zéphire

English

Dish 4 is four zéphires of duck.

Etymology

So named because the dish was considered light like a zephyr breeze or cloth. Compare Russian зефи́р (zefír, “marshmallow”), another light food named for the breeze.

Noun

zéphire (plural zéphires)

1. (cooking, now uncommon) A small dish of forcemeat, typically cooked in a mold and served with a rich sauce.

   Coordinate term: quenelle

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:zéphires.

Further reading

• 1904, S. Beaty-Pownall, The "Queen" Cookery Books ..., page 64:

  Mousses, like soufflés, may be served in small portions instead of one whole dish, and make delicious entrées; in such cases they are frequently called zéphyres, from their fragility.

• 1898, Charles Herman Senn, Culinary Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Technical Terms, page 96:

  Zéphire, f. Name of small oval-shaped forcemeat dumplings, a kind of quenelles, which are poached and served with a rich sauce.

French

Noun

zéphire m (plural zéphires)

1. Alternative form of zéphyr

Further reading

• “zéphire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.