Classic French Clafoutis

[chefzadi]

Unstoned is traditional. Yes there is an added benefit to flavor as ptipois mentioned. But the stones really piss me off when I'm eating, when I make it at home I go back and forth sometimes whole, othertimes pitted. Depends at which point I want to deal with the stones.

As for restaurant versions I've never ordered it in a restaurant, it's really easy to make at home. I don't think I've ever worked at a placed that served it. If I made it for a restaurant presentation I would pit the cherries (fear of lawsuits).

[therese]

So you can really taste the difference in versions with/without pits? I'm reluctant to put my teeth to the test in the interest of an appropriately controlled experiment (which would have to wait until later in the year for cherries in any case).

I also don't recall ever having it in a restaurant, and when I make it at home it's often a last minute decision and so I use frozen sweet black cherries that have already been pitted (but are otherwise still whole). No excessive leakage of juice out of the cherries, and no need to thaw them ahead of time---frozen cherries go directly into the baking dish, batter on top, and directly into the oven.

Anyway, doesn't sound like anybody will do too much eye rolling if served pitless clafoutis.

Oh, and I have to ask: the true recipe of tartiflette?

[artisanbaker]

to me this is one of those romantic things that people use to keep tradition alive. kirsch is made with cherry stones, and most know what that tastes like. i'm not convinced that leaving the stones in contributes enough flavor to justify the hassle of carefully eating the meat of the cherry.

i made clafoutis at my last "pastry chef" job and took out the pits, but primarily because i worked for a lawyer.

also, i would like to say with due respect to tradition that clafoutis should not be made with any fruit but cherries. there seems to be a trend (in america at least) to make it with other fruits but it is blasphemy.

(ducks for cover)

[therese]

to me this is one of those romantic things that people use to keep tradition alive. kirsch is made with cherry stones, and most know what that tastes like. i'm not convinced that leaving the stones in contributes enough flavor to justify the hassle of carefully eating the meat of the cherry.

i made clafoutis at my last "pastry chef" job and took out the pits, but primarily because i worked for a lawyer.

also, i would like to say with due respect to tradition that clafoutis should not be made with any fruit but cherries. there seems to be a trend (in america at least)  to make it with other fruits but it is blasphemy.

(ducks for cover)

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Well, I use kirsch in clafoutis (the traditional sort), so maybe I'm safe.

As for it being blasphemous to use apricots or prunes in clafoutis, well, they're delicious, so I guess I'm just gonna have to be the happy blasphemer. Or we could come up with another name for these desserts and then have a really long and tortured conversation about whether or not that's blasphemy.

Internet recipes for non-cherry clafoutis (in French) abound, but maybe it's a clever plot by the French to screw up all those francophone Americans.

[chefzadi]

to me this is one of those romantic things that people use to keep tradition alive. kirsch is made with cherry stones, and most know what that tastes like. i'm not convinced that leaving the stones in contributes enough flavor to justify the hassle of carefully eating the meat of the cherry.

i made clafoutis at my last "pastry chef" job and took out the pits, but primarily because i worked for a lawyer.

also, i would like to say with due respect to tradition that clafoutis should not be made with any fruit but cherries. there seems to be a trend (in america at least)  to make it with other fruits but it is blasphemy.

(ducks for cover)

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[Throws cherry pits at articsan baker]

I think in America I saw clafoutis made with Mangoes and Tarte Tatin with Kiwi

[chefzadi]

Internet recipes for non-cherry clafoutis (in French) abound, but maybe it's a clever plot by the French to screw up all those francophone Americans.

I'm almost sure ptipois planted most of those. She has a wicked sense of humour.

[therese]

I think in America I saw clafoutis made with Mangoes and  Tarte Tatin with Kiwi 

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Don't look now, but you might well see a mango version of clafoutis on a French restaurant (in France, I mean) sometime soon.

But this reminds me of one of the things that really does just piss me off no end: when a souffle isn't a souffle (sorry, no accents, you know what I mean).

I'm going to go start a thread about this, that's how incensed I am. Not on the France forum, though, because at least in France when they say something is a souffle they mean it.

[carswell]

to me this is one of those romantic things that people use to keep tradition alive. kirsch is made with cherry stones, and most know what that tastes like. i'm not convinced that leaving the stones in contributes enough flavor to justify the hassle of carefully eating the meat of the cherry.

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But using pitted cherries is blasphemy for traditionalists. Are you blowing hot and cold with the same breath?

Preferring to share the labour as well as the flavour and wanting to avoid even the slight possibility of a soggy clafoutis, I rarely pit. But when I do, before using them in the dish, I sprinkle the cherries with a bit of kirsch and roast them for around 10 minutes, cool them and save any juices they've extruded (a great addition to sauces, vinegars or whipped cream for topping the clafoutis).

also, i would like to say with due respect to tradition that clafoutis should not be made with any fruit but cherries. there seems to be a trend (in america at least)  to make it with other fruits but it is blasphemy.

By the same token, most Americans shouldn't be making clafoutis at all, since the traditional recipe calls for black, not red, cherries, which one rarely sees on this side of the pond. In any case, the French are as guilty as anyone when it comes to using other fruits and even vegetables in the dish. My livres de cuisine are full of non-traditional clafoutis recipes, some of which are really quite good. One of my favourites involves replacing half the cherries with far more affordable rhubarb.

[artisanbaker]

yes a little hot and cold as noted.

far more interesting to me is whether the "appareil" should be closer to "cake" or flan.

[chefzadi]

Well now I've seen it all potato clafoutis

[carswell]

Well now I've seen it all potato clafoutis

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Yes, and tomatoes; cherry tomatoes; carrots; green beans; sausage; chestnuts; leeks; leeks and ham; and asparagus; etcetera; to say nothing of grapes; apples; quince; raspberry; raspberry and chocolate brittle; pears; kiwis; dried apricots; fresh apricots; bananas; peaches; peaches and red currants; plums; prunes; and mirabelles (delicious!). And those are only French French recipes (see Google search results for "clafoutis aux").

Edited March 17, 2005 by carswell (log)

[carswell]

far more interesting to me is whether the "appareil" should be closer to "cake" or flan.

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As you may know, the Académie française originally called it a flan but eventually deferred to the outraged limousins and defined it as a kind of cherry cake. Interestingly, Le Robert's definition is (my translation) "a cake baked in the oven and made from flour, milk, eggs and mixed fruits (fruits mêlés)"; cherries are mentioned only in the example (clafoutis aux cerises).

[Ptipois]

By the same token, most Americans shouldn't be making clafoutis at all, since the traditional recipe calls for black, not red, cherries, which one rarely sees on this side of the pond. In any case, the French are as guilty as anyone when it comes to using other fruits and even vegetables in the dish. My livres de cuisine are full of non-traditional clafoutis recipes, some of which are really quite good. One of my favourites involves replacing half the cherries with far more affordable rhubarb.

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Guilty! good Lord!

If I were to include guilt in my experience of cooking I think I'd chose another occupation.

As for "traditional" clafoutis, I've had many opportunities to discuss this so I am not going to start again, but it is a country recipe, of which many versions exist, and I think one should not be too rigid in defining "the real authentic recipe of (this or that)". In the case of clafoutis, well, black cherries - OK, sure, but when you had other cherries on hand, well you used them and nobody felt guilty about this. And what do you do in Auvergne when you want to make a clafoutis in Winter? Well you use raisins soaked in rum. And so on.

[Ptipois]

'm almost sure ptipois planted most of those. She has a wicked sense of humour. 

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And you haven't seen the worst of it.

[LindaK]

The topic of clafoutis came up in a gratin thread elsewhere, including this beautiful picture of a cherry clafouti posted by Paula Wolfert.

I made a version with pitted cherries a few days after seeing it--even with frozen pitted cherries it was delicious. Can't wait until the fresh fruit season to make another.

[chefzadi]

The topic of clafoutis came up in a gratin thread elsewhere, including this beautiful picture of a cherry clafouti posted by Paula Wolfert.

I made a version with pitted cherries a few days after seeing it--even with frozen pitted cherries it was delicious. Can't wait until the fresh fruit season to make another.

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The link goes to Microsofts homepage.

[LindaK]

Sorry. Let's see if this works. I'm looking at it in another window so I know it's there...

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=848787

[Wolfert]

Thanks< Linda, for your kind words on the photo.

I couldn't resist sharing this photo of my cherry clafoutis photographed in achamba pot (see the claypot thread) when Linda mentioned it.

FYI:The material underneath is actually the back section of a Izzy Miyaki jacket I purchased in Paris in 1983. The very one I wore for the book party to celebrate the first edition of CSWF . Luckily, he cut clothes loose that year. I intend to wear it this fall for any event planned to celebrate the updated version.

Edited March 18, 2005 by Wolfert (log)

[chefzadi]

Looks delicious. When I saw the photo, my eyes became like the cherries in the photo. Clafoutis is a favorite of mine. I love it this preparation, it's like butter, cake and flan at the same time.

[carswell]

So, Paula, do you or don't you? Pit, that is.

[therese]

FYI:The material underneath is actually the back section  of a Izzy Miyaki jacket I purchased in Paris in 1983. The very one I wore for the book party to celebrate the first edition of CSWF . Luckily, he cut clothes  loose that year.  I intend to wear it this fall for any event planned to celebrate the updated version.

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Not just loose, but sturdy. Why, exactly, is your jacket doing double duty as a tablecloth in this picture? An interesting backdrop to be sure, but weren't you concerned about potential scorch marks, etc?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I hate to add such an unromatic post to this thread, but I pit literally everything: cherries, plums, dried prunes, olives, and I do this as a courtesy to my guests and family as well as a safeguard to my liability policy.

The reason: I was having lunch with a friend at an upscale restaurant at which our waiter gave me specific warning about the olives in my salad, "They have pits." With great care, I watched for and corraled the pits on my plate, only to become engrossed in conversation, let a pit hide under a bite of lettuce and split a molar. Cost of lunch: $1500.

[Bux]

The topic of clafoutis came up in a gratin thread elsewhere, including this beautiful picture of a cherry clafouti posted by Paula Wolfert.

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That this discussion ties in so well with other cooking threads might be the best reason to keep all cooking threads in the same forum. Threads dealing with the culture of a specific regional cooking are one thing, but those dealing with techniques are probably best grouped together with other technical cooking threads. It's not always easy to classify a thread, but we do merge and move threads when they take a direction that seems more appropriate to another forum.

[chefzadi]

So, a cooking question for the France forum:

When making clafoutis (the traditional version, with cherries, though I also like it with apricots or prunes) do French cooks generally use cherries with or without pits? Is there a difference between home and restaurant practice?

If pits are left in, is it more a question of tradition or is there an improved or additional flavor (presumably of almonds, though also presumably pretty faint)?

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That this discussion ties in so well with other cooking threads might be the best reason to keep all cooking threads in the same forum. Threads dealing with the culture of a specific regional cooking are one thing, but those dealing with techniques are probably best grouped together with other technical cooking threads. It's not always easy to classify a thread, but we do merge and move threads when they take a direction that seems more appropriate to another forum

The original question was what French cooks do. I think that it would have gotten lost in the cooking forum. But now it's taking a different turn, although Ms Wolfert is quite a "purist" when it comes to her cooking. So her clafoutis recipe is probably something "authentically" French. I don't think that she'll be adding Mangoes anytime soon. Of course French home cooks these days are doing all sorts of things. But there once was a time not so long when they were mostly made with cherries.

I like all the new visitors to the France forum.

[Wolfert]

undefinedSo, Paula, do you or don't you? Pit, that is.

In the first edition, I had to give in to pressure (no pun intended on the poor fruit) and let the reader choose. I did the same this time round.

But I did devise a truc to keep the juices from seeping out: roll the pitted cherries in sugar, then slip them into the freezer to chill the opening and, thus keep the juices from weeping whlie baking.

BTW: there is a huge mistake in the first edition, the spelling of clafoutis. It was a copyeditor's zeal to show that you don't write a singular noun with an 's' tagged on. It is my fault I didn't catch it in the galleys.

undefinedNot just loose, but sturdy. Why, exactly, is your jacket doing double duty as a tablecloth in this picture? An interesting backdrop to be sure, but weren't you concerned about potential scorch marks, etc?

The clafoutis was lukewarm or cool-- as it should be. It didn't harm the fabric, but thanks for asking.

Bux: Pictures tell a lot and Therese picked up on the fact that the clafoutis was on valuable threads. Do you think explaining the temperature clafoutis is best served is an ok post on this thread?

Edited March 18, 2005 by Wolfert (log)