While posting the "recipe" of the cauliflower pastiche I was wondering if
bechamel with grated cheese is really a Mornat sauce. I checked up wikipedia
in italian and it said a Mornay is a bechamel with added egg yolk and cream,
then I checked up wikipedia in english and it says a Mornay is just bechamel
and grated cheese, then I checked up the franch wikipedia and it says that a
Mornay is bechamel with added egg yolk and grated cheese. Reminds me of a
polish saying: three Poles, four opinion.
They all cite the book "Le Cuisinier royal", in particular its tenth
edition: the french and italian wikis say that Mornay sauce appeared for the
first time on that book, while the US version says the exact opposite:
"Sauce Mornay does not appear in Le cuisinier Royal, 10th edition, 1820; ".
Why this paragraph? It is obvious to everybody that someone quotes a book if
the book is relevant to the matter, not if it is totally nonrelevant: this
said, my guess is that the US page has been translated by soemone who didn't
well understand the french.
So we remain with 2 options: bechamel plus eggyolk and grated cheese (fr) or
bechamel plus cream, eggyolk and grated cheese (it).
I'd stand with the French but I'd prefer soem more info. Anyone has a copy
of the tenth edition of "Le Cuisinier royal" in a pocket right now?
--
"Un pasto senza vino e' come un giorno senza sole"
Anthelme Brillat Savarin