1966 WDEC - Au!

Combining several definitional entries in one post, the next series in the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery is the "au" terms. The editors helpfully devote the first entry to explaining that au (plural, aux) means "with." As menus that say "with au jus" are a pet peeve of mine, I didn't think this excessive.

Then follows "au gratin" in which I learned that you can call something au gratin even without a coating of a crisping agent, such as cheese or buttered breadcrumbs. Even foods that will crisp up and form a crust on their own can have the term applied. I am thinking of ideas for self-crusting foods cooked by Kameko-san (the sous vide cooker) and finished in the broiler. (A more traditional gratin of Kasseler (a German-style smoked pork loin) is shown in the post picture.

Au jus , au lait, and au naturel follow; no surprises for any of these.