Tourteau Fromager

Cut into the jet-black dome and a soft, white cheese filling appears inside. The tourteau fromager of Poitou is a pastry made by pouring a cheese batter onto a thin pastry base and baking it so that the top turns black while the interior stays pale and light. Its look, which can resemble burnt bread, comes from baking at a high temperature to puff up the batter and scorch the surface, then gently cooking it through to the center. It has been made in the season when goat’s milk is available, and has also been eaten at weddings.

Combining drained cheese with softly whipped egg whites

The main ingredient is fresh cheese, traditionally made from goat’s milk. In Chef Philippe’s recipe (the ingredient proportions and method), the goat cheese is drained thoroughly in a sieve and then weighed after draining. This reduces excess moisture and keeps the consistency of the filling, which is combined with eggs and a small amount of flour, uniform.

The egg yolks are mixed into the cheese, and the egg whites are whipped with sugar. A small amount of the foam is mixed in first to loosen the dense cheese batter, and the rest is then folded in gently. As these air bubbles expand in the heat, the cheese batter bakes up light all the way through. The fine holes in the white cross-section are traces not only of the ingredients but also of this mixing method.

Blackening the surface at high heat, then lowering the temperature to cook the center

It was once baked in dedicated earthenware molds; today metal molds are also used. Some molds have a deep hollow whose sides curve outward, while leaving a flat area at the bottom. Thinly rolled pâte brisée is laid inside, and the cheese batter is poured in. In Philippe’s method, it is first baked at a high temperature to puff up the batter and turn the surface black. The temperature is then lowered to cook the batter of eggs and cheese through to the center. The oven temperature is changed partway through baking.

The black top is not simply a sign of failure but a distinguishing feature of this regional pastry. The thin crust on the sides stays pale, and the interior turns out white. The black crust covers a center with a faint milky tang and an airy texture.

Chef Philippe explains that, in his own method, the cake that puffs up during baking sinks slightly as it cools, while the rounded top remains. The egg whites are not whipped extremely stiff, and are folded gently into the cheese batter.

Differences in flavor between goat’s milk and cow’s milk

Traditional descriptions center on fresh goat’s-milk cheese, but the producer Maison Baillon makes tourteaux with both goat’s milk and cow’s milk. Both have a black top and a white interior, but the flavor of the milk differs.

The origin of the name and the places of production recorded in 1867

The tourteau in the name is derived from tourte, a word referring to cakes and pies. Some explanations also link it to tourterie, a regional word for pastries in Poitou. fromager is the part that distinguishes a pastry made with cheese; the name does not refer to the black surface itself.

It is closely associated with the area around Melle in the Deux-Sèvres department. The food promotion agency of Nouvelle-Aquitaine notes that Léopold Favre’s 1867 record of regional vocabulary lists a “cake of fromage (cheese)” as a pastry of the areas around La Mothe-Saint-Héray, Niort and Melle. Present-day descriptions also place it in Brioux-sur-Boutonne, Lusignan and Lezay. Sepvret and Saint-Romans-lès-Melle are also cited as towns that claim to be its birthplace, but its history cannot be traced to a single town.

The legend of a cheese tart forgotten in the oven

Maison Baillon also relates an origin story in which a cook put a goat’s-milk cheese tart into a farmhouse oven and forgot about it; the surface had turned black, and when it was cut, the inside was soft and puffed up. The regional food promotion agency likewise treats the overbaking and the forgotten tart as legend, and suggests that it may actually have been a development of artisans’ skill in baking cheese tarts into a dome shape. The black dome is cherished by local people and has been handed down together with the custom of eating it at celebrations.

The goat’s-milk season, celebratory customs and how it is eaten today

Maison Baillon describes it as a pastry once eaten on occasions such as Easter, Pentecost and wedding meals. Today it is served not only at breakfast, as a snack and as dessert, but also at toasts and aperitifs before celebratory meals. The company also suggests serving it with honey, jam, fruit or ice cream, or warming it slightly. An agricultural newspaper that interviewed a pastry shop in Lezay reports that, in keeping with the seasonality of goat’s milk, it was formerly eaten from around Easter until around All Saints’ Day. It is now produced year-round, but it has a history of being eaten on celebratory occasions and during the goat’s-milk season.

At the time of a 2015 interview, Tourteau Jahan, a specialty shop in Poitiers, advised customers taking home freshly baked tourteaux to open the bag to let the steam escape, and to let them cool completely or refrigerate them before eating. Takuji Ogino, who conducted the interview, also describes pairing it with Pineau des Charentes, a local sweet wine.

In 2021, a maker who won an award at a regional food competition said that everything from mixing to packaging is done by hand, and that adjusting the baking is a particularly difficult part of the work. The black top and light interior are also supported by the skill of artisans who judge the heat.

Glossary