Profiterole
.jpg)
A single cream puff
|
|
| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Alternative name(s) | Cream puff (US); choux à la crème (France) |
| Details | |
| Type | Custard |
| Main ingredient(s) | Choux pastry Filling: whipped cream, custard, or ice cream |
A profiterole (French: [pʁɔfitʁɔl]), cream puff (US), or choux à la crème (French: [ʃu a la kʁɛm]) is a filled French choux pastry ball with a typically sweet filling of whipped cream, pastry cream, custard, or (particularly in the US) ice cream. The puffs may be decorated or left plain or garnished with chocolate sauce, caramel, or a dusting of powdered sugar. Savory profiterole are also made, filled with pureed meats, cheese, and so on. These were formerly common garnishes for soups.[1]
The various names may be associated with particular variants of filling or sauce in different places.[2][3][4][5][6]
Preparation
The choux paste is piped through a pastry bag or dropped with a pair of spoons into small balls and baked to form largely hollow puffs. After cooling, they are injected with filling using a pastry bag and narrow piping tip, or by slicing off the top, filling, and reassembling.
Presentation
The most common presentations are pastry cream, whipped cream, or ice cream filling, topped with powdered sugar or chocolate ganache and possibly more whipped cream. They are also served plain, with a crisp caramel glaze, iced, or with fruit.
Filled and glazed with caramel, they are assembled into a type of pièce montée called croquembouches, often served at weddings in France and Italy, and during the Christmas holiday in France. Profiteroles are also used as the outer wall of St. Honoré Cake.
History
Both the pastry and the name 'profiterole' come from France.
The word profiterole (also spelled prophitrole, profitrolle, profiterolle)[7] has existed in English since 1604, borrowed from French. The original meaning in both English and French is unclear, but later it came to mean a kind of roll 'baked under the ashes'. A 17th-century French recipe for a Potage de profiteolles or profiterolles describes a soup of dried small breads (presumably the profiteroles) simmered in almond broth and garnished with coxscombs, truffles, and so on.[8] The current meaning is only clearly attested in the 19th century.[7]
The "cream puff" has appeared on US restaurant menus since at least 1851.[9]
See also
- Bossche bol, a giant profiterole from the Dutch city of Den Bosch
- Éclair (pastry), a differently-shaped choux and cream pastry
- Gougère, an hors d'oeuvre made with choux pastry
- List of French desserts
- Moorkop, a similar Dutch pastry
- Reuzenbol, an even larger version
Food portal
References
- ↑ Prosper Montagné, Larousse Gastronomique, 1st edition, 1938, s.v.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ Alfred Franklin, La vie privée d'autrefois. Arts et métiers, modes, mœurs, usages des Parisiens du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle: La Cuisine, Paris 1888, quoting from La Varenne, 1651
- ↑ "Revere House" restaurant, Boston, menu dated May 18, 1851: "Puddings and Pastry. ... Cream Puffs". Digitalgallery.nypl.org. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
 |
Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
