Supercow! The Cow of Steel!

The Charolais
When I was 16 there was a tradition to get your driving license, drive out the countryside and play this game called Hey Cow. It's rather silly and simple. As you drive by the field of cows you scream at the top of your lungs and I mean don't hold anything back and scream, "Heeeeeeeeey Cooooooooooooooooow". He who turned the most cow heads wins. It is so silly is sure to make you laugh. I am not sure this is a game we should play with French beef cows. We have recently moved and the butcher in our new hood has a stained glass window of a cow in the window and on the door a poster of cow that must be the superman of cows. The cow in the poster is so large it is sure to catch your attention in disbelief. (Unfortunately, at this moment I don't have the right technology to connect the camera to the computer to submit the photos of this supercow but will do this in the next week or so. Or at least I hope so. ) The poster informs us that the name of the cow is the Charolais.

As we had never heard of such a cow, J. called upon the US leading expert in cow nutrition and digestion. J. went to school with him at Iowa State University. He has his PHd in ruminant (cow) digestion, has worked in Utah for awhile as a professor but is now a consultant to farmers and the USDA currently residing in Kansas or maybe it's Nebraska. He writes the following about these French cows -

J,
1. Charolais are larger-framed therefore having a higher maintenance requirement (i.e., overhead costs are higher)
2. Our meat grading system rewards greater intramuscular fat (a.k.a. marbling) for added flavor. This is the paramount feature of an Angus which Charolais lack.

We do have some of these in the U.S., but fewer than 5% of the herd nationally. The best combination is a crossbreed of Angus and Charolais (see the gray steer in the attached photo. Good eatin'!!

I could also add that they're French and that makes them snobbish, but there is no scientific proof that this matters.

A similar breed that is even more muscular (but even more lean) is another one called Limousin (as in the region of France). These are notoriously surly and bad mothers (see attached).



This beef is on our list of things to try while in France.
Bon Appetit!