Grenouille Confit
The Gastronomic Adventures of a Duck and a Frog in Paris

Paris is a city full of great restaurants modestly tucked behind unassuming facades on otherwise unnotable streets. This is a city that rewards gastronomic exploration. An epicurean explorer at heart, this is a place where I share my discoveries with you, as well as, some tips and advice on navigating the waters. Whether you are a visitor looking to avoid the ubiquitous traps of over-priced mediocrity or you are resident looking to (re-) discover the gastromic wealth of this city, I want you to eat well in the city that I love.

Tips for Tourists: Deciphering the French Menu



When I first moved here, I jumped at every chance I got to have an English menu. Hungry, I usually didn't feel up for the language learning exercise a French menu would be. However, after peering over a Froggy's shoulder, I started to suspect that something in the translation had been lost. Homard éclaté dans une essence marine à l'echalote grise à la syrah seemed to me somehow different (and better) than 'lobster with red wine and shallots'. Sometimes, sketchy translations can do more than make a luscious dish sound boring - they can make an otherwise great dish sound positively unpalatable. Like lotte sur un lit de choucroute et raisins translated as 'fish on sour cabbage with dry raisins'. It took me a while to realize that the 'dry' raisins were just raisins of the regular sort and sour cabbage was in fact better known to most English speakers as sauerkraut, but what about lotte. So I asked Froggy.

'A fish.'
'Yes. I know. But what kind of fish?'
'I don't know. It's big and ugly.'
'Ok.'
'And white.'
' Um...ok thanks.'

As it turns out Froggy was right. Lotte is big and ugly when its alive, but it's also lovely served over sauerkraut with raisins. Lotte is none other than that tasty bottom-dweller known as monkfish.

Other times, I would be so frustrated with people treating me like I was stupid, that I wouldn't even bother to ask. Once I ordered rognons de veau. I knew veau was veal. No problem. However, in my hypoglycemic state, my brain somehow connected rognons with 'round' and 'round' with 'medallions'. Great. Veal medallions. Yum. When my dinner came, I pushed my 'medallions' around on my plate and one almost rolled right onto the floor. They were definitely round. Sighing, I steeled myself and took a bite. It was actually quite good, but it was obvious to me that I was eating an organ. And then I thought, what if I was right after all? What if rognon did mean 'round' and 'round' was some French euphemism for testicle. There, of course, would be nothing wrong with that. Like I said, they were tasty. But if I was breaking new gastronomic ground, I wanted to know. So I swallowed my pride and asked Froggy. When he finished laughing at me, he explained that I wasn't eating anything more questionable or groundbreaking than kidney.

After that, I decided no more. Chances are, if you want to dine well in Paris, you will end up in a bistrot that doesn't have an English menu, with companions or a server who don't know how to explain to you exactly what it is you're eating in English. But don't let your fear of eating testicles turn you off of trying new things or seeking out those very French restaurants. It is almost the only way you'll get to try authentic French cuisine. Just do what I did.

Get yourself a small gastronomic dictionary. A regular pocket dictionary won't do. The French have many words to describe the cut, style, origin and preparation of food. Your pocket dictionary is unlikely to have words as specific as jambonneau (hand of pork, pork knuckle, stuffed chicken thigh) or paleron (cut of meat from neck to ribs). I paid 4 euros on Amazon.fr. for mine and it has proven to be indispensable (mine is always in my purse). You can get yours here.


NB: There are two other common confusions that English speakers have when confronting the French menu.

1) Entrée means appetizer in French.

2)Menu in French refers to a set-price meal, usually consisting of 3 or more courses. What we would call a menu in English (a priced list of a restaurant's offerings), in French is called a carte.
0 comments:

Post a Comment



Contributors

Daphne Duck

is a Canadian writer, who loves to eat, drink, and . . . write about it. Fortunately for her, Paris is the perfect place to do all three.

Benoit the Froggy

is a computer wizard by day, unrepentant sensualist by night. He is also Daphne's navigator. Without him, she would always be lost.

Followers