fricandeau

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountabletechnical

   A classic French dish of a thick slice of veal, usually larded with strips of fat and then braised or roasted until tender.

   Grammar: Countable for a single dish or cut, uncountable for the food in general.

   Patterns

   • a fricandeau of something
   • fricandeau with something

   The restaurant served a fricandeau with sorrel sauce.

   My grandmother's cookbook has a recipe for fricandeau that takes two hours.

   He ordered the fricandeau because he had never tried it.

2. 2nouncountabletechnicalrare

   A slice of other meat, fish or even a vegetable prepared in a similar larded and braised way.

   Grammar: A loose extension of the term, found mainly in older cookbooks.

   Patterns

   • a fricandeau of something

   The old menu listed a fricandeau of tuna, which surprised the diners.

   A fricandeau of pork was the evening special.

   The chef experimented with a fricandeau of eggplant.

Word forms

Common combinations

fricandeau of veal

She prepared a fricandeau of veal for the holiday dinner.

braised fricandeau

A braised fricandeau needs a slow, gentle heat.

serve fricandeau

The inn used to serve fricandeau on Sundays.

larded fricandeau

The larded fricandeau was moist and rich.

Synonyms and how they differ

veal roast

Veal roast is a plain description of the meat and does not imply larding or braising.

braised veal

This names the cooking method but not the specific cut and larding of a fricandeau.

escalope

An escalope is a thin, quickly fried slice, while a fricandeau is thick and slow cooked.

Word family

fricandeaux noun

a French-style plural

fricassee noun

a stew of meat in a white sauce, a separate but similar-sounding dish

larding noun

inserting strips of fat into lean meat

Commonly confused: fricandeau or fricassee?

Practice

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