Photo: les fèves, a curious mix of the saintly and the silly, like this French feast.
“J’aime la galette, savez-vous comment ? Quand elle est bien faite, avec du beurre dedans.”
(“I like galette, do you know how I like it? When it’s made very well, with butter inside it.”)
–French children’s rhyme
Why on earth was my 50 year old sister lying under the dining room table at a party at the château, singing out the names of the guests? Well, it all has to do with a French Christmas season tradition, La Fête des Rois, as the French call the Epiphany.
Epiphany is celebrated in many countries around the world , but in France it’s an important day, full of unique traditions, fun and feasting. The day is a tribute to the Three Kings, Melchior, Gaspard and Balthazar, and their journey to Bethlehem, following the bright star.
The traditional twelfth night dish here is a sort of rich rum-spiked cake, a giant pastry really, called la galette. It’s round in shape and made with flaky pastry filled with frangipane, a creamy almond filling. Or at least that’s a galette in Bugundy; in the south of France, une brioche is the tradition, egg bread shaped like a wreath with sugared fruit on top, a shiny jeleled crown. Depending on the region, the fête is celebrated anytime between the sixth and the end of January.
There’s something else very special about the galette—it has a surprise inside, called a fève. Originally this was a fava bean, hidden there to symbolize a seed that will hopefully fall on fertile soil for a good harvest. Nowadays most fèves are tiny ceramic figures, which can be anything from saints to smurfs, from monks to Mickey Mouse. If you’re the lucky person who gets the fève baked into your slice (and lucky enough not to break a tooth), then you wear a paper crown and you are Queen or King for the Day. Photo: Happy King, our friend Tony
Which brings us round to that soeur sous la table. Tradition has it that the youngest at the party gets under the table. This child is called le petit roi or l'enfant soleil—the little king, or the child of the sun. As the galette is cut, le petit roi calls out the names of the guests, determining the order that the pieces will be distributed (and if it's a young child, it allows you to slip the fève into their slice). At this particular gathering, my ‘kid’ sister was the youngest kid there.
Our neighbor Jean-Marie, born in Marseille, told me that the custom there is to add a ceramic fève AND a real fava bean to la galette. The person who gets the bean not only yields the throne to the lucky fève finder, but also has to buy the drinks!
The bakeries are full of galettes all though the month of January. But we don’t need that, we’ve got a secret weapon: our own châtelaine and chef, Nicole! Nicole and Pierre always have a big Fête des Rois party to welcome in the new year, and Nicole makes a yummy galette, which is flat-out easy to make if you use frozen puff pastry. Don’t forget the fève!
Fancy being a French Royal? Why not have a Fête des Rois, chez vous? Here is where to find, in the states, Gold Foil King Paper Crowns , and King Cake Babies to put inside, just click on the links.
RECIPE: Nicole’s Galette
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Frozen Puff pastry sheets, thawed, for two 11" (28cm) rounds - 11 tablespoons (150 grams) butter, soft
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
- 1 cup (150 grams) gound almonds*
- 7 oz. (20 cl) rum
- 2 whole eggs, plus one separated, for glaze
- icing sugar
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees (190C). Mix butter and sugar with hand electric mixer until creamy. Add ground almonds, mix well. Add rum, mix well. Add 2 eggs and mix well. You’ve now made your fragiapane.
Roll out pastry and cut into an 11" round, using a pan as a guide; place on a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Brush edges with an egg white, lightly whipped. Spread filling out over pastry, leaving an edge to join bottom and top. Try not to get any filling on the edge, which will break the seal. Place a fève or a dry bean in filling. Cut out another circle and put it on top. Crimp edges well (Nicole uses the handle of a knife). With a sharp knife, score the top with criss-cross triangles, squares, or be as artistic as you like. Paint top with half of a beaten egg yolk and save the rest. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until bien doré, golden brown. For a shinier crust, take cake out 5 minutes early and paint again with remaining egg yolk which has been whisked with one tablespoon confectioner’s sugar, then return to oven until done. Cool and serve, with a crown.
*These are finely ground, like sand, or a coarse flour. If you can't find them, you can make them with a food processor.
Highlights from the Comments this week: Suzanne, Julie, and my Mom have a thing about gates; Jane is doing an immersion week-end in the NC mountains; Jim shares his France tour. Mercis to Jenn, Joyce, Cindy and everyone for their nice comments!
Unless otherwise attributed, all POSTS, PHOTOS and RECIPES on this blog copyright ©2010 Lynn McBride. All Rights Reserved.
11 thoughts on “On the Twelfth Night, A Feast for Kids and Kings”
I agree with your details , excellent post.
I absolutely adore this! What a fun time! Cheers to your sister for lying on the floors.
I can see our youngest grandchild under there already. Next Christmas a galette will be on the menu.
This is very much like the “King Cake” tradition around Mardis Gras in New Orleans except there I think most guest end up “under the table.”
In south Louisiana, Kings’ Day is celebrated with a brioche type King Cake in which the bean or plastic baby is hidden. The person who gets the baby has to give the next party in a week. And so it goes up to Mardi Gras.
When we arrived in France we found out about le fève quite by accident. We bought a gallete not knowing of the tradition and my husband nearly broke his tooth on a little ceramic star wars character. I washed the little offender and went back to the shop to make them aware of what was discovered.Rather embarrassing for us but quite amusing for the french lady. We discovered the tradition the hard way and now we can laugh about it.
Fun post, good recipe. I teach French in California, so it’s always fun to see what new thing I can learn from you to share with my students. Your letting me know that it’s a brioche in some regions was a lot of help. I’d been looking for a recipe that was different than the New Orleans Kings Cake and from the Frangipane-filled recipes I already had as I had told my students that there are a variety of versions depending on regions. I just didn’t know what to call them during my search, so hadn’t had much luck. So now I’ve found “La Brioche des rois” from a French children’s site, thanks to your guidance. Merci!
And I LOVE it that both you and Baby Names both know the difference between “lying” (intransitive) and “laying” (transitive verb)! I was beginning to think that “lying” had disappeared from the modern American lexicon!
We had our Galette party yesterday. A crowd of 60 turned up. No snow to stop anybody from coming. I baked 7 big galettes and they all went…. so did the drinks;
We all had a lot of fun but missed you Lynn and Ron.
One of my (grown) son’s birthdays is Jan. 6 so I’ve known of various traditions involving a galette with feve but have never made one until Sunday. Our elder son was visiting prior to leaving for Italy for three years with the Army, and I made the cake as a fun thing prior to his departure yesterday. As he was the younget, he did sit under the table and name everyone. I thought the cake was quite good–not quite as almondy as almond paste, and making it with puff pastry was a breeze. I had some frangipane left and baked it in a pate sucre shell–also good.
Thank you for this post. I picked up some fèves at a Paris flea market. I will have to make a cake next year. I hope you have a wonderful, exciting, and healthy new year.
I have been making a Galette des Rois for many years now using fèves collected in Paris with a recipe written in French and torn off the back of a package. Fortunately I have memorized it now and can quickly weigh the ingredients. I have just copied yours to pass to my daughters (American measure).
We also make Jesus’ Birthday Cake which I displayed on my blog, a tradition passed down from my deceased grandmother. We decorate the top tier with Nativity scene fèves.
Love your blog, your messages, photos and recipes. Je te présente tous mes voeux de santé et de bonheur pour 2011.
Bisous,
Genie
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