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CHRISTMAS – No pastry cream, chestnut ganache or crispy praline in the recipe for the first Yule log: it was made of wood. If everyone knows the dessert version of the log, few French people know the story behind one of the oldest end-of-year traditions.
As we tell you in the video at the top of the article, this custom, originally pagan, has existed for centuries in Europe. The principle was to burn a large log a few days before the holidays, on the day of the Winter Solstice (around December 21), that is to say the longest night of the year.
A tradition that brought happiness
The bigger the log, the longer it burned and the more sparks it made, the happier and more virtuous the future year would be. “ It needed solid wood like oak or beech for it to crack, the more the log cracked, the more luck it brought », Tells us Nadine Cretin, festival historian and anthropologist.
The log was blessed with wine, milk or even wax. Each region had its tradition. “ In Provence, the youngest and the eldest of the family went together to the fireplace to place the log there. », explains Nadine Cretin. In Lorraine, the log was left to burn for three long days.
In certain French regions, this custom lasted until the 1950s, after the arrival of cast iron stoves which replaced fireplaces and were too small to accommodate the large log. But another log has already started to replace the wooden one: the pastry log.
The log becomes a pastry chef
« It is estimated that it was invented in France in the 1870s, the first mentions of pâtissière log in recipe books date from the early 1900s », according to Nadine Cretin. Regarding the creator of this dessert, there are several theories. According to some versions, it was a pastry chef from Lyon, according to others, a pastry worker from the Paris City Hall. Others attribute this invention to the ice cream pastry chef of Prince Charles III of Monaco, Pierre Lacam.
But according to the historian of the celebrations, the inventor of the log would rather be a pastry chef from Quillet, rue de Buci in Paris. “ His name is Antoine Charabot and he is also the originator of butter cream, in the same period. The log being a rolled cake with butter cream, it may seem logical”she explains.
Already at the time the log was given a wooded appearance and decorated with small forest elements such as holly, mushrooms or moss. If the pastry log is still popular today, the iced version has entered French consumption habits. There are logs of all shapes, all colors, which break the codes. Like this snowflake-shaped dessert imagined by the best pastry chef in the world, Nina Metayer.
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2023-12-23 10:51:08
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