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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../24/wfra24.xml

Horse meat makes comeback as healthy and trendy dish in France

By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 2:21am GMT 24/01/2007

Despite its tender flavour, there has always something unsettling about
a plate of steaming horse meat.

Those contemplating a taste of the French delicacy have inevitably been
put off by its associations with all kinds of equine treasures, from
sporting heroes like Desert Orchid to darling childhood ponies. Now,
however, Paris chefs and butchers are reviving the meat's fortunes by
offering it as a trendy and healthy alternative to beef, pork and lamb.

Horse meat being sold in a Parisian butchers;
Horse meat being sold in a Parisian butchers

The CIV (Centre d'Information des Viandes) meat information service has
reported an increase in sales by specialist horse butchers, the
so-called "boucheries chevalines".

Many thought that they were dying out in the 1990s, after their numbers
fell to fewer than 1,000, but new ones are opening every day. Most of
their produce ends up in expensive restaurants in the fashionable
arrondissements much favoured by tourists from Britain and America,
countries which have both traditionally viewed horse meat as taboo.

"One of my biggest challenges is to get British and American diners to
try it," said Otis Lebert, a chef who runs the bustling Taxi Jaune, in
the Marais district of Paris.

As he sliced up horse steaks yesterday, Mr Lebert said: "We produce all
kinds of dishes with the meat, and it is much better steak than beef."
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As well as a classic entrecote with fried potatoes, his signature
dishes include a plump horse cut called "le poire" - or pear -
which he presents with a generous slab of foie gras melted over the
top. He expects to sell at least seven, priced at £14 each, every
night.

"Horse meat is relatively low in fat and high in iron," said Xavier
Panier, a doctor specialising in nutrition and homeopathy. "The food
horses eat is extremely natural, and so their meat is easier for our
bodies to assimilate."

Beef, and particularly British beef, is still associated in the French
public imagination with health scares, including mad cow disease.
Scabies in sheep has also worried lamb eaters.

While trichinosis - the parasitic disease - has affected fresh
horse meat stocks in the past, it is generally viewed as a clean
animal. For those who fear that they are being swamped by all kinds of
Anglo-American culinary horrors, it is also seen as a reassuring link
with the eating habits of old France.

The first Parisian horse butcher opened in 1866, for those who could
not afford beef. When the Prussian Army laid siege to the city in
1870-71, it became a staple diet for a starving population.

Michel Brunon, who runs his eponymous butcher shop in the Beauvau
covered market in eastern Paris, supplies horse meat to numerous Paris
restaurants. He used to sell it solely as an "emergency cut" on a
Monday - a day when traditional beef butchers shut up shop in France
- but now it is on offer every day.

His assistant, Gaelle Bienvenu, who is 20, said young people were
slowly becoming aficionados. One group of young professionals has
formed a dining club for horse eaters, called "Le Pony Club".

Following up to "Free magic sheep" <michaelnewport@yahoo.com> :

No not really.

It's quite expensive though, at least the decent bits are. But it is very
nice meat.
It used to be readily available in Austria and Switzerland too, but I think
the price is making it less popular. The Austria "Leberkäse" was
traditionally made with horsemeat.


--
Tim C.

On Jan 24, 9:59 am, Tim C. <tim.challen...@aon.at> wrote:
is still popular in Belgium, low cholesterol

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:59:04 +0100, Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at>
wrote:

indeed, how often is a steak "steaming" anyway?
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Following up to The Reid <dontuse@fellwalk.co.uk> :

The article was another poor attempt at trying to make Johnny Foreigner
look uncivilised, when all it really did was to make the writer look like a
snob.
--
Tim C.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:59:04 +0100, Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote:

and the wine with antifreeze.
--

Martin

On 24/01/07 9:59, in article ao7er256vrg3b60a9ea6eu1hsi14d9cufo@4ax.com,
"Tim C." <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote:

We often prepared it teriyaki style, marinated for a day with soy sauce.

The meat is very red, since the horse needs more oxygen than the more
placid cow. The redness is due to myoglobin, related to hemoglobin
and necessary for muscle which is highly used. "Elle est le transporteur
intracellulaire principal de l'oxygène dans les tissus musculaires."

One finds red meat in wild animals. For instance, wild boar will have
red meat, the domestic pig, white. Horse meat is not fatty, it is
a lean meat.


Chevalines are increasingly difficult to find in France. Years ago
some of the meat was imported from Yugoslavia.


Fin septembre 98 dans les départements du Tarn et de la Haute-Garonne, une
épidémie Ã* Trichinella a atteint plus de 500 personnes. Un cas d¹atteinte
neurologique grave a été observé. Cette infestation résulte de la
consommation de viande d¹un cheval originaire de République fédérale de
Yougoslavie. Cette épidémie fait suite Ã* celle observée en février 1998 Ã*
Montauban lors de laquelle 130 personnes ont été touchées suite Ã* la
consommation de viande de cheval provenant de Serbie.

Since pork in Europe is nearly free of this disease this caused a shock
nationally. The US standards are less strict and about 2% of the pork
is infected. But I had not heard of horse being a problem until the
epidemic occurred in France.

La morbidité, plus élevée aux USA qu'en Europe, a diminué au cours des
dernières années. Il demeure cependant 100 Ã* 150 cas aux USA chaque année où
le taux d'infection des est de 0.125 % (le plus élevé des pays
industrialisés).

Following up to Martin <me@address.invalid> :

But they don't do that anymore, it's all certified pure antifreeze.
--
Tim C.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:19:16 +0100, Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote:

LOL
--

Martin

Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote in
news:ao7er256vrg3b60a9ea6eu1hsi14d9cufo@4ax.com:

It's still readily available in Switzerland. I'm afraid it is all too
often the "plate du jour". Yuk! Near where I live, there is a field full
of horses. These are destined to be eaten.

On 24 Jan 2007 12:22:02 +0100, mini Mini <mini@nospam.easy.com> wrote:

Lucky you! Here there are fields full of inedible black and white milkers and
old cows too!
--

Martin

"Free magic sheep" <michaelnewport@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1169625958.728290.94160@d71g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../24/wfra24.xml

It's also still sold at specialist 'horsemeat' (paardenslagers) here in
Holland
It's delicous :~)
Jenny

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:34:19 +0100, "JennyC" <Jenny.squirrel@chello.nl> wrote:

Which is more than you can say about the beef.
--

Martin

Following up to Martin <me@address.invalid> :


I thought Magda lived in Paris.
--
Tim C.

Martin <me@address.invalid> wrote in
news:efger254sgkg9u417k5rqv7gud10tcoktq@4ax.com:

We have those too. But they are brown.

On 24 Jan 2007 12:55:20 +0100, mini Mini <mini@nospam.easy.com> wrote:

but you have cute cows with happy looking faces :-)
--

Martin

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:42:44 +0100, Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote:

Is this a check of who has who in their plonk file?
--

Martin

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:28:44 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Martin <me@address.invalid>
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:42:44 +0100, Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote:
...
... >Following up to Martin <me@address.invalid> :
... >
... >
... >>Lucky you! Here there are fields full of inedible black and white milkers and
... >>old cows too!
... >
... >I thought Magda lived in Paris.
...
... Is this a check of who has who in their plonk file?

He is begging to go to my "waiting list"...

Following up to Martin <me@address.invalid> :

that also :-)
--
Tim C.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:27:57 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Martin <me@address.invalid>
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:


... >> Lucky you! Here there are fields full of inedible black and white
... >> milkers and old cows too!
... >
... >We have those too. But they are brown.
...
... but you have cute cows with happy looking faces :-)

La Vache Qui Rit is Swiss???

Following up to Martin <me@address.invalid> :

.... and f-off big bells around their necks.
--
Tim C.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:38:01 +0100, Magda <chriscross@hey.eu> wrote:

Psies :-)
--

Martin

On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:38:19 +0100, Tim C. <tim.challenger@aon.at> wrote:

Our Magda? never
--

Martin

On Jan 24, 1:37 pm, Magda <chriscr...@hey.eu> wrote:
tsk tsk
'on my waiting list'

"Martin" <me@address.invalid> wrote in message
news:mgher213kdtf1am0a4vondbj06fsdfiq5j@4ax.com...
Our Albert Heijn (big Dutch supermarket chain) has wonderful halal meat for
the Muslims. It is really tasty.
jenny