It’s probably one of the most abused refrences in gastroliterary-dom, but Proust has undoubtedly raised the profile of this humble little cake. Having said that, I am firmly of the opinion that he used it merely as a a literary device as no madeleine could crumble as he says it does.For those of you who have no clue of what I’m talking about, Marcel Proust was a French modernist writer who’s most famous for his work In Search of Lost Time aka Remembrance of Things Past.
The cake essential reminds him of his childhood in Combray when he tastes it floating in tea.
That’s right – floating in tea, and eaten with a spoon. He didn’t dip it in his tea and take a bite out of it. Which makes Proust’s madeleine more of a biscuit rather than a cake.
Only biscuits can provide that crumb factor he talks about. But it wouldn’t have worked. There’s a sort of romanticism that comes from eating a madeleine that one does not get with an ordinary biscuit.
Something about the scalloped edges on one side, the smooth plumpness on the other, combined with a light zesty interior that’s perfect for sopping up tea.
Which is what this blog is all about – examining things that shouldn’t be there, but are, and yet make perfect sense.