In the 19th cen­tury, the “Trou Nor­mand” had an offi­cial place at meal­times, it was a small glass of Calvados served to aid diges­tion during ban­quets and formal meals. Gust­ave Flaubert alludes to this wide­spread custom in his “Bouv­ard et Pécuchet” writ­ten in 1881. Tra­di­tion has it that, midway through the meal, the master of the house invited his guests to raise their half-filled glass of Calvados, smell it and then swal­low it down in one gulp. Today, the tra­di­tion is to serve an apple sorbet soaked in Calvados in the middle of the meal.