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FRENCH TRADITIONS

How to make your own Galette des Rois

French families will mark the end of the festive season on Sunday by scoffing down a Galette des Rois. Here are two recipes so you can try your hand at making your very own at home.

Published: 4 January 2019 11:36 CET

Photo: AFP

The French will celebrate Epiphany this Sunday (January 6th) by eating a pastry fit for kings.

So, why not join them? Here are two recipes so that you can make your very own Galette des Rois.

To start off, here’s a basic recipe thanks to the site Anglophone Direct. Good luck and bon appétit!

READ ALSO:

Galette des Rois: All you need to know about the French tart for kings

Galette des Rois

(Photo: EL Padawan/Flickr)

INGREDIENTS

2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
140g ground almond
75g soft butter
80g sugar
3 egg whites
1 yolk

Mix the butter and the sugar until the mix whitens, then add the beaten eggs and the ground almond. Mix well.

In the middle of the first sheet of puff pastry, pour the mix. Lay the second sheet on top, and roll the sides of the sheets together towards the inside to seal the galette.

With a knife, draw diagonal lines in both direction (so that they cross each other) to create the pattern.

Then with a brush, spread the yolk on the whole cake to give it a golden colour.

Put in an oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Serve hot – but it is excellent cold too.

But if you're feeling more adventurous, here's a recipe for a chocolate and almond version courtesy of Florence Richomme who runs the MyParisianKitchen website.

RECIPE

Preparation time: 20 min

Baking time: 30 min

Quantity: 8 shares

Specific equipment: eventually piping bag and pastry brush (but you can do without)

INGREDIENTS

Chocolate almond cream

2 eggs

100g caster sugar

100g unsalted butter at room temperature

45g cocoa powder (sugar free)

100g almond flour

Pastry cream

2 egg yolks

250 ml milk

25g flour (may be replaced by cornflour)

50g sugar

For assembling

1 egg beaten to glaze

1 lucky charm and 1 crown

2 rolls puff pastry

Photo: MyParisianKitchen

MAIN STEPS

Prepare pastry cream and almond cream. Mix them together to get a frangipane cream. Assemble the two pastry puff discs with the frangipane filling carefully following the instructions.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180°C (375°F).

Start with the preparing the pastry cream.

Bring the milk to the boil. At the first broth, remove from the heat. Blanch egg yolks with sugar. Add flour and stir. Pour in the hot milk into the egg-sugar-flour mixture constantly whisking. Pour back into the saucepan and heat rapidly while whisking energetically.

Once it thickens, continue to whisk, for about 1 minute from the time it starts to boil. When the pastry cream is ready, remove it from the heat and pour it in a bowl so that it will stop cooking.

Cover with clingfilm, with the film touching the surface of the cream so that the cream will stay evenly, without an harder part on the top. Let it cool.

Then prepare the almond cream

Mix together butter and sugar using a spatula until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix. Then add the almond flour and cocoa powder and fold until they are well mixed.

Make the frangipane. Fold the pastry cream and the almond cream together, here flavored with chocolate.

Then assemble the cake

Place a first disc of puff pastry on a baking tray covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

Using a piping bag (or a spatula) cover the puff pastry with a thick layer of frangipane making sure to leave a margin on the outside (about 2 to 3 centimeter – 1 inch).

Don’t forget to place the lucky charm somewhere in the frangipane filling.

Glaze with water or a beaten egg using a pastry brush (or your fingers).

Cover with the second disc of puff pastry, then press all around so that the two pastries are well sealed.

Using the back of a knife, pinch the edges of the two pastry discs, making a small incision every 1 centimeter, all around. This is to make sure the filling doesn’t run while baking.

Glaze with beaten egg and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Then you can decorate! You can make strips, rounds, flowers… the top of the cake still with the back of a knife or with a fork. Glaze once more.

If needed, refrigerate. It's important that the cake is not too warm when placed in the oven to get nice layers of puff pastry.

Bake at 180°C (375°F) for 30 minutes.

The cake is usually served warm or at least at room temperature.

You can also read the recipe on the MyParisianKitchen website.

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Bio, artisan and red label: What do French food and drink labels really mean?

In France, there are many different types of étiquette to be aware of when purchasing food, drink or other products. However, this étiquette does not have to do with behaviour – rather it is the French word for label or sticker that might designate certain properties about an item being purchased.

Here are some that you might run into while shopping in France:

Wines and other beverages

French wine often has several different designations and labels that you might come across. In France, wine is labelled based on region rather than grape.

Cru – the word “cru” – translated as ‘growth’ – on a wine label signifies that it was grown in high-quality vineyard or growing site, and provides further proof to where the wine was produced.

Vin Bio – this designates a product, and in this case, wine as being organic. You will also find a bio (pronounced bee-yo) section of fruit and veg in most French supermarkets as well as plenty of other products with a bio label. Most towns and communes regularly host a marché bio – a market where all the products on sale are organic.

Here is an example of what the label looks like:

Photo Credit: Economie.Gouv.Fr

To be certified as bio, producers must follow a set of EU specifications around how products are grown, which limit the use of chemicals such as fertilisers, pesticides and weedkillers. The bio brand is a protected mark.

Vin natural – While bio refers to how the grapes are grown, ‘natural wines’ refers to the process of turning the grapes into wine.

This is more vague than organic as there isn’t an agreed set of standards for what constitutes a ‘natural wine’. Producers label their bottles vin méthode nature (natural wine method) but you’ll also frequently see and hear vin naturel or vin nature to describe these products. In general, it means a wine that has no additives used during the wine-making process and no or few added sulphites, which can mean that natural wines taste different.

Not all organic wines are natural and not all natural wines are made with organic grapes, although the two tend to go together.

Vin biodynamique – Growers who embrace the biodynamic method go a step further and as well as cutting out chemicals they also plant and harvest their crop according to the lunar calendar.

Biodynamic isn’t a protected mark and a biodynamic wine isn’t necessarily organic or natural, but vine growers who go to the trouble of following the lunar calendar are generally pretty committed to producing their product in a more natural way.

Champagne (capital C) – The sparkling wine known as Champagne can only be produced in the French Champagne region, otherwise it’s just sparkling wine. In fact, the Champagne industry has a skilled team of lawyers tasked with insuring that the name “Champagne” is not being used inappropriately or incorrectly. Champagne is a famous example of the French AOC (more on this below).

Geographic designations and traditional techniques

In France, there are three different labels that determine where a product comes from and whether it was made according to certain traditional standards.

L’Appellation Contrôlée (AOC) – This designation can either indicate that a product comes from a specific geographical area or that it was produced following a certain traditional technique. Under French law, it is illegal to manufacture and sell a product under one of the AOC-controlled indications if it does not comply with the criteria of that AOC. In order to make them recognisable, all AOC products carry a seal, with a number as well as the name of the certifying body.

You can see an example of the label below:

Photo Credit: www.economie.gouv.fr

The colour of the seal indicates the product classification: green for field products and red for dairy products.

It is worth keeping in mind that simply being considered an AOC product does not necessarily mean that the quality will be better than a non-AOC product, as it is focused on either geographical location or technique used when cultivating the product. The AOC designation is typically applied to certain wines and cheeses, though it can be extended to other products too.

AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) – the European Union operates a similar geographical protection system that recognises products that are the “result of a unique combination of human and environmental factors that are characteristic of a given territory”.

The two labels are pretty much the same, but the AOC is French and older, while the AOP is recognised on a European level.

In most cases, in order to apply for AOP designation, the product must already have an AOC recognition at the national level and then it is later registered with the European Commission.

For France, the AOP concerns certain dairy products – specifically, 45 cheeses, 3 butters, and 2 creams – other foods like “Grenoble walnuts” are also listed as AOPs.

As for non French products, Gorgonzola cheese is an example of an Italian AOP.

La Spécialité Traditionnelle Garantie (STG) – In English this would be referred to as the “Traditional Speciality Guarantee”. This is another European-wide label. It attests that a food product has been manufactured according to a recipe considered traditional.

The first French STG was “Bouchot mussels” which are collected using a traditional aquaculture technique.

Quality labels

Label rouge – This French label allows you to identify superior quality products. It has been in existence for over 60 years – according to the French ministry of economy, Landes chicken was the first food product to be awarded the label. Label rouge can be applied to food products as well as non-food agricultural products, such as Christmas trees or flowers.

For example, a Christmas tree might qualify for the Label rouge if it is: from the Nordmann or Spruce species, free from parasites (fungi and insects); fitting the proper aesthetic criteria for shape, colour, symmetry and density; and fresh – meaning cut down after November 21st.

Nutri-score – this five letter label designates food products based on their nutritional value. This is regulated by public health authorities. The logo is on packaging and ranges from A (dark green, most nutritious) to E (dark orange, least nutritious).

Artisanale – this is a protected “appellation” (title) that was created in 1998, and it regulates ‘craft’ products according to French law – the most common usages are for bakeries and breweries but it’s used for a wide range of products.

People running the business must be able to prove a certain relevant education and qualification level and register with the trade organisation or guild for their craft.

For example, bakery owners must register the boulangerie with the Chambre des Métiers et de l’Artisanat and take a preparatory course.

Typically, artisan producers promise to use non-processed materials and they must also follow certain quality rules. For example, bread sold in these artisan boulangeries cannot have been frozen.

French bread and pastry designations

When buying your baguette at the boulangerie, there are some differences to be aware of.

Baguette Tradition – As suggested by the name, this designation means that the baguette was made using the traditional ingredients – only flour, yeast, salt and water. These were decided upon as part of the French government’s ‘bread decree’ of 1993. It also indicates that the baguette is free of any additives or preservatives.

Baguette – A regular baguette could contain extra ingredients like grains, cereals or nuts – or any chemical additives or preservatives.

Boulanger de France – This label is relatively new in France – it was launched in 2020 in order to help differentiate artisinal bakeries from industrial ones. In order to obtain the label, then the bakery must respect certain quality regulations (eg. salt dosage used in bread, and specific recipes and manufacturing methods). Also, boulangers who apply for this label also commit themselves to favouring seasonal products.

Other French labels you might come across

Fait maison – this means ‘home made’ in French, and the logo for this type of dish looks like a little house.

You might see this label when at a restaurant or when buying food. In essence, it means that the dish was cooked on the spot. It also means that the dish was made with unprocessed ingredients, and that the only processed ingredients are those listed HERE.

Made in France (or Fabriqué en France) – It may be a bit misleading, but the label “Made in France” does not mean that 100 percent of the manufacturing steps for the product were carried out in France, but it signifies that a significant part were indeed done in France. This label is applied primarily to “consumer and capital goods”, but it can also be attributed to certain agricultural, food and cosmetic products, according to the French ministry of economy.

In order to qualify for this label, a part of the French customs body (Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes or DGCCRF) must authorise the label. If a product simply contains colours associated with France or a French flag, that does not necessarily mean it was entirely produced in France.

The penalties for falsely using a “Made in France” label, which are laid out in the French consumer code (article L. 132-2) are up to two years imprisonment and a fine of up to €300,000, which may be increased, depending on whether there were benefits derived from the offence.

Origine France Garantie – This label is awarded by the “Pro France association” to both food and non-food products that can prove to have had the majority of manufacturing operations (at least 50 percent of its per unit cost) carried out in France and that the parts of the product that constitute its ‘essential characteristics’ were manufactured and produced in France.

Terre textile – This label attests that at least 75 percent of the textile product’s manufacturing was carried out in the French geographical area that it references – for example the label would indicate a part of France, like Alsace, and then below it would say “Terre textile”.

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