International Butchers

[Chuck T]

Fellow meat freaks,

I am new to the pit, and am in need of some help! I am currently active duty U.S. Army stationed in Belgium, and I'm having a rough time with local meats.

A little background...
The only english grocery is the commissary and it is NOT sufficient for my BBQ needs. Don't get me wrong, it has the basics, but nothing outside that.

I would like to dabble into the local butcher shops, but don't know where to start. All of them are french butchers. I have sourced some of my english speaking Belgian friends, but when I get to talking BBQ lingo, they are lost and I am back to square one.

My question is...
Is there anyone who knows anything about french meat? Beef, Pork, etc. I only know of the Belgian Blue cattle, and it is SUPER lean and tough (see picture below).

I would like to shop at local shops but know nothing about them. Any help would be awesome! Thanks

[Burntend]

Certainly not an expert on any of this but your questions made me go off on a quest for Google knowledge which was kind of fun.

Some things on the lean/tough. Look for British breeds of cattle, it may be tougher to find. Perhaps aging your own beef after purchase. It seems the French have very short aging/hanging times for their beef.

As far as nomenclature I'm sure you're already searched under french meat cuts.

Forgive me if you've already seen some of this stuff:

http://partners.nytimes.com/library/dining/071200french-steak.html

https://www.frenchentree.com/france-forum/topic/so-that-is-why-french-beef-is-tough-as-old-boots/

The clicky in the first post is also an interesting read.

Onglet is awesome on the grill/seared!

[Chuck T]

Thanks a lot. That actually helped a lot. Here in Belgium, it seems that the most common beef we find is either the Belgian Blue or Irish Beef. Some restaurants serve a variety of beef to let you taste the difference. As far as butcher shops go, I might have to just jump in and ask a lot of questions.