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LIVING IN FRANCE

Daily dilemma: What do you order in France steak tartare or entrecôte?

It's fair to say that meat plays an important part in French cuisine, and vegetarians often find themselves something of an afterthought.

Daily dilemma: What do you order in France steak tartare or entrecôte?

So we've raised the steaks (sorry) in today's daily dilemma – do our readers prefer a classic Entrecôte or steak tartare?

It turned out to be one of our highest voting polls, proving that readers of The Local appreciate a good butcher, but in the end there was a clear winner.

 

Despite the win, the steak tartare earned itself plenty of support in the comments.

Elisha Anderson said: “Cooked steak frites is my go-to, but I’m always up for a fabulous tartare!”

While Jules Morrison added: “Both are good but a slight lead for the werewolf chow.”

Despite its huge popularity in France, steak tartare is not actually French in origin.

It was introduced throughout Europe in the 17th century by Russian ships and is thought to come originally from the area covered by modern day Mongolia (hence the name tartare or Tartar).

In the early twentieth century it was more commonly known as steack a l'americaine before settling on its current title.

A classic steak tartare involves very fresh finely chopped beef served with onions, capers, pepper and other seasonings (often Worcestershire sauce) with a raw egg yolk on top.

Such is its popularity that the word tartare is often now used to simply mean anything raw, and tuna tartare or sea bass tartare and now frequently seen on menus.

READ ALSO From crêpes to cassoulet – the ultimate food map of France

Entrecote is hugely popular in France, so much so that there's a chain of restaurants called L'Entrecote which serve nothing but steak (with chips). Queues can frequently be found outside.

A traditional entrecote is the cut of meat from around the rib area of the cow, usually translated as rib or ribeye in English.

Entrecote frites is one of the most-ordered dishes in French restaurants and the French themselves tend to like it quite lightly cooked.

As one reader complained on our Facebook site “entrecote and tartare are basically the same thing in France”.

That's not quite true but French chefs do prefer to send out their steaks with a little blood still oozing from the middle and there are tales of chefs refusing to 'murder' their meat by preparing it bien cuit (well done).

They're probably increasingly in a minority though – really good quality meat does not need a lot of cooking and will have more flavour if it's bleu (very rare) saignant (rare) or à point (medium rare) but if you really can't stand the sight of blood then order it how you like it. 

READ ALSO The things you should never do when dining in France

 

 

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SCHOOLS

Why do (most) French primary schools have Wednesday off?

It may come as a shock to families arriving in France that most younger children do not go to school five days a week.

Why do (most) French primary schools have Wednesday off?

But it’s true. In most areas, children up to the age of 10 or 11 – when they switch from école primaire to collège – go to school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and get a mid-week break from the daily grind.

Some areas do have classes on Wednesday mornings for younger children, but give them Wednesday afternoons off.

Once children hit collège, and then lycée, the usual pattern is to have classes on Wednesday morning, but the afternoons off.

READ ALSO What you need to know if your child is starting school in France

It’s one of a number of education-based cultural upheavals that children previously educated in other countries have to get used to — and, from their point of view at least, one of the easiest to get to grips with. But it may cause some concern among parents wondering how to incorporate it into their working week.

It certainly makes it a little easier for children to cope with the long French school day, if they think there’s a day off in the middle of the week. That, and the lovely, long lunch break, and the regular holidays (especially the eight-week summer one) not to mention all those public holidays in May…

So why does France do this?

Well aside from the above-mentioned reasons (which apply to teachers as well), there are historical reasons for the unusual timetable.

In the 19th century French children attended school six days a week. But, in 1882, then-education minister Jules Ferry introduced a law that established the principle of secular, free and compulsory education for all children.

This law cut the school week to five days, with Wednesdays set aside for extra-curricular activities, with Saturday school making up for the midweek absence.

READ ALSO Parents reveal: What to expect when your non-French speaking child starts school in France

In 2008, Saturday schooling was phased out by the Sarkozy government, though some schools in some parts of France still have Saturday-morning classes – and it’s why the official school holiday calendar still lists Saturday dates as the end of a term.

How do parents, children and teachers feel about it?

Pupils tend to like having Wednesday off for obvious reasons, while teachers also tend to be supportive.

But parents seem to like it too – it’s so ingrained in French family life that there were protests when, in 2013, the government tried to introduce a nationwide half-day schooling on Wednesday mornings, coupled with shorter days for the rest of the week.

READ ALSO Are packed lunches really banned in French schools?

The backlash from parents and schools to a well-intentioned but chaotically introduced policy was so deafening that the policy was quickly scrapped in mainstream schools, and was widely ignored among the country’s private fee-paying establishments.

Paris is the exception here, and some of the capital’s primary schools do have teaching on a Wednesday morning. Meanwhile across the country private schools set their own rules – some do have Wednesday mornings, some don’t.

But what about working parents?

It’s all very well for the kids, but what about parents who need to be at work on Wednesday?

Well there are options for childcare – Wednesday (or Wednesday afternoon) is traditionally the day for sports club to hold training sessions, plus other extra-curricular activities such as music lessons or swimming classes. 

There’s also the centre de loisirs – publicly-funded activity centres that offer full or half days on Wednesdays so that parents can go to work and children can have fun with activities – these centres offer a five-day-a-week programme during school holidays for the same reason.

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