A petit four, also know as mignardises, is a small confectionery or savoury appetizer. The name is French, meaning “small oven”. The petit four were traditionally made in a smaller oven next to the main oven. In the 18th century some bakers made them during the cooling process of coal-fired brick ovens to take advantage of their stored heat, thus exploiting coal’s high burning temperature and economizing on its expense relative to wood.
The petit four can come in three varieties:
In a French patisserie, assorted small desserts are usually called mignardises, while hard, buttery biscuits are called petit four though petit four seems to encompass all tiny treats mentioned above. Who cares about the savory petit four? I am talking about the adorable, tiny layered cakes filled with fruit or frosting and covered in poured fondant or icing usually made from sponge cakes, genoise cakes, or pound cakes. Or something like that. As I have said before, there are so many styles of things in baking it is hard to go wrong. You can always invent whatever style you like.
But why would you call these delicious desserts “little ovens”? You see, in 19th century France, there were no gas ovens. The baker’s oven was the single type of oven bake then. It was a huge cabin made out of stone or brick, underneath which would be lit a fire. These ovens took a long time to get going but took a long time to die down. And you know, they didn’t really have a knob one could turn to modify the heat being 19th Century and all. Really, it only had two settings. The first setting was the grand four, big oven, where the fire was at its strongest. This setting was used when the big stuff such as roasts, boars, pigs, ribs, and the platters of veggies and potatoes were placed in to cook. The second setting was the petit four, when the fire started to die out and the heat began to weaken. In this setting you could bake individual pastries and bite-size appetizers to serve with tea. This is how these novelty foods were named petit four, describing the way they were prepared.
The petit four is usually served at fancy events like weddings or bridal showers. You see them a lot on cruise ships or at the buffet in Las Vegas or elsewhere. There are also recipes in various cookbooks that you could try on your own. Regardless of where you see them, be sure to have one or two but don’t forget to do your exercise later though. I always like to grab a few myself because the petit four always makes me smile.
Have you had the chance to enjoy a petit four? Where did you try them and what was your experience? Would love to hear from you in the comments section.
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They may not be the same as your petit fours but you can buy these bite size cakes put together as a package in Carrefour. I used to get them and the sushi packs everyday when I was in south of France. The result was as you guessed a few kilos of weight that took several months to get rid of. While we were travelling around France, I had to stop in the bakery everyday and get one or two of those cakes as well as fresh French bread. I just love them. Thanks for reminding those lovely memories to me again.
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There were probably the same. If they looked like the desserts in the pictures here. But never mind. The French know their dessert. I should know as I am a french trained baker and pastry cook. As you also know they are good there as you had one or two. 🙂
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Your article about safe driving tips is not just for teenagers. Adults should pay attention to your article as well. Good stuff.
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I’m glad your experiment with the rustic bread was so successful! One of my friends has an outdoor oven built into a brick area in her back yard. I’ve enjoyed fresh pizza from it on summer evenings. An oven like that would be a nice thing to have!
Baked goods – deserve more than 1000 smiles , that’s what I think!
As a pastry chef and baker I would have to agree as well.
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The delicious petit four…!!!
I am glad to read the information you shared on this page. Really good! Here’s something else you could say instead of delicious. …
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Very cool the story of the petit four, I confess that I didn’t know, despite having bought a lot of them in markets, it never came to my mind that they would have a story like that. Thank you for sharing it.
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