Galette des Rois

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I toss the feves and santons in a box on the mantle every year - just fished them out.  Here they are for anyone who's curious. 

The little donkey, the cow, and the king were from our current boulanger (I love them best).  The boats and I think the knight come from I think Bannette, it was a theme that year (we ate lots of galettes...)  The mermaid is from Le Gribiche, a wonderful patissiere on Cours Lafayette in our old neighborhood.  The "feves" are generally all the same - either a king or a queen.  I don't remember where the rest came from.

My husband and I use brocantes as our excuses to visit France as often as we can. I think that most eG readers would be surprised to learn that feves are incredibly collectible, and that sellers will have displays of thousands of these miniatures presented by category and/or age.

I am touched by your personal and idiosyncratic collection. It is very special.

[bleudauvergne]

I've often wondered if anybody breaks a tooth on those feves! 

I also got a kick out of the NY Times story telling that there wont be any feves in the Presidential Galette, because, after all, France is a Republic and there are no kings or queens!  Actually, the French are rather scornful of their neighbors who cherish their Royals... 

←

These "feves" may be typical to Lyon, since in the south we see that they actually use a real bean in addition to the santon.

Funny that you should mention breaking teeth. When we lived in L.A. we got our galette from a French bakery in Westwood. They asked us if we wanted them to put the feve inside or not. Huh? They explained that some people don't realize that there's a feve inside and might break a tooth and they don't want to get sued. I guess here in France there's not much risk of that since everyone knows it's inside.

Here's some pics from last night's galette -

The santon La voiture en bois - (the "feve" was a queen so that's filled out our collection to 5 of each.)

[Ptipois]

I love the voiture en bois. It's too cute.

As for breaking teeth, except in particular situations like French bakeries in a non-French town, you're not supposed to break your teeth on a fève because you know it's there. Notice how French people eat their piece of galette gently and cautiously...

In Paris, as far as I know, they only put one thing in a galette. One santon or, sometimes, one fève. The idea is that the person who gets the fève or santon gets to be king, puts the fève in a glass, drinks ("Le roi boit, le roi boit !") and then chooses his queen (reverse genders as needed).

Edited January 9, 2005 by Ptipois (log)

[Felice]

I posted something about Epiphany in the events calendar, but then found this great thread started by Louisa last year, which has Lucy’s wonderful photos.

This week’s Zurban claims that Stephane Vandermeersch, who worked under Pierre Hermé, has the best galette this year.

Boulangerie patisserie Vandermeersch

278 avenue Daumesnil, 12th

[bleudauvergne]

Here is a photo of the one generally found down south. They call it a "couronne" in the midi near Toulon, it might have other names elsewhere, it's a brioche type galette made with fleur d'orange. There are people down there who say the one with the almond paste is not the real thing, but these are people who simply like the "couronne" better, I'm pretty sure of that. Either way, we enjoy both kinds this time of year. I like the crunch of the sugar.

I also noticed that there are bakeries selling the ones like the one above but without filling as well.

This year's santon from a "couronne", it also came with a real feve.

I snapped this photo today, not really thinking about it, but I guess it was on my mind.

[John Talbott]

Today, Le Figaro’s Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon rated four aspects (appearance, flakiness, interior and taste of it all), of galettes purchased everywhere from Pierre Herme (40 E for 6) to Monoprix (4.95 E for 6). Their findings (20 being a perfect score):

Pain et Passion 18

G. Mulot 15.5

P. Herme 15

Lenotre 15

Hediard 13.5

Fauchon 12.5

Rollet-Pradier 12.5

Kayser 12

Stohrer 12

Grande Epicerie 11.5

Vandermeersch 11.5

A. Delmontel 10.5

Dalloyau 10

Laduree 9

Paul 8

Monoprix 6

Edited by John Talbott Saturday afternoon 16:25 to add link to Figaro article for coordinates.

[Felice]

Today, Le Figaro’s Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon rated four aspects (appearance, flakiness, interior and taste of it all), of galettes purchased everywhere from Pierre Herme (40 E for 6) to Monoprix (4.95 E for 6).  Their findings (20 being a perfect score):

Pain et Passion 18

←

John

Did they give an address for Pain et Passion? I just looked on pagesjaunes and didn't find anything. I have to buy a galette today, so maybe I'll try it.

[John Talbott]

Today, Le Figaro’s Alexandra Michot and Francois Simon rated four aspects (appearance, flakiness, interior and taste of it all), of galettes purchased everywhere from Pierre Herme (40 E for 6) to Monoprix (4.95 E for 6).  Their findings (20 being a perfect score):

Pain et Passion 18

←

John

Did they give an address for Pain et Passion? I just looked on pagesjaunes and didn't find anything. I have to buy a galette today, so maybe I'll try it.

←

Yup, thot I put up the link, sorry, it's 117 avenue d'Italie in the 13th

[Louisa Chu]

Felice - I actually started this thread three years ago. Can that be right? And you may remember that Pain et Passion's Francois Vacavant was the underdog who won last year's galettes des rois competition in Paris - the NYT article covering the event by Elaine Sciolino is still available on the IHT site for free.

Lucy - thank you as always for your beautiful photos.

John - thanks so much for posting the rankings from the Madame Figaro article. They don't seem to have the rankings online.

They do however have a sidebar piece on this year's feves - and a notable new trend - the jewelry favour - a porcelain ring at Poilane and Swarovski pendants at Lenotre. They also mention Fauchon's engraved miniature Bernardaud plates and Laduree's "j'aime Laduree" inscribed on pastel favours.

I tasted all of Pierre Herme's galettes for this season during his professional Holiday Cakes class back in October. This year he's again offering Almond, Roasted and Caramelised Pineapple (with a coconut almond cream), and Ispahan (rose petal, lychee, and raspberry almond cream). For the purists up in arms about the tampering done to their classic filling - or having any filling at all - relax. The flavourings are really quite subtle - it's still mostly almond cream in there.

[Nicolai]

I tasted all of Pierre Herme's galettes for this season during his professional Holiday Cakes class back in October. This year he's again offering Almond, Roasted and Caramelised Pineapple (with a coconut almond cream), and Ispahan (rose petal, lychee, and raspberry almond cream). For the purists up in arms about the tampering done to their classic filling - or having any filling at all - relax. The flavourings are really quite subtle - it's still mostly almond cream in there.

←

Love the Ispahan.

[John Talbott]

John - thanks so much for posting the rankings from the Madame Figaro article. They don't seem to have the rankings online.

They do however have a sidebar piece on this year's feves - and a notable new trend - the jewelry favour - a porcelain ring at Poilane and Swarovski pendants at Lenotre. They also mention Fauchon's engraved miniature Bernardaud plates and Laduree's "j'aime Laduree" inscribed on pastel favours.

←

I'm not sure who cares about such details, but ever since they redesigned the Figaro website, the Saturday/Sunday Figaro articles on food and wine actually appear in the Section III - "Et vous" of the newspaper but are posted on their website as if they are in Figaro Madame. Thus if you click on Cuisine you are directed to all these MAD addresses. I've complained to no avail.

[John Talbott]

Alert reader/member Paga pointed out that Parisien has been touting a different galette des rois on at least three different days this week: Tuesday it was Pain et Passion, Friday Vandermeersch and Saturday Jackie Milcent on the rue du Bac (the first two's coordinates are in the Figaro link given above).

[Felice]

I've had two galettes so far, one was from a little bakery near my work which is in La Defense, where there are really no bakeries to choose from, and one last night from Gerard Mulot. Needless to say, the galette from Mulot was 100 times better, there was no comparison really and I don't even think there was a price difference. In fact the bakery in La Defense may have been more expensive.

Mulot has two types of galettes, a traditional and one with pistachios, which is what I had and it was delicious. I was tempted to try Pain et Passion, but it was out of the way and since I was in the 6th anyway, Mulot seemed like a good second choice.

[John Talbott]

I've had two galettes so far, one was from a little bakery near my work which is in La Defense, where there are really no bakeries to choose from, and one last night from Gerard Mulot. Needless to say, the galette from Mulot was 100 times better, there was no comparison really and I don't even think there was a price difference.  In fact the bakery in La Defense may have been more expensive.

Mulot has two types of galettes, a traditional and one with pistachios, which is what I had and it was delicious.  I was tempted to try Pain et Passion, but it was out of the way and since I was in the 6th anyway, Mulot seemed like a good second choice.

←

I hate to get into these competitive situations, (especially with Felice, who really knows this stuff,) being totally passive myself; so I’ll just note that I’ve had three galettes so far this year; the one from my local bakery was OK and cost 6 E; the one from the Poujauran inhertor was quite good and double the price and the one from Jackie Milcent on the rue du Bac, winner of Parisien’s best of the year, the worst and about the same price.

[Kate Hill]

My Epiphany report: I just returned from a 5 hour lunch with my 11-year-old goddaughter and my French family. It was the special Epiphany Sunday lunch because like most modern households with kids in school the 6th was a school night. Of course everyone has been eating galettes for weeks now, but this time we had champagne, including Clotilde-Julia who turns 12 in two weeks.

The two gallettes were from the village bakery; one, a traditional sugar encrusted brioche; the other, a pear-chocolate filled puff-pastry version. Both had one 'fève' each- a small perfectly formed ceramic "Sponge Bob Square-Pants" and "Patrick the Starfish." Even in deepest Gascony, we submit to TV marketing.

When friends came by earlier in the week, I ran to the Boulanger in the nearest village and bought a frangipane-filled, puff pastry galette- 17 Euros for the biggest one. In addition to the hidden fève, I bought an extra one, a tiny bird, to hide in the piece that I would give my friend’s 3-year old. She tore the piece of cake apart with her hands and grinned as wore her paper crown. In my French family, Clotilde-Julia, the first and only granddaughter, got the fève every time, every year, for years. She will always be the 'queen" and her grandmother, like Lucy, keeps a little bowl of fèves in the cupboard for special occasions.

Sometimes it’s not about the filling but the prize.

[The Old Foodie]

Epiphany Eve is already here in Australia, and I set about considering the food traditions associated with it, and naturally looked to see what eGullet had to say about it.

From reading this thread, one could be forgiven for thinking that only the French celebrate Epiphany with cake.

<a href= "http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=97452">Tim Hayward's wonderful essay</a> this week on French food as seen by the rest of the world continures to burn in my Yorkshire-born heart, and I am forced to redress the balance and give you some British Epiphany food history.

Twelfth cake was eaten regularly until a century or so ago - James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson decides at one Epiphany to eat his way through one area of London, sampling the Twelfth Cake at every shop along the way. In the Victorian era it was still common.

Here is a recipe from ‘The Cook’s Oracle’, by Dr Kitchiner, 1845 edition

Twelfth Cake

Two pounds of sifted flour, two pounds of sifted Loaf Sugar, two pounds of Butter, eighteen Eggs, four pounds of Currants, one half pound of Almonds blanched and Chopped, one half pound of Citron, one pound of Candied Orange and Lemon-peel cut into thin slices, a large Nutmeg grated, half an ounce of ground Allspice, ground Cinnamon, Mace, Ginger, and Corianders, a quarter of an ounce of each, and a gill of Brandy.

Put the butter into a stew-pan, in a warm place, and work it into a smooth cream with the hand, and mix it with the Sugar and Spice in a pan (or on your paste-board) for some twenty minutes; stir in the Brandy, and then the Flour, and work it a little; add the Fruit, Sweetmeats, and Almonds, and mix all together lightly; have ready a hoop cased with paper, on a baking-plate; put in the mixture, smooth it on the top with your hand, dipped in milk; put the plate on another, with sawdust between, to prevent the bottom from colouring too much: bake it in a slow oven* four hours or more, and when nearly coke, ice it with (545)

This mixture would make a handsome cake, full twelve or fourteen inches over.

Obs. – If made in cold weather, the eggs should be broke into a pan, and set into another filled with hot water; likewise the fruit, sweetmeats, and almonds, laid in a warm place, otherwise it may chill the butter, and cause the cake to be heavy.

Dorothy Hartley, in her wonderful 'Food in England' describes the various designs of jam tart made (very competitively, especially for Church social events) by English housewives proud of their pastry-making skills. Skill was demonstrated by the number of different coloured jams that could be fitted inbetween the spaces of the lattice top. A special star-shaped design allowed 13 different colours, and if made at this time of the year was called "Epiphany Tart". A good one must look like a stained-glass window.

I'm going to make one, if I can find 13 different colours of jam. So There! Francophiles eat your hearts out.

Have fun

Janet

[John Talbott]

Our first galettes have been from Pierre Herme and have been very very good. Tonight (12th night) I suspect the Lord of Misrule will have an homage to frangipane prepared as well.

Edited by John Talbott to correct spelling.

Edited January 5, 2007 by John Talbott (log)

[Felice]

My first galette this year was from the maison du chocolat with raspberry and chocolate, so not very traditional but very good nonetheless.

[Ptipois]

Though I'm not usually sympathetic to the idea of a chocolate-filled galette des Rois, last night I bought a tiny ganache-filled galette at La Maison du Chocolat and it was heavenly (as passersby on rue François-Ier could see on my face as I was covering the front part of my coat with flaky crumbs).

[Felice]

Epiphany Eve is already here in Australia, and I set about considering the food traditions associated with it, and naturally looked to see what eGullet had to say about it.

From reading this thread, one could be forgiven for thinking that only the French celebrate Epiphany with cake. 

←

Thank you Janet, that is wonderful

[Ptipois]

Dorothy Hartley, in her wonderful 'Food in England' describes the various designs of jam tart made (very competitively, especially for Church social events) by English housewives proud of their pastry-making skills. Skill was demonstrated by the number of different coloured jams that could be fitted inbetween the spaces of the lattice top. A special star-shaped design allowed 13 different colours, and if made at this time of the year was called "Epiphany Tart".  A good one must look like a stained-glass window.

←

Yes, this is wonderful. Thank you Janet!

[bleudauvergne]

Happy Epiphany Everyone!

[Dave Hatfield]

Lucy - nice to see you back! Great picture as always.

I got very confused yesterday when we went to some French friends for their special meal. We had a nice soup, home cooked foie gras, a capon with an apricot farcie, potatoes & chestnuts then our cheese. All very nice & not surprising.

But... then we had not galette des Rois, but a covered apple pie with eau de vie which our hostess said was THE traditional dessert dish for Epiphany. She said the recipe had been passed down in her family from her Mother & Grandmother. Certainly, it was delicious.

Now I'm confused. I couldn't out of politeness ask about galette.

Can anybody help?

Local custom?

Family tradition, perhaps?

[John Talbott]

Today's NYT had an article by John Tagliabue on the center of feve-making in France, Clamecy, and the pressure on it from feves made in Thailand, Viet Nam and China.

[John Talbott]

Today's Figaro had several features by Alexandra Michot on galettes des rois: how to identify good ones and where to buy them, in Paris, at:

Pain et Passion

le Boulanger de Monge

Stephane Vandermeersh

Du pain et des idees

l'autre Boulanger

Des Gateaux et du pain