Cooking Meat in France

Rare. Medium-rare. Medium. Well-done. These terms mean something wildly different in France.

Rare, bleu, is practically raw. Still moo-ing, in fact. Bleu refers to the bloody rawness. As blood is blue - before it hits oxygen and turns red - so shall the meat be served. Americans might actually call this, extra-rare.

Saignant – bloody – is the next level. As the term implies, this meat still drips of blood. U.S. restaurants would refer to this as, rare.

The French concept of medium-rare can still be a bit too raw for my taste. Ordered à point will be a bit firmer, but still have a red center.

Most Americans order, cuit – cooked. Technically this is medium, but compared to French standards less cooked than medium in other countries. All blood will have been rendered and cooked. The center is still pink with a delicate texture. Naturally firmer than the previous three methods.

The final two methods are, bien cuit – well cooked and, très, très, très cuit – very, very, very cooked (as the chef put it). Practically gray, and leather, respectively.

From left to right, bleu, Saignant, cuit, and très, très, très, cuit.

Here is the official United States Department of Agriculture's recommendations. Not that I would follow them, as I think they are a bit overdone.