Eclairs, the pastry that strikes as a flash of lightning (2024)

FAQs

Eclairs, the pastry that strikes as a flash of lightning? ›

The word comes from the French éclair, meaning 'flash of lightning', so named because it is eaten quickly (in a flash); however some believe that the name is due to the glistening of the frosting resembling lightning.

Éclair is a French word meaning “flash of lightning.” Some say that these long, cream-filled pastries got their name due to how quickly they are eaten. When I make Chocolate Éclair Cake, it also disappears in a flash. Making a traditional éclair takes some time, usually a few hours.

Another fun and interesting fact about chocolate éclairs is that the word éclair is the French term for lightning. Many believe that the pastry goes by this precise name, because it shimmers when it is coated with the classic chocolate glaze!

History Of The Éclair

Éclairs are believed to have been created by the French celebrity chef Antonin Carême, whose early life struggles led to a remarkable culinary invention in the 19th century around 1884.

Word Origin. The English word éclair comes directly from a French word whose chief meaning is "lightning" or "flash of lightning." No one is sure why a pastry was named after lightning. Some say the lightness of the cream puff and its soft filling is the reason for the name.

Anyway, eclairs are so good that they are eaten as fast as a flash of lightning! The eclair is made of choux dough that, once baked, becomes light and crispy on the outside and hollow on the inside. This hollow inside is created as the water in the dough evaporates during baking, which makes the dough to inflate.

The name éclair means 'flash of lightning', perhaps due to the glisten of the frosting. Its origins can be traced to the 19^th century when it was first called 'petite duch*esse' and some food historians speculate that chef Carême also created this.

Translation of éclair – French–English dictionary

a flash of lightning. lightning [noun] a flash of electricity between clouds or from a cloud to earth during a storm, usually followed by thunder.

The word comes from the French éclair, meaning 'flash of lightning', so named because it is eaten quickly (in a flash); however some believe that the name is due to the glistening of the frosting resembling lightning.

Other than form and name, they are continents apart in taste. An American eclair is made from frozen ingredients such as frozen pre-separated egg whites and yolks and frozen pre-made cream. A French eclair is fresh: freshly separated eggs, freshly stirred creme, freshly picked or ground ingredients.

Why is it called éclair? ›

The French éclair means "flash of lightning," and the scrumptious pastry got its name from the tendency people have to eat eclairs "in a flash." The 19th century Chambers Dictionary famously defined the eclair as "a cake, long in shape but short in duration." An eclair is like a stretched-out cream puff, choux dough ...

The recipe I settled on was religieuse, which translates as Nun and is a form of éclair. The religieuse are said to represent a nun in a habit and they were first created in 1540 by Catherine de Medici's Florentine pastry chef Panterelli.

Puff pastry, also known as pâte feuilletée, is a flaky light pastry made from a laminated dough composed of dough (détrempe) and butter or other solid fat (beurrage). The butter is put inside the dough (or vice versa), making a paton that is repeatedly folded and rolled out before baking.

Blitz Pastry

As this pastry bakes, the water in the fat evaporates, creating steam that separates the dough into flaky layers. While the layers are less distinct than in puff pastry, the resulting texture is gorgeously light and flaky, making this pastry ideal for turnovers, sausage rolls, and rustic tarts.

Heat lightning, also known as silent lightning, summer lightning, or dry lightning (not to be confused with dry thunderstorms, which are also often called dry lightning), is a misnomer used for the faint flashes of lightning on the horizon or other clouds from distant thunderstorms that do not appear to have ...

Far less regularly though, the moment of a lightning strike takes a physical form, where it is frozen perfectly in sandy soil producing a trace structure called a Fulgurite.