Medium Rare in French: All 4 Doneness Levels in France, Pronounced

The first time I ordered a steak in France, I thought I had it covered. Eight generations of French-Canadian on my father’s side. I knew the food, knew the language — or thought I did.

I asked for it medium rare. Blank stare. Not because my French was bad. Because medium rare in France doesn’t exist.

France runs on four doneness levels, not six. The English scale — rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, well done — doesn’t map onto the French one. Two levels have no French equivalent at all. And the ones that do exist use completely different vocabulary, with different temperature ranges underneath them.

Here’s the full breakdown, with pronunciation for each level, plus a comparison chart so you can see exactly where the two scales diverge.

Towards the end of this article, I also explain some terms for other types of meat, and fish, such as Ahi Tuna steak, foie gras, larger cuts of meat, etc.

How to order a steak in France, cooked the way you like it (and hamburgers, too)

When you ask for a steak, a hamburger, or other meats to be cooked to a specific level of doneness, it’s called “doneness preference” or simply “cooking preference.”

In English, there’s a standard scale of 6 different “cooking preferences” that chefs and steak eaters commonly use: blue rare, rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done. Blue rare is the least common — it exists in English but rarely appears on menus outside specialist steakhouses.

Understanding Cooking Levels: Definitions and Variations

The cooking terms for levels of doneness indicate how much or how little a piece of meat is cooked, directly corresponding to its internal core temperature, colour, taste, and texture. As you cook the meat longer, its core temperature increases.

As I mentioned above, standard levels of doneness that people prefer in English include “rare,” “medium rare,” “medium,” “medium well,” and “well done,” each representing a different degree of doneness and pinkness in the center of the meat.

For example, a well-done steak is cooked thoroughly, with no pink or red, and has an internal temperature of at least 158°F (70 °C). It is tougher and firmer because all the fat and liquids have been cooked away.

• Level of doneness: Well done
• Temperature: Minimum 158F or 70C
• Colour: Grayish-brown with no pink or red.
• Texture: Tougher, firmer, and chewier than lesser-cooked meat.
• Taste: The exterior has charred and caramelized notes. The interior loses its rare, meaty, or beefy flavour, usually becoming dry.

Doneness Level is not an exact science:

No matter how streamlined this scale has become, cooking meat to your desired level of doneness isn’t an exact science.

In a busy kitchen, chefs aren’t standing over their stoves with a meat thermometer or colour chart to ensure your steak is cooked at the exact temperature that falls somewhere on the doneness scale. It’s mainly done by time, colour and sometimes by touch.

There is also a bit of subjectivity regarding steak cooking levels and how to define them, which vary by person, region, and country.

For example:

• Rare in one country might be considered medium-rare in another.
• One home cook might call a pink steak medium-rare, while their neighbour might look at the same piece of pink steak and call it medium.

But don’t worry; there is enough overlap, and the differences are usually minimal. I just wanted to bring that to your attention as we go through the cooking levels of doneness and their temperatures.

There are 4 main cooking levels for beef and steak temperatures in French (levels of doneness)

• In France, eating steaks or any meat where you can order how much or little it’s been cooked is similar to English, but there are differences.
• First, English terms like medium, medium-rare, medium, and medium-well don’t fit nicely into a traditional French restaurant’s vocabulary, because the French use a completely different vocabulary to describe different steak cooking levels.
• Instead of 6 cooking levels for steak, there are 4 steak cooking levels in French that French chefs and steak eaters prefer.
• While blue rare steak is not common or popular in most English-speaking countries, in France, it is.
• And lastly, while well-done steak is generally acceptable in English-speaking countries, it’s rare in France, and some think it’s an abomination to cook a good steak so thoroughly.

Comparing the 4 steak temperatures in France and their English equivalents:

Below is a chart comparing the core-temperature levels of doneness in France and most English-speaking countries.

I’ve given a range of temperatures rather than an exact temperature. Remember that the recommended doneness temperatures can vary slightly across sources and preferences.

For the French core temperatures, I used the official French government site responsible for overseeing education and youth-related policies, programs, and initiatives in France (Ministry of National Education and Youth) “Ministère de l’Éducation nationale et de la Jeunesse.”

You’ll notice a couple of differences.

1. There is no standard, widely used equivalent for “medium” or “medium well” in French.
2. Core temperatures don’t always align. i.e., the core temp for medium-rare in France overlaps with “à point” but not exactly.
3. There is no commonly used formal restaurant term that matches “medium” or “medium well” one-to-one.

A note on French-speaking Quebec

French-Canadian vocabulary for steak doneness runs close to France’s — but not identical; if you arrive in France expecting them to match, you’ll quickly find the gaps. I did.

The main difference: Quebec borrows medium and medium rare directly from English, sometimes hybridising them into medium saignant or mi-saignant. Neither of those terms exists in France. À point is the closest equivalent, but the temperature ranges don’t overlap exactly.

What you’ll hear in Quebec restaurants:

• Bleu — very rare (blue rare)
• Saignant — rare
• À point / medium saignant / mi-saignant — medium rare
• Medium — medium (borrowed from English)
• Bien cuit — well done

Deep dive into each of the French cooking level terms in France

Below is an in-depth explanation of each French cooking-level term used in France.

Read to the very end to learn other cooking-level terms in French, where you might be asked for your “doneness preference” or “cooking preference” in France (Duck, ahi tuna, etc.)

1) BLUE RARE IN FRENCH:
“Bleu” (literally “blue”)

/Bluh/

Core Temperature: 45-49°C (113-120°F)

Ask for your steak to be cooked “bleu” (French for “blue”) in France, and you’ll get an extra-bloody-rare steak, one step above steak sashimi.

Although there is a term for this level of doneness in English — it’s called “blue rare steak” — it’s not as common in the US or the UK as it is in France.

Another way to describe a blue rare steak is “à peine saisi” /Ah-pen-sayzi/, which roughly translates to “barely cooked.” You can also use this term if you want your ahi tuna seared rare, but you would never ask for your ahi tuna cooked “bleu.”

Bleu rare steak cooking time & core temperature:

Times can vary by cook and by the thickness of the steak, but in general, a blue rare steak is seared for as little as 10 to 30 seconds on each side in a scorching skillet over high heat, as long as the inside remains cool and essentially raw with a core temperature that does NOT get above 50°C, about 113F.

Why do people like blue rare steak?

Because ordering a blue rare steak doesn’t give it enough time to melt the steak’s fatty marbling, the meats cooked at this temperature are usually lean cuts of beef, not fatty ones.

Lean meat cuts lack fat and become tough and dry the longer it’s cooked. The more you cook meat, the more moisture is purged. Muscle fibres also contract, making the beef firmer as it cooks.

In other words, people like to order blue rare steak because it stays tender and retains more moisture and flavour.

You might be interested in reading: 29 bloody good raw beef dishes from around the world

Is it safe to eat extra rare blue steak?

Some countries don’t recommend eating rare or raw meat because it may contain pathogens. But most pathogens and parasites don’t penetrate dense beef. So once the outside is cooked, a very rare steak should be perfectly safe to eat.

Use your best judgment.

Another aspect of eating pathogen-free meat, rare or raw, is to choose beef that’s mainly grass-fed. Cows have evolved to digest the nutrients in the grass, but that’s not true for grain-fed cows. A mostly grass-fed cow that’s spent its life in pastures will have a healthier immune system and pose little threat to people who like eating rare or raw meat.

French consumers consider meat with hormones unhealthy and possibly dangerous, which is one of the reasons giving hormones to animals for meat production is outlawed in France and the European Union. France does not import US meat that’s been fed hormones or growth antibiotics.

Why is an extra rare steak called bleu (blue)?

Some French online sources said that a very rare steak is called “blue” because the meat has a slight blue tint.

However, according to the Larousse Gastronomique, an encyclopedia mainly about French gastronomy, “cooking au bleu” was originally a method of cooking freshwater fish, especially trout.

This nearly forgotten method of cooking trout au bleu got its name from the scales, which turn a bluish colour when they come in contact with vinegar, one of the ingredients for the recipe. Somehow, this cooking term may have become tied to a blue rare steak.

Are the two terms related? I have no idea.

You might be interested in reading: Steak Tartare 101: The Raw Facts about Your Burning Questions

2) RARE STEAK IN FRENCH:
Saignant (literally means bloody)

/Sayn-yanh/

Core temperature: 50° to 55°C (122° to 131°F)

A rare steak in French is steak “saignant,” which means bloody steak.

A steak saignant is cooked slightly longer than a blue rare steak, but is still relatively rare. 75% of the interior is red with a thin charred crust, and the flesh is still tender and juicy.

It’s pretty common to order steaks and hamburgers with low-fat content rare (saignant).

Magret de canard, the duck breast from a Moulard duck, is usually ordered medium rare in French (saignant) because it has a low fat content. Fyi, the Moulard duck is also raised for its liver (foie gras.)

Saignant cooking time:

Depending on the thickness of the meat, each side should be seared for about 60 seconds to 1 minute and 30 seconds in a scorching skillet over high heat. The core temperature should reach about 50 to 55°C (122° to 131°F).

3) MEDIUM RARE IN FRENCH:
À point (literally on point or just right)

/Ahh-pwoinh/

Core Temperature: 55° to 60°C (131° to 140°C)

If you want to order a medium rare steak in French, you’ll need to ask for a steak “à point.”

“Cuit à point” means “cooked just right,” as in perfect and figures somewhere between medium-rare to slightly less than medium. The interior is not fully cooked and has a slightly pink interior or rosé colour.

À point cooking time & core temperature:

A steak cooked “à point” is usually seared over high heat; then the temperature is lowered and cooked for about 1 minute and 30 seconds per side. The core temperature shouldn’t exceed 60°C (about 140°F), which is at the highest end of medium-rare.

There is no standard term for “medium” or “medium well” in French.

In some English-speaking countries, the next levels are medium, then medium-well, but in France, there is no standard, commonly used term that matches those exactly. The core quartet — bleu, saignant, à point, bien cuit — is what French chefs and restaurants use, and the scale jumps from à point straight to bien cuit.

• medium rare = 130°-140°F
• medium = 140°-150°F

4) WELL DONE STEAK IN FRENCH:
Bien Cuit (literally well-cooked)

/bee-yen Kwee/

Core Temperature: 64-70°C (147-158°F)

If you want to order a well-done steak in French, you’ll need to say “bien cuit,” literally well-cooked.

Bien cuit or well done is probably the least popular way for steak eaters to order their meat in France. The interior is fully cooked with no pink visible.

French people often complain that well-done meat is too tough and dry and has lost all its flavour.

Sometimes, French cooks and steak lovers compare this level of doneness to the sole of a shoe.

• Cuisson de la semelle (cooked like a shoe sole)
• Façon semelle (Shoe sole way)

These terms idiomatically mean to cook your meat until it becomes like shoe leather.

Bien cuit cooking time & core temperature:

Depending on the thickness of the meat, each side is cooked for several minutes until cooked through. The core temperature is 70°C (160°F) or more.

Note: French bien cuit often starts slightly lower than some English “well done” definitions — there’s overlap rather than a perfect match, which is why the temperature ranges in the table above don’t align exactly.

Don’t ever ask for your steak “bien fait.”

“Bien fait” translates to “well done” in English, NOT a term used to describe a cooking level. It’s used more to acknowledge someone’s accomplishments or a job well done. “Well Done Johnny” (Bien fait Johnny.)

• You can also use “bien fait” sarcastically, like “well-done genius.”
• You can also use “bien fait” to describe someone who is well built, “il est bien fait” (He is well built) or (He is well made.)

“Bien cuit” translates to “well-cooked” in English, specifically referring to the doneness of cooked meat.

Example dialogue for ordering a steak in France.

YOU:

• Hello, I would like the steak and fries/crisps, please. (Bonjour, je vais prendre le steak-frites s’il vous plaît.)

SERVER:

Possible ways the server will ask how you would like your steak or hamburger cooked.

• How would you like your steak cooked? (Comment voulez-vous votre steak?)
• Which cooking level? (à quelle cuisson?)
• And the cooking level? (comme cuisson?)

“Cuisson,” which means “cooking” or “baking” in English, also refers to the degree to which food has been cooked, like medium rare.

YOU:

• Medium rare please (à point s’il vous plaît)
• Rare please (Saignant s’il vous plaît)
• Extra rare please (Bleu s’il vous plaît)
• Well done please (Bien cuit s’il vous plaît)

Other cooking terms

In addition to bleu, saignant, à point and bien cuit, there are other French cooking levels for different types of meat and fish. Here are a few you may come across on a French menu in France.

Pink: “Rosé” (for larger cuts of meat)

/Row-zay/

Rosé is a term used for larger cuts of meat such as roasts, lamb and white meats such as pork, veal, and poultry.

In some parts of France, people do use the term rosé for steaks, which figures somewhere around medium, depending on who you talk to.

Seared: “Mi-cuit” (usually for fish)

/mee-kwee/

If you see the term “mi-cuit,” which means “half-cooked” or “semi-cooked,” it’s a term generally used to describe the level of doneness for certain types of fish, such as seared ahi tuna, aka tataki tuna (and sometimes meat)

It’s a term used to describe a cooking technique where fish, such as Ahi Tuna or meat, is cooked to a point where the exterior is seared, but the interior remains partially raw or undercooked.

Seared ahi tuna figures somewhere on the doneness scale between rare and medium-rare in French, depending on the cook.

Mi-cuit can also be used to describe the cooking level for foie gras.

But we’re not done yet.

Mi-cuit is also a baking term for cakes cooked with a soft, gooey center. For example, a molten chocolate cake can be called “mi-cuit au chocolat.”

Pan fried: “Poêlé.”

/pwell-ay/

The French word for pan, as in frying pan, is poêle /pwell/.

If you see poêlé(e) on a French menu, it means that something has been pan-fried. Technically, anything cooked in a pan is poêlé, and you’ll usually see this word in the directions for a recipe that requires pan-frying.

Sometimes, dish names include the word pan-fried poêlé(e) to describe the dish. For example, a popular dish in France, especially during the holiday season, is foie gras poêlé, which is basically a thick piece of pan-seared foie gras seasoned with salt and pepper.

Final thoughts on ordering steak in France

Ordering a steak or hamburger in France comes down to four terms: bleu, saignant, à point, and bien cuit. Everything else on the English doneness scale either doesn’t exist here or goes by a different name.

For ahi tuna, ask for mi-cuit. For larger cuts, rosé.

That’s everything you need before you sit down.