There is a long tradition of travelling gastronomy, recipes borrowed and adopted from other regions--- foods, sauces, preparation methods salvaged from travels abroad: French fries, Russian dressing, French dressing, prussiens (aka butterflies and pigs' ears), boules de Berlin, Yorkshire pudding, and so forth.
Now we meet the Couille de Suisse. It's a Belgian pastry made with delicious fattening things: sugar, flour, butter, eggs, as naughty as the name, a graphic reference to family jewel(s).
It is a fond remembrance of Swiss soldiers who had fought as mercenaries in the 1830s, a food adopted by poor Belgian miners and now a staple dessert in the Hainaut region. A kind of bread pudding with a history, as it were. (Love that last phrase, I never get to use it).
A year or two ago, a group called Les Compagnons de la Couille de Suisse (no kidding) was formed by some good-time Charlies "une confrérie historico-rigolote" as the article says, who wanted to protect the name from commercial exploitation and have a good time eating. They applied to Benelux.for legal recognition, a patent for the recipe.
Except Chocosuisse, an association for the protection of Swiss chocolate and chocolatiers (some very big ones) felt threatened, and sent them a letter telling them, among other things, that they were not allowed to use chocolate in their recipe(s).
Chocolate? Who said chocolate? There is no chocolate in a couille de Suisse.
"Pas très sympa" said Guy Dewier, president of the Compagnons. Chocosuisse was afraid that one day someone might introduce chocolate into a couille, and if it weren't real Swiss chocolate using 'Suisse' would be a legal offense.
The conflict was finally resolved when the Compagnons agreed to drop the term 'confiserie' from their description (??)
Now it's business as usual, and you can apply to become a member of the Compagnons without fearing the wrath of chocolate lawyers. Today I applied, and was accepted as a Compagnon! Let's hear it for gastronomic bonhomie!
Their Facebook site:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105567426147749&ref=search&sid=505989103.1866684673..1
It appears on the website of the Office des Produits Wallons here:
http://www.opw.be/doc.php?id=sf10&tid=3&docid=224&page=2
Couilles in the privacy of your own home---the recipe begins:
1 kilo de farine
4 oeufs frais
100 grammes de beurre
70 grammes de levure de boulanger
quelques grammes de sucre cassonade
du beurre mou
du beurre mou
go on
.....don't be shy!
