Food
and cooking tips and techniques:
Bavarian
Cream, Crème Bavaroise, Bavarian Creme
Bavarian
cream was originally a French (or German??) cold dessert
of egg custard stiffened with gelatin, mixed with whipped
cream (sometimes with fruit purée or other flavors),
then set in a mold, or used as a filling for cakes and
pastries.
No
one is sure about the origin of Bavarian cream, but
during the late 17th and early 18th centuries many French
chefs worked at the court of the Wittelsbach Princes
(a German family that ruled Bavaria from the 12th century
to 1918). This would have given them the contact to
have learned it in Bavaria. The famous French chef Carême
(1783-1833) gives recipes for it in the early 18th century.
The suffix 'crème' in German speaking lands, is the
term for the gelatin mold - (Schokolatencreme, Weincreme,
etc) and there are many variations, flavored with chocolate,
lemon, kirsch, etc.
So,
in summary, the most likely origin is that the French
chefs working for the Bavarian rulers (the Wittelsbachs)
learned something either the same or very similar while
working in Bavaria, and when they returned to France
continued to make it, and called it Crème Bavaroise
(Bavarian Cream). And since, in addition to being served
in a gelatin mold, it was also used as a cake filling,
the next step to its use as a doughnut filling at Dunkin
Donuts was inevitable.
 This
article is from Chef James Ehler of Key West, Florida.
James
is a webmaster, cook, chef, writer and (like me) a self-confessed
computer nerd. He is the former executive chef of Martha's
Steak & Seafood Restaurant and the former Reach Hotel
(both in Key West), the Hilton Hotel in Fayetteville,
Arkansas, and the New Bern Golf and Country Club, North
Carolina.
He
is now webmaster and cook at the Blue Heaven Restaurant
in Key West while he works on his Food Encyclopedia
(five years so far). It is well worth paying a visit
to James' food reference website which is a useful resource
well worth Bookmarking - to visit either website just
click on their title:
The
Food Reference Website
The
Blue Heaven Restaurant, Key West, Florida
If
you want to contact James just email him by clicking
here.
©
James T. Ehler, 2001
All rights reserved
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