Pipefarces, Fried Cheese Fingers (1393)
Reader ratingsFingers of firm cheese rolled in a batter of egg yolks, flour, salt and white wine and fried in hot lard: the pipefarces of the Ménagier de Paris.
- Recipe makes
- About 16 fingers, 4 servings
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
Chill the cut cheese for 15 minutes before frying, so it holds its shape in the hot fat.
Pipefarces, fingers of cheese fried in an egg-yolk and wine batter.
The story behind the recipe
Six short lines in the Ménagier de Paris, straight after its two recipes for crespes, make pipefarces: slices of cheese in a yolk batter, fried in lard. They keep company with the crespes on the menus too: the last course of a fish-day dinner, among fried loach, Lombard tarts and eels, has “crespes, pipefarces,” and several other menus in the book pair them the same way.
What were pipefarces?
Beat egg yolks with flour, salt and “un pou de vin,” a little wine; cut cheese “par lesches,” in slices; roll the slices in the batter, and fry them “dedans une paelle de fer et du sain dedens,” in an iron pan with lard in it. The author adds one variation: “Aussi en fait-l’en de mouelle de beuf,” they are also made of beef marrow.
The book’s editor gives no note on the name. The author names no particular cheese. Elsewhere he recommends “bon vieil frommage,” good old cheese, for stuffing a suckling pig, and grates “bon frommage” over his herb omelette, so a firm, well-aged cheese fits the book’s own habits.
The book even has a rhyme for choosing one: “Non mie blanc comme Hélaine, Non mie plourant com Magdalaine,” not white as Helen, not weeping like Mary Magdalene, with no eyes, “aussi pesant comme un bugle,” as heavy as an ox, and firm against the thumb. That is a dry, dense, close-textured cheese.
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
Comté is our choice of firm cheese, cut in fingers and chilled before they go into the batter. Dry white wine is our choice for “a little wine.” Lard is the book’s fat, and vegetable oil is our alternative.
The two menus they come from, and the young wife the book was written for, are in What Did a Paris Household Eat in 1393?
Pipefarces. Prenez des moyeux d’œufs et de la fleur et du sel, et un pou de vin, et batez fort ensemble, et du frommage tranchié par lesches, et puis toulliez les lesches de frommage dedans la paste, et puis la frisiez dedans une paelle de fer et du sain dedens. Aussi en fait-l’en de mouelle de beuf.
In our translation: “Pipefarces. Take egg yolks and flour and salt, and a little wine, and beat hard together, and cheese cut in slices, and then roll the slices of cheese in the batter, and then fry them in an iron pan with lard in it. They are also made of beef marrow.”
Recipe makes: About 16 fingers, 4 servings
Ingredients
For about 16 fingers, 4 servings. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for about 16 fingers, 4 servings.
- Comté or other firm cheese250 g
- Egg yolks3
- All-purpose flour60 g
- Salt1/4 tsp
- Dry white wine4 tbsp
- Lard400 gor Vegetable oil, for frying450 ml
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 250 g Comté or other firm cheese
- 3 egg yolks
- 60 g all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp dry white wine
- 400 g lard or 450 ml vegetable oil, for frying
Equipment
- Heavy frying pan or sauté pan, about 24 cm, with sides at least 5 cm high
- Mixing bowl
Whisk- Deep-fry or candy thermometer
- Slotted spoon
- Plate lined with paper towels
Instructions
Cut the cheese into fingers about 7 cm long and 1 cm thick, removing any rind. Chill them for 15 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks, flour, salt and wine together in the mixing bowl until smooth and thick enough to coat a spoon. If it is too stiff to coat, beat in a teaspoon or two of water.
Heat the lard or oil in the frying pan to 350°F (175°C), about 1 cm deep. Keep the pan no more than half full.
Roll 4 or 5 cheese fingers in the batter until coated all over, let the excess drip off, and lower them into the fat.
Fry for 1 to 2 minutes, turning once, until the batter is crisp and golden. Lift them out with the slotted spoon onto the paper towels. Bring the fat back to 350°F (175°C) before the next batch.
Serve hot, as soon as the last batch is done.
Nutrition
400calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- About 16 fingers, 4 servings
- Servings
- 4
Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for Gruyère-type cheese, egg yolk, flour and wine, with about 2 tablespoons of frying fat absorbed in all.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
One batch of batter coats about 250 g of cheese. Keep the fat about 1 cm deep whatever the size of the batch.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Serve them as soon as they are fried. Contains milk, egg and wheat (gluten). The wine contains sulfites. Never leave hot fat unattended, and keep a lid nearby to cover the pan if it catches fire; never use water on burning fat.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After the Ménagier de Paris, Pipefarces, as printed by Jérôme Pichon (Paris, 1846)
Recipe details
- Course
- Side dish
- Region
- French
- Era
- Medieval
- Main ingredient
- Milk & cream
- Difficulty
- Intermediate