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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of quenelle

1835–45; < French < German Knödel dumpling

Example Sentences

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

Bright orange trout roe shimmers from a dimple in the quenelle, which rises from a burnt-orange moat of lobster bisque dotted with buttery sauteed crayfish.

From Washington Post • Jan. 14, 2022

Alongside were a chicken liver quenelle with foie gras, corn custard, black-eyed peas and toasted pistachios, as well as lobster tail with Meyer lemon mousse.

From New York Times • Jan. 25, 2017

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

Boudin.—A very delicate entrée prepared with quenelle forcemeat or with fine mince.

From The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355, October 16, 1886 by Peters, Charles