[Sca-cooks] Napolean pastry

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Nov 5, 2005, at 3:02 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> niccolo difrncesco commented:
>> Think in terms of a Napolean pastry with Pizzelles (wafres) and
>> Nuttella, maybe softened with some whipped cream.
>
> Uh, what's a "Napolean pastry"?

You'll probably find them in your medium-fancy bakeries. Normally,  
three layers of puff pastry and, sandwiched between, a thickish  
vanilla pastry cream (this is usually a stirred custard stabilized  
with flour or other starch, the same stuff that often goes into cream  
puffs and eclairs). Generally napoleons are topped with a thin layer  
of fondant icing, but my preference is for powdered sugar or ground  
chocolate; generally they get made in largeish sheets and are then  
cut into serving-sized rectangles.

The name almost certainly has nothing to do with the little Corsican  
guy with the itchy stomach -- more likely the name refers to the  
three layers, as there are other foods (for example, napolitano ice  
cream) which appear to date from, and honor, the role of the Kingdom  
of Naples in the unification of Italy (think of the flags).

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04