An ecuelle is a deep dish used for serving vegetables — a wide, deep serving bowl from classical French tableware. The form is practical: depth keeps hot vegetables hot, contains their buttery juices, and presents them generously at the table. In formal service the ecuelle belongs to the family of dedicated serving pieces — each dish with its proper vessel — that structured the French table: the soupière for soup, the légumier for vegetables, the ecuelle for the vegetable course served deep. Antique ecuelles, often in silver or fine porcelain with twin handles, are collector’s pieces. The word survives in catering and in traditional restaurants where vegetables still arrive in their own dish rather than crowded onto the meat plate. It is tableware as etiquette — the right depth for the right course.