Having read Anthony Peregrine's maligning of the traditional thirteen Christmas desserts of Provence last week -- he called them "mueslix" -- I've decided to research the matter and elaborate.
The desserts are part of a Christmas eve, pre-Midnight Mass gros souper at a table set with three tableclothes and three candlesticks. The starting courses of the meal include a bagna cauda (a kind of fondue), cardoons (a kind of artichoke), and a fish soup.
The first four desserts are the mendiants, representing orders of monks and the colors of their habits: hazelnuts (Augustinians), almonds (Carmelites), raisins (Dominicans), and dried figs (Franciscans). As someone who was taught by Franciscans, I have no comment on that pairing.
Next comes walnuts and another dried fruit, followed by either a quince paste or candied fruit. Then there's three fresh fruits, usually apples, pears, and one of grapes, tangerines, melon, or oranges. This brings us up to ten. (So far, this is sounding like a deconstructed fruit cake.)
Two nougats, soft white and hard black, make it twelve. The final dessert is a cake, pompe de Noël à l'huile d'olive, made with yeast, egg, sugar, and citron flavors, pulled apart and not sliced. This may be served with a vin cuit -- a sweet wine -- or a Carthagène, a combo of spirits and grape must.
All in all, they sound fairly simple to gather, except for the cake, and here's a recipe for that.
Source: Culinaria France
Blog robbing: "Culture" backlash, Royal excuses, Saint Nick's Day, and the 14th Arrondissement
For this post, I'm going to steal from other blogs, but it's morally okay because of attributions.
Posted at 03:22 PM in Christmas, Commentary, Film, Politics, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (6)