Decoding The French Menu: The Truth About Steak à Cheval
January 24, 2012
A Paris chalkboard menu – appearances can be deceiving! (Daxis)
Years into my love affair with Paris, I’m still making ridiculous rookie mistakes. I suppose it’s time to accept that France will always have the upper hand, but it still stings.
My most recent humiliation is horse-related. Or at least, I thought it was.
Please note that I was a horse-obsessed child, so equine-related topics are particularly touchy for me. As a child, I would sometimes dress in riding garb for no reason at all. And while I was waiting for my parents to break down and buy me a real horse (never happened), I would drag garbage cans into the backyard and ride them, periodically switching from one member of the “herd” to the next. On any given afternoon, people in the house could gaze out and see me whipping a particularly stubborn garbage can with my riding crop.
Steak à Cheval (L. Richarz)
So when I first moved to Paris and started noticing “steak à cheval” on menus around town, I was wary. I knew there was a historical precedent of eating horse meat in France, but it seemed quite inhumane in this day and age. Nonetheless, I assumed it was some kind of trendy gastronomic revival, and who was I to question the local gourmands? So I kept my mouth shut and simply avoided the dreaded horse steak when confronted with it.
Recently, I was visiting my boyfriend’s family in Brazil. One night, we sat down to dinner and I was presented with a traditional dish called bife a cavalo (in Portuguese), which translates to “horse-riding steak” or “steak à la horse.”
“Horse?” I asked, panic rapidly setting in.
“No, it’s like steak à cheval in France,” G explained.
“Sooo….. horse?” I wondered again.
It was at this point that I realized I’d been operating under a serious misapprehension, and it took the collision of three cultures for the truth to surface.
Tyrolian Andy
No wonder the French had seemed so lax about all that presumed “horse-eating”—they weren’t eating horse at all. It turns out that steak à cheval (or bife a cavalo) is merely a cut of beef with a fried egg on top. It turns out the French aren’t as barbaric as I thought! And it turns out I’m kind of an idiot.
I shudder to think what other misconceptions I’ve been carrying around all this time, but I have a feeling the truth will win out. Paris will see to that.
Related Links:
- Mark Bittman has his ideas about the best steaks in Paris
- Looking for non-steak options in Paris? Check out David Lebovitz’s handy guide (and the useful links below!)
- If you’re in the mood for a burger in Paris, check out Lindsey’s (Lost in Cheeseland) review of Blend
Written by Tory Hoen for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.
Written by Tory Hoen
After attending Brown University and spending two years in New York, Tory bought a one-way ticket to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a writer (and of drinking wine at lunch). During her time in the City of Light, she chronicled the euphoric highs and the laughable lows of ex-pat life on her blog, A Moveable Beast. Though she's now based in New York, she travels frequently to Montreal and Brazil, and she'll use just about any excuse to jet to Paris ("I ran out of fleur de sel"). A regular contributor to Hip Paris, Tory also writes for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, and she is a co-author of Gradspot.com's Guide To Life After College.
Website: Tory Hoen
Tags: French dining etiquette, French Etiquette, French restaurant etiquette, french vocab, horse meat in Paris, Paris restaurant, Restaurant Etiquette, Restaurants Paris, steak à cheval, tory hoen
Posted in Food, Parisian Living | 11 Comments »
But they do eat horse: chevaline, it’s called.
Love this! I am still laughing… I have been avoiding ‘the horse’ for years too!!!
Hi – that was a very funny post. I always wondered abou that myself – and when in France…I avoided it as well.
I too was a horse lover as a child. I didn’t do the garbage can thing – but had I thought about it, I would have. I just used a tree branch (carved a bit of course) to spur on my horse (which was me – and I’d hit myself on my leg to go faster).
Parents never bought me a horse – but I did go riding quite a bit. They bought me riding boots etc – and a book about becoming an equestrian. Wow!! I wanted a horse so badly!!
Wonderful post – thanks!
Linda
Hi all! Thanks for your comments and glad you like the post. Quite right — there’s nothing inherently “normal” about eating a cow rather than a horse. I guess it’s a question of how we’re conditioned. Maybe it’s time I reassessed the whole issue! I definitely eat a lot less meat when I’m in the U.S. In France, I tend to go with the flow. What about you? Tory
Cute story but the French do butcher horse. As identified by the horse head out front of the butcher shop
Love it. So glad to see a Tory post on HiP Paris!! More to come I hope.
It’s a fun story…and I am sure I’ve been guilty of many cultural misconceptions of my own! Still, I am not sure why eating horse is “barbaric” while eating cow is fine? Cultural biases aside, it’s the same thing, isn’t it? As a meat-eater, I ask this in all sincerity, not as a judgement.
Haha!!! This is awesome! I would’ve thought the same thing
Thank you for clearing this up for people like me. Someday, when I go to Paris, I will not have any reservations about ordering the horsey steak 
What a cute & honest story dahhling! Particulary enjoyed your childhood fantasys riding trash bins! too funny indeed.
Common error, I think we’ve all made it! Cute story =)
Love this! I am still laughing… I have been avoiding ‘the horse’ for years too!!!