Each year on April 4th, National Chicken Cordon Bleu Day celebrates a blue ribbon dish that combines chicken, ham, and cheese.
- The French term Cordon Bleu translates to “Blue Ribbon.”
- It is a flattened chicken breast that is wrapped around ham (or sometimes prosciutto or Canadian bacon) and cheese such as Swiss or Gruyere. Toothpicks hold the chicken together before being dipped in an egg wash and breaded.
- The earliest recipe we were able to find was in a March 1964 printing of the Cincinnati Enquirer by the Cincinnati Gourmet Stanley Demos. Despite some misconceptions, it is an American dish. Demos mentions in his column that he got the idea to try chicken instead of veal “to be different.”
- Another use of the phrase “Cordon Bleu” comes from a distinguished order of sixteenth-century French knights, who apparently wore blue sashes and were therefore popularly referred to as the “Cordon-bleus.”
- The dish dates as far back as the 16th century
- The dish did not originate at any of the prestigious Cordon Bleu cooking schools of Europe as often thought.
- In largely Muslim-populated countries, the halal versions of chicken cordon bleu are also popular, but to cater to the halal requirement for the Muslims, the chicken is rolled around a beef instead of a pork product.
- The earliest reference to veal cordon bleu in The Los Angeles Times was published in 1958. It is listed among the trendy dishes served at a swank affair: “Veal cordon bleu will be the piece de resistance on the menu.”
- The oldest reference in the NYT for chicken cordon bleu is also a United Airlines ad, circa 1967: “Top Sirloin. Fine Wine. Color Movies. This is Coach? United’s Blue Carpet to California. Blue Carpet is the best reason for flying Coach on your vacation to Los Angeles or San Francisco. What’s in it for you? Top Sirloin Steak-or Chicken Cordon Bleu, if you wish-prepared by our own European-trained chefs. Champagne or fine red wine (at nominal cost)…Even a special children’s menu.”
- The term cordon bleu has come to denote a chef of exceptional quality.
- Chicken Kiev is a similar dish.
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