Madeleines
The taste of sweet memories, and the perfect recipe
One bite of a spongy, golden madeleine and I’m in France. The French love their madeleines, and for many, they are inextricably linked to memories as sweet as the little cakes. Take Marcel Proust, for example. In his masterpiece, À la recherche du temps perdu (1913-1927), the narrator is taken back to his childhood with his aunt Leonie as soon as he tastes the crumbs of a madeleine dipped in a cup of linden blossom tea. It’s no secret that Proust made madeleines famous, but what is the history behind these shell-shaped delights?
There are enough speculations, and enough ‘Madeleines’ who are believed to have invented the cakes. It even left historian Charles Dumont stumped in his Histoire de la ville et des seigneurs de Commercy (1842). Was it the Medieval Madeleine who handed out sweet buns on scallop shells to pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela? Or was it Madeleine Simonin, cook to Cardinal Paul de Gondi, who came up with the recipe in 1661?
The most plausible story according to the experts from Commercy, La confrérie des compagnons de la madeleine de Commercy (and yes, that’s a brotherhood created especially for the madeleine), is that they were created in 1755 by the maid of Stanislas Leszczynski, the duke of Lorraine. During a banquet at his castle, a fight broke out in the kitchen prompting the chef to leave in a fury, without having made dessert. A disaster! Luckily, the maid, Madeleine Paulmier from Commercy, came to the rescue with an easy recipe for plump, little cakes which her grandmother had taught her to make. Everyone loved them, and to thank her for saving the day, the king named the cakes after her. Shortly thereafter, his daughter, Marie Leszczynska (queen of France from 1725-1768), introduced madeleines to Versailles as chic treats. Their popularity grew during the 19th century, and in 1874 you could even purchase them at the railway station in Commercy.
Those who are looking for the best madeleines today, should stop by À la cloche Lorraine and La boîte à Madeleines in Commercy where you can learn more about the cakes and witness how they are made. According to Le Figaro, Parisian chef-pâtissier Fabrice Le Bourdat from Blé Sucré in the 12th arrondissement (7 rue Antoine Vollon) makes some of the finest madeleines in the city.
No need to book plane tickets, however, because after endless recipe experimenting, my own madeleines taste just as good as the aforementioned examples.
