What is "crouton"

Crouton \Crou`ton"\ (kr??`t?n"), n. [F. cro?ton, fr. cro?te a crust.] (Cookery) Bread cut in various forms, and fried lightly in butter or oil, to garnish hashes, etc.

1806, from French croûton "small piece of toasted bread," from croûte "crust," from Old French crouste (13c.), from Latin crusta (see crust (n.)).

n. A small, often seasoned, piece of dry or fried bread.

n. a small piece of toasted or fried bread; served in soup or salads

A crouton is a piece of sautéed or rebaked bread, often cubed and seasoned, that is used to add texture and flavor to salads, notably the Caesar salad, as an accompaniment to soups and stews, or eaten as a snack food. The word crouton is derived from the French croûton, itself derived from croûte, meaning "crust". Most people consider croutons to come invariably in the shape of small cubes, but they can actually be of any size and shape, up to a very large slice. A croûton (crouton) is a diminutive form of a croûte (croute), much like a cigarette is a diminutive form of a cigar. Many people now use crouton for croute, so the usage has changed. Historically, however, a croute was a slice of a baguette lightly brushed with oil or clarified butter and baked. In French cooking 'croûte' is not only a noun but also has a verb form which describes the cooking process that transforms the bread into the crust.

The preparation of croutons is relatively simple. Typically the cubes of bread are coated in oil or butter (which may be seasoned or flavored for variety) and then baked. Some commercial preparations use machinery to sprinkle various seasonings on them. Alternatively, they may be fried lightly in butter or vegetable oil, until crisp and brown to give them a buttery flavor and crunchy texture. Some croutons are prepared with the addition of cheese.

Nearly any type of unsweetened bread, in a loaf or pre-sliced, with or without crust, may be used to make croutons. Dry or stale bread or leftover bread is usually used instead of fresh bread. Once prepared, the croutons will remain fresh far longer than unprepared bread.

Crouton (Chromium OS Universal Chroot Environment) is a set of scripts which allows Ubuntu, Debian and Kali Linux systems to run parallel to a Chrome OS system. Crouton works by using a chroot instead of dual-booting to allow a user to run two desktop environments at the same time: Chrome OS and another environment of the user's choice.

A crouton is a piece of sautéed or rebaked bread, often cubed and seasoned, that is used to add texture and flavor to salads, as an accompaniment to soups, or eaten as a snack food.

Crouton may also refer to:

• Crouton (computing), a set of scripts for use in Chrome OS
• Crouton (singer), Jacob "Crouton" Olds, a singer in the band Family Force 5
• Crouton Records, a former record label started by Jon Mueller
• " Walter Crouton", a comic strip published by Seth MacFarlane
• Crouton, a planet featured in the show They Came from Outer Space