page_title: Pièce montée
hierarchical_section_title: Pièce montée
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the kitchen at Delmonico's, taken in 1902. Cooks are shown creating pièces montées from nougat and pate d'office (confectioner's paste) in the confectionery section of the kitchen. The "basket" at left is ornamented with the seal of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and may be intended for a dinner put on by that entity.
context_page_description: A pièce montée is a kind of decorative confectionery centerpiece in an architectural or sculptural form used for formal banquets and made of such ingredients as "confectioner’s paste", nougat, marzipan, and spun sugar. Although the ingredients are typically edible, their purpose is mainly decorative, and they are often not meant to be consumed. They are associated with classical French chefs, such as Carême. Carême had studied architecture, and is credited with saying, referring to pièces montées, that architecture is the most noble of the arts, and pastry the highest form of architecture.
  The term pièce montée is sometimes used to refer to the dessert also known as croquembouche, an assemblage of choux pastry profiteroles stuck together with caramel or with spun sugar into a tall, usually conical shape. Unlike the type of pièce montée described above, it is meant to be eaten; in France, traditionally it is served at parties that celebrate weddings and baptisms.
context_section_description: A pièce montée (pronounced [pjɛs mɔ̃te]; from French, literally "assembled piece" or "mounted piece", plural pièces montées) is a kind of decorative confectionery centerpiece in an architectural or sculptural form used for formal banquets and made of such ingredients as "confectioner’s paste" (sugar paste or sculpting fondant?), nougat, marzipan, and spun sugar. Although the ingredients are typically edible, their purpose is mainly decorative, and they are often not meant to be consumed. They are associated with classical French chefs, such as Carême. Carême had studied architecture, and is credited with saying, referring to pièces montées, that architecture is the most noble of the arts, and pastry the highest form of architecture.
  The term pièce montée is sometimes used to refer to the dessert also known as croquembouche, an assemblage of choux pastry profiteroles (or occasionally other kinds of pastry) stuck together with caramel or with spun sugar into a tall, usually conical shape. Unlike the type of pièce montée described above, it is meant to be eaten;  in France, traditionally it is served at parties that celebrate weddings and baptisms.
caption: Pièces montées for a banquet being prepared in the kitchen of Delmonico's Restaurant in New York in 1902
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