文/羊生生
Yes, France IS the country of fine cuisine. But whether it's in a restaurant or at home, a good meal always starts in the kitchen. With this lesson on French kitchen vocabulary, you'll be able to steal your friends' good recipes!
Cooking in a French Kitchen
Your childhood French friend Hortense has invited you over for New Year's Eve... along with 30 other people! You offer your help, which she accepts: she's counting on you to assist her dans la cuisine (in the kitchen), because, after all, you've been friends forever! Hortense is about to prepare the hors-d'oeuvres, so she grabs a long list of ingredients out of the frigo and a plateau for serving them. Wait, what's that?
Storing and Preparing La Nourriture (The Food)
Kitchens in France are smaller and less open than those in North America, true. But the French still manage to prepare excellent meals in tiny spaces. Let's go over the basic equipment used to store and prepare food:
French Pronunciation English
Une cuisine Ku-ee-zee-n A kitchen
Un réfrigérateur Ray-free-zhee-ra-tör Refrigerator
Un frigo (colloquial Free-go Fridge
Un placard Pla-kar Cupboard
Une étagère Ay-ta-zheh-r Shelf
Un tiroir Tee-r-wah-r Drawer
Un four Foo-r Oven
Une cuisinière Ku-ee-zee-ni-eh-r Stovetop
Une cuisinière à gaz Ku-ee-zee-ni-eh-r a-gaz Gas stove
Une plaques de cuisson vitrocéramiques Pla-k dö ku-ee-san vee-tro-say-ra-mik Ceramic glass cooktops
Une plaques de cuisson au gaz Pla-k dö ku-ee-san o-gaz Gas cooktops
Un micro-ondes Mee-kro an-d Microwave
Hortense is growing more and more nervous. Clearly, you've been hired as a helper for the whole evening. Here are the actions she might ask you to do:
French Pronunciation English
Cuire Ku-ee-r To cook
Réchauffer (au micro-ondes) Ray-sho-fay To heat (in the microwave)
Découper Day-koo-pay To cut
Couper Koo-pay To chop
En petits morceaux On pö-ti mor-so In small pieces
En fines lamelles On fee-n la-meh-l In fine slices
Laver La-vay To wash
Remuer Rö-mu-ay To toss, to stir
Mélanger (une salade) May-lon-zh-ay To mix, to blend, to toss (a salad)
Where and how can you do that?
French Pronunciation English
Un couteau Koo-to Knife
Un couteau de cuisine Koo-to dö ku-ee-zee-n Kitchen knife
Une fourchette Foo-r-sh-eh-t Fork
Une cuiller (also spelled: cuillère) Ku-ee-yeh-r Spoon
Une planche à découper Plon-she a-day-koo-pay A cutting board
Un plan de travail Plon dö tra-va-y Counter
Serving the Food
The hors d'oeuvres have been served, but your job is far from being over: in France, meals during a seated dinner follow a very specific order:
l'entrée (on-tray): starters
le plat principal (pla pruhn-si-pal): main meal
le fromage (fro-ma-zh): literally, it means 'cheese.' The French usually have cheese after their main meal.
le dessert (day-seh-r): dessert
In order to servir (serve) the food and beverages, here's what you'll need:
French Pronunciation English
Un plateau Pla-to Tray
Une assiette A-si-eh-t Plate
Du sel Seh-l (Some) salt
Une salière Sa-li-eh-r A salt shaker
Du poivre P-wah-vre (Some) pepper
Une poivrière P-wah-vree-eh-r A pepper mill
Un verre Veh-r A glass
Une coupe / Une flûte Koo-pe / Flu-te A champagne glass
Un verre à pied Veh-r a-piay A wine glass
Un tire-bouchon Tee-r boo-shan A corkscrew
Of course, because you're still as clumsy as you were when you were a child, you spill some champagne on the floor as you open it. Hortense is not happy about it, but at least you didn't drop a plate, which would have entailed another delay in her military-like organization. But be careful: there are MANY actions you do not want to do in a kitchen:
French Pronunciation English
Casser Ka-say To break
Renverser (par terre) Ron-veh-r-say (par-teh-r) To spill (on the floor)
Faire tomber Feh-r tam-bay To drop, to make something fall
Se couper Sö koo-pay To cut oneself
Se blesser Sö bleh-say To injure oneself
Se brûler Sö bru-lay To burn oneself
Brûler Bru-lay To burn, to overcook
Cleaning Up
Dessert, finally! As Hortense slowly but surely drags you back to the kitchen to help her put everything away, you make her promise that next year, you'll be off duty and treated as a real guest. She nods, and then points to the poubelle (garbage) to get you moving! Here's what she might also need you to do:
French Pronunciation English
Débarrasser (la table) Day-ba-ra-say (la ta-ble) To clear (the table)
Ranger Ron-zh-ay To put things away, to put in order
Nettoyer Neh-t-wah-yay To clean
Balayer Ba-leh-yay To sweep
Faire la vaisselle Feh-r la veh-seh-l To do the dishes
Essuyer Eh-su-yay To wipe / To dry (dishes)
Luckily, you can count on the support of wonderful machines and instruments:
un lave-vaisselle (lav veh-seh-l): a dishwasher
une éponge (ay-pan-zh): a sponge
un balai (ba-leh): a broom
un aspirateur (as-pee-ra-tör): a vacuum cleaner
Lesson Summary
Now that you're off duty, here's what you need to remember next time you're invited for dinner:
In France, guests are not supposed to go to their host's kitchen, unless invited to join or told otherwise. Hosts usually do not want their messy kitchen to be exposed!
A French seated dinner consists of several meals, following a specific order.
French kitchens are usually smaller than North American ones, but just as well equipped.
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