If only your 10th grade French teacher had taught you what you really need to know — impressing that special someone at the restaurant where you’re maxing out your credit card. Don’t let that stop you though, because what they say is true: France is a haven for food and wine enthusiasts of all levels, and French cuisine is a palate-expanding experience everyone should have.
Try out some of my extensive choice vocabulary for avoiding snails, raw beef and frogs’ legs (although why would you want to?) or honing the basics for customizing your steak-frites and procuring the right water. Yes, you read that correctly. Bon appétit!
Be sure to subscribe to Food Republic Today on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And please rate the podcast and leave comments!
Drinking
- Avec des glaçons: On the rocks
- La bière: Beer
- Une bouteille: A bottle
- Le café: Coffee (typically Espresso)
- Une crafe: A glass bottle (usually of wine)
- La carte de vins: The wine list
- Le cidre: Cider
- Le jus: Juice
- Le Kir: White wine with cassis or blackberry syrup
- Un pichet: A small pitcher (usually of wine)
Things that are potentially disgusting (but are usually delicious)
- Les cuisses de grenouille: Frogs’ legs
- Les escargots: Snails served in-shell with garlic-parsley butter
- Le foie: Liver
- Le pâté: Liver mousse
- Le steak tartare: Seasoned, finely chopped raw beef
- Les rognons de veaux: Veal kidneys
- La tête de veau: Veal head
Know your meat
- À point: Medium rare
- Bien cuit: Well done
- Bleu, saignant: Rare (“blue” or “bleeding”)
- Le bifteck: Steak
- À la broche: Cooked on a skewer
- Carbonnisée: Burned to a crisp
- La charcuterie: An assortment of cured and dried meats
- Le porc: Pork
- Une saucisse/Saucisson: Sausage
- Une tranche: A slice
- Le veau: Veal
- La viande: Meat
All about chicken:
- Les ailes de poulet: Chicken wings
- Le blanc de poulet: Chicken breast
- Le consommé du volaille: Chicken broth
- Le coquelet: Young male chicken
- La cuisse: Dark meat
- La poulard: Young female chicken
- Le poulet/poule: Chicken
- Le poulet rôti: Roast chicken
- La volaille: White meat
Great dishes
- Aïoli: Garlic mayonnaise *try it on fries
- Aligot: Fondue-like mix of mashed potatoes and sharp cheese
- Le cassoulet: Rich meat and bean casserole
- La choucroute: Sauerkraut (expect various kinds of pork)
- Le coq au vin: Chicken in red wine sauce
- La crêpe: A very thin pancake, sweet or savory
- La galette: A savory crepe
- Les huitres: Oysters
- Le parmentier: Like shephard’s pie, ground meat covered with mashed potatoes
- Les moules: Mussels
- Le vol-au-vent: A small, light, savory pastry
Menu Mainstays
- L’amuse-bouche: A bite-sized hors d’oeuvre, compliments of the chef
- Le beurre: Butter
- Les coquilles Saint-Jacques: Scallops
- Les oeufs: Eggs
- Le pain: Bread
- Les pâtes: Pasta
How’s it cooked?
- Au gratin: Baked with cheese and breadcrumbs
- À votre goût: To your liking
- En cocotte: Cooked in a covered baking dish
- Confit: Cooked in fat (either its own or the fat of something else)
- En croute: Wrapped in pastry
- Farci: Stuffed
- Frit(e): Fried
- Fumé: Smoked
- Haché: Ground (meat)
- Un méli-mélo: An assortment
- Un morceau: A piece
- Piquant: Spicy
- Au pistou: With basil
- Provençal: Cooked with tomatoes, anchovies and olives
- Rôti: Roasted
- À la vapeur: Steamed
Good to know
- L’addition: The check (must be requested)
- Allérgique à: Allergic to
- And for the Mrs./Miss: Et pour la madame/mademoiselle…
- L’assiette: Plate
- La carte/le ménu: The menu
- Les champignons: Mushrooms
- Compris/Inclus: Included
- Le cornichon: The tiniest pickle you’ve ever seen, accompanies charcuterie
- La cuisine: The kitchen
- La dégustation: Tasting menu
- Le déjeuner: Lunch
- Délicieux: Delicious
- Le dîner: Dinner
- Du jour: Of the day
- Le fromage: Cheese
- Garçon: What NOT to call the waiter, no matter how many times you’ve seen it in movies. Instead, signal the waiter with “Monsieur/Madame/Mademoiselle, s’il vous plait.”
- Je voudrais: I would like…
- Le petit déjeuner: Breakfast
- Le poisson: Fish
- Les pommes de terre: Potatoes
- Le pourboire: Tip (basic gratuity is almost always included in French restaurants, listed as servis compris)
- Le serveur/la serveuse: Waiter/waitress
- Végétarien: Vegetarian
- Végétalien: Vegan
Any other French words or phrases you need to know? Post in the comments and our Frenchie experts will get back to ya.
Now that you’ve mastered French, move on to the 100 Italian Food and Drink Phrases You Need To Know.
