Bouche de Noel

[holger]

Just ordered this for our dessert on Christmas Eve. Does anyone know the origin of this holiday dessert? They are very difficult to find here but the French bakery in town will do them on special order. There is one other French bakery in Wayne that also does them. In past years Whole Foods occasionally has had them but they just weren't right. Good but too cakey--not as much icing, etc. for me.

[Anne]

I suppose that the origins of this dessert are simply to be found in its name :
bûche = log
So the bûche de Noël looks like the logs that used to burn in the chimneys on those winter days . Many bakeries tastefully stick little Santas or dwarves or same kind of decorations on the bûches ;D ...

[GitteK]

www.ourparisforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=culture&thread=1175603158&page=1

We have had a previous thread about Christmas happenings in Paris, where "bûche de noël" is mentioned (and with pics....)

[Anne]

Is there any specific reason why you Americans all call it "bouche" (mouth) de Noël instead of "bûche" ?

[sistereurope]

Anne...we have a President who can't pronounce "nuclear", what do you expect?! ;D

(Actually I've seen it spelled bouche over here...maybe it's just an Americanized version of the spelling?)

[geordy]

And we do not have the little thing that goes over the U! ;D
What's it called?

The bakeries here spell it correctly....and charge like you should be getting a huge log...Paul Bunyon variety!!

[Anne]

That little hat that somtimes goes over some vowels is called "accent circonflexe" . It's just a spelling thing, you don't pronounce the letter differently because of it unless the letter is an "e", in which case pronounciation goes ê=è=ai .

[geordy]

I recall something from my French lessons about when French was "modernized" a bit and some spellings changed they put that symbol, or some symbol to indicate letters were removed/changed? Is this correct??

[holger]

Thanks Gitte. You are so much younger that your memory is clearly better than mine. I am ordering dessert for Christmas now and did not recallthe thread from last August.

As to spelling Bouche rather than Buche (accent) the only printing I saw here in the three places I have ordered the cake was on my bill in dollars. So I spelled it as it sounds. When I reread older thread, I did notice that Phread had also spelled it with the ou.

Anne 266, thanks for the explanation and spelling. I just wish we had the varieties of icing and decoration. The ones here do have some mushrooms and elves but usually only chocolate icing on the outside. I prefer that but some of the family, strange creatures, like other toppings.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Geordy - a French teacher told me that this accent circonflexe (the inverted v over a vowel) means that an "s" was omitted from early spellings - e.g., foret has such an accent over the "e," indicating that an "s" was omitted (forest). Once you start noticing it, a lot of the time you can see what the derivation would have been (who knows with "buche" however!)

[Jody]

PLEASE , let's stop talking about the bûche . I so wanted to order one from my French baker! They even promised to eliminate the green holly leaves and replece them with more mushrooms! Then ,one on my dinner guests insisted on bringing dessert for Christmas dinner.

Bruno had the bûche with either a light chocolate mousse filling or a chestnut-brandy.. I'll die dreaming of that chestnut filling!

Here's my Bruno's website. I drive 25 miles every week or so to pick up baguettes.

www.brunosgourmetkitchen.com/index.htm

[holger]

Demarais,

I am with you as to the chestnut/brandy filling. Mine will either be chocolate or vanilla. Clerk was not sure which. But I will take what I can get. I adore chestnut filling and it is so hard to find here.

Let your guest bring dessert and keep the Buche for the night before or after. When we did Thanksgiving, I had indicated that I was supplying dessert and my daughters in-laws brought stuff anyway and proceeded to serve theirs as I was at one end of the table and had no idea what they were doing in the kitchen. En famille over the next few nights we pigged out on ours.

[Anne]

Yes, the "^" often means that a letter has disappeared from ancient French . Most of the time this letter is a "s", but it can also be a "e" (which may be the case with "bûche") or other letters .
The accent is also used in homonymy cases, like mur (wall) and mûr (ripe)

[Happygoin]

desmarais, if I lived near Bruno's I'd never cook! His savory offerings sound wonderful too. Does anyone remember Jacques Pepin making a Buche de Noel on his demonstration show? He made the meringue mushrooms and dusted them with cocoa. The buche, of course, was incredibly beautiful. It drives me crazy when you see the horrid imitations at Costco with gumdrop wreaths on them...

[anneparis]

I have a rendez-vous for you : have a look at my blog on december 22nd !! Maybe it has something to do with bûches...

[holger]

;D

AnneParis,

Thanks. Will look on the 22nd. In the meantime, love the recipes from the 18th, especially the Indian Foie Gras.

[anneparis]

The recipe is on line : afoodiefroggy.canalblog.com/archives/2007/12/22/7288279.html

Joyeux Noël à tous !!

[Jody]

ANNE!

Your buche is magnificent! I love the decorations and salted caramel YUM!!

It was a true labor of love for your girls.

[geordy]

I can almost taste it Anne! I love the way you think in a French accent!

Can't handle a whole one but if it is on a menu anywhere I'm having some!

[holger]

;D

Thanks for the recipe and the pictures. I am looking forward to our bakery bought one which I will pick up and serve on he 24th. It won't compare with yours but will at least be a brief aste of France.