That Purim is a day appropriate for costumes, loudness and a general air of silliness is well known. Many French Jews also take the holiday as a special opportunity to take revenge on the people they consider pretentious, pompous or obnoxious. Like many other Paris restaurateurs, Paul Cohen-Brebant, who owned the well known Paris restaurant Brebant-Vachette, had a deep disliking for Charles Monselet. A well known writer and journalist, Monselet had pretensions of being a great gastronome and, based on his self-proclaimed "well trained palate", often wrote biting and highly critical reviews of the restaurants at which he dined. Many of Paris' true gourmets and chefs were sure that Monselet was merely a pretender. Some went as far as to claim that he had no sense of taste at all but no one could prove that he was a fraud.

On Purim day of 1878, Brebant decided to take his revenge and invited Monselet to what was supposed to be a dinner in his honor. Chavette, the chef at the restaurant prepared a special menu that included swallow's nest soup, brill, mountain goat cutlets and partridge. The wines listed were a Clos-Vougeot, a Hungarian Tokay and a white wine from Africa's Cape of Good Hope. Brebant also invited Edmond de Goncourt, Theophile Gautier and Joseph Hemard , each of whom also detested Monselet. Before the dinner however, he told each of these three friends what he was planning to do.

Much to the growing contempt of his host, Monselet raved over every dish and every wine. When the meal ended, as Hemard later wrote in a letter to a friend, the chef came to the table and loudly proclaimed that Monselet had made a complete fool of himself. The soup was nothing more than a puree of noodles and white beans; the brill was merely the cheapest cod that could be bought in the market; the mountain goat had been nothing more than lamb chops, and the partridge had been merely a small turkey. Even the wines that had Monselet in a nearly rhapsodic state had been fraudulent. The Clos-Vougeot was an ordinary wine to which the chef had added a spoonful of cognac and a violet flower; the Tokay was a simple wine from Macon with a bit of gin added; and the South African wine was an inexpensive Chablis.

Nor was this the only occasion on which Monselet made a fool of himself. Several years later, Monselet was invited to an afternoon dinner party at the home of Joseph Favre, author of the "Grand Dictionaire de Cuisine", who was also an especially gifted cook. Monselet was told to come at four in the afternoon. The other guests arrived at three so that Favre could let them in on the joke he was about to play.

The menu consisted of liver of burbot (a fresh water fish whose liver is especially prized by gourmets); Lyon sausages with Isigny butter; salmon escalopes with tartar sauce; and an omelet of ambergris, a grey, waxy substance found in the intestines of certain whales that is used in the making of fine perfumes. Monselet had learned little from the earlier trick played on him and he commented like an expert on the merits of each course. He had special praise for the omelet. Finally, when Monselet finished eating, Favre confessed that the whole meal had been a joke.

He revealed that on the previous day, while visiting the Paris zoo, he had been given a dead Egyptian crocodile. The burbot livers Monselet had called exquisite were crocodile brains; the salmon escalopes, that Monselet were sure had come from Scotland, had been made from the tail of the crocodile; and the omelet had been made with the eggs of the beast. To add to Monselet's dismay, Favre also revealed that the Lyon sausages were made out of horsemeat and that the butter was margarine.

Despite Monselet's obvious faults as a gastronome and critic, many chefs were afraid of his reviews and, in order to placate his ego, dedicated new dishes to him. One of the best known of these is the recipe for Bombe Monselet, a delicious dessert, but one definitely not recommended for those with a cholesterol problem.


Bombe Monselet

4 cups mandarine or orange sorbet, softened but not melted
1 cup candied orange peel, cut in small dice
1/2 cup Cognac or Armagnac
7 cups sugar
32 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup Port wine
about 3 cups sweet cream, whipped stiff

Line a bombe mold or a ceramic bowl with the sorbet and place in the freezer until the sorbet is frozen solid.

In a small bowl soak the candied orange peel in the brandy.

In a saucepan dissolve the sugar in 4 cups of water. Bring this syrup to a rapid boil, strain and filter.

In the top of a large double boiler over hot water combine the syrup and egg yolks, stirring regularly with a whisk and when the mixture becomes as thick as sweet cream rub it through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Add the vanilla ract and then the Port wine and continue to stir until the mixture is cool. To this mixture add the candied peels and then add an equal volume of the whipped cream. Place the mixture in a porcelain or ceramic container, cover and refrigerate until the mixture is completely cold (at least 4 - 5 hours). When cold fill the bombe mold with this mixture. Seal the mold and let stand in the freezer until solid throughout.

To serve, dip the mold into a large bowl of warm water for a few seconds and then turn onto a large, chilled serving
plate. (Serves 12 - 16).

© Daniel Rogov