Chaud-Froid

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

Chaud-Froid a French term, literally meaning ‘hot-cold’. This seemingly contradictory term designates dishes covered with a thick sauce while hot, then chilled and served cold. Those who prefer to believe that one individual is always responsible for every great dish will like the story which attributes this creation to a certain chef named Chaufoix who is said to have worked in the kitchens of Louis XV. Classicists, on the other hand, will be pleased to know that, according to Favre, an earthenware vessel was uncovered at Pompeii bearing the inscription Calidus-frigidus and containing ‘remains of cooked meat in jelly’; hence, according to this author, the Romans invented not only the dish but its name as well.