Pet Peeve: it's "ballotine," not "balantine".
Did anyone else get annoyed when watching Top Chef last night that everyone kept pronouncing ballotine "ba-len-teen" instead of "bah-yo-teen" like it's supposed to be? It's French, goddammit!
I think the confusion comes because people mix up the words "ballotine," a hot preparation of meat stuffed with forcemeat, rolled and poached, and "galantine," a similar preparation that is served cold and coated in aspic, and end up combining the beginning of one word with the end of the other.
As Top Chef contenders, they should know better!
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27 Comments:
YES - that was driving me crazy! It would have been fine if they said "bal-lo-tine" but they were adding that N. There is no N before the T!
It REALLY irritates me when chefs pronounce food words incorrectly. Marscapone is high on the list (hello Bobby Flay) as is chipolte.
If you're a chef, you should know how to correctly pronounce these words. There's no excuse.
charm city cupcake at 10:12PM on 11/19/09
And since we're on the topic of spelling and pronunciation...it's PEEVE. ;)
charm city cupcake at 10:13PM on 11/19/09
@Charm
haha - thanks, you're right!
I guess a writer misspelling words is even worse than a chef mispronouncing them.
Another peeve: when chefs "adjectivise" nouns. Like "truffled".
Also on the list: chefs who say "aioli" when they really mean "mayonnaise." Just call it what it is!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 10:19PM on 11/19/09
Kenji, it's not pronounced bah-yo-tine. It's bal-o-tine. And aioli and mayonnaise are, as I'm sure you know, different things.
Michele Humes at 10:54PM on 11/19/09
But uh...marscapone is spelled mascarpone, and chipolte is spelled chipotle. ;-)
Technically the "correct" (or dialing even further, the historically accurate) pronunciation of chipotle is "chee-poh-til." But "chee-poht-lay" is correct using the common rules of Mexican Spanish as understood in modern times. To me saying "chee-poh-til" is the same as using Victorian English...it's outdated.
phenoderr at 11:11PM on 11/19/09
@phenoderr - I know the correct spellings/pronunciations of those words - what I wrote was how they are (incorrectly) pronounced by certain chefs. :)
charm city cupcake at 12:30AM on 11/20/09
@michele humes
Really? Are there other examples in the French language where a double L makes an "L" sound instead of a "Y" sound? Can't remember any of the few years i took in high school. Anyhow, it's the extra "n" that really gets me - like the extra "L" in chipotle.
And yes, mayo and aioli are different things. That was my point! Chefs are often too chicken to write "mayo" on the menu, so they use aioli instead because it sounds fancier.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 2:03AM on 11/20/09
Oregano is often pronounced differently in the U.K. vs. the U.S. along with basil and herb. Aluminum is the one I find amusing because there seems to be an extra syllable thrown in there in the U.K. I think it may depend on just where you live.
Tomato/tomaato, potato/potaato; let's call the whole thing off...
dhorst at 7:27AM on 11/20/09
Kenji, you'd need either an i before the double-L or an e or y after. "Maillot de bain," bathing suit, is pronounced mah-yo; "chantilly," of course, is chohn-tee-yee.
I have this theory that the "balantine" hybrid word came about in part because of Ballantine's whiskey.
Re: mayo, I guess I'm saying that the offending aioli might actually have the teeniest smidgen of garlic in it. Oh I don't know.
Michele Humes at 7:43AM on 11/20/09
Aluminum is pronounced differently in the UK beacuse we usa a different spelling and it has an additional syllable al-u-min-i-um.
ElsieC at 7:48AM on 11/20/09
while we're on the subject of mispronouncing stuff, i'm going to use this forum to announce how much it irritates me when everyone pronounces Brett Favre's name the wrong way. totally off topic, i know :)
it's Fah-Vrah. not Far-Vah.
french tart at 9:37AM on 11/20/09
@michele humes
Thanks for the correction - I guess I'm equally guilty!
As for the aioli/mayo thing, I've worked in restaurants where we'd call something aioli, even if it had no garlic whatsoever.
Moreover, adding a tiny smidge of garlic to mayo doesn't make it into an aioli - it's just a garlic-mayo, which is not the same as aioli. That's like saying adding a drop of oil to a cup of vinegar makes it into a vinaigrette - it doesn't. These things are defined!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 9:58AM on 11/20/09
TV cooks who pronounce paprika with the extra "a" in there; i.e.,
pap-a-rika (you know who you are Paula Deen, et al!)
duncan1205 at 10:36AM on 11/20/09
I'll just sit here sipping my EXPRESSO and wondering what to do with that container of MARSCAPONE.
finsbigfan at 10:38AM on 11/20/09
@finsbigfan
Hey - just take the MARSCAPONE and spread some of it on your BRUSH-ETTA!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 10:47AM on 11/20/09
@Kenji: Just fixed the title — peave to peeve. You're welcome! ;)
Adam Kuban at 11:04AM on 11/20/09
@Adam
haha - thanks.
I can't believe I mispelled that! ;)
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 11:06AM on 11/20/09
"Whip cream" drives me INSANE.
eeels at 7:59PM on 11/20/09
Why worry about all this $#!+?
dmcavanagh at 8:12PM on 11/20/09
And voila! My peeve is people who pronounce it with a w in the front. And people on the weather channel who think we need to clean off our rooves in the winter.
@dmcavanagh. I don't think a peeve is a worry.
lemonfair at 8:12AM on 11/21/09
For some reason, I cannot stop myself from saying "cottas cheese."
CheesePlease at 9:43AM on 11/21/09
Restauranteur for restaurateur
Vinegarette for vinegrette
floretbroc at 2:19AM on 11/22/09
@J.Kenji... Just don't be dangling your participles in here or you will loose your Gerund and Infinitive privileges... Don't say you weren't warned....
Pavlov at 8:51AM on 11/24/09
@ pavlov
I know exactly where all my particles are at.
It's my prepositions I have to look out for.
;)
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 9:59AM on 11/24/09
that marscapone
broo-shetta
vinegar-ette
stuff drives me CRAZY!!!
Esp. in an Italian restaurant, I find myself correcting the waitron's mispronunciation!
Glad I'm not alone with this obsession.
LauraJ at 11:47AM on 12/08/09
actually it is pronounced brus-ket-ta in many parts of the world and they will chastise you if you pronounce it with an "sh" sound.
missing_LA at 4:46PM on 12/16/09
@missing_LA - I think LauraJ was pointing out things that people commonly say wrong (IE, she's agreeing with you).
btw - a new one popped up on top chef last week:
restauraNteur instead of restaurateur. Even Colicchio was saying it!
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 4:49PM on 12/16/09