Plombières is a type of French

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

made with almond extract,

kirsch Kirschwasser (, ; , German for "cherry water") or kirsch is a clear, colorless brandy traditionally made from double distillation of morello cherries, a dark-colored cultivar of the sour cherry. It is now also made from other kinds of cherrie ...

, and candied fruit.

History

The origin of plombières ice cream is disputed.« La glace Plombières : références littéraires »
''www.glace-plombieres.fr'' (consulté le 6 février 2019). It is unclear whether its name refers to the commune of

Plombières-les-Bains Plombières-les-Bains () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in eastern France. It was the seat of the former canton of Plombières-les-Bains. ''Les bains'' refers to the hot springs in the area, whose properties were first di ...

. A folk etymology suggests that the dish was first served to Napoleon III at the signing of the Treaty of Plombières in 1858; but

Marie-Antoine Carême Marie Antoine (Antonin) Carême (; 8 June 178412 January 1833) was a French chef and an early practitioner and exponent of the elaborate style of cooking known as ''grande cuisine'', the "high art" of French cooking: a grandiose style of cookery ...

provided a recipe for "plombière cream" in his 1815 book, ''Pâtissier royal parisien''. Similar recipes can be found in other French cookbooks from the 19th century. According to Pierre Lacam in 1893, "plombière cream" takes its name from a utensil used to make it. A similar etymological theory was proposed by

Joseph Favre Joseph Favre (; 17 February 1849 – 17 February 1903) was a famously skilled Swiss chef who worked in Switzerland, France, Germany, and England. Although he initially only received primary education because of his humble origins, as an adult h ...

in his book ''Dictionnaire universel de cuisine'', which says that "plombière is a synonym for ''bombe'', which is used to grind the ingredients of the dish". Other scholars have suggested that the dessert takes its name from the mold in which the cream is pressed. Plombières ice cream is mentioned in ''

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes ''Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes'', translated variously as ''The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans'', ''A Harlot High and Low'', or as ''Lost Souls'', is an 1838-1847 novel by French novelist Honoré de Balzac, published in four initia ...

'', published in 1844 by

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

. Plombières should not be confused with Malaga ice cream, a vanilla ice cream served with dried raisins soaked in Malaga wine or rum.. In the Soviet Union, '' plombir'' (russian: пломбир) became a popular dish that is still seen in post-Soviet states today.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plombières (dessert) Ice cream French cuisine French desserts

History

See also

References