Chicken Fricot

Fricot is a traditional Acadian dish. The word fricot originated in eighteenth-century France, where it was the term referring to a feast. Then, as time passed, fricot referred to a stew, made either with meat or fish. This variation of chicken soup with dumplings is a classic comfort dish: a savory, warm stew garnished with dumplings that puff when dropped into simmering broth. Fluffy dumplings, also called doughboys, are cooked atop the stew, not unlike chicken and dumplings in the Southern US. In lean times, a meatless fricot would be made. Fricot à la belette was one term for this. It means weasel stew, the reference being made to the cook, who is as sly as a weasel for leaving out the meat. Prince Edward Island Acadians use the term fricot à la baïette, which means 'stupid cook's stew', implying that the meat was forgotten.