Now that I have two daughters who speak French most of the time with each other and their mother, but English with me and then American when they watch Disney cartoons there’s plenty of possibilities for misunderstandings.As in, “Would you like some chips for tea?”In French, this would be thinly-sliced discs of potato fried in hot oil. In American, too. But in English, which is what I speak, it means small fingers of potato. Fried in hot oil. French fries. Pommes frites. Pommes alumettes almost, in fact.Almost but not quite – pommes alumettes, matchstick fries, are a little beyond the capabilities of my Bron Couke mandoline, like this one here. If you’ve ever set foot in a professional restaurant kitchen in France, you’ll have seen one of these beasts, sitting on the same shelf it’s been kept on for the last 10, 20, 30 or more years. Some ‘modern’ chefs (you need to hawk and spit after pronouncing it for the full effect) insist on using new-fangled Japanese mandolines which can cut your potatoes, carrots, radishes and cauliflowers into instant Geraniums or Giraffes instead of slices or, well, chips. Real chefs snigger at them.Also, note that my Professional mandoline doesn’t have the widget that sits on top to hold your vegetables and automatically save you from cutting off the tips of your fingers. Real chefs don’t need the tips of their fingers and have lost them years ago anyway. Continue reading →