French Menu Companion: Dictionary of French Food, Wine and Cheese

Never again fear a French menu. This French-to-English food dictionary makes menu translation easy. It contains over 7000 entries, including over 650 cheeses, 350 wines and more than 200 sauces. In addition, this dictionary makes it easy for you to look up menu items that consist of multiple-word phrases. Just look up one of the words and you will see all of the words that are normally associated with it. For example, "abatis aux navets" is listed twice: once under "abatis" and again under "navet." It could not be easier. A veritable encyclopedia, this dictionary offers in-depth information about many dishes, cheeses and wines, including typical ingredients, the region of origin of particular dishes, and other notes on French cuisine. Some examples: ballotine boned thigh meat of poultry stuffed with minced meat, and possibly truffles and/or foie gras [cooked by roasting, braising, or poaching; usually shaped like a sausage or the leg, sometimes with a cleaned piece of bone protruding; served hot or cold, sometimes with a gelatin glaze] Arbois AOC white, red, yellow and straw wines from Jura [the whites, from chardonnay, savagnin and (very rarely) pinot blanc grapes, tend to be fruity and delicate and can be kept for 3 to 5 years; the reds from trousseau grapes tend to be light while those from poulsard grapes are darker; they can and can be kept 3 to 5 years; the yellows are from savagnin grapes and can be kept for 100 years; the straw wines are made from grape clusters which have been partially dried on straw to concentrate their sugars, so they are quite sweet] Tomme au marc marc cheese [cow’s milk; the curd is pressed in a container filled with grape pomace brandy which remains on the rind and permeates the cheese with the taste of alcohol; it has a subtle fruity aroma and a mild, earthy flavor] Because the regions of France are quite varied, regional dishes may have names based on the local dialect. This dictionary includes hundreds of these local dishes. Examples: txangurro typically: crab mixed and cooked with with onions, leeks, carrots or tomatoes and sometimes brandy [Pays basque, Aquitaine] kig-ha-farz porridge-dumpling [literally: meat and stuffing; a porridge of milk, egg and buckwheat flour is placed in a tied bag and simmered in a pot containing meat such as pork knuckle and beef, with vegetables such as carrot and cabbage; the porridge-dumpling is typically served with butter, bacon and shallots along side the meats and vegetables; Bretagne] beenestich bee sting cake; bee’s nest cake [a small cake with a vanilla custard filling and a baked-on topping of almonds; Alsace] With this book in hand, you can go forth and discover some of the world's best, most beautiful and most interesting cuisine.