An HFF Glossary

I would figure that anyone willing to spend $50 on dinner would also know what they're ordering. Apparently this isn't the case. As a public service and so I can make it clear that I'm better than everyone else, I present to you a glossary of commonly seen menu terms:

Frittata: I know this is pretty basic, but you'd be surprised how many people don't know. An egg dish that exists somewhere in the netherworld between crustless quiche and omelette. Veggies and meat are added to scrambled eggs but the eggs aren't scrambled in the pan. It's cooked on the stove until it sets and then carefully finished under the broiler. Served hot or at room temperature as a slice or as an individual frittata.

Po'boy: A sandwich of Cajun extraction with nebulous etymology. Consists of a chewy French roll loaded with turkey, ham, or roast beef (served cold) or shrimp, crayfish, oysters, or crab (usually fried and served hot). Often dressed with spicy mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomato, etc.

Brandade: A mix of salt cod, cream, and olive oil often with potato as well. Pureed and served hot with bouillabaisse. When potato's added, the mixture is often fried as a croquette or used to stuff peppers or beignets.

Bouillabaisse: A fish-stock and tomato stew loaded with fresh fish and shellfish. From Provence.

Sabayon: French term for zabaglione, a sauce made from egg yolk (sometimes whole eggs), cream, sweet wine, and sugar. Essentially a light airy custard. It's becoming trendier to omit the sugar and make savory sabayon to accompany entrees.

Au poivre: Something (usually a steak) cooked with one side crusted in loosely cracked black pepper. Served with the peppery pan sauce.

Sugo: Basically Italian gravy. A slow-cooked meat and vegetable sauce that can either be served chunky over noodles, or the sauce can be strained and used as a stock or based for another dish. In sugo (basically the same as ragu) very little initial liquid is used and most of the sauce consists of the natural juices of the vegetables and meat that you're cooking.

Bottarga: Pressed and salted fish roe. Usually tuna roe (bottarga di tonno) but sometimes mullet (bottarga di muggine) or swordfish (bottarga di idon'tknow) roes are used. Usually a small amount is served grated over pasta or beans. It has a strong salty fishy flavor and is quite delicious. It's origins stem from when fish roe was packed and salted for storage and shipment the eggs at the bottom would be pressed from all the weight above it into a formless cake.

Mojama: Salted and air-dried tuna loin. Basically tuna jerky. Has a similar flavor to bottarga but is meatier and a bit less fishy.

Bresaola: Salted and air-dried lean beef.

Salumi: A general term for Italian-style cured meats. Salami being one of many types of salumi. While salumi is usually made of cured pork, there is some beef salumi (see bresaola) and some cooked salumi (cotto, for instance).

Charcuterie: Salumi's French counterpart. Cooking plays a more significant role in charcuterie and includes things like rillettes and pates.

Rillettes: Meat (or sometime fish) that is chopped and heavily salted and then slow-cooked in (usually) its own fat. Served cooled and shredded into a paste. Usually served on toast.

Confit: This refers to a few different cooking and preservation methods. Originally it is meat preserved in fat. In the classic duck confit the duck is slow-cooked (essentially poached) in its own fat. Nowadays the duck is usually served within a few days of cooking, but originally the cooking pot would be sealed and stored. When the fat cooled it formed a thick preserving layer over the meat that would keep it stable for many months. Confit can also refer to fruit preserved in sugar. Whole fruit or pieces of fruit are covered in sugar until the sugar infusesall the into the fruit juices to the core. Confit cherries are a classic dessert delicacy and the maraschino cherry is its bastard mutated grandson. Many confit recipes now (like onion confit) consist of quick-cooking methods designed to replicate the textures and flavors of classic confit.

Provencal: Generally speaking this means cooked with tomatoes, onions, and garlic. The use of tomatoes in particular is what distinguishes Provencal cuisine (and its Mediterranean proximity) from other regional French cuisines.

Offal: A general term for organs and entrails. Basically any part of the animal that isn't muscle or bone.

Vacherin: A Franco-Swiss dessert of meringue, whipped cream, and often fruit but I've had vacherin with chocolate and almonds as well.

Pot de Creme: Thick egg custard traditionally served in a wee pot. (Pronounced poh-du-crehm).

Ganache: Melted chocolate mixed with milk or cream. When ganache cools it partially solidifies but is still soft and malleable.

Profiteroles: Cream puffs. Choux pastry stuffed with whipped cream, ice cream, or pasty cream. Can sometimes be savory.

Choux pastry: One of the basic French pastry doughs. This one is light and and puffs when cooking due to a high water content.

Beignet: Deep-fried choux pastry dough, though yeasted dough is sometimes used in France. While usually served with sugar and/or jam, beignets can also be stuffed with meat and vegetables before frying.

Zeppole: Italian analogue to the beignet. Deep-fried pizza dough with sugar and spice.

Krapfen: Sweet yeast dough deep-fried and stuffed (usually injected) with fruit or cream. The Berliner (jelly doughnut) is the most celebrated krapfen.

Rocket: Arugula. That's all. It's just arugula. Wild rocket is wild arugula (or rucola).

Panna cotta: Italian for "cooked cream." A dessert made of sugar, egg, cream, gelatin, and flavoring (such as vanilla or coconut). Served chilled. Heavier than Jell-O, lighter than custard.

Affogato: Italian for "drowned." A scoop of ice cream (usually vanilla) drowned in a shot of hot espresso.

Chicory: Bitter leafy vegetable. Includes such luminaries and escarole, endive, frisee, puntarelle, and radicchio. Because of its fibrous texture and bitter flavor, many chicories hold up well to grilling and sauteeing. One type of chicory is cultivated for its root and used as a coffee substitute, but this is not the chicory you encounter on restaurant menus.

That's all I've got right now. I'll update this periodically. Please comment with other terms you'd like explained.

Most of my knowledge of the basics comes from The Food Lover's Companion, an indispensable everyday glossary of food terms and preparation techniques. Buy it.