Carbonades

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of beef stew traditionally prepared with meat, wine, and vegetables
2. A dish consisting usually of pieces of meat braised or cooked in a sauce, often associated with French cuisine
3. A culinary preparation featuring stewed meat usually seasoned and simmered to enhance flavor and tenderness

Etymology: "Carbonades" is the plural of "carbonade", a dish of meat braised in a rich sauce, most often beef cooked slowly in beer. The singular was borrowed from French "carbonnade", and the two forms are doublets of "carbonado", which shares the same origin but arrived in English by a different route. Carbonado, from Spanish, is the older English form and once meant meat grilled or broiled over coals, a method that gives the name its sense of charring. Both words descend from Italian "carbonata", derived from "carbone", meaning charcoal, ultimately from Latin "carbo", "carbon-", which is also the root of the chemical element. The original idea was therefore meat cooked over glowing embers, and the braising sense developed later as the French form took on a broader meaning. The name keeps the memory of a coal fire in its spelling.

Synonyms: meats, stews