meat and potatoes

105. Beef salad

All that Italian chicken business was a bit of a let-down. Perhaps going into what is perhaps the most comprehensive of all French cookery books, I expected to like everything as much as coq au vin and poule au pot and steak au poivre and lemon tart. I mean, I feel that way about all those bistro books. About most of the stuff in Stephane Reynaud's books. That perfect balance of rustic and refined that is that sort of French cooking really appeals to me. So perhaps one of my biggest lessons is that such food is a small element of French cookery. There's going to be a whole lot of stuff in Larousse Gastronomique I'm probably not going to like. I have to admit, it's given me pause. What's the point of cooking through 3800 recipes if I hate half of them? I'm learning, yes, all the time--you can learn a lot from food you don't enjoy--but there are a million books filled, cover to cover, with recipes that I'm going to like. I can't call this a cook through blog if I'm going to ignore the boring stuff and only cook a suckling pig and a couple of variations of grilled rib eye and a cassoulet and maybe some coq au Riesling and then call it a day. Perhaps my prejudices and misconceptions are being challenged. When I heard 'French technique' and 'French cuisine before', I pictured all those old favourites and the modern, light, artistry performed at restaurants like Vue de Monde and Embrasse. Doubts? Perhaps.

With this swirling around in my mind, I decided to do something I knew I'd like: a Larousse Gastronomique salad. So far, they've all been good or great. Tonight's effort contained slices of steak, boiled potatoes, diced onion and sliced tomato. That's all.

All the recipe said about the beef component was that it needed to be cooked. You could use leftover roast beef, if you wanted to. I didn't have any so I bought a rump steak, rubbed some fresh herbs (sage and rosemary) into it and cooked until it was rare.

As for the potatoes, these were boiled and then sliced and immersed in a 'dressing' made from white wine and olive oil.

The whole lot was tossed together and then stressed with a mustard-flavoured vinaigrette.

Overall, this wasn't my favourite salad from Larousse Gastronomique. Not a total dud but it was missing a couple of things. If I'd had more money, I would've bought a nice piece of grass fed beef. The only steaks I've had over the past couple of years have been top quality: not necessarily wagyu but Angus or King Island Beef or Cape Grim or whatever. I'd go without steak for weeks, saving up to buy nice meat from Queen Victoria Market. The difference in flavour between those high quality steaks and what I had tonight is very obvious. Lesson here: don't have this sort of dinner when you're on a tight budget.

I don't blame Larousse for that one but I do feel that there should've been some sort of leaf matter in this salad. Some rocket would've been nice. Some baby spinach leaves, perhaps.