An escalope is a thin slice of meat — especially veal, pork, chicken, or turkey — flattened for quick, even cooking. The cut is pounded with a cutlet bat to a uniform few millimetres, which tenderises the fibres and guarantees the slice cooks through in the minute or two it spends in the pan. Wiener schnitzel is the archetype: veal escalope, breaded and fried golden. The technique suits lean meats that would toughen with long cooking — the thinness is the whole strategy, delivering tenderness through speed rather than time. Escalopes take happily to coating, to pan sauces made in the minute the meat rests, and to the rolled preparations like saltimbocca. The word is French for the thin slice itself; the method — flatten, flash-cook, sauce — is one of the fastest routes from raw meat to dinner.