Time and again, diners find some strange, foreign words on a restaurant menu. If he or she is food savvy, a curious examination of a dish may take place. Did the chef stick to the traditional technique? Did he use the tried and tested ingredients, or was he innovating?
We were motivated to write this week’s piece when we dined at a popular Filipino restaurant in Serendra and found not only local dishes but a mixture of different cuisines. To help those not so familiar with foreign culinary terms, here are some definitions.
Since osso bucco entered the Philippine culinary scene a few years ago, it has become a mainstay in many dining places. This is an Italian dish (literally “pierced bones”) using veal shanks braised in olive oil, wine, stock, onions, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, carrots, celery and lemon peel. After the usual sautéing, it is put in an oven to cook until the meat becomes tender, resulting in a perfectly rich blending of flavors, making it hard to resist. The garnish is what is called gremolata, a mix of minced parsley, lemon peel and garlic, giving it an added fresh flavor.
We’ve had this in several restaurants (many substituting beef kenchi for veal), and done it at home (skipping the oven bit), but the one in this particular restaurant was a far cry from the original – it was so salty, and while their menu mentioned caramelized onions, we did not note a single piece. The meat was swimming in a very dark colored sauce, rendering it unappetizing. The chef must have been rather liberal sprinkling it with what tasted like soy or Worcestershire sauce.
Another favorite is tiramisu, also Italian, literally meaning “carry me up,” which could extend to “carry me up to heaven,” considering this gives one quite a high. This is a multi-layered dessert of sponge cake or lady fingers dipped in Marsala wine, layered with mascarpone cheese and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Truly heavenly.
We were once confused, a long time ago, between truffles, the mushroom-type fungus and the chocolate dessert. They are two different things. Truffle is from the Latin word meaning tuber outgrowth. In Europe they exist symbiotically with trees like oak, from where they are harvested by specially trained animals. Its history spans from ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece to Perigord, France where the ragout of fresh or dried truffles was introduced as an entrée cooked in wine.
Because production is very small, they are rare and very expensive. There are 70 varieties of truffles, the best being black streaked with whitish veins and with a strong aroma.
Considered the “diamonds of cookery,” truffles are eaten raw or cooked (normally in wine), cut into strips, diced or shredded, as juice or essence basically for their fragrance. So remember, when you chance upon truffles in a menu card, you are very lucky, eating its weight in gold!
Chocolate truffles are commonly served as a precious dessert in many five-star hotels in the country and in some chocolate outlets.
These are rich sweets made of a mélange of melted chocolate, butter or cream, sugar and a variety of flavorings, such as vanilla, liquor, spices and coffee. They did get their name from the rare and mis-shapen fungus, but next time you see chocolate truffles in a sweet shop, don’t expect to get some chewy bits of the much-treasured fungus.
Jus, a French word, means the juice of the main ingredient. Au jus refers to meat or vegetables presented as they are, in their own natural juices.
There you are. Hopefully you’ll enjoy your food more now than before. Have a good appetite!
E-mail comments and questions to ldcastillo327@yahoo.com.ph