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A quenelle () is a mixture of

creamed Creaming may refer to: * Creaming (chemistry), a process of separation of an emulsion * Creaming (food), several different culinary processes See also *Cream (disambiguation) Cream is a dairy product. Cream may also refer to: Art, entertai ...

fish or

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding, formed into an egg-like shape, and then cooked. The usual preparation is by poaching. Formerly, quenelles were often used as a garnish in haute cuisine. Today, they are more commonly served sauced as a dish in their own right. Similar items are found in many cuisines. By extension, a quenelle may also be another food made into a similar shape, such as ice cream, sorbet, or mashed potato quenelles.

Etymology

The word quenelle is attested from 1750. The commonly accepted etymology is that it derives from the German '' Knödel'' ( noodle or

dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fi ...

).; ''Petit Robert'', 1972; Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Revision, Dec. 2007; the old '' Larousse Gastronomique'', however, reports that some writers trace it to an Old English word ''knyll'', while Dietrich Behrens in'' Über deutsches Sprachgut im Französischen'', ''Giessener Beiträge zur romanischen Philologie'' Vol. 1 (1923), proffers dialectical German ''Knollen'' or ''Knöllen'', meaning "ball", as a possible origin.

''Quenelles de brochet''

Lyon and Nantua are famous for their ''quenelles de brochet'' ( pike quenelles), often served with

sauce Nantua Nantua sauce (French: ''Sauce Nantua'') is a classical French sauce consisting of: *a Béchamel sauce base * cream *crayfish butter *crayfish tails It is named for the city of Nantua, which is known for its crayfish, and the term ''à la Nan ...

(crayfish sauce) or ''sauce mousseline'' (cream sauce) and run under a

grill Grill or grille may refer to: Food * Barbecue grill, a device or surface used for cooking food, usually fuelled by gas or charcoal, or the part of a cooker that performs this function * Flattop grill, a cooking device often used in restaurants, ...

. The classic dish of ''quenelles de brochet Nantua'' or simply ''quenelles Nantua'' consists of pike quenelles with sauce Nantua, both pike and crayfish being specialties of the Nantua area. Pike quenelles were invented by a chef named Bontemps to deal with the pike's "multitude of long, fine, forked bones". ''Quenelles de brochet'' are prepared many ways, but most recipes first prepare a panade, essentially a thick white sauce, then combine the panade with fish, and put the mixture through a sieve such as a tamis, yielding a forcemeat. The quenelles are shaped from the forcemeat and then poached. They may be served sauced and grilled, or with a variety of sauces.Ann Pringle Harries, "Fare of the Country: Delicate Pike Quenelles, a Lyons Tradition", ''New York Times'', 4 August 199

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References

Garde manger Cuisine of Lyon French cuisine Fish dishes Culinary terminology {{France-cuisine-stub