1word1day | Friday Words: Fond, and other culinary terms

15 Cheffy Words for Chefs (and Everyone Else), from Merriam Webster

Here's one word from the list, and one of those I'd never encountered before:

Fond

Definition: small particles of browned food and especially meat that adhere to the bottom of a cooking pan and are used especially in making sauces

Chefs are known to be quite fond of fond, and understandably so. The sticky bits of browned food that may to some appear only as a harbinger of stubborn dishwashing to come are in truth flavor-packed morsels that add depth to any dish. Just deglaze with wine (or your liquid of choice), scrape that fond up, and baby you’ve got a stew going. The adjective fond comes from the Middle English word fonne, meaning “fool,” while the noun fond is a French borrowing, going back to the Old French word funt or font, meaning “bottom” or “base.”

Continue to cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the red wine. Naturally, you want to scrape up all that really good fond from the bottom of the pot with your wooden spoon.

— Anthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook, 2004