Flammekueche
| Alternative names | Flammkuchen, Flàmmeküeche, Flammkuche |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Upper Rhine Valley, (Alsace, France; Baden and the Palatinate, Germany) |
| Main ingredients | Bread dough, fromage frais or crème fraîche, onions, lardons |
| Variations | Au Munster, gratinée, forestière, sweet |
Flammekueche (Alsatian, Standard German: Flammkuchen), or tarte flambée (French), is a specialty of the region of Alsace,[1] german-speaking Moselle, Baden and the Palatinate.[2] It is composed of bread dough rolled out very thinly in the shape of a rectangle or oval, which is covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, thin-sliced onions and lardons.
The name of the dishes varies in local dialects; it is called Flàmmeküeche,[3] or Flàmmaküacha in Alsatian, or Flammkuche in Lorraine Franconian - compare (standard-)German Flammkuchen. All these names translate as "pie baked in the flames". Contrary to what the direct translation would suggest, tarte flambée is not flambéed but is cooked in a wood-fire oven.[4]
Varieties[edit]
There are many variations of the original recipe in terms of the garniture. The standard variations are:[4]
- Gratinée: with added Gruyère cheese;
- Forestière: with added mushrooms;
- Munster: with added Munster cheese;
- Sweet: dessert version with apples and cinnamon, or blueberries, and flambéed with Calvados or another sweet liqueur.
History[edit]
The dish was created by Germanic farmers from Alsace, Baden and the Palatinate who used to bake bread once a week. The Flammekueche was originally a homemade dish which did not make its urban restaurant debut until the "pizza craze" of the 1960s. A Flammekueche would be used to test the heat of their wood-fired ovens. At the peak of its temperature, the oven would also have the ideal conditions in which to bake a Flammekueche. The embers would be pushed aside to make room for the cake in the middle of the oven, and the intense heat would be able to bake it in 1 or 2 minutes. The crust that forms the border of the Flammekueche would be nearly burned by the flames.[5] The result resembles a thin pizza. After the annexation of Alsace by France, the Flammekueche made its way as tarte flambée into French cuisine.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Villegas, Maria (2005). "Tarte flambée". The food of France: a journey for food lovers. Murdoch Books. pp. 56. ISBN 978-1-74045-471-1. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
tarte flambee.
- ^ compare the French Article: Tarte flambée.
- ^ "Petit lexique français-alsacien pour faire les courses : Kommissione màche" (PDF). Olcalsace.org. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ^ a b Helga Rosemann, Flammkuchen: Ein Streifzug durch das Land der Flammkuchen mit vielen Rezepten und Anregungen [Flammkuchen: A foray into the land of the tartes flambées with many recipes and suggestions] (Offenbach: Höma-Verlag, 2009).
- ^ Rosemann 4–5.