Category Archives: Eatymology

Eatymology Meat Beat: Brisket

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Welcome to Eatymology’s Meat Beat where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our meat vocabulary,  beginning with the 8 (or 9, depending on who’s asking) basic US primal cutsfor beef. That’s butcher parlance for the slabs of bloody, lard-marbled, pre-delicious protein stripped from a cowrcas. Note that UK primal cuts and pork primal cuts are different.

Thus far, we’ve covered cuts in the upper-front (chuck; rib) and upper-back quadrants (round). The cut of the day is brisket. Brisket lies just below the chuck, in the cow’s pectoral region (there’s speculation that ‘brisket’ is a variation of ‘breast’), and between two slices of rye bread, in its sammich carnation, corned beef.

Corned-Beef Sammich

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Eatymology: Enter The Florentine

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

I came across an interesting (though likely apocryphal) piece of trivia whilst planning out my weekend brunch (yes; I know it’s Tuesday), concerning Eggs Florentine, Eggs Benedicts’ vegetarian compadre.

Florentine Lady

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Eatymology Meat Beat: Rib

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Welcome to Eatymology’s Meat Beat where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our meat vocabulary,  beginning with the 8 (or 9, depending on who’s asking) basic US primal cuts for beef. That’s butcher parlance for the slabs of bloody, lard-marbled, pre-delicious protein stripped from a cowrcas. Note that UK primal cuts and pork primal cuts are different.

Now that we’ve gotten the gamier discount chops out of the way, we’re left with the juicy, tender middle bits. We’ll start with the eater-friendly rib.

Rib: getting to the good stuff.

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Eatymology: Vandaag Edition

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

“Our cultural contribution to the world isn’t culinary,” cautioned my Dutch companion. We were sitting at the aesthetically sharp and recently Siftonified Vandaag (www.vandaagnyc.com), where I was about to try Frisian food for the first time, and, in the process, learn a little Dutch.

The cumulative intrigue factor of foods like mustardy bitterballen and sea urchin bisque, potables like steamy apple grog, and avant-garde environs are enough to make Vandaag a ‘must-do-date-spot’ for lovers concerned with appearing cool. Vandaag’s menu was suitably seasonal, and we opted to share selections from its hearty, hardy appetizer menu while watching ferocious precipitate fall outside. The eatymological highlights, after the jump -

The Two-Star Shuffle.

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Eatymology: Meat Beat – Round

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Welcome to Eatymology’s Meat Beat where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our meat vocabulary,  beginning with the 8 (or 9, depending on who’s asking) basic US primal cuts for beef. That’s butcher parlance for the slabs of bloody, lard-marbled, pre-delicious protein stripped from a cowrcas. Note that UK primal cuts and pork primal cuts are different.

Today’s edition: Round.

Round: thick and juicy.

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Eatymology: Meat Beat – Chuck

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

A recurring resolution -one at perennial odds with the accompanying ‘lose 8 pounds’- is to learn my meat, and you better believe I’m taking you along for the ride – beginning with the 8 (or 9, depending on who’s asking) basic US primal cuts for beef. That’s butcher parlance for the slabs of bloody, lard-marbled, pre-delicious protein stripped from a cowrcas. Note that UK primal cuts and pork primal cuts are different, and may or may not be addressed after the fifth pound.

Today’s edition: Chuck.

Chuck: tough, but tasty.

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Eatymology: Gianduja

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

I have a tree-nut allergy. It’s tragic – I’ll never be a real food critique; I’ll never know the joy of pesto, and upwards of 50% of commercial Halloween candy. As such, I’ve always fumbled futilely for a word to describe Non-Swiss European Chocolate – you know, the kind that’s inevitably laced with hazelnut, and hence, off-limits for me. Continue reading →

Eatymology: Casa Mono Edition

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

Today’s edition draws inspiration from top tapas spot Casa Mono, where you might just be able to maneuver the menu with your high school Spanish and a little imaginative cognate word association. I’ll leave the heavy lifting in this vein to Dana, and give you the benefit of a doubt by withholding a full-on review (you want to eat here; you’ve been meaning to eat here forever). A Casa Mono word-cloud glossary (and what I ate) after the jump -

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Eatymology & Spanish Food 101 – Empanada de Bacalao

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One of my favorite memories of spending so much time in Spain was waking up in the morning to run my errands.  Unlike the supermarkets and convenience stores that we have in the States, stores in Spain specialize in the type of goods offered or sold.  (Sadly, this is starting to change – I saw many more hypermarkets creeping up on my last visit to Spain.  Also, El Corte Ingles now has a supermarket section in many of its stores, further forcing small businesses and mom and pop shops out of business.  Hey Walmart, sounds familiar, right?)  Most of us love the idea of convenience and one-stop shopping.  I, however, love to interact with each of the shopkeepers as I buy my fruit, fish, and ibuprofin (each of which requires a visit to a separate shop).

Running Errands at a NYC Pace

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Eatymology: Financier

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

Financier Patisserie, the Manhattan cake franchise, has a bad rap, and today’s edition is fiercely dedicated to clearing its name – literally! Its Wall Street and Midtown locations may provide easy-access for stress-eating investment bankers, but if you’re like me, you were surprised to learn (from Top Chef: Just Desserts, obv) that the financier (‘finan-see-ay’) is actually an almond tea cake with an interesting little history.

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Eatymology: Confit

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

For some diners, ignorance is bliss. For others, reading their veal’s dream diary and knowing the lineage of their goose gavager makes the consumption of foie gras escalopes that much more real. If you’re the type that would rather not know what’s in your sausage, read no further; for today’s Eatymology dares you to internalize the gross and awesome power of a confit (‘con-fee’).

‘Confit’ originated as a blanket term for food preparation. It evolved to refer specifically to preserved foods. In restaurants today, you’ll see it applied almost exclusively to fruits and candies (occasionally called ‘comfit’), and, because the French successfully dictate all arbitrary dining dogma, as duck (or goose) confit.


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Eatymology & Spanish Culinary: Percebes

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Percebes.  Son de puta madre.  (No, that’s not profanity, it’s slang for “they’re awesome.”) :)

I bought some at the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid.

I had no clue what these were until my trip to Galicia this past summer.  Now that you know what they’re called in Spanish, let me translate in English.  Goose barnacles.  Okay, so they’re not the prettiest things to look at, but they are sweeter than lobster and slightly briney. Continue reading →

Eatymology: Mirepoix

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Welcome to Eatymology, where I help myself (and like-minded dummies) build our menu and grocery store vocabulary.

I first came across today’s term (pronounced ‘meer-pwa’) during a game of high-brow pictionary (my friends are awesome). You’ll remember it because it sounds more like a species of exotic hummingbird than it does a blend (any blend) of onions, carrots and celery.

Mirepoix: Stock(ing) Stuff(er)

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