Monday, March 7, 2016

French words of the day from the Bellanger restaurant menu

Looking back at AA Gill's review of the Bellanger I find a generous sprinkling of French words, plus some from the restaurant menu. I have added a few I found in Wikipedia

Alsacienne - from the Alsace region of France
au gratin - with cheese (often a cheese topping)
bistro - small, chic restaurant which is not expensive (this one is large and it is not difficult to spend a lot)
bourgeois - middle class, sometimes used politically as a derogatory term
chevre - goat
chausson au pommes - apple turnover
chouquette - small round c h o u x pastry ball, often filled with custard or cream or mousse, topped with a sprinklings of large grains of pearl or nib sugar, sometimes with chocolate drops on top or chocolate casing
coq au vin - cock with wine - tough male chicken meat softened by slow cooking in wine
coupe - cup - often a large glass dish for dessert or sundae
elan - leap - flair
flambée (add the second e after tarte) flamed
fromage - cheese
fin de siècle - end of the century, 1900
nouveau - new, or imitation old
pain au chocolat - sweet bread roll for breakfast or a snack with chocolate drops inside and sometimes on top
pain au raisins - soft sweet bread in a round bun like a flat spiral with raisins in the seams
pommes - apples (think of it as being a pom pom shape)
pomme de terre  - potato (literally apple of the ground)
pomme de terre au four - (oven) baked potato (in its jacket)
tarte - tart
Viennoiserie - patisserie or fancy cakes from Vienna or in that style

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher and author.


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