Tuiles

I never understood why these curved cookies were called tiles, because all the floor and wall tiles I had ever seen were square or rectangular and flat. It wasn’t until I was working at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo that I asked my chef, Alexandre Frolla, how the cookies got their name. My question was greeted with peals of laughter from all the Frenchmen who heard it. It seems that the French word tuile specifically means a curved clay roofing tile—very common on the Riviera, had I only looked up. A wall or floor tile would be called a carreau, or “square.” I’m sure everyone was thinking: Americans!