Home ›› 17 Apr 2023 ›› Opinion
In Lorraine, in the north-east of France, the small city of Nancy slumbered on the bank of the river Meurthe. Before the city awakened, a fog crept off the water and settled over the streets. The occasional roar of a scooter interrupted the silence, and two people sat on the steps of the famous Place Stanislas. But otherwise, the boulevards and squares were still.
It seemed hard to believe that anyone could be working, but a stone’s throw from the Hôtel de Ville, pâtissier Nicolas Genot toiled alone and unobserved to produce the veritable Macarons des Sœurs, using a recipe unchanged for more than two centuries that he alone holds in his head.
Later, as the frantic rush to offices and classrooms was underway, the fruits of his labour were displayed in the large glass window of his pâtisserie, the Maison des Sœurs Macarons. They sat alongside other local specialities such as the little jars of syrup-soaked baba au rhum cakes and cellophane bags of bright Bergamotes de Nancy candies, but it’s the macarons that are the reason for his shop’s fame.
Unlike the better-known, pastel-coloured “Paris” macaron, which comes in a variety of shapes, colours and flavours, the Macarons des Sœurs have no ganache, are a uniform pale brown, are finely cracked on top and taste like toasted almonds. They are essentially the top half of their more famous counterpart.
Eating them is an exercise in history; the recipe has never changed in the 230 years since their invention, and it has only ever been passed to the succeeding pâtissier of the Maison des Sœurs Macarons. “The recipe and the secret are passed on orally, they’ve never been written down, and, in the contract with the new pâtissier, both sides swear to never teach the making to anybody else,” explained Genot. “The owner of the pâtisserie is the only one who makes the macaron, alone and away from prying eyes.”
The kitchens of monasteries and abbeys across Europe have been responsible for the invention of more than a few popular pastries and desserts, including the famous Portuguese egg tart, the pastel de nata, and the rum and vanilla flavoured cannelé from Bordeaux, to give just two examples. This baking ingenuity grew out of the reliance on the sale of products to raise money for the upkeep of their religious orders, as well as simply having the time and opportunity to experiment.
Similarly, the original Macarons des Sœurs were created by two 18th Century nuns, Marguerite Gaillot and Marie Morlot, who lived in an abbey in the heart of Nancy. It’s possible one of the nuns brought some form of the recipe with them upon joining the sisterhood and then perfected it. In 1792, a decree abolishing religious congregations led to their expulsion from the abbey. The nuns fled and took refuge with a local doctor, supporting themselves by making and selling their macarons.
BBC
