The diplomat's recipe, an invention by Antonin Carême.
The story of the creation of this pastry is quite surprising and demonstrates, once again, to what extent cuisine has sometimes played a key role in History. The year is 1815, in Vienna. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, France played low profile.
The latter, a fine strategist and genius of negotiation, is aware that he has with him, in the person of his cook Antonin Carême, a formidable weapon ("You cannot have good diplomacy without a good lunch", wrote Talleyrand). .
Renowned at the time, French cuisine fascinated the whole world and the dinners organized by Talleyrand were the most popular at the congress.
Talleyrand therefore orders a dish from his chef that can be enjoyed at any time, since the discussions and negotiations drag on. Carême, who observed the participants, then had the idea for this recipe composed of brioche bread, dried fruits, rum and custard.
The diplomat’s recipe: Ingredients :
- 300 gr of dried fruits
- 10 cl of rum
- 10 slices of stale brioche
- 5 eggs
- 25 cl of milk
- 150 g of sugar
- 1 sachet of vanilla sugar
1. Soak dried fruits in rum
2. Grill the brioche slices
3. Beat the eggs, add the sugar and vanilla sugar then the milk
4. In a buttered mold, arrange the slices of brioche, then the fruit alternately and pour the mixture
5. Cook for 1 hour in a bain-marie in an oven at 150°
6. Serve cold with custard
