French culinary expression: UN CORDON-BLEU
The expression comes from the blue honorary ribbon which distinguished under the Old Regime the knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit.
Appeared at the beginning of the 19th century to designate an emeritus cook (never a cook, despite his masculine gender), the expression comes from the blue honorary ribbon which distinguished the knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit under the Ancien Régime.
From there, the expression " cordon bleu " began to be used to qualify something of excellence, the ultimate in a field, before specializing in culinary merit.
