Terminology Al'a Carte 1

• Salade Nicoise

Salade niçoise (French pronunciation: ​[niˈswaz]), la salada nissarda in the Niçard dialect of the Occitan language, is a salad that originated in the French city of Nice. It is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, anchovies, and dressed with olive oil. It has been popular worldwide since the early 20th century, and has been prepared and discussed by many famous chefs. Delia Smith called it "one of the best combinations of salad ingredients ever invented and Gordon Ramsay said that "it must be the finest summer salad of all.

It can be served either as a composed salad or as a tossed salad. Freshly cooked or canned tuna may be used. For decades, there has been significant disagreement between traditionalists and innovators regarding which ingredients should and should not be included in a salade niçoise. According to traditionalists, it excludes cooked vegetables. The salad may include raw red peppers, shallots, artichoke hearts and other seasonal raw vegetables. Raw green beans harvested in the spring, when they are still young and crisp, may be included. However, cooked green beans and potatoes are commonly served in variations of salade niçoise that are popular around the world.

• Oriental Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette is made by mixing an oil with something acidic such as vinegar or lemon juice. The mixture can be enhanced with salt, herbs and/or spices. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but can also be used as a marinade. Traditionally, a vinaigrette consists of 3 parts oil and 1 part vinegar mixed into a stable emulsion, but the term is also applied to mixtures with different proportions and to unstable emulsions which last only a short time before separating into layered oil and vinegar phases.

Vinaigrette may be made with a variety of oils and vinegars. Olive oil and neutral vegetable oils such as soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, or grape seed oil are all common.

In Southeast Asia, rice bran oil and white vinegar are used as a foundation with fresh herbs, chili peppers, nuts, and lime juice.

In China and Japan, a similar salad dressing is made with sesame oil/sesame paste and rice vinegar. In north China, sometimes mustard is added to enhance the flavor and texture of the sauce.

• Pumpkin Soup

Squash soup is a soup prepared using squash as a primary ingredient. Squash used to prepare the soup include acorn squash, butternut squash and pumpkin. Squash that has initially been separately roasted can be used in the soup's preparation. The roasting of squash can serve to concentrate the gourd's flavor. Squash soup can be prepared with chunks or pieces of squash and also with puréed squash. Pre-cooked, frozen squash can also be used, as can commercially prepared packets of pre-cooked frozen squash purée. Butternut squash soup may have a sweet flavor, due to the sugars present in the squash. Additional basic ingredients in squash soup's preparation can include broth, onion, cream, spices such as sage and thyme, salt and pepper. Pumpkin soup can be served hot or cold, and is a popular Thanksgiving dish in the United States.

Pumpkin "pies" made by early American colonists were more likely to be a savory soup made and served in a pumpkin than a sweet custard in a crust.

Pumpkin soup was a staple for the prisoners of war in North Vietnamese prison camps during the Vietnam War.

Squash soup is a soup in African cuisine. It is a part of the cuisine of Northern Africa, and the cuisines of Mozambique and Namibia, both of which are located in Southern Africa. Squash soup is also served in other countries and is a part of other cuisines. Soup Joumou is traditionally consumed in Haiti on New Year's Day (January 1), as a historical tribute to Haitian independence in 1804.

• Teriyaki

Teriyaki  is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar.

Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and mackerel – is mainly used in Japan, while white and red meat – chicken, pork, lamb, and beef – is more often used in the West. Other ingredients sometimes used in Japan include squid, hamburger steak, and meatballs.

The word teriyaki derives from the noun teri , which refers to a shine or luster given by the sugar content in the tare, and yaki, which refers to the cooking method of grilling or broiling. Traditionally the meat is dipped in or brushed with sauce several times during cooking. This popular dish was originally created by Japanese cooks of the seventeenth century, when urbanization, changes in agricultural methods and exposure to new ingredients from abroad gave rise to new, innovative cooking styles.

The tare is traditionally made by mixing and heating soy sauce and sake (or mirin) and sugar (or honey). The sauce is boiled and reduced to the desired thickness, then used to marinate meat, which is then grilled or broiled. Sometimes ginger is added and the final dish may be garnished with spring onions.

• Onigiri

O-nigiri also known as o-musubi, nigirimeshi or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylindrical shapes and often wrapped in nori (seaweed). Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume (umeboshi), salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative. Most Japanese convenience stores stock their onigiri with various fillings and flavors. There are even specialized shops which only sell onigiri to take out. Due to the popularity of this trend in Japan, onigiri has become a popular staple in Japanese restaurants worldwide.

In Murasaki Shikibu's 11th-century diary Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, she writes of people eating rice balls. At that time, onigiri were called tonjiki and often consumed at outdoor picnic lunches. Other writings, dating back as far as the seventeenth century, state that many samurai stored rice balls wrapped in bamboo sheath as a quick lunchtime meal during war, but the origins of onigiri are much earlier even than Lady Murasaki. Before the use of chopsticks became widespread, in the Nara period, rice was often rolled into a small ball so that it could be easily picked up. In the Heian period, rice was also made into small rectangular shapes known as tonjiki so that they could be piled onto a plate and easily eaten.

From the Kamakura period to the early Edo period, onigiri was used as a quick meal. This made sense as cooks simply had to think about making enough onigiri and did not have to concern themselves with serving. These onigiri were simply balls of rice flavored with salt. Nori did not become widely available until the Genroku era in the mid-Edo period, when the farming of nori and fashioning it into sheets became widespread.

• Duchesse Potatoes

Duchess(e) potatoes (French: pommes de terre duchesse) consist of a purée of mashed potato and egg yolk, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, which is forced from a piping bag or hand-moulded into various shapes which are then baked at 245 °C (475 °F) until golden. They are a classic item of French cuisine.

Sources :

https://en.wikipedia.org