Crème brûlée Originated in England

[ladyDeWint]

They have long considered their cuisine far superior to anything dished up on this side of the Channel.

So French gastronomes will be horrified to learn that Britain is laying claim to a traditional Gallic dessert - crème brûlée.

It may have the somewhat less romantic name of 'burnt cream' in English, but British cooks created the dish decades before the French did, according to Waitrose.

And in a move which may disrupt the entente cordiale, the supermarket is to rebrand the dessert as 'Cambridge burnt cream' for Prince Charles's Duchy Originals line.

They have adopted a theory, long held in Cambridge, that the combination of double cream, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla seeds and caramelised sugar originated within the walls of the city's Trinity College in the mid-1600s.

Its first appearance in a cookbook was in 1691, when French chef François Massialot wrote about 'crème brûlée'. But in a later edition, he renamed it 'crème anglaise' - English cream.

It was not until the late 19th century that 'crème brûlée' - the French translation of burnt cream - became a widely-used name for the dish, leading diners to believe that it had originated in France.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/ ... z0v4XEsuAH

[marilyn]

"Its first appearance in a cookbook was in 1691, when French chef François Massialot wrote about 'crème brûlée'. But in a later edition, he renamed it 'crème anglaise' - English cream. "

Isn't that what they call custard??




I love creme brullee - glad it's English

[cockneyoz]

Never had it, sounds nice though.

[tabbynera]

I couldn't really care less who invented it. I always had the feeling that it was something that developed by accident - like forgetting to take it out of the oven or whatever and the top got burnt/caramelised, but that is my crazy idea. Am still waiting for the day when the Daily Mail discover that rosti is an english invention.

[ladyDeWint]

Am still waiting for the day when the Daily Mail discover that rosti is an english invention.

possible not but rosti's are very similar to Jewish latkes, so who knows when it was invented, and who's bothered.

[tabbynera]

LOL - now that would be something for the Swiss. Actually we call them Röschti. the first time I realised they had caught on in England was in Master Chef. I had a visit from a friend for a few days and she was telling me you can get small frozen rostis in the supermarket in England. Originally they were made by the farmers wives for breakfast for the farmers and their farm hands - but that was in the last centuary.

[johnworc]

What's a rosti? (or roschti??)

[cockneyoz]

[tabbynera]

Seems to have got a bit of a thing in England, where it is referred to as rosti. It is a Swiss dish made from potatoes. I did write a bit about it once on another thread (about Barry's Mooli) so here is the link again

http://www.eastlondonforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=11076#p112574

[johnworc]

Thanks, Tabby, for the rosti info. I used to make something like that - grated up potatoes, added an egg and fried it up in a pan - same thing?? I think I was trying for a very large "hash brown" ! I'll have to call it a rosti, I can see.
I suppose if cooked with olive oil sprayed onto pan it wouldn't be unhealthy (I'm supposed to keep my cholesterol down - which I have been doing, aided by a daily "statin" tablet plus using Flora "Pro-Activ" plant sterol margarine).

[tabbynera]

The idea is just to mix it a little at the beginning and then leave it to form a crust on one side. I then take a big plate and turn it and slide it back to get a crust on the other side as well. As I said in one of those articles, the original is to be made with potato in its jacket which has been boiled on the day before. I might serve it with a fried egg on top, but don't mix the egg in it.

My doctor also told me to go easy on the cholesterol. I tried it all, from olive oil to special margarine etc. etc. No good. I am a butter cook. Put it on the veg after they are cooked and fry with it. Just for chicken I use oil (usually peanut oil). In the salad sauce I use thistle oil (suppose to keep the cholesterol down). I don't even like olive oil very much, but am if invited I will eat it. Am not so fussy about liking or not liking stuff.

[Barryoneoff]

Red wine helps keep it down.

[tabbynera]

Definitely Barry, so there you have it. I don't drink alcohol - plays havoc with my Meniere

http://www.chiff.com/a/wine-red-cholesterol.htm

[johnworc]

Red wine contains resveratrol which is good for the heart and controlling cholesterol - as is olive oil. I've heard that margarine is supposedly just one molecule away from being plastic - and that butter is far healthier for you - but presumably raises cholesterol. The alternative health people say all these things - but most of them say the jury is out on the margarines that contain cholesterol-lowering plant sterols.
We all say "marjarine" but the name derives from margaric acid, obviously not with a "j" sound - deriving presumably from the Latin meaning "pearl" - because of the pearl-like appearance of the product. The name Margaret has the same derivation.