Recipe no. 580 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 255.
Ingredients
- sugar
- water
- vanilla pod
- egg yolks
- whipped cream
- butter
- flour
Preparation
- Vanilla syrupMelt the sugar in the water, let boil 5 to 6 minutes, add the vanilla, infuse 10 minutes covered.
- SabayonPour the syrup gradually over the egg yolks, working constantly with the whisk.
- BindSet over low heat, whisking continuously until frothy.
- CoolRemove from the heat and whisk continuously until fully cooled.
- AssembleMix with the whipped cream, pour into a mould, close hermetically, sealing the joints with butter and flour.
- Set the parfaitSet the mould in a tub surrounded with crushed ice and coarse salt, for at least 3 to 4 hours, renewing the ice.
Reboul's text
The composition of parfaits is quite different from ordinary ices; here one proceeds without the help of the ice-cream churn.
Put 250 grams of sugar with a glass of water in a saucepan; melt and let boil 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat to let a vanilla pod infuse in it for 10 minutes, covered.
Pour this syrup gradually over 10 egg yolks that you will have put in a small basin; work with a whisk as you go.
Set over low heat and bind the mixture, whisking continuously. When it is well frothy, set aside to let it cool without ceasing to whisk.
Mix this mixture with half a litre of whipped cream, pour it into a mould meant for this purpose, close it hermetically with its lid, sealing the joints with butter mixed with flour. Put this mould in a tub well surrounded with crushed ice mixed with coarse salt.
It takes at least 3 to 4 hours for a parfait to be well set. In the meantime one must remove the water that the ice has given off, and replace it with fresh ice mixed with salt.
This kind of ice is sometimes called frozen cheese.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| sucre | sugar |
| vaniho | vanilla |
| fouit | whisk |
| burre | butter |
| farino | flour |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 580, page 255. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.