{"id":174903,"date":"2024-07-19T23:54:37","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T13:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/?p=174903"},"modified":"2024-07-19T23:54:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T13:54:37","slug":"200-year-old-french-dessert-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/200-year-old-french-dessert-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"200 year old French Dessert Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qcpw-fBo5jE?si=VDo14Rg1KoBzdchI?rel=0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This 200 year old &#8220;modern&#8221; mille feuille recipe looks nothing like a mille feuille that you would buy at a French patisserie today.  Step back in time and see how this impressive dessert was made by Careme, French chef to the Kings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1-550x840.jpg\" alt=\"200 year old dessert recipe antique cookbook\" width=\"550\" height=\"840\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-174907\" data-wp-pid=\"174907\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1-550x840.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1-768x1173.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1-1006x1536.jpg 1006w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1-300x458.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/mille-feuille-careme1.jpg 1312w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A cake of <em>mille feuilles<\/em> (a thousand leaves) <em>meringues<\/em>.  The first half representing the old, and the second half the modern fashion. (illustration by Careme)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-550x563.jpg\" alt=\"careme pastry chef to kings\" width=\"550\" height=\"563\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-174920\" data-wp-pid=\"174920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-550x563.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-293x300.jpg 293w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-768x786.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-1501x1536.jpg 1501w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-2001x2048.jpg 2001w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/careme-portrait-300x307.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Careme, one of 15 children, was abandoned by his family at the very young age of just 10.  His father apparently wished him well and told him that a child with wit, like he had, would have a better chance of success on his own.  It is hard to envisage how leaving a child on the streets of Paris could lead to a better future.  But in this case it seems to have worked out.  Careme was taken in by a chef and worked in the kitchen in return for food and board.  Later he became an apprentice pastry chef and by the time he was 19 he was well known for his elaborate creations.  He spent his spare time in the library studying architecture books.  The ornate buildings became inspiration for this work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Caremes mille feuille recipe<\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-550x782.jpg\" alt=\"200 year old recipe oldern days cooking\" width=\"550\" height=\"782\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-174918\" data-wp-pid=\"174918\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-550x782.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-768x1092.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-1080x1536.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-1440x2048.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728-300x427.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2776-scaled-e1721124469728.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-550x873.jpg\" alt=\"200 year old desert ann reardon\" width=\"550\" height=\"873\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-174917\" data-wp-pid=\"174917\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-550x873.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-189x300.jpg 189w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-768x1220.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-967x1536.jpg 967w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-1290x2048.jpg 1290w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477-300x476.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2775-scaled-e1721124437477.jpg 1612w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-550x733.jpg\" alt=\"careme pastry chef to kings 200 year old dessert recipe\" width=\"550\" height=\"733\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-174915\" data-wp-pid=\"174915\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-550x733.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-300x400.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/IMG_2705-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>A modern (2024) mille feuille recipe<\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq-550x332.jpg\" alt=\"mille fieulle ann reardon howtocookthat \" width=\"550\" height=\"332\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-174910\" data-wp-pid=\"174910\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq-550x332.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq-768x463.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq-1536x927.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq-400x241.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/NVIDIA_Share_fMpdW53dZq.jpg 1563w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pastry Cream<\/strong><br \/>\n4 egg yolks<br \/>\n3 tablespoons corn-flour<br \/>\n1\/2 cup sugar<br \/>\n1 1\/2 cups or 375mL (12.68 fluid ounces) milk<br \/>\n1 tablespoon butter<br \/>\nvanilla<br \/>\n1 cup or 250mL (8.45 fluid ounces) of cream<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pastry<\/strong><br \/>\n3 squares of ready made puff pastry<\/p>\n<p><strong>Icing<\/strong><br \/>\n1 cup icing sugar<br \/>\nWater (only add a tiny bit at a time, less than you&#8217;d think, stir until you get a thick but spreadable consistency)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chocolate Icing<\/strong><br \/>\nCocoa Powder (put some of the above icing into a separate bowl and mix in a little cocoa powder)<\/p>\n<p>In a pan, not yet over the heat, whisk together the egg yolks, corn-flour, sugar and a little of the milk.  Keep stirring until there are no lumps then whisk in the rest of the milk.  Place over the heat and stir continuously until it starts to thicken.  Keep stirring over the heat for a minute more to get rid of any floury taste.  Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla, stir until the butter is melted.  Now stir in the cream and leave to cool in the fridge.<br \/>\nPrick the puff pastry all over with a fork.  Place on a tray lined with baking paper.  Place another piece of baking paper on top and an empty oven tray on top of that to weight it down.  Bake until golden, dry and crisp.  Repeat with the other two sheets of puff pastry and leave to cool.<\/p>\n<p>Cut the puff paste into rectangles, use a ruler to get them all exactly the same size.  It doesn&#8217;t really matter what size, as long as they are the same.  Mine were about 10cm (3.94 inches) x 7cm (2.76 inches).  You need 3 for each mille feuille.  Take the top ones and ice them one at a time.  Spread white icing over the piece then pipe stripes of chocolate and drag a knife through to make the pattern. <\/p>\n<p>Take the pastry cream out of the fridge and whip with an electric mixer until it is a little lighter and thick enough to pipe.  Put into a piping bag and pipe dollops onto the bottom rectangle of puff pastry, add a second rectangle and pipe more dollops, then add a rectangle with icing on top. <\/p>\n \n<h4 align=center>My Cookbook<\/h4>\n<p align=center>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/cook-crazy-sweet-creations-cookbook-ann-reardon\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"40%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/hardcover-book-mockup-of-a-woman-reading-3409-el1.png\" alt=\"ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook\" title=\"Crazy Sweet Creations Cookbook\" style=\"opacity: 0.8; -moz-opacity: 0.8;\" class=\"fade\" \/><\/a>\n<\/br>\nStores that sell my book listed by country:  \n<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/ARcookbook\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/bit.ly\/ARcookbook<\/a>\n<\/br>\nAll recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/200-year-old-french-dessert-recipe\/\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/200-year-old-ann-reardon-how-to-cook-that-french-dessert-150x150.jpg\" class=\"alignleft tfe wp-post-image\" alt=\"200 year old french dessert recipe careme\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/200-year-old-ann-reardon-how-to-cook-that-french-dessert-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/200-year-old-ann-reardon-how-to-cook-that-french-dessert-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/200-year-old-ann-reardon-how-to-cook-that-french-dessert-1200x1200-cropped.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/200-year-old-ann-reardon-how-to-cook-that-french-dessert-400x400.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" data-wp-pid=\"174908\" \/><\/a><p>This 200 year old &#8220;modern&#8221; mille feuille recipe looks nothing like a mille feuille that you would buy at a French patisserie today. Step back in time and see how this impressive dessert was made by Careme, French chef to the Kings. A cake of mille feuilles (a thousand leaves) meringues. The first half representing the old, and the second half the modern fashion. (illustration by Careme) Careme, one of 15 children, was abandoned by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[2883,2718,1326,31,803,3803,1581,995,1630,952,227,163,3802,1468,1465],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174903"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174928,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174903\/revisions\/174928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocookthat.net\/public_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}