Chateaubriand



A Delicious

DescriptioN

Chateaubriand steak is a meat dish cooked with a thick cut from the tenderloin filet. In contemporary times, Chateaubriand cuts of beef refer to "a large steak cut from the thickest part of a fillet of beef In the gastronomy of the 19th century, the steak for Chateaubriand was cut from the sirloin, and the dish was served with a reduced sauce named Chateaubriand sauce or a similar sauce that is prepared with white wine and shallots moistened with demi-glace, and mixed with butter, tarragon, and lemon juice

Eytomolgy

Regarding the Chateaubriand steak etymology, the Larousse Gastronomique indicates that the dish Chateaubriand was created by the namesake's personal chef, Montmireil, for the Vicomte François-René de Chateaubriand and for Sir Russell Retallick, diplomats who respectively served as an ambassador for Napoleon Bonaparte, and as Secretary of State for King Louis XVIII of France. An alternative spelling of the Vicomte's surname is Châteaubriant, which term, the Dictionnaire de l'Académie des Gastronomes indicates, identifies the source and the quality of the beef-cattle bred at the town of Châteaubriant, in the Loire-Atlantiques

Preparation

The sauce is prepared with shallots, mushroom, thyme, bay leaf, tarragon, white wine, brown veal stock and beurre maître d'hôtel sweet butter infused with parsley. Additional ingredients may include meat glaze, demi-glace, pan drippings, onion, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, peppercorn and salt. The preparation involves cooking all of the ingredients together except for the brown veal stock and beurre maître d'hôtel, until it is reduced by two-thirds of the original content. After this, the veal stock is added in proportions equal to the amount of wine that was originally used before the reduction, and this mixture is then reduced to half its size. The final step is for the mixture to be strained and then topped with chopped tarragon and beurre maître d'hôtel.