Fricot is a traditional
Acadian dish. Fricot is such an important part of Acadian food culture that the call to eat in
Acadian French
Acadian French (french: français acadien, acadjonne) is a variety of French spoken by Acadians, mostly in the region of Acadia, Canada. Acadian French has 7 regional accents, including chiac and brayon.
Phonology
Since there was relatively li ...
is "''Au fricot!''"
The main ingredients consist of
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es,
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...
s, and whatever meat was available, cooked in a stew and topped with
dumplings. The common meats used were
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
(''fricot au poulet''),
clam
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...
s (''fricot aux coques''),
rabbit (''fricot au lapin des bois''),
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...
, or
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
. When chicken was used, it was traditionally an older chicken, since an egg-laying chicken would have been too precious to cook. This accounts for the long cooking time, as an older chicken would have had tougher meat.
In lean times, a meatless fricot would be made. ''Fricot a la belette'' was one term for this, which means "weasel stew". The reference being made is that the cook is as sly as a weasel for leaving out the meat. In the opposite vein,
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...
Acadians use the term ''fricot a la bazette'' which means "stupid cook's stew", implying that the meat was forgotten.
The word ''fricot'' has its origins in 18th century
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
where it was used to mean a
feast
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...
. The following century, it had evolved to mean "meat stew", and later still it became used to refer to prepared food.
See also
*
List of stews
This is a list of notable stews. A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, bean ...
References
External links
Acadien Fricot History
{{Acadia
Acadian cuisine
Stews
Canadian cuisine
