Quick Bytes

Website review

Neeti Mehra browses the internet for some delectable offerings

The French connection

There is good news for the Francophile gastronome. Fumbling over Bordeaux and amuse-bouche are ignominies that self-respecting chefs and waiters suffer given the accompanying tongue gymnastics. While a long-term solution is to pack off the posse to the nearest Alliance Francaise to roll the perfect 'R's, a quick fix solution is to refer to a ready online reckoner armed with headphones. The website - http://library.sullivan.edu/CPI/culterms.htm - a useful resource from the Sullivan University Library & Learning Resource Centre based in Kentucky, helps to brush up rusty pronunciations. No longer is the champignon the distant relative of champagne, but rightly said, edible mushrooms, primarily the button variety.

Epicureans' delight

A baba isn't the paternal sort we're acquainted with, but baba au rhum, a rich, light currant or raisin-studded yeast cake soaked in a rum or the German Kirsch (cherry) syrup as per www.epicurious.com.
The site is an award winning, and perhaps one of the best known culinary sites, from the publishing giants CondeNet and its culinary dictionary kneads out cooking quandaries. Interesting tidbits such as the Udo, a Japanese vegetable belonging to the ginseng family finds a mention as well as the Indian Varq, described as edible, gossamer-thin sheets of pure silver or gold that has been used for centuries to decorate Indian sweetmeats.