Cordon bleu (dish)

Cordon bleu

A schnitzel cordon bleu, as served in Switzerland
Place of origin Switzerland
Main ingredients Veal or chicken breast, cheese, ham, bread crumbs
Cookbook: Cordon bleu  Media: Cordon bleu

A cordon bleu or schnitzel cordon bleu is a dish of meat wrapped around cheese (or with cheese filling), then breaded and pan-fried or deep-fried. Veal or pork cordon bleu is made of veal or pork pounded thin and wrapped around a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, breaded, and then pan fried or baked.[1] For chicken cordon bleu chicken breast is used instead of veal.[2] Ham cordon bleu is ham stuffed with mushrooms and cheese.[3]

Name

The French term cordon bleu is translated as "blue ribbon".[4] According to Larousse Gastronomique cordon bleu "was originally a wide blue ribbon worn by members of the highest order of knighthood, L'Ordre des chevaliers du Saint-Esprit, instituted by Henri III of France in 1578. By extension, the term has since been applied to food prepared to a very high standard and to outstanding cooks. The analogy no doubt arose from the similarity between the sash worn by the knights and the ribbons (generally blue) of a cook's apron."[5][6]

History

The origins of cordon bleu as a schnitzel filled with cheese are in Switzerland, probably about the 1940s, first mentioned in a cookbook from 1949. The earliest reference to "chicken cordon bleu" in The New York Times is dated to 1967, while similar veal recipes are found from at least 1955.[6]

Variants

Chicken cordon bleu with Brussels sprouts

There are many variations of the recipe, all of which involve a cutlet, cheese, and meat. A popular way to prepare chicken cordon bleu is to butterfly cut a chicken breast, place a thin slice of ham inside, along with a thin slice of a soft, easily melted cheese such as Swiss. The chicken breast is then rolled into a roulade, coated in bread crumbs and then deep fried.[7] Other variations exist with the chicken baked[8] rather than fried.

Other common variations include omitting the bread crumbs,[9] wrapping the ham around the chicken, or using bacon in place of ham.[10]

A variant popular in the Asturias province of Spain is cachopo, a deep-fried cutlet of veal, beef or chicken wrapped around a filling of Serrano ham and cheese.[11] In Spain, the version made with chicken is often called san jacobo.

In largely Muslim-populated countries, the halal versions of chicken cordon bleu are also popular, such that the chicken is rolled around beef or mutton instead of pork product.

See also

Look up cordon bleu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

  1. ↑ Charles Anderson, Derek Blakemore -Modern food service – Page 51 1991 Cordon Bleu – Sliced ham and gruyere cheese in an escalope of veal
  2. ↑ FoodFest 365!: The Officially Fun Food Holiday Cookbook – Page 82 Yvan Lemoine – 2010 "The first account of Chicken Cordon Bleu appeared as part of an advertisement for United Airlines in the New York Times
  3. ↑ The Everything Almost Homemade Cookbook Linda Larsen – 2009 – Serve with a green salad and bread sticks. Ham Cordon Bleu Instead of chicken stuffed with ham and cheese, ham is stuffed with mushrooms and cheese in this twist on the classic.
  4. ↑ "The Phrase Finder"
  5. ↑ Larousse Gastronomique, completey updated and revised. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2001, p. 340.
  6. 1 2 "The Food Timeline"
  7. ↑ "allrecipes.com"
  8. ↑ "The Food Network"
  9. ↑ "Food.com"
  10. ↑ "cooks.com
  11. ↑ "Cachopo". Guia Repsol. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
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