"France's great everyman dish: a charred entrecôte cooked to saignant, thin frites twice-cooked in beef fat, maître d'hôtel butter melting over the surface."
About Steak Frites
France's great everyman dish, an entrecôte or faux-filet cooked to a precise saignant (bloody) over fierce heat so the crust chars while the interior stays cold-centred; served with thin frites fried twice in beef fat and a knob of maître d'hôtel butter; the Relais de l'Entrecôte serves nothing else and has queues around the block.
Steak Frites, a staple of France's cuisine
The Steak
Steak frites is France's great everyday dish: a cut such as entrecote or faux-filet seared over fierce heat to a rare, saignant centre, the crust dark, the inside cool and the resting juices pooling on the plate. A knob of maitre d'hotel butter, softened with parsley and lemon, melts over the surface at service. Simple as it is, it depends on good beef cooked with confidence.
The Frites
The chips are not an afterthought but half the dish. Thin-cut potatoes are fried twice, the first time to cook them through, the second to crisp the outside, traditionally in beef fat for flavour. Done well they are genuinely crunchy outside and fluffy within, the perfect foil to the rare beef and its melting butter.
Le Relais de l'Entrecote
The dish has its temples, none more famous than the Paris restaurants that serve steak frites and almost nothing else, with a closely guarded herb-and-marrow butter sauce. They take no reservations and draw queues regardless, the steak carved in two servings so the second arrives still hot. It is proof of how much a single, well-executed dish can carry a restaurant.
The Bistro Everyman
Steak frites is the backbone of the French bistro, ordered at lunch and dinner across the country without ceremony. It is best eaten saignant, since asking for it well done in a bistro tends to draw quiet concern. It shows a side of French cooking that is not about elaborate sauces but about a good piece of beef left largely alone.
What to Expect
The steak arrives on a hot plate, the crust dark and slightly charred at the edges, the resting juices pooled. A cut from the thinner end reveals the interior is pink throughout. The frites have a genuine crunch. The butter melts as the dish is eaten.
Why Try It
Steak frites indicates that French cooking is not only sauces and technique, sometimes it is a great piece of beef cooked with confidence and left alone.
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Insider Tips
Order saignant (rare). Asking for medium-well at a French bistro will generate visible concern.
Le Relais de l'Entrecôte has three Paris locations, no reservations, arrive early.
Request extra frites. The standard portion is never quite right.
