The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| France’s star butchers wield cleaver with style Posted: 28 Oct 2012 06:15 PM PDT  Le Bourdonnec is campaigning for the introduction of mixed breeds suited to today's trend for grilling meat. — AFP pic But France's butchers are only now stepping out of the shadows, with stars of the trade showing off their skills on television shows, in books or at celebrity cook-outs. Suppliers to three-star restaurants, artists or the president's table, a handful of butchers have made it their mission to sex-up the image of their profession — in the eyes of consumers and potential young recruits alike. Yves-Marie Le Bourdonnec, whose butcher's shop is in the working class Paris suburb of Asnieres, took the challenge literally, posing naked last winter in a cheeky, meat-lover's calendar. "The old cliché of the butcher with his meat-stained apron, red in the face and vaguely sinister, wasn't all that sexy," Le Bourdonnec told AFP at a gallery event to promote a photography book in which he is a key character. "We have to show ourselves, not be ashamed of what we do. We were slow to wake up to the whole gastronomic movement — but now we are out there with the rest," the 44-year-old said. Riding the wave, the French butchers' confederation recently published an arty tome of high-brow essays in which writers and artists celebrated their love of meat in all its forms — as a way to push back against the country's small but growing vegetarian movement. And this month a glamorous foodie crowd turned out for a celebrity hot-pot at the Louchebem restaurant in Paris — whose name means "butcher" in old slang. "Butchery is a full part of French gastronomy," said Herve Sancho, a butcher from Bagneres-de-Bigorre in the Pyrenees, a former TV cookery programme judge and winner of France's prestigious best craftsman's award, the MOF. "We put our heart into the meat," doubling up as culinary advisers, and acting as a bridge between farmers and city-dwellers, he said. Two years ago, Hugo Desnoyer became the first butcher to be listed in the French Who's Who guide. Long queues snake out of his Paris shop, and restaurants flaunt his beef on their menus. But he dislikes the word "star". "I'm just a middleman," says the 41-year-old, who is about to release his second cookery book. "The real stars are the farmers. In a single day we sell what it took them four years to create." 'We have had to become surgeons' What all can agree upon, however, is that "French butchers are the best in the world". "We have perfected the art of using the whole animal, knowing each part of the body inside out, and how it is used in the kitchen," said Desnoyer. "For beef, the Anglo-American method — which is the one adopted the world over — it's very straightforward: cut the back of the animal into slices and make burgers with the rest," Le Bourdonnec summed up. "The French separate out each muscle, we cut according to the fibre of the meat." Le Bourdonnec has his own explanation for this wizardry: he sees it as a by-product of quirks in French cattle farming. "Our animals are the most difficult to use. So to make the most of them, we have had to become surgeons," says Le Bourdonnec. French bovine races, he argues, are too dependent on expensive cereal feed as opposed to grass, they mature late, and only the females produce meat fatty enough for steaks, with males exported massively as veal. The result, he says, is meat both less tender and more expensive to produce than breeds used in the Anglo-American world. Le Bourdonnec is campaigning for the introduction of mixed breeds suited to today's trend for grilling meat, but is at loggerheads with the butchers' confederation over his views. In his twin crusade to celebrate French skills abroad, —and open minds to meat from elsewhere — he has staged media-savvy "butchery battles" with the likes of Brooklyn's neo-butchers, champions of sustainably sourced meat. Back at home, butchery's changing image is drawing recruits from unlikely quarters, with university students changing tack to study the trade, according to the federation's head Christian Le Lann. But despite decent pay and good prospects -- Desnoyer calls it one of "the last functioning social ladders" — butchery as a whole is struggling to recruit, with some 4,000 jobs vacant nationwide. So Desnoyer is on the war path, last month taking out a newspaper column to alert to the opportunities being missed, with youth unemployment at 22 per cent. "In our business you start as an apprentice, but many end up their own boss," agreed Le Lann. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Posted: 28 Oct 2012 04:45 PM PDT  'One sugar, or two?' (left); smuggled cookies from Mrs Fields (right).— Pictures by CK Lim
Except this time it's different. When we reach the lobby, three familiar and smiling faces greet us. Our friends. Three Americans — one a New Yorker who is based in Hong Kong for part of the year and who had the unenviable task of being our host. (We are very fussy eaters, you see. Poor fellow.) The other two are based in Taipei but flew in for the weekend just to spend time with us and celebrate CK's birthday. These girls are such sweethearts. Now they are here simply because they want to make sure we aren't bored and well taken care of before we leave, even when it's not that long a wait. "Let's have coffee," I say. Outside the hotel, we consider our options. One, a generic American franchise coffeehouse; the other is a funky-looking independent café with plenty of full-glass mirrors to let the natural daylight in and a logo that's a burst of deep-ocean blue and sun-kissed orange. Easy choice, this. We all order cappuccinos and start chatting about our recent adventures. Paul, the New Yorker, laments the deterioration of his English whenever he visits Asia. "I always develop some odd Canto-accent. The Hongkies think I'm actually local but putting on a fake accent." We laugh but remind him that this is part of the fun of being a globetrotter and world citizen (whatever that means). To be able to travel and live in various countries – that's a luxury and a great privilege.  Beautifully-crafted latte art. We nod, sympathetic, and tell her we get those sorts too. It's an epidemic. Jess is mostly quiet but that's possibly because she's snuck in some cookies from Mrs Fields (which are available in Hong Kong, but not Taipei apparently). All she needs is her cup of coffee and she can start digging in. "That's the only bad part about living abroad," she says, "you only realise how much you miss some things after they are no longer easily available, even the junk food. Especially the junk food." "I know what you mean," CK says. "They didn't have any chili sauce to go with the fish 'n' chips when we were in London. Terrible, right?" Blank stares from the three Americans. Ah, that's a cross-cultural exchange there already. When the first cups of cappuccinos started arriving, we observe the unusual latte art. Instead of the typical milk-and-crema hearts, the barista has made one with a napping pussy cat and another with a fluffy bunny rabbit. Jenny and Jess begin cooing with delight and Paul whips out his smartphone, quipping, "We've got to take pictures!"  Three Americans and their cameras/smartphones (from left) Jess, Paul and Jenny. I look at my friends snapping away with their smartphones and cameras, so caught up in the moment of pure glee. It's a rare and wonderful thing, to be able to connect and to come together, when we all have our different lives and the challenges we face every day on our own. Work stress, traffic jams, family, health, relationships – the list goes on. But that's all forgotten for an hour or two. Now we are sharing the moment, adoring fans of a thoughtful and passionate barista's latte art. This is something made with a lot of heart, and it's touched us deeply even if it's no more than a superficial layer of foamed milk and espresso crema. Later we would discover that the café – Café Zambra – is somewhat of an institution in Hong Kong's growing artisanal coffee scene, with every batch of their coffees being hand-picked, hand-roasted and hand-packed since opening in 1997. Did this matter to us? Well, sure, the coffee definitely tasted good. But it was the beautiful latte art and the effort the barista put in to bring smiles to our faces, which left a lasting impression and happy memory of our trip to the island with our friends. We may be worlds apart most of the time, but friendship isn't about proximity. There is no distance between (latte art-loving) hearts. Café Zambra 239 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Open daily 7:00am till late. Tel: (+852) 2598 1322. Website: http://www.zambra.net * Kenny knows latte art does not make the coffee taste better… but it sure is pretty. Read more of his happy, caffeinated musings at http://lifeforbeginners.com |
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