Perfect Flammekueche
Moderators: karadekoolaid, THE MOD TEAM, Stokey Sue, Gillthepainter
21 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Interesting. A bit non-main stream? A bet my mother doesn't lnow what it is.
- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
"Great as a main dish, as the gloss in the tie-in recipe book to the French television programme suggests, but a bit much as a snack with drinks, which is how I’m used to consuming flammekueche."
I have only ever had it in brasseries in France as a main course. (Probably mainly in Pas-De-Calais too.)
I have only ever had it in brasseries in France as a main course. (Probably mainly in Pas-De-Calais too.)
- Pepper Pig
- Posts: 4920
- Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
- Location: North West London
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
I love it but I’ve never made it.
- karadekoolaid
- Posts: 2581
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:40 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Basically, another form of pizza, like the pissaladière in Provence and the coca in Catalunia.
- Stokey Sue
- Posts: 8629
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
- Location: Stoke Newington, London
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
It's pretty different to eat from pizza, though it has similarities
I've never had a pastry based one, and I'd consider sending it back - I've eaten more in Germany than France but always a bread dough
But I'd not consider making it at home, as I think you do need a bread/pizza oven
For once I think she is completely wrong - too much onion, not enough cream, those lardons are far too big and clunky - they should be delicate so they cook in the 3 or 4 minutes the thing is in the oven; in fact it looks amateurish
Flammekueche in my experience is made with a bread dough stretched so thin and cooked so hot it comes out almost like strudel pastry, often made huge - perhaps 40 or 45 cm across, always round and free form never in a tin. Topped with creme fraiche and then a choice of toppings. Food of the gods
I'd leave a comment but for some reason I can't see that page on my PC, only on my iPad
I've never had a pastry based one, and I'd consider sending it back - I've eaten more in Germany than France but always a bread dough
But I'd not consider making it at home, as I think you do need a bread/pizza oven
For once I think she is completely wrong - too much onion, not enough cream, those lardons are far too big and clunky - they should be delicate so they cook in the 3 or 4 minutes the thing is in the oven; in fact it looks amateurish
Flammekueche in my experience is made with a bread dough stretched so thin and cooked so hot it comes out almost like strudel pastry, often made huge - perhaps 40 or 45 cm across, always round and free form never in a tin. Topped with creme fraiche and then a choice of toppings. Food of the gods
I'd leave a comment but for some reason I can't see that page on my PC, only on my iPad
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
I only know it with a yeast dough, similar to pizza, or sometimes a little more like brown bread.
Sue is right, a pizza oven will give the best results, but a normal oven at high heat will work, too.
I've had it with thinly sliced smoked ham, but I prefer it with lardons.
It seems that variations of this were made all over Germany in the days when they still used large communal baking houses in small towns and villages. My mother tells me that in her Central German home they made thin, longish flat bread from leftover brown bread dough and topped them with a little egg and cream combined and sliced onions (not too thickly). These onion-cakes were baked last, large breads came first, then the traybakes and finally the onion-cakes (not sweet, though).
My grandfather manned the Mengelrode baking house until the late '70s. He did not mind the hard work that loading and firing the oven meant, but he did resent the bickering of the women. There was little discussion about how to place the breads, but the traybakes were a different matter. You had to place them according to thickness and moistness (yeast dough, topped with a thin layer of semolina pudding, a good layer of fruit of the season and finally a mix of cinnamon and sweet creme fraiche) some women went to town with these, others made very meagre offings. Knowing these things and then distributing everything accordingly in the oven was an art, but everyone had their own ideas and there was much fighting for the best spaces. Opa (Grandpa) Karl sometimes threw the women out when it got too much so he could load everything in peace.
Some villages are reviving these communal baking houses, but, alas, many have been torn down.
Sue is right, a pizza oven will give the best results, but a normal oven at high heat will work, too.
I've had it with thinly sliced smoked ham, but I prefer it with lardons.
It seems that variations of this were made all over Germany in the days when they still used large communal baking houses in small towns and villages. My mother tells me that in her Central German home they made thin, longish flat bread from leftover brown bread dough and topped them with a little egg and cream combined and sliced onions (not too thickly). These onion-cakes were baked last, large breads came first, then the traybakes and finally the onion-cakes (not sweet, though).
My grandfather manned the Mengelrode baking house until the late '70s. He did not mind the hard work that loading and firing the oven meant, but he did resent the bickering of the women. There was little discussion about how to place the breads, but the traybakes were a different matter. You had to place them according to thickness and moistness (yeast dough, topped with a thin layer of semolina pudding, a good layer of fruit of the season and finally a mix of cinnamon and sweet creme fraiche) some women went to town with these, others made very meagre offings. Knowing these things and then distributing everything accordingly in the oven was an art, but everyone had their own ideas and there was much fighting for the best spaces. Opa (Grandpa) Karl sometimes threw the women out when it got too much so he could load everything in peace.
Some villages are reviving these communal baking houses, but, alas, many have been torn down.
- Stokey Sue
- Posts: 8629
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
- Location: Stoke Newington, London
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
The Hairy Bikers did an episode of their Bakeation that featured a communal village bake house
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
For small communities it does have its uses. It gives people something to look forward too, a place to meet and socialise. It is a pity the Mengelrode bake house is gone now.
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Uschi wrote:
It seems that variations of this were made all over Germany in the days when they still used large communal baking houses in small towns and villages. My mother tells me that in her Central German home they made thin, longish flat bread from leftover brown bread dough and topped them with a little egg and cream combined and sliced onions (not too thickly). These onion-cakes were baked last, large breads came first, then the traybakes and finally the onion-cakes (not sweet, though).
My grandfather manned the Mengelrode baking house until the late '70s. He did not mind the hard work that loading and firing the oven meant, but he did resent the bickering of the women. There was little discussion about how to place the breads, but the traybakes were a different matter. You had to place them according to thickness and moistness (yeast dough, topped with a thin layer of semolina pudding, a good layer of fruit of the season and finally a mix of cinnamon and sweet creme fraiche) some women went to town with these, others made very meagre offings. Knowing these things and then distributing everything accordingly in the oven was an art, but everyone had their own ideas and there was much fighting for the best spaces. Opa (Grandpa) Karl sometimes threw the women out when it got too much so he could load everything in peace.
Some villages are reviving these communal baking houses, but, alas, many have been torn down.
Fascinating, Uschi!
- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Not at all, Uschi. Very interesting.
I love the idea of a communal bakehouse. As people will know, in the Middle Ages and much later, most (poorish) urban folk didn't have kitchens but took their food to be cooked at the bakery (right word?) for a small fee.
I suppose now we are the other way round. We buy ready prepared food to cook in our own kitchens.
Thinking about it Flammekueche (I think I have had it in the Netherlands too) is one of the few things I am able to eat as a vegetarian when trying to eat out in France, so I do feel inclined to save it for those occasions. But never say never and all that.
The idea of having it as nibbles with drinks is an appealing one. If only I ever entertained.... or got invited to such things.
I love the idea of a communal bakehouse. As people will know, in the Middle Ages and much later, most (poorish) urban folk didn't have kitchens but took their food to be cooked at the bakery (right word?) for a small fee.
I suppose now we are the other way round. We buy ready prepared food to cook in our own kitchens.
Thinking about it Flammekueche (I think I have had it in the Netherlands too) is one of the few things I am able to eat as a vegetarian when trying to eat out in France, so I do feel inclined to save it for those occasions. But never say never and all that.
The idea of having it as nibbles with drinks is an appealing one. If only I ever entertained.... or got invited to such things.
- Stokey Sue
- Posts: 8629
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
- Location: Stoke Newington, London
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
My first tarte flambée (same thing) was in the basement of the shopping mall near the French mouth of eurotunnel, some years ago
A colleague and I fortunately ordered different ones, because when hers came it was freckled with tiny bacon lardons and not has she had expected vegetarian, but mine was 3 cheese with some herbs and no meat so we swapped
A colleague and I fortunately ordered different ones, because when hers came it was freckled with tiny bacon lardons and not has she had expected vegetarian, but mine was 3 cheese with some herbs and no meat so we swapped
- herbidacious
- Posts: 4598
- Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:02 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
French menus are rarely transparent regarding their ingredients in the way that, say, Italian ones are. (Was given 'are you an idiot?' looks when I asked if something, the ingredients of which were listed on the menu, was vegetarian, when I first started going to Italy.) In northern France it's almost as if it's a given that there will be lardons. Basically, unless it's described as 'vegetarian' there is a good chance your dish will have them in.
My uncle in law who lives in south east Brittany assures me that France is very vegan these days. He trotted off a ridiculously high statistic. I simply don't believe him, I'm afraid, or at least not that this is reflected in eating establishments. True, there could have been a vegan revolution since last August, but he said a similar thing to me in April 2019 and nothing had changed in Orne or Manche.
The French do vegan and vegetarian very differently from the UK, too. Then tend to go down the very worthy 1970s brown everything and lots of raw stuff route. Or worse still you just get a green salad or a plate of vegetables. They just don't seem to get it. Or what they get is different from the UK. It feels almost as if they can't believe that vegetarians and vegans really like or appreciate food. But I concede this may be changing.
Anyway, in France still, you need to ask. 'Does it have meat or fish in it?'
My uncle in law who lives in south east Brittany assures me that France is very vegan these days. He trotted off a ridiculously high statistic. I simply don't believe him, I'm afraid, or at least not that this is reflected in eating establishments. True, there could have been a vegan revolution since last August, but he said a similar thing to me in April 2019 and nothing had changed in Orne or Manche.
The French do vegan and vegetarian very differently from the UK, too. Then tend to go down the very worthy 1970s brown everything and lots of raw stuff route. Or worse still you just get a green salad or a plate of vegetables. They just don't seem to get it. Or what they get is different from the UK. It feels almost as if they can't believe that vegetarians and vegans really like or appreciate food. But I concede this may be changing.
Anyway, in France still, you need to ask. 'Does it have meat or fish in it?'
- Stokey Sue
- Posts: 8629
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
- Location: Stoke Newington, London
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
I think in continental Europe vegetarian and vegan are often seen more as health diet choices than anything else - I’ve seen German menus with a small vegetarian section labelled Diat (diet) though that was some time ago
- karadekoolaid
- Posts: 2581
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:40 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Uschi wrote:I only know it with a yeast dough, similar to pizza, or sometimes a little more like brown bread.
Sue is right, a pizza oven will give the best results, but a normal oven at high heat will work, too.
I've had it with thinly sliced smoked ham, but I prefer it with lardons.
It seems that variations of this were made all over Germany in the days when they still used large communal baking houses in small towns and villages. My mother tells me that in her Central German home they made thin, longish flat bread from leftover brown bread dough and topped them with a little egg and cream combined and sliced onions (not too thickly). These onion-cakes were baked last, large breads came first, then the traybakes and finally the onion-cakes (not sweet, though).
My grandfather manned the Mengelrode baking house until the late '70s. He did not mind the hard work that loading and firing the oven meant, but he did resent the bickering of the women. There was little discussion about how to place the breads, but the traybakes were a different matter. You had to place them according to thickness and moistness (yeast dough, topped with a thin layer of semolina pudding, a good layer of fruit of the season and finally a mix of cinnamon and sweet creme fraiche) some women went to town with these, others made very meagre offings. Knowing these things and then distributing everything accordingly in the oven was an art, but everyone had their own ideas and there was much fighting for the best spaces. Opa (Grandpa) Karl sometimes threw the women out when it got too much so he could load everything in peace.
Some villages are reviving these communal baking houses, but, alas, many have been torn down.
that is a delightful tale, Uschi! Please "go on" some more!!
- karadekoolaid
- Posts: 2581
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:40 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Anyway, in France still, you need to ask. 'Does it have meat or fish in it?'
Sounds like the UK in the 1970s.
"Has it got meat in it?"
" No - it´s vegetarian!"
" So what´s this, ham??"
" Yeah, but ham´s not meat, is it?"
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
My uncle - well everyone was loosely related in a Cornish village! - ran the bakery. I often had to take a dish down mid-morning for it to be put in the big “hole in the wall” so that it was cooked by lunchtime. I was very young and I was never sent down to collect it when it was hot!
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Me : I'm vegetarian (I'm not - just eat poultry and fish, but it's far easier just to go for the veggie option).
Waiter : Do you want sausages then?
Waiter : Do you want sausages then?
- karadekoolaid
- Posts: 2581
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:40 pm
Re: Perfect Flammekueche
Waiter : Do you want sausages then?
21 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Return to Food Chat & Chatterbox
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 38 guests