Fricassee or fricassée is a method of cooking meat in which it is cut up and braised, and served with its sauce. Fricassee of chicken is commonly found, both in modern recipes and antiqueones, but virtually all kinds of meat, poultry, seafood, and even vegetables alone, can be found in fricassee dishes.
Etymology
Fricassee is first attested in England in the mid-16th century. It is a French word, but the exact etymology is uncertain. It is theorized to be a compound of the Frenchfrire and casser or quasser.
History
Many cooking references describe fricassee simply as a French stew, usually with a white sauce. Julia Child in Mastering the Art of French Cooking describes it as "halfway between a sauté and a stew" in that a saute has no liquid added, while a stew includes liquid from the beginning. In a fricassee, cut-up meat is first sauteed, then liquid is added and it is simmered to finish cooking. Cookbook authorJames 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. 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, circa 1300. In 1490, it is first referred to specifically as "friquassee" in the print edition of Le Viandier. Chicken fricassee was one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite dishes. In the Spanish Caribbean, one of the more popular dishes is fricasé de pollo. 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. A 19 century recipe from California for Fricasa de pollos a la española 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.
