| similar_dish = Nesselrode pie, Nesselrode consomme, sweetbreads Nesselrode, venison steaks Nesselrode
| similar_dish = Nesselrode pie, Nesselrode consomme, sweetbreads Nesselrode, venison steaks Nesselrode
}}
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”’Nesselrode pudding”’ is a chestnut-based frozen dessert invented in the first half of the 19th century and named after Russian diplomat [[Karl Nesselrode]]. Variations include Nesselrode Pie, [[consommé]], and [[Sweetbread|sweetbreads]]. In literature, the dessert is served at a dinner party in Proust’s ”[[In Search of Lost Time|Remembrance of Things Past]],” eliciting a positive reaction from a guest.
”’Nesselrode pudding”’ is a chestnut-based frozen dessert invented in the first half of the 19th century and named after Russian diplomat [[Karl Nesselrode]]. Variations include Nesselrode Pie, [[consommé]], and [[]]. In literature, the dessert is served at a dinner party in Proust’s ”[[In Search of Lost Time|Remembrance of Things Past]],” eliciting a positive reaction from a guest.
== Origin ==
== Origin ==
Chestnut-based frozen dessert
Nesselrode pudding topped with fresh cherries and holly |
|
| Type | Bombe glacée |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Created by | Chef Mony |
| Main ingredients | Chestnut puree, cream, dried fruit, alcohol |
| Similar dishes | Nesselrode pie, Nesselrode consomme, sweetbreads Nesselrode, venison steaks Nesselrode |
Nesselrode pudding is a chestnut-based frozen dessert invented in the first half of the 19th century and named after Russian diplomat Karl Nesselrode. Variations include Nesselrode Pie, consommé, and sweetbreads. In literature, the dessert is served at a dinner party in Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, eliciting a positive reaction from a guest.
Origin
_(cropped)_Nesselrode_pudding.jpg)
The invention of Nesselrode pudding is generally attributed to Chef Mony (or Muny, Munie, Monni or Mouy), who invented the basic idea sometime before 1840 while working for the Russian diplomat Karl Nesselrode. Patricia Bunning Stephens dates the invention by Mony to the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15.[1][page needed] According to Jane Grigson, Mony passed the recipe to Jules Gouffe, who published it in his 1867 book Livres de Cuisine and attributed it to Mony.[2][full citation needed][3] Ian Kelly also attributes the invention to Mony.[4][page needed]
However Gail Monaghan attributes the creation of the pudding to Antonin Carême, chef to another diplomat Charles Talleyrand, also involved in the Congress of Vienna. Carême himself claims that his good friend Mony obtained the idea from a recipe already published by Carême in the first edition of Le cuisinier parisien, ou l’art de la cuisine française au 19e siècle, which was published in 1828.[5][full citation needed][6] Historian Annie Gray reports that in the French edition of Le cuisinier parisien, Carême attributes the pudding to Mony, but in the English edition claims it as his own invention, which may account for the confusion over its origins.[7][8]
Preparation and consumption
The dessert is generally agreed to contain pureed chestnuts, mixed with cream or egg custard, flavoured with dried fruit, including currants, raisins and dried cherries, candied peel and brandy or other spirits.[4][page needed] While it was generally presented as a frozen dessert, in some recipes it was set with gelatin instead.[9][10] An 1897 recipe published in The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer was a pineapple–chestnut icecream with candied fruit and raisins, served with maraschino syrup.[11] The Joy of Cooking, first published 1931, contained a recipe using gelatin-thickened whipped cream with crumbled macaroons, and omitted chestnuts entirely.[12][unreliable source?]
Variations
The dessert was popular in Victorian times. English writers Eliza Acton and Isabella Beeton published recipes for Nesselrode Pudding, Nesselrode Cream and iced Nesselrode.[13][7][14]
In the 1950s, the pudding was adapted into Nesselrode Pie or Nesselrode Chiffon Pie, in America.[15] Some recipes for this pie omitted chestnut flavouring entirely, relying on cherries, rum and sherry for flavour.[16] Other dishes with the name Nesselrode include sweetbreads Nesselrode, venison steaks Nesselrode, and consomme Nesselrode, the common feature to all being that they are flavoured with chestnuts.[17][4][page needed][18][page needed]
In culture
Nesselrode pudding is served at a dinner party in Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. According to P Segal, it is “one of the few dishes served at Proust’s interminable dinner parties in Remembrance to merit an exclamation of approval from a guest”,[19] with that approval being: “Ah, what’s this now? What, another Nesselrode pudding! After such a feast of Lucullus, it will behove me to take the waters at Karlsbad!”[20]
Novelist Susie Boyt, eating Nesselrode pudding for the first time in 2016, reported that “it tasted of Christmas, without any of the disappointment”.[21]
References
- ^ Stevens, Patricia Bunning (1998). Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes. Ohio University Press. ISBNÂ 9780965447713.
- ^ Grigson, Jane (1979). Food with the Famous. London: Michael Joseph.
- ^ Gouffé, Jules (1867). Le livre de cuisine : comprenant la cuisine de ménage et la grande cuisine / par Jules Gouffé ; pl… dessinées… par E. Ronjat. Hachette. p. 750 – via Bibliothèque nationale de France.
(translated) I owe the recipes for the Marquise pudding and the Nesselrode pudding to one of my good old friends and honorable colleague, Mr. Mony, former chef of the Count of Nesselrode, who is cited among our most distinguished practitioners. I can therefore, as for the Châteaubriant and the Sicilienne, guarantee the complete authenticity of these two recipes, since I got them directly from the authors, to whom I am happy to offer here my testimony of gratitude and good fellowship.
- ^ a b c Kelly, Ian (2004). Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême, the First Celebrity Chef. New York: Walker & Company.
- ^ Monaghan, Gail (2007). Lost desserts: delicious indulgences of the past: recipes from legendary restaurants and famous chefs.
- ^ Carême, M. A. (Marie Antonin) (1828). Le cuisinier parisien, ou l’art de la cuisine française au 19e siècle [The art of French cuisine in the 19th century]. Paris: Didot. p. 398.
(translated) Mr. Monni, a Parisian and distinguished cook, has lived in the capital of the North for ten or twelve years. I am quite convinced that the chestnut pudding that I composed and described in the first edition of this work gave him the idea for this frozen pudding, to which he gave the name of the Russian lord (Ã la Nesselrode), whose dinner he prepares every day.
- ^ a b “Nesselrode Pudding”. British Food: A History. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
- ^ Felicity Cloake (14 December 2025). “How to make nesselrode pudding – recipe”. The Guardian. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
- ^ Galletly, Duncan. “Nesselrode Pudding” (PDF). www.aristologist.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
- ^ “Woman’s World”. Evening Star. 11 February 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 4 February 2025 – via Papers Past.
- ^ Farmer, Fannie (1896). The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Little, Brown & Company. p. 379.
- ^ Rombauer, Irma; Rombauer, Marion (1931). The Joy of Cooking (First ed.). Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
- ^ “Nesselrode pudding recipe”. Pies, Puddings and Pottages. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
- ^ Beeton, Mrs (Isabella Mary) (1861). The Book of Household Management.
- ^ DeRuiter, Geraldine; Hadeed, Becky (19 June 2024). “Nesselrode Pie Recipe (Vintage New York Dessert)”. The Storied Recipe. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
- ^ Knox On Camera Recipes: A completely new guide to Gel-Cookery. Montreal: Knox-Gelatin Canada. 1962. p. 35.
- ^ Perry, Charles (5 August 1998). “Twilight descends on Nesselrode cream”. Times – Colonist – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Smith, Henry (1902). The master book of soups, featuring 1,001 titles and recipes. London: Spring.
- ^ Segal (Roberta Pizzimenti), P (December 1994). “The Superlative Nesselrode”. Proust Said That (2): 14–15 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Proust, Marcel (2002). In search of lost time. Internet Archive. London: Allen Lane. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-14-091000-1.
- ^ Boyt, Susie (4 March 2016). “Nesselrode pudding”. The Financial Times.
External links
Media related to Nesselrode pudding at Wikimedia Commons
