En Papillote (French: "in parchment"), or "al cartoccio" in italian, is a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. The parcel is typically made from folded parchment paper, but other material such as a paper bag or aluminium foil may be used. The parcel holds in moisture to steam the food.
The moisture may be from the food itself or from an added moisture source like water, wine, or stock.
En Papillote is perhaps most often used to cook fish and also poultry. Choice of herbs, seasonings and spices depend on the particular recipe being prepared.
The pouch should be sealed with careful folding.
With large (e.g. Banana, Xanthosoma,or Cassava) leaves widely available across the archipelago, Indonesians have long learnt to use them in food preparation. The leaves are used to wrap food before cooking it either by steaming or grilling. The Indonesian method requires no additional moisture added into the food, and in some dishes the leaf wrappings may also be eaten. Popular Indonesian dishes that employs this cooking method includes pepes, botok, buntil, and otak-otak (variations of this dish is also commonly available in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia).