Fricassee or fricassée is a stew made with pieces of meat that have been browned in butter then served in a sauce flavored with the cooking stock. Fricassee is usually made with chicken, veal or rabbit, with variations limited only by what ingredients the cook has at hand.

Etymology

Fricassee is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. It is a word of French origin, although the exact etymology is unclear. It is theorized to be a compound of the French ''frire'' (to fry) and ''casser'' or ''quasser'' (to break in pieces).

History

By the general description of frying and then braising in liquid, there are recipes for fricassee as far back as the earliest version of the medieval French cookbook ''

Le Viandier ''Le Viandier'' (often called ''Le Viandier de Taillevent'', ) is a recipe collection generally credited to Guillaume Tirel, alias ''Taillevent''. However, the earliest version of the work was written around 1300, about 10 years before Tirel's bi ...

'', circa 1300. In 1490, it was first referred to specifically as "friquassée" in the print edition of ''Le Viandier''. The 16th-century cookery book ''

The Good Huswifes Jewell ''The Good Huswifes Jewell'' is an English cookery book by the cookery and housekeeping writer Thomas Dawson, first published in 1585. It includes recipes for medicines as well as food. To the spices found in Medieval English cooking, the book ...

'' contains "For fricasies of a lambes head and purtenance." ''The perfect English cooke'' contains instructions to prepare a "Fregacy of Lamb or Veal."

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689) was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Tavernier, a private individual and merchant traveling at his own expense, covered, by his own account, 60,000 leagues in making six voyages to Persia ...

describes "a lusty Fricassie" in his late 17th-century ''Travels through Turkey to Persia''. English fricassees were usually thickened with egg yolks, while Italian ''fricassea'' used a mixture of lemon and egg yolks. By the 18th century, egg yolks had started to be replaced by flour in English and American cuisines. In

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

's recipe for chicken fricassee, the chicken was stewed in gravy; then a sauce was made with cream and egg yolks. The early 19th-century cookery book ''

A New System of Domestic Cookery ''A New System of Domestic Cookery'', first published in 1806 by Maria Rundell (1745 – 16 December 1828), was the most popular English cookbook of the first half of the nineteenth century; it is often referred to simply as "Mrs Rundell", b ...

'' by

Maria Rundell Maria Eliza Rundell (née Ketelby; 1745 – 16 December 1828) was an English writer. Little is known about most of her life, but in 1805, when she was over 60, she sent an unedited collection of recipes and household advice to John Murray, of ...

says white sauce can be used for fricassee of "Fowls, Rabbits, White Meat Fish, of Vegetables." Broth made with chicken necks or feet or used to boil meats, or similar is simmered with herbs and lemon peel, then thickened with cream (or egg yolk), flour, and butter to make into a sauce.

Technique

Simone Beck Simone "Simca" Beck (7 July 1904 – 20 December 1991) was a French cookbook writer and cooking teacher who, along with colleagues Julia Child and Louisette Bertholle, played a significant role in the introduction of French cooking technique ...

, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child in their ''

Mastering the Art of French Cooking ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both from France, and Julia Child, who was from the United States. The book was written for the American market and publishe ...

'' describe it as "halfway between a sauté and a stew" in that a sauté has no liquid added, while a stew includes liquid from the beginning. In a fricassee, cut-up meat is first sauteed (but not browned), then liquid is added, and it is simmered to finish cooking. Cookbook author James Peterson notes that some modernized versions of the recipe call for the meat to be thoroughly browned before braising, but the classical version requires that both meat and vegetables remain with no

caramelization Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C24H36O18), caramelens (C36H50O25), and ca ...

Types

Beef

In the early 19th-century cookery book ''

'' by

, a fricassee of cold roast beef is made with very thinly sliced beef cooked in butter and broth with parsley and onion, the sauce thickened with egg yolks, wine, and vinegar. Fricassee of cold roast beef was among the recipes published in the popular women's magazine '' Godey's Lady Book'' during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Chicken and other poultry

Chicken fricassee has been described as "a standard old-fashioned American dish." It was one of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's favorite dishes. It's the typical "comfort food" of

Cajun cuisine Cajun cuisine (french: cuisine cadienne , es, cocina acadiense) is a style of cooking developed by the Cajun–Acadians who were deported from Acadia to Louisiana during the 18th century and who incorporated West African, French and Spanish c ...

. A 1734 American recipe by Mrs. John Burroughs calls for birds seasoned with nutmeg, parsley, onion, and mace, dredged in flour and browned in butter, then stewed in the pan with gravy, egg yolks, wine, and nutmeg to make a sauce with the consistency of thickened cream. A 19th-century recipe from

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

for ''Fricasa de pollos a la española'' (Spanish-style chicken fricasse) was prepared by frying chickens in lard with chopped onion, shallots, garlic, and mushrooms. Tomato juice is added with olives, fresh herbs, and olive oil to make a thick stew. One of the more popular dishes in the Spanish Caribbean is ''fricasé de pollo'' (chicken fricassee). It was brought to the islands by settlers from the south of France and Spain. Unlike French-style fricassee, it has a tomato-based sauce, usually with red wine.

Rabbit

Hannah Glasse Hannah Glasse (; March 1708 – 1 September 1770) was an English cookery writer of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'', published in 1747, became the best-selling recipe book that century. It w ...

's rabbit fricassee is made with small pieces of breaded rabbit fried in butter and served with red wine gravy.

In Jewish cuisine

Jewish fricassee is nearly always made from poultry (most commonly goose or chicken), generally from offal and other chicken scraps, and sometimes includes meatballs. In

Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that was developed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern, Central, Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, and their descendants, particularly in the United States and other Western coun ...

, it is called ''gehakte hindl'' (chopped chicken) and may include gizzards, chicken neck, wing tips, and feet. Sephardic cooks may refer to the dish as ''armin de poyo'' or (in Morocco) ''fricassada''. Whereas non-Jewish cooks used dairy fat (such as butter) or lard to cook their fricassee, Jews used

schmaltz Schmaltz (also spelled schmalz or shmalz) is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat. It is an integral part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, where it has been used for centuries in a wide array of dishes, such as chicken soup, lat ...

(in the Ashkenazi lands) or olive oil (in the Sephardic world) as a cooking fat, due to the prohibition on mixing meat and dairy products. Fricassee should result in a thick, saucy gravy. The dish is served alongside rice, noodles, barley farfel, or dumplings.

References

External links

{{Cooking Techniques Meat dishes Vegetable dishes French stews Italian stews British stews American stews Jewish cuisine Cajun cuisine