By Any Name?
By Any Name?
"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." -- Willy The Shake
I was first introduced to raclette by my mother after a trip she and my father made to Switzerland where a Swiss friend introduced them to the dish -- along with it's traditions of cracked black pepper on the cheese and cornichons, other pickles, dried meats, and sausages on the side. She returned with a device similar to the one linked to here and we enjoyed the dish whenever she could get her hands on a genuine Raclette cheese. And getting Raclette, the cheese, was not easy in the Southern US in the 60s. (Note, to simplify matters, I will refer to the cheese named raclette as "Raclette" with a capital "R" and the dish as "raclette" with a lower-case "r.")
Recently a friend in South Africa posted a message I a newsgroup about a cheese sandwich that his brother in England made that they both described as raclette. Note that this was a sandwich made with a good English cheddar and onions between two slices of bread. Apparently they called this raclette because the brother, in making the sandwich, used a raclette machine -- something similar to the one linked to above -- I gathered.
Given my personal history with raclette and what I knew of its origins and traditions, I disagreed with his calling a cheese sandwich raclette. Another friend, Venezuelan this time, argued that I wrong and that any cheese melted before a fire was a raclette.
I'm aware that the origin of the name is racler, meaning "to scrape." I'm also aware that people for many generations and in many countries most likely held many varieties of cheese in front of a fire and then scraped off the melted portion and spread it on some other food long before what I think of as raclette acquired its name.
So here's what gave me pause. Is raclette: a) a dish consisting of any cheese melted before a fire; b) a dish made of any cheese melted and scraped from a larger piece of cheese; c) a dish made of melted Raclette; d) a dish that adheres, to the degree possible, to the traditions of the dish first called raclette?
Before answering the above, consider these other examples of possible naming confusion.
The October 2004 issue of Fine Cooking has a recipe for what the magazine calls at different points a "crustless quiche" and a "savory clafoutis." Both are custards at heart, but traditionally clafoutis is a dessert dish made with cherries and quiche is traditionally a savory dish in a pastry shell. Clafoutis also typically contains some flour or other starch in the custard (as this recipe did) but that seems merely a technical detail -- or perhaps not.
Another example is the use of the word "champagne," a word that we, in this country, tend to throw at any sparkling wine. But in France (and as I understand it, all of the EU) the word is legally restricted to wines that meet specific criteria defining origin and production methods.
Similarly, is prosciutto a ham from Parma or is it any ham made in that fashion? Or, even more confusingly, there is an excellent Southern country ham made near me that a few restaurants around the country are ordering, slicing paper thin, and calling American Prosciutto -- apparently simply because of how they slice it.
Jeffrey Steingarten, food columnist for Vogue magazine, wrote an essay in 1989 and recently republished in a collection named The Man Who Ate Everything, about his search for the "True Choucroute." In it he recounts all the variations of this dish he found during a search for the genuine dish in Alsace. As you would expect, each cook and chef had his or her own version. Nevertheless at the end of the essay you are left with a clear understanding of what the dish is at heart -- irrespective of differences in technique, ingredients, and preparations. And at the opposite end of that scale, which of the two items in the image above is really a muffin? Is it the savory, yeast-risen, griddle-cooked bread or the sweet, baked quickbread?
So all of this led me to wonder, "How do you name a dish?"
Should the name be based on preparation technique as my South African and Venezuelan friends seem to argue? Is American Prosciutto really a prosciutto?
How important is the dish's purpose in a meal? Can you really make a savory clafoutis? How about a crustless quiche?
Where does tradition fit in? Is any combination of pork and sauerkraut choucroute?
And by the way, there are roses these days that have almost no scent at all -- sweet or otherwise.
"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." -- Willy The Shake
I was first introduced to raclette by my mother after a trip she and my father made to Switzerland where a Swiss friend introduced them to the dish -- along with it's traditions of cracked black pepper on the cheese and cornichons, other pickles, dried meats, and sausages on the side. She returned with a device similar to the one linked to here and we enjoyed the dish whenever she could get her hands on a genuine Raclette cheese. And getting Raclette, the cheese, was not easy in the Southern US in the 60s. (Note, to simplify matters, I will refer to the cheese named raclette as "Raclette" with a capital "R" and the dish as "raclette" with a lower-case "r.")
Recently a friend in South Africa posted a message I a newsgroup about a cheese sandwich that his brother in England made that they both described as raclette. Note that this was a sandwich made with a good English cheddar and onions between two slices of bread. Apparently they called this raclette because the brother, in making the sandwich, used a raclette machine -- something similar to the one linked to above -- I gathered.
Given my personal history with raclette and what I knew of its origins and traditions, I disagreed with his calling a cheese sandwich raclette. Another friend, Venezuelan this time, argued that I wrong and that any cheese melted before a fire was a raclette.
I'm aware that the origin of the name is racler, meaning "to scrape." I'm also aware that people for many generations and in many countries most likely held many varieties of cheese in front of a fire and then scraped off the melted portion and spread it on some other food long before what I think of as raclette acquired its name.
So here's what gave me pause. Is raclette: a) a dish consisting of any cheese melted before a fire; b) a dish made of any cheese melted and scraped from a larger piece of cheese; c) a dish made of melted Raclette; d) a dish that adheres, to the degree possible, to the traditions of the dish first called raclette?
Before answering the above, consider these other examples of possible naming confusion.
The October 2004 issue of Fine Cooking has a recipe for what the magazine calls at different points a "crustless quiche" and a "savory clafoutis." Both are custards at heart, but traditionally clafoutis is a dessert dish made with cherries and quiche is traditionally a savory dish in a pastry shell. Clafoutis also typically contains some flour or other starch in the custard (as this recipe did) but that seems merely a technical detail -- or perhaps not.
Another example is the use of the word "champagne," a word that we, in this country, tend to throw at any sparkling wine. But in France (and as I understand it, all of the EU) the word is legally restricted to wines that meet specific criteria defining origin and production methods.
Similarly, is prosciutto a ham from Parma or is it any ham made in that fashion? Or, even more confusingly, there is an excellent Southern country ham made near me that a few restaurants around the country are ordering, slicing paper thin, and calling American Prosciutto -- apparently simply because of how they slice it.
Jeffrey Steingarten, food columnist for Vogue magazine, wrote an essay in 1989 and recently republished in a collection named The Man Who Ate Everything, about his search for the "True Choucroute." In it he recounts all the variations of this dish he found during a search for the genuine dish in Alsace. As you would expect, each cook and chef had his or her own version. Nevertheless at the end of the essay you are left with a clear understanding of what the dish is at heart -- irrespective of differences in technique, ingredients, and preparations. And at the opposite end of that scale, which of the two items in the image above is really a muffin? Is it the savory, yeast-risen, griddle-cooked bread or the sweet, baked quickbread?
So all of this led me to wonder, "How do you name a dish?"
Should the name be based on preparation technique as my South African and Venezuelan friends seem to argue? Is American Prosciutto really a prosciutto?
How important is the dish's purpose in a meal? Can you really make a savory clafoutis? How about a crustless quiche?
Where does tradition fit in? Is any combination of pork and sauerkraut choucroute?
And by the way, there are roses these days that have almost no scent at all -- sweet or otherwise.
2 Comments:
Kevin, interesting question. I do see your point, but the only answer I can give is that in France, one has both a sweet tart and a savory tart, both use the same technique in preparation and apparatus [pan], just different fillings in different crusts.
I also see a trend in food magazines, blogs, articles to use the current "terms" to sell everything from apparatus to issues. Does everything have to boil down to $$?
Carolyn
Carolyn,
Some dishes do seem to have clear definitions that nevertheless cover a wide variety of possibilities. Tarts, as you mention, is one. Casseroles is another. However, I think in both cases you can use the term without fear of being misunderstood because the _essence_ of such dishes is generally understood.
And that, to me, is why the issue of naming is more than just a curiosity. The name is how we communicate our meaning and mis-using a name miscommunicates.
Kevin
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