French Culinary Terms

[Doodad]

This is probably the wrong place to post this, but:

I breezed past a FN episode of "Guys Big Bite" (yeah, Fieri). He made a dish they were calling "Moc-Shoe". I know that's not the correct spelling for the classic dish and am wracking my brain (and google) for the right term/recipe. Can anyone give me a clue?

Thanks.

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Maque choux- and it is a great side dish.

[aliaseater]

Right on target Doodad--Thank you so much!

[gfron1]

Here's the phonetic summary. Keep adding and correcting.

Tuile - Two-eel

Genoise - J-eh-nwah-ze

Bavaroise - Ba-va-rwah / Ba-va-rwah-zeCrepe - Creh-pe

Cannelle - ca-neh-le / canelé - ca-nəh-leh (ə being like euh)

Dacquoise - dack-wah-ze

Dragees - drag-ay [it's a soft g, accent on the 2nd syllable (dra-ZHEY)]

Dulce de Leche - dool say day leh chayPithiviers - correctly pronounced PTVA

Frangipane - fran gee pain

Gesztenyetorte - geh sten ye tor ta

Kastanientorte - kah-stahn-nyen-tort-eh

Macaron - Ma-ca-rohn (ron, is pronunced like r-on (ON as in ONtario not turn ON the music)

Millefeuille - Meel-fuh-eye (say it quickly)

Non pareil - Nohn pah-ray / non-puh-REL

Sfogliatelle - shfoo-ya-dell or schvee-a-dell

Useful tools:

For French, you might try this site!

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/millefeuille

Click the red little speaker symbols for audio.

[Joe Blowe]

Sfogliatelle = shfoo-ya-dell or schvee-a-dell 

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Here's the phonetic summary.  Keep adding and correcting.

...

Sfogliatelle - shfoo-ya-dell or schvee-a-dell

...

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I knew there was a chance that this would come back to bite me!

That would be the "New Joisey" pronunciation. As in Tony asking Carmela where's that box of shfooyadells!

Correct pronunciation can be found here...

[rooftop1000]

Sfogliatelle = shfoo-ya-dell or schvee-a-dell 

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Here's the phonetic summary.  Keep adding and correcting.

...

Sfogliatelle - shfoo-ya-dell or schvee-a-dell

...

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I knew there was a chance that this would come back to bite me!

That would be the "New Joisey" pronunciation. As in Tony asking Carmela where's that box of shfooyadells!

Correct pronunciation can be found here...

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looks the same to me

tracey

[gfron1]

I forgot how much fun this topic was Here's a basic one that I could use some nuancing on: madeleine ...what is the sound at the end?

[isomer]

I forgot how much fun this topic was    Here's a basic one that I could use some nuancing on:  madeleine ...what is the sound at the end?

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It's the sound of saying the letter "N". Maddle-"N"

[CanadianBakin']

I'm glad you brought this topic up again.

How about Grenobloise?

[jumanggy]

Gron-o-blahz, but a little, uh, Frenchier than I typed (use your imagination Actually, I didn't even know that, I just watched a few videos on Youtube to catch a French person saying it.

[John DePaula]

I'm glad you brought this topic up again.

How about Grenobloise?

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I would say it's more like: Gruhn-o-blwahz.

Edited June 25, 2009 by John DePaula (log)

[rickster]

I'm glad you brought this topic up again.

How about Grenobloise?

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I would say it's more like: Gruhn-o-blwahz.

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I agree with the last half, but think that "Gren" is pronounced closer to the way it is spelled, than "Gruhn", but I suppose it can depend on your accent too.

[Abra]

Madeleine = Mahd-lenn

Grenobloise = greuh-no-blwahz approximately, but that particular e sound doesn't really exist in English, it's a little shorter than our eh sound

edited to add: the pronunciation of millefeuille is another that can't be easily compared to English, but fuh-eye (as above) is definitely not it. I'd go with meel-foy-ee before I'd say meel-fuh-eye, knowing that that's not exactly it either, but it's a lot closer. If you can pronounce the word oeil in French, the feuille sound is almost exactly the same.

Edited June 25, 2009 by Abra (log)

[polpus]

How about Dulce de Leche?

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http://www.forvo.com/word/dulce_de_leche/

[RichardJones]

This is a fun topic. It's also quite eye-opening to see how foreign words get subsumed and morphed and anglicized, americanized and so on.

While some of the pronunciations given seem to be what one hears most often from American speakers, they also vary wildly from the French.

For those that are interested, I'll have a go at International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions of most of the French words discussed as pronounced in 'standard French'. Although not perfect, the IPA is useful since it is a common point of reference... a personal transcription (such as 'Creh-pe') will be pronounced in a host of different ways depending on where you're from.

[NB In case my IPA font does not work online see bottom of post for a screenshot of the next section.]

Tuile [tɥil]

Genoise [ʒenwaz]

Bavaroise [bavaʁwaz]

Cannelle (cinnamon) [kanɛl]

Cannelé (batter-based nibble) [kanle]

Dacquoise [dakwaz]

Dragees [dʁaʒe]

Pithiviers [pitivje]

Frangipane [fʁɑ̃nʒipan]

Macaron [makaʁɔ̃]

Millefeuille [milfœj]

Non pareil [nɔ̃paʁɛj]

If you are not familiar with the IPA have a look here where there is a clickable chart. A few quick pointers are that in an IPA transcription every element is pronounced. The consonants are largely similar to their 'neutral' forms in English, with the ʒ symbol representing the soft sound of 'g' in 'genre'.

The vowels are trickier and I would refer you to the site above for more information if you care about precision. It might be worth pointing out there is a difference between e and ɛ and between a and ɑ. The little squiggle ̃ means the vowel is nasalized.

I hope this is of some interest, if only minority.

R

Screenshot of the above:

[chezcherie]

gahhhh...i hate this sign of aging. can't for the life of me recall the french term for scoring the edge of dough with the spine of a knife to create a decorative border. anybody?? tia!

[andiesenji]

gahhhh...i hate this sign of aging. can't for the life of me recall the french term for scoring the edge of dough with the spine of a knife to create a decorative border. anybody?? tia!

Friser? Maybe you mean "plier" (plee-aa) but that is a folded edge like on a pasty.

It's been forty years since I took a course in French cookery, and I recall few terms but these sort of stuck in my mind.

Edited February 23, 2013 by andiesenji (log)

[Lisa Shock]

I believe it's Sertir, here's an example of it in use: http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Pinces-Sertir-Pate-Sucre-Pate-dAmande-Patisserie-etc-/120895567247?pt=FR_YO_MaisonJardin_Cuisine_UstensilesdeCuisine&hash=item1c25eff58f

[chezcherie]

thanks to you both. after some searching, i think the term i was looking for is chiqueter. refers to crimping, not necessarily, but possibly with the back of a knife. that may not be it, though...i still have that "unscratched itch" feeling about this term.

[jmacnaughtan]

Yes, chiqueter is the term you're looking for. I don't know how many hours I've spent doing it on Galettes des Rois...

[Alleguede]

Yes the term is "chiqueter la pâte". It refers to either using a special tool to do the rim of a tart but also the gesture to push back a dough with a finger or knife...

[georgeb]

I recall hearing a French culinary term meaning, "the best possible use/condition" for any particular ingredient.

Can someone please help, or just tell me that I was dreaming...

[Cesum Pec]

There is a method of pan cooking in lots of butter, where the butter is repeatedly pushed over the meat. I've seen it on some cooking show and wanted to read up on it more but can't remember the name of this technique. Any one know?

[nickrey]

Basting?

[weinoo]

Sure sounds like basting to me. In this case, butter basting. You can see it in action in this topic: How to Cook a Steak.

[Cesum Pec]

That Ducasse method is close to what I saw but not quite it. And the term they used was French sounding, nothing as easy as basting unfortunately. Thanks for trying.