Glossary entry (derived from question below)
français term or phrase:
maison [on a menu]
anglais translation:
chef's own / house
Added to glossary by
Sheila Wilson
Nov 18, 2012 20:52
11 yrs ago
4 viewers *
français term
maison [on a menu]
français vers anglais
Autre
Général / conversation / salutations / correspondance
Hello all
I can't believe that I have translated all the specialist terms on a menu and at the proof-reading stage I started having doubts about the term "maison" (as in "Purée maison").
Which do you think of?
- speciality of the restaurant/chef
- prepared on site (ie not industrial)
I tend to think "specialty". "Faite maison" would be used for cooked on site, wouldn't it? (
Thanks for input!
I can't believe that I have translated all the specialist terms on a menu and at the proof-reading stage I started having doubts about the term "maison" (as in "Purée maison").
Which do you think of?
- speciality of the restaurant/chef
- prepared on site (ie not industrial)
I tend to think "specialty". "Faite maison" would be used for cooked on site, wouldn't it? (
Thanks for input!
Proposed translations
(anglais)
3 +6 | house | Sheila Wilson |
4 +13 | home-made | Sarah Bessioud |
3 +4 | house | Trudy Peters |
4 +1 | house specialty | jmleger |
4 | homestyle | Michele Fauble |
3 | Speciality of the house | Josephine Cassar |
Change log
Nov 20, 2012 08:40: Sheila Wilson Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+6
9 minutes
Selected
house
Difficult to say without getting a feel for the whole thing: what might suit one menu would clash horribly on another.
House pâté; house wine; house...
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Note added at 11 mins (2012-11-18 21:04:02 GMT)
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Seeing as two others beat me to it ;), here's another:
Chef's own pâté
House pâté; house wine; house...
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Note added at 11 mins (2012-11-18 21:04:02 GMT)
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Seeing as two others beat me to it ;), here's another:
Chef's own pâté
Peer comment(s):
agree |
emiledgar
22 minutes
|
Thanks
|
|
neutral |
Tony M
: For certain dishes, it could well be a 'speciality of the house', but just for purée, no... / Now 'chef's own' usually translates '...du chef', and I'd personally rather save it for that.
28 minutes
|
Certainly not a speciality, Tony, just the house version
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neutral |
cc in nyc
: "agree" but gave the vote to Trudy, who was just one minute ahead of you ;-)
2 heures
|
;)
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agree |
writeaway
: agree-it's about the recipe.
7 heures
|
Thanks writeaway
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agree |
Emma Paulay
: I like "chef's own". It covers both the "house" and "homemade" aspects.
9 heures
|
Thanks Emma
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agree |
Clarissa Hull
: "Chef's own": yes!
10 heures
|
Thanks Clarissa
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agree |
MoiraB
: "Chef's own x" or "Chef's special x" is a solution I often use for this overused term
11 heures
|
Thanks Moira. So many terms on menus are overused :(
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agree |
Yolanda Broad
1 jour 4 heures
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Thanks
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "this is closest to what i finally used- thanks sheila and to veryone else"
+13
1 minute
home-made
Would seem to make sense...
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Alison Sparks (X)
0 minute
|
Thank you, Alison.
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agree |
Zofia Wislocka
: comme chez la maman :)
1 minute
|
Thank you, Zofia. Oh yes, that's something very special ;-)
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neutral |
Josephine Cassar
: Home-made is Faites maison
5 minutes
|
You're right, but the "faites" is often left out, esp. on menus
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neutral |
emiledgar
: with CassarJosephine.
29 minutes
|
She's right, but it is often shortened to "maison" on menus.
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agree |
Tony M
: I see this all the time on menus in restaurants here in France, in context, meaning 'home-made'; the only thing really suitable for 'purée' / 'maison' unequivocally means 'home-made' — 'home' means 'the restaurant kitchen, used the same way in EN.
34 minutes
|
Thank you, Tony. Comfort food at its best!
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agree |
John ANTHONY
: Obviously, as opposed to "bought in"
45 minutes
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Thank you, John.
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agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
52 minutes
|
Thanks, gallagy2.
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agree |
Valérie Lopez
1 heure
|
Thank you, Val.
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disagree |
cc in nyc
: made in whose home, I wonder? When I dine out, I want the food to be made on the premises... of the restaurant. // "oneself" not usually meaning a professional chef. Homemade stuff should stay back home.
2 heures
|
That's one definition of home-made. The other is "made by oneself" - made by the team in the kitchen in this instance.// Not necessarily - many people enjoy the comfort of good old 'home cooking', even when eating out.
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agree |
Sonia Geerlings
2 heures
|
Thank you, Sonja.
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agree |
Cyril B.
5 heures
|
Merci, Cyril.
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neutral |
writeaway
: home-made food in a restaurant? it's not where it's prepared, it's about how it's prepared. their own recipe, hopefully as opposed to the ready-made/microwave food served in so many restaurants.
7 heures
|
Home-made purée puts the emphasis on the preparation by hand, whatever the recipe. This is not about some house specialty that will get crowds flocking to the restaurant just for a spoonful of something white and fluffy!
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agree |
FoundInTrans
: most likely
8 heures
|
Thank you, Wortschmidt.
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disagree |
Clarissa Hull
: with writeaway: how could it possibly be "home-made" in a restaurant?
10 heures
|
Home-made - made by oneself, on the premises. Emphasis on the freshness and quality of the ingredients.
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agree |
Victoria Porter-Burns
: Home-made doesn't necessarily mean 'made at home' - it means, as others rightly say above, made 'by us', i.e. the chef and his team, as opposed to industrially-produced and brought in.
11 heures
|
Thank you, Victoria.
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agree |
Barbara Veness
: The French term "maison" is more versatile than the English "home-made" because it suggests "of the house" whether a home or a restaurant
12 heures
|
Thank you, Barbara.
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agree |
AllegroTrans
: Whatever others say, restaurants even in UK say "home made" and it simply means "restaurant cooked"
13 heures
|
Thank you, Allegro. You're right, I'd be wary of over-translating this.
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agree |
mimi 254
15 heures
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Thank you, mimi.
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agree |
Victoria Britten
15 heures
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Thank you, Victoria.
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agree |
Rachel Ward
: Café where I had lunch today (UK) had both "home made" and "made on the premises" on its menu.
17 heures
|
Thank you, Rachel.
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neutral |
Daryo
: there's a difference between home-made (made in someone's private home kitchen, usually for home dinner guests) and "on the premises" in a commercial restaurant. "home-made" in a restaurant is either prepared out of premises or marketing hype.
21 heures
|
I beg to differ. Home-made can also be made in a restaurant, prepared by the chef and his team. I agree, however, that it's typical menu marketing hype - dressing up an ordinary purée into something a little more special.
|
+4
8 minutes
house
house (as in restaurant)
e.g. "house mashed potatos" = m.p. according to the chef's own recipe
e.g. "house mashed potatos" = m.p. according to the chef's own recipe
Peer comment(s):
agree |
emiledgar
22 minutes
|
neutral |
Tony M
: For certain dishes, it could well be a speciality of the 'house', but just for purée, no... / Yes, but by saying 'house', it implies 'speciality' rather than 'home-made'
27 minutes
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I didn't say "specialty"
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agree |
cc in nyc
2 heures
|
agree |
writeaway
: definitely more to do with the restaurant's/chef's own recipe. not home-made.
7 heures
|
agree |
Daryo
: "according to the chef's own recipe" yes, not made at someone's home.
21 heures
|
+1
8 minutes
house specialty
rather than "home-made" in a commercial context.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Tony M
: For certain dishes, it could well be a 'speciality of the house', but just for purée, no... / Of course, but 'maison' used like this means home-made; otherwise, it would probably be 'de la maison', for example. Maybe it's different in CA, but here in FR
28 minutes
|
Pas d'accord. La purée se d´cline de nombreuses façons: a la noix de muscade, à l'oeuf, à la crème fraîche, avec les peaux, etc,
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neutral |
writeaway
: agree with your explanation to Tony but not with the English. Adding the word specialty is un peu trop....
7 heures
|
agree |
Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
: Chef's purée; how can a "purée" not be home-made? Do they serve anything that is not "home-made"?"
10 heures
|
10 minutes
Speciality of the house
As home-made is Faites maison
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Tony M
: 'maison' is used ALL THE TIME here in France for 'home-made'; it would be a pretty poor restaurant if they needed to claim 'purée' as a 'speciality'! / home-made, yes; speciality (here) no.
26 minutes
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Purée is not when you pulp some concoction , it means Homemade or something pointed out as Speciality
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agree |
Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
: Would they serve anything that was not home-made, let alone a "purée"?
10 heures
|
agree |
Clarissa Hull
: Alternative to Sheila's "chef's own". As some have already pointed out, "maison" has nothing to do with "home" here, but with the restaurant as a business (see def. Larousse: "maison": entreprise commerciale ou industrielle)
10 heures
|
disagree |
AllegroTrans
: Agree with Tony's comment
17 heures
|
3 heures
homestyle
Brouette de Grand-Mere: Excellent home-style French food - See 32 traveler reviews, candid photos, and great deals for Cannes, France, ...
www.tripadvisor.com › ... › Cannes Restaurants › Brouette de Grand-Mere
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Note added at 4 hrs (2012-11-19 00:53:29 GMT)
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or "home-style"
("Home-style" rather than "home-made" since it isn't actually made in someone's home.)
www.tripadvisor.com › ... › Cannes Restaurants › Brouette de Grand-Mere
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Note added at 4 hrs (2012-11-19 00:53:29 GMT)
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or "home-style"
("Home-style" rather than "home-made" since it isn't actually made in someone's home.)
Discussion
In one of our local resturants here, which has an excellent reputation, I asked which of their desserts was home-made; the embarrassed waitress replied "Only the apple tart!"
If you walk down the aisles of a catering wholesaler's here, you'd possibly be amazed at just what is available ready-made; the list reads like the standard menu of so very many restaurants. Dishes are even available individually portioned in vacuum packs so they can just be heated up to order. If a restaurant has a very extensive menu, you can be sure that some at least of it was not 'made on the premises'; the true gastronomic restaurant has a much more eclectic choice of dishes.
Perhaps there is a AE/BE difference as far as "home-made" is prepared. I consider that it's something made on the premises from scratch (note: I'm a native BE speaker). But surely it's a term open to abuse and perhaps French legislators should take note!
Given the context of the restaurant menu I am translating...
- the qualifier "maison" only appears next to a purée.
- the restaurant is a "mid-range" restaurant, where I for one would not expect to be served anything that had not been fully prepared on the premises.
...I chose the term "chef's recipe". "House specialty" seems too much.
I'm wondering if this is an AE / BE thing; I note that all the disagreers are speakers of US English, or at least non-GB speakers.
While one certainly does find 'house wine' (which is most definitely not 'vin maison' in France, because that would mean home-made wine, which is rare!), there aren't many dishes in BE that would get described as 'house', unless it is 'house special'.
I think Asker may need to take into account the destination readership (European or Transatlantic) in order to select the most appropriate translation for their needs.
I should add that I have professional restaurant training in the UK and am currently involved in restaurant catering, and my partner is top chef with his own restaurant.