The Napoleon, known to the board's homosexuals as the Mille-Feuille, is one of those things in life that is never as good as it looks Even at the finest galas that I frequent on the West Side where it is so often served, I find the pastry tough and the filling unremarkable.

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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The Napoleon is one of those things in life that is never as good as it looks.



In exile

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You're right. I agree with you.

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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The Napoleon, known to the board's homosexuals as the Mille-Feuille, is one of those things in life that is never as good as it looks Even at the finest galas that I frequent on the West Side where it is so often served, I find the pastry tough and the filling unremarkable.

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You don't like the mille-feuille? Just take the slice of opera cake or the strawberry tart instead and don't be a drama queen.

"Napoleon" was used in the US because no one here can read or pronounce "mille-feuille". If you ask for a napoleon at a bakery in France, they will give you the directions to man's grave in the Invalides palace.

The better version have the bottom cream layer as creme anglaise, a kind of thick vanilla custard that might have originated on the wrong side of the Channel, and the upper layer as creme chantilly, or whipped cream. Two layers of creme anglaise, as often seen at misguided bakeries, make the cake too heavy.

If the cake is fairly fresh, the dough layers should be flaky but not too hard. If you lay the cake slice on its side and use a good knife, you can cut pieces without making a mess. Mille-feuilles are best enjoyed with a side of strawberries or raspberries, that's how I eat mine.