Quick note on "roux" I forgot

[karohemd]

German even has two words: Mehlschwitze (very roughly: fried flour) and (regional, Southern) Einbrenne (which has "to burn/burn in" as root).

Comments

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't classify 'Einbrenne' as German, though. Like so many southern terms, it is effectively part of a different language (alongside such 'foreign' terms as "Bratenreine", "Semmel", etc.)...


And the English word is "roux" - fully assimilated into the language

[cabd.livejournal.com]

Thats the difference between a brown sauce roux and a white sauce roux (which you'll find in many classic English recipe books), the former being the basis of many gravies and dark coloured sauces, the latter being the basis of bechemal. Oddly, many people get the terms 'roux' and 'bechemal' confused, and in fact that confusion is so common that referring to a bechemal sauce as 'roux sauce' is considered correct these days. I dunno, Careme would be turning in his grave...

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Both of the above are white, not a dark roux as you would use for Cajun dishes.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I'm actually not sure of the etymology of "Einbrenne" so you're probably right.

*nods* My dialect has lots of words borrowed from French, too, although they're slowly disappearing. My granddad definitely still used "Trottoir" while I don't.

[neophyte-13.livejournal.com]

many of the culinary terms used in english are still the original french e.g. julienne basically as cooking terms have been introduced over the years if there were no equivalents already in english the french was assumed. I still use a bain marie to prepare the lightest fluffiest scrambled eggs for my boy. I know that in america they call it a double boiler but to me that makes no sense as if anything is boiling the temperature is too high to be a true bain marie... the water should be merely simmering.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods*
I think a double boiler is a specific gadget, while a baine marie can be just a bowl over a saucepan with simmering water.
Whereas the German just is a "water bath" which doesn't imply the temperature but describes exactly what it is. ;o)

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

I assumed we must have had a word before roux came along. After all, it's the basis for gravy. So I checked Mrs Beeton on Project Gutenberg.

Here's what she says:
BROWN ROUX, a French Thickening for Gravies and Sauces.

So it's a thickening. She also talks about using oatmeal or pounded biscuits as a thickening so it's no so precise as roux.

It also shows that the term roux has been around for a long time in English. Apparently French chefs were very fashionable at one point in Victorian times and they introduced the idea of setting everything in aspic that lasted until the 70s, 1970s that is.

Someone who has online access to the OED might be able to tell you more.

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

many of the culinary terms used in English are still the original french

Indeed- pork, mutton, beef & veal spring to mind.

While alive, the animals have English names- once they become food, they're frenchified ;)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered why that was the case. ;o)

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

And you know the origin of Marmalade, of course?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Portuguese for quince, IIRC.

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

The explanation I know is a variant on this one (although in the version I was familiar with, the chef is asked "What is this" &, not speaking English, merely responds with "Marie est malade"):

Legend has it that Marie Antoinette awoke one morning with a headache. Her chef, on being told that "Marie est malade"(Marie is sick) concocted a bitter conserve of oranges and sugar to tempt her appetite - hence "marmalade".

Heh

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Never heard that one before.

[professoryaffle.livejournal.com]

The first example the online OED gives is 1813

A mixture of melted butter and flour used for thickening soups, sauces, and gravies.
1813 L. E. UDE French Cook vi. 140 Cut your chops.., then fry them in a little butter, of a nice brown colour, drain this butter, and make a roux very blond. Ibid. xiii. 297 Put a lump of butter into a stew-pan... Then make a roux by mixing a little flour. When your roux begins to get brown, put in two large onions cut [etc.]. Ibid. xiv. 361 After having stewed your oysters.., you make a roux blanc into which you put a few small onions, [etc.]. 1845 E. ACTON Mod. Cookery (ed. 2) iv. 97 Sauce tourneé is..rich pale gravy..thickened with delicate white roux. 1861 MRS. BEETON Bk. Househ. Managem. 251 White roux, for thickening White Sauces... Allow the same proportions of butter and flour..and proceed in the same manner as for brown roux. 1882 MRS. H. REEVE Cookery & Housek. xxiii. 271 Sauces require to be bound together, and for this purpose either roux, arrowroot, potato flour, or eggs are used. 1945 ABC of Cookery (Ministry of Food) xiii. 51 This mixture of fat and flour is called a roux. 1965 House & Garden Dec. 84/4 Cook for a further few minutes to dispel the raw flour taste, then stop, if you want the roux white, carry on a little longer for the blonde, and longer still for a brown. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov., The roux should be brown but not burned. Do not burn or you will ruin the gravy.

I wonder if there was an official word before that as it at that point in time recipes had been in print rather than written for about 50 years

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered why that was the case

Dates back to the Norman Conquest - the victorious French invaders subsequently formed the upper classes whilst the farm workers were English.