The quenelle de brochet is a poached pike dumpling the size of a fist, airy from egg white folded into the fish forcemeat, served in a crayfish cream sauce called Nantua after the Ain town where the ecrevisses come from.

The quenelle appeared in Lyon records from the 18th century as a way to stretch expensive river pike. Bouchon cooks refined the texture across generations until the version Eugenie Brazier served in the 1920s became the standard: three times the size of an egg, blond on the exterior, molten within. The sauce Nantua, made from ecrevisses of the Ain and Dombes, links the dish geographically to the rivers that drain into the Rhone east of the city. Today the quenelle carries AOC application status under the Label Bouchons Lyonnais programme.

3 editor picks for Quenelle de brochet sauce Nantua in Lyon, ranked by editorial score. All Lyon signature dishes · Quenelle de brochet sauce Nantua across every city.