[Sca-cooks] OP request for information

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

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