Brigitte Bardot

Two ‘classic dishes!’ – Both with the initials ‘BB’

Posted on Sat 24th May, 2025 by Christel Martin

As I’m French, you may understand why I’m going to ramble on about an iconic French actress of the 1950s and 1960s, Brigitte Bardot: But then what has this got to do with food or Elizabeth David, you might ask?

It’s true that, in the 1950s and 60s, lots of people thought Brigitte Bardot was ‘quite a dish’, forgive me for using a British culinary phrase that used to be meant as a compliment but sounds rather dated nowadays. Brigitte Bardot contributed to French confectionary in making an unknown cake, from a local bakery, quite famous. Indeed, legend has it that in 1955, during a film shooting in St Tropez, just a small fishermen’s village in Provence at the time, she tasted a cake unlike anything she had ever tasted before, even in Paris. All the film crew loved it as well and Brigitte Bardot suggested the baker named it ‘la Tropézienne’, and he did. I wonder whether Elizabeth David ever tasted the cake when she lived in Provence or whether she mentions this cake in any of her books or writings? It is definitely worth a try if you ever get the chance to taste the original ‘Tarte Tropézienne’. It is a very light brioche filled with a mix of two kinds of cream, ‘crème patissiére’ and ‘crème mousseline’, with orange blossom flavour. The recipe has been kept a secret so far.

However, when I use the initials B.B, I’m not referring to Brigitte Bardot, but to a classic British dish. I mean, of course, Baked Beans, as some of you might have anticipated. Not even British, you may argue! Come on, let’s face it, do you know of anyone in Britain who never eats baked beans and doesn’t keep a tin in their cupboards?

I was ten when I first had baked beans on toast and believe me, 50 years later, I still remember! We had made friends with an English family on a campsite and after their two daughters visited us in France, my two sisters and I were invited for a holiday in England in 1977. That is when I discovered British food. Why people love baked beans on toast or the full English breakfast remains a mystery to me. We lived in the countryside, and I was used to my mother cooking locally grown vegetables and products she bought from local shops. We ate traditional three-course meals in the French way. So when, on the first day in England, I had baked beans on toast for lunch, I did not think for a minute that I would not get anything else until tea-time! I was not keen on the sweet tomato sauce, unlike my sisters who thought it was a nice change from our French homemade food. So should I use an expression Elizabeth David once used for an Italian dish, ‘the most revolting dish ever devised’ to qualify ‘baked beans on toast’? Definitely not, as I am well aware that I was born into a nation of snail and frog-legs eaters. Besides, during that same holiday, I also discovered the extraordinary homemade British fruit cake. I craved for the daily afternoon tea-time when I was offered a piece of it, what a treat it was! Believe me, after all this time I can still picture the precious tin containing the object of my desire, and I remember having to stop myself from asking, ‘Could I have some more, please?’