The Amazing, Colossal Baptist

Reader Mara writes in to ask: what’s happened to all the saint relics from the Middle Ages? Are they in museums? Do you guys trade them or sell them to each other?

Oh goodness me, no. In fact there’s a special sin on the books for that very thing: paying money — or trading for — sacred objects or spiritual services. It’s called simony, and it’s the only sin I’m aware of that’s actually named for a person. Simon Magus was the fellow’s name, a magician of sorts from the days just after the crucifixion of Jesus. He observed St. Peter and St. John laying their hands on believers and imbuing them with the Holy Spirit. Seemed to him like a pretty good racket — something he could charge a good buck for — so he offered to pay Peter and John in exchange for teaching him the trick. You can judge for yourself how well that worked out for Simon.

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How did St. Honoratus get famous?

Getting canonized doesn’t automatically make you famous, just so you know, all of you out there who aspire to the honor. Catholicism has too many saints for that. How many are there? More than 10,000 (nobody knows the exact number…there’s never been a head count). So suffice to say that only a very few saints’ names roll off the tongue of your typical Catholic. Just ask St. Guy of Anderlecht, patron saint of sheds and outhouses, St Gertrude of Nivelles, patron saint of suriphobia (the fear of mice) or St. Fiacre, patron saint of STD’s. None of them have popularly-celebrated feast days or fancy sterling silver medallions. What a rip.

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Was there a real Saint Honoré?

Yes there was. To most people outside France he’s known as St. Honoratus of Amiens. He’s the patron saint of bakers and confectioners (also florists, millers, candle makers, chandlers and oil refiners). For those of you who didn’t grow up Catholic and don’t know what patron saints are, they’re the people you call on when you need someone to intervene on something small, something you wouldn’t want to pester The Big Guy with. Like when you’re putting a soufflé in the oven and company is due. St. Honoratus, pray for me. Sorta like that.

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What’s chiboust and how do you pronounce it?

Shi-BOOST is, I believe, the correct pronunciation. It’s a simple mixture of 3 parts pastry cream to 1 or 2 parts Italian meringue. The two are gently folded together and the resulting cream is used mainly as a filling for large pastries like Paris-Brest or Gâteau St. Honoré. It’s usually piped, but only through large nozzles since lots of pressure has a way of breaking it.

Chiboust was supposedly invented by a pastry chef of the same name, who supposedly lived in Paris in the mid-1800’s. Supposedly. By no coincidence whatsoever it is he who is credited with inventing Gâteau St. Honoré. Why did he call it that? Because his shop was on Rue St. Honoré. Supposedly. However that’s all I know and I can’t find a thing that’s authoritative on the mysterious M. Chiboust. Anyone who does know something about him, please weigh in.

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Gâteau St. Honoré Recipe

Gâteau St. Honoré can be made in lots of different ways. The foundation is usually made of puff pastry, short crust, pâte à choux or a combination thereof. Huh? A combination? Yup. The most typical combo is a base of puff pastry with a layer of choux on the top, which is what I’m going to do. I happen to have a large ball of puff pastry scraps in the freezer and they’ll be perfect for the job (since I want the richness but not necessarily all the height). A normal sheet of puff pastry will work great, too. You’ll just need to prick it (“dock” it) with a fork.

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This Week: Gâteau St. Honoré

Here’s a classic that strikes fear in to the hearts of many, but is actually a not-too-difficult thing. You’ve probably seen it before in a pastry case. It looks like a cream-filled tart with caramel-covered cream puffs all around the edge. As with a lot of classic preparations, there are many, many variations on the […]

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Um…mock asparagus?

Several of you wrote in to ask about that detail of the George Washington Carver Post below. I’ll admit I added that in just because it sounded weird. Carver created all sorts of imitation meats out of peanut protein, his own peanut-based version of seitan. I presume he make the imitation asparagus with the same […]

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What about George Washington Carver?

Reader Wendi asks, given that peanut butter was central to last week’s project, where’s my tip of the hat to George Washington Carver?

Now Wendy, don’t get me wrong, I love George Washington Carver. He’s one of my all-time favorite food scientists, synonymous with peanuts and for many, peanut butter. But the truth is that he didn’t invent peanut butter. That was the brainchild of the Incas. They were the first people to cultivate peanuts, and were mashing them into butters and molés thousands of years before Carver ever came on the scene.

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On Chocolate Conching

Reader Katie asks:

Do you know anything about conching chocolate? I’d love to hear more of the science behind that process.

I know w a little bit, Katie, but not terribly much. For while conching is a very well-known step in chocolate processing, it’s something chocolate manufacturers don’t say much about. That’s partly because some believe that conching is the step in which the magic happens. Others, interestingly, think the supposed “mystery” of conching is just a bunch of baloney. I’ll leave that to you to decide.

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