French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [41]
Planche à pâtisserie Pastry board.
Plaque a pâtisserie A baking sheet.
Plaque à rôtir Shallow copper, iron or tin baking dish in which a grid will stand, and in which joints or birds are roasted in the oven.
Plat à gratin Shallow metal, tinned copper, fireproof china, enamelled cast-iron or earthenware dish, oval or round, which exposes a large area of the food to be cooked to the top heat of the oven or grill so that a light crust is formed on the top.
Platine Small plaque (see above).
Poêle à frire Frying-pan.
Poêle à crêpes Small, very shallow iron frying-pan for pancakes.
Poêle à friture Deep-frying pan.
Poêle à œufs A small metal, fireproof china, enamelled cast-iron or earthenware dish, with side-handles or ears, in which eggs are cooked and served; e.g. œufs sur le plat, the French version of fried eggs. Earthenware, however rustically attractive it may look, is unsatisfactory for this purpose. The eggs stick, and the dish becomes very difficult to clean.
Poêle à omelette Omelette pan. The sloping inner sides of the pan facilitate the sliding out of the cooked omelette on to the serving dish. Although omelette pans should always be heavy with an absolutely flat base, there exists nowadays such a variety of these pans made of enamelled cast-iron, heavy aluminium, copper, etc., which can be washed and kept clean like any other pan, that they are replacing the old iron omelette pans which have to be kept greased and not washed because of the danger of rust. Many cooks, however, insist upon the old iron omelette pans, for all manner of superstitious beliefs surround the very simple process of cooking an omelette. Anyhow, it is certainly an asset to every household to possess two omelette pans, a 10-inch pan for 3- or 4-egg omelettes for two people, and a 6-inch pan for a 2-egg omelette for one person.
Poêlon A small earthenware or metal frying or sauté pan with a handle; deeper than an ordinary frying-pan, and often with rounded sides sloping to a small flat base.
Poêlon à sucre Untinned copper sugar-boiling saucepan.
Poissonnière Fish kettle.
Ramequin Diminutive fireproof porcelain or glass cocotte or ramekin in which individual souffiés or cheese creams (ramequins au fromage) are cooked and served. See also Cocotte (b).
Ravier A shallow boat-shaped china dish for hors-d’œuvre. The most suitable dish for the serving of the simple hors-d’œuvre of French household meals, such as olives, radishes, butter, sardines, potato salad and egg mayonnaise.
Rondin A round stew-pan with two handles and a close-fitting lid. Also called a fait-tout.
Rouleau Rolling pin. To do its work efficiently a rolling pin should be plumb straight. French boxwood (buis) pins are good, and a patented French pin, ridged and on ball bearings is marvellously effective for puff and croissant pastry. This pin, called a Tutove, is horribly expensive. The price does not deter French professional pastry cooks and cookery school teachers from buying the Tutove in considerable quantities.
Saladier Salad bowl. The most characteristic French salad bowl is in plain white china, deep and round (see the drawing on page 129) or with squared corners. The enormous wooden bowls so popular here are seldom seen in France, except in rough wood for mixing bowls (called sébilles). When a recipe tells you to turn something into a saladier to set or to cool, it simply means that a large china vessel, such as a mixing bowl, should be used.
Salamandre (a) A round iron utensil with a long handle, also called a fer à glacer and a pelle rouge. The iron is made red hot and held close to the surface of a dish the top of which is by this means instantaneously browned, without the possibility of the main body of the dish being overheated and therefore altering in any way in consistency. These utensils are now all but obsolete, at any rate in England, and so far as I know nothing