The Origins of Souffle

Thank you again to everyone who continues to follow my blog. I hope you find it enjoyable and educational. As I pondered the subject for my next blog, I decided to write about Souffles. I have been doing Souffle experiments with Buzzy (aka Michael O'Keeffe, the owner of The Water Club, my boss). We have been experimenting with cheese, chocolate, lemon and strawberry, so what better time than now to learn a little more.

Souffle (yes I know there is supposed to be an accent on the e, but I don't know how to get the computer to do it) comes from the French word souffler which means to blow up. The first recorded reference to souffles comes from Vincent La Chapelle's Le Cuisinier Moderne written in 1742. He wrote of both savory and sweet souffles and titled the sweet version as timbales de creme which was a pastry cream base folded into egg whites "whipped into snow".

The first restauranteur of Paris, Antoine Beauvilliers, who believed in putting on a show for his guests and eventually became King Louis XVIII's pastry chef, opened La Grande Taverne de Londres in 1782 in the arcades of the Palais Royale. It was there that Souffles took on their status as "the Queen of hot pastries" according to Marie-Antoine Careme, 1784 - 1833. Beauvilliers wrote down the recipes in his book L'Art du Cuisinier in 1814. He also collaborated with Careme in the authorship of La Cuisine Ordinaire.

Now back to the kitchen to make Buzzy's lemon souffle. This time it needs more lemon zest. Subject for my next blog - James Beard Awards. I have been graciously invited to attend as the guest of Dorothy Cann Hamilton, the founder of The French Culinary Institute www.frenchculinary.com and Chef Tina Casaceli, director of the pastry program and owner of Milk & Cookies Bakery www.milkandcookiesbakery.com. The FCI text book, The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts, that I helped work on has been nominated for an award. I can't wait!

Restaurant Review - PRUNE 54 East 1st Street NYC

Dear All,
Thank you again for following my blog and posting your comments. Last night's food writing class at NYU with Corinne Trang www.corinnetrang.com was stimulating as always and at the conclusion of class our writing assignment was to write anything 50 - 100 words and to post it. Our previous class was on restaurant reviewing and as I already had plans to meet Catrine Oscarson, the pastry chef at Mas Farmhouse www.masfarmhouse.com, for dinner after class I decided to write a review of PRUNE, the restaurant we were meeting at and post it on my blog. Although the focus of my blog will be pastry history, I think it will be more interesting to write about different aspects of food as well to keep the non pastry geeks entertained.


Catrine had recommended Prune www.prunerestaurant.com and as I had never heard of it, earlier in the day I had tried to check out their website before going. For some reason, as I am technologically challenged, I could not open their website so I was in the dark completely about what to expect. Catrine texted me the location 54 East 1st Street between Second and First Avenues.

I am always happy to to go back to the east village as my first apartment in NYC was on 7th between Second and First Avenues, but back in those days, the mid 90s, I never went east of First avenue or south of 5th street. Now a days the area is booming with construction and modern buildings. I passed a film crew on Second avenue and 3rd street so the area was bustling with activity. As I approached 1st though the east village that I remember was coming back. There is a gas station on the corner and as you turn east down 1st, the gritty and grimmy factor goes back to the 90s, but as you approach 54 you can see there is an oasis of charm on this block. The warm light of the glass fronted restaurant spilled out onto the street beckoning you in and right inside the door I saw Catrine sitting at a table under a large antique mirror tucked into a small recess in the wall just big enough for the two of us.



The black and white tiled floor echoed the sounds of the lively atmosphere; open kitchen, packed tables, Duran Duran and Kyle Minogue playing loudly, but not too loud as to drown out our conversation. We were greeted by a friendly waitress in a salmon pink t-shirt, black pants and white apron which was the only splash of color in the monochromatic scheme of the white walls, white painted pressed tin ceiling, white overhead ceiling fans and wall of distressed wood framed mirrors that ran the length of the opposite side. She informed us of the two specials for the evening, Grilled Malpeque Oysters and Monkfish Liver. WOW I had never heard of monkfish liver. We orderd drinks. I had wanted a proseco by the glass which unfortunately they only have by the bottle so instead I had a cava by the glass which was a delightful new discovery.



We had papadams in a small tin pail on our table to munch on which were light and crunchy. Catrine and I were talking so much our patient waitress had to come back twice before we placed our orders. We had decided on the specials, Mussels in Lobster Broth and since I surprisingly enough had never had Roasted Bone Marrow I ordered that. The grilled oysters arrived on a bed of salt with both shells enclosing the succulent gems with a small dish of clarified butter. It was fun to pry open the oysters.



The monkfish liver was pan seared and served with buttered and toasted thin slices of a hearty bread. I never knew monkfish had such large livers and it had the texture closer to chicken's liver than the smooth texture of frois gras (my favorite). It was surprising to taste the liver, which I always feel is a very dense earthy taste, and then to get an after taste of the sea. I am so happy to have found something new which I love. Our entrees came and Catrine's mussels were the largest plumpest mussels I have ever seen. The generous portion was hinted with lobster in a thin broth sprinkled with slivers of scallions and a slice of grilled bread slathered with rouille.






My three large bones arrived on an oval plate accompanied by bread wedges, sea salt and a parsley salad. There was a small fork and spoon sticking out of the bones. The fork was extremely hot so be warned not to burn your fingers. I scooped out the marrow and spread it on my bread sprinkled with salt and parsley and enjoyed. As a virgin bone marrow eater I was not sure what to expect, but it basically reminded me of the uncrisp fat on the edge of a prime rib roast. I am glad that I tried it but I don't think I would order it again.



Throughout our whole meal which was over two hours, simply because we were talking so much, I never once felt hurried out and I think the staff would have been welcoming for even longer. The tables were full and any new customers just grabbed stools at the bar. One thing I really loved at the bar was the collection of mason jars filled with lime wedges, lemon peel, onions and giant caper berries. I could have eaten the whole jar as I am fond of caper berries. We were too stuffed to have dessert, but as I always think something to save for another time, not to metion maybe next time I will try the sweetbreads, my father would have loved that. Catrine and I had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time. I highly recommend Prune if you are in the neighborhood.

The Origins of Puff Pastry

First of all, thank you very much to everyone for checking out my blog and joining! I hope you will continue to enjoy my pastry history tidbits and pictures. As most of you who know me understand that I am technologically challenged, my goal by doing this blog is to also become more familiar with computers. Until I do though I have to give special thanks to my staff member Anthony Beller who has patiently been helping me. He also suggested the subject of this next blog, Puff Pastry.

Pate Feuilletee, or puff pastry is attributed to being first created around 1645 by Claudius Gele. Claudius an apprentice in a rural French patisserie, who in an effort to create a bread for his ailing father as prescribed by a doctor whom wanted the elder Gele on a diet rich in flour and butter, invented puff pastry by folding in layers of butter into an already butter rich dough. Claudius brought his creation first to Paris at the Rosabau Patisserie and then to Florence at the Mosca Pastry Shop where it became famous.

As I discussed in my first blog, we cannot look at history in a vacuum. Claudius' invention is a reflection of the times, the Baroque Era. 1645 France and Italy were royally connected. Henry IV, the first Bourbon King of France and Navarre was married to Marie de Medici of Tuscany. Their son Louis XIII ascended the throne in 1610 and with the aid of Cardinal Richelieu laid the foundation of a unified monarchy so when his son ascended the throne in 1643, France enjoyed one of its greatest eras under the Sun King, Louis XIV. Meanwhile in Italy the House of Medici had been the ruling family in Florence, Tuscany, Urbino, Rovere and Montefeltro since the fourteenth century. As great patrons of the arts, they are responsible for commissioning Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli to create many of their masterpieces.

Bernini created his infamous sculpture, St. Theresa in Ecstasy in 1645 and juxtaposed the themes of religion and eroticism for the Cornaro Chapel in Rome. Also in 1645 Marie de Medici commissioned one of the greatest representations of Baroque art in a series of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens illustrating the themes of exultation of the Catholic Church, monarchy, grandeur, opulence and excess. And so too had Claudius, a child of the Baroque era and an artist in his own right, reproduced these themes in his creation; homage to his father akin to the homage for God the Father Almighty the Catholic Church, excess in the use of copious amounts of butter, opulence in the richness of the butter and grandeur in the beautifully layered dough which can achieve such heights.

Throughout the centuries puff pastry has remained in the repertoire of chefs and today we enjoy it in many forms. I currently use puff pastry in several items at The Water Club, our Golden Delicious Apple Tart which is brushed with a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise nappage, Palmiers and Cinnamon Sticks (pictured below).









I hope you enjoyed the article and photos. The photo below shows the height puff pastry can attain when it is baked with the butter cold and set (on the left), the middle piece was baked with the dough at room temperature which illustrates the loss of height due to the butter not being cold thus not releasing enough steam to create air rising between the layers puffing it and giving the proper height, and the last representation is of a piece of puff pastry that has been docked (scored with the tool above the rectangle of puff pastry to pierce holes in the dough) before baking to prevent the excessive height. You would choose this method of docking if you were going to create a tart with fresh fruit as opposed to a tart that is baked with the topping.

Financier

I am currently enrolled in the Food Writing class at NYU in the continuing education program. My teacher Corinne Trang, who is the author of Noddles Every Day, Essentials of Asian Cuisine, Authentic Vietnamese Cooking, The Asian Grill plus more, assigned me to write an article about the financier and its origins. After exhausting hours and hours of research, Amanda Hesser and Dorie Greenspan giving me the best information, but still not enough, I decided that the best way to understand something is to not just look at the history of the cake, but to also look at the history of the culture it was created in.

My article evolved into a mini history of Paris and I had strayed too far away from the original assignment, of course (you should have been there in class for the hour long rewrite of my recipe I had submitted for homework when although I had tried to write it for the home cook, I had failed i.e. I called for 1 1/2 cups of egg whites instead of saying how many eggs ectera) and had to redo my homework. All was not lost though, because Corinne suggested to the class that we all start blogs, so I decided to use it as my first article, and that my blog will be about pastry history. So without further ado, here is my article. I hope you enjoy it and learn a little. There will be a pop quiz for all my interns. Please excuse any spelling errors or typos. My Mother did not proof read this.

1890s, Paris was the capital of the world. There was a synthesis of creative energy which pervaded all aspects of culture in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century. Impressionism was making its mark on the art world. Monet, Degas and Renoir were flourishing. Van Gogh painted the "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" in 1890. Impressionism was influencing music as well. Claude Debussy wrote "La Clair du Lune" as part of his Suite Bergamasque in 1890.

The 2nd Arondissement of Paris was the center of industry at the end of the nineteenth century. Home also to the Opera Comique, George Bizet's "Carmen" debuted there in 1875 and returned in 1883 to become one of the best loved operas. La Bibliotheque National de France built on Rue de Richelieu designed by Herni Labrouste in the Beaux Arts style of architecture in 1868, had become by 1896 the world's largest repository for the written word.

On the right bank of the River Seine, the 2nd Arondissement which housed La Bourse de Paris, the Paris stock exchange, was the smallest arondissement in Paris, yet had the largest concentration of commercial activity, and industry was booming as evidenced by the Industrial Exhibition opening in 1889. In a patisserie on Rue St. Denis in the 2nd Arondissement a baker named Lasne had created a delightful tea cake made of beurre noisette otherwise known as brown butter and almond flour. He christened the cake financier, pronounced (fee-nahn-see-AY), after his customers of the financial district. Lasne baked the small cakes in the shape of gold ignots which brought about the cake's celebrity.

Luckily for us, Pierre Lacam (1836-1902), pastry chef to Charles III, Prince of Monaco, who himself is credited with creating the Buche de Noel, documented culinary history in his 1890 publication of "La Memorial Historique et Geographic de la Patisserie" and gave us the origins of this lesser known cake.

One hundred and one years later, I a starving, poor college student found myself for one week in Paris on spring break from my theatre studies in London. My roommate and I spent our money on our lodgings in the fashionable 8th Arondissement off of Avenue Matignon. Thank goodness our hotel served us with croissants and hot chocolate for breakfast every morning as we could only afford crepes and hot dogs in a baguette on the Champs Elysse.

I recall one day I ventured alone. I wanted a walk along Rue du Fauborg Saint Honore to stop into the couture houses. I stopped in Lanvin and Christian Lacroix pretending to be a lady of fashion. I did a good job, because I did not get kicked out. Not to mention I studied French under Madame Viderman ex resistence, and 20 years ago I could actually speak it. I continued walking marveling in the beaux arts architecture all around, stopping in the Paris Opera House (I had just seen "The Phantom of the Opera" on stage in London) reveling in the granduer and opulence and continuing on until I reached the Pompideau Center. Along the way, I had come across a patisserie, possibly on Rue St. Denis, the name escapes me now, and in their display case was a humble little cake, compared to the fancy mousse cakes and petit gateau St. Honore, called a financier. It was dusted with powdered sugar on top and was 3 francs, affordable enough for me to enjoy. I could hold the little cake in my fingers as it had no icing. The taste was superb, light reminiscent of hazelnuts. It was the perfect afternoon pleasure as I am assured it had been a hundred years earlier.

I hope you enjoyed that little tid bit of information. I love financiers and as a matter of fact just served a raspberry financier for Easter as one of the dessert choices at The Water Club. Please come back and visit my blog again. I will try to write something new soon. My staff, Anthony in particular, tell me that I have got to write once a week. Well if you have any suggestions of what you would like me to research just let me know.

Sweets for the sweet.
Victoria