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Do you identify as a pescatarian, or maybe a flexitarian (or is it flexatarian)? Do you say rocket or arugula? Sunchoke or Jerusalem artichoke? How do you pronounce pecan? Are you more likely to give a man a fish, or teach him to fish--and who came up with that saying, anyway? All these may qualify as future topics of a fabulous new bi-weekly blog column on cookthink.com called "Minced Words," penned by Merriam-Webster lexicographer and bar proprietress Emily Brewster. The subject? The language of food, something right up my alley (in fact, i wish I'd thought of it first). So far, Ms. Brewster has investigated the roots of political pork expressions like "pork barrel spending" and "high on the hog," questioned her own bar-restaurant's use of "carpaccio" for a dish without meat or fish (a pear dish, in this case), and waxed poetic on the subject of celestial-themed food terms like "ambrosia" and "angel food cake."
Ms. Brewster, a sort of William Safire of the food realm, has plenty of material to work with. The carpaccio bit interested me most so far--restaurant menus are notoriously loose in their terminology. Terrine, torte, deconstructed this, essence of that. What's your food terminology pet peeve?
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10-29-2008 @6:55PM NinaZer0 said... Confit! A confit is the preservation of meat (such as duck) under a layer of fat via slow-cooking in that fat. I have seen confit of baby peas and various confit of fruits and it drives me nuts.
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10-29-2008 @8:15PM Scott said... My pet peeve is weird pronunciations that seem to have taken hold for some bizarre reason. Prime suspect:
Mascarpone. ma-scar-PO-nay. It's Italian.
But even famous chefs on TV are saying MAR-sca-pone. There's no "R" until waaaay later in the word. Arrrrrgh.
Also, along similar lines, it's chipotle, not chipolte.
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10-29-2008 @8:18PM Scott said... And, not to be all contrarian, NinaZer0, but confit of fruits is a very old French tradition, somewhere between candied fruit and fruit preserves. Like, whole fruits infused with a sugar syrup until preserved in jars... confit. Peas, though? That just sounds wrong.
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10-30-2008 @12:46PM Blushing Hostess said... Only one instance has really stayed with me: The Post House, in Mt. Pleasant, SC which claimed braised short ribs on the menu then brought me SLICED brisket and tried to tell me those long thin slices were short rib meat... Was it verbage or a worse offense? I will never know...
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11-02-2008 @7:31PM Stacie said... Every single shrimp ever sold in a chain restaurant has been "succulent." Every item that has been grilled has been done so "to perfection." Gah.
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