One thing I still haven't quite gotten the hang of yet is the different types of meat here. The French cut their beef, pork, and lamb differently than the US does. This means your tried and true recipes might just not taste the same when you move here. Due to the different types of cuts, the feed, and the better quality of life for the cattle, French beef is less tender but more healthy than US beef. This is why you will never see a well-done steak in France and why the term extra-well-done doesn't even exist. When ordering your steak, called bifteck, there are generally four levels of doneness. Bleu is comparable to blue rare, you know, that seared still-cold doneness that most American restaurants won't even touch for fear of legal issues. Then saignant is rare and à point is medium rare. We skip medium to go to bien cuit which is supposed to be well done but will normally net you a medium well. There are technically words for medium and medium well but they are not used for steak as much as they are used for other cuts of meat like beef roast, veal, or pork in which you would say rosé.
As you can see, there are way more cuts of beef in France versus America. Additionally, French cuts are cut vertically while American cuts are cut horizontally. In France, cows are grass fed while in the US cows are grain fed an unnatural diet of primarily soy and corn. Grass fed beef is less tender but also less fattening and while saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and omega-3 levels are comparable, grass fed beef is much higher in omega-6, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and micronutrients (potassium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, and sodium). This is applicable to US grass-fed beef too, it's just that grass-fed is not the standard in the US. There is also no concrete definition of or law pertaining to "grass fed" in the US, just like the term "free" or "open range".
Drugs, hormones, antibiotics, and any other additives given while the cow is alive is not allowed in France. In the US, cattle is taken away from their original location at approximately 6 to 10 months (weighing about 800 lbs) and fattened up with grain feed and hormones, gaining 2.5 to 4 lbs per day until an approximate weight of 1400 lbs has been reached, which takes another 5-8 months or so. This means the whole process takes about 11-18 months. In France, the cattle live on the pasture until naturally gaining that weight at about 2 years of age. However, many breeds in France are bred for both their milk and meat and these lucky gals get to live to about the age of 5. Additionally after slaughter any treatments to the beef to keep it bacteria free and looking fresh for long transport such as spraying it down with ammonia and carbon monoxide, a common practice in the US, is not allowed in France. Once again this all leads to better quality beef in France but better tasting beef in the US due to the deliciousness of force feeding and hormones.
The last reason for a difference in taste is the amount of space provided to cattle. A cow and her calf in a dry lot (a paddock without vegetation) in the US will have 500-800 sq. ft. for the both of them (for those bad at imagining size comparison, think of a generic one bedroom apartment). However, this is just a "suggestion" and you can find dry lots that are 250 sq.ft. per cow-calf (think of a 16' x 16' room, like a nice master bedroom). Minimum suggestions for an under-roof scenario (the modern day "barn" with no access to the outdoors) is 80 sq.ft. or an 8' x 10' area rug. A pasture raised cow will get about an acre of space. The calf will stay here until puberty at 6 to 10 months of age. With cattle, puberty is more determined by weight rather than age which is why there is such a large range. Then, the cattle is sent to a finishing lot where it will have space of a suggested 125-250 sq.ft. (think kid's bedroom or an office) according to educational journals, though I've seen non-educational articles state figures as low as 65 sq. ft. (chop 2 feet off the 8x10 area rug). In France, pasture size is varied as it depends on how much grass can feed one adult cow for one year but the rule of thumb is one hectare per mothering cow which is 2.4 acres. While farmers can go under that, it's not generally practiced due to subsidies. France supports their farmers over industrial feeding lots and therefore offers many subsidies to farmers, but the subsidy limit is generally 1 cow per hectare so to have more than one cow per hectare is not monetarily beneficial. So once again, our French cows get to run and frolic and also not get so many illnesses due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions which is lovely but doesn't taste as good as a cow who has an area-rug sized living area with 3" of poop as the carpet pile (since detrimental effects aren't noted until there is 4-6").
I suppose after spending hours researching all this, it can all be summed down to "French beef doesn't taste as good as US beef but is healthier for you and gives the animal quality of life". A girl I know who is French but lived in the US for a few years actually said "Oh, I miss American meat so much! All those delicious hormones!" and went on to bemoan how France should be more like the US. She is, however, the minority as most French people are of the mindset that hormones and additives are very bad for the health. While hormones and additives are not allowed in meat, produce is fresh, and frozen foods typically contain no additives or preservatives, many French people go a step further and buy bio which is organic; the produce for instance is non-gmo and grown with organic manure, and the livestock are given even more space than their allotted 2.4 acres. I always laugh to myself because their normal meat and produce is so much healthier than the US organic and free-range meat and produce, let alone the US normal meat and produce. And US frozen foods? Forget about it! That ingredient list is two paragraphs long with 5 syllable words! Meanwhile the ingredient list for the spinach and goat cheese lasagna in my freezer is literally just flour, egg, spinach, and goat cheese.
It definitely comes at a cost, though. While I was a vegetarian in the US because of animal rights, I am now a vegetarian in France because I can't afford the dang meat unless it's on sale or in bulk. It's hardly ever on sale and my freezer is too small for bulk meats so a vegetarian I remain.
Thanks for reading. This post took a lot of research so please fill out this survey so I can determine if I should spend time on posts like this in the future! I have an issue with a largely quiet reader base. I can see how many people view my page each day, yet I receive very little commentary so it's difficult for me to determine what you as readers like most and therefore what I should post most about. It's anonymous and gets sent directly to my email so no one else can see your choices and/or comments. Even if you're reading this a week, month, or year after the initial publishing date feel free to fill it out!
Drugs, hormones, antibiotics, and any other additives given while the cow is alive is not allowed in France. In the US, cattle is taken away from their original location at approximately 6 to 10 months (weighing about 800 lbs) and fattened up with grain feed and hormones, gaining 2.5 to 4 lbs per day until an approximate weight of 1400 lbs has been reached, which takes another 5-8 months or so. This means the whole process takes about 11-18 months. In France, the cattle live on the pasture until naturally gaining that weight at about 2 years of age. However, many breeds in France are bred for both their milk and meat and these lucky gals get to live to about the age of 5. Additionally after slaughter any treatments to the beef to keep it bacteria free and looking fresh for long transport such as spraying it down with ammonia and carbon monoxide, a common practice in the US, is not allowed in France. Once again this all leads to better quality beef in France but better tasting beef in the US due to the deliciousness of force feeding and hormones.
The last reason for a difference in taste is the amount of space provided to cattle. A cow and her calf in a dry lot (a paddock without vegetation) in the US will have 500-800 sq. ft. for the both of them (for those bad at imagining size comparison, think of a generic one bedroom apartment). However, this is just a "suggestion" and you can find dry lots that are 250 sq.ft. per cow-calf (think of a 16' x 16' room, like a nice master bedroom). Minimum suggestions for an under-roof scenario (the modern day "barn" with no access to the outdoors) is 80 sq.ft. or an 8' x 10' area rug. A pasture raised cow will get about an acre of space. The calf will stay here until puberty at 6 to 10 months of age. With cattle, puberty is more determined by weight rather than age which is why there is such a large range. Then, the cattle is sent to a finishing lot where it will have space of a suggested 125-250 sq.ft. (think kid's bedroom or an office) according to educational journals, though I've seen non-educational articles state figures as low as 65 sq. ft. (chop 2 feet off the 8x10 area rug). In France, pasture size is varied as it depends on how much grass can feed one adult cow for one year but the rule of thumb is one hectare per mothering cow which is 2.4 acres. While farmers can go under that, it's not generally practiced due to subsidies. France supports their farmers over industrial feeding lots and therefore offers many subsidies to farmers, but the subsidy limit is generally 1 cow per hectare so to have more than one cow per hectare is not monetarily beneficial. So once again, our French cows get to run and frolic and also not get so many illnesses due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions which is lovely but doesn't taste as good as a cow who has an area-rug sized living area with 3" of poop as the carpet pile (since detrimental effects aren't noted until there is 4-6").
I suppose after spending hours researching all this, it can all be summed down to "French beef doesn't taste as good as US beef but is healthier for you and gives the animal quality of life". A girl I know who is French but lived in the US for a few years actually said "Oh, I miss American meat so much! All those delicious hormones!" and went on to bemoan how France should be more like the US. She is, however, the minority as most French people are of the mindset that hormones and additives are very bad for the health. While hormones and additives are not allowed in meat, produce is fresh, and frozen foods typically contain no additives or preservatives, many French people go a step further and buy bio which is organic; the produce for instance is non-gmo and grown with organic manure, and the livestock are given even more space than their allotted 2.4 acres. I always laugh to myself because their normal meat and produce is so much healthier than the US organic and free-range meat and produce, let alone the US normal meat and produce. And US frozen foods? Forget about it! That ingredient list is two paragraphs long with 5 syllable words! Meanwhile the ingredient list for the spinach and goat cheese lasagna in my freezer is literally just flour, egg, spinach, and goat cheese.
It definitely comes at a cost, though. While I was a vegetarian in the US because of animal rights, I am now a vegetarian in France because I can't afford the dang meat unless it's on sale or in bulk. It's hardly ever on sale and my freezer is too small for bulk meats so a vegetarian I remain.
Thanks for reading. This post took a lot of research so please fill out this survey so I can determine if I should spend time on posts like this in the future! I have an issue with a largely quiet reader base. I can see how many people view my page each day, yet I receive very little commentary so it's difficult for me to determine what you as readers like most and therefore what I should post most about. It's anonymous and gets sent directly to my email so no one else can see your choices and/or comments. Even if you're reading this a week, month, or year after the initial publishing date feel free to fill it out!