French Language Blog

French argot (slang) can be difficult to understand, but it’s really quite fun.  So, today, we’ll talk about some expressions involving food that don’t have so much to do with food really, but might be useful to know.  For example, if you want to say that you are a bit down in the dumps, you could say “J’en ai gros sur la patate” because ‘patate‘ although it really means ‘(potato) spud’ in English, is often used to refer to many other things when using French slang.  So, be careful, because ‘patate’ can also mean ‘idiot’ as in “Il est vraiment une patate”.  Or if you want to say that you have a friend who parties all night because he has a lot of energy or stamina, you could say “Il a la patate” or if you are wondering how you can get your energy back when you are sick with a cold, for example, you could ask “Qu’est-ce que je dois prendre pour avoir la patate?”.  If you’ve been overloaded with information and your head is going to explode, you could say “J’ai la tête comme une patate!“.  If you want to encourage someone by telling them to hang in there and not give up, you can say “Lâche pas la patate!” and although we could go on and on with the spuds (the French do grow 20 different varieties and perhaps for this reason, they seem to love using the word) finally, “patati patata” means ‘blah, blah, blah…’.
Moving on to sausages… If someone calls you “une andouille”, don’t thank them as they are calling you ‘a fool’.  If your mother or someone else tells you “Fais pas l’andouille!”, they are telling you not to be silly (or, rather, not to do silly things).
As for other foods, a really bad movie is referred to as “un navet” (a turnip). “Chou” (cabbage) can mean ‘honey’, ‘sweatheart’, ‘granny’ and ‘love’ when talking about another person.  “Bête comme chou” refers to something that is really easy or ‘easy as pie’.  “Faire chou blanc” means to ‘draw a blank’.
And just to throw a few fruits in, ‘”une poire” (a pear) or even “une pomme” (an apple) can mean ‘a sucker’ as in someone who is gullible and falls for anything.  “Avoir la pêche” (peach) means to feel great and energetic just like “avoir la patate” above.
Well, I’m starting to get hungry, so until next time, je m’en vais (I’m outta here)!

One of my favorite French dishes is quiche and when I was a student living in France, some of the French girls in my dorm used to make Quiche Lorraine for us to enjoy on the weekends.  Here is a recipe I got from one of them:

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
10 ½ tblsp butter
6 eggs
2 ¼ cups bacon
2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
10 tblsp of fresh liquid cream
4 ¼ cups of milk
water
salt, pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Prepare the shortcut pastry.  Sift the flour into a bowl.  Place the salt in the middle of the flour as well as 1 egg yolk and a ½ cup of water.  Mix with a wooden spoon.  Add the softened butter, then mix again.
3. Knead the dough for a few minutes, then make it into a ball and let stand for 20 minutes.
4. Next, dice the bacon and blanch it for a few minutes in a frying pan with a little bit of cold water.  Drain and set aside.
5. Beat the 5 remaining eggs in a bowl along with the fresh cream and the milk, a pinch of salt and some pepper.
6. Roll out the dough and arrange it into a buttered pie pan.  Then, sprinkle the bacon and cheese on the bottom and pour in the egg mixture.
7. Place in the oven for 30 minutes.  Serve hot.

Although many Americans may want to eat this for breakfast or brunch, the French usually eat it for lunch or supper along with a mixed salad and bread.

I just finished eating a juicy entrecôte (rib steak) and am feeling thankful to the French for this delicious cut of meat…but, then again…is it really French?  And come to think of it, the French fries…I don’t think they are really very French either.  According to Wikipedia, ‘entrecôte‘ is a piece of meat (beef) cut out between two ribs.  And now, it turns out that what the grocery store sold to me as ‘entrecôte‘ is really a ‘contre-filet‘ or sirloin steak which is the portion of the sirloin on the side of the bone opposite the filet.  Oh well, it was so very tasty anyway, especially since it was smothered in sauce Roquefort!  Here’s my husband’s recipe for Roquefort sauce:

Ingredients
2 cups of softened French Roquefort cheese
2 cups of heavy cream
2 tsp black pepper

Pour the cream into a saucepan, throw in the pepper and boil until reduced by half.  Then, add the cheese and whisk until smooth.  Serve warm drizzled over a juicy, grilled steak.