Martha’s Vineyard restaurant menu items explained

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Menus these days can be confusing for those of us unfamiliar with fancy and foreign terms for basic ingredients such as butter and pork fat. Here are a few terms that confused us and their definitions.

Airline Chicken: a chicken breast with drumstick attached, otherwise boneless

Beurre Blanc: “white butter” in French, this sauce is a combination of butter, white wine or vinegar, and shallots

Bolognese: a meat sauce

Chicken Saltimbocca: chicken topped with prosciutto and sage.

Confit: food that has been immersed in oil or sugar water prior to cooking or serving

Crostino: toasted bread

Fleur de Sel: a fine, hand-harvested sea salt

Lardon: small chunk of pork fat

Pomme Frites: basically French fries

Potato Dauphinois: potatoes in a butter and cream sauce

Ragout: when a stew is served as a main dish

Sabayon: a foamy, egg-yolk mixture.

Semifreddo: a half-frozen dessert, usually consisting of equal parts whipped cream and ice cream

Tapenade: an hors d’oeuvre common to southern France, usually consisting of finely chopped olives, capers, and anchovies

Veloute: a buttery sauce made with a light stock (in this case, black truffle — a type of French fungus)