What to Eat in France: Bûche de Noël, or Yule Log, Traditional French Christmas Dessert
The Yule Log, or the bûche de Noël, “an elaborate creation consisting of a rolled, filled sponge cake, frosted with chocolate buttercream to look like tree bark and festooned with meringue mushrooms, marzipan holly sprigs, spun sugar cobwebs and any other sort of edible decoration,” is the traditional choice of Christmas dessert in France. It comes in many flavors and pastry chefs and home cooks alike let their creativity go wild.
6 egg yolks 4 egg whites 1 cups brown sugar 1 cup melted butter 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats Juice of one lemon 1 tsp. cinnamon 2 cups peeled, cored, sliced cooking apples 2 egg whites, beaten until they form hard peaks
Swiss Food: Tarte à la Raisinée – Apple and Pear Molasses Pie
What is Swiss Raisinée?
The French-Vaudois word raisinée refers to a syrup or molasses made of the must of apples and pears. It was originally cooked in grape juice, thus the name — raisin means grape in French. Often called vin cuit, or “cooked wine,” it is in the form of a dark brown, viscous liquid. In still other parts of Switzerland, another concoction similar in consistency to jam and using the same ingredients is called cougnarde and probably dates back to at least the Middle Ages. Raisinée was used as a sweetener in many regions in Europe, and the tradition has lingered in Switzerland, especially in the cantons of Vaud, Fribourg and Neuchâtel. Today, it is mainly used for cakes and pies, and is not fermented, so it not technically a wine.
The tart itself has numerous names — raisinée, vin cuit (literally cooked wine), cougnarde and Biresaassa, depending on the location.
This recipe is inspired by Concert des Casseroles and translated with their authorization
Use a pie ring or pie tin 24 cm in diameter
Sweet Pie Crust
200 g of flour
100 g butter
3 g of fine salt
15 g walnut or hazelnut nillon* (here a mixture in equal parts)
1 small egg (less than 60 g)
60 g white sugar
Filling
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
200 g double cream
150 g pear raisinée (click on link to see our recipe for making raisinée)
Dough: Combine the butter and sugar. Add the beaten egg and walnut/hazelnut nillon, then flour, mix and form into a ball, then roll out or pat down to flatten. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
Spread the dough on a sheet of baking paper and place it along with the sheet in a pie ring or pie pan. Shape the edges by pinching the dough between your thumb and forefinger. Prick the bottom and edges with a fork. Cool for 30 minutes to firm up and avoid sagging when cooking.
Preheat oven to 180° C. Place baking paper and beans or ceramic beads on the dough to prevent it from swelling. Bake for 20 minutes: the dough should barely brown.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing the eggs and yolks, the double cream and the raisinée.
Remove dough from oven. Remove weights and parchment paper. Lower thermostat to 150°C.
Pour the filling into the dough and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes. The filling must be taken when it is not too firm and must have a slightly caramelized smell. It will probably still appear liquid when it comes out of the oven, but do not prolong the cooking, as it gets much firmer while it is cooling.
*Nillon: Nillon (or nion), is a local product used in French-speaking Switzerland. It is the residue from pressing of nuts. It is found in sheets, grated or powdered form. There are walnut and hazelnut nillons packaged in small 160-gram bags. In the canton of Vaud (Switzerland), nillon is used to make a walnut cake and apple pie. In France, it is known as walnut flour or walnut meal.
SandeeA is a top-notch food photographer and she runs the popular blog La Receta de la Felicidad, where you can find many of the recipes appearing in these photos.
When you talk about rhubarb cream in Switzerland, you mean rhubarb cream, not pudding or custard. This naughty dessert is one of the easiest rhubarb desserts around, and is so thoroughly Swiss.
Recipe for Rhubarb Cream
Ingredients
Photo courtesy of Robin Stewart
1 lb. / 500 g rhubarb 3/4 cup / 200 g cane sugar 2 egg yolks Cinnamon or lemon juice, according to which taste you prefer 3/4 cup / 0.2 l whipping cream
Directions
Scrape or cut off any hard outer surface of rhubarb.
Dice rhubarb and put into saucepan. Add sugar. Cover with water. Cook until tender but firm, 5 to 10 minutes.
While rhubarb is cooking, beat the yolks until smooth.
Run cooked rhubarb through food processor or chinois to purée.
Add hot rhubarb purée to beaten egg yolks. Beat until thoroughly blended and eggs start to cool.
Mix in cinnamon or lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
Beat whipping cream. When it starts to form hard peaks, fold in cooled rhubarb and egg mixture.
Cool in refrigerator, either in individual serving dishes or in a large bowl.
This egg-free quark chocolate mousse recipe was developed by Maison Cupcake, but the use of quark cheese is so incredibly Swiss, I thought I should list it as a “Swiss recipe”. Next week Maison Cupcake will be developing a rhubarb mousse using quark, so keep your eye on this site.
Food Art: Tiramisù, food photography by Alessandro Boscolo Agostini
Bio of Alessandro Boscolo Agostini
Bilingual English/Italiano
My first love for photography started with a little theft: as a little boy I stole my father’s Vöiglander and I started taking pictures on my own, just using my instinct. At that time my father’s camera seemed to me the best camera possible in the whole world, until I reached junior high school and I gave it up for a Bencini all my own. But my little theft came all back to me; my girlfriend to whom I had lent my camera never gave it back to me: that can be considered petty theft, no?
Growing up, I robbed again: in high school I stole time I might have devoted to photography and dedicated myself to my other passion, music. I studied drums and played jazz music. But it was just an infatuation, because I went back to my first love and never left it again. And as a pledge of love, I gave up my history studies in college, causing great distress to many people, but not to myself.
Today, I rob with no qualms, and I confess it with no shame. My spoils are my sensations, emotions, lines, colours, compositions: I catch everything that stops in front of my camera, I catch it with a click to close it in a graphic cage. It doesn’t matter if its a catalogue or a magazine. What I’m really interested in is the look, my view of the world. In the millions of images that pass in front of my eyes every day, that go on around me, that chase me in my silence. For this reason I photograph subjects of any kind and still do it every day without specializing in anything in particular. From a luxury hotel suite, to the sexy transparencies of Murano glass. From art exhibitions to a ballet. From a golf course to actors on a stage. The list can go on and on, while this bio must finish here. I hope that I haven’t once more been a thief, that I haven’t taken up to much of your time. If this was the case, please don’t report me to the police, because I will give myself immediately up: I’m Alessandro Boscolo Agostini!
Food is art and magic; it evokes emotion and colors memory, and in skilled hands, meals become greater than the sum of their ingredients. — Anthony Beal
Sweet spices like cardamom and fennel, rose petals and rose water, pistachios and golden raisins
I am loving it already.
Flavors and scents I can taste and sense just by the mention of their names! They are very close to my heart. I grew up around them, or I can say I was often surrounded by them.
Cardamom and fennel used in sweet and savory dishes perfumed our kitchen with their intoxicating aroma. Rice pudding, pilaf, spiced tea, rich sauces, and several sweets are just a few to name. Rose petals and rose water to greet guests on special occasions, or simply to flavor sweets and drinks, made every experience memorable. Nuts and dried fruits in creamy sauces or in decadent desserts stamped food tastes forever in my mind.
Do I need say that I cherish these scents and flavors? We all have experiences from childhood, interwoven with lots of love and memories close to our hearts.
It was soft and yellow-white with a thin, dark crust. The crust was not hard or chewy, but broke away perfectly from the rest of this pillow-y treat. It wasn’t a piece of bread, though it looked like one. Was it cake? It was on the end of a long table under a blue tent shading us from the summer sun. A gold cardboard plate presented perfect slices of this marvelous discovery.
I held the slice in my little sweaty hands, taking small bites that burst with butter, vanilla, and sugar. Its texture was half of the pleasure: smooth, moist, fine-grained, and soluble, I already wanted more. But the table was on the other side of the lawn now, and there were so many long tables laden with food with big people figures milling about, from one end to another. I never found it again.
A cook, when I dine, seems to me a divine being, who from the depths of his kitchen rules the human race. One considers him as a minister of heaven, because his kitchen is a temple, in which his ovens are the altar.—Marc Antoine Désaugiers
Even though being betrayed by your camera or computer, denied access to your blog platform, or lacking all inspiration is bad enough, having your cooker die on you is probably one of the worst things that any food blogger and pastry lover can experience, as it leaves you feeling completely lost and powerless. Without this essential home appliance (my personal favorite together with my KA), your major working tool, you are absolutely nothing! Well, that’s exactly what happened to me not long ago and it was one terrible and stressful nightmare, especially wince we were quasi-penniless and could not afford to buy a replacement straight away.
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