meat en français

meat en français

How do you say chicken in French? Want to know how to say beef tongue or what the hell they call ribeye in France? Then you're in the right place.

bœuf (beef)

French Name Description
Bifteck Steak
Bavette Undercut – from the skirt, textured with long muscle fibres
Filet/Faux-filet Filet
Steak à hacher Used for steak tartare and steak haché. Steak haché looks like a burger, but is simply this high quality steak minced up and pressed together. It is usually freshly done, which is why people are happy to eat them rare. Not comparable to a beef hamburger
Romsteak/Rumsteak Rump steak
Aloyau Sirloin
Entrecôte Ribeye/NY Strip
Tournedos/Filet Mignon Tenderloin steak usually cut almost as high as it is wide. basically a chunk of tender steak, usually served quite rare unless otherwise requested
Tête de veau Head
Langue de bœuf Beef Tongue
Gîte (à la noix) Topside
Queue Tail
Cou Neck
Tranche ‘Slice’, implies a steak of any meat other than beef.
Filet/Longue/Aloyau All words for loin. Loin chop is ‘côte première’
Veau Veal

volaille (poultry)

French Name Description
Poulet........................ Chicken
Poulette Young Chicken
Canard Duck
Coq Cockerel
Pintade Guinea Fowl
Dinde Turkey
Cuisses Thighs
Magret Breast
Carcasse Carcass for making stocks and soups .................................
Œuf Egg

porc (pork)

French Name Description
Poitrine Belly
Lardons........................ Diced poitrine
Echine Shoulder, encompasses the blade bone and spare ribs.
Plat de côtes Hand and belly meet
Côtes Where the carré comes from, and is made up of loin chops. Basically, rack of pork.
Filet In France, is from the hind loin area. The English fillet is from the part which the French call jambon, or ‘ham’.
Joues Cheeks

Bacon if thinly sliced is poitrine, or belly, preserved with salt. The French tend to slice their poitrine fairly thick, in order to make lardons, so you need to ask for the slices to be ‘fine’ (pronounced ‘feen’). Bacon is rarely injected with water in France, so you get more for your money, it tastes better and crisps-up easily. Not the same as the packets called ‘bacon’ – these are brined, trimmed pork.

agneau et de chèvre (Lamb and Goat)

French Name Description
Gigot d’agneau................. Leg of lamb
Echine Shoulder
Côtes Chump
Collet Scrag (end)
Poitrine/Poitrail Breast
Côtelette Chop, usually from the rack of lamb, where the British cutlet comes from
Jarret Can mean shank or shin
Selle d’agneau Saddle

The info on this page comes from my experiences in France and also from this awesome website.

Back To Top