Eldergays, tell me about Nesselrode pie

There's also a mystery to it!

That looks creepy and not good.

'NESSELRODE? I know it exists in classical cooking,' said Andre Soltner, chef and owner of Lutece, one of New York's oldest and most famous French restaurants. 'I think there is a game dish a la Nesselrode.'

'Nesselrode? It's always a cream pie,' said George Lang, restaurant consultant and owner of Cafe des Artistes.

'Nesselrode? Mrs. Spier,' was the cryptic reply from Joseph Baum, restaurant consultant and director and co-owner of the Rainbow Room.

Nesselrode is all of these and more, but there are plenty of chefs around who have no idea what the term means in cooking. Charles Palmer, chef and owner of Aureole, a new restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, said he didn't have a clue, nor did Michel Richard, chef and owner of Citrus in Los Angeles, or Bradley Ogden, chef at Campton Place in San Francisco.

And even the experts were unable to come up with the single ingredient indispensible to a Nesselrode anything: pureed chestnuts.

'I heard about Nesselrode many times when I was an apprentice,' Mr. Soltner said, wracking his brain, 'but that was 40 years ago.' The pie of which George Lang spoke is perhaps the only form in which most Americans have even a nodding acquaintance with a Nesselrode dish. And chances are the people doing the nodding are over 50 years old. While for years it was a popular American Christmas dessert, Nesselrode pie left our collective culinary consciousness about 30 years ago and has hardly been heard from since.

Recently, however, it resurfaced in conversations celebrating things that used to be, conversations that inevitably invoke the words: 'Whatever happened to . . .?' In the case of Nesselrode, the conclusion was that it had gone the way of baked Alaska.

All I could remember about Nesselrode pie was that it had candied fruit and some kind of custard and whipped-cream filling. If it had ever had chestnuts they had escaped my attention and, as it turned out, the attention of many cookbooks with recipes for the pie loosely based on the classic Nesselrode pudding.

The most recent edition of 'Larousse Gastronomique,' edited by Jenifer Harvey Lang (Crown, 1988), says Nesselrode is 'the name given to various cooked dishes and pastries, all containing chestnut puree, dedicated to Count Nesselrode, the 19th-century Russian diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Paris after the Crimean War.'

The man who created Nesselrode pudding, according to Larousse, was the count's head chef, one Monsieur Mouy. He put together a custard cream mixed with chestnut puree, candied fruits, currants and white raisins and whipped cream.

An earlier edition of Larousse calls for freezing the Nesselrode pudding. George Lang says Nesselrode coupe, which was essentially the same as frozen Nesselrode pudding, was very popular in New York restaurants from the 1920's through the 1950's.

For me, Nesselrode pie is always associated with New York. I remember having it at a restaurant here as a child - possibly the Cafe de la Paix in the St. Moritz Hotel, but a call there produced no one who had been there long enough to remember.

Which brings me to Mrs. Spier - Hortense Spier, according to Mr. Baum and William Greenberg, the owner of William Greenberg Jr., a much-admired bakery in New York. Both men associate Nesselrode pie with Mrs. Spier, whose company, Hortense Spier Pies, sold pies to restaurants all over the city in the 40's and 50's.

'It all came out of Nesselrode pudding,' Mr. Baum said. Somewhere along the way, however, many of the pies lost their chestnuts, either pureed or as chopped up bits of marrons glaces, candied chestnuts. In the process, they added in other ingredients, primarily shaved chocolate and gelatin. In countless cookbooks from the early 60's, Nesselrode recipes make no mention of chestnuts. The core ingredients are candied fruits and rum.

Where did the key ingredient go? One can only speculate. 'Maybe marrons glaces were too expensive,' Mr. Lang said. Or perhaps, he said, the chestnuts disappeared 'because chestnuts were an ingredient that never took hold in the United States.'

Peter Roggensinger, former pastry chef at the Oyster Bar and possibly the only maker of Nesselrode pie in the New York region today, said that some commercial versions of a product called Nesselrode filling or Nesselrode sauce do not even contain chopped chestnuts, just candied fruits.

Until Mr. Roggensinger left the Oyster Bar about six months ago to open his own pastry shop in Blauvelt, N.Y., near Nyack, Nesselrode pie appeared on the menu from time to time. The current pastry chef, however, said he did not make it.

Aficionados will have to travel to Mr. Roggensinger's shop, Le Gateau Suisse, for their fix. He makes it every other weekend, using Raffeto's Nesselrode filling (complete with chestnut pieces), but will have it more often during the holiday season.

'Mostly it's the old customers who flipped out when they saw it' in the bakery, Mr. Roggensinger said. Is this the making of a trend? After all, Nesselrode pie has the necessary ingredients for making a comeback: It represents nostalgia. Seemingly light, it is actually as rich as any contemporary dessert. And it is ripe for improvement. Instead of cheap, artificially colored candied fruit, try using two kinds of raisins, soaked in orange liqueur or even maraschino liqueur (found in many old versions of Nesselrode pudding), candied orange and crystallized ginger. Use chestnut puree to flavor the filling.

The pie shell could be made with ground nuts and the entire creation covered with whipped cream and the best shaved bittersweet chocolate. The pie shell could even be eliminated and the custard cream mixture spooned into a bombe mold, frozen and served with whipped cream in what could easily pass for a viable threat to tiramisu as a voluptuous dessert. A RICHNESS TO RIVAL TIRAMISU NESSELRODE PIE Preparation time: 35 minutes 1 11-inch nut crust (see recipe) 1/4 cup finely chopped glaceed oranges (see note) 1/3 to 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger 4 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur 1/3 cup raisins 1/3 cup currants 5 eggs, room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin 1/4 cup cold water 3 cups heavy cream 1 cup chestnut puree Shaved chocolate.

1. Prepare the nut crust and set aside.

1. Macerate orange and ginger in 3 tablespoons orange liqueur and soak the raisins and currants in hot water to cover while preparing pie.

2. Beat eggs at medium speed for seven minutes, then beat in 1/4 cup sugar until very thick. Beat in remaining sugar.

3. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and dissolve over hot water. Watch carefully. Cool.

4. Carefully stir gelatin mixture into egg mixture and refrigerate while beating cream.

5. Process chestnut puree with 1/2 cup cream. Fold into egg mixture with macerated fruit and drained raisins and currants.

6. Beat 1 1/2 cups cream until soft peaks form. Fold into egg mixture.

7. Spoon into prepared pie shell and chill for several hours.

8. When ready to serve, beat remaining 1 cup cream to form soft peaks. Fold in remaining 1 tablespoon of liqueur, if desired, and use to decorate top of pie. Sprinkle shaved chocolate over whipped cream.

Yield: 10 servings

Note: For the best quality, whole slices of glaceed oranges are preferable to most candied orange peel. They are usually found in gourmet shops and candy stores. NUT CRUST 2 cups toasted, coarsely ground pecans 1 egg white, beaten to form soft peaks 1 tablespoon brown sugar.

1. Combine pecans with egg white and brown sugar and use to line bottom and sides of an 11-inch pie plate.

Yield: One 11-inch pie crust.

I have no idea how chestnut purée would taste. Kinda sounds unappetizing

Never heard of it until now, but now I want to try it.

That was the worst article OP

Wow, never heard of it but anything with chestnuts....I'm in!!

OP, define the age range for eldergays.

I grew up with Nesselrode pie. I hated it as a kid but by the time I grew up no one was left who prepared it. I remember three aunts and their versions were the subject of much discussion and disagreement. I liked Aunt Hildegard's the best. Tante Sophie's was wet and sticky-sweet. I don't remember Tante Mina's. (two generations - the latter two were grand-aunts from Germany).

Think Methuselah, R10.

R6 Mont Blanc is a classic dessert of chestnut purée. I’ve never lived anywhere I could try it but it always looked gorgeous and decadent to me. I’d try this too. I love learning about nostalgic foods.

I remember it as a favorite desert years ago. I loved it. It also brings up happy memories of desert outings with my parents.

Which was your family’s favorite outing R14, to the Mojave or the Gobi??

R15

Very funny! Actually we much preferred the beach!

In the 20s we had tomato soup cake

Another SHIT desert the NYT is trying to push. Earlier today the showcased a recipe that had Rhubarb in it.

ANYTHING with Rhubarb in it is crap.

The only Nesselrode I know was W.C. Field's mother-in-law in "Man on the Flying Trapeze", played by Vera Lewis

Whatever you do, don't buy the jarred mix. Soak the candied fruit and chestnuts in rum or brandy yourself. It's worth it!

And I here I thought it was named after Ida Nessel (later Ida Morgenstern.)

For gay days and busy days

How do feel about almond purée, r6?

I love Mont Blanc/Montebianco. One of my favorite desserts.

I love the ingredients except the candied citron. Gross. I'd leave that out.

Yum r24.

Times like these where I actually miss NYC. Can’t get that in flyover country 🙁