Entree main course

I've sometimes wondered about that. Just looked it up in our dictionary and it says entrée means a starter. Main course is le plat principal.
It used to be that veg. etc wasn't served with the main course (eg meat, chicken) but as a separate course afterwards. Don't know if it's the same now - we rarely eat out.

Not lost much sleep over that before now.
If the starter is the "Hors d'oeuvre" (outside of the main event)
The Entrée has "entered"

Now where is granjura when you need her?

I'm recently back from the US and all the restaurants seem to use entrees as main course. Not so common in London but I do see it occasionally.

It confused me, too, when in America, that the entree was the main course. I don't think we can correct them, though - there are too many of them.

I wonder what they call a "starter" when in a posh restaurant. Do they use "hors d'oeuvre"?

Locally the starter is - entrée - main course is plat, plat principal or sometimes plat de jour if it is a place with just one or two choices which change daily.

I think the confusion comes because the word 'entre' can mean 'between' - if giving dates of a sale or directions.

I saw on a telly programme that in Buckingham Palace they have first, second, and third ( maybe fourth )courses.

Daddima 3 courses are very ordinary. Your 4th course would be the cheese & Port ( with grapes)

Here's one from the 19C:
menus.free.fr/index_fichiers/Page470.htm
So you should plan your xmas menu for starter , soup, fish, main course of poultry or other meat, vegetables, fruit, dessert, cheese, coffee and chocolates etc. And plenty of wine to help it down.

I missed out the roasts.
Entremets - what does that mean?

Yes in France it is entree, plat, fromage, dessert as Welshwife says.
America has its own take on this obviously, not sure why.
Hors d'oeuvre is usually a little extra taster as is an amuse bouche.

Please don't forget the sorbet in between courses to cleanse the palate

We have two local restaurants which serve an amuse Bouche before the first course and a sweet one either just before or with the coffee. - they are always very nice too!

In some old recipe books I have pudding comes before dessert. I think dessert was just nuts and fruits (and port?) whereas pudding is pudding

And then there's Elizabeth Gaskell's take: "no broth, no ball; no ball, no beef"—soup, savoury suet dumpling or a batter pudding like Yorkshire pud, then the meat course when you're already pretty full. Makes the meat go further!