All week long, the France Télévisions teams help you discover the secrets and origins of some famous desserts that have stood the test of time. Tuesday, March 21, we are going to unveil a Lorraine specialty, that of the madeleine of Commercy, also known as the royal madeleine or the duchess madeleine.
It’s a plump little cake, three centuries old, and whose mere name evokes the lost paradise of childhood. The madeleine was born in Lorraine in Commercy, in the middle of the 18th century. According to the members of this brotherhood, it all started in this castle, during a banquet of Duke Stanislas, the father-in-law of Louis XV. A servant would have replaced the resigning cook at short notice to improvise a dessert. “It turned out that this cake was so good that Stanislas called him to his table and asked him the name of the cake“, says Gérard Hocquart, grand master of the brotherhood of the companions of the madeleine of Commercy.
Street vendors
For 60 years, this brotherhood has been an ambassador for the Madeleine, which is the pride of the city. With the opening, under Napoleon III, of the railway line between Paris and Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), the street vendors on the station platform introduce travelers to this pastry. It will therefore cross regions and eras. “My grandfather, who fought in the 1914 war, brought some home when he was on leave”, recalls a customer of the 1928 shop. “My grandchildren come by every day for a snack, so it’s delicious“, appreciates a woman. If the madeleine has its gastronomic legitimacy in Commercy, it has found its place in our minds through literature.
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