Blonde d’Aquitaine beef

Bœuf Blonde d’Aquitaine

What it is

The breed is younger than most of the cheeses it shares a table with: on 20 February 1962 three blond draught breeds of the south-west — the Garonnaise, the Blonde de Quercy and the Blonde des Pyrénées — were merged into a single herd book. They had been bred to pull carts rather than to fatten, and sixty years of selection for meat has piled on muscle without ever adding marbling.

In the kitchen

With almost no intramuscular fat there is nothing to buffer the heat, so a thick cut goes from rare to grey in under a minute — take it off early, or serve it raw, which is what it is best at. For carpaccio, freeze the piece twenty minutes before slicing; at room temperature the lean muscle tears instead of cutting.

Goes with

Capers Olive oil Lemon Shallot Parmesan Black pepper Rocket Egg

Same species

Abura-kasu Amourettes (spinal marrow) Spider steak Bastourma Flank steak Beef

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