"This is both a home and bistro classic, and the most classic of all French dishes I can think of," says France-Soir chef Jean-Paul Prunetti. "The meat was traditionally whatever piece the butcher was selling on the morning as the best cut of the day, but more often than not it was an entrecôte, better known here in Australia as a Scotch fillet. Frites were not often seen at home - most homes did not have a fryer. My mother had a round blackened pot complete with a little wire basket and used it only for oil cooking. Once a week, often on a Sunday, my mother would fry hand-cut chips in the pot and serve them alongside a roast chicken. It was a big event, these hand-cut chips, and I remember they were always very crisp. Mostly people ate steak frites at home with pommes sautés - small-cut potatoes slowly cooked in duck fat in a sauteuse. A steak frites meal was always finished with a crunchy green salad. In fact, at home in France, every meal was traditionally finished with a salad - the salad came when we'd finished the main course and, depending on the house, served on clean plates. We never had béarnaise sauce at home. Even in bistros, steak frites was served only with mustard. Traditionally it was a worker's dish; sauces such as béarnaise were added more recently. Before then, they were rarely seen outside fine-dining establishments. The average housewife did not have the skills or time to make them. Steak frites was and remains a basic, affordable and classic bistro dish."
Pictured with petits pois aux lardons.
Pictured with petits pois aux lardons.