from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Cooking inside the oven at the Taverne de l’Ackerland
Tarte Flambée is also known as Flammekueche or
Flammen Kuechen
The traditional
tarte flambée or flammekueche
Tarte flambées, locally mostly called
flammekueche have been made in the Alsace
for at least one hundr ed years.
International tourism’s enormous growth than began some seventy or so years ago
brought this family dish into local restaurants. The tarte is a rolled out,
very thin, pâte à pain, bread dough, covered with crème fraîche and a soft white cheese, usually a local
cheese called bibeleskaes. Over the cheese are spread thinly sliced onions and lardons, (smoked
or fried bacon bits), and then all will be baked in a wood-burning oven for
about ten minutes and served.
A tarte flambée.
www.flickr.com/photos/nicestalan/4535793428/
Public demand from tourists, including
French tourists, have changed the size of the portions. Most restaurants
now offer tarte flambées, in both small and large sizes. The small size makes
an excellent entrée, the French first course, or together with a salad a light lunch. A large tarte flambée will
be the plat, the French main course. Dessert versions have also been created, and
a dessert tarte flambée comes with fruit, often with a taste of a strong eau-de
vie, a fruit brandy, while some may have ice cream added just before serving.
Tarte flambée, the French name, remains the name most often used in English as
there is no other accepted English name. Menus may offer Tarte Flambée Salée,
savory or Sucrée, sweet versions. The options are endless, but a few of the
favorites are noted below:
Tarte flambée on French menus.
Tarte Flambée Classic or Nature, Traditionnelle or à l’Ancienne - All these names
indicate a tarte flambée made with the traditional recipe. A very thin, pâte à
pain, that’s bread dough, is covered with crème fraîche and a soft white cheese
usually a local cheese called bibeleskaes. Over the cheese are spread thinly
sliced onions and lardons, (smoked or fried bacon bits).
Tarte Flambée au Magret
de Canard Fumé - A traditional tarte
flambée with added slices of smoked duck breast.
Tartes Flambées au Feu de Bois - Tarte flambées cooked in a
traditional wood-burning oven.
The menu.
Tarte Flambée aux
Bananes Flambée au Rhum – A banana dessert tarte flambéed with rum. A dessert Tarte Flambée flambéed
with rum. Dessert versions of tarte flambée like this one were created much
later than the traditional versions when tourists arrived with a taste for
restaurant theatre. The tarte flambée dessert versions now often include
a brandy or an eau-de-vie, which will be, flambéed, set alight in front
of the diner; shades of Crepe
Suzette!
La Tarte Flambée aux
Pommes, Flambée à l'Alcool de Quetsches – An
apple, dessert tart, flambéed with the plum eau-de-vie, brandy, made from
the Alsace and Lorraine's famous quetsche plums. Like all other plums this plumb’s origin
is Asian, and like many other French fruits reached France, Germany, Spain and
the UK with the Romans. The quetsche plum is, in fact, a German cross and
in Germany is called a Zwetsche.
A dessert pear tarte flambée.
www.flickr.com/photos/15472273@N07/29822040700/
For the citizens of the regions of Alsace
and Lorraine, the quetsche plum is a native son. The quetche is a mauve to
almost black plum has fragrant and sweet yellow flesh; it is oval shaped with
nearly pointed ends; its nearest UK relation is the damson plum which is not as
sweet. In season, these plums are on sale all over France, and out of
season, you may request, for a digestif, the 40% alcohol quetsche eau-de vie.
A Gisselbrecht quetsche eau-de-vie
Tarte Flambée:
Formule à Partir de 6 Personnes par Table: Tartes Flambées à Volonté Salée,
Sucrée et Salade à Volonté - An all you can eat
option of sweet and savory Tarte Flambés accompanied by mixed green salads. With the addition of a couple of bottles
of Alsace
white wines who could ask for
anything more! N.B. The salads served with tarte flambées are
usually small. so unless noted on the menu, do not expect too much..
Tarte Flambée Gratinée à
l'Emmental/ Gruyère/Munster, Salade
Verte Mélangée (Supplément par Personne) – A
traditional tarte flambée baked with added French Emmental, Gruyere or Munster cheese. A mixed green salad is offered with a per person
surcharge.
Tarte Flambée Forestière
A traditional tarte flambée with added Champignons de Paris
www.flickr.com/photos/near_fantastica/3572534526/
Tarte Flambée Moitié/Moitié ... C'est
vous qui Composez - Moitié-moitié means half and half; and no, this tarte
flambé is not made with that American coffee cream! Here, moitié-moitié
is on the menu for a tarte flambée made to your order with two different
additions. Moitié-moitié is also what you say, in parts of France, when you ask
for two different dishes to be split between two diners; each diner will have
one half of the other's meal.
The wine to
accompany your tarte flambée.
Order Alsatian wine with your tarte
flambée, and you may enjoy the perfect light Alsatian lunch or dinner. Choose a
white two or, at most, three-year-old semi-dry Alsatian Gewürztraminer or a white semi-dry Alsatian Pinot
Gris, and you will not regret it as the Alsace has some of the best white
wines in France.
The traditional wine glass used for Alsatian wines.
www.flickr.com/photos/toolongtobepractical/15084628166/
The history of
the tarte flambée.
Some guide books call a tarte flambée an
Alsatian pizza; however, those who wrote that obviously know zero about pizza
and zero about tarte flambé. Tarte flambée and pizza are entirely different
dishes and have different histories, different doughs, and the tarte flambée
has no tomatoes and no mozzarella in its history. Making breads in wood burning
ovens is
The Alsace together with région of the
Lorraine were, over hundreds of years, ruled by France and or Germany in
turn. The result today is while the
Alsace and the Lorraine are indisputably French a large percentage of the
locals also speak German dialects along with perfect French. Flammen kuechen remains one of the names for
a tarte flambée in the Alsatian-German dialect called Allemand Alsacien or
Elsässerditsch; in the dialect or in French the the words mean cooked in flames.
------------------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013,2018, 2019.
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