2023-06-13 17:05:57
Inside Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mainly on the run, his office in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
A Montreal butcher kept a promise made to the Journal during the 2018 Grand Prix: produce beef aged five years without salt and without preservatives.
Marc Bourg’s aged meat has something in common with certain drugs: a few grams are enough… and it’s expensive!
He cuts the five-year-old piece into thin slices. Forget cooking!
“Such a rare and fine product must be eaten as a carpaccio, that is to say raw, sprinkling a little salt to enhance the taste without altering it, otherwise it’s wasteful”, insists- he.
The texture is tender, compact, and its aromas evoke both blue cheese and liver.
It’s so tasty that a small amount manages to satisfy the taste buds.
The man who has run the Le Marchand du Bourg butcher shop in the Rosemont district of Montreal for thirteen years certainly sells unaged beef at a normal price, but it is his exploits in ultra-maturation that have earned him his fame.
The Maison Boulud at the Ritz-Carlton, the Ferreira Café, as well as the Isle de Garde brasserie, in particular, serve meat from the Marchand du Bourg aged 60 or 180 days.
“The plate of my steak aged six months at the Ritz costs $420.”
“A 750 gram thick two-inch steak at my house costs $820 and can serve as an appetizer for four people or as a main dish for two big eaters.”
The $1000 Steak
On the occasion of the Grand Prix, his most expensive cuts of meat find takers with a clientele with enough means not to worry regarding inflation and not to lose their appetite at the idea of paying hundreds dollars for a steak.
Its beef aged for a year retails for $365 per kilo. Its meat aged three years? At $1095 per kilo (but at $2000 per kilo if it is deboned and defatted). Aged five years? It does not have a price…
“My ‘five-year-old’ isn’t for sale this year because it’s a prototype. I almost lost the initial piece of meat. A little more and it was a total failure,” he laments.
In the hope of achieving a larger quantity of five-year-old beef, he therefore changed his way of doing things, in particular by using a less fatty cut.
“We’ll see if it works at the 2028 Grand Prix… and then I should sell it around $3,000 a kilo,” says the man who aims to age his meat for seven years.
The butcher has resolved to democratize his product by also offering it vacuum-packed in smaller quantities for tastings as an aperitif accessible to more modest wallets.
“You can buy 35 grams of two-year-old beef for $42,” he says.
Two-Year-Old Cheeseburgers
To honor a donation of “two-year-old” meat mixed with “six-month-old” meat, I went to the new Aube bakery-café, in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Aube provided the breads, mayonnaise and cheese.
To grease the pan without encroaching on his product, Marc Bourg had given me a piece of fat aged 60 days.
After two minutes of cooking on each side over medium heat, a red crust has formed, but the inside – this is important – remains raw.
No condiments needed. This atypical ground meat is tasty enough to be its own condiment.
“The taste lasts a long time in the mouth, it’s compact and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever prepared or eaten,” enthuses Adrien Allard, the baker and owner of Aube.
“I love strong, flavorful meat, and this is absolutely delicious!” exclaims Dafné Meilleur, the head barista, biting into her burger.
She marvels at the herbaceous flavor of the meat which, indeed, seems to render the aromas of the green fodder which originally fed the beef.
I confirm: this two-year-old cheeseburger is an unforgettable culinary experience.
No wonder some are willing to pay top dollar during the Grand Prix.
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