New Orleans Restaurants.com -- New Orleans Lingo and Famous Food Terms!

New Orleans Food Terms --
found in New Orleans restaurants

Andouille (ahn doo' e): A spicy pork sausage used in gumbo, jambalaya or with red beans and rice
Beignet (ben yay'): Lighter than a doughnut, and square (no holes), sprinkled with powdered sugar
Bisque (Bisk): A thick creamy spicy soup served with crawfish, oysters, or shrimp (fantastic with mud bugs!)
Boudin (boo dan'): Hot, spicy pork mixed with onions, cooked rice, herbs. Two types: boudin blanc is pork and rice, boudin rouge is a blood sausage
Bread Pudding: Custard baked french bread - often served with raisins and rum sauce
Cafe au Lait (caf ay' oh lay') Coffee served with steamed milk. Chicory: based coffee is often used.
Calas: Sweet fried rice cakes
Chickory (Chick' o ree): Ground-up, roasted roots from the herb; used to flavor coffee--related to endive
Court Bouillon (coo' boo yon): A rich, spicy fish soup
Crawfish (craw' fish): Spicy fresh water shell fish, also known as "mudbugs" from the bayous!
Creme Caramel: A glazed custard
Dirty Rice: Pan-fried rice cooked with green peppers, onions, celery, stock and giblets
Dressed: Sandwiches served with lettuce, tomatoes and mayonnaise--"the works"
Eggs Sardou: Poached egg served with artichoke hearts, and hollandaise sauce
Etouffee' (ay' too fay): "Smothered" with a dark roux (tomato-based sauce) of seasoned vegetables, poured over rice--usually served with Crawfish
File' (fee' lay): Ground sassafras leaves used to season gumbo and other dishes
Grillades (gree' yads): Thin slices of beef served with a tomato roux
Grits: Ground hominy grain, served as breakfast
Gumbo (Gum bow): Thick file' soup stock served with rice, duck, chicken, okra, shrimp, crabs (See New Orleans Gumbo recipe--gotta try it!)
Hurricane: Popular fruit punch drink served at Pat O'Brien's. Watch them...they sneak up on you!
Hush Puppy: Fried cornmeal bread ball
Jambalaya (Jum' ba lie' ya): Rice based dish with just about everything thrown in! Poultry, tomatoes and cooked rice, ham, shrimp, chicken, celery, onions & and just about every seasoning. (See New Orleans recipes for a great one!)
King Cake: Extra-large oval doughnut pastry dusted with colored candied sugar and often filled with cream cheese, apple filling, etc. A plastic baby doll is hidden inside the cake--the lucky person who gets the piece of cake with the doll inside buys the kingcake for the next party throughout the Mardi Gras season!
Mirliton (Mirl' a tawn): Pear-shaped vegetable, cooked like squash and stuffed with ham, shrimp and spicy dressing
Mudbugs: Crawfish from the bayou! ("Crawfish boils" are a big party in New Orleans!)
Muffuletta (Muf' a lotta) and a lotta it is!: Super-large, round, fat sandwich filled with salami-type meats, mozzarella cheese, pickles, and olive salad
Okra: A seeded pod chopped and served in gumbo, or served as a fried dish
Pain Perdu (Pan pair do): French bread served in similar fashion to french toast
Plantain (plan' ten): Vegetable banana side dish--cooked like candied yams, served wih meats; sometimes for breakfast (great!)
Po-Boys: French Bread sandwich split open and served with oysters, shrimp, ham, roast beef and gravy, soft shelled crabs-- the list goes on.... "Dressed" means using lettuce, tomato, and mayonaise on the sandwich (see above).
Praline (Praw leen'): Brown sugar, pecan-filled, candy patty. (Very sweet and so delicious you can't eat just one! )
Red Beans and Rice: Monday night tradition in New Orleans--Kidney beans served with rice, seasonings, spices and chunks of hot sausage
Remoulade Sauce (Rum a laud): Spicy mustard based cocktail sauce
Sauce Piquante (Sauce pee kont): Spicy red gravy or sauce
Shrimp Creole: Shrimp dish served with a garlic, onion, bell pepper and tomato sauce
Tasso: Smoked red pepper ham
Trout Meuniere (trout men-yare): Trout served with a rich butter sauce