A steak named after a viscount

The Chateaubriand steak is a thick cut from the tenderloin. According to Larousse Gastronomique, it was devised by the personal chef of the Vicomte Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), a French writer and diplomat. The cut serves two people, as there is only enough meat in the centre of the average fillet for two portions. In Chateaubriand’s time, the steak was cut from the more flavoursome but less tender sirloin, and served with a reduced sauce made from white wine, shallots, butter, tarragon, and lemon juice. An alternative spelling of the statesman-author’s name is Châteaubriant and some maintain that the story of his cook coming up with this cut is apocryphal, and that the name comes from the cattle bred around the town of the eponymous town in the Loire-Atlantique.