Escalope

An escalope is traditionally a piece of boneless meat that has been thinned out using a mallet or rolling pin or beaten with the handle of a knife, or merely butterflied. The mallet breaks down the fibres in the meat, making it more tender. But the thinner meat cooks faster with more moisture loss. The meat is then coated and fried.
The term escalope is also applied to meat free products such as Quorn (Mycoprotein) Escalopes which have a cheese & broccoli sauce encased in breadcrumbs. In Australia the term escalope is also applied to potatoes that have been thinly sliced. Potatoes that are thinly sliced, battered then fried are often called "scallops".
Common sizes.
The typical sizes of an escalope used in the food industry range from 110 to 225 g (4–8 oz).
Paillard or scallop.
"Paillard" is an older French culinary term referring to a quick-cooking, thinly sliced or pounded piece of meat. In France, it has been largely replaced by the word "escalope".
The cut is known as "scallop" in the US, not to be confused with the shellfish scallop.
Origin.
The term "escalope" originated in France. It first appeared in cookery terminology late in the 17th century as a dialectal expression in the northeast of rural France originally meaning a shelled nut or mollusk: "veau à l'escalope" (veal cooked in the style of an escalope). In those days, an "escalope" was undoubtedly always veal.