Glossary

• A l’algerienne
  

  Sweet potato croquettes; tomatoes cooked in oil; light tomato sauce.  To serve with meat or chicken.

• A l’alsacienne
  

  Sauerkraut; Alsatian sausages; boiled potatoes; fond de veau lié.  To serve with meat, chicken, duck and goose.

• A l’americaine
  

  Sliced lobster or rock lobster tails; sauce americaine.  To serve with fish.

• A l’anglaise
  

  Boiled carrots and turnips; celery hearts; boiled green beans; butter sauce with capers.  With lamb and chicken.

• A l’oriental
  

  Small tomatoes filled with rice pilaf flavored with saffron; peeled braised peppers; okra; light tomato sauce.  With meat, chicken and fish.

• A la boulangére
  

  Sliced onions and potatoes cooked with the roast lamb, or chicken.  Juice from the meat.

• A la bouquetiére
  

  Glazed carrots and turnips; peas and green beans boiled and tossed in butter; boiled cauliflower coated with butter or hollandaise sauce; potatoes sautéed in butter.  All these vegetables arranged in bouquets around a roast.  Juice from the roast.

• A la bourguignonne
  

  Glazed onions; sautéed mushrooms; lardons.  With beef cooked in Burgundy wine.

• A la catalane
  

  Diced sautéed eggplants; pilaf rice; demi-glace.  With roast meat.

• A la clamart
  

  Artichoke bottoms filled with buttered peas.  Fond de veau lié or demi-glace.  For roast.

• A la diéppoise
  

  Mussels cooked in white wine, shrimps; sauce vin blanc.  For fish.

• A la financiére
  

  Veal or chicken quenelles; mushrooms; cock’s combs; truffles; olives; sauce financiére.  With meat and chicken, sweetbread, vol au vent.

• A la florentine
  

  Buttered chopped spinach laid under eggs or fish.  Mornay sauce.

• A la francaise
  

  Small baskets of duchesse potatoes filled with a macédoine of vegetables; asparagus; braised lettuce; cauliflower coated with hollandaise; fond de veau or demi-glace.  With roasts.

• A la jardiniere
  

  Similar to a la bouguetiére, omitting the potatoes and adding flageolets (a kind of beans).

• A la maréchale
  

  Asparagus tips; truffles; Madeira sauce or beurre maître d’hôtel.  To serve with sweetbread, veal, chicken, lamb and fish, breaded with a mixture of breadcrumbs and chopped truffles and fried.

• A la milanaise
  

  Macaroni mixed with ham, mushrooms, smoked tongue, truffles, Swiss and Parmesan cheese, tomato sauce and butter; light tomato sauce.  With roasts.

• A la niçoise
  

  Small tomatoes cooked in butter; braised zucchini, braised artichoke hearts, rissoles potatoes; pan juices with a little tomato sauce.  With chicken and meat.

• A la niçoise
  

  Tomato fondue mixed with tarragon and crushed anchovies; olives; lemon slices; capers.  With broiled fish.

• A la normande
  

  Oysters; mussels; mushrooms; shrimps; truffles; crayfish; fried diamond shape bread slices or fleurons made with puff pastry. With fish.

• A la parisiene
  

  Potatoes á la Parisienne, artichoke bottoms cooked in butter and filled with mushrooms, ham and truffles or, instead of artichokes, braised lettuce; sauce demi-glace. With meat and chicken.

• A la piemontaise
  

  Risotto (mixed with truffles, ham, tongue, mushrooms) croquettes; light tomato sauce.  With meats.

• A la portuguaise
  

  Small tomatoes filled with a duxelles; potatoes sautéed in butter; fond de veau or demi-glace flavored with tomato.  With meat or poultry.

• A la provençale
  

  Eggplants filled with tomato fondue au gratin; or mushrooms filled with a duxelles flavored with garlic; fond de veau lié flavored with a pinch of tarragon.  For meat.

• A la strasbourgeoise
  

  Braised sauerkraut; a chunk of salt pork; slices of foie gras.  For braised poultry, turkey, goose particularly.

• A la toulousaine
  

  Chicken quenelles; cock’s combs; lamb or veal sweet breads; mushrooms; truffles; sauce allemande or parisiene with mushroom flavor.  For chicken, vol-au-vent, pies, sweetbreads.

• Aïoli
  

  A garlic mayonnaise.

• Allumettes
  

  Hors d’oeuvre made of puff pastry dough and cut in the shape of matchsticks about 1 inch long.

• Anglaise
  

  A mixture of egg, water, oil, salt and pepper to dip certain foods before frying.

• Au jus
  

  Served with natural pan juices.

• Au naturel
  

  Served with natural pan juices.

• Au Vert-Pré
  

  Matchstick potatoes; French-fried; watercress, uncooked, beurre maître-d’hôtel.   With broiled chicken or meat.

• À la
  

  In the manner of; à l’alsacienne, à la grecque, a l’americaine, etc.: in the Alsatian style, the Greek style, the American style, etc.

• Bain-marie
  

  A bath of warm water in which sauces blended with eggs or cream like Hollandaise, Bérnaise or Vin Blanc sauces are kept warm; a way of cooking certain delicate sauces, various puddings, custards and pâtes, in 2 pans forming a sort of double boiler with the difference that the water in the bottom pan surrounds the top pan at least half way up its sides.

• Barder
  

  To cover with thin strips of fat, meat, fish or fowl in order to protect it and also to provide basting.

• Barquette
  

  Oval shaped tarts in “pate brisée: or puff pastry.

• Bavaroise
  

  A dessert made of custard cream, gelatin and whipped cream.

• Bearnaise
  

  A variation of the Hollandaise sauce (see sauces).

• Bechamel
  

  A basic white sauce (see sauces).

• Beurre
  

  Butter

• Beurre Bercy
  

  A sauce made with white wine, shallots, butter, marrow, lemon juice and chopped parsley.

• Beurre blanc
  

  A warm sauce made with white wine, shallots, vinegar and butter, used for fish.

• Beurre clarifie
  

  Clarified butter, obtained by heating the butter and when melted, by scooping out the milk solids.

• Beurre en pommade
  

  Butter mixed with a spoon until the consistency of a very thick cream.

• Beurre maître d’hotel
  

  A sauce made with butter, chopped parsley, salt, pepper and lemon juice, used for grilled fish or meat, fried fish and boiled vegetables.

• Beurre manie
  

  Butter kneaded with flour or cornstarch until perfectly smooth for the thickening of sauces.

• Beurre noir
  

  Butter cooked until brown, sometimes mixed with parsley, capers and vinegar, used as a sauce for fish, eggs and brain.

• Beurre noisette
  

  Butter heated until it starts to color.

• Bisque
  

  A kind of soup made with a purée of shellfish, crab, crayfish, lobster, shrimps, etc.

• Blanc
  

  The white parts of a fowl: a solution of water and flour for the purpose of blanching food: “cuire au blanc” is the operation which consists in cooking certain food in a court-bouillon: “cuire á blanc” is the operation which consists in cooking a pie shell empty, before filling it.

• Blanchir
  

  To blanch in order to give more consistency to certain food: to remove saltiness of certain food, or to peel more easily certain fruit or vegetables. To blanch is not to cook.

• Blanquette
  

  A stew, usually of veal, fowl or lamb cooked “au blanc”.

• Bouquet garni
  

  A combination of herbs, usually parsley, thyme and bay leaf, tied together.

• Braiser
  

  To braise, to cook in the oven in a tightly covered pan, with very little liquid.

• Brider
  

  An operation which consists in tying with a special needle and some string the thighs and wings of a fowl to keep it in a nice shape during the cooking.

• Brioche
  

  A very buttery yeast dough in the shape of a ring (brioche en couronne), or a ball with a head (brioche parisienne), or a long cylinder (brioche mousseline); served like a Danish pastry for breakfast or tea or used as a crust for coulibiac, or to enclose sausage, foi gras or other fish or meat mixtures.

• Brunoise (couper en)
  

  To cut in very small dice.

• Buerres composes
  

  Butter “en pomade” mixed with various ingredients like mustard or anchovy paste, etc., used for the preparation of canapés, or to flavor sauces, soups and certain dishes.

• Bullottine
  

  A boned meat, fowl, fish, stuffed and rolled like a “ballot”, i.e. a round package.   It is served hot or cold.

• Canape
  

  A slice of a special kind of sandwich bread, called “pain de mie” used for open faced sandwich, or fried in butter and used as a base for serving tournedos, squab or kidneys.

• Cassolette, caisse or caissette
  

  Is a small container for the preparation of numerous hors d’oeuvre; it is made of porcelain, or Duchesse potatoes or bread.

• Cassoulet
  

  A stew from Languedoc made of dry beans, lamb, port and goose.

• Chantilly
  

  A heavy cream whipped, sweetened and flavored.

• Charcuterie
  

  A butcher shop specializing in pork products.

• Charlotte
  

  The Russian charlotte is made with lady fingers and a bavaroise: another charlotte is made with fruit, usually apples, in a mold lined with buttered bread slices.  Both are made in charlotte molds.

• Chaud-froid
  

  A dish prepared hot and served cold.

• Chausson
  

  Literally a bootie, a turnover.

• Chemiser
  

  To coat a mold with crust, with aspic.

• Chiffonnade (couper en)
  

  It is to cut in julienne or thin strips soft vegetables like lettuce, spinach, sorrel.

• Chinoise
  

  A finely meshed strainer in the shape of a funnel.

• Chou
  

  Cabbage

• Chou a la creme
  

  A round sweet puff filled with pastry cream or Chantilly.

• Choucroute
  

  Sauerkraut

• Clarifier
  

  To clarify: to make a broth clear; to remove milk solids from butter; to separate the white from the yolk of an egg; to remove the impurities from the sugar during the cooking.

• Cocotte
  

  A heavy casserole or Dutch oven in which food is cooked.

• Compote
  

  Fresh or dried fruit cooked in a syrup and flavored.

• Confit
  

  Preserved; “confit d’oie” is goose cooked in fat and preserved in it; “fruits confits” are fruit preserved in sugar.

• Coquille
  

  A shell or ramequin in which food is served; can be of porcelain, metal or pastry dough; “coquilles Saint Jacques” are scallops served in their shells after being prepared in various ways.

• Coucher
  

  To lay some dough, purée or filling on a baking sheet with a pastry bag.

• Court-bouillon
  

  A seasoned and flavored liquid for cooking , mainly fish.

• Creme
  

  Cream; thickened soup; dessert made of eggs, milk and a flavor.

• Crepe
  

  A thin pancake made of eggs, flour and milk.

• Croissant
  

  A bun made most times in the shape of a crescent.

• Croquette
  

  A mixture of vegetables, ground meat, fish, etc., breaded and fried until crisp.

• Croustade
  

  A case made of bread, pie crust or pastry dough, fried or baked, and made to be filled with various purées or fillings.

• Croute
  

  Crust; crust for pies, timbales, patés, made of pastry dough.

• Crouton
  

  White sandwich bread or French bread, diced and fried in butter for the accompaniment of soups, scrambled eggs, omelets, etc.

• Cuisine
  

  The art of  preparing food and the locale where it is prepared.

• Daube
  

  The braising of larded meat or poultry in a stock generally made with wine and herbs.

• Deglacer
  

  To deglaze; to dissolve with a liquid the cooking particles attached to the bottom of a saucepan.

• Degorger
  

  To soak in water certain food like brain, sweetbreads, some fish and vegetables in order to reduce the bitterness or remove certain juices.

• Degraisser
  

  To remove the fat at the surface of a stock, consommé or sauce.

• Demi-glace
  

  A reduced brown sauce (see recipe).

• Detrempe
  

  (See puff pastry dough).

• Duxelles
  

  A mixture of finely chopped mushrooms, shallots and onion cooked until evaporation of all liquid, used to give more flavor to a sauce or a filling.

• Eclair
  

  A long cream puff, filled with chocolate or coffee custard cream and glazed with chocolate or coffee fondant.

• Ecrevisse
  

  Fresh-water crayfish, used for numerous dishes and sauces like Nantua sauce.

• Ecumer
  

  To remove the grey scum on the surface of a boiling liquid, stew, sauce, with an “écumoire” or perforated flat spoon.

• Eplucher a vif
  

  To peel a fruit, an orange for example, by removing every bit of skin down to the juicy part of the fruit.

• Escargot
  

  Snail

• Etouffee, Etuvee
  

  Two words used to describe a method of cooking in a tightly covered saucepan with almost no liquid, or none at all.

• Farcir
  

  It is to fill a meat, fowl or fish with a “farce” or filling.

• Farine
  

  Flour; “fariner” is to coat with flour before cooking.

• Feuilletage
  

  A very delicate and flaky puff pastry dough made with flour and butter and worked in such a way as to result in hundreds of layers of dough. (see recipe)

• Fines herbes
  

  The main herbs are: celery, parsley, tarragon, chervil, fennel, chives, basil, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf.

• Flamiche
  

  A kind of quiche made of leeks or cheese, from Picardy and Burgundy.

• Flamri
  

  A cream of wheat pudding, served cold and usually covered with purée of red fruit like strawberries, raspberries or currants.

• Flan
  

  In certain regions a flan is a baked custard; generally, it is a pie filled with fruit, cream or other fillings.

• Foie
  

  Liver; “foi gras” is the liver of a fattened goose or duck.

• Foncer
  

  The method of covering the bottom, and sometimes the sides, of a terrine, cocotte or mold with thin strips of fat or vegetables, or “páte á foncer” i.e. pie dough.

• Fondant
  

  A glaze used for pastry made with sugar cooked until the soft ball and worked with a spatula on a marble until smooth and white.

• Fonds de cuisine
  

  Basic stocks for sauces or soups.

• Fontaine
  

  A well made in the center of flour where the necessary ingredients are set for making of some dough.

• Fraisage
  

  Operation consisting in working some dough with the palm of the hand in order to obtain a perfect mixture.

• Frangipane
  

  A panade similar to cream puff dough used as a blending and thickening agent.

• Frangipane (crème)
  

  A crème patissiére or custard cream with crumbled macaroons.

• Frapper
  

  To cool rapidly some cream or a bottle of wine with crushed ice.

• Friture
  

  Deep fat frying.

• Fruits confits
  

  Glacéed fruit.

• Fruits de mer
  

  Shellfish and mollusks.

• Fumet
  

  A concentrated liquid of fish, poultry or game used to enhance the flavor of stocks and sauces.

• Galantine
  

  A ballottine of meat or poultry covered with aspic.

• Galette
  

  A round flat cake.

• Garnitures
  

  Various accompaniments added or placed around a main dish like a roast, some poultry or fish, or served at the same time on different platters. (see garnitures)

• Gateau
  

  Cake

• Gelee
  

  Jelly, it can be made with commercial gelatin, but it is best made with food with gelatinous propriety like veal shanks or feet.

• Glacage
  

  A frosting or a glaze.

• Glace
  

  Ice cream; ice; a reduction of a stock or a dessert cream; a glazing with fondant.

• Gratin
  

  The crust formed at the surface of a dish under the action of heat.

• Grenouille
  

  Frog

• Hacher
  

  To mince; a “hachis” is a hash, made with leftover meat.

• Henri IV
  

  Artichoke bottoms; noisette potatoes; sauce Béarnaise.  With steaks or tournedos.

• Hollandaise
  

  A sauce of egg yolks and butter (see sauces).

• Hors-d’oeuvre
  

  Means literally, “besides the menu”.  They are delicate and small first-course dishes, cold or hot.

• Jambon
  

  Ham

• Jardinière de legumes
  

  A mixture of vegetables; peas, green beans, carrots, turnips cooked  in salted water.

• Julienne
  

  A mixture of vegetables cut in thin strips.

• Lard de poitrine fume
  

  Bacon

• Larder
  

  To push through meat, chicken or other, thin strips of pork fat with a larding needle.

• Lardons
  

  Pieces of fat back, diced, blanched and fried.

• Legumes
  

  Vegetables

• Liaison
  

  Operation consisting of thickening a liquid, sauce, cream, soup with flour, cornstarch, egg yolks and cream, beurre manié, butter or blood.

• Luter
  

  To close very tightly a casserole, terrine, etc. with a dough made of flour and water.

• Macedoine
  

  A mixture of raw or cooked vegetables or fruit.

• Marinade
  

  A liquid with condiments to soak meat, fish, poultry, etc.  The purpose is to give flavor and to tenderize.

• Marmite
  

  A stock pot.

• Marron
  

  Chestnut

• Mignonnette
  

  Coarsely ground pepper.

• Mijoter
  

  To simmer.

• Mille-feuille
  

  A Napoleon, pastry made with puff pastry dough, custard cream and glazed.

• Mirepoix
  

  Vegetables cut in large dice.

• Monder
  

  It is to remove the skin of certain fruit, vegetables or meat by immersion in boiling water or in hot oil, by roasting or by soaking in water with vinegar.

• Monter
  

  It is to beat in order to give lightness and volume, like beating mayonnaise, Béarnaise, whites of eggs, etc.

• Mouiller
  

  It is to add a liquid in order to cook a preparation.

• Mousse
  

  Froth; a light preparation of fish, meat or dessert containing egg whites and whipped cream.

• Mousseline
  

  The name given to certain dishes when they are lightened with whipped cream.

• Moutarde
  

  Mustard

• Nantua
  

  Crayfish around the fish or in small tartlets; sauce nantua.  With fish.

• Napper
  

  To coat with a thick element like sauce, cream, aspic, etc.

• Navarin
  

  A lamb stew.

• Noisette
  

  Hazelnut; a round and small cut of meat; butter heated until it barely colors; a “noisette de beurre” is about 1 tablespoon of butter or the size of a hazelnut.

• Noix
  

  Nut

• Oeuf
  

  Egg

• Pain
  

  Bread

• Panade
  

  A bread soup; a mixture of flour or bread or pâte à choux to blend and thicken quenelle batter.

• Paner
  

  To coat with fine bread crumbs; “panie à l’anglaise” is to coat with flour, then with a “anglaise” (see word), and last with bread crumbs.

• Pannequet
  

  A kind of filled crêpe.

• Papillote
  

  A paper frill placed on the bone of a leg of lamb or chops, etc. for decoration.  Also a preparation of meat or fish cooked in paper.

• Pate
  

  A mixture of ground meat, poultry or fish baked with or without crust; “paté en croute”: paté in a crust, served hot or cold.

• Pates
  

  All the various dough or batter for bread, rolls and pastry.  Examples: pâte brisée is a pastry dough; pâte à choux, a puff dough; pâte feuilletée, a puff pastry dough; and pâte à frire, a fritter batter.

• Patisserie
  

  Pastry shop; any dessert made with dough and baked.

• Paupiette
  

  A thin slice of meat or fish, filled, rolled and tied.

• Persil
  

  Parsley

• Persillade
  

  Very finely chopped parsley, generally mixed with finely chopped garlic.

• Petits fours
  

  Small fancy cakes; cookies; cakes, cookies or fruit dipped in fondant.

• Pocher
  

  To poach, that is to cook in a large quantity of liquid without boiling, at a bare simmer.

• Poisson
  

  Fish

• Pomme de terre
  

  Potato

• Potage
  

  Soup

• Potee
  

  A sort of soup made of pork, cabbage, potatoes and other vegetables, cooked in an earthenware pot.

• Poulet
  

  Chicken

• Pruneau
  

  Prune

• Puree
  

  Food mashed through a fine sieve into a pulp.

• Quenelle
  

  Ground meat, chicken or fish blended with eggs, butter and cream, shaped in the form of sausage or egg, and poached.

• Quiche
  

  A pie of Lorraine origin, made with lardons, eggs, milk or cream.

• Ragout
  

  Stew

• Revenir (faire)
  

  It is to color certain ingredients in butter, oil or other fat before cooking.

• Richelieu
  

  Au gratin stuffed tomatoes and mushrooms; braised lettuce; potatoes sautéed in butter; fond de veau lié or demi-glace.  With roast.

• Rillettes
  

  A mixture of pork, lean and fat, cut in small pieces, simmered with seasonings, cooled, ground, packed into jars and used as a spread on bread.

• Rissoler
  

  It is to color some meat or vegetables in very hot fat.

• Rossini
  

  Slices of foie gras; slices of truffles; demi-glace with truffle juice or pan juice deglazed with Madeira.  With tournedos or fillet mignon.

• Rouille
  

  A hot red pepper mayonnaise served with bouillabaisse, a fish soup.

• Roux
  

  A mixture of flour and butter used to thicken sauces; it is cooked more or less according to the color desired; white (roux blanc), blond (roux blond) and brown (roux brun); brown sauces require a roux brun, white sauces a roux blanc or blond.

• Sable
  

  A very buttery pastry dough used to make cookies or pie crust.

• Saisir
  

  Is to expose a meat to very high heat in order to seal juices.  It is not to “sauter” or “revenir”.

• Salpicon
  

  A mixture of food diced and blended with a sauce.

• Sauter
  

  It is like “revenir” but faster and without letting the pieces of food touch each other.

• Souffle
  

  Means puffed; mixture of puréed food, mixed with egg yolks and lightened with stiffly beaten egg whites, cooked in a hot oven in buttered soufflé molds.  The puffing is the characteristic of this dish.

• Suer (faire)
  

  Literally, to make sweat; that is, to heat food until the first drops of juices are seen; this term is used, particularly for onions.

• Supreme
  

  A dish of grand style; the boned chicken breast; a velouté sauce with cream.

• Tamiser
  

  To sift.

• Terrine
  

  An earthenware dish in which are cooked meat, poultry or game; the word “terrine” means the cooked preparation itself.

• Tournier
  

  To cut vegetables in regular shape to facilitate even cooking and for nice presentation.

• Travailler
  

  To work a preparation with hand, spoon, spatula or wire wisk until it is perfectly smooth.

• Truffe
  

  Truffle, an underground black mushroomlike fungus, used to flavor numerous dishes.  There is also a white truffle.

• Vacherin
  

  A cheese; a meringue case filled with whipped cream, fruit or ice cream.

• Vanner
  

  To stir a sauce during the cooling to avoid a film at the surface.

• Vapeur
  

  Steam

• Veloute
  

  A white sauce; a cream soup.

• Volaille
  

  Poultry