When Kitty Morse discovered a tattered valise in her mother's closet after her passing, the cookbook author stashed it away on a shelf, assuming it was filled with boring old documents. When she decided to look inside, she was stunned by its contents. She came across journals written in French by her great-grandfather, an Army surgeon.
The diaries, written in 1940, recount the German advance on Châlons-en-Champagne, a town in northeastern France that had a sizable Jewish population. Day-to-day activities are documented, as well as the Germans commandeering wood and coal during one of the coldest winters of the era.
Other discoveries included a book of handwritten, family recipes from Blanche, his wife, and Morse's great-grandmother. The contents were a treasure trove for Morse, who used the material to write Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal & Heirloom Recipes From Occupied France. She refers to the work as three books in one — part history of the Belle Epoque, part cookbook, and her grandfather's personal account.
"Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal & Heirloom Recipes From Occupied France" originated from a time capsule kept by the author's great-grandparents. Photo courtesy of La Caravane Publishing.
Wrapped in butcher paper, the suitcase was originally sent anonymously to Morse's grandfather, now married to Prosper and Blanche's daughter, who was living in Morocco after World War II. With no return address and no idea where it came from, her grandfather phoned the family doctor asking for advice on how and when to present the contents to his wife, whose parents, Prosper and Blanche, died in the Holocaust. Three months went by before he divulged the information and Morse said her grandmother never recovered. Morse suspects her mother came to possess the valise during the 1970s.
Morse recognized some of the dishes from her childhood including sauerkraut and Bûche de Noël but never knew they were her great-grandmother Blache's recipes. A recipe that is particularly meaningful to Morse is Lapin au Riseling. Last May, Morse traveled to Champagne to follow in her great-grandfather's footsteps, searching for the houses he lived in and clinics where he worked. Prosper mentions a home in Rosier where he sought refuge from the bombing and sheltered in the wine tunnels. The mayor of Rosier escorted Morse to the house where her great-grandfather hid and two sisters prepared a rabbit stew cooked in wine. Morse sat in the same spot where he had eaten the dish 80 years prior.
Kitty Morse was able to track down the home where her great-grandfather ate a dish similar to this one, which he documented in his journal. Photo by Owen Morse.
The French aren't fans of icing so this carrot cake is topped with crème fraîche or crème Chantilly. Photo by Owen Morse.
Gâteau de Carottes de Blanche
Carrot Pudding Cake
Serves 8
I was under the impression that carrot cake was an American specialty! Then I came upon the recipe for Blanche’s Gâteau de Carottes which she must have jotted down in 1939. Blanche’s recipe yields a surprisingly moist cake and turns its back on the ultra-sweet Philadelphia Cream Cheese icing so iconic of the American version. Serve this gâteau with a dollop of crème fraîche or Crème Chantilly. Almond flour is sometimes mislabeled as almond meal, though they are interchangeable. You can make this cake the day before and let it stand overnight at room temperatures so it obtains its pudding like consistency.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 5 ounces butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or Cointreau orange liqueur
- 2 medium carrots peeled and grated using a large hole of a hand grater
- 1 1/3 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup toasted and ground almonds or 1 cup almond meal
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Whipped cream or crème fraîche, for serving (optional)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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In a bowl, beat egg yolks, sugar and butter until mixture turns pale yellow. Stir in orange juice, Grand Marnier, and grated carrots.
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In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and ground almonds or almond flour (or almond meal). Add this in increments to the egg mixture.
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Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. Fold egg whites into the batter. Spoon into a 9-inch pie tin lined with buttered parchment paper. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until firm to the touch. Let the cake stand overnight. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.