Good morning, welcome back to our series sharing Food Holidays: June 22nd, 2021. Take a look at this mornings Holidays and let me know which one you most would like to celebrate and why.
I can tell you a fun fact about Charlie and I its National Chocolate Eclair Day and neither Charlie or I have ever had one of these. Before you ask I am not sure if David has or hasn’t had a Chocolate Eclair. Have you had one?
The very word strikes our taste buds like lightning and fills our minds with images of rich Cream, light dough, and a creamy topping that just whisks us away to old Paris.
Chocolate Éclair Day celebrates one of the most decadent of treats to come out of the confectioners trade since time out of mind. While there are as many varieties of Eclair as there are confectioners to create new delicacies, but the one that is a strong stand by that leaves us all drooling is the Chocolate Éclair.
If there was ever a day to recognize as a dessert lover it has to be Chocolate Éclair Day. Whether you’re a self confessed sweet tooth or a behind the scenes sugary snacker, there is always room for an Éclair!
History of Chocolate Éclair Day
Éclair… An enticing name for a treat, Eclair even sounds decadent, but what does it actually mean? Éclair means “flash of lightning” and describes the speed at which these delicacies will disappear if left unguarded.
These delicious treats were said to have first been invented by the French Chef Antonin Carême, a man with a tragic history that led to a grand creation in the early 19th century.
He was abandoned by his parents in the tumultuous days of the French Revolution and found work as a kitchen boy to keep himself housed and fed. Some time later he found himself working as an apprentice to a famous Pâtissier named Sylvain Bailly.
The young boy blossomed into an amazingly talented chef, so talented in fact that when he left Bailly’s training he was able to move from employer to employer with impunity. This was rare in a time when one’s employer practically owned them, in this case, he could move freely, such was his talent.
Out of that talent came a long-standing love for the delicacy that would disappear so fast it was named for this tendency. Some time later the Chocolate Éclair was invented and took its well-deserved position as the King of the Éclair.
Unique éclair flavors to try
Why not use Chocolate Éclair Day to dip your toe into a sweet and crazy dessert you might never have come across before?
- Pistachio, Raspberry and White Chocolate
- Double Chocolate Chip with Cookie Dough Creme
- Passion fruit and Mango with Dark Chocolate Glaze
- Milk Chocolate and Orange with extra sweet peel sprinkled on top
Make your own Chocolate Eclair or check out your local bakery to see if they have any of these fun and fabulous flavors.
Facts about Chocolate Eclairs:
The delicious oblong pastry made with Choux dough filled with Vanilla Cream is the almighty Eclair! What makes this French delicacy even more delicious is that it is glazed with sweet and shiny Chocolate Icing.
Did you know the dough of a Chocolate
Eclair is the exact same type of pastry as the Profiterole? The only difference between the two is that it is piped into an accurate oblong shape and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside.
The much loved Chocolate Eclair is not to be confused with a certain type of pastry called a Long John. A number of bakeries in the United States of America and Canada sell Long Johns, but they’re actually made with Doughnut Pastry rather than the traditional Choux Dough.
Another fun and interesting fact about Chocolate Eclairs is that the word Eclair 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!
Are you keen to try baking your very own Eclair?
If you have never tried making your own Chocolate Eclair, why not use Chocolate Éclair Day as the opportunity to get crafty in the kitchen? Charlie and I plan on trying to make Chocolate Eclairs in our Homeschool Cooking Class.
If you are looking for a full proof way to make sure your classic Chocolate Eclairs come out perfectly then listen up! Follow the simple tips below and you will be able to create your very own crisp, sweet and delicious Chocolate Eclairs.
The consistency of your pastry dough is absolutely essential. You need to weigh your ingredients accurately rather than using cups or other methods of measuring.
When you pay close attention to the pastry your Eclairs will come up beautifully without any cracks at all! Another tip to keep your Eclairs looking perfect is to hold yourself back from opening up the oven door before your twenty five minutes of baking time is up.
If you do crack open the oven door the steam will be let out which will cause your delicious Eclairs to fall flat (and nobody likes a flat Eclair!).
How to celebrate Chocolate Éclair Day
It’s one of the greatest ways to celebrate any holiday ever by backing what is being celebrated and the best way to celebrate the Holiday is by indulging in the amazing variety of ways you can create a Chocolate Éclair.
Milk Chocolate topping? Absolutely! Dark Chocolate? Oh yes. Sprinkled with dried Raspberries? Seriously man, what are you waiting for? Lets get to cooking….
There’s no wrong way to create a Chocolate Éclair, and Chocolate Éclair Day encourages you to try them all! If you’re feeling ambitious, then lets get to baking because you might become Antonin Carême.
Here’s 5 Facts about Chocolate Eclairs:
- Eclair is an oblong pastry made with Choux Dough filled with a Cream and topped with Icing.
- In French, “Eclair” the dessert may have gotten its name from the “flash” of frosting that glistens across its top.
- When baking Chocolate Eclair, sufficient steam is essential to the construction of the inner cavern that will be filled with Vanilla Cream.
- MasterChef India pastry experts spent three days constructing a 26 foot tall cChocolate Eclair pyramid in 2010, taking the world record, according to Limca.
- Eclair originated during the 19th century in France and it was called “pain à la duchesse” or “petite duchesse” until 1850.
Recipes for Chocolate Eclairs:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter, cubed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- FILLING:
- 2-1/2 cups cold whole milk
- 1 package (5.1 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- FROSTING:
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 to 3 tablespoons hot water
- Preheat oven to 400°. In a large saucepan, bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny.
- Using a tablespoon or a pastry tube with a #10 or large round tip, form dough into nine 4×1-1/2-in. strips on a greased baking sheet. Bake 35-40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Remove to a wire rack. Immediately split eclairs open; remove tops and set aside. Discard soft dough from inside. Cool eclairs.
- In a large bowl, beat milk and pudding mix according to package directions. In another bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar and vanilla; fold into pudding. Fill eclairs (chill any remaining filling for another use).
- For frosting, in a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Stir in sugar and enough hot water to achieve a smooth consistency. Cool slightly. Frost eclairs. Store in refrigerato
If you’ve got a craving for all things deep-fried, National Onion Ring Day is the holiday for you! On June 22, the Nation celebrates the irresistible deliciousness of Onion Rings—often by eating as many of them as possible.
It’s unclear when Onion Rings were first developed, but an Onion Ring-like recipe appeared in an 1802 cookbook, and another surfaced in a New York newspaper in 1910.
Texas-based restaurant chain Kirbys Pig Stand claims it played a big part in Onion Rings’ creation, and fast food restaurant A&W helped them reach widespread popularity.
There is still an ongoing debate over who deserves credit for the snack’s creation, and cooks also still argue about how to best prepare and serve Onion rings for the most flavorful results.
Onion Rings are even made from an Onion Paste, as opposed to an Onion Ring itself! This style of preparation can make it easier to eat the rings without accidentally yanking the Onion out of the fried batter.
However Onion Rings first came to be — and however you prefer your Onion Rings to be prepared — they’re now a beloved snack across the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, some regions of Asia, and other corners of the world.
Onion Rings have also inspired countless spin-off snacks, like Blooming Onions and Funyun chips. No matter how you like Onion Rings, grab a fried Onion snack for National Onion Rings Day!
Onion Rings are rich and crisp, delicious, and surprisingly sweet for a flavor so often related to being spicy and the source of tears. But something about the process of breading Onion Rings in a flavorful coating and deep-frying them in a vat of oil brings out the delicious flavors hidden inside.
Onion Rings come in towers and flowers, giant-sized and tiny, and Onion Rings are a favorite at burger joints all over the world. That’s right, we’re talking about Onion Rings, and Onion Rings Day which celebrates the delicious treat and its long history.
History of Onion Rings Day
The origin of the Onion Rings is actually somewhat mysterious, but we do know that in 1802 a recipe was published in ”The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined.”
This recipe describes a process of dipping ½” Onion Rings dipped into a rather flavorful mixture of flour with creams and cheeses and then boiling them in a vat of lard. Following on the heels of this was a suggestion to serve it with a sauce made of a mixture of Mustard and Butter. Doesn’t this just sound yummy? Not….
Since then, there have been many refinements of Onion Rings recipe, with a great debate existing on the proper method and what brings out the best flavor.
There are hundreds of recipes involving different mixtures of batter to coat Onion Rings in, different Sauces to dip them in, and even the type of Onions you use to prepare them.
As if that wasn’t complicated enough, there’s even a variety of Onion Rings that are made from an Onion Paste formed into a circle instead of an actual slice of Onion.
If you’ve ever enjoyed these delicious treats, then Onion Rings Day provides you with an excuse to go to your favorite source and consume Onion Rings until you burst.
Onion Rings aren’t just an invention of the Western World. There’s also evidence that people experimented with the idea of covering strips of Onion with batter and deep-frying them in developing countries too. In India, for instance, merchants would often sell fried, battered Onion strips as street food – a quick snack that people could munch on the go.
As we discussed, historians have found examples of Onion Ring-like recipes that date back as far as 1802. With that said, there are restaurants in operation today that claim to be the originators of the idea.
Kirby’s Pig Stand – the famous historical restaurant chain – claims to have battered and served up the first official Onion Rings as far back as the 1920s.
This restaurant’s location is in Dallas, TX, and was the first in the world to offer a drive-in service where people could collect food from the convenience of their vehicles.
Before you ask yes, I live in Dallas, Texas and no, I hadn’t heard of this restaurant but in Homeschool Cooking this morning I’m going to have Charlie research the restaurant.
In many ways, the outlet was the progenitor to the modern fast-food restaurant. The roof was red-tiled and pagoda-like in appearance, and the outer walls made heavy use of stucco to brighten the exterior.
Over the years, the company built many more outlets, but eventually, chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell bought them up. In 2006, the company went bankrupt, and the last restaurant closed.
How to celebrate Onion Rings Day
Onion Rings Day is your opportunity to get out there and enjoy your favorite deep-fried savory treat. Onion Rings are simple to make at home, and while a deep fryer is great, it isn’t essential in their preparation.
There are even baked Onion Rings if you decide to go that way, but nothing beats the original. Just heat up a pan of oil until a small drop of batter starts to sizzle when dropped in, and then carefully submerge your coated Onion Rings one by one and cook until a golden brown. There are dozens of recipes online that you can try, and even more recipes for Sauces to serve the Onion Rings with.
If making Onion Rings isn’t your idea of fun, but you like eating them, then you can head out to any one of the dozens of restaurant chains that serves Onion Rings as part of their daily menu.
While many fast-food chains offer Onion Rings, the best examples come from independent restaurants with proprietary recipes. It’s highly likely that you have at least one of these in your area, serving up rings in the traditional style. Look for local diners with a long history and experienced management. Family businesses tend to be the best.
Some people really don’t like Onions and many people won’t go near Onions, even if they’re covered in batter and deep-fried, but that’s okay. You don’t have to eat Onion Rings, though, to celebrate Onion Rings Day – you can branch out.
David doesn’t like Onions and neither do Charlie or David and they will not eat Onion Rings. But I love them and would eat them all day if I could especially with a Cheeseburger.
Remember, Onion Rings were the inspiration for many of the fried snacks and sides that we enjoy today. French fries, deep-fried Brie, and Fried Chicken are all delicious alternatives that you can try if you fancy something different.
There are so many reasons to celebrate Onion Rings Day. Onion rings are one of the most popular snacks and have become a staple in many parts of the world.
Onion Rings are a bit like French Fries, but taste even more special and delicious in some cases. You can dip Onion Rings, dunk them, and eat them alongside all your favorite Sandwiches or Hamburgers. You can even lay Onion Rings out at a Buffet at parties because there so flexible!
Onion Rings are also instructive for people looking for culinary inspiration. John Mollard – the man behind the 1802 recipe – was a genius. It took the world more than a hundred years to catch up to his vision of the perfect snack. Could you come up with a new recipe that is way ahead of its time?
Recipe for Onion Ring Day:
1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 egg
1 cup milk, or as needed ¾ cup dry bread crumbs seasoned salt to taste 1 quart oil for frying, or as needed
- Step 1 Heat the oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C).
- Step 2 Separate the onion slices into rings, and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Step 3 Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are all coated; set aside. Whisk the egg and milk into the flour mixture using a fork. Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat, then place on a wire rack to drain until the batter stops dripping. The wire rack may be placed over a sheet of aluminum foil for easier clean up. Spread the bread crumbs out on a plate or shallow dish. Place rings one at a time into the crumbs, and scoop the crumbs up over the ring to coat. Give it a hard tap as you remove it from the crumbs. The coating should cling very well. Repeat with remaining rings.
- Step 4 Deep fry the rings a few at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to paper towels to drain. Season with seasoning salt, and serve.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
