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Translating a French menu
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French Pastries
“It’s no mere coincidence—in fact, it’s a masterstroke of cultural gamesmanship—that the phrase commonly used to describe fine cooking, “haute cuisine,” is French. Most Americans have grown up taking for granted that French chefs and French restaurants were the finest; we’ve even been taking France’s word for it, using the Michelin Guide ratings as the international standard.” ~The Ethnic Food Lover’s Companion by Eve Zibart
French cooking is rich and refined. Recipes are precise. Haute cuisine contains lots of cream, butter, herbs like tarragon and chervil, garlic, and a different wine for each course. Specialties include foie gras, champagne, truffles, and escargot. This is the cuisine that invented the “cheese course.” It is high fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
And it’s wonderful.
No language is so sweet to the ear as French. It is classy and oh-so-sexy. That’s the main reason we keep the original names to classic dishes. Translate them and they reveal their working class origins. Bouillabaisse is a “boil and simmer” soup, made from fisherman’s leftovers. Shellfish mariniere is cooked with fish stock, the way barge workers used to do. All bonne femme or fermiere recipes descended from the original “good woman” or farmwife. The miller’s wife apparently coated everything in flour and cooked it in butter, hence dishes called a la meuniere.
But even though we love French food, the menu can be intimidating. Here are common words found on French menus.
Agneau—lamb
Allemande—“German”, but usually refers to sauce allemande, which is a basic white sauce.
Amandine—cooked with almonds
Americaine—shellfish with tomatoes
Anna—a dish of sliced potatoes
Au jus—with pan juices or stock
Bechamel—a basic white sauce made of flour, butter and milk
Bearnaise—a buttery sauce flavored with shallots and tarragon
Boeuf—beef
Bourguignonne—made with Burgundy wine
Canard—duck
Confit—game, usually duck or rabbit, cooked in its own fat
Crevettte—Shrimp
Diable—“devil” a hot and spicy dish
Dijonnaise—served with mustard
En Croute—wrapped in pastry
Farci—stuffed
Florentine—with spinach
Gratin—a dish topped with grated cheese or bread crumbs, then browned.
Hollandaise—“Dutch”, a rich, lemony sauce made with eggs
Lapin—rabbit
Milanaise or Velleroi—coated and fried
Mouton—mutton
Oie—goose
Papillotte—cooked in paper or parchment
Poivre—with pepper
Poulet or Volaille—chicken
Salade--salad
Supreme—a chicken dish, specifically one with breast and wing
Veau—veal
Vigneronne—“from the vine” or with grapes
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