Eclairs are among the favorite desserts of many people. Unlike most other sweet temptations, eclairs have been delighting humanity for only a few centuries.
The first information about the existence of the appetizing pastries dates back to 1549. It is believed that then the Italian Panterelli, Catherine de Medici's chef, prepared them for the first time and named them after himself.
In 1533, Catherine arrived in France to marry the future French ruler Henri II. She was accompanied by her favorite Italian chefs, who left a lasting mark on French cuisine.
There is no information whether Panterelli brought the Pâté a Panterelli recipe from his native country or created it in France. However, one thing is certain - these small balls of steamed dough were one of the most impressive pastries of that time.
However, the French did not like the overly Italian name of the desserts, and when Panterelli died, they quickly renamed them Pâté a Popelini.
Pâté a Popelini began to be prepared by more and more chefs, and in the 18th century, the famous pastry chef Avis improved their recipe and changed the name of the desserts again. Since his ball-shaped pastries resembled cabbage, he decided to call them choux (choux-cabbage). To this day, many French chefs still call the steamed dough that same name from which they make eclairs and tulumba.
Only a century later, the famous French chef Antoine Carême, to whom French cuisine owes its current form, changed the recipe a little more and created for the first time the classic steamed dough, which we still use today.
In addition to tulumba and eclairs, we also prepare round balls called profiteroles from steamed dough. Some of them have a sweet filling, others a savory one. They can be eaten with cheese and bacon. Fried dough balls are called beignet soufflé. If they are filled with sweet custard, they become the so-called nun's farts.
There is also an interesting legend about their creation. When several French nuns were preparing a meal for a feast, one nun's stomach rumbled. The other women started laughing hysterically and one of them accidentally poured a little dough into a pan of hot oil.
Because of the high temperature, it almost immediately puffed up. After taking out the resulting ball, the nuns cut it and noticed that it was hollow inside. This is how nun's farts were created, which also belong to the choux products.
Find out how to bake eclairs, how to easily make caramel for eclairs, and see what the most common mistakes when baking eclairs are.
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