Understand the menu in French
A short French-English Glossary of essential restaurant terms.
Translations
of the main expressions found on French menus
About-France.com
- the connoisseur's guide to France
| On this page: | Entrées | Main courses |
| Desserts | Methods of serving | Various |
Entrées / Starters
Andouillette: roast spicy tripe sausage.Bouillabaisse: Mediterranean fish soup.
Charcuterie: cold meats
Consommé: a thin soup
Croutons: bits of deep-fried bread, or fried or grilled bread with chese.
Crudités: selection of vegetable salads
Cuisses de grenouilles: frogs' legs
Escargots: snails
Feuilleté: puff pastry wrap
Jambon: ham
Jambon de montagne, jambon cru: cured, uncooked ham.
Paté: ground meat or liver paste.
Paté de foie gras: very rich goose liver or duck liver paté.
Potage: soup
Quenelles: fingers or dumpling of ground white meat or fish, usually served with a creamy sauce;
Salade composée: mixed green salad
Saumon fumé: smoked salmon
Terrine: Paté, cold meat
Plats principaux / Main courses :
a) Fish & seafood:
Brochet: pike (see quenelles above)Cabillaud : cod
Crevettes: shrimps
Daurade: Sea bream
Flétan: Halibut
Fruits de mer: selection of shellfish and crustaceans
Homard: lobster
Loup (Loup de mer) : Sea bass
Moules: mussels
Poulpe: octopus
Raie: Ray
Rouget: Red mullet
Truite: Trout
Saint Jacques (noix de..) : scallops
Sandre: Sander or pike-perch
Saumon: Salmon
Saumonette: dogfish
Thon: Tuna fish
b) Meat:
(see also methods of serving below)Agneau: lamb
Carré d'agneau: rack of lamb
Navarin d'agneau : lamb hotpot
Biftek haché: hamburger steak
Boeuf: beef
Boeuf bourguignon: beef casserole in a wine sauce
Canard: duck
Magret de canard: duck's breast
Chèvre: goat
Chevreuil: deer
Dinde: turkey
Lapin: rabbit
Oie: goose
Porc: pork
Filet mignon de porc: pork tenderloin
Poulet: chicken
Sanglier: wild boar
Veau: veal.
Ris de veau: veal sweetbreads (made from a calf's pancreas)
Methods of serving ...
... and describing:These terms can be applied to various meats, vegetable or fish dishes.
Béchamel: in a white creamy sauce
Beignets: fritters
Côtes de ... chops
Chasseur: In a rich gravy, with a variety of mushrooms.
En daube: in a stew.
Escalope: filet (veal or turkey)
Farci: stuffed
Fermier: fresh from the farm
Forestière: In a rich wine based sauce, with mushrooms and onions.
Gratin de.. baked in a creamy cheese sauce
Aux Lardons: with chopped bacon
Pané: breaded
Poêlé: pan fried
Provençal: served with herbs and mediterranean vegetables
Rôti: roast
Cooking times for steak:
Saignant: rare
A point: medium
Bien cuit: well cooked.
Potato dishes
Aligot : creamed potatoes with cheese mixed inPommes de terre en robe des champs : potatoes in their jackets
Tartiflette : A potato gratinee with onions and melted cheese
Desserts and cheese:
Beignets de ...: fritters of ...Coupe .... Generally a fruit and ice-cream or sorbet based dish.
Crème brulée: caramel custard
Flan: custard tart
Fondant au chocolat: warm soft-centered chocolate pudding
Mousse au chocolat: chocolate mousse
Tarte tatin: caramelised apple tart
Tarte aux pommes : apple tart
Plateau de fromages: cheeseboard. See French cheese guide
Various:
Fondu savoyard : (Fondu comtois, fondu de fromage) a pot of melted cheese, in which diners twist bits of bread.
Fondu bourguignon: A pot of hot oil, in which diners cook small pieces of tender beef.
Raclette: A tabletop grill, under which diners grill cheese and slices of charcuterie. Served with hot potatoes, gherkins & pickled onions
See also: Understand the menu in Spain
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