Please Translate This! Help with Foreign Language Recipes, Culinary Terms, Labels

[tan319]

I've been translating some unfamiliar ingredients in this Thuriès mag with Conticini.

One that has me flummoxed is 'Creme fleurette', which translates to cream flowerlet which makes no sense to me.

I've seen this in Duccase's dessert book also, I believe.

Can Lesley C. or loufood illuminate me, please? Or anyone else, for that matter

I did some googling but came up blank.

Also, when a recipe calls for a say, "Cuillère à café de pâte de pistache", is it a tablespoon of the product? In this case, pistachio paste?

Also, I've noticed that these ice cream recipes normally call for glucose, which I would take as regular glucose, the thick clear stuff.

But then, in a banana sorbet recipe of his, he calls for 'sirop de glucose', which on the glucose buckets I have, is what the above is normally called in French!

It seems kind of weird that he's not using atomised glucose in any of the ice creams...

Kind of confusing, made me think of the problems Sinclair encountered in her PA&D recipe adventures.

Not too much else is giving me problems.

There was a reference to'Maïs en boîte', corn of the box, which I took to mean canned corn, seeing that he calls for it to be drained, would that be right?

Maïzena is cornstarch?

Sucre gros?

Fat sugar?

Thanks for any help. I really appreciate it!

[Lesley C]

OK, fleurette is unwhipped heavy cream. You probably use 35%, but in France it's 30%.

Pate de pistache is pistachio paste, and I think they are calling for a generous teaspoon's worth (though I always do things like pistachio paste to taste).

As for the glucose in ice cream, my thinking would be that's it's powdered glucose, glucose atomisé, atomised glucose.

Mais en boite is canned corn, and corn starch is fécule de mais or maïzena.

As for the gros sucre, it's that white stuff that I think Americans would call rock sugar? Not sure, I did all my pastry training and working in French. It's the sugar you would sprinkle on a brioche.

[Louisa Chu]

And creme fleurette and creme liquide are the same thing - in case you come up with this in another recipe. BUT if you see a recipe for creme epaisse - literally thick cream - it's a TOTALLY different thing - thick like creme fraiche but not acidic. And cuillere a cafe is a teaspoon - even though it translates as a coffee spoon - even though in France a coffee spoon is what Americans think of as an espresso spoon - confused yet? But it's weird that they called for a measure like that - weird that it wasn't in grams. And just wondering - is there any pistachio paste that's NOT green? And glucose/sirop de glucose - same thing - the thick clear stuff. That's what's used at Ducasse in Paris. What's atomised glucose and why's it better? What Conticini recipe are you using that calls for canned corn?? And what IS gros sucre called in American English? I don't think it's rock sugar - which are big, rough, gemstone-like crystals. Also weird that when I googled I found this thread here - that Ted you even posted on - that says maybe it's hard nib sugar?

[chezcherie]

And what IS gros sucre called in American English?I

i think it's pearl sugar, isn't it?

[tan319]

Thanks you all, I had hoped you would be reading!

I guess he wrote the recipes at different times perhaps?

Some of the call for creme liquide, some for fleurette and so on.

I kind of thought that sucre gros was that brioche sugar, used to see it in France and strangely enough, here in Abq., in a French bakery I worked at for a short time.

Know what you mean about the espresso spoon, louisa.

But Conticini has that savory chef thing in him too, all other measurements are in grams, except for the measurements in QS, to taste?

Atomised glucose is used in those recipes that call for more dry ingredients, like non fat dry milk, invert sugar like trimoline.

Atomised glucose is more water absorbent, improves texture, etc.

I would imagine you'll be seeing a fair amount of it at El Bulli this season

The canned corn is used in a tuile recipe,where you make a mix that's kind of a cross between pastry cream and mashed potatoes.

He has many beautiful tuiles in this article, green olives, banana, pistachio, sesame with licorice powder and cardamom, 'sucre vergeoise (brown sugar?) ,stunning.

I'm not using any of these recipes yet, though a couple of things are calling my name.

Just trying to understand what he's working with.

Thanks again for all of your help, my friends.

I really appreciate it!

[Louisa Chu]

Not necessarily that the recipes were written at different times - fleurette and liquide just interchangeable - but it's usually just creme - maybe creme liquide - rarely called creme fleurette in the kitchen. Thanks for the info on atomised glucose - if I see it at El Bulli, I will be thinking of you. And it's almost painful to bring it up now - but when Peltier was open, they always did have the most stunning array of tuiles. And yes, sucre vergeoise is brown sugar. Check out this fun French sugar site - they have a British English version too.

[Steve Klc]

Just fyi--powdered glucose (atomized glucose) has been in use for some time, it was in Albert Adria's sorbet base in his "Postres de el bulli" book from 1998 and it's in many of the frozen recipes from Balaguer. It was nice a few years ago when ParisGourmet and Albert Uster finally made big bags of the the stuff available to pastry chefs here--so we could work with it. That's when Jacquy and Sebastien started teaching with it here, it had been in France long before that and they learned how to use it there.

How often you use powdered glucose, if at all, will depend on how you set up your program and your needs, whether you use a Pacojet or batch freezer, etc. When I was in his Peltier lab in 2002, Ted, and talked about recipes with him, they were all different--meaning he didn't use one approach, he used many--and each ice cream or sorbet recipe had its own formulation after much trial and experimentation.

I think the "cuiller" thing with Conticini is part of his poetic approach to things--like how he's fond of sprinkling on his desserts? He used "c. a soupe" and "c. a cafe" in his book "Desserts en liberte" as well.

[bleudauvergne]

And what IS gros sucre called in American English?I

i think it's pearl sugar, isn't it?

That would be pearl sugar.

[Lesley C]

The French have been using atomised glucose for years. When I took my ice cream course in 1990 with a French chef, it was in almost every recipe, certainly every sorbet recipe. And there were no Pacojets around here back then.

And yes loufood, there are pistachio pastes that are not green. I once got one that contained no colouring, which was puce. Not too attractive in ice cream. Now I swear by Fabri, though Marguerite used to make a very nice creme de pistache as well.

[tan319]

Just fyi--powdered glucose (atomized glucose) has been in use for some time, it was in Albert Adria's sorbet base in his "Postres de el bulli" book from 1998 and it's in many of the frozen recipes from Balaguer. It was nice a few years ago when ParisGourmet and Albert Uster finally made big bags of the the stuff available to pastry chefs here--so we could work with it. That's when Jacquy and Sebastien started teaching with it here, it had been in France long before that and they learned how to use it there.

How often you use powdered glucose, if at all, will depend on how you set up your program and your needs, whether you use a Pacojet or batch freezer, etc. When I was in his Peltier lab in 2002, Ted, and talked about recipes with him, they were all different--meaning he didn't use one approach, he used many--and each ice cream or sorbet recipe had its own formulation after much trial and experimentation.

I think the "cuiller" thing with Conticini is part of his poetic approach to things--like how he's fond of sprinkling on his desserts? He used "c. a soupe" and "c. a cafe" in his book "Desserts en liberte" as well.

Steve, do you know if 'Desserts en Liberte' is available from anywhere?

I did a search the 1st time it was mentioned and came up blank.

My ice creams are much happeier using atomised glucose,etc., and I definately don't have a paco jet, and my "batch freezer" is prehistoric styleee.

Steve, if you get a chance, could you elaborate on your Peltier experience?

Louisa, I know this is something that has been brought up here before but, can you, having lived in France for quite awhile, compare the T-55/T-45 flours to an American product?

Much appreciated and thanks to everyone!

[Louisa Chu]

Cherie - bleuauvergne - thanks - pearl sugar it is then. It really does not SEEM like it should be called pearl sugar - it's so un-pearl-like.

Lesley - thanks too - I will check that out. I LOVE the idea of a greyish/stone-y colour ice cream - the green does not do it for me.

Ted - sorry - I have no idea. I never really baked before I went to France. I can tell you the theory from notes - but I have no real working comparison - and I'm not a patissiere! The international pros here can tell you better.

[nightscotsman]

Steve, do you know if 'Desserts en Liberte' is available from anywhere?

"Desserts en Liberte" is available from Amazon Canada here.

[achevres]

Maizena is cornstarch. It is a brand name for cornstarch used in Latin America, Spain, Portugal and (I just learned) Belgium and France. And probably in other places too. Here is a link I found for and English-French gastronomy glossary.

http://www.france-amerique.com/Gastronomie/lexique.html

[tan319]

Thanks for the info, Neil, acheveres.

The lexicon was pretty standard but a good thing to have around, thank you.

Neil, do you own the Conticini book?

How would you (or anyone else) rate it?

Thanks!

[tan319]

Chablon= template? Or spread as in 'chablonner?

Used in making tuiles...

My translator didn't translate

Thank you

[Louisa Chu]

Chablonner - to spread a very thin layer.

I just checked my notes - because the first time I DISTINCTLY remember using the term chablonner was when making Opera cakes - and it was in reference to spreading the thin layer of glazing chocolate underneath the bottom layer of biscuit - and then also checked Meilleur du Chef terms - and it seems that this term only correctly refers to spreading melted chocolate underneath the base of a cake - to create a protective shell for imbibing or from sticking to a plate.

So there you go. What's the recipe say?

HEY - they have an ENGLISH VERSION! Check out Chocolate Coating for Chablonner.

Edited April 14, 2004 by loufood (log)

[tan319]

Chablonner - to spread a very thin layer.

I just checked my notes - because the first time I DISTINCTLY remember using the term chablonner was when making Opera cakes - and it was in reference to spreading the thin layer of glazing chocolate underneath the bottom layer of biscuit - and then also checked Meilleur du Chef terms - and it seems that this term only correctly refers to spreading melted chocolate underneath the base of a cake - to create a protective shell for imbibing or from sticking to a plate.

So there you go. What's the recipe say?

HEY - they have an ENGLISH VERSION! Check out Chocolate Coating for Chablonner.

For the 'Tuiles Pistache':

"Chablonner sur un silpat et cuire dans un four à 150c jusqu'à coloration."

Spread a thin layer on a silpat and cook in the oven at 150 c just until colored?

I've seen that term chablonner or chablon from Steve Klc before and I thought it might mean template, in fact I think it's on the El Rey website for his nibs tuile recipe.

Thanks for those links, louisa.

If you want to get more of a look at the recipes, feel free to pm, don't want to get anyone upset over copyright junk.

Thanks again!

[tan319]

BTW, seriously dig this MDC link, it's been a long time since I've been to that site.

Thanks for refreshing the memory!

[Lesley C]

OK, ten points for anyone who can tell me what "festoner" means. This is a tough one.

[tan319]

lost me

[bleudauvergne]

OK, ten points for anyone who can tell me what "festoner" means. This is a tough one. 

The obvious would be to decorate or garnish, but then again it's probably not that obvious...

Edited April 14, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[nightscotsman]

Thanks for the info, Neil, acheveres.

The lexicon was pretty standard but a good thing to have around, thank you.

Neil, do you own the Conticini book?

How would you (or anyone else) rate it?

Thanks!

I'm afraid I don't own it and haven't had a chance to look through it. My next book purchases will probably be replacements for the ones that the Post Office LOST when I shipped them to Las Vegas.

[Lesley C]

The obvious would be to decorate or garnish, but then again it's probably not that obvious

Close. It actually means -- and I'm not making this up -- the action of making the scalloped edge on a pithivier.

The French have a term for everything.

[tan319]

Thanks for the info, Neil, acheveres.

The lexicon was pretty standard but a good thing to have around, thank you.

Neil, do you own the Conticini book?

How would you (or anyone else) rate it?

Thanks!

I'm afraid I don't own it and haven't had a chance to look through it. My next book purchases will probably be replacements for the ones that the Post Office LOST when I shipped them to Las Vegas.

Now, That SUCKS!!!

What books did you lose?

sorry to hear about this...

[Steve Klc]

The Conticini book is a smaller format, in French, lots of text: very philosophical, poetic, sources of his inspiration, nutrition, wine advice. Some nice pictures--not all dessert recipes are photographed--and it isn't as current as, say, the Thuries. You may not find it as helpful and instructive if you do not read French or have a friend who can help with terms like festoner.