# Rissole
A rissole is a small filled or minced food item, French in origin, that is fried or baked; in France it is a small pastry turnover enclosing a filling of meat, fish, or sweetened fruit, while in English-speaking countries the word usually means a patty of chopped meat bound with egg and fried.[1](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9R2714) • [2](https://app.ckbk.com/reference/food77337c18s001e091/rissole) The name describes a method rather than one fixed shape: half-moons, purses, rounds, and ovals all fall under it, and both savory and sweet versions belong to the tradition.[3](https://culinaryexplorer.app/r/2518-rissoles-juliette)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| French definition | Pastry cooked in the oven or, more often, fried, enclosing a filling of meat, fish, or a garnish of fruit or jam; pear rissoles are traditionally made in Savoie for the festivals[1](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9R2714) |
| Etymology | 12th century *rousole*, then *rusole*; 13th century *roissole*, then *rissole*; from Late Latin *russeola*, literally "reddish preparation", from *russeolus* "reddish", from *russus* "red, reddish-brown"[1](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9R2714) |
| English meaning | Chopped meat bound with egg, shaped into a disc, ball, or sausage shape, and fried in a pan; fish, vegetarian, and potato versions and breadcrumb coating are recognized variations[2](https://app.ckbk.com/reference/food77337c18s001e091/rissole) |
| Earliest French record | Attested in Old French as "a kind of fried pastry"; a 1420 Savoyard cookbook records the form *rosseolle*[4](https://drf.4h-conseil.fr/pages/D1R0061.html) |
| Printed recipe | Appears in François Pierre de La Varenne's *Le Cuisinier François* (1651), whose many editions and imitations spread the dish's fame, including into Italy[5](https://www.gamberorosso.it/attualita/ricette-dimenticate-le-rissole-alla-napoletana-ovvero-le-antenate-dei-panzerotti/) |
| Frying temperature | Classical pastry practice holds the oil between 340°F and 350°F (170°C and 175°C); cooler oil makes the pastry heavy, hotter oil colors the outside before the inner layers cook[3](https://culinaryexplorer.app/r/2518-rissoles-juliette) |
## The French rissole
In French usage the rissole is a small pastry of various doughs, most often puff pastry, formed around a filling and generally fried; the Office québécois de la langue française records it as shaped like a chausson (a folded turnover) or otherwise, with assorted fillings.[6](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/2092654/rissole) Le Robert defines it simply as a "petit pâté frit", a small fried patty.[7](https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/rissole)
The word is old. The Académie française traces it through the forms *rousole* and *rusole* in the 12th century and *roissole* in the 13th, deriving it from [Late Latin](https://www.edgepedia.org/late-latin) *russeola*, a feminine substantive of *russeolus* "reddish", itself from *russus* "red, reddish-brown"; the name presumably referred to the reddish color of the preparation.[1](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9R2714) The *Dictionnaire des régionalismes de France* notes that the word is attested in [Old French](https://www.edgepedia.org/old-french) as "a kind of fried pastry" and appears as *rosseolle* in the 1420 cookery of Chiquart; in current usage it survives mainly in parts of southeastern France and French-speaking Switzerland.[4](https://drf.4h-conseil.fr/pages/D1R0061.html) A 1690 definition by Antoine Furetière describes a pastry of minced, spiced meat wrapped in thin paste, also called *oreille de Parisien* ("Parisian's ear") because it was made in the shape of an ear.[7](https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/rissole)
**Sweet rissoles in Savoie.** In Savoie the rissole is above all a festival pastry: small turnovers of shortcrust or puff pastry filled with jam or compote, today usually baked rather than deep-fried. Meat rissoles appear in Savoyard cookbooks from the 15th century, and the compote-filled version is spoken of locally from the 18th century, when the filling was apricot marmalade rather than the apples or pears used today.[8](https://www.lopt.org/carte/savoie-propre/specialites/rissoles-savoyardes) Rissoles were the Savoyard dessert for Christmas and the vogue, the local patronal festival; families made them in large numbers, offered them to visiting relatives and friends until [New Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-year), and measured a housewife's skill by their success.[8](https://www.lopt.org/carte/savoie-propre/specialites/rissoles-savoyardes) In the Bauges massif the practice remains a living social tradition, with some families still preparing the dough by hand, and contemporary versions such as Nutella-filled rissoles show the tradition adapting to industrial products.[9](https://pci-lab.fr/fiche-d-inventaire/fiche/408)
## The English rissole
The food writer Alan Davidson, author of *The Oxford Companion to Food*, observed that the term has a simpler meaning in English than in French: an English rissole is normally chopped meat bound with something such as egg, flavored to taste, shaped into a disc, ball, or sausage shape, and fried in a pan. Around this basic formula sit variations allowing fish rissoles and vegetarian rissoles, added ingredients such as potato, a breadcrumb coating before frying, and service with a sauce.[2](https://app.ckbk.com/reference/food77337c18s001e091/rissole) British dictionaries define it comparably as minced cooked meat coated in egg and breadcrumbs and fried, and contrast it with the croquette.[10](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rissole)
In Australia and New Zealand the rissole is a beef, lamb, or chicken patty similar to a hamburger, pan-fried or barbecued, with no dough at all; a typical recipe mixes beef mince with egg, grated onion, breadcrumbs or bread soaked in milk, flour, herbs, and seasoning, shapes patties with wet hands, and cooks them about 7 to 10 minutes per side.[11](https://www.196flavors.com/australian-rissole/) • [12](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-11-06/the-great-aussie-rissole-and-damper/8931208) The dish is popular enough in Australia to sustain an annual competition, the Australian Beef Rissole Championships, held in [Rockhampton](https://www.edgepedia.org/rockhampton), where contestants keep their recipes secret and the boundary between rissole and burger patty is acknowledged to be fluid.[13](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-30/rissoles-champions-keep-recipes-secret-competition-rockhampton/9708704)
## Rissoles elsewhere in Europe and the Americas
In Portugal the rissol (plural *rissóis*) is a pastry of cooked wheat-flour dough filled with meat, fish, vegetables, or other ingredients, breaded and usually fried; shrimp rissoles (*rissóis de camarão*) are the classic example, and cod, chicken, and ham-and-cheese fillings are also used.[14](https://dicionario.priberam.org/rissole) • [11](https://www.196flavors.com/australian-rissole/) In Brazil the same dish is known as *rissole* or *risoles*, half-moon pastries resembling empanadas, breaded and deep-fried until golden, sold at bakeries, bars, and cafés and served as party food or street food.[14](https://dicionario.priberam.org/rissole) • [15](https://www.easyanddelish.com/rissoles-brazilian-risoles-crispy-gooey/)
In Italy the rissole has largely disappeared under other names. The recipe reached Italy through a 1682 Italian translation of a work that borrowed the title and name of La Varenne's *Le Cuisinier François* (1651), whose success ran to at least 61 editions in various languages in the following century. In Naples the rissole was the ancestor of the panzerotto; the preparation was recorded as "panzerotti napoletani" by Alberto Cougnet in *L'arte cucinaria italiana* (1910), one of the last cookbooks to include rissoles, by then a high-cuisine item with fillings from oysters to pheasant, truffles, and sweetbreads.[5](https://www.gamberorosso.it/attualita/ricette-dimenticate-le-rissole-alla-napoletana-ovvero-le-antenate-dei-panzerotti/)
## Indonesia
Indonesian *risoles* came via the Netherlands, where the rissole was a familiar meat pastry, during the Dutch colonial period around the 19th century. Because pastry was then unfamiliar in Indonesia, the wrapper was adapted to a thin cooked batter, essentially a crepe, and the filling drew on locally available vegetables such as carrot and potato when meat was hard to obtain.[16](https://rri.co.id/semarang/kuliner/984506/sejarah-risoles-dari-belanda-hingga-menjadi-jajanan-indonesia) The modern Indonesian risoles is rolled in a crepe-like skin, dipped in egg, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried, most often filled with a ragout of minced meat or chicken with vegetables, and served with fresh bird's-eye chilies or chili sauce.[17](https://www.food.com/recipe/risoles-indonesian-style-of-rissole-366534) A popular contemporary variant, risol mayo, encloses egg, smoked beef or sausage, and mayonnaise in the thin crispy skin.[18](https://rri.co.id/mataram/kuliner/2687839/risol-mayo-dari-rissole-prancis-hingga-menjadi-jajanan-favorit-indonesia)
## Ancient parallels
Some food historians have supposed that the Latin word *isicia*, which certainly meant something of the sort, could be translated as rissoles; Apicius declared peacock rissoles the best, followed by pheasant, rabbit, and chicken, and listed ingredients for three different thick sauces to accompany them.[2](https://app.ckbk.com/reference/food77337c18s001e091/rissole)
## References
1. [rissole, Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9e édition](https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9R2714)
2. [Rissole, Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (ckbk)](https://app.ckbk.com/reference/food77337c18s001e091/rissole)
3. [Rissoles Recipe, Culinary Explorer](https://culinaryexplorer.app/r/2518-rissoles-juliette)
4. [rissole, Dictionnaire des régionalismes de France](https://drf.4h-conseil.fr/pages/D1R0061.html)
5. [Ricette dimenticate. Le rissole alla napoletana, Gambero Rosso](https://www.gamberorosso.it/attualita/ricette-dimenticate-le-rissole-alla-napoletana-ovvero-le-antenate-dei-panzerotti/)
6. [rissole, Grand dictionnaire terminologique, OQLF](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/2092654/rissole)
7. [rissole, Dictionnaire Le Robert](https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/rissole)
8. [Les Rissoles savoyardes, L'OPT](https://www.lopt.org/carte/savoie-propre/specialites/rissoles-savoyardes)
9. [L'art de la rissole, ou r'zoule, dans le massif des Bauges, Inventaire du patrimoine culturel immatériel en France](https://pci-lab.fr/fiche-d-inventaire/fiche/408)
10. [RISSOLE Definition & Meaning, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rissole)
11. [Australian Rissole, 196 flavors](https://www.196flavors.com/australian-rissole/)
12. [The great Aussie rissole and damper, ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-11-06/the-great-aussie-rissole-and-damper/8931208)
13. [Rissoles experts everywhere but top tips are hard to find, ABC News](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-30/rissoles-champions-keep-recipes-secret-competition-rockhampton/9708704)
14. [Significado de rissole, Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa](https://dicionario.priberam.org/rissole)
15. [Rissoles (Brazilian Risoles), Easy and Delish](https://www.easyanddelish.com/rissoles-brazilian-risoles-crispy-gooey/)
16. [Sejarah Risoles: Dari Belanda hingga Menjadi Jajanan Indonesia, RRI.co.id](https://rri.co.id/semarang/kuliner/984506/sejarah-risoles-dari-belanda-hingga-menjadi-jajanan-indonesia)
17. [Risoles (Indonesian Style of Rissole) Recipe, Food.com](https://www.food.com/recipe/risoles-indonesian-style-of-rissole-366534)
18. [Risol Mayo: Dari Rissole Prancis hingga Menjadi Jajanan Favorit Indonesia, RRI.co.id](https://rri.co.id/mataram/kuliner/2687839/risol-mayo-dari-rissole-prancis-hingga-menjadi-jajanan-favorit-indonesia)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Food, cooking and hospitality › Dishes, foods, and foodstuffs › Dishes and prepared foods — overview and dish-type concepts*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license