Madeleines.
Nearly every French historical figure of the last 200 years has taken or been given credit for creating or promoting the success of, the Madeleine. Please do not take these little, scallop-shaped, sponge cakes lightly; they are part of French culinary values and tradition.
Madeleines are part of the culinary tradition of France.
If you wish to be an active part of the French culinary world to begin by buying yourself a Moule à Madeleine, a Madeleine cake baking pan, they are available in every kitchenware shop in France. You may be making Madeleines yourself as soon as you return home; all that is required is flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs, yeast, and for flavor vanilla or orange zest. Each pan will hold 6, 12, or more Madeleines.
A
Madeleine baking pan.
In France, when a host or hostess cannot think of a biscuit
or cake to serve with the coffee, they take the Madeleine pan out, and voila
fifteen minutes later you are served Madeleines.
The town
of Commercy where all Madeleines began.
The small and attractive town of
Commercy, population 8,000 claims to be the source of the original recipe for
Madeleines. Commercy is in the department of Meuse, part of the historical
Lorraine that since 1-1-2016 is in the super region of the
Grand Est. The department borders Belgium and Commercy by adding the scallop
shell shape, and the name became famous, giving the residents the glory of
ownership over the most well-known small sponge cakes in France. Also, from the
Lorraine comes the Rum Baba and
the Quiche Lorraine along
with nearly 50% of France's beer.
The town
hall of Commercy
www.flickr.com/photos/45368675@N03/5676186374/
Defending
the original Madeleine.
The original Madeleine has to be protected against
cheap imitations, and to that end, way back in 1963, a group of townspeople
formed Les Compagnons de la Madeleine. The Companions of the
Madeleine are like the hundreds of other French food and wine confréries that
promote and defend their favorite foods and wines. Members dress up in
inventive, would be ancient costumes, hold parades, and dinners while defending
and promoting their chosen product. The Companions of the Madeleine promote and
protect the origins of the Madeleine sponge cakes as well as organizing
banquets for their members. At their banquets, Madeleines are the only dessert,
and significant quantities of wine are consumed, and, of course, long rambling
speeches are made in French. In and around the town of Commercy, there is much
to see, do, and eat, and that includes their local truffles. The town's English-language
website is an excellent place to start looking:
Compagnons
de la Madeleine.
Marcel
Proust and the Madeleine.
Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922)
is considered by many to be France's finest author. His most famous work was À
la Recherche du Temps Perdu, a novel in seven volumes. The novel uses the
Madeleines as an example of involuntary memory. The last translation, from
1992, by J.D. Enright, is published by Modern Library as a Complete and
Unabridged 6-Book Bundle: Remembrance of Things Past, Volumes I-VI.
The seven parts of À la Recherche du Temps Perdu
Photograph courtesy of unsingequiparle
www.flickr.com/photos/137131236@N08/32113310482/
The name Madeleine comes from the French for Mary Magdalene.
You may have heard or have read that the Madeleine sponge cake is associated with a French religious tradition. That tradition has Mary Magdalene, Sainte Marie-Madeleine in French, arriving in France, by boat from the Holy Land. Then Mary Magdalene is said to have brought Christianity to France, and that was over 2,000 years ago. However, let us face it, Mary Magdalene would not have come with sponge cakes, and sponge cakes were not part of French cuisine 2,000 years ago. Despite that, she did bring to France the name Madeleine. The town of Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue, on the Mediterranean coast, holds a once yearly memorable, and impressive, French Roma, Gypsy, festival; shades of the DaVinci Code. That festival re-enacts the arrival of three saints. Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and their black servant Sara. Saint Sarah became the patron saint of the Roma.
Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer
www.flickr.com/photos/aschaf/4830446707/
and
its French and Spanish religious connection
The scallop shell itself has a religious connection. That connection is built around traditions honoring St James, Saint-Jacques in French, Santiago in Spanish. The King Scallop is called the Saint-Jacques in French. St James was a disciple of Jesus Christ and is the Patron Saint of Spain. French and other pilgrims from all over the world still follow a pilgrimage trail called The Way of St James. They follow the signs of the scallop shell through France and Spain. The pilgrimage leads to the assumed resting place of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Plaque with scallop relief
At the entrance of a church that is part of the
"Way of St. James" a pilgrimage route leading to Santiago de
Compostela, Spain.
www.flickr.com/photos/overhere/222026959/
St James is said to be buried in the Cathedral of Santiago
de Compostela, Spain. The cathedral is in the city of Santiago de Compostela,
the capital of the Spanish province of Galicia. The scallop shell is
the personal sign of St James.
Today the city of Santiago de Compostela is also
well known also for its excellent restaurants; many of them are seafood
restaurants. When the scallop meat is served in its shell on a French-language
menu it will read Coquille Saint-Jacques; the French word coquille just means
shell. Scallops are rarely cooked in their attractive shells, though many
may be served on them. Serving a cooked scallop on a scallop shell is a part of
attractive restaurant theater.
Paris’s La Madeleine Church.
The most famous Madeleine church is in Paris. The
site was first built on as a synagogue; then, in 1183, the site was taken from
the Jews. Following on, a variety of churches were then built on the site,
demolished and built again. Finally, after the church had been demolished again
and left as an empty building site Emperor Napoleon I, entered the picture.
Napoleon decided the site should become a temple raised to the glory of the
soldiers of his Grande Armée. Building began in 1806 with the architect
Pierre-Alexandre Vignon drawing the plans that included many obvious Greek and
Roman influences.
La
Madeleine, Paris.
www.flickr.com/photos/emiliodelprado/223102483/
Napoleon’s plans for The Arc de Triumph made him
place his Temple of Glory on the back burner, when, as often was the case, his
government was short of money. The two enormous national remembrance projects
could not be financed and completed together. Later, with Napoleon’s defeat by
the combined armies of the European monarchies and his own exile, along with
the return of the French monarchy, changes would be made. King Louis XVIII, the
brother of King Louis XVI, who had been beheaded in the revolution, decided
that the building, with only a few changes in the plans, would once again be
the Eglise de La Madeleine, the Madeleine Church. In 1842, the church that you
see today was consecrated and today holds religious ceremonies as well as
classical music concerts.
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Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019
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