The White Nougat of Marseilles consists of almonds and
pistachios boiled with Narbonne honey. The Broivn Nougat
is made with burnt almonds only, without any pistachios,
and into this mainly has sugar been introduced, not for
gustatory, but for mechanical reasons. This brown com-
pound is much used for the construction of fancy con-
fectionery representing rocks and ruins, and as these have
sometimes to be kept and transported, and honey nougat
would not have the requisite solidity to endure this, sugar
had to be substituted for the honey to enable the rocks and
ruins to maintain their position and structure.
Genoa Calces, Fr. Gdnoises, generally occur as cakelets,
and are made of sugar, eggs, flour, almonds, or pistachios,
walnuts, filberts, etc., glaced on the top; they are liable to
undergo many variations — some like nougat, but without
honey being introduced. (A large dense cake, with
almonds outside, sold in slices by London confectioners under
the name of Genoa cake, does not fit the definition of that
name in our historical system.) In ‘ Dons de Comus ’ genoises
are covered tartlets like English mince-pies, and plums do
not enter into their composition. There are many varia-
GENOISES, MADELEINES, AND PETITS CHOUX 409
tions from \X\q 2:>lciin : namely, with almonds, small (in ‘ Dons
de Comus ’ it is said that the smaller the g^noises the better
they are), orange-flavoured ; with pistachios ; with filberts ;
but the French genoiscs perUes au raisin de Corinthe, which
are to have single currants as a top-dressing on the glace,
are really examples of trifling with so-called ornament, and
literally childish play.
Madeleines are cakes of great reputation in France, related
to g6noises, and made with the same kind of batter as these ;
they are produced plain and with variations. The Made-
leines of Commercy had a special local reputation, the con-
sequence mainly, it was reported, of the admiration which
the Polish King Stanislas Leezinsky manifested for them
when he travelled in France ; but this local reputation was
more probably the result of the accident that a Madame
Perrotin de Barmond had a cook who baked very good
madeleines, and as her names happened to be Madeleine
Paumier, she was credited locally, and quite unduly, with
the invention of the cakes. Variations are effected by
additions of dried fruit, angelica, all of which in our opinion
detract from the specificity of the cakes. This specificity
has a fixed basis, for, as in English poxhnd cake, the three
principal ingredients of madeleines — flour, sugar, and butter
— are added in equal parts.
Choux Patissiers, or Petits Ghoux, are cakelets baked of a
batter previously boiled, like the batter of soufllds. There is
no English equivalent for the name, except the perhaps
jocular shoes’ of some English cooks be accepted as
such. The French name choux may be derived from a
similarity in shape to certain round cabbages. Several
varieties are made : h la Parisicnne ; p>ains d la duchesse,
which has been translated into Duchess loaves ; profit rolles;
and Mecca loaves, or Mecca cakes. Tlie p)roflt rolles are
hollow, and filled with some kind of custard from the top,
through an opening of the size of a slhlling, cut witli a
410
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
Page 258
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The White Nougat of Marseilles consists of almonds and pistachios boiled with Narbonne honey. The Brown Nougat is made with burnt almonds only, without any pistachios, and into this mainly has sugar been introduced, not for gustatory, but for mechanical reasons. This brown compound is much used for the construction of fancy confectionery representing rocks and ruins, and as these have sometimes to be kept and transported, and honey nougat would not have the requisite solidity to endure this, sugar had to be substituted for the honey to enable the rocks and ruins to maintain their position and structure.
Genoa Cakes, Fr. Gdnoises, generally occur as cakelets, and are made of sugar, eggs, flour, almonds, or pistachios, walnuts, filberts, etc., glaced on the top; they are liable to undergo many variations — some like nougat, but without honey being introduced. (A large dense cake, with
almonds outside, sold in slices by London confectioners under the name of Genoa cake, does not fit the definition of that name in our historical system.) In ‘ Dons de Comus ’ genoises are covered tartlets like English mince-pies, and plums do not enter into their composition. There are many varia-
GENOISES, MADELEINES, AND PETITS CHOUX 409
tions from the zlouin : namely, with almonds, small (in ‘ Dons de Comus ’ it is said that the smaller the g^noises the better they are), orange-flavoured ; with pistachios ; with filberts ; but the French genoiscs perlées au raisin de Corinthe, which are to have single currants as a top-dressing on the glace, are really examples of trifling with so-called ornament, and literally childish play.
Madeleines are cakes of great reputation in France, related to g6noises, and made with the same kind of batter as these ; they are produced plain and with variations. The Madeleines of Commercy had a special local reputation, the consequence mainly, it was reported, of the admiration which the Polish King Stanislas Leezinsky manifested for them when he travelled in France ; but this local reputation was more probably the result of the accident that a Madame Perrotin de Barmond had a cook who baked very good madeleines, and as her names happened to be Madeleine Paumier, she was credited locally, and quite unduly, with the invention of the cakes. Variations are effected by additions of dried fruit, angelica, all of which in our opinion detract from the specificity of the cakes. This specificity has a fixed basis, for, as in English pound cake, the three principal ingredients of madeleines — flour, sugar, and butter — are added in equal parts.
Choux Patissiers, or Petits Ghoux, are cakelets baked of a batter previously boiled, like the batter of soufllds. There is no English equivalent for the name, except the perhaps jocular shoes’ of some English cooks be accepted as
such. The French name choux may be derived from a similarity in shape to certain round cabbages. Several varieties are made : h la Parisicnne ; p>ains d la duchesse, which has been translated into Duchess loaves ; profit rolles; and Mecca loaves, or Mecca cakes. Tlie p)roflt rolles are hollow, and filled with some kind of custard from the top, through an opening of the size of a slhlling, cut witli a