Meaning & use
tourne-broche
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A device that turns a spit so that meat cooks evenly over a fire or heat source.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a tourne-broche' or 'two tourne-broches'.
Patterns
- a tourne-broche for something
- cook something on a tourne-broche
The restaurant uses a tourne-broche to roast whole chickens over the open fire.
He bought an antique tourne-broche at a flea market.
The meat was turning slowly on the tourne-broche.
nouncountable
A restaurant or shop that cooks meat on a rotating spit and sells it.
Grammar: Countable: 'a tourne-broche' means one such place.
Patterns
- eat at a tourne-broche
- a tourne-broche on the street
We had lunch at a small tourne-broche near the market.
The tourne-broche on the corner is famous for its roast lamb.
Word forms
| plural | tourne-broches |
|---|
Common combinations
- on a tourne-broche
- The lamb was roasted on a tourne-broche.
- tourne-broche chicken
- They sell tourne-broche chicken at the deli counter.
- use a tourne-broche
- The chef showed us how to use a tourne-broche safely.
- a tourne-broche restaurant
- We found a little tourne-broche restaurant down a side street.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rotisserie
- This is the standard English word for both the device and the shop; 'tourne-broche' is a French borrowing and sounds more specialized or old-fashioned.
- spit
- A spit is the rod that holds the meat; a tourne-broche is the mechanism that turns it.
Commonly confused: tourne-broche or tournedos?
tourne-broche vs tournedos
Tournedos is a cut of beef, not a cooking device; the words look similar but mean very different things.
Practice
What is a tourne-broche?
Choose one answer.
A tourne-broche is a device that turns a spit for roasting meat, so option 1 is correct. Option 0 is wrong because it is not a cheese; option 2 is wrong because it is not limited to soup; option 3 is wrong because it is not a knife.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tourne-broche”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.