Word Hoard

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Kitchen Confidential

I recently finished Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain. As a child reading plenty, I would commit to a pronounciation in my head for various names in the book, right or wrong. The point is that I was okay glossing over an incidental like name pronounciation. Bourdain uses a lot of French for the dishes and preparations of food, plus some culinary jargon. My English dictionaries didn't really help, so I abided. Until now. Now, if you ever go to Les Halles, Bourdain's restaurant at the time of publishing, you might know what you're ordering.

Moules marinieres: Mussels in a butter, garlic, shallot, white wine sauce. Vichyssoise: cold potato leek soup. Beurre noisette: a hazelnut colored reduced butter. Saucisson a l'ail: garlic pork sausage. Boudin noir: blood or black sausage. Lobster Thermidor. From the French Republican month. Gallantine: Made of lean pieces of poultry, game, pork, veal or rabbit, mixed with a forcemeat containing eggs, spices, and other ingredients, and pressed into a symmetrical shape. Aspic. Ballottine. Rillettes: Essentially a Veja-link spread. Pommes dauphinoise: potatoes au gratin. Bearnaise sauce: not Hollandaise sauce. Confit: great fun, who doesn't want to be cooked and sealed in their own fat? Beef Parmentier: not Vern Parmenter, but eponymous for Jean Pommes de Terre-Seed. Bagna Cauda. Navarin: The French term for a rich mutton or lamb stew which has been cooked with root vegetables, usually including small onions or potatoes. au Poivre: with pepper. Magret du Moulard: the breast of a fat Moulard, a cross between a Pekin and Muscovy duck. Pieds du Cochon: pig feet. Cassoulet: pork and beans. Livornaise: Sauce with egg yolks, anchovy paste, and olive oil. Sabayon: eggs whipped with a liquid, wine maybe. Tete du Porc: pig head. Clafoutis: a fruit flan.

Thank you for your patience.

5 Comments:

  • At September 04, 2006 3:03 AM, Blogger Wishydig said…

    Damn you Daniel - I read this at this hour and all I have available to me is half a bag of Ore-idas, half a bag of cheezeepoofs and some ramen.

    I'm thinking...crinkle-cuts.

    I've seen Bourdain on Letterman a few times and I used to watch A Cook's Tour on FoodTV. What I love is his abrasive honesty. He admits that Rachael Ray may be cute but she's no chef. He grants that Emeril is a proven chef but he hates his show.

    And when he tried a local dish in Mexico - fried iguana tacos or tamales or something - he flatly admits that it tastes just like you would expect iguana to taste: greasy dirty and disgusting.

    But maybe if it was mixed with a little vege-link pâté...

     
  • At September 06, 2006 10:26 PM, Blogger Daniel said…

    You say crinkle-cuts but you mean pommes frites.

     
  • At September 08, 2006 2:11 AM, Blogger Wishydig said…

    Here's what I've not yet understood. If apple is pomme and potato is pomme de terre why are "fried potatoes" pommes frites? What does that leave when we want to say "fried apples" in French?

     
  • At September 08, 2006 2:34 PM, Blogger Daniel said…

    You're right that is peculiar and crossed my mind a bit as was responding to your first comment, but I'm gonna write it off as a brevity thing. Maybe it is like their tater tots. Instead of potato tots.

     
  • At February 04, 2007 1:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    fried apples = beignet de pommes...
    pommes de terre frites? ok, so the French take a long time over lunch, but life's too short for that even for them.....

     

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