In France, meat is butchered in a very different way to what we were familiar with in the UK (and the USA I imagine). Some cuts can be translated into English but many can’t, and many won’t be found for sale either. La poire de boeuf is one of them!
So what is la poire? Well, interestingly, we purchased it for dinner last night from a new shop in Amboise that sells direct from the producers and it’s the first time we’ve eaten it too!
Some of these lesser known cuts are really tasty. La Poire takes its name after its shape. It’s a pear shaped muscle that is located at the top of the hind leg. It’s a muscle that’s rarely used and so the meat is incredibly tender. And it was. Really delicious and much more tender than the more familiar (here in France), bavette or hampe.
These tasty little cuts are often known as the ‘morceaux du boucher’ – the lesser known cuts that require skill to butcher and are often saved for those ‘in the know’.
So there you have it, la poire. If you see it on a menu then I can highly recommend you give it a try.
