[Sca-cooks] Sources of Protein

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Mark.S Harris:
>Ok. Newbie cook time. Or at least non-French cook time. What is
>"chateaubriand"? Obviously some fancy meat dish. How is it made?
>Why is it considered special, other than having a fancy, French
>name?

As others have mentioned, a chateaubriand is a thick cut from the
middle of the tenderloin of beef, usually enough for two. What seems
to have changed from its original incarn (no pun intended) ation is
that today the cut is gently grilled or roasted; the idea is to make
the entire piece of meat perfectly, evenly pink throughout, except
for the outermost surface. It's been claimed that chateaubriand
originally consisted of three steaks (are you getting this,
Lucretzia???), tied together and sometimes barded with sheets of fat,
to protect the one center steak from drying, and to ensure that the
center was evenly, medium rare. The outside steaks, it is said, were
thrown away (probably actually eaten by cooks ;-).

There's an article on this in the Larousse Gastronomique, which
source I have frequently questioned, but since the subject at hand is
French food, they have a chance of being remotely accurate.

Adamantius