Saturday, December 23, 2023

Deliciously confusing

North Americans call the first, usually smaller, dish of a meal the appetizer and the main course the entrée (which I think is completely illogical). The English say starter and main, respectively. The French say entrée and plat principal (often shortened to plat). Confused? Or just hungry?

Our first course on Thursday: céleri rémoulade et saumon fumé.

Our first course, l'entrée in French, on Thursday was a salad of grated celery root in a rémoulade sauce (mayonnaise and Dijon mustard), with a slice of smoked salmon and cracked black pepper. We didn't make the céleri rémoulade ourselves, opting instead for some made by one of our local butcher/deli shops. We stay away from supermarket versions because they're often sweetened.

Today is market day in Saint-Aignan. One of us will go into town this morning to pick up the chapon (capon) that we ordered two weeks ago. We'll roast it on Christmas Day.

6 comments:

  1. Similar course names here as in France -- except when they're simply called primero (first), segundo (second), and postre (dessert). That salmon and celery root looks and sounds delicious.

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  2. Looks delicious. I say appetizer and main.
    BettyAnn

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  3. Happy happy birthday (a day late), Walt! I wasn't able to be at my blogging station yesterday, sorry :)
    So glad to know you! Your meal looks to have been wonderful!

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  4. One of my favorite entrées. Merry Christmas eve's eve!

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  5. mitch, that's like Italien, too, I think.

    bettyann, poTAYto, poTAHto.. LOL!

    judy, thanks!

    evelyn, you, too!

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  6. I just started learning French so any lessons like this is appreciated.

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