When you’re at the restaurant in France, everything is complicated.
The menu is in French. Even when you understand French, you don’t understand what the name of the dish stands for.
And on top of that, when you order, the waiter asks:
« Quelle cuisson votre viande ? Bleu, saignant, à point ? »
What does this mean? What to to answer? This is what we’ll see in today’s episode of Comme une Française TV.
Click to watch « How would you like your meat cooked? »:
Et toi?
Your French will improve ONLY if you take action on what you learn on Comme une Française TV.
Share your experience by leaving a comment below this video :
Last time your ordered meat at restaurant in France,
How did you answer the « cuisson » question?
What will you ask next time?
The comment section is the best area to start discussions and ask questions!
Merci for watching Comme une Française TV, Live in France, Feel at home.
A bientôt,
Géraldine
When I lived in France, I visited two different restaurants with my grandparents, where the waiters offered us to get our meat “clic clac” cooked – which meant that it became “bleu” cooked ..
Has anyone else heard of the “clic clac” cooking before?
Bonjour Patrick,
Je n’ai jamais entendu parler de cette cuisson. 🙂
I, myself, do not eat red meat but my husband does. So after searching long and hard to find a burger place that comes somewhat close to a 5-Guys Burger, we found one! It’s awesome, the place is clean and adorable, and the PEOPLE/owners are awesome! My point here is that my husband has tried to order his meat bien cuit but to no avail. There’s always a little pink which he won’t eat. So… We were chit-chatting with the owner of Burgers et Fils and he said “you know what, I’ll use this little trick when I write down yr order for the kitchen. I’ll tell them that you’re PREGNANT and this lets them know that the meat should be cooked all the way through (I.e. No chance of bacteria). Oh! And I get a yummy grilled cheese with anything I want on it , plus the fries are skin-on and YUMMY!!!
How clever. 🙂
I definitely agree with the above about “à point” being rarer than medium at home in North America. However, it is important to note that it is totally safe to eat the burgers or the other ground beef dishes rare here. I have been for the past few months and haven’t gotten sick or had any problems and now prefer my burgers “à point”!
Merci Holly.
I agree with the above comments regarding what North Americans usually expect when ordering their steak in France. I lived in France for a year during university, and whenever it was “steak frites” night at the University cafeteria, there was a line-up of Canadians at the microwave in order to “bien cuit” the steak! My plan, when visiting France again one day, if I ever order steak is to ask for it “tres bien cuit” and apologize and explain that I’m Canadian! I can not stand even a bit of pink in my steak.
Il y a 5 ans mon ami est allé à Paris pour un match de rugby. Après quelques bières, il mourait de faim
Il est entré dans un resto, il s’est assis et il a commandé, avec beaucoup de confiance et d’une voix très forte…..
“Un steak tartare…bien cuit”. Le serveur a hoché la tête….
On a ri aux larmes!
That’s wonderful. 🙂
I love your site, but I think you get this one wrong! The whole French system is a notch more rare than Americans are accustomed to. “Bleu” gets you something rarer than you could possibly order in the US. Seignant brings you something that an American would call rare, and “a point” is like medium rare. I only mention it because I think inexperienced Americans ordering their steak “bleu” and expecting a rosy American rare are going to be unhappy when it arrives stone cold and raw in the center.
Thanks Eric for sharing.
I once ordered my steak bien cuit and it came back bleu so I sent it back but the server made tutting noises and muttered something as he went away it came back almost immediately and it was still bleu he never waited to see what I thought of it so I ended up leaving it and when he took it away he started tutting again so I said I would take it for my dog I know this is not the done thing in france but he clearly was not listening to what I wanted
When I ordered my meat a point at a restaurant in Belgium, it came to me saignant. Quite bloody!! So I asked the waiter to return it and have it cooked a little more. He was incredulous. The next thing I knew, the chef came out and told me that to cook the meat any more than that would ruin it. I insisted however. It was brought out to me a point. The chef waited for my reaction as I cut the meat. I happily exclaimed, “Parfait!” He shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and left muttering about the crazy Americans… But I enjoyed my meal. 🙂
Hi Dianne,
Thanks for sharing this anecdote!
I did 2 of your faux pas in Paris. I said “Je suis pleine” at the age of 19 and ordered “tartare”, not realizing it was raw, at the age of 40. I also ordered Welsh Rarebit, thinking it was a typo for Welsh Rabbit. Rarebit is a British dish and is not very good at all. I explained what I did in French to the server and he wasn’t very understanding. The manager was even more rude until he made me cry and then he became nice! I ended up not paying for my mistake.
Hi
What about how to manage as a Vegan or Vegetarian?
I think that is more useful than meat cooking – which although helpful, is not so dramatic as for the vegetarians trying to survive in France!
Bonjour Juanita,
This is a great idea for a Comme une Française TV episode.
Bonjour Géraldine,
This was very helpful and is a great way to help tourists and students studying abroad to avoid certain awkward situations at a restaurant in France.
Yes Andrea. I hope it helps!
If you are a vegetarian you need to know all the terms for different meats so you don’t order them!
I don’t believe that it is dramatic when you are in France as a vegetarian, for me it was easy!!! everything is fresh and local and its obvious what has meat and what doesn’t (it’s usually listed under ‘viande’ ou ‘jambon’ ou ‘poulet’ etc, you also need to know ‘pas de viande’ or how to say ‘no meat please’! so you need to know all the terms for meat if you want to be a vegetarian! But honestly with the quality of meat that you have in France, theres no reason to shy away, especially farm fresh in the South. 😀 bon courage mon petite vegetarien!
Bonjour Rose,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us! Yes, you can also say “Je ne mange pas de viande”.
It’s great you had such a great time as a vegeterian in France as it’s not easy for everyone. 🙂