Blanquettes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of French dish typically consisting of meat, especially veal or chicken, that is cooked in a white sauce with vegetables
2. A culinary preparation where ingredients are gently simmered and coated in a creamy white sauce, often served with rice or pasta
3. A dish characterized by its delicate cooking method, featuring a primary protein simmered in a light, velvety sauce enriched with herbs and seasonings

Etymology: "Blanquettes" is the plural of "blanquette," a dish whose name simply means "little white thing." The word comes from French, where it is a diminutive of "blanc" ("white"), and the dish earned its name from its pale, creamy sauce. Its ultimate ancestry runs back to a Germanic root meaning "gleaming" or "blinding white," which also gave English "blanket." That Germanic source is the surprising link. The root reached French through Provençal and early medieval Latin, carried by the same stock of words that brought "blanc" into the language of the kitchen. "Blanquette" was thus named for its colour rather than its ingredients, and the stew's identity rests on the sauce, traditionally thickened with egg yolk and cream, that turns the meat pale.