The most recent edition of 'Larousse Gastronomique,' edited by Jenifer Harvey Lang (Crown, 1988), says Nesselrode is 'the name given to various cooked dishes and pastries, all containing chestnut puree, dedicated to Count Nesselrode, the 19th-century Russian diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Paris after the Crimean War.'
The man who created Nesselrode pudding, according to Larousse, was the count's head chef, one Monsieur Mouy. He put together a custard cream mixed with chestnut puree, candied fruits, currants and white raisins and whipped cream.
An earlier edition of Larousse calls for freezing the Nesselrode pudding. George Lang says Nesselrode coupe, which was essentially the same as frozen Nesselrode pudding, was very popular in New York restaurants from the 1920's through the 1950's.
For me, Nesselrode pie is always associated with New York. I remember having it at a restaurant here as a child - possibly the Cafe de la Paix in the St. Moritz Hotel, but a call there produced no one who had been there long enough to remember.
Which brings me to Mrs. Spier - Hortense Spier, according to Mr. Baum and William Greenberg, the owner of William Greenberg Jr., a much-admired bakery in New York. Both men associate Nesselrode pie with Mrs. Spier, whose company, Hortense Spier Pies, sold pies to restaurants all over the city in the 40's and 50's.
'It all came out of Nesselrode pudding,' Mr. Baum said. Somewhere along the way, however, many of the pies lost their chestnuts, either pureed or as chopped up bits of marrons glaces, candied chestnuts. In the process, they added in other ingredients, primarily shaved chocolate and gelatin. In countless cookbooks from the early 60's, Nesselrode recipes make no mention of chestnuts. The core ingredients are candied fruits and rum.
Where did the key ingredient go? One can only speculate. 'Maybe marrons glaces were too expensive,' Mr. Lang said. Or perhaps, he said, the chestnuts disappeared 'because chestnuts were an ingredient that never took hold in the United States.'
Peter Roggensinger, former pastry chef at the Oyster Bar and possibly the only maker of Nesselrode pie in the New York region today, said that some commercial versions of a product called Nesselrode filling or Nesselrode sauce do not even contain chopped chestnuts, just candied fruits.
Until Mr. Roggensinger left the Oyster Bar about six months ago to open his own pastry shop in Blauvelt, N.Y., near Nyack, Nesselrode pie appeared on the menu from time to time. The current pastry chef, however, said he did not make it.
Aficionados will have to travel to Mr. Roggensinger's shop, Le Gateau Suisse, for their fix. He makes it every other weekend, using Raffeto's Nesselrode filling (complete with chestnut pieces), but will have it more often during the holiday season.
'Mostly it's the old customers who flipped out when they saw it' in the bakery, Mr. Roggensinger said. Is this the making of a trend? After all, Nesselrode pie has the necessary ingredients for making a comeback: It represents nostalgia. Seemingly light, it is actually as rich as any contemporary dessert. And it is ripe for improvement. Instead of cheap, artificially colored candied fruit, try using two kinds of raisins, soaked in orange liqueur or even maraschino liqueur (found in many old versions of Nesselrode pudding), candied orange and crystallized ginger. Use chestnut puree to flavor the filling.
