- Tompouce
A tompoes or tompouce ("lit."
Tom Thumb ) is a commonpastry inthe Netherlands andBelgium . It is the local variety of the mille-feuille or Napoleon.Customs
In
the Netherlands , the tompoes is iconic, and the market allows preciously little variation in form, size and colour. It must be rectangular, with two layers ofpuff pastry . The icing is smooth and pink, or occasionally white. For many years however, the top layer has been orange onKoninginnedag (Queen's Birthday), and a few days before. It may also be orange-coloured when the national football team plays in large international tournaments; this dates from about 1990. The filling is invariably very sweet, yellowpastry cream . Tompouce are sometimes topped withwhipped cream . Variations with different fillings or withjelly are comparatively rare and are not called tompoes.Several variations exist in Belgium. The "boekske" ("lit." 'booklet') may have a sugar finish and may be square. Belgians also prefer the spelling "tompouce".
Eating the tompouce
The cakes are usually served with tea or coffee, and in formal settings are eaten with
pastry fork s. But the brittleness of the pastry makes this difficult, inspiring the humorous article "Hoe eet je een tompoes?" 'How to eat a tompoes'. [Freek Schravesande,nrc.next , august 30, 2007 (1e editie)]Cultural references
The name of
Tom Puss , acartoon character byMarten Toonder , is a play on Tompouce Tom Thumb/Tom poes (Tom kitty).References
External links
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