duck let loose

[undertakerTR]

Hello everyone,

I've came across a mistranslation recently.
I am studying translation and interpretation in college and couldn't find the correct translation of the sentence below. It's became an obsession for me, please help.

"Roasted duck let loose, beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion"
There is a mistake with the let loose but what should have been used instead of that? And can we take the "beaten up" idiom as a second mistake?


I'd like to thank everyone in advance

[RonBee]

I don't know what a correct translation would look like, but how would you let a roasted duck loose? (Wouldn't a roasted duck be dead?) And why would beef rashers be beaten up?

[undertakerTR]

I don't know what a correct translation would look like, but how would you let a roasted duck loose? (Wouldn't a roasted duck be dead?) And why would beef rashers be beaten up?

well, it is a quotation from a polish restaurant menu. People share it to have a laughter. Probably the translator didn't realize and translated an idiom in polish cuisine without thinking over it. The part that troubles me is what is the right equivalance in English

[Barb_D]

We talk about "free-range" chickens, allowed to wander about and not kept in little crates. Do you think that's what "let loose" is supposed to mean? Referring to its state prior to being dinner?

[undertakerTR]

We talk about "free-range" chickens, allowed to wander about and not kept in little crates. Do you think that's what "let loose" is supposed to mean? Referring to its state prior to being dinner?

I think it is a mistranslation of a term used for explaining a process of cooking. It looks like we need someone experienced in cooking as well as in idioms

[BobK]

I think it is a mistranslation of a term used for explaining a process of cooking. It looks like we need someone experience in cooking as well as in idioms

I think you're right - though Barb's idea sounds good. Another possibility is that the chicken's cooked while trussed up http://foodiereflections.com/wp-cont...4/img_3132.jpg and then undone before serving, or perhaps it's undone before cooking - birdeen's call might know...

'Beaten' meat of any kind might be what is known here as 'tenderized' - hammered with something big and heavy before cooking. (Once, when I was on holiday in Greece, I saw a fisherman tenderizing a squid by beating it against the quay.)

b

[Barb_D]

I think you're right - though Barb's idea sounds good. Another possibility is that the chicken's cooked while trussed up http://foodiereflections.com/wp-cont...4/img_3132.jpg and then undone before serving, or perhaps it's undone before cooking - birdeen's call might know...

'Beaten' meat of any kind might be what is known here as 'tenderized' - hammered with something big and heavy before cooking. (Once, when I was on holiday in Greece, I saw a fisherman tenderizing a squid by beating it against the quay.)

b

I was thinking ground beef for that former -- and when I was in Greece, I saw a guy beating the crap out of dead octopus with a 2x4! Maybe it was a squid. I didn't have calamari that night, anyway. It was on Rhodes. Great vacation.

[undertakerTR]

I was thinking ground beef for that former -- and when I was in Greece, I saw a guy beating the crap out of dead octopus with a 2x4! Maybe it was a squid. I didn't have calamari that night, anyway. It was on Rhodes. Great vacation.

Thank you both. I believe tenderized must be the correct equivalence. Is there a possibility that let loose may have been used for the term marinate?

[BobK]

P-o-ssibly. In English people anthropomorphize joints of meat in the expression 'let it rest' (after cooking and before carving), or bottles of wine in the expression 'let it breathe' (after taking the cork out). So I suppose Polish might use 'let it loose' for leaving in a marinade...

b

[birdeen's call]

It's became an obsession for me, please help.

You've got me obsessed too. I have no idea what "let loose" is about. Yet!

PS: I've gooooooooooot it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Uff!

"Luzować" is a Polish culinary term which means "to remove the bones from (a bird)". For example, "luzować kaczkę" means "to remove the bones from a duck". Now, "luzować" is the infinitive. It must have been mistakenly translated to "to let loose". The adjectival participle is "luzowana" which gave "let loose", the English adjectival participle. The mistake is understandable. "Luzować" is etymologically akin to "loose", its general meaning (outside the kitchen) is "make loose". It has also other meanings. It can mean "relieve" as in "our shift will relieve yours", whence it's not far to "let loose".

PPS: Here's a photo tutorial to "let a chicken loose".

PPPS: I'm very proud of myself!