French in Cooking

Pièce de résistance - the main dish of a meal

Restaurant - A place that prepares and serves food, drink and dessert to customers.

Café - a small restaurant where drinks and snacks are sold.

Filet - a boneless steak cut from the tenderloin of beef, or boneless, skinless strip of fish

Gratinée - Cooked so as to form the gratin- with a melted cheese top layer

Julienne - a vegetable cut into thin strips

Meringue - A preparation of sugar and the beaten whites of eggs, spread upon pastry, and slightly browned.

Potage - strong broth; a sort of liquid food prepared generally by boiling flesh of some kind.

Etiquette - the standards of proper social manners.

Chef (cuisinier) - a person who cooks professionally in a professional kitchen setting

Soufflé - light fluffy dish of egg yolks and stiffly beaten egg whites mixed with e.g. cheese or fish or fruit

Foie Gras- a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened.

Sorbet - Ice cream made of fruit, sugar, and water.

Fondue - dish of melted cheese or chocolate in which you dip croutons or fruit.

Champagne - a sparkling, clear, celebration wine.

Escargots - a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer.

Éclair - a long, thin pastry made with choux dough and filled with a crème.

Praline - sugared almond

Bisque - a thick cream soup made from shellfish

Crème Brulée- crème and egg dessert with sugary crust.

Filet mignon- delicate piece of meat

Biscuit - piece of bread served with dinner

Caramel - firm chewy candy made from caramelized sugar and butter and milk

Rôtisserie - a small broiller with a motor- driven spit, for barbecueing fowl, beef, etc.

Frappé - a fruit juice mixture frozen to a mush consisting of a liqueur, as crème de menthe, poured or cracked or shaved ice.

Flambé - served in flaming liqueur, esp. brandy.

Entrée- The main dish of a meal. In France, its the appetizer,

A la Carte- With a separate price for each item on the menu

Buffet- Self service to a spread of food

Banquet - A fancy reception dinner

Maître d- a dining-room attendant who is in charge of the waiters and the seating of customers

A Votre Santé- To your health/ cheers- used as a toast

Gourmet - A person who enjoys good quality food

Gourmand - A person who loves to eat

Bon Vivant- A person having cultivated, refined, and sociable tastes especially with respect to food and drink.

Dessert - Last sweet course of a meal

Cordon Bleu- 1. A skilled Chef 2. thin slices of chicken stuffed with cheese and ham and then sauteed

Connoisseur - A person who knows a lot about an area

Apéritif- alcoholic beverage taken before a meal as an appetizer

Hors d oeuvres- Appetizers

Amuse- gueule- a small appetizer that is served before a main meal begins

Table d hôtes- a meal, usually of several preselected and fixed courses, in a restaurant, hotel, or the like, for which one pays a fixed price- all guests sit at a long table.

Dinette - A nook or alcove located in or near a kitchen and used for informal meals.

Canapé- a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite.

Crudités- traditional French appetizers comprising sliced or whole raw vegetables which are dipped in a vinaigrette or another dipping sauce.

Café au lait- coffe with milk

Petits fours- a small confection generally eaten at the end of a meal (e.g. with coffee) or served as part of dessert.

Omelette - a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat (often ham), or some combination of the above.

Bouillon- a clear seasoned broth

Cognac - high quality grape brandy distilled in the Cognac district of France

Mayonnaise - a spread used on sandwiches

Soupe du jour- A soup featured by a restaurant on a given day

Vinaigrette- is a mixture of salad oil and vinegar, often flavored with herbs, spices, and other ingredients, most commonly used as a salad dressing.

Consommé- clear soup usually of beef or veal or chicken

Beignet - French fritter: a deep-fried, yeast- raised doughnut dusted with confectioners' sugar

Profiterole- a small hollow pastry that is typically filled with cream and covered with chocolate

Croûtons- Small toasted squares of bread, used to top salads.

Légumes - plants of the pea or pod family, including peas, beans and lentils.

Croque- Monsieur- a hot ham and cheese grilled sandwich

Petit beurre- a small, usually oblong butter cookie.

Truffes- black or white rare mushrooms -small chocolate bites covered in cocoa powder

Mousse - Mousse is a form of light and creamy dessert typically made from egg and cream, usually in combination with other flavors such as chocolate or pureed fruit

(sauce) Hollandaise- a sauce made with eggs and butter with lemon juice

Baguette- a specific shape of bread, commonly made from basic lean dough, distinguishable by its length, very crisp crust, and slits cut into it

Bombe Glacée- an ice-cream dessert frozen in a spherical mould

Bonbons- a candy that usually has a center of fondant or fruit or nuts coated in chocolate

Crêpes- Thin, French pancakes used in desserts or savory dishes

Quiche- unsweetened custard in a pie shell with bacon, Swiss cheese, spinach, mushrooms, or ham.

Sirop- sweet fruit and sugar mix used to top foods or mix in with water

Coq au vin- chicken and onions and mushrooms braised in red or white wine and seasonings

Savarin - a sponge cake baked in a ring mold

Sauce (béarnaise) - Classic French sauce made with a reduction of vinegar, wine, tarragon and shallots and finished with egg yolks and butter. Served with meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

Purée- to mash

Sauté- to lightly fry in butter

Au gratin- vegetables covered with cheese and roasted in the oven

Provençal- prepared in the style of Provence, in south of France, usually, with olive oil, garlic, thyme, rosemary

Emincé- a term used to describe meat, vegetables, or fish sliced very thinly, placed in an earthenware dish and simmered in added sauce.

Nouvelle cuisine- a school of French cooking that uses light sauces and tries to bring out the natural flavors of foods instead of making heavy use of butter and cream

Casserole - dish of several ingredients put to cook in the oven together in one pot

A la mode- with ice cream on top or on the side

Au jus- served with/in its natural juices or gravy

Au naturel- dishes cooked as simply as possible and served with a minimum of accompaniments

Madeleines- A bite sized cake made originally made in Lorraine, France.

Poutine - A dish eaten primarily in Quebec and Ontario, Canada. It consists of fries with gravy and curd cheese.

Beurre blanc - butter sauce with white wine

Consommé- A clear soup made from concentrating stock ort broth.

En croûte- A dish that has been wrapped in pastry dough then put in the oven to bake.

Tarte tatin- An upside-down tart with apples that are caramelized before the tart is cooked

À la vapeur- means steamed. This describes the technique usually used to cook fish and other lean meats.

Aïoli - A traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and egg yolks. It is similar to mayonnaise.

Au Bain-marie- A water bath made by putting a pan or bowl of food over a pan of hot water which should be kept at just below boiling point.

Bavarois- A delicate cream dessert with a crème Anglaise base made from either milk, cream or a fruit puree and then aerated with whipped cream and whipped egg whites before being set in the refrigerator with gelatin.

Blanchir/To blanch You blanch vegetables by submerging them briefly in boiling, salted water and then remove them as soon as they are semi-tender. Salt in the water helps vegetables keep their vibrant original hue. Plunge the blanched vegetables into a bowl filled with ice to set their color and prevent further cooking.

escalope A piece of meat thinned out with a mallet or a rolling pin.

roux A mixture of flour and a fat of some sort (butter or an oil).

Le Steak Tartare An unusual dish, made up of raw chopped meat, herbs, and spices.

Sommelier- the wine stewart in a restaurant

Pâté - a mixture of meat or seafood ingredients to create a spread

Terrine - Usually describes a kind of pâté made of pieces of meat in a deep dish with straight sides. Can also be used to describe the dish itself.

A la…- in the style of

Brut - used to describe an extremely dry wine

Grillé- grilled

Bûche de Noël- (sponge) rolled and frosted to resemble a log.

Brioche- a highly enriched bread of French origin, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb.

Crème fraîche - Thick whipping cream/ sour cream

Feuilleté- served in a puff pastry in many thin flaky layers

Demi-glace- a rich brown sauce served over meat.

Andouille- A spicy pork sausage seasoned with garlic used especially in Cajun cooking

Ganache- Whipped frosting made with semi-sweet chocolate used to fill pastries and other sweets

à la King A Béchamel sauce containing mushrooms, green peppers, and red peppers or pimentos.

Béchamel sauce A white sauce made with roux and cooked with milk.

Coquilles Scallops served with white wine sauce in scallop shells.

Bourguignonne sauce A red wine sauce made with onions, parsley, and cayenne pepper.

Beef en Daube A stew made with inexpensive beef, vegetables, wine, garlic and herbs.

Tournedos The center part of a beef tenderloin. The filet mignon.