Good quality beef and chicken in France

BenEadir

I know this sounds totally ridiculous but I really struggle to find good quality meat in French supermarkets. I've been holidaying in France each year with the family (2 adults two kids aged 13 and 9) for the last 5-6 years doing the campsite thing and whilst I can always find lots of interesting sausages and seafood I genuinely struggle to find tender chicken or decent cuts of beef (steak) or lamb. Perhaps it's because I shop mainly in the big supermarket chains (Intermarche, Super U etc) but I've also tried some of the local village markets without success. The meats and chicken are almost always tough and/or stringy.

Someone told me recently that they buy a load of meat etc here in Ireland, vacuum pack it and bring it to France with them to BBQ etc but I'd never dream of doing something like that. One of the big enjoyments for me of travelling is trying the local produce but in the case of French meat I must say I'm getting a little frustrated.

Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong or what I should be doing?

Ben

Jezek

Have you been to the butcher? I've had amazing beef in France from the butchers.

BenEadir

Jezek wrote: »

Have you been to the butcher? I've had amazing beef in France from the butchers.

Where we stay it seems to be a straight choice between a supermarket or the local country style market. I'll keep an eye out for a regular butchers and see if I can negotiate some decent meat from them!

Ben

The Hill Billy

The meat is probably fine, but just cut differently to how you get in at home. Some French cuts are along the grain of the muscle fibers, as opposed to across the grain as we are used to in Ireland. When cooked the texture can seem strange & a bit off-putting.

Regarding the tough/stringy chicken - it is possible that you bought an older bird such as a boiling fowl. This would be used for casseroles (coq au vin & the like) & not for frying or roasting.

Maybe get a basic French cookbook with recipes using traditional cuts/produce?

Jezek

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The meat is probably fine, but just cut differently to how you get in at home. Some French cuts are along the grain of the muscle fibers, as opposed to across the grain as we are used to in Ireland. When cooked the texture can seem strange & a bit off-putting.

Regarding the tough/stringy chicken - it is possible that you bought an older bird such as a boiling fowl. This would be used for casseroles (coq au vin & the like) & not for frying or roasting.

Maybe get a basic French cookbook with recipes using traditional cuts/produce?

I think the butcher again is handy for this, he will recommend cooking times etc. Some of the times he recommended seemed crazy to me ( very short) but the whole thing worked.

muckety

+1 for butcher. We always find good meat in french butchers. Their beef is more expensive than ours, though its also more trimmed.... We've had lovely chickens from both supermarket and butcher, - look for 'fermier' raised free range chickens - they are also dear enough but only as dear as good free range here. I think 'free range' is 'enlevee en plein air'.

BenEadir

muckety wrote: »

+1 for butcher. We always find good meat in french butchers. Their beef is more expensive than ours, though its also more trimmed.... We've had lovely chickens from both supermarket and butcher, - look for 'fermier' raised free range chickens - they are also dear enough but only as dear as good free range here. I think 'free range' is 'enlevee en plein air'.

That's a great tip thanks.