Graubünden nut cake
The Bündner nut cake (also called “Engadiner nut cake ”, Rhaeto-Romanic in the Ladin idioms Tuorta da nuschs ) is a round, flat cake made of shortcrust pastry filled with caramelized, coarsely chopped walnuts . Bündner nut cake is probably the most famous specialty of the canton of Graubünden . It is next to the Birnbrot the most important export product of the Grisons bakers and confectioners.
history
The origin of the nut cake lies in the Engadine . The historian Dolf Kaiser describes in his book “Cumpatriots in terras estras” that the recipe was known to the Moggi-Tester family in Samedan around 1900. The Engadine nut cake was later made by emigrated Engadine confectioners in the Heinz & Tester pastry shop in Toulouse , and from there it was soon marketed throughout France. Fausto Pult also worked in this pastry shop, who later returned to Samedan and began in 1926 in his bakery-pastry shop to produce and sell the Engadine nut cake under the name of "Pulttorte". He achieved great success for his cake in 1934 when he presented it to a wider public at the Basel sample fair .
Since the climate is less suitable for nut trees in some mountain valleys in Graubünden, the walnuts were imported. According to one theory, emigrants from Grisons brought nut trees back to their homeland from France, where they still grow in Bergell . Another theory says that the well-known Graubünden shortcrust pastry Fuatscha Grassa was combined with a nut cake by Engadin confectioners in France. Perhaps the nuts were simply bought in other areas of Switzerland.
In April 2012, the office of the Swiss Culinary Heritage decided to have the existing documents inspected by a neutral person and checked for their truthfulness. The project was financially supported by the Canton of Graubünden. The Swiss Integrity Commission for Fair Advertising recommends a Geneva-based company "to refrain in future from referring to itself as the 'home of the Engadin nut cake' or to provide other information that would make it appear as the inventor of the Engadin nut cake recipe."
Manufacturing
Graubünden nut cakes are made by numerous confectioners all year round throughout the Engadine. Almost everyone has their own recipe, which they often keep as a trade secret.
The shortcrust pastry consists of flour, sugar, eggs, butter and sometimes a little margarine to make the dough easier to process. For the filling, sugar is caramelized at low temperatures . To make the mixture soft and compact, full cream is added, some bakers add honey. The crushed walnuts are not pretreated. California nuts are often used; Graubünden nuts are perceived as having too strong a taste. The nut filling is placed on the rolled out dough, then the dough lid is placed over it. The cakes are then baked in the oven for around 35 minutes at 200 degrees.
In the Engadin there are still various manufacturers of Engadine nut cakes. The cakes each have their own recipe. There are subgroups of nut tarts such as the Engadine confectioner's nut tart, which is one of the most traditional forms of the Bündner nut tart.
consumption
The high-calorie nut cakes are usually eaten for dessert or with tea, coffee or red wine for afternoon snack .
A characteristic of the Bündner nut cake is its long shelf life; Even after two months in the kitchen cupboard, it still tastes great. This is certainly one of the reasons why the cake is also sent by post when ordered.
Web links
- Nut cake in the database of Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
Individual evidence
- ↑ Everything just stolen The history of the Engadine nut cake has to be rewritten
- ↑ Dolf Kaiser: Cumpatriots in terras estras. Stamparia engiadinaisa SA, Samedan 1968, p. 144 f.
- ^ Southeastern Switzerland of April 24, 2012
- ↑ Origin of the Engadine nut cake at www.faire-werbung.ch , no. 217/13
literature
- Gaudenz Zimmermann: Engadine nut cake . In: Graubünden exclusive . No. 49, 2014, pp. 24–28.
- Paul Imhof: The culinary legacy of Switzerland , pp. 107–112. Realtime Verlag, Basel and Zurich, 2015
- Gaudenz Zimmermann: Does the nut cake come from the Engadine? In: Terra Grischuna No. 1 2017, pp. 54–57