Soup by Any Other Name
The names given to recipes can be more or less a part of the recipe’s charisma. The name of a cake can be just a name or have the impact of food-inspired poetry. Restaurants per force use the same ingredients and same methods of preparation. There is only so much to work with and so many ways to work. Beyond this incontrovertible reality, the timbre of the words chosen to describe the results of a chef’s work, their descriptive power has a way of drawing us in. We want to taste coupes malmaison even when we don’t have an inkling what coupes are because it sounds pretty. More importantly, names make us notice the differences in recipes.
Ever popular with diners and cooks are restaurant recipes named for places. Nantucket Scallop Chowder, once sold at the famous Toll House Restaurant, conjures up mental scenes of Rhode Island with its picturesque fishing villages replete with thick fog and the raucous caws of seagulls. This hearty soup just sounds like something that should be served on a damp pre-winter evening when the sea is lapping gently around the wood pilings of the boat docks and the world is half asleep. Derby-Pie, on the other hand, suggests horse country and a richness of life.
Some restaurant dishes are named after the restaurant where they were created – Delmonico Steak; Waldorf Salad. Often a recipe name will include a key ingredient, i.e., Galatoire’s bread pudding. Occasionally the method of preparation or assembly partially determines the name of a signature dish – Twice-baked Potatoes with Crumbled Parmesan; Layered Seafood Salad.
The creator’s or adapter’s name may also be used to identify a restaurant’s recipe, i.e., Aunt Jenny’s Coconut Cream Pie. When we see recipe names like this, we wonder what Aunt Jenny did to her pie to make it different from every other coconut cream pie we’ve ever eaten. Using color-words in recipe identification helps a cook visualize how the dish will look when prepared and ready to eat. Blueberry Shortcake with Red Raspberry Sauce.
Words that refer to quality sometimes come into play when naming restaurant recipes – Our Best Cheesecake. References to food texture and serving temperature also have a certain appeal for diners who want a hint of what to expect in these areas – Hot Roast Beef Sandwich; Hard Biscotti; Creamy Rice Pudding.
As aspiring cooks and appreciative diners, we select our food from a sea of words. For the same reason we would rather paint our rooms “Winter White” or “Wheat” instead of white or tan, we prefer that the titles of our best-loved restaurant recipes imply that individualization of some kind has taken place. When we take the time to prepare something special, we want to be able to introduce it as something more than just apple pie or fish.
Source: http://www.positivearticles.com/blog