New Orleans Food Glossary

Barbecue shrimp. Shrimp baked in the shell in a blend of olive oil and butter, and seasoned with garlic and other herbs and spices.

Béarnaise. A sauce of egg yolk and butter with shallots, wine, and vinegar, used on meat and fish.

Boudin (pronounced boo-dan). A soft Cajun sausage, often spicy, made of pork, rice, and a bit of liver for seasoning.

Bouillabaisse (pronounced booey-yah-base). A stew of various fish and shellfish in a broth seasoned with saffron and other spices.

Boulette (pronounced boo-let). Minced, chopped, or puréed meat or fish shaped into balls and fried.

Café brûlot (pronounced broo-loh). Cinnamon, lemon, clove, orange, and sugar, steeped with strong coffee, then flambéed with brandy and served in special pedestaled cups.

Chicory coffee. The ground and roasted root of a European variety of chicory is added to ground coffee in varying proportions.

Crème brûlée. Literally meaning "burned cream," a custard with a brittle crust of browned sugar.

Dirty rice. In this cousin of jambalaya, bits of meat, such as giblets or sausage, and seasonings are added to white rice before cooking.

Dressed. A po'boy "dressed" contains lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise or mustard.

Meunière (pronounced muhn-yehr). This method of preparing fish or soft-shell crab entails dusting it with seasoned flour, sautéing it in brown butter, and using the butter with lemon juice as a sauce.

Mirliton (pronounced merl-i-tawn). A pale-green member of the squash family, usually identified as a vegetable pear or chayote.

Oysters Bienville (pronounced byen-veel). Oysters lightly baked in the shell and topped with a cream sauce flavored with bits of shrimp, mushroom, and green seasonings.

Oysters en brochette (pronounced awn-bro-shet). Whole oysters and bits of bacon dusted with seasoned flour, skewered, and deep-fried; traditionally served on toast with lemon and brown butter.

Panéed veal (pronounced pan-aid). Breaded veal cutlets sautéed in butter.

Po'boy. A hefty sandwich made with local French bread and any number of fillings: roast beef, fried shrimp, oysters, ham, meatballs in tomato sauce, and cheese are common.

Ravigote (pronounced rah-vee-gote). In Creole usage, this is a piquant mayonnaise—usually made with capers—used to moisten crabmeat.

Rémoulade (pronounced ray-moo-lahd). A mixture of olive oil, mustard, scallions, cayenne, lemon, paprika, and parsley, served on cold peeled shrimp or lumps of back-fin crabmeat.

Souffléed potatoes. Thin, hollow puffs of deep-fried potato, produced by two fryings at different temperatures.

Sno-balls. Shaved ice topped with flavored syrup.

Tasso. Smokey cured pork often diced fine and added to dishes as a flavoring.