FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
PAILLASSE
Excerpted and Adapted from Escoffier, A. and P.H. Gilbert. Edited by Charlotte Turgeon and Nina Froud. 1961. The World Authority. Larousse Gastronomique. The Encyclopedia of Food, Wine & Cookery.
is the French name for a charcoal fire which was used in kitchens of long ago to prepare dishes which needed prolonged cooking, especially braised meat.
Meat also used to be grilled on glowing embers in a sort of bucket-shaped brick brazier.
The term paillasse is also sued to define the layer of glowing charcoal embers spread out on the grill.
