I'm asking about a friend and suddenly it throws in "and thanks for sharing about your marriage" and other non-sequiturs. I've seen it be wrong, but this is like it had a head injury.
So many great ones shared by folks so I had Claude compile a unique list, filtering out the ones that didn't follow the rules (looking at you Baked Potato).
Toast — from the Latin torrere, to scorch or parch. Bread disappears; the process becomes the thing.
Fries — self-evident. You fry them. Done.
Shake — you shake it.
Stir fry — you stir while frying. Both verbs, no nouns.
Pickles — from the process of pickling. Anything can be pickled; somehow cucumbers won.
Stuffing — you stuff it into a cavity. The turkey is just the vessel.
Roast — you roast it. Could be anything.
Mash — you mash it. Potatoes are implied but not required.
Hash — from the French hacher, to chop. You hack things up.
Cobbler — the topping is cobbled together, like a cobblestone surface.
Reduction — a sauce reduced by cooking off liquid.
Glaze — you glaze it.
Mince — you mince it. British shorthand for minced meat.
Crumble — the topping crumbles.
Fritters — from frire, to fry.
Brew — you brew it.
Wrap — you wrap it.
Turnovers — you fold the dough over itself.
Rolls — you roll the dough.
Chips / Crisps — chipped or crisped by heat.
Pot stickers — they stick to the pot. That's literally the technique.
Melt (as in tuna melt) — you melt cheese on it.
Spread — you spread it.
Flambé — French for flamed.
Sauté — French for jumped or tossed in a pan.
Puree — French for purified or strained smooth.
Soufflé — past tense of French souffler, to puff.
Popover — it pops over the rim of the pan while baking.
Biscuit — from Latin bis coctus, twice cooked.
Cracker — baked until it cracks rather than bends.
Wafer — from the honeycomb pattern pressed into it during baking.
Caramel — the sugar is caramelized; the process creates the thing.
Curd — stuff that's been curdled.
Barbecue — from the method of slow cooking over coals.
Döner / Shawarma / Gyro — all mean rotating or turning, referring to the rotisserie method.
Tandoori — cooked in a tandoor oven.
Schnitzel — German for a small cut or cutlet.
Empanada / Enchilada — Spanish process words for encased and chili-dipped respectively.
Fritos — Spanish for fried things.
Fajitas — Spanish for little strips or slices.
Smoothie — you blend it smooth.
Espresso — Italian for expressed or pressed through.
Frappé — French for hit or shaken.
Cold brew / Drip brew — both describe the extraction method.
Milk — verb (to milk) almost certainly came first. The noun followed.
Just found out that "Fajitas" is Spanish for "slices". I was wondering if there were English names for foods that are just part of the process and not ingredients. The one I thought of was "Fries". I came up with two more that I'll keep to myself. Anyone?