My son has to bring a food from the time of Samuel de Champlain on Friday. I'm at a loss. I've done an extensive search on the net but haven't found any dessert type thing except sugared almonds... no pralines as we now know them Does anyone know anything about this time period? If I can't come up w/ anything my sister told me to buy a loaf of french bread and some roquefort cheese LOL. The kids would just love that, right Any help would be very appreciated. I'm going cross-eyed from computer searching.
Mel Mc.
I have some French cookbooks I bought when I studied in France. I'll go see if any of them have that in there for you.
I came across this website years ago; looks like most of it is 15th centuryish, but maybe it'll help:
http://www.godecookery.com/nboke/neweboke.htm
HTH
When my daughter was in high school, her foreign language group had dessert day. I made a Gâteau St. Honoré. Time consuming, a bit tedious, but well worth the effort! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/graham-kerr/gateau-st-honore-recipe/index.html That is one version of the gateau. And St. Honore is the French patron saint of pastry chefs and bakers.
pate a choux was invented in the 16th century, so perhaps some creme puffs, or a small croquembouche. A Gateau St. Honore also uses choux, although technically that cake wasn't invented until sometime in the 1800's, although I doubt anyone is gonna split hairs lol. One of my friends from culinary school got a HUGE tattoo of St. Honore on her forearm when we graduated!
Thank you SO much for the wonderful replies. Believe me... your time is very appreciated!! Since it's for a 3rd grade class I think I'm going w/ cream puffs. I thought hard about madeleines but historians really aren't sure when they came into being... although they believe they existed in some form before the 18th century. Really wanted to do pralines but the ones we know and love came about in New Orleans at a later date. Gee, I hope *I* get an "A" on my son's project
Thank you again for your replies and the time ya'll took to help me research!
Now... onto a costume for "Monsieur Samuel de Champlain" to present his project on Friday.....
Melanie Mc.
You're right about pralines... Praline does exist in French pastry, but French, praline is usually made from sugared roasted hazelnuts (although some other nuts are used, hazelnut is the most common, although almonds are popular as well) that is ground into a powder or a paste. When i was in pastry school (French Culinary Institute) we used to made a LOT of recipes using praline paste--let me tell you this stuff is heaven on EARTH. It's basically nutella without the chocolate. Once i was done measuring out whatever portion I needed I always managed to go back in for a spoonful for myself! lol It makes a WONDERFUL addition to buttercream, by the way, as a cake filling! You can find it marketed here as Hazelnut paste. When French settlers arrived in New Orleans, sugar cane and pecans were so plentiful (obviously), they substituted those nuts, and eventually developed the American praline that's popular today.
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