There are certain words and expressions which are commonly used in describing culinary matters - here on eG, on television, in the press, in books, on YouTube etc. Most of these are relatively innocuous, but there are a few that annoy the heck out of me! Illogical, inaccurate, pretentious, childish and BLOODY IRRITATING!
(Please do not get offended if these are words you use. This is meant to be somewhat tongue in cheek*)
* No is isn't! (editor)
So, here are my top ten, in reverse order of exasperation.
10. 'Off' and other prepositions.
Why is that suddenly no one "cooks" anymore? Why don't they "fry" anymore? They suddenly have to "cook off" and "fry off" instead. At first, I thought maybe it meant completely cook or fry until the dish is done. But, then I heard some clown on YouTube frying something "off until nearly done." Grrrrr!
The "off" adds nothing to the meaning, but just sounds more technical? A certain Mr. G. Ramsay is a serial offender, but it seems to be coming ubiquitous.
And it isn't confined to "off". I hear "cook out", "fry up". I even heard one YouTuber, who thought he could cook, suggesting that I "wash over" my mushrooms! What the hell does that mean?
"Fry off"? "F Off!"
9. Chef
No one is a cook anymore. They are all chefs! Except, very few really are. I am particularly exasperated by the donkeys on YouTube who call themselves "Chef". Always with a capital C. They've never actually been inside a commercial kitchen, never mind head of the brigade.
"Chef Brian here with my latest how to boil an egg video! Please hit subscribe!"
"Chef" is a job description; not a royal title. Use it in your kitchen by all means, if you realy are a chef, but you come across as an idiot when you do it at home. I don't go around introducing myself as "Plumber Dave" (partly because I'm not a plumber and my name isn't Dave, but you get my meaning). I don't even use the titles I am entitled to use.
8. In a timely manner
Another video cliché. 99% of the time it just means "quickly" but they find a slower way to say it! Duh!
7. Bánh Mi
I'm sorry, but bunging random ingredients into a baguette does not make a bánh mi in my book. I frequently have bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT) sandwiches for breakfeast using baguettes, but would never call them bánh mi as some idiot did on a YouTube video I unfortunately stumbled upon recently.
I am all for variation, but at least stick with something that may be vaguely recognisable to a passing Vietnamese person.
6. Entrée
As a Francophone, if I ever find out what idiot mistranslated the French and decided that it meant the main course of a meal, I will personally send him or her to the guillotine. Not that they are still alive but I do know where there is a guillotine.
According to "Le Littré", the French "entrée" means "mets qui se servent au commencement du repas" which translates as "dishes that are served at the beginning of the meal".
If you really want to be French, the main course is the 'plat'.
This travesty has been until recently an American abberation, but recently creeping into the UK, too.
Merde!
5. Flavour/Flavor Profile
However you spell flavour is of no concern to me. "Flavour profile" on the other hand is a perfectly useful expression to describe something quite specific.
But now, writers and YouTubers cannot bring themselves to write or say "flavour" without adding "profile". Most of the time they just mean flavour.
4. Prep
I am constantly amazed by chefs who take up half a page of a menu to describe a starter of dazzling simplicity in 300 words, but are far too busy to say "prepare". Then every YouTube idiot follows them.
3. Authentic
Utterly meaningless. Food, like language, is constantly evolving we don't say Italian food is inauthentic because it contains tomatoes which they didn't have until the Americas were "discovered". We don't say Sichuan food is inauthentic because they use chillies which they didn't have until the Portuguese brought them in the 17th century.
But I still say a BLT is not a bánh mi!
2. Foodie
This obnoxious, unnecessary word is relatively new. First recorded in print in 1982 in "Harpers & Queen" whatever that might be.
Ugly, condescending and intolerable!
I am always amused by people who use it to self-describe. What are they thinking?
1. Yummy
Seriously, I am a strong opponent of capital punishment but will happily make an exception for anyone using this after their thirteenth birthday. It is so childish and makes me want to scream and scream and scream!
Deep breath!
What rattles your cage?
