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quenelle

American  
[kuh-nel] / kəˈnɛl /

noun

  1. French Cooking. a dumpling of finely chopped fish or meat that is poached in water or stock and usually served with a sauce.


quenelle British  
/ kəˈnɛl /

noun

  1. a finely sieved mixture of cooked meat or fish, shaped into various forms and cooked in stock or fried as croquettes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of quenelle

1835–45; < French < German Knödel dumpling

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

At Camden Harbour Inn, pastry chef Gwynthe Frenchette served me a tartlet of heirloom Gravenstein apples from nearby School House Farm, topped by a tidy quenelle of applewood-smoked almond ice cream.

From The Wall Street Journal Oct. 10, 2025

The puree is sweet and pure, green as grass, and on it floats a quenelle of lemon-basil sorbet that heightens the flavors as it melts.

From Washington Post Aug. 29, 2018

There's a hunk of ale-poached pear as a smidge of token sweetness and a quenelle of an improbable ice cream made with the gamy, stinky goat cheese Humboldt Fog.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 3, 2015

Hugh Schofield charts the development of satirist Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, who inspired the controversial quenelle gesture.

From BBC Aug. 20, 2014

Having your quenelle meat ready, proceed to vary it as follows, allowing one quenelle of each color to each guest: For the green quenelles use sufficient pounded tarragon to color one third the meat delicately.

From Choice Cookery by Owen, Catherine

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