steak temperatures in french

i always though à point was medium but someone has told me its medium-rare
does anyone know the proper terms

blue: bleu
rare:?
medium-rare:saignant
medium: à point
well-done:bien-cuit

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on January 2, 2010 at 6:23pm

Is there actually a well-defined difference between "medium" and "medium rare"? I'm not a gourmet chef, but I think they're essentially synonyms, aren't they (so either could correspond to "à point")?

I would say "saignant" is closer to "rare"/"underdone", and "bleu" is a more extreme end of the "rare" spectrum (in English, I'm not sure there's really a word -- I'd just say "very rare", "very underdone").

Remember that there's no absoluteness in any of this though-- it's really all a bit relative and arbitrary. I've known several French friends ask for a "rare" steak in a pub in England and be served something which in their terms is tough as old boots, whilst English friends ordering a steak that is "à point" in a Paris restaurant may get something that in their terms is dripping with blood...