The profiterole or chou à la crèm is a French desert well known in most of the countries of the world. In Germany they call it windbeutel, in Slovakia veterník k and in US cream puff. The desert, actually, is a small ball of soft, sweet choux pastry with a typically sweet and moist filling of whipped cream, custard, pastry cream, or ice cream. In some countries, France, Italy, Albania and Greece for example, they also use a chocolate sauce or they sink the stuffed choux into chocolate cream. At the final stage, they decorate it using some chantilly.
In order to explore the history of profiterole, we must deal with the history of yeast for choux. “Pâte à choux”, as the French call it, is a paraphrase of the “pâte à chaud”. It is believed that this recipe was an invention of the Italian pastry chef Popelin (hence its first name in France was popelin), who improved a recipe of Panterelli – the the chef of the Catherine of Medici. The use of this dough became very popular for sweet and savory, such as with cream or ice cream, profiteroles, eclairs, saint-honoré, religieuses (double nuns) or Paris-Brest (“Paris-Brest”). In the 18th century Jean Avice and Antonin Carême improved again the recipe and the “pâte à chaud “was renamed “pâte à choux”.
As far as the name profiterole, we can trace it in the English language back in 1600, deriving from the French language. The original meaning was a type of small reward (profit), when a treat was offered as recompense.
What the French call profiteroles today is made with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce over the choux. It is a dessert that should be served immediately. Let’s see how it is prepared.
Sources:
Profiterole, (en) Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiterole, Accessed on November 2019
Profiterole, (fr) Wikipedia, fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiterole, Accessed on November 2019
Popelini, Wikipedia, fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popelini, Accessed on November 2019
Profiterole, Larousse, www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/profiterole/64179, Accessed on November 2019
Antonia Pappa – Communication trainee at the Terminology Unit
Born in Greece in 1992. She holds a Bachelor degree of Communication, Culture and Media and she worked, for three years, for a newspaper and food magazines in Greece. Antonia is now taking a Master’s degree in International Marketing and Communication and is working her thesis about social media advertising. In her free time, she likes travelling, doing yoga and going for a walk with her dog.