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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

A garlic mayonnaise.

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

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

Served with natural pan juices.

Served with natural pan juices.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

A variation of the Hollandaise sauce (see sauces).

A basic white sauce (see sauces).

Butter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Butter heated until it starts to color.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

To cut in very small dice.

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.

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

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.

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

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

A heavy cream whipped, sweetened and flavored.

A butcher shop specializing in pork products.

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.

A dish prepared hot and served cold.

Literally a bootie, a turnover.

To coat a mold with crust, with aspic.

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

A finely meshed strainer in the shape of a funnel.

Cabbage

A round sweet puff filled with pastry cream or Chantilly.

Sauerkraut

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.

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

Fresh or dried fruit cooked in a syrup and flavored.

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

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.

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

A seasoned and flavored liquid for cooking , mainly fish.

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

A thin pancake made of eggs, flour and milk.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A reduced brown sauce (see recipe).

(See puff pastry dough).

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.

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

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

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

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

Snail

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Basic stocks for sauces or soups.

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

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

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

A crème patissiére or custard cream with crumbled macaroons.

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

Deep fat frying.

Glacéed fruit.

Shellfish and mollusks.

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

A ballottine of meat or poultry covered with aspic.

A round flat cake.

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)

Cake

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

A frosting or a glaze.

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

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

Frog

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

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

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

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

Ham

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

A mixture of vegetables cut in thin strips.

Bacon

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

Pieces of fat back, diced, blanched and fried.

Vegetables

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

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

A mixture of raw or cooked vegetables or fruit.

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

A stock pot.

Chestnut

Coarsely ground pepper.

To simmer.

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

Vegetables cut in large dice.

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.

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

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

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

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

Mustard

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

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

A lamb stew.

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.

Nut

Egg

Bread

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

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.

A kind of filled crêpe.

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.

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

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.

Pastry shop; any dessert made with dough and baked.

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

Parsley

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

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

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

Fish

Potato

Soup

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

Chicken

Prune

Food mashed through a fine sieve into a pulp.

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

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

Stew

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

A mixture of food diced and blended with a sauce.

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

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.

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

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

To sift.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steam

A white sauce; a cream soup.

Poultry