Search
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
FinlandFrance
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican RepublicTurkey
South Africa
Australia
Fiji
New ZealandFlavors · Maisons-Laffitte
Choux pastry crown filled with praliné mousseline cream and topped with sliced almonds, shaped like a bicycle wheel. The creation is attributed to a pastry chef from Maisons-Laffitte, in the early 20th century, in tribute to the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race.
Traditional sweet from Maisons-Laffitte, Ilha de França
Also known as: paris brest
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Paris-Brest — Maisons-Laffitte, France
The Paris-Brest is a pastry shaped like a crown. The choux pastry, the same used for éclairs and profiteroles, is piped in a circle, topped with sliced almonds and baked until hollow and golden. It is then cut in half and filled with a praliné mousseline cream — a blend of pastry cream, butter and a paste of caramelized hazelnuts or almonds. Confectioners’ sugar is dusted on top.
The name comes from the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race, about 1,200 km round trip between Paris and Brest, created in 1891 by Pierre Giffard, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Le Petit Journal. The wheel shape evokes the bicycles in the race.
The most common account credits Louis Durand, a pastry chef from Maisons-Laffitte — a town the race passed through — at Giffard’s request. Sources disagree on the date: the Paris region tourist office cites 1910, while others mention 1909. Another, more legendary version says Durand was inspired by a laurel-wreath–shaped pastry made by a Brest pastry chef, referencing winners’ wreaths. The creator’s son tried to patent the pastry in 1930 but failed because it was already made everywhere.
Today the Paris-Brest appears in pastry shop windows across France, either as individual portions or as crowns to share.
Maisons-Laffitte , Ilha de França
The pastry’s creation is attributed to a pastry chef from Maisons-Laffitte, a town the Paris–Brest–Paris race passed through.
Choux pastry (water or milk, butter, flour, eggs); sliced almonds; praliné mousseline cream (pastry cream, butter, hazelnut or almond praliné); confectioners’ sugar.
Sliced or as an individual portion, served as a dessert or snack, eaten with fork and knife or with a spoon.
All year round, served as a Sunday dessert and at family celebrations.
Your questions
Because of the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race, created in 1891. The crown shape resembles a bicycle wheel.
The creation is attributed to Louis Durand, a pastry chef from Maisons-Laffitte, around 1909 or 1910. A legend says he was inspired by a pastry from a Brest pastry chef.
A praliné mousseline cream made from pastry cream, butter and a paste of caramelized hazelnuts or almonds.
Flavors of France
Sweet shaped like a navette made of ground almonds and candied melon, on a wafer base and covered with royal icing of egg white and sugar. Specialty of Aix-en-Provence and one of the thirteen sweets of Provençal Christmas.
Mountain cheeses from Savoie melted in white wine, in a pot placed in the center of the table, where each person dips bread cubes with a long fork. It is a traditional dish of the two Savoies, which are part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Eggplants stuffed with their own flesh, soaked bread, eggs, garlic, herbs and Corsican cheese, browned in a skillet or baked and served with tomato sauce. A family recipe from Bonifacio, typical of late summer.
Small cake made from milk, eggs, flour and sugar, scented with rum and vanilla and baked in fluted copper molds, with a dark caramelized crust and creamy interior. It is the sweet symbol of Bordeaux.
Beef slowly braised in Burgundy red wine, with bacon, onions, mushrooms, carrot and herbs. It is named for Burgundy, the former province that is now part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, and for its wine.
The four parts of the cow’s stomach and the beef foot cooked for many hours with carrot, onion, leek and herbs in a clay pot called a tripière. Dish of the city of Caen, upheld by a brotherhood created in 1951 and registered in 1952.
Dark, full-bodied red wine from the Cahors appellation in the Lot valley, made with at least 70% malbec, a grape called côt or auxerrois there and native to the region. It has been an appellation since 1971.
Buttery pastry cake filled with pastry cream or black cherry jam, with the surface scored with a fork. The earliest references date to the 19th century and point to Cambo-les-Bains as its birthplace, where a festival is held for it every early October.
White beans slowly cooked with pork meats, sausage and duck or goose confit, in an earthenware casserole, the cassole, which gives the dish its name. Its origin is attributed to Castelnaudary, in the Lauragais, between Toulouse and Carcassonne.
White wine brandy distilled twice in a copper pot still, the charentais still, and aged at least two years in oak barrels. It takes its name from the town of Cognac, an old port on the Charente River, and has had appellation of origin status since 1936.
Brocciu flan-cake, the fresh cheese made from sheep’s or goat’s whey from Corsica, with eggs, sugar and lemon zest, baked until browned. It is presented by official tourism as the island’s emblematic dessert.
A white wine aperitif, traditionally the Bourgogne aligoté, with crème de cassis. The mixture, formerly called blanc-cassis, took the name of Canon Félix Kir, mayor of Dijon from 1945 to 1968, who served it at city hall receptions.
Breton cake made from bread dough folded several times with salted butter and sugar, which caramelizes in the oven. The name means butter cake in Breton, and the creation is attributed to a baker from Douarnenez, around 1860.
Sparkling wine from the Champagne region, which gains its bubbles through a second fermentation inside the bottle. Épernay presents itself as the capital of champagne: beneath the Avenue de Champagne, a UNESCO World Heritage site, run kilometers of cellars carved into the chalk.
Cooked sauerkraut with sausages, bacon, pork knuckle and other meats, served with potatoes. It is the best-known dish of Alsace, which is part of the Grand Est region; the fermented cabbage has a protected geographical indication since 2018.
Apple tart caramelized in butter and sugar, baked with the pastry on top and flipped when served. It’s named for the Tatin sisters, who ran a hotel opposite the Lamotte-Beuvron station in the late 19th century.
Elongated dumpling of pike, a freshwater fish, bound with a dough of flour, butter and milk, poached and gratinéed, usually served with Nantua sauce made from crayfish. It is the signature dish of the bouchons, Lyon’s traditional restaurants.
Shortcrust pastry tart filled with pink pralines — almonds coated in sugar dyed red — melted into cream until they form a shiny pink filling. It is Lyon’s best-known dessert.
Mediterranean rock-fish soup — for example rascasse, monkfish and conger — simmered in a saffron broth and served in two stages: the broth with croutons and rouille, then the fish. A fishermen’s dish that became Marseille’s most famous specialty.
Raw salad of tomato, green pepper, radish, chives, broad beans or small artichokes, egg, anchovies or tuna and Nice olives, dressed with olive oil and assembled without mixing. The reference recipe is that of the Cuisine Nissarde label from the city of Nice.
Thin pancake made from chickpea flour, water and olive oil, baked on a large round copper tray in a very hot oven, cut into pieces and eaten hot with pepper. It is the street food of Old Nice.
Apple cider brandy, sometimes with pear, aged in oak barrels. The designation of origin covers much of Normandy, and the first written mention of cider distillation in the region dates from 1553.
Pink, dry cookie made from eggs, sugar and flour, baked twice, firm enough to be dipped in champagne without falling apart. Created by bakers in Reims around 1690, taking advantage of the heat left in the bread oven.
Grilled pork sausage wrapped in a buckwheat galette, eaten with the hand. A tradition of Upper Brittany centered in Rennes: it’s the market snack at des Lices on Saturdays and at the city’s football matches.
Young duck roasted rare and served with a sauce made from the carcass juice, pressed in a silver press, with red wine and shallots. It is the specialty that Rouen’s tourist office presents as the city’s dish; the recipe is attributed to an innkeeper from Duclair, nearby.
Almond biscuit made with sugar and egg white, baked in small discs on paper, without filling. Tradition attributes the recipe to the Ursuline nuns who lived in Saint-Émilion from 1620; it is the sweet specialty of the wine village.
Fish and seafood soup with tomato and piment d'Espelette, born on the boats and in the homes of the fishermen of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure. It has its own contest at the Sea Festivals, listed in France's inventory of intangible cultural heritage.
Sweet pastry tart with apricot jam and candied fruit, topped with a layer of almond meringue. Despite the name, it has no relation to nougat. It is the pastry specialty of Tours, with its own confraternity since 1998.
