Have your Cake!

Or rather, galette.

It is January, which in France means the Epiphany celebrations are soon to arrive. How do they celebrate over here? With a delicious pastry and a bit of romance, n%26#39;est-ce pas?

Every January the bakeries start rolling out galettes des roi: flaky puff pastry tortes, traditionally with an almond paste filling and sold with a golden crown. Inside each pie is hidden a %26quot;feve%26quot; which literally means bean, but these days is a porcelain memento. The person who receives the feve in their slice is king or queen for the day, gets the crown and chooses his or her king or queen.

The great bakers of Paris have each put their own twist to the traditional almond flavors, with Poilain offering hazelnut (or plain), JP Hevin a killer chocolate version, Pierre Herme a version using his Ispahan combo of litchees, raspberry and rose (as well as the traditional one), etc....

As for the feves. These have gotten pretty fancy, too and are now collectors items in some circles. Pierre Herme%26#39;s is the most romantic: a heart that you split in two, but this year my favorite is Poilane%26#39;s: an oak leaf ring that can actually be worn. My daughter has an entire collection of the Egyptian gods, but she cheated and bought the entire set at a bakery without having to eat a dozen galettes.

So if you must have your cake, be sure to eat it, too!

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Bonjour Phread,

We still celebrated les rois in Canada, there will be a great diner at my friend house on Friday night. That is the day my mother would bring out the three kings and place in the manger.

Our galette will not of course be delicious like Herme, and our bean will simply be, well, a bean, but we have a real nice paper crown for the lucky person who is crowned.

I remember the day when I was the youngest in the house and from under the table I would decide whom would get the piece mother would cut. Do you ask one of your daughter to do the same thing?

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phread, have you noticed, this year they started having Galettes des Rois at the boulangeries as early as mid December? What%26#39;s this nonsense? For those of you working in a French office, it%26#39;s difficult to escape the galette draw, where everyone prays not to have the fève, which would mean choosing your king/queen, and kissing (on the cheek, easy! )a co worker you don%26#39;t particularly like...

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Yes, Bob, and I was really annoyed. I hadn%26#39;t even had time to digest my buche. We now have a new rule in my household... galettes in January ONLY!!!

Lucky, I lived in Montreal for five years of my life and my food memories there seem to run more along the lines of feves au lard. lol! (actually Mtl may very well be my favorite restau city on the planet). I didn%26#39;t know about putting the youngest under the table until reading about it on Zucchini and Chocolate this evening. I%26#39;ll have to try it tomorrow with the girls.

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According to Le Figaro, these are the best galettes des rois in Paris :

1- Stohrer: 51, rue Montorgueil (IIe)

2- Lenôtre: 10, rue Saint-Antoine (IVe)

3- Paul: 89, rue Saint-Antoine (IVe)

3- Gérard Mulot: 76, rue de Seine (VIe)

4- Kayser: 10, rue de l%26#39;Ancienne-Comédie (VIe)

5- Pierre Hermé: 72, rue Bonaparte (VIe)

6- Monoprix: 50, rue de Rennes (VIe)

7- La Grande Epicerie de Paris: 38, rue de Sèvres (VIIe)

8- Rollet-Pradier: 6, rue de Bourgogne (VIIe)

9- Ladurée: 16, rue Royale (VIIIe)

10- Dalloyau: 101, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré (VIIIe)

11- Hédiard: 31, avenue George-V (VIIIe)

12- Fauchon: 26, place de la Madeleine (VIIIe)

13- Arnaud Delmontel: 39, rue des Martyrs (IXe)

14- Stéphane Vandermeersch: 278, av. Daumesnil (XIIe)

15- Boulangerie Pain et Passion: 117, av. d%26#39;Italie (XIIIe)

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Thanks Anne... I%26#39;ll have to find my way to the 2nd some time this week.

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I%26#39;m telling you...that paul wins a lot of awards...shocking for a chain.

Les

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And I could live on galette des rois. So good....

Les

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Les,

I have just made a galette des rois.It is still in the oven and the smell is awesome. If you are interested I can share my recipe with you (and anyone else who is interested). Very easy to make !

anne_sfez@yahoo.fr

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hi folks - ignorant question but for those of you who use a bean... doesn%26#39;t the bean bake and get soft? what if someone just eats it without finding it? I%26#39;ve heard of this tradition though my family never practiced it and I can%26#39;t for the life of me remember what it%26#39;s called in the States. But I always wondered about that bean.

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The bean is made of porcelain sometimes (in the luxury versions they are made of silver or gold) so they do not melt in the oven. they are large enough so you cannot swallow it.