Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

Parfait a name properly used of a rich frozen dessert, similar to a bombe and often made in a bombe mould. A typical parfait is composed of two or several elements (a lining for the mould and a filling, which may itself be layered) and is flavoured with a liqueur, or with coffee, chocolate, praline, etc.

In N. America, the term has come to mean something different, namely a combination of fruit and ice cream, served in a tall narrow glass which exposes to view the various layers of the confection. This sort of parfait is not a frozen dessert. However, the frozen dessert version can be frozen in individual parfait glasses, rather than in a single mould, so there is a relationship between the two different things.