reportage – La cuisine de Bernard

https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/ Traveler and passionate about cooking, I give you all my secrets of cooking, without detour. Fri, 07 Sep 2018 09:13:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/wp-content/uploads/logo/frame-3-1.png reportage – La cuisine de Bernard https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/ 32 32 Silikomart, new partner of the blog and the workshop https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/silikomart-new-partner-of-the-blog-and-the-workshop/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/silikomart-new-partner-of-the-blog-and-the-workshop/#respond Fri, 07 Sep 2018 09:13:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/silikomart-new-partner-of-the-blog-and-the-workshop Deprecated: Accessing static trait property MatthiasWeb\RealMediaLibrary\Vendor\MatthiasWeb\Utils\Localization::$PACKAGE_INFO_BACKEND is deprecated, it should only be accessed on a class using the trait in /var/www/html/public_html/wp-content/plugins/real-media-library/vendor/devowl-wp/utils/src/PackageLocalization.php on line 37
Silikomart molds have been seen everywhere in professional and consumer stores for years. But this has been exploding for a while and it must be said that their molds give…]]>

Silikomart molds have been seen everywhere in professional and consumer stores for years. But this has been exploding for a while and it must be said that their molds give free rein to our imagination. I wasn’t a fan of silicone for cooking anymore, but when I discovered everything that is currently being done, freezer cakes with inserts (even if it was done before too, but not as much as it is today), I changed my mind. For my workshop and the blog, I already have nice partners and this time I took my phone back to create a new partnership, with Silikomart. No I am not paid by the brands, but I naturally use their products and I also use them for my classes. For Silikomart it’s the same thing but I took the opportunity to go to Venice to discover their factory and their school during a training I had during 2 days there. When you like to cook, it’s a bit of an Alibaba cave! I invite you to visit the backstage of this brand, between the impressive store, the Hangar78 and the place where the molds are made !

After a short flight from Paris to Venice, I headed in the middle of summer in the heat to the Silikomart headquarters.

There is absolutely everything on site. The school, Hangar 78 trains professionals and amateurs. It is there that I spend 48 hours for my training at Silikomart. We made a lot of recipes there and I will share some secrets with you!

Here we see my other partner: Kitchenaid! My first love of youth!

There are lots of different rooms, tons of ovens and cooling cells. My workshop has all this, but on a much smaller scale!

On the floor below is the store with all the brand’s references. As much as to say that I spent time there !

Whenever I had a break during my training, I would run downstairs to wander the aisles alone.

Silikomart has partnered with some of the world’s greatest pastry chefs and we see some of their work here.

I’ve been looking into these new molds for a while now, and I can’t wait to share with you lots of new recipes that will come out of them!

In the store, which is very large, there is the general public part and the part of the pro moulds. You can tell the difference by the color of the silicone. White is usually for the chefs. But whatever the color, the quality of the silicone is the same!

The little macaroon boxes are perfect to bring as gifts!

Imagine me alone in the store! I had to get out of there!

We see here the cocoa butter in spray super convenient because no need to put it in a water bath beforehand. For a velvet effect on a cake, it takes only seconds!

I told you it was Alibaba’s cave !

For my workshop, I put a lot of references aside. Since I also rent it out to people who teach baking classes and use these types of molds, it’s very helpful to have plenty of choices.

When I say there is everything, I am not lying! Between the grids, the pockets, the rhodoïds, the gloves etc., one does not know any more where to give of the head!

You will find references in pro stores or on the internet for pro molds, and consumer molds can be found in all kitchen stores.

The offices are right next door and that’s where they develop the designs on the computer.

Across the street is the factory where they make the molds.

Here we see the two tanks, one for the silicone and one for the catalyst. A machine recovers the material and mixes it. The silicone is then injected under pressure into the metal dies where it cures in seconds. A clamp comes to recover the formed mould. That’s for the simpler reasons.

Here we see the white silicone (pro) with 3D effect. It is this effect that has changed the game in recent years and that we can make all the designs for cakes always more incredible.

Here we see the matrix of a 3D mold.

The demolding is done by a person who will then cut the trace where the silicone was injected.

You need a very heavy die for each mold, and given the number of references, there is a lot of stock!

Now all I have to do is get back in the kitchen and concoct a lot of new delights for you!

]]> https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/silikomart-new-partner-of-the-blog-and-the-workshop/feed/ 0 My Culinary Interviews: Guy Martin ! https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/my-culinary-interviews-guy-martin/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/my-culinary-interviews-guy-martin/#respond Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:37:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/my-culinary-interviews-guy-martin

So here is my first interview. And to start with, I wanted to aim very high! I went to meet Mr. Guy Martin. Holder of numerous awards, he has been voted best chef in France and Europe several times. Head for the Grand Véfour, where he has been the chef since 1991, in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris, a stone’s throw from the Louvre. Mr. Guy Martin very kindly received me in a private room on the floor of the Grand Véfour, for an exclusive interview for “La Cuisine de Bernard”! By improvising as a journalist, I was of course very stressed, but I came out delighted to have spent this privileged moment with this unavoidable chef.
This section is new and will be enriched with one interview per month or every two months. But I invite you to leave your comments to see what you think!

Bernard: You are a recognized chef in France and abroad. In your opinion, what are the qualities that qualify a great chef ?

Guy Martin: It’s complicated to say. I don’t know, by his work, the way he apprehends dishes, life, probably also by his search for excellence, the way he tries to go to the bottom of things. It means looking for the best products at the best time and having a whole chain of growers, farmers, breeders and so on who will give you the best products. Then it is to interpret these products according to its sensitivity.

Are there any

s there any other side to these qualities ?

There are bound to be setbacks. If perfection exists, there is only God. Does God exist, that’s something else! But it is this quest for perfection, or trying to always be the best you can be, that can bring frustration or permanent dissatisfaction. But it also allows for progress.

Do you have to innovate to be a great chef or can you stay in the tradition ?

That’s up to each individual. You have to know what you are looking for, what you like in life. I think that cooking is part of a social and cultural movement that is underway. We don’t dress like we did twenty years ago. Let’s take the case of cars, they don’t have the same look. This means that we are in a perpetual motion. For example, from Botticelli to Rotko, what the artists do is still extraordinary. This painting, which is frozen, can also be frozen like some dishes in the kitchen, and it is still of very high quality. Now, we live in the 21st century and we want to cook in the 21st century, and I want to cook in the 21st century.

You are self-taught and I understand that you have no family background in gastronomy. But I have a doubt when I see the book written with your father (placed in a corner of the living room). So where does this passion for cooking come from ?

It is not a doubt, it is a reality. These are recipes that he made at home, but he was not a cook at all. This book is a tribute to my father, to my parents. My passion for cooking comes from the passion to eat properly at home, to differentiate the good from the fine, because my mother cooked very well. My parents entertained and went out a lot. When I came of age, I knew how to eat. I couldn’t cook, but I could appreciate things. After that, it’s a series of events, including reading cookbooks. I thought, “well, why shouldn’t I be a cook?” That’s it, it came about a little bit by chance. But from my earliest childhood, I was immersed in an environment of epicureans, cigars and wines.

You bring cooking and painting together. For what reasons ? What are the artistic periods or painters that touch you the most in this area ? How has painting changed your conception of gastronomy ?

Painting helps me to live everyday, and I would say that there are painters that I appreciate more. It will depend on the time of year. After, concretely, on a dish, it can be the dynamic of a movement, the matter. The painters at the moment that I love can be painter-photographers. There is for example, Martine Martine, Dominique Issermann, there is of course Monet, Rotko, Magritte, Ellen Von Unwerth. These are people whose work I like.

Nowadays, there is a kind of apology for the gastronomy of the country, a praise of the soil, of the cuisine with regional touches, in short of a cuisine that has an identity that characterizes it and distinguishes it from others. Do you share this opinion ? If yes, what singularity gave you your Savoyard origin ?

It is on several levels, for me who is from the mountain. First of all, it’s respect, because I have a sporting background. The respect of the mountain, the respect of the other, is the education we received. I would say that these are things that can help in life, but at the same time, it is to know how the seasons work, how the world of agriculture works, since I lived in a village of farmers. It is to understand the cycle of time and at the same time, it is to recognize the beautiful products, to have an eye.

You have traveled a lot and I imagine that, in these trips, you are always attentive to everything related to gastronomy. What countries, cities or markets, traditions do you find interesting from a culinary point of view? Have you incorporated elements of this into your own kitchen ?

Of course, everything is interesting. Whatever the country, village or market, everything is a source of inspiration, a source of future recipes. The discovery of products, the discovery, for example, recently of honeys, with people who make the transhumance of the bees, who leave from the seaside and who go back to the hinterland, it is something that is stacked on traditions, on ways of do. Of course you have to be open to everything that is going on, because cooking has no boundaries. It is like music, it travels. But the country that inspires me the most, or that has inspired me the most, is Japan with its zen side, the zen gardens and the paradox between a country that is very traditional, with temples, cities, that have not really moved in time. Traditions, such as Kabuki, the theater Noh. Eand at the same time a city with very modern people. It is this complexity that interests me too. On the culinary level, it is Japan that has influenced me the most.

Your work is also your passion. And I imagine you put a lot of energy into your restaurant. Do you have any left to cook for your family or friends? And if so, do you put as much rigor into it or do you cook more by instinct?

Well, at home, it’s always an instinctive cooking, except when I have friends over and I have to shop. But what can pass for rigor or for a certain choice of ingredients, is my daily life. Of course I’m cooler at home, but it’s a natural thing. And at the same time at home, I can do things that I don’t do at the restaurant. There can be food products, industrial products, that doesn’t bother me at all, if I don’t have time to make. However, I will try to give a touch on each dish, to bring some love in the recipe. You have to deviate from the basic ingredient, whether it’s frozen peas, for example, if I didn’t have time to go to the market, well in that case, I’m going to try for example, in the cooking waters, on every single thing that I’m going to do, to bring in something personal and try to make the recipe really good. But at the same time, when I cook for someone, I cook for their tastes, I know what they like, so I go in the direction of the people I am cooking for.

Do your friends still dare to invite you to dinner ?

Yes, they still have a problem with it, but I explain it to them! Those who love me, know me well and know that it is not a problem, because if you make me a pasta dish, everything is fine, even if the cooking is messed up, I do not care! Because it’s my job. What interests me is the moment of conviviality, the moment of sharing that we will spend together. It’s not going to say “is the tablecloth well ironed? are the beans well cooked? is it a good quality?”, honestly I don’t care.

The great Kitchen consists of meticulous, planned, thoughtful work. Is there room for improvisation in this ?

There are two different things. There is the dish on the menu, which may evolve over time, or a dish that will remain on a menu for three months. Here at Le Grand Véfour, the name may be the same, but it can evolve depending on how you feel. But we will say that in the globality, the dish will not move, because it has this name. For example, at the moment, there are morels arriving. There, it’s complicated to move a dish. On the other hand there is the product of the moment that we will We have to create a recipe for each ingredient that we receive, for example from our fishmonger, or for vegetables that arrive like that and that are not necessarily on the menu, so yes, it will be a recipe that we will create specifically for this ingredient that arrives. If the fishmonger has very nice red mullets, he will put them on our menu, if he has scallops from the bay of Saint Brieux, we will have them, so that means that we will cook these products which are not necessarily on the menu. We’ll get them in late morning and then we’ll cook them. It’s not something that is marked, that is written in stone, it’s something that we’re going to do just like that.

Do you have a pet peeve that has nothing to do with haute cuisine ? And what are your small pleasures in the kitchen daily or in the popular kitchen? And in the industrial kitchen ?

So, in industrial products, I love candy. Sweets from around the world! I eat a lot of candy, a lot of industrial cakes. That’s about as far as it goes. Now, again, I don’t mind if you have to use industrial products and I don’t mind giving recipes with them. Also, because not everyone has the time, the budget, to go to the markets, to have the time to spend cooking. We must stop making people feel guilty about food, everyone does what they can with what they have and where they are.

Some people, including myself, associate great gastronomy with the most expensive dishes, the most exclusive restaurants. They may be unaware of the pleasure that the simplest ingredients offer. Do you think there is room for simplicity and ” cheap ” ingredients in the high gastronomy ?

Well, all the products have their place, but why does it cost relatively more in a gourmet restaurant than elsewhere? First, the starting ingredient is not the same. Because when you take, for example, scallops, pork or foie gras, there are ten different prices, and we will take the top of the top, the nec plus ultra, we will take the best quality. This means that, already at the beginning, we have products that are expensive and that even some of these products, you can not find them on the markets, because they are parallel circuits. Secondly, because there are teams that are expensive, the staff are relatively well paid, there is a decor, small fours. All the ingredients, the staff, the place, the service, the sommellerie and so on, add up to a cost and you can’t go below it. Nevertheless, we can work with pork, we can work on menus with hake, but big hake. But you can also be spontaneous. You know, a customer who comes to taste a dish and comes back regularly taste this dish, he memorizes it. And if the next time he comes back, and under the same title it’s not the same recipe at all, somewhere he’s lost. So you really have to listen to your customers.

Professional chefs deliver their recipes in their cookbooks, but when faced with their successes, amateurs sometimes feel inhibited. ” I can’t do what’s in the picture “, ” I’m going to mess up “. And even those who do venture out, may not persevere when faced with the first failure. Behind the success that appears on the photos, behind the scenes, do the great chefs also experience failures? Do you ever miss or drop a dish ?

That is to say that I draw the recipes. I draw them and eat them in my head. I imagine the textures, the seasonings. Afterwards, when it is put in the kitchen, the recipe is finished, it has already been thought out. Then it’s just a little adjustment, but sometimes it doesn’t work. And when it doesn’t work, I try once or twice, but then I stop. I don’t persevere. When the recipe is finished, when you feel that it is ok, you feel that it is ok. For example, right now, I have a recipe, but I’m not too convinced. It is a recipe based on monkfish and several works on tomato. But since I don’t have the right tomatoes yet, I have to anticipate the map that will arrive. It has to be printed, it takes fifteen days, three weeks, to print it, and only then will I have the right tomatoes, it will be too late. In this recipe, I worked on different colors and textures of tomatoes, but the tomatoes I have here do not have the quality I am looking for. My dish is a little off from what I imagine it should taste like. Yet I know what it should taste like. Now I’m thinking “what do I do?”, do I stop or do I move on to the next topic? Yet the dish is well finished in my head. So that’s it. But in general we put down the recipe and we think that the one we made in the given moment is the best, otherwise we would not make it.

And on the other hand there is a dish that went beyond your expectations?

Well, this is the one that’s not done yet! It’s always the next dish.

It’s a year-round job, you need to anticipate the next season’s products to anticipate the menu a bit?

Yes, because at the end of the day, the card has to be printed. As I said, it takes a fortnight, three weeks, to write it, print it and so on. You always have to anticipate, but then, when it arrives, well, you’re in it. But I am always amazed by the quality of our products, by the work of these growers, farmers, what they manage to give us. I find that of more in addition there is a research. I am very optimistic about the future. Even on the industrial side, they are doing better and better, they are doing things really well.

Do you ever get inspiration from other chefs, from books, from the internet?

No, I never use the net. All my books are handwritten. I have an assistant who does the mail, but I never go on the net. I’m not interested, I don’t have time. I like the contact with the paper. A few years ago, I had put together a collection of cookbooks, a bit old, because I like the origin, I like to understand where we come from, and to understand where we are going, we have to understand where we come from. That’s what I was interested in, and I was always looking for the book I couldn’t find. But from a passion, it was only a story of money. You put in the money, the book is there. So I stopped because it was really a passion, finding old manuscripts. I had people all over France who helped me, but then it was going into something that was not what I expected. So there you go, I stopped, but I still have those collections. And I think I stopped buying books from my colleagues twenty years ago. But for me, I don’t keep any notes. Now I write books, but for people who cook at home, not for professionals, so that means I don’t keep any recipes. If you ask me about a recipe from two years ago, I don’t have it anymore, it doesn’t exist anymore, it is not kept. I don’t want to say, “well, I lack inspiration, what if I did something that worked well”. I don’t want that. The day there is no more magic, I will stop.

Finally, is there an approach, a fashion of cooking that you don’t like?

No, everyone does what they want. And then, at the end of the day, it’s the customer who decides. If I don’t like it, I don’t go, and for the customer it’s the same. But cooking is a real freedom. There are some who make media hits on things, that can last two, three years, but it is a profession in which you have to last. It’s every day, twice a day for years, so I think if you’re not in some truth, it’s complicated to get through those years.

]]> https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/my-culinary-interviews-guy-martin/feed/ 0 My Food Reports: “Cointreau Cuisine” ! https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/my-food-reports-cointreau-cuisine/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/my-food-reports-cointreau-cuisine/#respond Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:35:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/my-food-reports-cointreau-cuisine

Invited to come and discover the new product of the Cointreau range, “Cointreau Cuisine”, which will be on the market in June, I give you the report of this “press lunch”! I was indeed invited to a real lunch in a place that I did not know and that charmed me a lot, the concept store “Un Dimanche à Paris”. On the menu: aperitif and small salted cabbage with cocoa nibs with a “Cointreau Sauer”, then variations on this new Cointreau spray: “duck aiguillettes with celery purée”, “gambas with orange risotto”, as many dishes that I will soon propose on my website. I’ll take you with me to discover the meal and the ideas, as the chefs were with us to teach us how to make the delicious dishes!

So here I am this time invited by Cointreau, in the restaurant “Un Dimanche à Paris” at 4-6-8 Cour du Commerce Saint André in the 6th district of Paris. The day will go from surprise to surprise and I still don’t know what to expect!

This new restaurant is in fact a “concept store”, a very complicated name for a place where chocolate is in the spotlight. It is indeed the son of Michel Cluizel, a famous chocolate maker, Pierre Cluizel, also a chocolate maker, who opened this friendly place where you can taste chocolates and drink cocktails in the lounge upstairs, take cooking classes, eat with a varied and appetizing menu and then leave with small cakes or chocolates to please our loved ones …!

I strongly advise you to take a close look at all the little cakes, macaroons, and original utensils, like this “monk’s head” grater.

The most interesting (and probably the most pleasant for those who work there!) is the large bay window that looks directly into the pastry shop.

Of course, I couldn’t resist asking to take a look at it. Especially when there are little caramel tarts in the mix!!!

The Easter eggs are very original and made me want to bite them, with all those roasted nuts!

But here we are upstairs in the “lounge” where Cointreau invites us. We will be only four guests and the two organizers for this particularly tasty lunch.

This is where you can come to drink cocktails, while chatting with a small plate of chocolates.

Everywhere transparency, light.

You can even see the restaurant below.

Anyway, it’s time for us to get to the heart of the matter, i.e. Cointreau which launches its new product “Cointreau Cuisine”. While discussing the origins of this prestigious brand (which dates back to 1849 in Angers), we are served a fresh “Cointreau Sauer”. A dash of cointreau, tonic, a bit of yellow and lime and you’re done! I will definitely be making these again at home!

Small cabbages are waiting for us with their salt and cocoa nibs. In this restaurant, many variations on cocoa and chocolate. But as Mr. Pierre Cluizel pointed out to us, everything is done here with nuance and subtlety.

After this refreshing aperitif (my head is already spinning a bit at this point!) we head to a room where a real cooking class is waiting for us! With of course, the star of the day: the “Cointreau Cuisine”. Because the whole meal will revolve around a delicate cloud of Cointreau. Orange and cocoa, the meal looks enchanting.

Our two chefs of the day are here to receive us. So we find ourselves with 4 guests, 2 chefs and 2 organizers. A rare and privileged moment.

We will cook with our chefs and then go to the table to devour everything.

Our Cointreau organizer poses here with our chef du jour in the large upstairs kitchen.

Since my camera is everywhere, I followed the recipe of our starter: the “chic and shocking salad”! I will of course give you the recipe in the site soon. Although it can easily be reproduced at home. A little corn, lamb’s lettuce, crushed toasted hazelnuts, small balls of melon and a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

Simply thinly slice raw mushrooms and a williams pear, then arrange a rosette of each on the plate.

A bit of corn, then salad previously mixed with the vinaigrette…

We finish with hazelnuts, duck breast, some croutons with cocoa nibs, melon and a dash of vinaigrette. And to finish, a few drops of Cointreau Cuisine on the salad!

And here is the result! A fresh and light salad, crispy and melting, which smells like a perfume.

After the chief, we realize each one our salad. We go to the table, we discuss, we laugh and we drink wine and then we leave with the chef for the continuation!

On the menu, two dishes are proposed.

Skewers of duck aiguillettes on a crushed celery and turnip purée. Always with our Cointreau cloud.

And an orange and carrot risotto, served with grilled prawns with cocoa powder!

Let’s just say right away that both dishes are total successes! And the Cointreau Cuisine brings shine and fragrance to the whole and adds a cloud of mystery. Because if you don’t know there are any, the subtlety of the fragrance is intoxicating but disconcerting. We know the fragrance, but we don’t identify it immediately.

It’s time for dessert and our young pastry chef joins us to add his little touch.

First some gariguettes in a circle. One wonders if the building is not doomed to collapse…

But no, it’s a miracle, the whole thing holds, and even very well! Because even with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, the strawberries hold up. A few shards of gold leaf and a dash of Cointreau Cuisine and we are in seventh heaven!

But for me the most delicious part is at the end… Absolutely divine lemon financiers! I haven’t been this cheerful in a long time, but there’s something witchy about these financiers. They are on sale in the store and surpass (by far) all those I knew until now! But there were two financiers… One with lemon, then another with roasted hazelnuts and orange peel…

Filled with a chocolatey praline ! The two of them bewitch us with the cloud of Cointreau… And for all those who are still wondering… YES I have the recipe for the praline financier, and YES I have the recipe for the orange and carrot risotto and duck aiguillettes…

So be patient, because I have a lot of work to do and moreover the Cointreau Cuisine will only be available in June at Lafayette Gourmet in Paris, maybe at the Épicerie du Bon marché. With a little hope of finding it in mail order, but in the meantime, Cointreau has been available for over 160 years…!

]]> https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/my-food-reports-cointreau-cuisine/feed/ 0 Delight of the Casbah https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/delight-of-the-casbah/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/delight-of-the-casbah/#respond Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:49:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/delight-of-the-casbah

This feature will evolve every day between January 10th and 17th! Here is a preview of all the wonders of the “Delight of the Casbah” that will arrive as we go along. For the first day of discovery, I had the same feeling as a child on Christmas morning! A real Ali Baba’s cave. I was able to taste a “baklawa” with almonds and …. it was a marvel of sweetness. A fine pastry with just the right amount of sweetness and a fresh, crunchy toasted almond on top… I would like to thank Monica without whom all this would not be possible and of course Moh Said who received me today (January 10, 2011) and opened the doors of his store and all the secrets it contains.

So here I am this time and for the next week, in Saint Denis at the “Délice de la Casbah”. The biggest of the two stores that Moh Said has (a third one is coming to Barbès!) is at 62, rue Gabriel Péri.

It also serves as a tea room.

Moh Saïd presents me today some fritters just out of the frying. A smell that brought me back to my childhood when I had the chance to go on vacation in North Africa with my parents.

Of course, I am here to learn some of the secrets of oriental pastry. Moh Said uses only Algerian almonds and unlike other pastry shops that are not very careful about the quality of the finished product, he guarantees the taste of his delights by using only 300g to 400g of sugar for one kilo of almonds.

You can imagine how excited I was to know that I was going to learn some of the recipes for all these wonders!

Taking advantage of a rather quiet period after the holidays, he accepted to receive me. For him, as for me, it is important to pass on the know-how that so many generations before us have taken time to develop.

For the eyes as well as for the palate, these pastries participate in making us travel.

I’ll let you discover a few beautiful pastries before knowing a little more in the coming days! Like the “fingers of the bride” below.

But I especially invite you to come and discover for yourself this delicious pastry that is really worth the trip (I’m not saying that for all that it does for me, but because it is truly delicious!) While waiting for the one in Paris at Barbès, here are the two addresses:

-62, rue Gabriel Péri Saint Denis, RER Saint Denis or Metro line 13 Basilique de Saint Denis

-27, rue Auguste Delaune Saint Denis, RER Saint Denis

A few “montecaos” to whet our appetites.

And a mountain of sweets to enjoy with tea.

First day:

Fatiha teaches me the art of making perfect montecaos. Flour, sugar, a little almond powder and oil…

The girls have finished the “kesra” dough and will even teach me how to roll the dough in the palm of my hands.

And here is the chef Hakim who is kind enough to teach me his art.

Like the “almond slippers” which seem so simple but still require a little trick.

Here I am with my batch of montecaos ready to go to the store. Because I’m always busy and I have to learn quickly so as not to disrupt the smooth running of the pastry shop. But I’m doing well.

From tomorrow, the gazelle horns!

]]> https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/delight-of-the-casbah/feed/ 0 Decadent Vanilla Leaf Tasting! https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/decadent-vanilla-leaf-tasting/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/decadent-vanilla-leaf-tasting/#respond Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:19:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/decadent-vanilla-leaf-tasting

No, I don’t offer you the recipe (at least not yet!) of the mille-feuilles, but I let you discover the tasting in which I had the immense chance and especially the pleasure to participate. Eleven exceptional mille-feuilles, coming from eleven prestigious Parisian establishments, thirty people to savor them, including the pastry chefs who prepared them, gourmet amateurs and , chocolate makers and a gastronomic historian without forgetting our organizer…

On the program of our afternoon, the following establishments (palaces and boutiques):

Angélina, Rousseau Seurre, Pierre Hermé, Ritz Paris, Plaza Athénée, Taillevent, Café de la Paix, Le Chamarré, Philippe Conticini, Gérard Besson, Le Pré Catelan

“1867: the mille-feuilles of Rouget and/or Sergent:

The word entered the dictionary in 1906… one hundred years after the recipe for mille-feuilles was published by a certain Rouget, about whom nothing is known anymore, and without obtaining the slightest success until the day in 1867 when a man named Sergent (or Seugnot), a Parisian pastry chef established in the lower part of the rue du Bac, proposed it to his customers. It is said that this delicate cake, made of puff pastry with six turns (i.e. six consecutive folds), called by the English -puff pastry- was then sold daily by hundreds.

The traditional mille-feuilles is made up of several layers of thin puff pastry separated by pastry cream. Its surface is covered with white fondant after being apricot-coated and the sides are masked by toasted, blanched almonds. But for a long time the top was decorated with small rings cut out of the puff pastry and baked separately. The mille-feuilles can be small and individual or large to share. But still fresh.”

Excerpt from “La très belle et très exquise histoire des gâteaux et des friandises” by Maquelonne Toussaint-Samat.

“Love should be savored like a delicacy, for love is a delicacy. Near the couch that welcomes lovers, there should always be ice cream, fruit, fine pastries…”

(Curnonsky, La Table et l’amour, 1950)

After this introduction we are all gathered around a big table (there was another one next to it, smaller) at Coude à Coude (a nice little restaurant/wine bar at 46, rue Saint Honoré, 75001Paris) ready to enjoy our mille-feuilles. First one by one, then two by two to better compare textures and flavors.

We all had a little sheet to fill in as we went along to note and compare the different mille-feuilles. I will not talk about that here because it is very difficult to note these mille-feuilles all coming from the “high” pastry shop and moreover I am not a gastronomic critic and all that is free with the appreciation of each one. But yes I admit there were a couple of them that seemed “perfect” to me!

To my question “but why so many mille-feuilles?” our mysterious organizer replied “but what would we do without greed and generosity…?” The tone was set for these three and a half hours of deliciousness!

To ensure the freshness of these mille-feuilles, some of the pastry chefs came with their equipment to assemble the cakes directly in our meeting place!

CHAMARRÉ MONTMARTRE

Let’s start our tasting with this establishment in Montmartre. Our pastry chefs were among those who assembled the mille-feuilles in the kitchen.

Obviously I was there to attend and not to miss anything of the gestures of these professionals!

The tasting being based only on vanilla mille-feuilles (so as not to influence the jury that we were to choose one mille-feuilles rather than another because of our individual preferences, it is easier to compare them on an equal footing!), the Chamarré’s had a thin layer of caramelized and very vanilla milk jam cream before a layer of vanilla pastry cream with whipped cream.

All that was left to do was to cut the edges to obtain a perfect mille-feuilles!

Next, the mille-feuilles of Gérard Besson!

GÉRARD BESSON

Trained at the school of the greatest, Gérard Besson became Meilleur Ouvrier de France at the age of 28 and opened his restaurant in 1978 in the heart of Paris, where he has been cooking noble products with simplicity for more than 25 years.

His awards:
Knight of Agricultural Merit
Officer of the National Order of Merit
Member of the Association of Master Chefs of France
Members of the Culinary Academy of France
Associate Professor for the French Cooking School

Its mille-feuilles in normal individual version…

And in a tasting version. It was finally the smallest part of all the mille-feuilles that would follow. You have to imagine that we ate eleven in a row!

To our historian, we asked for a short history of desserts and mille-feuilles, here is an excerpt of his fascinating speech:

“…Parallel to that develops the art of the pies, we can have flans etc.. that marries what is crust and what is sweetened entremet inside. At the origin it is all that. After the puff pastry such as we know it, it is Parisian of the 17th century, in full of books it is said that it is the painter Poussin who brought it back from Rome, that it is completely false, it is anecdotes and this tradition of the puff pastry comes from the East and from the Arabo-Andalusian cooking, but not in the same way, not by tricks, that is to say that it is the idea of having very thin sheets that are coated with fat that are piled up and when you put them in the oven, they come off instead of sticking. If there is no fat, they stick together, but if there is fat between them, if you brush them with fat, they come off. So this is the case of filo pastry and things like that and this is the example of what we do in Moroccan cooking where sheets of stretched pasta are coated with fat, so all fats are possible, lard, oil etc… that are stacked and when cooked, they do not stick, they come off. So Hervé would explain that they detach because it’s the water vapor that detaches from the dough that creates a space between the sheets and this water vapor must be able to get out and he is said to be unhappy if he doesn’t cut his puff pastry straight at the end, he prevents the layers from sticking together, he prevents the vapor from getting out through the sides. But this idea of making crispy pastry is very very old since it is found in the Arabo-Andalusian cuisine since the 13th century, it is found in the cork cuisine in the 16th century, in the Spanish or Portuguese cuisine in the 17th century but it is not made by tricks. The invention of the Parisian cookery is that instead of taking stretched sheets and brushing them with fat, it is precisely to make the turning. To put the fat between the dough, to fold and to fold again and there we have always the film of fat between two films of dough. And what interests me in the mille-feuilles which is in my opinion a creation of the 19th century, even if there are many premises, it is the meeting of the art of the paste and the crusts and the art of the creams which is at the origin of the sweetened entremets. And that, the history of pastry, is much more difficult than the history of cooking and we could take other cakes like that and we would also find filiations of this type. The story of the pies, for example, is a complicated one. Originally there were fruit tarts, that is something that we find very old in the Middle Ages, but without the fruit, with other preparations, it is later when we found salted tarts. We must always keep in mind that there is sweet because there was salty and that the sweet and the salty have separated. And then the evolution of the pastry profession from making hard crusts in bread dough which were not necessarily eaten, which were given to the dogs, to contain meat and how this work there, following the change of sensibility of the public, we started to put sweetness in these crusts, that’s the idea. Then we started to make crusts that are edible, that are a sweet support, a sweet dessert. It’s hard to pin down, because there are all these subtle passages. There are many legends in the history of pastry and cooking. We must be wary of legends and see historically what we can say and from the documents we have it is very difficult. But that’s what logic is all about, the crust to content ratio. I find it fascinating to take menus from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century to see how slowly the sweet taste becomes autonomous and migrates at the end of the meal. So we don’t find sugar in the French cuisine anymore, sugar is separated from the salty entremtets. And what do we do with fruits, enriched and sweetened breads, they give the desserts…”

ANGÉLINA

It was my first tasting from this tea room in the rue de Rivoli. I’ve been telling myself for a long time that I have to go there. Well, it’s done and I tasted one of their pastries! And I understand better why this show has such a notoriety!

On the counter of the restaurant, the boxes arrived endlessly and all revealed interiors each more appetizing than the other!

ROUSSEAU SEURRE

Another first for me with this house that I did not know. Pastry chef and caterer in the rue des Martyrs, I’ll be sure to come back to discover their versions of French pastry classics!

RITZ PARIS

We rarely have the opportunity to taste pastries from real Parisian palaces, especially when we know that the price is 19 euros THE share (June 2010)…!

The pastry chefs of the “Pré Catelan” and their works prepared at the minute! It was a constant barrage of pastries.

PEACE CAFÉ

Another institution in front of the Opéra Garnier. I once ate the best chocolate éclair of my life there!

PLAZA ATHENA (Christophe MICHALAK)

Christophe Michalak is the world pastry champion (in 2005) and has been the pastry chef at the Plaza Athénée (3 Michelin stars) since 2000 after working at Fauchon, Ladurée and Pierre Hermé in New York!

TAILLEVENT

LE PRÉ CATELAN (Christelle BRUA)

Christelle BRUA, pastry chef of the three-star restaurant Pré Catelan, quickly climbed the steps of the sweet podium, crowned by the trophy of the Pastry Chef of the Year 2009!

Not easy to cut a mille-feuilles! You have to work together. The problem of our appointment was that it was very hot (30 degrees on this day of June 29, 2010!) and that the creams, as soon as they came out of the refrigerator began to soften, making the cakes sometimes unstable and perilous to slice!

PIERRE HERMÉ

Pierre Hermé no longer needs to be introduced, as he has undoubtedly become one of the best known chefs in the world!

PHILIPPE CONTICINI

Working at La pâtisserie des rêves, Philippe Conticini has worked in prestigious restaurants. Pastry chef for thirteen years at the Table d’Anvers, he then took over the management of the Petrossian, until 2003. That same year, he won the World Pastry Championship with the French team he was leading. At the helm of the Pelletier pastry shops in New York and Tokyo, he easily exports his talent.

As you can see, all these mille-feuilles are beautiful to look at and show a great technical mastery that will not fail to inspire us to do better! But we can also say that we can jump into this recipe without fear because there is not one that transcends the other while their fillings are often quite different! Pastry cream, pastry cream AND whipped cream, pastry cream and butter cream, chiboust cream…. all variations are possible. The difficulty comes mainly from the puff pastry. Classic for some, inverted for others, inverted caramelized…. It is up to each of us to compose the mille-feuilles of our dreams. I now have my own ideas on the subject and I will be sure to take inspiration from these great chefs and their vivid imagination!

If you want to see a different point of view of this meeting, go to the site of Yoko (click
here
!!). It’s in Japanese but there are pictures of mille-feuilles!

In the meantime, if you want to make a delicious folly and try one of these mille-feuilles here are the addresses of the establishments mentioned:

Pierre HERMÉ:

72, rue Bonaparte 75006 Paris

85, rue de Vaugirard 75015 Paris

Hotel PLAZA ATHENS

25, avenue Montaigne 75008 Paris

ROUSSEAU SEURRE

22, rue des Martyrs 75009 Paris

RITZ PARIS

15, place Vendôme 75001 Paris

GÉRARD BESSON

5, rue Coq-Héron 75001 Paris

CHAMARRÉ MONTMARTRE

52, rue Lamarck 75018 Paris

TAILLEVENT

15, rue Lamennais 75008 Paris

LE PRÉ CATELAN

Bois de Boulogne, Route de Suresnes 75016 Paris

PEACE CAFÉ

12, boulevard des Capucines 75009 Paris

ANGÉLINA

226, rue de Rivoli Paris

THE PATISSERIE OF DREAMS

93, rue du Bac 75007 Paris

]]> https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/decadent-vanilla-leaf-tasting/feed/ 0 Clicks and Taste! https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/clicks-and-taste/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/clicks-and-taste/#respond Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:53:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/clicks-and-taste

Here is the small report on the day “clicks and taste”. A day full of deliciousness and various recipes offered by bloggers and chefs professionals!

On April 22, 2011, at the Atelier Cirelli at 24, rue Condorcet in the 9th district of Paris, took place the event “Des Clics Et Du Goût” to which I was invited.
“Des Clics et du Goût – Culinary meetings
is a day of culinary meetings on the theme of the values of the kitchen, between tradition and modernity.

This project is based on the desire to bring together a public increasingly fond of cooking, by inviting amateurs (bloggers) and professionals (chefs, sociologists). Thus, all will be able to exchange around their common interest.

A day theoretical : in opening, a round-table will deal with the limits between amateur and professional cooking, by confronting the point of view of the professionals on the increasing mediatization of the amateur and the point of view of the amateurs on their work.
Culinary blogs, a true gastronomic phenomenon, will serve as a basis for this analysis.
It will be a question of examining several questions: what is the place of the blogger, sometimes neither completely amateur nor completely professional? Why such a passion for cooking? How do professionals position themselves in the face of this craze? What is the future for these different actors?

A day participative : cooking demonstrations by bloggers, followed by a tasting of the preparations for lunch; creative workshop “seasonal basket”; meeting with bloggers, chef, authors; barter of utensils, tips, equipment.

This meeting is a cultural event that encourages sharing and reflection, at a time when the French gastronomic meal is included in the list of intangible heritage of humanity byUNESCO (November 2010)

The bloggers

Mercotte : “I created my blog in 2005 to exchange and share in a friendly way. Through an educational approach, I try to demystify chefs’ recipes and make them accessible to . My blog is rather sweet and focuses on macaroons. I also host a daily culinary column on France Bleu pays de Savoie.”
His website : www.mercotte.fr

Mercotte will speak during the demonstration (11:15-12:30) and the discussion/meeting (14:15-16:15).

Elise : “After studying art, I joined the ESAD in Reims and graduated in 1999. Designer touching everything, I experiment different fields of creation. Passionate about gastronomy and a curious cook at times, I started in 2008 in the field of culinary design, being interested in particular in molecular gastronomy and its applications in culinary creation. In March 2009, the website Eatdesign.fr is born. Dedicated to culinary design and my experiments in the kitchen, the site presents both a showcase of my work, a look at the world of creation in the kitchen and a free forum where everyone can express themselves, exchange ideas and ask questions.
His website : www.eatdesign.fr

Elise will speak during the round table (9:45-11:00).

Edda : “Un déjeuner de Soleil, a blog dedicated to the world of cooking (recipes, photos, good addresses and stories) is my playground, with a touch of nostalgia for Italy.
Of Italian (my father) and French (my mother) origin, I have been immersed in these two cultures since I was a child and I am very attached to them. Gourmet and curious since always, it is quite naturally that I started to be passionate about cooking. The magic and the sharing are always there. Then, with the blog, two other great passions were born: writing and photography. One thing leading to another, they became my job.
My cooking is simple, fresh, seasonal, with a strong preference for fruits and vegetables. It is inspired by my Italian origins, the generous cooking of my grandmothers, the market, the cupboard, travels, cookbooks as well as my small daily discoveries.
His website : www.undejeunerdesoleil.com

Edda will speak during the demonstration (11:15-12:30) and the discussion/meeting (14:15-16:15).

Anne :” Literary cook, literary and cook, I am not the first one… Already, Ragueneau
made verses between two desserts for Cyrano.
I present myself to you, wearing three gourmet toques:
Culinary editor,
Culinary stylist,
And above all, a cook at heart: even as a child I pushed the chair against the stove to get up to the height of the magical and promising pans…
Today, no more need for a chair (although!), but the happiness every day to learn and share my passion and my culinary moods… “
His website : www.panierdesaison.com

Anne will speak during the round table (9:45-11:00) as well as the creative workshop “La cuisine de saison” (15:00-16:45).

Bernard : ” Gastronomy is an important tradition in every corner of the world. It serves to characterize, to make a particular culture. But at the same time, it serves as a means of communication, because being interested in gastronomy means being interested in people. I see cooking as a great sharing: savoring a dish is savoring an encounter. Whether it is a meeting with my friends, or a meeting with the Chinese or South Americans. Whether it is an encounter with my contemporaries, or an encounter with those who are no longer here. Those whose recipes we receive are always a memory. To cook is to travel. Traveling in the world and in the memory. In my site, I try to pay tribute to all these traditions: the near and the far, the old and the recent. I love making Bordeaux canelés as much as I love making Hong Kong dim-sums . I grew up in a gourmet family, and with my parents, I learned to appreciate the pleasures of cooking. I love being able to pass them on and share them.”
His website : stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com

Bernard will speak during the round table (9:45-11:00) and the demonstration (11:15-12:30).

Silvia : “Italian living in France for ten years and passionate about cooking thanks to my grandmother’s heritage, I created my blog in 2007 to share my culinary roots, tell the stories of the dishes and make the French-speaking public discover an authentic Italian cuisine, often unknown outside Italy.
Thanks to the blog, cooking has become more important in my daily life and over the years I have made it the keystone of my job as a trainer/consultant in communication and marketing. Today I use cooking as a support for my courses, I conceive and I animate among other things culinary workshops to measure, for the private individuals and for the companies. I am the author of the book ” Italian Aperitifs ” which received the GourmandWorld Cookbook Award in the category of the best Italian cookbooks of 2010.
My thread is still the blog, through which I continue to share, learn and exchange with other enthusiasts and it is a great happiness. “
His website : www.savoirsetsaveurs.com

Silvia will speak during the discussion/meeting (2:15-4:15pm) as well as the creative workshop “La cuisine de saison” (3:00-4:45pm).

The leaders

Yannick Leclerc
He fell into the pot at an early age when he pushed open the doors of the Maxim’s. As a true gourmet, he went on to starred restaurants in palaces(Maison Blanche, Lucas Carton, Taillevent, Bristol, Saint James Paris…). He is now celebrating his 20 candles of gastronomy in the beautiful kitchen ofAlain Cirelli – Culinary Events.

Jérôme Thiers
This cheerful 28 year old chef has spent more than a third of his life in the gastronomic kitchens of Paris(Philipe Starck, La Tour d’argent, Saint James Paris…). He now enthusiastically shares his tips, tricks and tricks of the trade with visitors to the workshop Alain Cirelli – Culinary Events !

Jeffrey Cagnes

“I started my apprenticeship with Patrick Mallard, pastry chef and chocolatier in Avignon, and I discovered a real passion for this profession. In order to broaden my skills, I went to Paris where I joined the team ofthe Storher pastry shop to do my year of complementary mention during which I lived a great experience .
Afterwards, I acquired another perception of pastry making as a clerk with Sébastien Gaudard which allowed me to evolve. The following year, I returned to the company Storher : management, management, development and pedagogy were the key words of these two years. Then I invested my knowledge in the benefit of the Japanese pastry named Yamazaki in the position of chief.
Today, after all these enriching experiences, I am a chef for the famous restaurant of the table Hédiard, which allows me to blossom and grow in complete freedom.”

Jeffrey Cagnes will speak during the roundtable (9:45-11:00).

The professionals

Patrice Flichy is a professor of sociology at the University of Paris Est and a member of the Laboratoire Techniques Territoires et Société (LATTS). He is a specialist in innovation and information technology.
He has published Le sacre de l’amateur (2010 – Seuil). “We are living a silent revolution: the rise of the amateurs, these passionate people who are neither novices nor professionals, but brilliant jacks of all trades! Thanks to computers and the participative web, they have all aspects of contemporary culture. (…) A new reign is coming, blurring all boundaries: that of the pro-am (professional-amateur), self-taught expert, citizen-actor, creator in his own right.”

Patrice Flichy will speak during the round table (9:45-11:00).

Cyrielle Boutaud is a web journalist and community manager for the public portal alimentation.gouv.fr, a site to discover the news of our food daily. Seasonal products, local recipes, interviews with chefs and bloggers, testimonials from farmers … ” From the fork to the plate, it is a site that informs consumers and all those interested in cooking. “

Cyrielle Boutaud will speak during the round table (9:45-11:00).

So here are the pictures of this day!
To begin, here are our organizers for this meeting:
From left to right, Julie, Jules and Pamela!

This culinary meeting is actually a project for their school of communication. And I must say that the challenge was met with flying colors!
And the kitchen that will be used to feed all the gourmands who came to meet the bloggers and chefs professionals. It is the Atelier Alain Cirelli.

Here is my form! I must admit I was proud to see myself pinned to the wall! Like what, it does not take much!

It’s only 9:00 am and here are already some people arriving! A large breakfast buffet was available! Too bad, we had to come!

Then begins the “round table” (everyone laughed when they saw the square table). So it was a discussion between the chefs’ and bloggers’ cuisine.

It’s amazing how easily I lose track of my idea and almost systematically forget the question I’m asked…!

Then it’s time for the demonstration! The only problem was that everyone was cooking at the same time! Too bad for me, because I would have loved to see the others show us their talents!

Here is Edda with her blog appetizing “a lunch in the sun”.

And our famous and adorable Mercotte and her macaroons!

And me with my crunchy Cordes sur Ciel! I had also made “Khao Tang Nah Tang” .

But I must admit that I had a hard time cooking in this kitchen that I didn’t know! We probably get too used to our own utensils! I had to make some fried Thai pork and kaffir leaf ballotins, but there was no blender…! But everyone had prepared so many delicious things, that I think it wasn’t a big deal after all!

]]> https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/clicks-and-taste/feed/ 0 The Golden Blog Awards https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/the-golden-blog-awards/ https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/en/the-golden-blog-awards/#respond Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:36:00 +0000 https://stagingapp15670.cloudwayssites.com/the-golden-blog-awards

For those (like me) who were not at the party, I give you this link that I was sent click here! IThere were 207 food blogs registered and I won!!!! This proves that I must continue to search for recipes and culinary journeys and share my passion for cooking or “cuisines” of the world!
Thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me! I want to thank my brother who signed me up and my parents! But also a big thank you to Monica who went in my place to the award ceremony, as I am currently on vacation far from Paris! And to all my friends who eat my dishes and who serve as guinea pigs…!

To see the videos of the evening and the small TV report click here!

So there you have it, I won the “Golden Blog Awards” 2010!!! I didn’t believe it though, because my blog was less than a year old at the time of the selection… Thanks to everyone, I got the votes to be a semi-finalist and then the jury deliberated for two weeks!

The party took place at the Paris City Hall on November 17, 2010 and I was in…Rio on vacation! I couldn’t even participate, this vacation was scheduled a long time ago. I was under the rain, in Rio, in a bus, I was coming back from the botanical garden where I was stung by a wasp on my left thumb (!!!) when Monica sent me a sms to tell me that I had won! Unable to stand still, I got off the bus to call him and heard a thunderous of applause for another category! I didn’t realize how well attended this evening would be! Anyway, here are the pictures of the evening (I thank Angelique and her site for the pictures!)…

And here is my trophy!!! I shouldn’t say this, but…yay!!!

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