English translation: charlotte ( ? ), shallot ( ? )
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-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 11 mins (2011-11-01 09:58:16 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Could also be orange wine sauce and shallots (often caramelized): charlotas or chalotas it seems in Spanish. Worth checking with the client but I would have thought they'd be shallots, given the other ingredients. I could be wrong.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 21 mins (2011-11-01 10:07:49 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"Maybe" ... "probably" and "theories" are not sufficient criteria for me in a question like this. We could surmise for ages about what is after all, only one word, when the sensible (and most economical) course of action is to ask the client. I now apply this approach to abbreviations and acronyms too and it saves me considerable amounts of time, which can then be put to more fruitful use.
(sorry for the delay) but meanwhile, even the "Y's" (and) are capitalized in this text, the font is Monotype Corsiva and the capitals are beautiful miniature works of art, so maybe that would explain the capital C here.
If you type "charlotas de" in Google you find there are for instance charlotas de calabacín, pollo, conejo, espárragos trigueros, paté de centollo, lombarda... but I haven't been able to work out what these "charlottes" are.
Coming round to the shallots (ever tried cooking shallots with Charlotte potatoes, I use both a lot in my cooking!). But this is definitely one that has to go to the client.
I don't believe it would say "Charlotas" alone if it meant potatoes. Anyway, Charlottes are a variety of potato, not a dish. No-one in Spain would understand "Charlotas" in that sense, I believe. And a charlotte, sweet or savoury, doesn't fit the context, in my opinion. But shallots (properly chalotas or chalotes, but often mis-spelled charlotas) fits perfectly. As for the initial capital, you can't build any theories on that; the capitalisation is pretty random here (as often happens in menus). Whoever wrote it probably capitalised "Charlotas" either because it sounds like a proper name or just for emphasis.
Kate's suggestion of shallots makes perfect sense to me as a sauce of oranges and potatoes sounds very odd and the position of the word to mean that it comes with potatoes is strange too. I don't know about all of you, but if I saw "Charlotte/s" on the menu I would ask what kind it was, so it would be better if it were specified on the menu to avoid most diners asking!
I'd prefer the shallots with the steak, but would probably ask for some kind of potato on the side. My suggestion is mainly based on the capital letter, which I find is often haphazardly used in Spain. Looks like a case of ATC (Ask The Client)...
you asked, are you sure it is a single dish? It is on the meat menu, so it seems so, but at the same time there are unusual items in other dishes on the meat menu, such as white chocolate parmentier and banana bizcocho. I'll ask the client and report back.
And apart from the combination, when you try to find "patatas charlotas" you get nothing, and while I wouldn't be surprised if the variety is translated (though you'll find there are plenty of hits on the web for "patatas Charlotte" and none for "patatas charlotas" - I would still be surprised if it wasn't the more likely option of some kind of shallots - roasted, for example. That'd be my bet.
I'd ask, most definitely, though I'd bet my bottom euro cent on them being shallots. Nevertheless, as you can see below, Neil would go for the spuds! Worth checking if poss.
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Charlotte potatoes
Explanation: La Charlotte est une variété de pomme de terre créée et mise sur le marché en 1981.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 mins (2011-11-01 09:50:11 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
As usual in cuisine, "The French have a word for it"... Charlotte is a salad potato. With its distinctive long, oval shape, white skin and moist texture it is ideal for so much more than just salads. ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 8 mins (2011-11-01 09:54:36 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
The capital letter here points to Charlotte spuds and not a typo for shallots IMO...
Here in Valencia, they call "zanahorias" "carlotas"...
neilmac Spain Local time: 20:14 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 97
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +3
