Here's What All Those Fancy Descriptions On Tasting Menus Really Mean

Not every tasting menu is alike — Eleven Madison Park's is arranged in a grid-like list, Brooklyn Fare keeps it simple with a short rundown of the dishes, and Per Se lays out in exquisite detail the ingredients of each course.

But unless you're a seasoned tasting menu veteran, you're bound to get tripped up by some of the lofty language. An emulsion to start? A deconstructed main dish? Mignardises for dessert? How can you decide what to order when the options are impossible to understand?

We put together a list of the 11 most commonly misunderstood tasting menu words. From starters to desserts, these are the dishes you were trying to look up on your phone throughout the entire meal.