How to order a steak
If you enjoy a perfectly cooked steak to your specific liking, make sure you know these key words when you order !
• Bleu – Only for the brave ! This is cooked on a very hot grill for one minute on each side.
• Saignant – Very rare, but cooked slightly longer on the second side than a bleu steak.
• À point – For us, this would be the same a ‘rare’. The steak is cooked a little longer than a saignant one.
• Bien cuit – ‘well cooked’. This level will still often have some pinkness in the middle of the meat. A ‘steak bien cuit’ is cooked until the juices run brown on the surface of the steak.
• Très bien cuit (!) – should get you a steak that is totally cooked through!
There are many reasons to love French food. There are the amazing pastries, the rich sauces, and the salads loaded with bacon. And of course, all the bread. It’s the centuries of fine cuisine that make their culinary culture so rich; that, and their unapologetic use of butter and heavy cream.
The French are definitely not scared of butter OR heavy cream. And if you’re going to tackle French recipes — which you should — you can’t be either. Get ready to channel your inner Julia Child because to enjoy this cuisine you have to be prepared to enter their world of rich food with abandon. It’s the secret to their culinary success. And it will be yours, too.
