À la Genevoise is a French cooking term that indicates fish served with a sauce made from a fish fumet, with mirepoix and red wine, finished with butter.
Variants on the sauce may be made with the broth that the fish was poached in, thickened with a roux.
The term used to be “à la genoise” in the time of Carême. Over time, it evolved to “à la genevoise”, perhaps to avoid confusion with a “pâte à génoise”, or to avoid confusing Geneva with Genoa.
Now, though, some sources are using “sauce genoise” again to describe a sauce that has been made as above, but with white wine instead of red.
The term “à la genevoise” is also applied to dishes which seem to have in common only that they call for a Geneva wine, such as:
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- The tripe dish, Tripes à la genevoise, which is tripe that is oven-braised in Chasselas de Genève white wine, with grated cheese on top;
- Fricassée de Porc à la Genevoise, which is cubed pork cooked in Gamay de Geneve, a red wine.
Language Notes
“À la Genevoise” is French for “in the style of Geneva, Switzerland”.