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| How to order in a French restaurant | |||
Unless you're an accomplished linguist, the average French restaurant menu can make scarier reading than a Stephen King novel. |
You think you know what a mélange of something or other means, but you got confused by potage mange tout – and wham! A bowl of pea soup is set before you when you wanted the line-fish.
This could be fun if you like surprises, but not if you're trying to impress your dining companions. So you need to resort to a little cunning. Don't give yourself away by gripping the menu and staring senselessly at the gibberish in front of you. Don't mouth the strange words or try to pronounce them out loud. Rather order something with at least one recognisable word in it. For example, if you have to choose between a pâté de foie gras and a pheasant en escabeche, go for the latter because you know that it's pheasant.
Simple rule: stick with what you know – or, rather, what you're least ignorant about. (Escabeche, by the way, is lime jelly.) If not a single word means anything to you, order last, the better to learn from your companions. Let them make fools of themselves first.
When in doubt, the truly fabulous girl doesn't even look at the menu. She knows what she wants. Calmly, but with understated authority, she looks the waiter directly in the eye and says: "I'd like a mushroom omelette, please, with a green salad." Ordering off the menu – now, that's classy!
Here are common French culinary terms:
Hors d'oeuvres – appetisers
Fumé – smoked
Légumes – vegetables
Poulet – chicken
Entrecôte – steak
Veau – veal
Jus – gravy or sauce
Jambon – ham
Pâté de foie gras – goose liver paté
Fromage – cheese
Moutarde – mustard
Agneau – lamb
Huile d'olive – olive oil
Boeuf – beef
Pommes de terre – potatoes
Truite – trout
Potage – soup
Champignons – mushrooms
Rôti – roasted
Pain – bread
Image: Eat Out Magazine
| story by Caroline Hurry from True Love | |
| image by | |
