The French Misconnection!

[CraigC]

Ever have a menu misunderstanding?
Back in September 2007, I went to Marseille for business. The folks I was doing the job for put me up in a hotel and I was on my own for dinner. There was a little bistro across the street and I had eaten there for the past two days. I had been lucky in my selections those two days as the menu was in French only, which I don't speak. However, I do have a little knowledge from some familiarity with Cajun food names. I'm really familiar with Andouille. I also thought that the French, by adding "ette" to the end of a word meant pettite or small. So when I saw Andouillette on the menu, my mind read "little Andouille". After conferring with a lady that spoke a little english, which mainly involved pointing and head shaking, I decided that this would be good and ordered it. Big mistake! When the plate arrived, there was one large sausage looking item, a good size bowl of mustard sauce and some roasted potatoes. After poking around some with my fork at the browned sausage casing, I decided that sausage is sausage and cut off a bite. After popping it in my mouth and starting to chew, I realized what that mustard sauce was for! This was offal, but I managed to get about 3/4 of it down before the mustard sauce ran out. BTW, the large grin on that lady's face should have given me a clue. Next evening I found an Italian place around the corner.

It wasn't until the flight back that I found out what Andouillette is. It really is offal, as in tripe, and appearantly some sort of national dish. They can keep it!

Craig

 

[Rocklobster]

Tripe is popular all over Europe. Personally, I find it bland. The best I`ve had was in Italy where they stew it for hours in tomato sauce. But then it pretty much breaks down and takes on the flavor of the sauce. I wouldn`t go as far as saying it is a National dish anywhere. I`ts like saying bulls testicles are an national dish in the US. Just because it is unique to that region and some people eat it, you can hardly call it a favoirite dish to everybody in the nation. Some of our aboriginal citizens up North eat Whale blubber. I have never had it.

I had the same sort of experience as you while in Hamburg, Germany. I was terribly hung over one afternoon, after spending the evening out with a German friend of mine. He brought me to a small family owned restaurant which he frequented. I couldn`t understand what they were saying and told him to order me something that I had never had. Anyway, when my meal came it was a huge pigs knee joint with a bit of mashed potatos on the side. the meat was very stringy and the bone rolled around on my plate. He laughed his head off while he was eating his lunch which was a very good looking pizza. I fought my way through most of it because I didn`t want to offend the owners.....

 

[CraigC]

Wow you seem so serious. It was meant to be humorous. BTW, you are lucky to have been to Germany. I'm of German decent and have never been. I really like Antibes and loved taking the train to Milan, beautiful scenery. Had great food in both places!

Craig

 

[Rocklobster]

Wow you seem so serious. It was meant to be humorous. BTW, you are lucky to have been to Germany. I'm of German decent and have never been. I really like Antibes and loved taking the train to Milan, beautiful scenery. Had great food in both places!

Craig

Oh, God! Sorry if I came off that way. I certainly didn't mean it. I guess I have a bit of a cynical dilivery. That was my pre-coffee response. The food in Germany was great, but ironically, the best stuff I ate there was at ethnic restaurants.

I thought the bull testicle thing was funny.

Peace, Craig C!

 

[CraigC]

Oh, God! Sorry if I came off that way. I certainly didn't mean it. I guess I have a bit of a cynical dilivery. That was my pre-coffee response. The food in Germany was great, but ironically, the best stuff I ate there was at ethnic restaurants.

I thought the bull testicle thing was funny.

Peace, Craig C!

Rocky Mountain Oysters! I tryed a mixed grill in Milan, but couldn't bring myself to try the ram testicles.

Craig

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Rocky Mountain Oysters! I tryed a mixed grill in Milan, but couldn't bring myself to try the ram testicles.

Craig

I've lived in the Rocky Mountains my entire adult life...Never and NO!

 

[Claire]

Hey, I took it as you meant it. Heck, my mom says that you can laugh or cry when something hits you in the face (as it did, literally, one time in Germany when a sausage exploded on my dad!), and laughing is a heck more fun! I would definitely not have known that and made the same mistake! I've never had tripe and, while I like a lot of organ meats and such, for some reason this one is one I try to avoid. Once I saw a sign when traveling through the southwest U.S. at a restaurant that said, "Menudo, breakfast of champions." I hear it is great for hangovers. I've had many hangovers in my life, but have never considered that eating ... well, you get it .... would do anything but make me .... recycle the night before's booze and food? Maybe that's the point!

 

[Addie]

In this town, tripe is served every Saturday in every Italian restaurant. And if you can't make it to the restaurant of your choice, you can bet the wife is making it that day. When I worked at an Italian restaurant, I used to go in early on Saturday morning. The big pans had been boiling since the wee hours of the morn and I had to cut it all up into bite size pieces. The tomato sauce was in the largest pot they had. All the tripe was dumped in to finish simmering in the sauce. By 11 a.m. the restaurant opened and by 12 noon, all the tripe was gone. It was a big money maker for the restaurant and me. I never even tasted it. Never will.

 

[Mad Cook]

In this town, tripe is served every Saturday in every Italian restaurant. And if you can't make it to the restaurant of your choice, you can bet the wife is making it that day. When I worked at an Italian restaurant, I used to go in early on Saturday morning. The big pans had been boiling since the wee hours of the morn and I had to cut it all up into bite size pieces. The tomato sauce was in the largest pot they had. All the tripe was dumped in to finish simmering in the sauce. By 11 a.m. the restaurant opened and by 12 noon, all the tripe was gone. It was a big money maker for the restaurant and me. I never even tasted it. Never will.

In the old fashioned mill towns in the north of England, shops which sell tripe also sell boiled cow heel and something called elder which is (turn away now if you have delicate constitution) cow's udder. It is sold boiled and it's grey. I'm fairly adventurous with food but elder has never appealed so I haven't tried it. However the older local folk queue up for everything in the shop. When I first went to live in Hyde (a small, former cotton town on the Cheshire/Lancashire border) there were 2 tripe stalls in the indoor market and a trip shop on the high street. There's only one stall on the market these days but it does brisk business on Saturdays when the aficionados treat their husbands to tripe and salad for tea in the summer or hot tripe with white onion sauce in the winter.

We do have good food in The British Isles, honestly.

 

[Gravy Queen]

I think its probably an older generation of die hards still eating tripe.

 

[Addie]

I think its probably an older generation of die hards still eating tripe.

In this country it those who are European and are immigrants. Fortunately, they are passing it down to their kids.

 

[jennyema]

Tripe is ok by me when its prepared well.

My favorite bite of tripe is in the Shanghai style hot and sour soup at Joe's Shanghai in Manhattan

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Plenty of tripe is eaten in the foods of the Southwest and Mexico.

 

[CharlieD]

Bull testicles though edible, are really nothing to write home about. Friend of mine went even further, he says he loves bull male part, says it is amazing. I am brave and adventurous when it comes to food, but only to a certain degree.

 

[CharlieD]

I was just thinking, could we create a thread where we can add foreign food names with English translation, for those lucky of us who travel, or planing to travel.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I was just thinking, could we create a thread where we can add foreign food names with English translation, for those lucky of us who travel, or planing to travel.

Sure Charlie, I would put it in "Road Food" as it would not be a recipe thread, do you want me to create it?

 

[Gravy Queen]

Stupid question but what is Road Food ?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Stupid question but what is Road Food ?

Food that you eat while you are traveling and going Abroad.

 

[Wyshiepoo]

Back in the day when our kids were young Mrs Wyshiepoo and I had a little motor home (I think RV in US speak?)


We were in Belgium quite near Brussels, pitched up on our site. I was doing something around the motor home and evening meal time was approaching.


Mrs Wyshiepoo who isn't/wasn't the bravest of travellers said, "It's no good I've got to learn, I'll go and get something to eat from the supermarket nearby."


She went off with the sprogs and returned looking rather please with herself.


"I've bought two stews, one for today and one for tomorrow, they look delicious."


I didn't have the heart to tell her what she had ordered there and then I waited till the day after and told her that the first meal was horse casserole and the second was a kind of ox tongue casserole.


You should have seen her face.

 

[Gravy Queen]

Oh so we could maybe have a Travel forum ? The term road food made me think of foods that you would see being prepared and sold on a street. I took it a bit too literally .