cordon bleu

See also: cordon-bleu

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French cordon bleu (“blue ribbon”). The blue ribbon was originally a French insignium indicating chivalry.

Pronunciation

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Noun

cordon bleu (countable and uncountable, plural cordons bleus or cordon bleus)

A skillful chef.
- 1888, Harriet Anne de Salis, Dressed Game and Poultry à la Mode‎^[1], Preface:
  All the known and unknown tomes on the gourmet's art have been consulted, and I have to thank the authors for this assistance to my work, as well as those cordons bleus from whom I have practically learnt some few of them.
- 1907, Flora Annie Webster Steel, A Sovereign Remedy‎^[2], New York: Doubleday, Page & Company:
  Ted could not hope to rival him; still with the cordon bleue's ^[sic] help—here he became exceedingly affectionate—much was possible.
- 1922, Marie Belloc Lowndes, What Timmy Did‎^[3], George H. Doran Company:
  “I don't want to be a ‘cordon bleu,’” she sobbed. “I hate cooking—and everything connected with cooking.”
- 2025 July 22, “Why on earth is Brooklyn Beckham cooking pasta with seawater?”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:
  This week he [Brooklyn Beckham] shared a TikTok video, filmed on board, demonstrating his tomato pasta.
  Tomato pasta! Not exactly cordon bleu is it? Previous masterclasses have included one on jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans.
An award given to such chefs.
- 1883, Oscar Wilde, Vera […] ‎^[5]:
  [Prince Paul.] […] For myself, the only immortality I desire is to invent a new sauce. I have never had time enough to think seriously about it, but I feel it is in me, I feel it is in me.
  [Czare.] You have certainly missed your metier, Prince Paul; the cordon bleu would have suited you much better than the Grand Cross of Honour.
(cooking) Thin slices of veal, ham and cheese breaded and sautéed; somewhat like a wiener schnitzel, or Viennese cutlet.
Coordinate term: cachopo
- [1977, Eugene Fodor, editor, Fodor's Austria, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 76:
  There are, of course, many other types of Schnitzels and related veal specialties. One of the best is called Cordon Bleu. Cheese and ham are rolled in a piece of veal, the whole is dipped as above and fried.]
(ornithology) Alternative form of cordon-bleu (“bird of the genus Uraeginthus”).
- 2013, S. Mark Henry, Symbiosis: Associations of Invertebrates, Birds, Ruminants, and Other Biota, page 304:
  A considerable number of species of birds build their nests in close proximity to, or even inside of, nests of aggressive, stinging insects—bees, wasps, and ants. Thus, in eastern Africa, Loveridge (1922) found in the case of a little weaver, the cordon bleu, Uraeginthus angolensis (Linnaeus), that in 19 out of 20 instances the birds built their nests […] .
- 2014, Agustín González, Fernando Martinez-Garcia, Luis Puelles, Hans J Ten Donkelaar, Adaptive Function and Brain Evolution, page 216:
  Other Uraeginthus species are much more social; e.g., the Angolan blue waxbill (or blue-breasted cordon bleu, U. angolensis) tends to breed in a semi-colonial manner, with each pair occupying a clump of bushes (Skead, 1975; Goodwin, 1982).
- 2015 November 19, Ian Sample, “The birdie dance: fancy footwork of courting birds revealed”, in The Guardian‎^[6], →ISSN:
  Humans buy flowers. Capuchins throw stones. Giant tortoises bellow. But the blue-capped cordon bleu, a small finch found in Africa, really knows how to win over a mate.