Lots of serious grill aficianados think of steak, particularly, a big, thick T-Bone, as the ultimate summer dinner.
Not here.
When we first moved to France we just assumed that the preference was for thin steaks as we never saw one more than 1/2″ thick… And most were thinner.
Se we had a nice, thick steak cut by the butcher, tossed it on the grill for a few seconds and couldn’t chew it.
The beef is full of flavor and is fantastic in stews and braises.
And the thin steaks are actually delicious cooked on the grill… and reasonably tender.
But we finally learned to stop treating French beef like American beef.
The are equal but different.
When we want something special we opt for veal.
There’s another difference. Our veal is not the pale milk-fed veal, but a deeper-colored, grass fred veal.
It’s fantastic on the grill.
The recipe, Veal Chops with Herbs, Lemon, & Garlic, has been updated, nutrition information added, and re-posted here: Grilled Veal Chops with Lemon & Garlic.
I haven’t told any dog stories lately.
But they were very entertaining today.
Well….
Bonnie was entertaining.
They were both busy chewing on wood that they had found in the barn…. Wood that had been meant for the trim in the dining room.
In the interest of familial harmony I thought it best they not eat mon mari’s wood.
In the interest of doggie health I thought rawhide bones would be a better choice.
It was meant to be a treat.
I brought out 2 big bones, each about 15 inches long.
Guapa took hers and immediately settled down to enjoy a proper chew.
Bonnie started walking around with hers in her month.
And walked around and walked around and walked around.
It was meant to be a treat – not to cause distress.
I was working in the herb garden on the side of the house.
I heard a funny noise and poked my head around the corner to check it out.
Bonnie had the bone up against a tree trunk by the driveway and was pushing dirt and rocks up to cover it.
I walked over to watch, she looked at me, grabbed the bone and started walking around again.
About 10 minutes later I walked towards the barn and saw her burying it by the hedge.
I didn’t look; I pretended not to see. I just kept walking.
I couldn’t fool Bonnie, though. She knew I had seen the spot. She dug the bone back out and started walking around again.
After an hour of this I took pity on her and took it away.
I took Guapa’s away, too. Her’s was half gone, which is all I let them have at one time.
Of course, Bonnie’s bones last a lot longer than Guapa’s.
Last updated:
Yummy recipe, definitely — but the dogs and their bones story is hilarious. We used to give our old departed Jones Milkbones but had to do so inside, otherwise, she’d bury them in my flowerbeds. Truly an interesting thing to watch!
My Cora does the exact same thing – and reacts just the same if she knows I have seen her hiding place. She gives me a disgusted look, as if to say, “Sheesh, I just found the perfect hiding place and now I have to start all over again!”
I love to learn about culture, cuisines and stuff about people and places. Now, I wouldn’t be too ignorant about France anymore, thanks to my reading your blogs. Your recipe looks delicious. My husband would love to have this anytime.
And your dogs…are all of those yours? I hope i can have as many. I have 3 big dogs (St. Bernard, Labrador, and a golden ret)they can be a handful. =)
Thanks again for the recipe.
Myfudo here…Normally we’d never put a shameless plug back to us, but we just launched our new site and we would love for you to be a part of it. I’d love to share our newest launch with you, I hope you don’t mind? Now that we are getting a new look…Myfudo is moving to a new domain This has been a project we have been working on for almost a year now. We just launched our new gallery submission site, and we are just thrilled. We’d be proud to have your work as part of our growing collection to continue to have a larger reach and further inspire all fellow food lovers out there! Please sign up and check us out (it’s free)
We look forward to seeing your wonderful pictures, as always.
p.s. We are hosting a Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway to celebrate our new Yumgoggle site, we hope you’ll participate =)
I think it is hilarious that Bonnie thought you may have had a hankering to dig up her rawhide bone and have a chew !!
I always know when my dog Skip has buried a bone or other treasure: he has dirt on his nose and a pleading look in his eye as if to say, please don’t find it, please! Great story today. Never can find veal chops here. What’s with California?
More and more, we find that we’re preferring a grilled pork chop to a grilled beef steak. It’s far less likely to be tough.
Your herbs, lemon and garlic treatment sounds wonderful. I don’t remember even seeing veal chops for sale here – they must sell them – but I bet this would be just as great with any kind of chops.
Poor Bonnie!
Bonnie is like the neighborhood thief worried about what the police detective has seen. Even if she got the bone as a present. Hilarious!
And on the veal, it’s just not as satisfying here; I’ve given up buying it. It’s about as tough as your thick French beef. I think the Belgians must have cut beef the same way; there was a grocery store in Brussels called Rob that sold US cuts of the same beef — very expensive but extremely tasty.
We tried grilling a thick cut of beef the last time we rented in The Lot in 2008 – it was tasteless, although fun to cook outdoors on a warm September weekend. And yes, it was tough too. We had much better luck with chicken and char, thankfully.
kellypea, they are so entertaining. In winter Bonnie just paces in the house…
Zoomie, Guapa doesn’t bother… she just happily chews away and ignores the world. Sedi always buried treats, too.
yumgoggle, I’ll have a look…
manningroad, well, they do look awfully tempting. And Guapa seems to love them….
Elizabeth, we get really good pork here, and that is usually our choice as well. But, sometimes for a treat we opt for the veal.
Dan, Bonnie’s a hoot! Our beef is good – for winter cooking.
Mimi, I guess when one sees the steaks all cut 1/3rd of an inch thick… we ought to believe that is the way to have them LOL