Culinary Terms that Should be Banned!

[gfweb]

34 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Defintions from OED.

 

What does OED know about BBQ? Is there BBQ in the Oxford where they make the dictionary?  I think not.

 

And, being serious for a moment, common usage (as opposed to original derivation) usually determines a word's definition according to those who compile dictionaries.  So all of the aforementioned definitions are correct in the places where they are used actively. And context matters too. If you offer someone in NC a BBQ sandwich, they'd expect pulled pork...in TX probably brisket.

 

 

[munchymom]

My experience in North Carolina was that you would walk into a barbecue joint and ask for "a sandwich", which would get you the 'cue on a bun with slaw, or "a plate", for which you would have to specify your sides. "Barbecue" was understood rather than expressed in either order. 

[kayb]

@liuzhou -- Thanks. Not certain about the first reference; for the second through fourth, calling the event a "barbecue" or referring to a "barbecue" dinner would imply, to me, that barbecue was served. It is entirely possible, particularly in Massachusetts and Brooklyn, that may refer to hamburgers and hot dogs, but to me, it means pork, and, at a stretch, beef. In the last two, I will promise you that while those stands may sell hamburgers, their main product is a beef or pork barbecue (the Florida one would be pork; "American countryside" would depend on where in America that countryside was located). Most barbecue restaurants serve hamburgers; few hamburger stands serve barbecue.

 

To further muddy the water, many barbecue stands down here serve a barbecue burger, which is a burger whose raw meat incorporates barbecue sauce and which is brushed with barbecue sauce while cooking on the flat-top, or a pizza burger, same process but using pizza sauce. I have eaten both, and am fond of neither.

 

Regional food and what one calls it is an endless source of diversity. A callaloo in the Low Country adds black eyed peas and becomes hopping John in Mississippi. A beef schnitzel sandwich is a "cow patty" in Indiana and a chuck wagon steak in Tennessee and a country fried steak in Arkansas and a tenderloin (?) in some other places I've been. Latkes are real doggoned close to hash browns, at least hash browns done well. 

 

Me, I'll go in a local place whereever I am and ask the waiter what's good, and order that. 

 

[Kerala]

I'm fed up with chefs being "passionate."

[liuzhou]

4 hours ago, kayb said:

Me, I'll go in a local place whereever I am and ask the waiter what's good, and order that. 

 

and often the waiter will have been told to tell you what the chef/buyer/owner wants to shift first.

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

and often the waiter will have been told to tell you what the chef/buyer/owner wants to shift first. Or what makes the biggest profit.

 

[liuzhou]

Aaargh!  I just heard someone say "toast up the bread". I need to lie down!

[chromedome]

5 hours ago, Kerala said:

I'm fed up with chefs being "passionate."

Sadly, that one goes well beyond the food world. I see it on pretty much every LinkedIn profile, resume, blog...(sigh).

 

Don't tell me what you're passionate about. I can figure it out on my own after I've been around you for a while, and it's probably not what you'd like to think it is.

[gfweb]

29 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Sadly, that one goes well beyond the food world. I see it on pretty much every LinkedIn profile, resume, blog...(sigh).

 

Don't tell me what you're passionate about. I can figure it out on my own after I've been around you for a while, and it's probably not what you'd like to think it is.

 

I see it in resumes all the time. Its a black mark.

 

But its part of the general misuse of words and trend to hyperbole that is rampant.  Is any dish in a diner/drive-in/dive truly amazing?

[chromedome]

10 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

I see it in resumes all the time. Its a black mark.

 

But its part of the general misuse of words and trend to hyperbole that is rampant.  Is any dish in a diner/drive-in/dive truly amazing?

"NOTHING IS MORE DAMAGING TO OUR SOCIETY THAN RAMPANT HYPERBOLE AND SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS!"

[weinoo]

11 hours ago, kayb said:

I am partial to vodka martinis. But I recognize that if I want one I have to specify vodka as the liquor. Is there another name for vodka shaken with a hint of vermouth and some olive juice, and garnished with an olive on a toothpick?

 

Ethanol induction system?

[weinoo]

16 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Popularized by another one of my (least) favorites on her cooking/tv shows...Rachael Ray. Feh.

 

15 hours ago, heidih said:

If you have never read Kim Severson on Rachel - changed my view.  https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/cooking/article/45053-cooking-the-books-with-kim-severson.html

Doesn't change mine.

[heidih]

OMG - in a 2011 article Serious Eats reprinted this morning:

"This utterly faithful recipe perfectly recreates a New York City halal-cart classic: Chicken and Rice with White Sauce "

 

[Eatmywords]

 

11 hours ago, kayb said:

Me, I'll go in a local place whereever I am and ask the waiter what's good, and order that. 

 

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

and often the waiter will have been told to tell you what the chef/buyer/owner wants to shift first.

 

Whenever I ask, it's always "I don't know, I've never eaten seafood".

 

[blue_dolphin]

12 hours ago, kayb said:

Is there another name for vodka shaken with a hint of vermouth and some olive juice, and garnished with an olive on a toothpick?

 

More commonly stirred, rather than shaken:  Kangaroo Cocktail is apparently an earlier name for the drink but I can't imagine you'd have a lot of success ordering one by that name!  

Edited to add that I guess your version would actually be a Shaken Dirty Kangaroo 😂

Edited November 24, 2020 by blue_dolphin (log)

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, kayb said:

Me, I'll go in a local place whereever I am and ask the waiter what's good

 

I'd say "the place next door."

[heidih]

On 11/23/2020 at 7:16 AM, lindag said:

Not a culinary term but  since this is a venting thread I have to mention how much it irks me when I hear cooking show hosts say: man-aise instead of may-o-naise.

 

 

I think that is geographically cultural. But when I read your post something popped into my head (and -promptly popped out). Finally remembered. The word vinaigrette - eons ago Howard Stern did a several day I think shtick on it. He insisted it was oil and vinaigrette. I can't see the word without laughing. Of course could we just say "oil & vinegar" - remember those cruets on the restaurant table to mix your own? Heck even Subway does that right?

 

Edited to correct failing memory

Edited November 24, 2020 by heidih (log)

[pastameshugana]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

"NOTHING IS MORE DAMAGING TO OUR SOCIETY THAN RAMPANT HYPERBOLE AND SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS!"

 

This might be (quoting my favorite comedian) 'The Epitome of Hyperbole'.

[kayb]

5 hours ago, gfweb said:

Is any dish in a diner/drive-in/dive truly amazing?

 

Yes.

 

1. The bread pudding at Big John's Shake Shack in Marion, AR.

2. The Hot Fudge Pie at Westy's (aka The North End) in Memphis.

3. The Eggplant Casserole at the Cupboard in Memphis.

4. The biscuits at Bryant's in Memphis.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

BBQ names can be amazingly micro-regional.  In the central northern section of NC that I grew up spending time in, you must further specify how you want your BBQ (assumed) pork (assumed) sandwich cut - i.e. - "sliced sandwich", "chopped sandwich", or "minced sandwich".  

[btbyrd]

NC native here. I've never heard a barbecue sandwich called "a barbecue." Round these parts, the noun "barbecue" refers to smoked pig -- typically pulled, but sometimes sliced or chopped (or totally mutilated). It might also refer to an event at which a pig is smoked. As an adjective, it can apply to other meats that are smoked or served with barbecue sauce. It is also a verb, what pitmasters do. 

[pastameshugana]

I think it would be interesting to compile a separate thread collecting what the word 'barbecue' means regionally.

 

For me, growing up in northern Arizona, barbecue was: The device used for grilling outdoors, the action or grilling, the event you attended at a friends house where you at (usually badly) grilled meats, and a 'style' of cooking that somewhat loosely approximated what others might also call barbecue.

[dtremit]

1 hour ago, btbyrd said:

NC native here. I've never heard a barbecue sandwich called "a barbecue." Round these parts, the noun "barbecue" refers to smoked pig -- typically pulled, but sometimes sliced or chopped (or totally mutilated). It might also refer to an event at which a pig is smoked. As an adjective, it can apply to other meats that are smoked or served with barbecue sauce. It is also a verb, what pitmasters do. 

 

The use of the noun to mean "a restaurant at which barbecue is prepared" also seems pretty universal, in my experience. (I am not from a place with barbecue traditions but I travel to a pretty representative sample of them frequently.)

[dtremit]

OK, as an American calling out a British term, I'm at risk of stepping in it, but: moreish

 

I hate, hate, HATE that word. It is nonsensical and meaningless and even unpleasant to look at in print. And if it's spoken, I always get confused trying to figure out what about a roast chicken or whatever it is could possibly be "Moorish."

[BetD]

I would be happy to see the back end of the phrase “a good amount” as a unit of measurement.  “Add a good amount of butter”........ an ounce... four ounces... c’mon.

Edited November 25, 2020 by BetD
Advice from a wise member 🙃 (log)