Behind the French Menu

Jus – Juice. A Cooked Dish’s Natural Juices and or a Fruit or Vegetable Juice.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Freshly squeezed orange juice.

www.flickr.com/photos/yusamoilov/13638538444/

On French menus jus, a juice may be the liquid produced from squeezing or pureeing fruit or vegetables; or may refer to the natural gravy, juices, or sauces produced from cooking meat, fish, seafood, or other products. Jus de Cuisson - Cooking juices.are listed after the fruit and vegetable juices in this post.

Suc

The Juices from Herbs and other Plants and Suc the Cooking Juices from Meat, Poultry, Fish, and Seafood on French menus are part of another post, click here.

Fruit and vegetable juices on French menus:

Jus d'Orange - Orange juice, bottled, canned, or frozen. See the paragraph below: Jus de Fruits.

Jus d'Orange Fraîchement Pressé - Freshly squeezed orange juice.

Jus de Cerise - Cherry juice; bottled or canned.

Spicy Cherry Mock-a-jito

Yields 1 serving

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes

.75 oz Wild Roots Apothecary Rosehip Hibiscus Syrup*

10 cherries, .25 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice, .25 oz fresh squeezed lime juice

2 oz cherry lime seltzer, 1 cup ice, Small sliced spear of watermelon, Chili powder

Sprig regular basil or slice or twist of lemon,

Pit cherries.

Squeeze lemons and limes.

Add cherries, basil, lime, and lemon rinds into a small cocktail shaker** and muddle for 15 seconds, Add syrup, lemon, and lime juice to the shaker.

Add ice and shake for 15 seconds. Strain into a glass with ice and top with seltzer. Stir with a spoon and garnish with chili dusted watermelon spear and a sprig of basil.

Sip and enjoy.

Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/28963000075/

Jus de Citron - Lemon juice: fresh, bottled, canned, or inside one of those squeezable plastic lemons.

Citron Pressé – On a hot day in France, consider a citron pressé, more than freshly squeezed lemon and ice-cold water, much more. Order a citron pressé, and freshly squeezed lemon juice will be served alongside a jug of chilled water, some ice, and sugar to taste. A citron pressé, as simple as it is to make, is a unique French creation.

You may say that fresh lemon juice and water is a drink that you could have anywhere, and that is true. However, in France, you will learn the effect of a citron pressé, drunk slowly, on a hot day, while watching the world go by from a sidewalk café in Paris or a café on the Cote d'Azur. There, a citron pressé has an effect that can only be described as magical. I have made citron pressé at home and drunk freshly squeezed lemon juice in many lands and many situations. The "terroir" of France does something to a citron pressé that is unique; that effect has much to recommend it.

The most important ingredient in a citron presse

Photograph courtesy of Andrew Comings

www.flickr.com/photos/brazilnut72/3082913552/

Jus de Fruits - Fruit juices, usually bottled fruit juices. Check the label notes. If the label read

Jus de Fruit à Base de Concentre - Juice made with fruit concentrate. This may be the next best thing to freshly squeezed fruit juice, but apart from added water fruit flavors may also be added.

Jus de Fruits de Nectar – Nectar; canned or bottled fruit juices. Nectars contain fruit juice, sugar, and water. By law, the actual amount of fruit juice must be above 20%. The taste may be great, but do not expect to receive the real Greek nectar that was the drink of the ancient Greek gods!

Jus de Fruits Frais Pressés - Freshly squeezed fruit juices.

Jus de Fruits Pressés dans l'Instant – Fresh fruit juices prepared at your request.

Jus de Pommes - Apple juice, bottled or canned. Cidre is cider in French.

Cidre Nouveau – A new, young, cider; nouveau cider is mostly alcohol-free; however, please do check the label. Most new ciders are sweet as they are not far removed from when th

Jus de Pommes - Apple juice.

Photograph courtesy of Jean François.

www.flickr.com/photos/llyglad/8701358631/

Jus de Tomates - Tomato juice. Fresh, bottled, or canned.

Jus Verte - A popular cold sauce often served with cold fish dishes. It is made with spring onions (oignon vert), green peppers, parsley, garlic, mustard, vinegar, and olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Jus de Cuisson - Cooking juices.

On a French menu, Jus de Cuisson indicates a dish cooked prepared in or served the juices that result from the cooking, or prepared and served with those juices.

For the use of the word Suc for cooking juice on French menus click here.

Cooking juices on your menu:

Au Jus and Au Jus Corsé

A dish cooked and or served in natural cooking juices. Originally a jus corsé was a gravy based only on veal or beef stock along with the marrow from the bones; apart from some water, not even wine was added. Today "au jus" and:au jus corsé" have moved on, and your menu may offer a jus corsé for fish, seafood, and vegetables along with a flavor made by the addition of herbs, spices fruits, vinegar or wine.

Jus Déglace - Cooking juices flavored with herbs, spices, vinegar and or wine, etc.

Jus Lie – A thickened sauce, usually a meat sauce. It will often be the natural cooking juices that have been allowed to thicken naturally.

Réduction de Jus – A menu listing may note a reduction, meaning a sauce made reduced in volume by simmering or boiling. N.B. Today the words déglacé and reduction are often used interchangeably.

Carré d'Agneau Rôti au Four, Jus Corsé aux Épices - A rack of lamb roasted in the oven and served with the natural cooking juices flavored with spices.

Filet de Bœuf Poêlé et sa Réduction de Jus de Viande au Porto - A lightly fried fillet of beef, the tenderloin, served with the meat's natural cooking juices flavored with Port.

Filet de Bœuf - Beef Tenderloin, or Beef fillet.

With field mushrooms, merlot wine sauce au jus, and a confit of shallots.

Photograph courtesy of Alpha

www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/3646892644/

Langoustine aux Fruits Acidulés, Jus Corsé - Dublin bay prawns, (the real scampi), prepared with slightly acidic fruits; that will probably be lemon and grapefruit. The dish is served with the dish's natural cooking juices. A slightly acidic sauce is often part of fish and shellfish dishes.

Pigeon Rôti et Son Jus Corsé - Roast Pigeon, served in its natural cooking juices.

Roast pigeon served au jus (in its cooking juices).

With peas, foie gras, and cos lettuce.

Photograph courtesy of Ross Bruniges

www.flickr.com/photos/thecssdiv/8709937644/

Poêlée de Magret de Canard, Jus de Cuisson Déglacé au Thym et au Miel – Fried duck breast served with its own cooking juices flavored with thyme and honey.

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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

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from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

Morels in a farmers’ market.

Photograph courtesy of Al

www.flickr.com/photos/wessel1943/7170856890/

La Morille – The Morel Mushroom

Morels are a family of tasty mushrooms with a decidedly different look to most other mushrooms. Morels lack the gills and domed caps of many other mushrooms, but they all have white to ivory colored stems and a conical cap. Dried morel caps that you may see in the market look tube-shaped, but that is part of the drying process and when rehydrated the conical cap returns. The morel’s taste and texture make them a French favorite; they will be served fresh from early spring through to the beginning of June. (The idea that Morel stems are not edible is an urban legend, though they are a little tougher than the cap).

Fresh, dried or frozen morels.

Now that a few members of the morel family have been cultivated farm all around the world are trying to producing mushrooms all year round. Nevertheless, it is still a work in progress and not enough product is reaching the markets to change the prices; however, that may change. On the wild side, each member of the morel family has its own short six to eight weeks of glory in France between late February and June. The morel is providentially an easy mushroom to dry and so they may be on menus all year round. Some French chefs freeze morels and extend their "almost fresh" shelf life by a month or two.

Dried morels in the market.(The row in the center).

The short white stem seen on fresh morel mushroom

is removed before the cap is dried.

Photograph courtesy of Tom Bridge

www.flickr.com/photos/tbridge/5559121011/

French chefs like wild mushrooms and wild herbs and most will have long-term contracts with "ramasseurs de champignons et herbes", professional wild mushroom, and wild herb gatherers. These professional gatherers know the exact season for each member of the morel family, as well as other mushrooms, herbs, fruits and more. They keep these places close to their chests in the well-concealed areas where they can expect wild mushrooms and herbs to appear every year. Importantly, they also know how to keep well away from the false morel and other "look-alike" mushrooms which can be poisonous.

Morels can grow quite large.

Photograph courtesy of Jena Fuller

www.flickr.com/photos/jsf539/14038716515/

The morels on your French menu may be:

Veloutéd'Asperges Blanches aux Morilles Fraîches- A creamy white asparagus soup served with morel mushrooms. Veloutés are smooth velvety soups and were made from, at least originally, a sauce base; veloutés were one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine

Émincé de Veau aux Morilles – Thin slices of veal served with morel mushrooms.

Filet de Féra du Léman aux Morilles, Risotto à l’Ail des Ours, Tomate Confite - A filet of the broad whitefish caught in Lake Leman (Lake Geneva) prepared with morel mushrooms. The dish is accompanied by a risotto flavored with wild garlic and a tomato confit. The broad whitefish is a relative of salmon and trout and a very tasty fish. When this fish is on your menu in France it will come from a lake or a river, while outside of Europe they may be caught at sea. When this fish comes from Lake Leman, it is considered particularly tasty and so its provenance will be on the menu. The wild garlic in the risotto has a much lighter and delicate taste than cultivated garlic, but do ask the waiter as not all wild garlic plants will have read this post! The tomato confit that accompanies this dish is made with tomatoes cooked very slowly until they reach the consistency of a tomato jam.

Morel Mushrooms

with a Tomato and Pinot Noir Reduction and an Artichoke Pasta

Photograph courtesy of Janet Hudson

www.flickr.com/photos/veganfeast/4803891520/

Poêlée de Ris de Veau aux Morilles à la Crème, Jus au Porto. – Lightly fried veal sweetbreads served with creamed morel mushrooms and flavored with a port wine sauce.

Suprême de Chapon au Vin Jaune et Morilles – Boneless capon breast prepared with the yellow wine of the Jura and morel mushrooms. A capon is a cockerel, a rooster, that was castrated as a chick and they grow to 3 or 4 kilos and have very tender meat. The Vin Jaune, the yellow wine from the Jura is a very aromatic dessert wine; it will have been aged for a minimum of six years in oak barrels. The Vin Jaune is a very unique wine, apart from its preparation, taste, aroma, even its bottle shape and size is different to other French wines.

The season, in France, for Fresh Morels.

Outside of the late February to early June season when one member or another of the morel family may be collected fresh the morels on the menu will have been dried. When dried morels are rehydrated, there is only a little change in the taste and texture, and for morel aficionados, any morel is better than none.

None of the members of the morel family has ever been truly cultivated, and there are nearly fifty members. However, in Europe, only five or six morels grow abundantly and it this small number who reach the restaurants and markets in quantity. There are slight differences in taste and texture between the different family members but you will need a lot of exposure to tell the difference.

Nearly enough for breakfast

and Tomato in Pinot Noir Reduction with Artichoke Pasta

Photograph courtesy of Jacob Kaplan-Moss

www.flickr.com/photos/jacobian/8689783655

Dried morels are anywhere from 2.5cm (1”) to 5cm (2”) long, without the stem. Wild morels are often larger with some wild morels more than three times that length.

Gathering wild mushrooms.

If you gather wild morels in France be aware of the false morel that the uninformed can mistake for the real thing; false morels are poisonous! Every town and village in France have a trained mycologist, a mushroom expert and local pharmacists have these expert’s addresses. All mushrooms should be shown to these volunteer experts before being eaten, and, in any case, all morels must be cooked.

The Mushroom Gatherers

Painting by Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859 – 1929)

Morels in the languages of France's neighbors:

(Catalan - múrgola, rabassola or morilla), (Dutch - morieljes), (German – morchel or speisemorchel), (Italian - spugnola or pugnola conica), (Spanish - morilla, mazorquita, mazorca or pancita),

Morels in other the languages:

Chinese ((Mandarin) –(植物；植物), 牛肚菌；龙葵). (Greek - morel μανιτάρια), (Hebrew - metzulak - מצולק), (Hungarian - kucsmagomba gomba),(Norwegian - morkler ), (Polish - morel grzybyRumanian – zbârciog), (Russian - smorchki griby - сморчки грибы), (Swedish - morel svamp),(Tutkish - kuzu göbeği; ) (Latin- morchella conica, morchella esculenta and 50 more family members).