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Is this even Chef English?


Kim Shook

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I just heard Michael Chiarello say that he was going to "tong up some chicken" onto some crepes to serve. This is among the most ridiculous phrases I have ever heard anyone utter. I know that every discipline has it’s own jargon, but I haven't heard that one!

Anyone have any other phrases that have made the hair on the back of your neck stand up?

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BAM!

edited to add: Is that considered a phrase?

Edited by I_call_the_duck (log)

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

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YUM-O!

Tablescape!

:laugh::laugh::laugh: ! Miss Amy, you must watch tv the same time that I do! Every day I can manage it, I sit down at 5:30 eastern to shout at Sandra and hoot with laughter and then race to the remote at 6pm to turn off Rachel before she can start the semaphore-ing :laugh: ! I don't know why I find Sandra hysterically funny and Rachel nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating, but I do!

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I just heard Michael Chiarello say that he was going to "tong up some chicken" onto some crepes to serve.  This is among the most ridiculous phrases I have ever heard anyone utter.[...]

Why? He was using tongs, so he turned that noun into a verb, much as someone using a knife can knife someone. Doesn't seem too weird to me.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Tonging up chicken doesn't bother me; it's a creative way of turning a noun into a verb (much like spooning up chicken).

I once overheard someone saying he would "sashimi a fish." Descriptive, and didn't bother me at all.

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

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YUM-O!

Tablescape!

:laugh::laugh::laugh: ! Miss Amy, you must watch tv the same time that I do! Every day I can manage it, I sit down at 5:30 eastern to shout at Sandra and hoot with laughter and then race to the remote at 6pm to turn off Rachel before she can start the semaphore-ing :laugh: ! I don't know why I find Sandra hysterically funny and Rachel nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating, but I do!

Yeah, I like to sit around and yell at both of them. I can't take more than about five minutes of Sandra, though. I tend to switch to something else as soon as commercials come on. It's fun to switch back at the end of the show to make fun of the "tablescape," though. I mean, who DOES that?? Who takes more time setting the table than preparing the meal? It's just so absurdly funny.

Another phrase that had me all in a dither: I heard a chef on TV say he was going to "Knock something up for dinner." :blink: Ummm... last I checked the phrase "knock up" meant something entirely different. I laughed and laughed...

-Sounds awfully rich!

-It is! That's why I serve it with ice cream to cut the sweetness!

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Tonging up chicken doesn't bother me; it's a creative way of turning a noun into a verb (much like spooning up chicken).

I once overheard someone saying he would "sashimi a fish." Descriptive, and didn't bother me at all.

Actually, I kind of like the culinary forms of noun-to-verbing like "plating up" or "fire" (as in food not people :raz: ).

But, personally, the one I HATE is using "impact" as a verb, and a transitive verb at that. It just sounds awkward and, well, WRONG. :sad: But I digress.

I can see a chef who's designed a carrot garnish for a dish telling someone it's time to "carrot the pork." Yes?

Emily
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Another phrase that had me all in a dither: I heard a chef on TV say he was going to "Knock something up for dinner."  :blink:  Ummm... last I checked the phrase "knock up" meant something entirely different. I laughed and laughed...

In each context, your waistline is going to suffer, it's just a matter of degree :wink:

Judy Jones aka "moosnsqrl"

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M.F.K. Fisher

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I hate words used to descibe dishes that have no bearing on the original and specific meaning. "cassoulet of green beans" for example. What then is the dish from southre france made with dried beans?

It makes the language lose precision and become sloppy. Au Jus, now institutionalised, is another example, and no longer means dressed with the meat pan juices from the cooking.

Maybe its just US English. In that context there are several UK phrases that don't carry well Knock up has been referred to (also means wake up, as in "knock someone up in the morning"), which you don't say in the US unless you know them very well. To bum, meaning borrow, has a different meaning in the US, as does rubber (eraser), or fag (cigarette).

There are a whole class of words deemed politically incorrect. Blackboards are now chalkboards. You can no longer call someone "a Lady", but you can call them "a bitch"

Edited by jackal10 (log)
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I seem to recall a food blogger ranting about the use of the word "off" - "searing off", "firing off", et cetera.

I, too, like the noun-to-verb translation practice but the "off" thing grates on me for some reason.

Andrea

in Albuquerque

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As per Tim Hayward:

Foodies love the arcane patois of the professional kitchen and, whenever possible, use it in general conversation. "Frying off", sounds gratifyingly professional, which, of course, it is, in the right circumstances. "I'll just pour two pints of industrial-grade grease into this metre-square brat pan, fry off 800 battery chicken breasts, slap them under the heat lamps and hope no one dies on my shift." That's professional. "I'll fry off this Marks & Spencer salmon fishcake," on the other hand, is just absurd.

That quote resulted in a spit-take upon first read!

Article here, eGullet thread here.

So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."

So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

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My first gig ever I worked for a guy said quaiz as in queer+mayonaise=quaiz everytime he wanted something chopped up in the robot coupe. I was very confused the first time he told me to quaise something up. The second time I got it. I finally figured out that he had bastardized the word Cuisinart into this strange quaise word, whatever he meant to accomplish by doing that I will probably never know. I would have said qwiz like the word, or queeze as in squeeze, but he chose quaze. Aside from another partner who mispronounced everything that was French, and he was head chef at a French Bistro, and he was an extremely good. It's almost as if he thought it was uncool to pronounce things properly.

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Aside from another partner who mispronounced everything that was French, and he was head chef at a French Bistro, and he was an extremely good.  It's almost as if he thought it was uncool to pronounce things properly.

Lol. I used to do that all the time - intentionally mis-pronounce every French word we used... Made the chef especially mad since he knew I speak fluent and proper French. Then when the servers would come around I'd piss them off too by speaking in real French and they couldn't understand... :cool:

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Gordon Ramsay, in every viewing, says to some poor bloke, "You know that, don't you!" when they clearly don't get it, and are totally humilated. He could use better English, without the swear words, to explain and educate.

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Tonging up chicken doesn't bother me; it's a creative way of turning a noun into a verb (much like spooning up chicken).

I once overheard someone saying he would "sashimi a fish." Descriptive, and didn't bother me at all.

I agree. The tong comment is innocuous. It makes sense to me.

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that is disturbing

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

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If you want ridiculous food phrases, just sit down at your typical upscale restaurant and open the menu ... quite a few I've come across have little grasp of the English language ... if the word passes the spellcheck test, it's okay (which leads to hilarious results). Additionally, the misuse of commas, colons and semicolons just bug the heck out of me ... posting on the internet is one thing, but on your menu, you should look polished.

Line Cook and Food Geek, Seattle, WA

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Aside from another partner who mispronounced everything that was French, and he was head chef at a French Bistro, and he was an extremely good.  It's almost as if he thought it was uncool to pronounce things properly.

Lol. I used to do that all the time - intentionally mis-pronounce every French word we used... Made the chef especially mad since he knew I speak fluent and proper French. Then when the servers would come around I'd piss them off too by speaking in real French and they couldn't understand... :cool:

why were you doing this? i don't understand.

Marlena the spieler

www.marlenaspieler.com

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Aside from another partner who mispronounced everything that was French, and he was head chef at a French Bistro, and he was an extremely good.  It's almost as if he thought it was uncool to pronounce things properly.

Lol. I used to do that all the time - intentionally mis-pronounce every French word we used... Made the chef especially mad since he knew I speak fluent and proper French. Then when the servers would come around I'd piss them off too by speaking in real French and they couldn't understand... :cool:

why were you doing this? i don't understand.

Just to be an "utz" or a "noodge" would be my guess...

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

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