[Sca-cooks] period cream puffs?

[Terry Decker]

What you missed the Pies of Paris and other filled pastry dishes?

Presumably, choux pastry dough was created by an Italian chef, Panterelli, 
in the entourage of Catherine de Medici in 1540.  I have yet to find a 
primary or a credible secondary source that supports the story.  Like so 
many tales attached to Catherine, I think this one is apochryphal.  As for 
Popelini, a popelin is a small cake in the shape of a woman's breast, which, 
presumably, at one time were made from choux pastry, "pate a Popelin."

I have some problems with all things Catherine before 1560.  When she 
arrived in France in 1533, she was travelling with the entourage of her 
uncle, Pope Clement VII.  The family fortunes had been hammered by war and a 
four year exile from Florence and they were only about 3 years into their 
recovery, so I wonder how much of the entourage stayed in France with 
Catherine.  From 1533 until 1560, Catherine was the neglect wife and widow, 
which is not a position from which one expects grand things.  Catherine's 
reputation for food and parties seems to start after 1560, when she became 
regent for her son, Charles.  After he took the throne in his own right in 
1563, she was his chief advisor until his death in 1574.  While she played 
less of a political role after her son, Henry took the throne, she was very 
much a powerful figure in France until her death in 1589.

If anyone has any credible sources that detail Catherine's doings before 
1560, I would like to know about them.

Bear

> Oh? I don't remember anything like this being discussed here before.
> Stuffed bread, yes. But not stuffed pastry. What are you basing this
> on? Do you have a period recipe? Can you please post your redaction
> (s)? These sound like they might make a good item for a sideboard or
> breakfast.
>
> Thanks,
>   Stefan