A
ADÈLE
Consommé Adèle - clear soup with peas, carrots and chicken quenelles.
ADELINE
Salade Adeline - salsify, tomato and cucumber salad.
AFFINE(-E)
Refined. Sometimes used to describe cheeses.
À L'AFRICAINE
African-style. With mushrooms, aubergines, tomatoes and potatoes.
AGEN
Capital of the Lot-et-Garonne department and of Agenais.
À L'AGENAISE
In the style of Agenais.
Oeufs à l'agenaise - eggs fried in goose fat, with onions and aubergines.
AGNEAU
Lamb.
AIGO
Garlic soup poured over slices of bread.
Aigo bouido is garlic soup with oil and egg, perhaps cubes of fried bread, traditionally served to newlyweds and on Christmas Eve.
Aigo à la ménagère - onion, leek, garlic and tomato soup with poached eggs.
Aigo sa(o)u - fish and garlic soup similar to bouillabaisse, but without the rascasse and with potatoes.
AIGRE
Sour, bitter.
AIGRE DE CEDREE
Variety of citron (cédrat).
AIGUILLETTE
Long thin slice cut from the breast, of poultry or game.
AIL
Garlic.
Soupe à l'ail - garlic soup with egg yolks poured on slices of bread.
AILE
Wing, of poultry, game birds.
AILLADA
Spicy garlic and oil sauce, served with snails.
AILLADE
Mayonnaise-type sauce of pounded garlic, herbs, tomatoes and oil, similar to aioli traditional in South of France. Sometimes added to stews, roasts etc.
Aillade albigeoise - version of aioli.
À la toulousaine - aioli with walnuts.
AILLÉ (-E)
Flavoured with garlic.
Aillée - green part of garlic, used in Poitou.
AIOLI
Garlic-flavoured mayonnaise, sometimes with breadcrumbs added, or cooked seaweed and Pernod; also known as aioli and beurre de Provence. Typical in the South of France. Accompaniment to bourride. Often served with fish, snails (a traditional Christmas Eve supper) or salad.
The old spelling was 'ayoli/ail-y-oli' - lit.: 'garlic and oil'.
AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Town in Provence.
À LA (À L', AU pl. AUX)
To, at, on etc. With (e.g. aux haricots verts: with French beans).
ALBERGE
Local name for peach (pêche).
ALBERT
Sauce Albert: creamy horseradish sauce named after Prince Albert by Queen Victoria's chef.
À L' ALBIGEOISE
In the style of Albi, the meaning of stuffed tomatoes, ham and potato croquettes.
Soupe/ potée albigeoise - meat soup with sausage, preserved goose, vegetables and garlic.
ALBIGNAC
Town in Limousin.
Salade d'Albignac - truffle salad with crayfish, chicken, celeriac, hard-boiled eggs, lettuce etc.
À L' ALÉSIENNE
In the style of Ales in Languedoc.
ALIGOT
Fresh, uncured cheese. Basis for Cantal cheese and similar to Italian Mozzarella made in mountain dairies, also known as Tomme d'Aligot/ Fraiche.
Puréed potatoes with Aligot cheese and often garlic, also made into flat cakes and fried.
ALIGOTÉ
Variety of grape used in Bourgogne resulting in some amazing wines.
ALIMENTATION (S)
Nutrition, food. Food shop, grocery.
ALLACHE
Type of large sardine.
ALLELUIA
Small cake in Languedoc.
ALLUMETTE
Match. A small strip of sweet or savoury puff pastry.
Pommes (de terre) allumettes - matchstick chips.
ALOYAU
Sirloin of beef. Large joint including the contre-filet and rump.
ALSACE
Province of North East of France.
(A L) ALSACIENNE
In the style of Alsace, meaning with choucroute, ham, sausage, potatoes, foie gras-any or all.
Chicken cooked in local wine, often Riesling.
Soupe à l'alsacienne - choucroute soup with potato dumplings.
AMANDE
Almond. Kernel, of fruit.
AMANDE DE MER
Dog-cockle, small shellfish.
AMANDIN (-E)
With almonds, almond-flavoured.
AMBASSADEUR
Ambassador.
Potage ambassadeur - puréed pea soup with sorrel, lettuce and rice.
AMBOISE
Town in Touraine, known for rillettes.
AMENLOU
Almond pastry in Languedoc.
AMER (AMÈRE)
Bitter.
AMOU
Farm-made sheep's milk cheese with strong flavour, named after the nearest town coming from Gascogne.
AMUSE-BOUCHE
An appetiser, a small snack, sometimes served with aperitifs.
ANACARDE
Cashew nut, also known as cajou and noix d'acajou.
ANCHOIADE/ANCHOYADE
Anchovy, oil, and garlic paste, sometimes with figs added, are served with raw vegetables or spread on toast. Typical in Provence and Corsica.
ANCHOIS
Anchovy, usually filleted and preserved, but often used fresh in Provence.
Anchois à la silésienne - cold with herring roes and potato and apple salad.
À la suédoise - cold with apple and beetroot salad and hard-boiled eggs.
(À L'ANCIENNE
In the style of the old school.
ANDOUILLE
Type of sausage, generally pork and made from a pigs large intestine filled with strips of chitterling and stomach: sold ready cooked, usually served cold as a fist course.
ANDOUILLETTE
Type of pork sausage, made like andouille but using the small intestine of a pig; sold ready-cooked, usually grilled and served hot with strong mustard and vegetables. Quite a distinguished taste that not everyone might like.
ANÉMONE DE MER
Sea anemone.
ANETH
Dill.
ANGÉLIQUE
Angelica, plant whose candied stem is used in cakes and creams especially in Charente-Mariotime region. Also an ingredient in liqueurs (e.g. Bénédictine) and basis for sève d'angélique.
À L'ANGEVINE
In the style of Anjou with Anjou wine.
ANGLET
Ring-shaped cake in Charentes.
ANGLOIS
Plum tart in Champagne.
ANGOULÊME
Capital of the Charente department and of Angou-mois.
ANGUILLE
Eel, usually caught in freshwater, although it is spawned and dies at sea.
ANIAU
Local name for mackerel (maquereau) in Bretagne.
ANIS (VERT)
Anise, aniseed, used in confectionery and liqueurs.
Small aniseed sweet.
Aniseed-flavoured aperitif, usually taken with water (e.g. Pernod).
ANISÉ(-E)
Flavoured with aniseed or caraway.
ANISETTE
Aniseed-flavoured liqueur, made with aniseed or coriander and fennel.
ANJOU
Province roughly equivalent to the Maine-et-Loire department.
ANNA
Pommes (de terre) Anna - potatoes cut into thin rounds and baked in layers with butter.
Invented for Anna Des-lions, the 19th-century courtesan.
ANNECY
Capital of the Haute-Savoie department in Savoie.
ANNETTE
Pommes (de terre) Annette - as pommes Anna, except that the potatoes are cut into strips.
À L'ANTILLAISE
In the style of Antilles and very often with rum.
APÉRITIF
Appetising. Aperitif drink taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite.
APÉRO
Short for apéritif.
APPELLATION (D'ORIGINE) CONTROLEE
The French system of quality control, often shortened to A C/ A OC, applied in particular to wine and cheese and to a range of other products, including butter, poultry, walnuts and many more products, giving a specific legal definition to the product, regulating the place of origin and also the breed/ variety and methods of manufacture/production.
APPÉTIT
Appetite. You may be wished 'bon appétit' before a meal.
ARAIGNÉE DE MER
Sea spider. Spider crab, also known as esquinadoun and squinado. Araignée de mer à la libour-dine: stuffed with coral, egg, wild mint, sweet pepper and lemon.
ARBOIS
Town in Jura making AC wines - red, white and rosé, a small amount of vin jaune, and the sparkling Arbois Mousseux.
ARCACHON
Bay on the coast of Bordelais.
ARCANETTE
The local name for a type of wild duck in Lorraine.
ARDENNES
Department and region in Champagne.
A L'ARDENNAISE
In the style of Ardennes, made with juniper berries, especially of small game birds and pork.
Pommes (de terre) à l'ardennaise - potatoes stuffed with eggs, ham, cheese and mushrooms. Or fried in slices as a flat cake with juniper berries.
Soupe à l'ardennaise - chicory, leek and potato soup.
ARDI-GASNA
Firm yellow sheep's milk cheese, strong in flavour, made on mountain farms in the Pays Basque region.
ARÊTE
Fishbone.
ARGENTEUIL
Town in Ile-de-France, known for asparagus.
À L’ARIÉGEOISE
In the style of Ariège. With cabbage, salt pork and potatoes (e.g. soupe ariégeoise). With kidney beans.
ARLESIENNE
In the style of Arles and served with tomatoes, onions, aubergines, potatoes, rice or olives.
Salade arlésienne: potato and artichoke salad with tomatoes, olives and anchovies.
Soupe arlésienne: chickpea and spinach soup with pasta and cheese. See also becfigue, escargot, sole and Tomme de Camargue.
ARMAGNAC
A region equivalent to the Gers department in Gascogne. The second excellent brandy of France produced in the departments of Gers and Landes (Gascogne) and Lot-et Garonne (Agenais).
ARMOTTE
Maize flour cooked in goose fat; eaten hot in place of bread, or cold, perhaps with sugar typical in Gascogne.
AROMATES
Seasoning.
AROMATIQUE
Aromatic.
AROME/ARÔME
Aroma, fragrance.
ARQUEBUSE
Herb liqueur, especially from Lyon and around.
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AURIN.
Local name for grey mullet (mulet) in the south of France.
AURIOL/AURIOU
The local name for mackerel (maquereau) in Provence.
AURIQUETTE
Milk bread coming from Lorraine.
AUTOMNE
Autumn.
A L'AUTRICHIENNE
Austrian-style. With paprika and sometimes onion, fennel and sour cream.
À L'AUVERGNATE
In the style of Auvergne.
Oeufs auvergnate - poached eggs with cabbage and sausages.
Potée/soupeà l'auvergnate- salt pork and cabbage soup, often with other vegetables and meats.
AVEC
With.
AVELINE
Filbert, a variety of hazelnut.
AVOCAT
Lawyer.
Avocado.
Avocat Fermont - hot, filled with poached egg and béarnaise sauce.
AVOINE
Oats.
AXONGE
Pork lard.
AZIMINU
Fish soup similar to bouillabaisse, typical in Corsica.
Inspired by a dear book to me I discovered in Le Prieure Bourg Charente
The taste of France. A dictionary of French food & Wine
Published in 1982