Ordinary Gweilo

I fear I may be straying into Fumier territory here with tales of DH culinary woe, but never mind.

I don’t eat steaks very often, in part because in my house they usually turn up dry and an un-appetising shade of grey.  Requests for them to be cooked properly are politely noted – but then ignored. When I asked why, I was told that “there was blood”.  Well, exactly – the French word for how a steak should be cooked is saignant, which actually means “bleeding”. 

I think I’d settle for à point (medium rare), but please not bien cuit (well done).  In France, I might have it bleu, which means that the chef waves it somewhere in the general direction of a naked flame for a few seconds, but I’m not that brave with meat from Park’n’Shop. 

Perhaps it’s like French waiters, who have grown tired of Englishmen ordering their steak rare and then sending it back because it is not cooked, and automatically adjust the cooking time.  Or perhaps it isn’t.