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French to English translations [Non-PRO] Cooking / Culinary / Recipe
French term or phrase:verser en pluie
Hi all,
My best guess for this would be "sprinkle," but I just wanted to check because I am not very experienced in this field.
Macarons au foie gras
Ingrédients pour 1 personne
125 gr de poudre d’amandes
225 gr de sucre glace
4 blancs d’oeufs
30 gr de sucre semoule
1 bloc de foie gras
Mélanger le sucre glace et la poudre d’amandes.
Tamiser ce mélange.
Monter très fermement les blancs d’œufs avec le sucre semoule.
Verser en pluie le mélange d’amandes et de sucre glace sur les blancs en neige.
Mélanger à la spatule jusqu’à ce que le mélange brille, c’est ce qu’on appelle «macaroner».
Dresser à la poche à douille sur une plaque couverte de papier cuisson.
Laisser « croûter » à l’air.
Cuire à 180°C pendant 8 minutes.
Refroidir les macarons et les décoller.
Prendre un bloc de foie gras, détailler à l’emporte pièce.
Souder les coques de macarons avec le foie gras.
Servir avec un chutney ( figues, myrtilles, mangue... )
Explanation: Yes, it just means don't sling it all in in one go!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 heures (2011-09-05 08:54:53 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
'gently add' might be one to go for — this is essentially what you need to do when making macaroons (which I might just go off and do this afternoon! My last batch were scrummy!)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 18 heures (2011-09-05 20:46:32 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
CMWilliams's reference post clearly supports the interpretation of sprinkling using a sieve — and I know from bitter experience that it's a bit of a pain with the ground alonds, which need to be ground even finer than usual, otherwise they won't go through the sieve :-(
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 5 jours (2011-09-10 11:45:02 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
According to the ref. kindly provided by CM Williams, it is suggested to achieve this by the use of a sieve, in which case, of course, we'd commonly say 'sift the ... into the ...', which may perhaps avoid some of the criticisms expressed towards 'sprinkle'.
I hope you're not suggesting a nice cuppa Ty-Phoo with my foie gras macaroons ?! Actually, I have to admit that I don't particularly fancy the combination in the first place — I can think of better filllings for macaroons, and much more appetizing things to do with foie gras!
This weekend, I did slow-cooked souris d'agneau with a really yummy ratatouille, and a heavenly tiramisu...
I think sprinkle might be underdoing it, pouring gradually overdoing it, so I favour trickling at the end of the day. But then isn't drizzle a form of rain?
Reminds me of the lovely mis-translation of "saupoudrer" I once found in a recipe: "sparkle the top with sugar". I've been sparkling ever since.
Hurry up with those macarons, Tony; the kettle's on!
Not fixated, Barbara, no — but I have translated an awful lot of recipes, and am very familiar with the source term; let's not get too hung up, either, on the translation of 'saupoudrer' by 'sprinkle', since that is only one possible translation; as I pointed out to Isabelle, in many instances, 'dust' is better, and 'sprinkle' may well translate equally as 'parsemer', for example.
Perhaps we are both getting too fixated on cooking and forgetting the French source text. It is "verser en pluie", after all, not "saupoudrer". (Nice to have the complete recipe. Sadly, for reasons of vegetarianism and waistline, this is not one I'm going to try.)
I'm not entirely in agreement with your comment; whilst 'sprinkle' might indeed be considered too slow, in fact, the whole adding process does need to be quite slow, and avoiding the loss of air is not the sole objective. The actual beating process is in any case a fairly long-drawn out one, waiting for the mixture to take on a sheen, and unlike many other 'folding-in' recipes, in this case, a great deal of the air is lost anyway.
In fact, the adding needs to be done relatively gently ("it droppeth as the gentle rain from Heav'n") so as not to 'crush' the beaten egg whites (as it would if you poured it all in in a ruddy rush), and of course to avoid lumps. When I was taught to make macaroons by a professional pâtissier, we did actually sprinkle them in using a sieve.
Given the fact that different people have clearly different "instincts" about how to translate this, trusting one's "own instincts" seems to be a recipe for inaccuracy. Given the relative quantities of almonds and icing sugar in this recipe, sprinkling would be too slow and lead to an extended mixing time, which would lose air from the beaten egg whites. By pouring them in a steady stream using one hand, while folding them in using the other hand, the mixing time and loss of air are reduced.
the term is in virtually all dictionaries so guessing really isn't necessary, especially in such a clear straightforward context. imo, it's important to learn to trust your own instincts :-)
Your guess is correct. I have experience in the field and the same expression is used in Spanish
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
3 hrs confidence:
drizzle
Explanation: While "sprinkle" is indeed what it means, one often sees "drizzle" used on rather chi-chi menus and hears it on those countless TV cookery programmes.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2011-09-05 06:49:12 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I'm now persuaded that "sprinkle" is better, or perhaps "scatter" - "drizzle" being more applicable to liquids.
Jenny Forbes Local time: 01:31 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English
The translation workplace 
