The story goes that the renowned French chef Careme created this ice cream for Russian statesman Nesselrode in 1814 after Napoleon's defeat. In 1828 Careme tried to gain credit saying his boiled chestnut pudding inspired a Parisian chef Mr. Mony (or Monni, Nesselrode's cook). It worked and Mony was forgotten for 30 years until his recipe was in Gouffe's cookbook; and now is mostly forgotten.The chestnut based ice cream contained - like fruit cakes - citron, currents, raisins, eggs, and other ingredients was named for a Russian diplomat. Count Karl von Nesselrode (1780-1862; painting from 1818) entered Paris after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 with Tsar Alexander I. They were able to enjoy the works of many fine French chefs, including Careme who was Talleyrand's cook at the time. Another Parisian, the "distinguished cook" Monni, went to Russia to cook for Nesselrode and named the new dish after his employer.
Marie Antonin Careme (1784-1833) was striving to make a name for himself, and would become famous; forever known from his creations and cookbooks. Jules Gouffé (1807-1877) worked seven years for Careme starting in 1823, and also knew Mony. Careme's admission that Mony created the Nesselrode Pudding appeared with his recipe (below) in his book Le Cuisinier Parisien, 1828, but the true story didn't even make it into a recent biography of Careme - Ian Kelly's Cooking for Kings.
“M. Monni, Parisian and distinguished cook, lives for ten to twelve years the capital of the North. [Russia] I am convinced that the pudding of chestnuts that I composed and described in the first edition of this book, gave him the idea of this ice pudding, which he gave the name of the Russian Lord (a la Nesselrode) for whom he prepares dinner every day. But in my turn, I hasten to make the French name for this dessert. I am always astonished that we have the habit of giving foreign denominations to the excellent dishes we compose; why this, when the French cuisine is recognized universal cuisine?"
Careme claimed that Monni's ice cream recipe was based on his boiled chestnut pudding (Careme was not the first chestnut pudding) in a cloth with chunks of chestnuts and no fruit. Also it used 36 roasted chestnuts, and the Nesselrode used 40.
Pouding aux Marrons et un Rum – (Chestnut Pudding, with Rum) by Careme. The recipe detailed to roast and skin thirty-six fine chestnuts, add rice flour, eggs, suet, sugar, bitter macaroons, raisins, quartered chestnuts, cream, nutmeg, rum and put into buttered napkin and boil.
When Careme died in 1833, a couple English translations of his work were published in London. Only the recipe itself was included in French Cookery, 1836, no mention was made of Monni. When it appeared in Eliza Acton's very popular Modern Cookery, 1845 his famous name would be forever linked to Nesselrode Pudding. Acton didn't even have to try the recipe.
"We give Monsieur Carème's own receipt for this favourite and fashionable dish, not having ourselves had a good opportunity of proving it; but as it originated with him he is the best authority for it."
Jules Gouffé (1807-1877)
Gouffe, a Frenchman, included his friend Mony's recipe in his Royal Cookery Book of 1867. He had “been favoured with the recipes of both these puddings by one of my old friends, M. Mony, many years chef at Count Nesselrode's…” Image from his cookbook "Le Livre de patisserie."
Careme's claim, Monni and recipe 1828
Des poudings glaces
Pouding de marrons glaces a la Francaise - French Chestnut pudding
Pouding de marrons glaces a la Francaise - French Chestnut pudding
“M. Monni, Parisian and distinguished cook, lives for ten to twelve years the capital of the North. [Russia] I am convinced
that the pudding of chestnuts that I composed and described in the first
edition of this book, gave him the idea of this ice pudding, which he
gave the name of the Russian Lord (a la Nesselrode) for whom he prepares dinner every day. But in my turn, I hasten to make the French name for this dessert. I am always astonished that we have the habit of giving foreign
denominations to the excellent dishes we compose; why this, when the French
cuisine is recognized universal cuisine?
Mony's recipe in Gouffe's The Royal Cookery Book
I must also warn that the recipe I am going to describe was given to me
in part by Mr. Etienne, the most skillful man of the modern office; he also
enjoys the reputation of being the first officer in Paris. I hasten to render
this testimony of esteem to the talent of a man justly renowned. I will also
add with satisfaction to the well-known name of Mr. Étienne, names also
renowned in French cuisine; they had escaped my memory, and I hasten to make a
brilliant repair to these distinguished men: such as M. Farcie, former chef of
the kitchens of Napoleon….
I will describe some frozen pudding recipes.
French chestnut pudding
After having peeled forty beautiful chestnuts cooked in water, you pile
them perfectly well, adding a few spoonfuls of syrup; then you pass them on a
silk screen, and mix them in a terrine with two glasses of syrup (one pound of
sugar clarified with a vanilla bean) with vanilla, as much cream, and twelve
fresh egg yolks; you place this appliance on a moderate fire, being careful to
stir it constantly for a moment with a spatula, a little before the boiling
takes place; you remove the cream to pass it to the white cheesecloth. The
apparatus being cold, you deposit it in a sarbotiere, by joining a glass of
maraschino, and have it taken like ice-cream; when it is taken, you add an
ounce of candied citron, cut into cubes; two idem currants [raisin de Corinthe], and as much seeded
muscat [large grape/raisin from Spain] (you must have marinated the day before these grapes with maraschino and
vanilla powdered sugar); everything is well combined, you mix a plate of cream
cheese, and three egg whites prepared in an Italian-style meringue machine.
When the pudding is perfectly hit by the ice, you roll it into a tin
mold that is half of a large pineapple cut on its diameter, so that the pudding
is shaped like a dome imitating the pineapple. This mold must be closed in the
style of those which the officers usually employ for frozen cheeses. The device
is carefully placed in the mold, you also place it in the sarbotière, then
masking it with crushed ice and saltpetre. It is essential to observe not to
throw cold water, which is done in the bottom of the sarbotière, as you work
the apparatus, turning the sarbotière from right to left; this repeated
movement causes the melting of the ice, and it is precisely this icy water
which precipitates the freezing of the apparatuses which one wants to ice.
I am going to give some details of how to strap the sarbotiere: it is
by pouring crushed ice into its bucket, on which you sow a few handfuls of
saltpetre; then you place the sarbotiere on it; and after having also
surrounded it with ice and saltpetre, you wipe the lid and the edge perfectly;
then you pour out the apparatus and cover the sargo-trap: a quarter of an hour
later you start to turn the sarbotiere from right to left, and when the cream
begins to freeze after the walls, you detach it with the rod, so that the
apparatus is also taken; then you close the sarbotiere and do not leave it,
always turning it and from time to time you take care to detach the cream of
the walls to amalgamate it in one and the same body consistent, and when it is
perfectly taken, you finish the pudding according to the processes indicated
above."
Le cuisinier parisien by Careme, 1828 (2d edition) online Google translationMony's recipe in Gouffe's The Royal Cookery Book
Jules Gouffé (1807-1877) father owned a patisserie in Paris, and Gouffe worked
for Careme at age 16 for seven years.
One brother was Queen Victoria’s head pastry cook for 28 years and translated Jules' cookbook;
another brother was a chef to a Count in Russia. Gouffe had
“been favoured with the recipes of both these puddings by one of my old
friends, M. Mony, many years chef at Count Nesselrode's…”
NESSELRODE PUDDING
Peel 40 chestnuts; blanch them in boiling water for five minutes; peel
off the second skin, and put them in a stewpan with 1 quart of syrup at 16°,
and 1 stick of vanilla;
Simmer gently till the chestnuts are done; drain, and press them
through a fine hair sieve;
Put 8 yolks of egg in a stewpan, with ½ lb. of pounded sugar, and 1
quart of boiled cream;
Stir over the fire, without boiling, till the egg begins to thicken;
add the Chestnut Puree, and press the whole, through a tammy cloth, into a
basin, and add 1 gill of Maraschino;
Stone ¼ lb. of raisins, and wash and pick ¼ lb. of currants; cook both
together, in ½ gill of syrup at 30°, and 1 gill of water; drain, and let them
cool;
Put a freezing-pot in the ice; pour in the chestnut cream, and work it
with the spatula; when it is partly frozen, add 3 gills of whipped cream, and
continue working with the spatula until the cream is frozen; then add the
currants and raisins, and put the pudding into an ice-mould; close it, and put
some butter on the opening, to prevent any salt or water penetrating inside;
imbed the mould in ice, and let it remain therein for two hours;
Make the sauce as follows:
Put 3 gills of boiled cream in a stewpan, with 8 yolks of egg, and ¼ lb.
of pounded sugar; stir over the fire, without boiling, till the egg begins to
thicken; take off the fire, and stir for three minutes more; strain the custard
through a tammy cloth, and add ½ gill of Maraschino;
Put the sauce on the ice until it is very cold, without freezing;
Turn the pudding out of the mould on to a napkin, on a dish; and serve
with the sauce in a boat.
Remarks on Marquise and Nesselrode Puddings
I have been favoured with the recipes of both these puddings by one of
my old friends, M. Mony, many years chef at Count Nesselrode's; I can,
therefore, in this case, as in that of the Charlottes a la Chateaubriand and a
la Sicilienne, guarantee the authenticity of my recipes, as I receive them
direct from their inventors, to whom I am happy to convey here my tribute of
thanks and good fellowship.
Gouffe, Jules. The Royal Cookery
Book: (le Livre de Cuisine) London: 1869
Eliza Acton's Careme recipe
Careme's cookbook was translated into English as French Cookery and published in 1836. Nine years later British author Eliza Acton included the recipe, which she did not make.
"We give Monsieur Carème's own receipt for this favourite and fashionable dish, not having ourselves had a good opportunity of proving it; but as it originated with him he is the best authority for it. It may be varied in many ways, which the taste or ingenuity of the reader will easily suggest.
Boil forty fine sound Spanish chestnuts quite tender in plenty of water, take off the husks, and pound the chestnuts perfectly with a few spoonsful of syrup; rub them through a fine sieve, and mix them in a basin with a pint of syrup made with a pound of sugar clarified, and highly-flavoured with a pod of vanilla, a pint of rich cream, and the yolks of twelve eggs; thicken the mixture like a boiled custard; when it is cold put it into a freezing pot, adding a glass of maraschino, and make it set as an iced cream; then add an ounce of preserved citron cut in dice, two ounces of currants, and as many fine raisins stoned and divided (all of which should be soaked from the day before in some maraschino with a little sugar); the whole thus mingled, add a plateful of whipped cream, and the whites of three eggs prepared as for Italian meringue. When the pudding is perfectly frozen, mould it in a pewter mould of the form of a pineapple, and place it again in the ice till wanted to serve. Preserved cherries may be substituted for the raisins and currants.
Eliza Acton's Careme recipe
Careme's cookbook was translated into English as French Cookery and published in 1836. Nine years later British author Eliza Acton included the recipe, which she did not make.
"We give Monsieur Carème's own receipt for this favourite and fashionable dish, not having ourselves had a good opportunity of proving it; but as it originated with him he is the best authority for it. It may be varied in many ways, which the taste or ingenuity of the reader will easily suggest.
Boil forty fine sound Spanish chestnuts quite tender in plenty of water, take off the husks, and pound the chestnuts perfectly with a few spoonsful of syrup; rub them through a fine sieve, and mix them in a basin with a pint of syrup made with a pound of sugar clarified, and highly-flavoured with a pod of vanilla, a pint of rich cream, and the yolks of twelve eggs; thicken the mixture like a boiled custard; when it is cold put it into a freezing pot, adding a glass of maraschino, and make it set as an iced cream; then add an ounce of preserved citron cut in dice, two ounces of currants, and as many fine raisins stoned and divided (all of which should be soaked from the day before in some maraschino with a little sugar); the whole thus mingled, add a plateful of whipped cream, and the whites of three eggs prepared as for Italian meringue. When the pudding is perfectly frozen, mould it in a pewter mould of the form of a pineapple, and place it again in the ice till wanted to serve. Preserved cherries may be substituted for the raisins and currants.
Chestnuts, 40; syrup, 1 pint some spoonsful; vanilla, 1 pod; cream, 1 pint; yolks of eggs, 12; maraschino, 1 glassful; citron, 1 oz., currants, 2 ozs.; raisins, 2 ozs. ; whipped cream, 1 plateful; whites of eggs beaten to snow, 3.
When the pudding is perfectly frozen, mould it in a pewter mould of the form of a pineapple, and place it again in the ice till wanted to serve. Preserved cherries may be substituted for the raisins and currants.
Obs.—As Monsieur Carème directs the eggs for his Italian meringues to be prepared as follows, he probably intends that they should be mixed with the syrup before they are added to the pudding. Boil together half a pound of the finest sugar, and half a pint of water, until they begin to be very thick, then with a wooden spoon, work the sugar against the side of the pan till it whitens; leave it to cool a little, work it again, and then with a whisk mingle with it the eggs whipped to a very firm froth, which ought to produce a preparation very white, smooth, and brilliant."
Acton, Eliza. Modern Cookery. London: 1845
Almonds instead of chestnuts
In later recipes pounded almonds replaced chestnuts in Nesselrode Pudding, as found in Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book (Emma 1808-1896) :
Nesselrode Pudding
Prepare a custard of one pint of cream, half a pint of milk, yolks of 6 eggs, half a stick of vanilla, one oz of sweet almonds poumded, 2 1/4 lb of sugar. put in a stew pan over a slow fire, & stir to a proper consistency being careful not to let boil; when cold add a wine glass of brandy; fatially freeze & add1/2 lb of preserved fruit cut small; mix well & mould. (Basket shape generally used).
Remember Tutti frutti ice cream?
Almonds instead of chestnuts
In later recipes pounded almonds replaced chestnuts in Nesselrode Pudding, as found in Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book (Emma 1808-1896) :
Nesselrode Pudding
Prepare a custard of one pint of cream, half a pint of milk, yolks of 6 eggs, half a stick of vanilla, one oz of sweet almonds poumded, 2 1/4 lb of sugar. put in a stew pan over a slow fire, & stir to a proper consistency being careful not to let boil; when cold add a wine glass of brandy; fatially freeze & add1/2 lb of preserved fruit cut small; mix well & mould. (Basket shape generally used).
Remember Tutti frutti ice cream?
Careme, 1828 continued -
"Note.
He never went into my tastes of giving ice cream puddings; but many of
my confreres serve them in their dinners; and, myself, I found myself forced to
use it by the repeated demands of the lords. As a result of these
circumstances, and considering that young practitioners might find themselves
in such a situation, I decided to describe a few recipes for icy devices.
This amiable part of the ice certainly belongs to the office, and not
to the kitchen. But such is the empire of fashion; it changes habits and
tastes. Yet I seem to have found the causes of these changes in the
indifference that the Amphitryons now bring to the productions of the Office.
So we count today in Paris few houses renowned for the service of the office;
and if the kitchen is affected by this rigid economy, the science of the office
suffers even more. Formerly the hostages hastened to seek out the renowned
officers; they wanted their feasts to be sumptuous from beginning to end; in a
good dinner we liked to find good food, and the sweetness of the sweet sweets
of the office. As I said in my Preliminary Address, for a table to be served
with elegance and sumptuousness, the kitchen and the galley must give it a
mutual appeal. The guests go with a sweet joy of the gastronomic service to
that of the dessert. They also like to enjoy the compotes, ice creams and sweet
bombons, which are the elegance of the modern galley. Despite these
observations, France is still the only country of true gastronomy. The spirit
of the century, it must be said, has somewhat changed the habits of European
gastronomes, and these changes may become fatal to the art of cooking. I was
assured that the French lords had just formed a club, like those of Great
Britain; this noble society must meet one by one and in part to give themselves
splendid dinners. May time bring some happy change, in the interest of the
host, and the culinary art will retain its brilliance and splendor."
Works cited
Careme. Le Patissier Royal Parisien 1815
Careme. Le Patissier Royal Parisien 1815
Careme. Le Maître d’hotel Francais
1822 1842
Careme. Le Cuisinier Parisien
1828 (2d edition)
Careme. French Cookery:
comprising L’Art de la Cuisine Francaise; Le Patissier Royal; Le Cuisinier
Parisien…M. Careme… translated by William Hall.
London: 1836 p. 419
Acton, Eliza. Modern Cookery. London: 1845
Gouffe, Jules. The Royal Cookery Book: (le Livre de Cuisine 1867) London: 1869
Gouffe, Jules. The Book of Preserves. 1871 image of Gouffe
Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book. Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway. 2008
Ice cream past posts HERE
Nesselrode Pudding blog post by Ivan Day HERE
©2018 Patricia Bixler Reber
Researching Food History HOME
Gouffe, Jules. The Royal Cookery Book: (le Livre de Cuisine 1867) London: 1869
Gouffe, Jules. The Book of Preserves. 1871 image of Gouffe
Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book. Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway. 2008
Ice cream past posts HERE
Nesselrode Pudding blog post by Ivan Day HERE
©2018 Patricia Bixler Reber
Researching Food History HOME
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment