Mangled Translation or Bizarre Dessert?
 

From the web site of the Richard Coutanceau restaurants, a recipe for the following dessert:

<b>True waffles as did them my grandmother, tasty compote of old boy</b>

Oh, yum.

At first I thought that an automatic translator program was to blame, but then I read the French, which seems like a pretty literal approximation of the English:

<i>Veritable gaufres commes les faisaient ma grand-mere, savoureuse compote de vieux garcon</i>.

So what would be on my plate if I ordered this dish?

Road kill?

I can grasp &quot;genuine waffles like my grandmother made them&quot;, but unless grandmere was <i>n&eacute;e</i> Donner, I can't figure out &quot;tasty compote of old boy&quot;.

http://www.coutanceau.com/recettes/i...ngueRecette=fr

that's the recipe

compote de vieux garcon is apparently just a mixed fruit compote containing several fruits (pineapple, banana, etc) and some rum

Here's the recipe:
http://www.coutanceau.com/recettes/i...ngueRecette=fr

Basically sugar, fruit, and vanilla.

oh man, I laughed SO HARD when I read your post. I didn't know what the heck it meant either, but I was curious enough, so I went to google and found the &quot;compote de vieux garcon&quot; is just the name of a particular kind of compote -- &quot;old bachelor's&quot; compote. it's also called 'bachelor's brandied fruit.' try googling [&quot;vieux garcon&quot; fruit] including the quotes, and you'll get a nice sampling of the recipes for this compote. thanks for making me laugh, though!!! amy

thanks for making ME laugh, too !! i wondered what a recipe with a translation of yummy tiramisu of old girl might involve.

SOILENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!

Ah the perils of automatic translation. If you didn't know, what would one make of 'Good woman's sole' (Manolo or Jimmy Choo?) or (especially if you only heard it spoken) 'Lady sailor's mussels'?

It can happen the other way, too. Imagine a French translation of 'grits' or 'toad in the hole'...!