French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [51]
Les Aromates, etc.
Herbs, spices, condiments, etc., used in French cookery
UNDER the heading of aromates come the herbs, flavouring vegetables such as onions, shallots, garlic, carrots and tomatoes, and the spices and sweet flavourings used in French cookery. The following brief list of such ingredients, with their French and English names, gives an idea both of the dishes for which these things are used and the manner of treating them. I have also included in this list various kinds of salt pork and ham, fats, oils, flours, wines and so on, upon the correct use of which depends much of the successful cooking of French dishes. I hope this little glossary may also be useful to those who use French cookery books but are sometimes puzzled by an obscure word or term of cookery.
Ail GARLIC The essential flavouring of the soups, meat and fish dishes, and sauces of Provençal cookery, and possibly to an even greater extent of that of all south-western France—the Béarn, the Pays Basque, the Languedoc, Bordeaux, Poitou and the Roussillon, and to a slightly lesser degree of the country dishes of Burgundy and of the Auvergne. How much garlic goes into a dish is entirely a matter of individual taste, so that while, of course, there cannot be any such thing as an aïoli or a bourride without garlic, it can, in certain dishes, be just a faint flavouring which would not, perhaps, be recognised by those not in the know but would be missed were it not present. The crushed clove of garlic included in the bouquet for certain meat dishes, such as bœuf bourguignon, is a good example of this technique. But garlic can play odd tricks: while a cut clove of garlic rubbed round a salad bowl does not do anything very much, the same treatment of the earthenware dish in which you are going to cook a gratin dauphinois (page 211) makes all the difference. The heat of the oven brings out the garlic flavour quite strongly and it communicates itself to the cream in which the potatoes are drenched. Without it, the dish is flat. Again, I have included, for the sake of interest, a recipe for a poulet sauté dauphinois (page 401) which calls for cloves of garlic used as if they were miniature potatoes; and a Catalan sauce (page 126) in which the amount of garlic may seem positively savage to some, while to others it would be barely sufficient. A clove of garlic, or one section of a head of garlic, is une gousse d’ail, while the plural of garlic heads is aulx.
Amidon de Blé Also known by the proprietary name of Maizena. Cornstarch, cornflour.
Anchois ANCHOVIES Salted anchovies from the barrel were formerly much used in England as well as all over the Continent, for flavouring and salting meat dishes. In certain southern dishes, the custom still survives. The anchovies most commonly used in England are the filleted variety, preserved in oil, and only mildly salted. When a recipe calls for anchovies, one should allow about four of these fillets for each anchovy specified.
Angélique ANGELICA The crystallised stalks of angelica, a member of the umbelliferae family, are well known as a flavouring and decoration for cakes and creams. In the Nivernais district of France, angelica is used in powdered form for flavouring a cream cheese tart. Fresh, the leaves are occasionally used in salads, but the stalks in their fresh state, while giving out a powerful and delicious scent, have absolutely no taste. Angelica is considered to possess strong digestive powers and is much used in the composition of liqueurs.
Anis ANISEED Used for flavouring creams, cakes and liqueurs, and a cheese called Anisé made in Lorraine.
Arrowroot Used for thickening soups and sauces, particularly in cookery for children or invalids.
Aulx Plural of Ail—garlic.
Axonge See Saindoux.
Badiane. A variety of aniseed,