Omni Parker House History And Facts
The Omni Parker House Hotel is the oldest hotel in all of the United States. Already bringing it clout, this landmark has so much more than the lengthy Omni Parker House history to be proud of.
This prestigious upscale hotel, founded in 1855, brings visitors near and far to enjoy an unmatched experience within its walls. This Heritage site brings elegance, decor, and sophistication to visitors, impressing even the fussiest of guests in the heart of Boston.
Boston Cream Pie History:
Cooks in New England and Pennsylvania Dutch regions were known for their cakes and pies and the dividing line between them was very thin. This cake was probably called a pie because in the mid-nineteenth century, pie tins were more common than cake pans. The first versions might have been baked in pie tins. Boston Cream Pie is a remake of the early AmericanPudding-cake pie.
1856 The Parker House Hotel , claims to have served Boston cream pies since their opening in 1856. French chef Sanzian, who was hired for the opening of the hotel, is credited with creating Boston cream pie. This cake was originally served at the hotel with the names Chocolate Cream Pie or Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie. This was the first hotel in Boston to have hot-and-cold running water, and the first to have an elevator.
1879 In the cookbook, Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, has the following recipe for Boston Cream Cakes:Boston Cream Cakes:1 1/2 cups of water1 cup butter5 eggs
Boil the butter and water together, stir in the flour while boiling after it is cool, add the eggs, well beaten. Put a large spoonful in muffin rings, and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven.
The cream for them is made as follows: Put over the fire one cup of milk and not quite a cup of sugar, one egg, mixed with three teaspoonfuls of corn starch and one tablespoonful of butter. Boil a few moments only. When cool, add vanilla to the taste.
Open the cakes and fill them with this cream.
Boston Cream Pie Recipe Using Shortening In The Cake
Shortening in a cake? Before you grab your cake testers in lieu of pitchforks and flood me with hate mail, I decided this Boston Cream Pie recipe that uses shortening would be a good addition to try. While I normally have a whole big stockpile of butter on-hand, that wasnt always the case. I figured there are people out there who would appreciate an option using shortening following the traditional single-layer cake split into two horizontal halves mode. Also, it was good! Like, really good.
I used the basic shortening sticks because they are infinitely easier to measure than the big ol tub of shortening I used to use many years ago. They were the plain shortening sticks, not the butter-flavored shortening sticks, FYI.
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Bite Into A Boston Cream Pie At Omni Parker House For National Pie Day
to quote the Los Angeles TimesNew York TimesIs the cupcake bubble still inflating?Omni Parker House Hotelthe venerable hotel
*Curious about the history of the Boston Cream Pie? Read away:
Harvey Parker opened the ornate, five-story Parkers Hotel and Restaurant in 1855. During this time, chocolate was primarily consumed as a beverage or in puddings. When Harvey Parker hired creative French Chef Sanzian to create and serve a versatile menu in his restaurant, his bake staff decided to drizzle chocolate icing onto a sponge cake filled with vanilla custard. Instantly, the Boston Cream Pie was born and became an immediate and perennial hit. The original Parker House recipe for the pie was so popular, that in 1958 it became a Betty Crocker boxed mix. On Dec. 12, 1996, the Boston Cream Pie was proclaimed the official Massachusetts State Dessert. The bill was signed into law in the Omni Parker Houses historic Press Room. To help celebrate the hotels 150th anniversary, in September of 2005, the Worlds Largest Boston Cream Pie was displayed at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. The pie was sixteen feet in diameter and topped with another Boston Cream Pie resembling the Parker House structure from 1855. The monstrous dessert included 1,300 pounds of cake, 800 pounds of filling and 500 pounds of chocolate frosting.
Recipe: Parker House’s Boston Cream Pie
The venerable Boston hotel’s famed pie is the official dessert of Massachusetts.
Boston Cream Pie
5 oz. Fondant for white icing6 oz. Fondant for chocolate icing3 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate, melted
Substitution for Fondant Icing:
6 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate, melted2 oz. Warm water
1 cup 10X Sugar 1 tsp. Corn syrup1 tsp. Water
Directions:
Bring to a boil in a saucepan the butter, milk and light cream. While this mixture is cooking, combine the sugar, cornstarch and eggs in a bowl and whip until ribbons form. When the cream-milk-butter mixture reaches the boiling point, whisk in the egg mixture and cook to boiling. Boil for one minute. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Chill overnight if possible. When chilled, whisk to smooth out and flavor with 1 tsp. dark rum.
Level the sponge cake off at the top using a slicing knife. Cut the cake into two layers. Spread the flavored pastry cream over one layer. Top with the second cake layer. Reserve a small amount of the pastry cream to spread on sides to adhere to almonds.
For chocolate fondant: Warm 6 oz. of white fondant over boiling water to approximately 105 degrees. Add melted chocolate. Thin to spreading consistency with water.
For white fondant: Warm 5 oz. of white fondant over boiling water to approximately 105 degrees. Thin with water if necessary. Place in a piping bag with a 1/8-inch tip.
For more info:
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Who Created Boston Cream Pie
The Omni Parker House is Bostons oldest continuously operating hotel established back in 1855. Its also the oldest continuously running hotel in the United States. Plenty of sites proclaim Boston Cream Pie to have been created in 1856. They also claim that BCP was the creation of Chef Sanzian. They are wrong there, too.
The chefs name wasnt Sanzian, but Chef Augustine Anezin, who worked at the hotel from 1865-1881 . As you already guessed, the 1856 date is wrong. The exact year when Boston Cream Pie was created isnt nailed down, but its definitely sometime after 1865 and, obviously, before the chef died in 1881 or we would call this Boston Ghost Pie.
When the Parker House opened in 1855, chocolate was mainly consumed at home as a beverage or in puddings. There was no lack of chocolate in Boston, since Americas first chocolate mill had opened in neighboring Dorchester in 1765.
Since colonial times, New Englanders have enjoyed a dessert called American Pudding-cake pie, but when Parker Houses own Chef Anezin and his bake staff drizzled chocolate icing onto sponge cake filled with vanilla custard, something new and sensational was born. Originally dubbed Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie, Boston Cream Pie became an immediate and perennial hit.
Boston Cream Pie, Omni House Hotel, Accessed August 9, 2021.
It would have made an eye-catching menu item.
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How To Make Chocolate Ganache
Ganache is a chocolate glaze made from chocolate and heavy cream. Depending on the ratio of chocolate to cream, it can be used for truffles, fillings, and frostings.
Here were using it as a glaze on top of the mini Boston cream pie.
First, add your chopped chocolate to a heat-proof bowl.
Next, warm the cream, corn syrup, and vanilla together in a small saucepan. The corn syrup helps give the ganache a nice shiny look.
Once warm, pour over the chocolate, let it sit for about a minute, then stir together until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
Immediately spread over your cake. As the chocolate glaze cools, itll become harder to spread.
Let the ganache firm up before serving. If your kitchen is too warm, you can refrigerate the cake until cold for easier cutting.
Boston Ma Edition: Omni Parker House
What kind of food is Boston known for? Well, it of course has the New England influence with clam chowder, fish and chips, baked beans, lobster , and clams. But think about it BOSTON cream pie!A Boston cream pie is a cake filled with custard/cream and then frosted with chocolate. Not so much of a pie and more of a cake. It was created at the Parker House Hotel , which is also the home of Parker House Rolls and Boston Scrod.
Owners of the Parker House Hotel in Boston state that the Boston cream pie was first created at the hotel by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian in 1856. The cake he created, called Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie, consisted of two layers of French butter sponge cake filled with crème pâtissière and brushed with a rum syrup, its side coated with crème pâtissière overlain with toasted sliced almonds, and the top coated with chocolate fondant.
Grade: A
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Visiting Family In Boston
Excellent location. More than welcoming door staff, bell staff and desk personnel. Really the only criticisms I have are pretty slim the bathroom is extremely small with no counter space but realize this is an old hotel. Also there is no fridge which is found in almost all lower cost hotels. The TV is mounted on the wall but is extremely small and does not swivel to allow viewing in all angles of the room.More
- Trip type: Travelled with family
- Location
Thanks for mentioning our team that took good care of you..weve noted your other comments to keep in mind for future improvements!
0.4 km
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How To Make Custard For Boston Cream Pie
Next, work on the vanilla custard filling. Warm the milk in a saucepan.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Then slowly whisk in some of the warm milk.
This is called tempering the eggs where you gradually bring the temperature of the egg to the same temperature as the warm milk.
If you added the egg yolk immediately without tempering, youd have a higher chance of cooking the egg, leaving your custard lumpy with scrambled egg.
Place everything back in the saucepan then cook until thickened. Remove from the heat then whisk in the butter and vanilla. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate for 1 hour before using.
Since you only need 1 egg yolk for the custard, here are some recipes using leftover egg whites.
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How Did Boston Cream Pie Originate
The dessertlayers of pastry surrounding a spill of custard, the top glazed in chocolateis often said to have been invented at Bostons Omni Parker House, where the future Communist revolutionary worked as a baker around 1912. His marble-topped pastry table can still be seen on display at the hotel.
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Best Of The Best Boston Cream Pie
So, which won my vote for favorite? First, lets be clear. I loved all of them or they wouldnt be on this list. But if I HAD to choose
Boston Cream Pie from Left: Flour Bakery & Cafe Right: Omni Parker House
Flour Bakery & Cafe was my favorite for all-around taste and texture. It just had the it factor for me! A very close second was the original at Omni Paker House. Omni Parker House won best martini list EVER!
Where To Stay in BostonFound Hotel Boston is where I stayed my first two nights. A great mid-range option, it is located in the theater district close to Boston Gardens and has great amenities.Westin Copley Place is where I stayed the next several nights. It is luxury-range and located right in Copley Square not far from Boston Gardens or Fenway Park. The amenities are fabulous here as well.
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Where The Famous Began
Not only have the rich and famous enjoyed a luxurious stay or two here at the oldest hotel in the USA, but they have also put in some hours behind the scenes making other guests experiences just as fabulous.
Like, did you know that Malcolm X worked here in the kitchen? So did Ho Chi Minh and world renowned chef Emeril Lagasse! These notables make up another element of the Omni Parker House history. Its these fun tidbits that bring many guests near and far through the lobby to learn more about this venue that gave many their starting point to success.
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Why Is Boston Cream Pie
In the words of food writer Greg Patent, author of Baking in America, the cream cake was more like a cream puff than a cake . It is also possible that the Boston cream pie name is a reference to the claim by the Parker House Hotel in Boston that its first chef, M., invented the dessert there. Sanzian. Ms.
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In The Heart Of Downtown Boston Just One Block From Boston Common
Located on the corner of Tremont and School streets, Omni Parker House is in a historic district of Boston, right along the Freedom Trail. The hotel is directly across from Kings Chapel, the Old Town Hall , and a block from Granary Burial Ground, where Paul Revere, Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Mother Goose were laid to rest. The blocks surrounding the hotel are lined with bars, Irish pubs, and restaurants that characterize much of Bostons food scene steakhouses and seafood joints. Omni Parker House is just outside Beacon Hill, a historic and wealthy residential neighborhood known for its Federal-style row houses, brick sidewalks, narrow streets, and dozens of antique shops.
- Three-minute walk to Boston Common, the countrys oldest park and the start of Bostons 2.5-mile Freedom Trail, which passes through 16 historic landmarks
- Three-minute walk to Government Center stop on the T
- Eight-minute walk to Faneuil Hall, a historic marketplace and modern-day mall
- 15-minute walk to TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics
- 15-minute walk to North End
- 15-minute T ride to Harvard Square and Harvard University
- 20-minute T ride to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox
- 26-minute T ride to Boston Logan International Airport