[Sca-cooks] OP request for information
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
adamantius1 at verizon.net
Fri Jan 16 05:07:06 PST 2009
On Jan 16, 2009, at 4:28 AM, Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> Under the category "Cakes and Tarts":
>
> Belle Alliance
Are you sure this isn't on your list of jellies and creams? Nancy
Lake's 1907 "Menus Made Easy" (which is a actually a book on how to
order in French), says "a la Belle Alliance" is a descriptor for "a
maraschino jelly with layers of strawberries and of slices of bananas."
> Tart a la Nelson
> Tarte a l'Orleans
> Tarte a la Portugaise
> Tarte a la Vienne
>
> Under the category "Jellies and Creams":
>
> Crême Neopolitane
> Crême Chateaubriand
> Crême Smyrna
>
> I did find two recipes for Portuguese Torte and Viennese Torte from
> around that period, but I am not entirely sure that these are the
> same. It is possible that there is a misprint.
It's possible, but given that we're dealing with an age of
codification, where terminology is pretty darned specific (albeit
perhaps not to the insane extents we would later see under chefs like
Ranhofer), there's a very good chance that your Portuguese and
Viennese tortes are similar. On the other hand, one could argue that
tartes and tortes aren't the same (the latter being more of a cake
than a tart), so it could go either way.
I don't know exactly why, but I'm thinking Mrs. Fisher would be a
source to check; eminently American and a former slave, but one who
worked in the households of prominent, wealthy Southern hostesses in
exactly the time period in question.
Adamantius
"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's
bellies."
-- Rabbi Israel Salanter
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