In Australia we call the light ‘entrance’ to a three-course meal, the entrée. The remainder of the three-course meal is the main course or ‘mains’ followed by the final course, a dessert. In a seven-course meal a soup constitutes a first course, a light fish dish follows and is separated from the meat course with an entrée.
From my perusal of US cookbooks, it appears that the main course is called the entrée while the lighter ‘entrance’ to a meal is called an appetiser.
My questions: Is this a consistent use of the word, entrée, right across the US?
Is the substitution of the two courses, entrée for mains, used in any other country?
How did the initial French use of the word get altered in the US?
I own a copy of the book Recipes of All Nations, which was printed in the USA and copyrighted in 1935. Countess Morphy (the compiler and editor) uses “entrée” in the sense Australians apparently do today (baked macaroni, beef aspics, etc., served between the “fish” and “meat” courses). Since I was born in 1959 and always remember USA menus referring to main dishes as entrées, I’d conclude the change in my country’s definition occurred during the 1940’s and '50’s.
I do believe we say “entrée” for “main dish” all over the U.S. As for why, I have no idea. The word itself clues you into its original French meaning - what we Unitedstatesians call an appetizer. But entrée is definitely the word to refer to a main dish if you travel over here.
I heard the other day on a documentary that ‘entrée’ didn’t originally mean ‘appetizer’ at all - it came from when Parisians first adopted eating à la Russe during the 19th century. Prior to this, all dishes were on the table simultaneously in the French style. The revolutionary new style was to have more than once course, and the entrée was the big pizzaz course that made its grand ‘entrance’.
Thus the American usage is correct, and the Aussie is not.