Croquembouche

Croquembouche
Croquembouche wedding cake
Type Choux pastry
Course Dessert
Place of origin France
Main ingredients Profiteroles, chocolate, caramel

A croquembouche or croque-en-bouche is a French dessert consisting of choux pastry balls piled into a cone and bound with threads of caramel. In Italy and France, it is often served at weddings, baptisms and first communions.

Name

The name comes from the French phrase croque en bouche, meaning "[something that] crunches in the mouth."[1]

Presentation

A croquembouche is composed of profiteroles piled into a cone and bound with spun sugar. It may also be decorated with other confectionery such as sugared almonds, chocolate, and edible flowers. Sometimes it is covered in macarons or ganache.[2][3]

History

The invention of the croquembouche is often attributed to Antonin Carême,[4] who includes it in his 1815 cookbook Le Pâtissier royal parisien, but it is mentioned as early as 1806, in André Viard's culinary encyclopedia Le Cuisinier Impérial, and in Antoine Beauvilliers' 1815 L'Art du Cuisinier. In Viard's encyclopedia and other early texts (e.g. Grimod de La Reynière's, Néo-physiologie du gout), it is included in lists of entremets—elaborate dishes, both savory and sweet, that were served between courses during large banquets.

On March 6, 2009, alumni of the Pune-based Maharashtra State Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology entered the Limca Book of Records after creating India's biggest croquembouche. It was recorded as 15 ft (4.5 m) tall.[5]

Croquembouche was one of the spoiled desserts which Gloria Munson serves to the WJM news team and program director in "A New Sue Ann", the Season 5 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In a take-off on All About Eve, Sue Ann's show is hijacked by Gloria (Linda Kelsey), who prepares a segment on French pastry. Sue Ann lets Gloria make the mistake of using unrefrigerated cream.

On 8 June 2009, Season 1 Episode 37 "5th Pressure Test Elimination" of MasterChef Australia (series 1) four out of eleven contestants baked a croquembouche made by Adriano Zumbo in 2 hours and 15 minutes. This challenge was repeated in the following seasons of the series. On 1 September 2014, Season 5, Episode 15 of the reality TV competition MasterChef, three out of the final six contestants baked an entire croquembouche in 90 minutes for their Pressure Test.

In the November 15, 2015 episode of Last Week Tonight, aired days after the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, host John Oliver, in a celebration of French culture, referred to the croquembouche as a "French Freedom Tower".[6]

On October 21, 2017, Dwayne Johnson tweeted that his wrestling persona, The Rock, whose tag line was "Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?", specializes in "moist Croquembouche".[7]

On 31 August 2018, Two Point Studios released Two Point Hospital, the spiritual sequel to Bullfrog Productions Theme Hospital. The final level of which acts as a sandbox level and the hospital is called Croquembouche.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, December 2005, s.v.
  2. ↑ Tacey Rosolowski, "Dessert time"
  3. ↑ Croquembouche Delicious Magazine
  4. ↑ The Chefs of Le Cordon Bleu (2012). Le Cordon Bleu Pâtisserie and Baking Foundations Classic Recipes. Cengage Learning. p. 79. ISBN 978-1439057179.
  5. ↑ "Catering institute alumni create record". The Times of India. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "Vive John Oliver". The New Yorker. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  7. ↑ Dwayne Johnson. "actually, my wrestling persona, Rock's backstory is that he's an Executive Chef who specializes in moist Croquembouche (google it)". Twitter. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "Two Point Hospital". Sega.
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