galette des rois from patisserie claude at 187 west 4th street in the west village. galette des rois means king cake and is available for only a few short weeks in january in french bakeries.
history of le galette des rois – this beautiful king cake has been baked by pastry chefs in europe since the middle ages, when the date january 6 was set by pope julius II as the official date for the l’epiphanie which refers to the twelfth night after the birth of jesus, the night when the three kings – gaspard, balthazar and melchior – paid tribute to the newborn christ. the king cake is named for these three kings.
in paris , the galette des rois is made from puff pastry, while in the south in provence it is made of brioche shaped as a a crown and is called gateau des rois. it is filled with frangipane , which is a mixture of almond paste and pastry cream.
lucky charm - inside each king cake, the baker hides a tiny charm. historically in france it was a dried fava bean, which is why the charm is called le feve. in modern times the hidden charm could be a tiny baby, a ceramic chip or a plastic cartoon figure. in france, the tradition of serving the galette des rois was for the youngest person or child in the room to hide under the table while someone slices up the king cake. then the child would call out which person would get each slice. whoever found the lucky charm would become the king or queen and be given the paper gold crown to wear. then the crowned one would pick his queen or her king by dropping the charm into their glass. a more adult version of this in bars would be that the king or queen would have to buy their companions a round of drinks. the king cake tradition is popular in new orleans where it is made and eaten until the end of mardi gras on fat tuesday. however the new orleans version is usually a garishly colored plain sweet breadlike cake with no filling, and bears no resemblance to the genuine french galette.
patisserie claude - claude is a frenchman whose tiny french pastry shop has been a secret fixture in greenwich village for four decades. he is low key but quietly makes some of the most authentic and scrumptious buttery croissants and pain au chocolat in this city. my favorite claude pastry is his espresso mousse napolean which is drool worthy and is available all the time, while the galette des rois is only available for a few weeks. claude’s galette des rois has a flakey and buttery croissant like outer wrapping that shatters when you bite into it yet has a thin chewy layer that to call it a crust wouldn’t do it justice. this superb delicate outer skin is lovingly wrapped around an interior of frangipane which tastes like an almond custardy cake. it’s really wonderful , and monsieur claude is a hidden gem in manhattan, like the charm hidden inside his galette des rois. eating a slice of his creation is in itself an epiphany.
i found the charm in two of the king cakes that i ate.
the last galette jan.30 of the season. claude stopped making them already, but made this special one for my friend, it was the best one of all. til next year galette 2008 …………
*update 2009 – as of dec. 2008, claude has retired and his bakery is under new ownership.
copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.
copyright 2007 eat2love.wordpress.com all rights reserved.
*special thanks to my galette angel for the galette des rois each week, you are a gem too.
