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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

haricots Tarbais (lingots)

English translation:

whole Tarbes (or Tarbais) beans

Added to glossary by NancyLynn
Oct 29, 2008 22:59
15 yrs ago
7 viewers *
French term

lingot

French to English Marketing Food & Drink ingredients
Haricots Tarbais (lingots), manchons de canard, gras de canard, etc.... in a ready-made dish (heat and serve)
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 Tarbes beans
4 "lingot"
4 -1 lingot beans / Tarbais beans
4 -2 bar; ingot
References
refs.

Discussion

Tony M Nov 3, 2008:
Trouble with using 'whole'... ...is that it is likely to suggest the WHOLE bean (i.e. the green pod as well!) — as in 'whole green beans' (used for those succulent French beans). Presumably this is why the term 'lingot' needed to be coined, to make it clear that it is the only beans inside the pods that are whole. Hence why the use of 'haricot beans' or 'white kidney beans' makes a lot of sense, to give the right overall idea.
Tony M Oct 30, 2008:
Hooray, Lionel! I totally agree with you! This tendency to 'labelise' everything is really little more than a pretext to try and charge extra for it, but this is something non-French natives and people outside the country sometimes have difficulty unravelling — and it's not helped by the confusion of language, ambiguities, and sometimes simply imprecise use of terms!

All I was trying to suggest is that, for most purposes (i.e. a simple list of the ingredients in a product), we really don't need to know that these beans were lovingly hand-picked from one particular plant on the north-west side of Farmer Gilles's south field... it is more useful to the consumer to have a general idea of the type of product involved — in this case, a certain kind of 'haricot bean', which certain writers seem to associate with a type of 'coco bean' (though I realize that there are of course fine distinctions between them); and of course, for the sake of completeness, one ought to say that they are from Tarbes, yes.

I found your comments about 'lingots' most helpful; I have always wondered why the term was used in this way, since it clearly doesn't refer to the variety of bean, but suddenly all is clear with your explanation. 'whole Tarbes haricot beans', then?
Lionel_M (X) Oct 30, 2008:
Why don't you just use brackets ?: Tarbes beans ("lingots")
Lionel_M (X) Oct 30, 2008:
Excuse me... ...but it's very funny to see UK colleagues discussing this kind of "product". I hope, since this is not my intention, not to offend anyone ! But it would be the same for a french citizen to discuss about "pudding" !
Lionel_M (X) Oct 30, 2008:
Coco from where ? Dear Tony, please believe me; u gonna start a war ! “Tarbes Coco”? “Coco blancs” as we call them in France (in Southern France) is a particular quality of “haricots”. Not all of them are from Tarbes !
Lingots simply means that they are not reduced to “purée” (not mashed). But there’s no link between Tarbes and Lingot.
We should start a long discussion about AOC (appellations d’origines contrôlées) and try to “understand” why some regions wants to appropriate some kind of products. Basically to sell them “less” cheap…
Lingot is also a standard format for conditioning; usually aluminum containers with a small (surface limited) “etiquette” in order to render the product more “home made” (artisanal).
Tony M Oct 30, 2008:
coco beans The Wikipedia article describes them as "a local variety of haricot beans" [haricot blanc], and at least one other site refers to them as 'coco beans' (commonly suggested for use in cassoulet).

I think one of the troubles is that most of these beans seem to have the same scientific name, making it a little difficult to make a clear distinction between them all.
Tony M Oct 30, 2008:
Tarbes beans Nancy, I think you can 'just leave out' the 'lingots', although as I have suggested, calling them 'haricot beans' isn't a bad idea, since they are very similar and will give people the right idea; one recipe even says that haricot beans can be used to replace the Tarbes beans. The point is, if you call them 'Tarbes haricot beans', people will at least get the idea that these are the dried, white variety, and not imagine them as long, thin green things, like 'French beans' or 'runner beans'<br>
I do feel quite strongly, however, that one really OUGHT to call them 'Tarbes' beans — they are beans from Tarbes (or rather, the Tarbes region), and 'Tarbais' is only the adjective from that. However many sites you find it on (and I didn't find all THAT many), it is just an understandable error, perpetuated by people unfamiliar with the term. The problem is, if one now perpetuates it too, one runs the risk of making it appear as if the ignorance of the term is one's own.
NancyLynn (asker) Oct 29, 2008:
so I should just drop the lingot part then? I'm sticking with Tarbais beans, as this gets many more hits than Tarbes beans, and the sites that pop up do not appear to be translations, so that part's fine. It's the lingots in brackets immediately following the Tarbais beans that has me stumped - are you suggesting I simply drop it, add it as is, or use some other descriptive?

Proposed translations

+4
5 mins
Selected

Tarbes beans

These crop up on EN sites. However, I don't know that there is an English nickname, and you definitely can't call them "slugs", so I'd leave it at that - omitting the familiar name.


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Note added at 12 hrs (2008-10-30 11:24:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In view of Lionel's explanation of "lingot", Tony's suggestion (Discussion entry 5) "'whole Tarbes haricot beans" sounds eminently sensible.

Or "Tarbais", since you've already decided on that
Peer comment(s):
agree Jean-Louis S. : 'Tarbais beans' though, and skip 'lingot'
7 mins
thanks jlsr ! I hadn't thought of using Tarbais!
agree Tony M : You might say 'Tarbes haricot beans', since that is closest to what they resemble.
14 mins
thanks Tony! a good idea to be more explicit for the EN audience!
agree Rachel Fell : Hm - Tarbes white kidney beans http://www.amazon.com/White-Kidney-Beans-Haricots-Lingots/dp... (think haricot beans are slightly diff. but will check if have time!)
42 mins
thanks Rachel! Yuor site confirms this, although I've always used "haricot beans" in the past
neutral Lionel_M (X) : OK
1 hr
agree Miranda Joubioux (X) : Tarbes haricot beans IMO
12 hrs
Thanks Miranda! Also, sorry for the duplicate message, there seems to be a new glitch in the system, causing the message to be posted before you hit the button
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to all. I now see it refers to whole beans, not pureed, sliced or otherwise altered."
5 mins

"lingot"

IMO it is impossible to translate this "typical" french expression
Peer comment(s):
neutral Tony M : "impossible" it may be, but it would at least be helpful to the reader to give them some idea what to expect. / I agree, but some kind of explanation is more helpful in certain cases. FR people I know seem to have a pretty clear idea what 'pouding' is!
16 mins
Come on Tony ! many things cannot be translated! Tell me how you would translate "pudding" in French ?
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-1
8 mins

lingot beans / Tarbais beans

.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2008-10-30 08:18:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.poortman.com/products/51
Peer comment(s):
disagree Lionel_M (X) : Sorry but "lingot beans" does not mean anything. Tarbais beans yes, but there's no relation with "lingot"
1 hr
Something went wrong...
-2
11 hrs

bar; ingot

Not having any myself, of course, I have heard of gold ingots and gold bars.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 hrs (2008-10-30 12:05:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You are absolutely right - I didn't read the context. Please ignore my imbecilic offering.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Tony M : But exactly how is that related to the culinary context of this question?
56 mins
disagree Irene Chalmers Preire : Wrong context for that translation - these are beans
1 hr
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Reference comments

54 mins
Reference:

refs.

http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/Tarbais Beans.htm


Like 200 years ago, the Tarbais is still harvested by hand, one pod at a time, only when it is at peak ripeness: a labor-intensive process, to be sure, but the only way to guarantee a truly exceptional product.

.. All the hard work has paid off: the "Label Rouge" was granted to the Tarbais in 1996, the first time the coveted recognition was awarded to a bean. It also benefits from an IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée), which specifies the exact area where it can be cultivated, essentially on the Adour plain of the Hautes-Pyrénées department. ..
http://www.frenchselections.com/deco/tarbais.hts

http://www.haricot-tarbais.com/eng/index.html

The amuse-bouche was a little tarbe bean soup with a twizzle of lemon confit, gentle, pale, easy. Snails were poached in Chablis, the little rascals, and sealed in a raviolo under a red wine jus that was by no means acerbic, and the attendant poached garlic held no horrors for even the feyest vampire. The scallops were beautiful animals (though not what a Georgian would call an animal) and were neither challengingly wet inside nor scarily seared outside, with their tiny onion soubise, and a crunch of very clever (but not too clever) chicory tarte tatin. I was beginning to feel like eating again. Which was just as well because a smooth tower of pink foie gras came to the plate with a friend: a little spatchcocked
half of grilled quail that was almost rugged in the context.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/giles_co...
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Lionel_M (X) : Very interesting ! but does not establish any relation between "lingot" and "tarbes bean". By the way, Tarbes is not even correctly written ! And "pink" foie gras is an ignorant translation of "fresh foie gras"//Do you translate "smoked salmon" as "pink"
44 mins
I think he's referring to the colour\No, but I might describe it as such, as the writer above has done about the foie gras
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