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Glite Dictionary
coquilles Saint-Jacques

coquilles Saint-Jacques

9.9
Scallops baked in a creamy white wine sauce and served in scallop shells
  • noun
  • /ˈkoʊkiːɛl seɪnt ˈʒɑːk/
translation icon : coquilles Saint-Jacques
  • At the French restaurant, I ordered coquilles Saint-Jacques, which were served in scallop shells and paired with white wine.

Examples

  • For dinner, we will have coquilles Saint-Jacques, a delicious scallop dish baked in a creamy sauce.

  • I said, "My mother's making coquilles Saint-Jacques."

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Many people enjoy coquilles Saint-Jacques as a fancy appetizer at special occasions.

Synonyms

coquille
vscoquilles Saint-Jacques
1 9.9

A cooked seafood dish of scallops baked with cream and breadcrumbs in a shell

focuses specifically on scallops baked in a creamy white wine sauce

Surface Forms

coquilles Saint-Jacques singular
coquilles Saint-Jacques plural

Morphology

coquille + Saint-Jacques

This is a fixed French culinary name: while 'coquille' may suggest a shell or shellfish, 'Saint-Jacques' is a proper name and supplies no information about scallops or the specific preparation. The full sense 'scallops baked in a creamy white wine sauce' cannot be predicted from the parts, and as a loanword dish name it is opaque to a B1 learner even if they know the individual words.

Etymology

Coquilles Saint-Jacques literally means 'Saint James's shells' because pilgrims to Santiago carried scallop coquilles as a sign of Saint-Jacques. Cooks began serving scallops in those shells, so today coquilles Saint-Jacques names the baked scallop dish often served in a shell.