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A Menu Lost in Translation

1 byte removed, 11:20, 2 March 2022
}}, illustration</ref> it was never known to be put on heaps of boiled buckwheat.
Back to square one then. You won't A better explanation would be surprised, though, to learn that the "cocks sauce" in the menu was a result of mistranslation. The English word "cocks" has multiple meanings and so do the Polish terms ''"kury"'' and ''"kurki"'' (pronounced: {{pron|koo|Rih}}, {{pron|kooR|kee}}). The primary meaning of "cocks" is "male domestic fowl", also known as "cockerels" or "roosters". In modern Polish, ''"kury"'' refers to hens, but a few centuries ago it meant "roosters" instead. So was the sauce made from the meat of cockerels? Well, no.
[[File:Kurki.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Kurki:'' which could they mean?]]
Among the many different meanings of the English "cock", the vulgar term for the male member is particularly well known. The rooster has been a symbol of male virility in many cultures. Among Slavic languages, Bulgarian makes the same association, with ''"kur"'' referring to both the cocky bird and a man's cock (''"patka"'' – literally, "duck" – is another vulgar Bulgarian word for the latter, which makes Bulgarians laugh every time they hear ''"kuropatka"'' – which means "partridge" in Russian and "cock-dick" in Bulgarian; gotta love these Slavic false friends). ''"Kur"'' also gave rise to the vulgar word for a prostitute (a woman whose job involves handling penes) in all Slavic languages, including Polish. But I digress; the sauce definitely wasn't made from phalli!
Besides, the Polish word was ''"kurki"'', a diminutive form of ''"kury"''. Depending on the context, it could mean young freshly hatched chickens, weathercocks, stopcocks,… But none of these seem to fit into the culinary sphere. So what does?
Chanterelles. Small, peppery, trumpet-shaped mushrooms. Their bright yellow colour might remind you of chicks, which explains why ''"kurki"'' is the common Polish name for them (see [[Epic Cooking: The Decorous Rite of the Mushroom Hunt|this older post]] for more about Polish forest mushrooms). So there you have it: buckwheat with chanterelle sauce.