Cardinal at one time the name for a drink based on rum, has become a French culinary term indicating the colour scarlet, the colour of a cardinal’s headgear. It may turn up in connection with a sauce, a garnish, or a consommé. It is usually obtained from the coral of a lobster.
© the Estate of Alan Davidson 1999, 2006, 2014 © in the Editor’s contribution to the second and third editions, Oxford University Press 2006, 2014.