 Flamiche picarde | |
| Type | Pie |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | France |
| Region or state | |
| Main ingredients | Leeks, cream |
Flamiche (French:[fla.miʃ]ⓘ) is aFrench savourypastry, originating in north-westFrance. It dates to medieval times and originally was a kind ofgalette, but in its modern version is a tart made withleeks and cream.
Two possible derivations have been advanced for the wordflamiche: either that it comes fromflamme, 'flame', as the dish was traditionally cooked in a wood-burning oven, or that it is a corruption ofvlamiche –Flemish (the dish being native to north-west France, close to the border with Flanders).[1]
The term dates from medieval times.Jean Froissart'sChronicles, dating from the 14th century, mention people eating "a littletorte in the manner of aflamiche orbeignet to comfort their stomachs".[2] In hisDictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611),Randle Cotgrave applies the term to "a cake made of butter, cheese, flower, and yolkes of egges".[3][n 1]
The 18th-century scholarLegrand d'Aussy described theflamiche as it was made in his time: "It is a kind ofgalette made with baker's dough. It is rolled out with a rolling pin and put in the oven while the wood is burning. As soon as it has been thoroughly heated, it is taken out of the oven and spread with butter. It is eaten as soon as it comes out of the oven".[4] In hisEncyclopédie méthodique (1782)Jacques Lacombe describes aflamiche as "A kind of pastry made with salty fatty cheese, butter, eggs, flour & seasoning. The dough is cut into thick pieces of two fingers, and baked in the oven".[5]
As late as the 1880s there is no mention ofleeks in the definition in theDictionnaire de la langue française: "Name, in some provinces, of a pastry made of cheese, butter and eggs",[6] but in 1910 a French journal described aflamiche as "a flour dough, buttered inside with leeks cut into small pieces", originating inPéronne, Somme.[1] InLarousse Gastronomique (1938),Prosper Montagné wrote, "Nowadays the nameflamiche is given to a kind of leek tart made inBurgundy andPicardy." In 1998,Simon Hopkinson wrote of "La Flamiche aux Poireaux: a buttery leek pie – a famed speciality ofAlsatian cookery".[7] Montagné does not specify the type of pastry to be used; Hopkinson usespuff;Elizabeth David suggests a crumblyshortcrust;[8]Anne Willan uses a yeast dough similar to that used inpizzas.[9]Clarissa Dickson Wright specifies abrioche dough, and although her recipe contains leeks, she comments thatflamiche "can be filled with whatever you like".[10]
