle. Properly matured beef, bursting with taste and incredibly tender, as is the delicately flavourful veal (free range paddock reared on the mother). It is not off the shelf, instead when an animal is about ready, you are advised by mail and can order a box with a selection of cuts, vacuum packed. At the moment you have to do a special order for English cuts, and they will not always be available. But, if you spend a little time researching the techniques to prepare the French cuts, the quality here is so good that it is worth the extra homework and effort to sort out collection etc.(they are i the middle of the Gers).And as they are ex-pats themselves language is not an issue. We have some incredibly fussy gourmet customers, both French and ex-pat, (and are a "bit" discerning ourselves), so my recommendation is not made on a whim. Should probably also mention that my only interest in recommending Grasspunk is that I hope more foodies get to know of Bret's beef and help me persuade him to let more animals be cut to suit cooks looking for challenges other than steaks.
Yes, very interesting. As others have pointed out the butchering is not the same as English. I say English rather than British because I lived for twenty years in Scotland and the cuts there were not the same as English cuts either. I hope, James, that you do not keep the explanitory diagrams that you have been promised to yourself because I would be interested in them. Certainly, the beef is often too fresh and has not had the chance for enzymes to do their work in the hanging process, but you can do this at home with promising lumps of meat. I remember talking to a fisherman in Scotland who used to cull seals and I asked him if he had ever eaten one, thinking that a seal is red meat and should be good. He replied that he had once cut a lump out of one and taken it home to fry-up and it was inedible. Well, quite, beef would be inedible if you tried to eat it a couple of hours after slaughter...
This is turning out to be very informative. As a new immigrant all information is useful but I thought I would also refer, those who are interested to this blog, http://brunetteabicyclette.com/2012/03/14/buying-meat-in-france-le-porc/
I found it interesting and useful.
Yes that is helpful but what I was trying say was that they butcher the animal differently. So even if you can find the right word the cut is different.
And thanks for the tips Kim :)
Thanks Jane!
