French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [42]
(b) A grill with a very rapid action serving the same purpose as the old-fashioned salamander. Grills on household cookers do not usually, however, work in this manner, and when trying to obtain a good browned or glazed surface on the top of a dish you simply have to allow for the fact that the rest of the contents will go on cooking.
Sauteuse A heavy and shallow straight-sided saucepan with a handle, in which small cuts of meat, vegetables, etc., are sauté, or tossed (or jumped as the dictionary says) in butter or other fat. The idea is that during the cooking you shake the pan to prevent the food from sticking. Sautoir, Casserole à sauter, Plat à sauter Much the same as a sauteuse, except that technically the sautoir is supposed to have outwardly sloping sides. In fact the terms are entirely interchangeable. Few English kitchens seem to possess sauté pans, and while it is true that a good heavy frying-pan is a reasonable substitute, there are well-designed and inexpensive sauté pans in the shops, and they are most useful in any kitchen. (See also Casserole.)
Soupière Soup tureen.
Spatule Spatula or palette knife.
Tamis de crin A hair sieve on a wooden frame. Hair sieves are now mostly replaced, not very satisfactorily, by nylon.
Terrine Strictly speaking, an earthenware cooking pot, of varying dimensions, round or oval, without handles, but often with ears. Fairly deep, and if there is a lid this is pierced with a hole for the escape of steam during cooking. The name of the utensil has also come to mean the food cooked in it, e.g. terrine de gibier is a game pâté cooked in an earthenware or other fireproof dish, and a pâté en terrine indicates that the pâté concerned has been cooked and is served in the terrine rather than in a crust, which would properly be a pâté en croûte. Also, when one is told by cookery books to pour something into a terrine, this simply indicates that a china or glazed earthenware, rather than a metal, recipient must be used.
Timbale In terms of kitchen utensils a timbale is a round mould with straight or slightly sloping sides, sometimes fluted, made of tinned copper, tin, or fireproof china. It was originally intended to imitate the appearance and shape of a pastry crust. Once again, foods cooked in a timbale (and turned out on to the serving dish) have acquired the name of the utensil, e.g. timbale de riz, timbale de fruits de mer. Timbale moulds are also sometimes made with a central cylinder.
Timbale à soufflé May be in fireproof china or metal. The different dishes in which soufflés may be cooked are described in the chapter on egg cookery.
Tourtière A shallow tart tin. The most useful are made with a removable base, and the prettiest have fluted sides (1).
Fig. 2 shows a hinged cake-tin.
In former times a tourtière was a heavy iron or earthenware dish, much deeper than a tart tin, in which many things besides pastry could be cooked.
Tranchoir A trencher, or wooden carving platter.
Vasque Shallow crystal, silver, or china bowl for the elegant presentation of fruit, sweet dishes, ices, foie gras, and mousses.
Verge Metal, willow or birch-twig egg whisk.
Cooking Terms and Processes
ALTHOUGH there is always plenty more to say about the processes of roasting and grilling and boiling (how many people take the trouble to put the roasting joint on a grid in the tin, or to take it out of the refrigerator several hours before cooking?), these processes are generally thought to be pretty well understood by English cooks. At least they are to be found clearly explained in cookery books. So it is upon the less familiar aspects of French cookery that I shall concentrate in this brief explanation of French cookery terms.
Once, in an English translation of a cookery book by a famous French authority, there were some highly enjoyable literal renderings. Tomates concassées became concussed tomatoes. Faites tomber la sauce meant that you were to drop it. Most of us, if we use French