Dictionary

scotched collops en · NOUN

Etymology

Reanalysis of earlier Scotch collops from Scotch (“of Scotland”) to scotched (“that has been cut”). The dish was labeled variously during the 18th and 19th centuries as Scotch collops, scorched collops, or scotched collops, among others. The latter form is first attested from the 18th century, with Scotch collops from the 17th.

Meanings

1. (US, plural, plural-only) A dish made of pieces of beef or veal cut thin or minced, beaten flat, and stewed with onion and other condiments.
   • What signifie Scotcht-Collops to a Feast? Or you can make whip'd Cream! Pray what Relief Will that be to a Saylor who wants Beef? 1708, William King, “The Art of Cookery”, in All Poetry, retrieved 15 Feb 2023:
   • Scotched Collops. In cookery books and on bills of fare we are constantly meeting with this term, spelt ‘Scots collops’ or ‘Scotch collops.’ The dish, however, has not a Scottish origin. The collops, or slices of flesh, before being cooked are ‘scotched,’ which means, according to Worcester, that they are ‘cut with shallow incisions, or in a slight manner.’ [1882, Eliezer Edwards, Words, facts, and phrases; a dictionary of curious, quaint, and out-of-the-way matters, page 501:
   • Like scaloppine, scotched collops must not be overcooked or they will take on a texture not unlike dried buffalo. 1995, Damon Fowler, Classical Southern Cooking, page 183:
   • You will also be served oysters and scotched collops and quails and chickens, as well as biscuits and tarts and various sweetmeats. 2017, Graham Masterton, The Coven, page 157:
   • cakes and ales those may still have who can command them, but down with the roast-beef of Old England! be scotched collops anathema maranatha, and Irish stew accounted an unclean thing! 1899, Herbert Maxwell, “Our obligations to wild animals”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume 166, page 232:
   • 438. Scotch-Collops.^*―Cut small slices of equal thickness out of the fillet[…]^*This properly means scotched, or scored collops, though the word has come to be understood as above. [1829, Margaret Dods, The Cook and Housewife’s Manual, page 285:

Forms

Relateds

collop