Sunday, October 11, 2015

French words of the day: raison d'être, tour de force, cartouche, en papillote

French words are always a joy, enlightening us as to new ways of cooking and new delights to eat. Here are today's discoveries from recipes and articles:

cartouche - circle of paper to protect sauce from browning or burning
chef - chief cook, wearing a chef's hat or large white hat with folds
coterie - small group of people with shared interests, a clique defending their group, originally the French word for inhabitants of a village
en papillote in paper
Hammersmith Palais - palais is palace.
raison d'être reason for being/ reason why/for
tour de force - tour of force, literally tower of strength, same as pièce de résistance - best work

So chefs are a coterie of people using French to baffle English eaters.

Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and French, tutor, author, speaker.


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