I think they just call it “King Cake” in New Orleans, actually, but why get hung up on semantics? I’ve spent weeks casting about looking for a recipe that’s representative of what’s served in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. I didn’t find much that spoke to me, and was considering making up my own recipe […]
READ ONI’ve been promising this, have I not? Fat Tuesday is almost upon us. I’d better get cracking, no?
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There are an awful lot of flavors and textures at work in this simple pastry. Crunchy toasted almonds, spongy/chewy choux, rich but light chantilly cream and beneath it all a luxurious almond-praline pastry cream. Put it together and you’ve got something even one of today’s hyper-fit long-distance cyclists would find hard to resist. You want to have most of the components ready before you begin: pâte à choux batter loaded into a large pastry bag, praline paste and pastry cream. With all that at-the-ready, you can get down to baking and building. Preheat your oven to 425.
READ ON…and when was it invented? asks reader Pat. The answer is that choux almost certainly wasn’t “invented” in the classic sense of the word. It evolved, probably through decades, maybe even centuries, of trial and error. The secret of choux is that it’s “double cooked”, a process that imbues it with some very special properties.
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Perfectly smooth, commercially-made praline paste is ubiquitous in many parts of Europe. Here in the States it’s virtually unknown. However once you taste it I have no doubt it will quickly attain a place of prominence in your spread pantheon — alongside nutella, peanut butter, jam and, for you Aussies and Brits, vegemite and marmite. It’s also very handy as a pastry ingredient, obviously. Begin by assembling your ingredients. The praline comes first. Lay the nuts out on a lightly oiled sheet of parchment paper.
READ ONReader Cal asks:
I’d always heard that Paris-Brest is what the early cyclists ate to give them energy for the long ride. Do you know if that’s true? Because it seems to me like an unhealthy thing for an athlete to eat!
I can’t say I know, Cal, but if it’s true that riders ate Paris-Brest to keep them going, it would have been by far the healthiest thing that most of them were putting in their bodies. For the sad truth about early cycling competitions is that they were rife with drugs of all kinds.
READ ONYes, I’m getting to that, reader Jane. The Paris-Brest pastry was “merch” in the popular parlance. Which is to say it was created as a commemorative item by an unknown pastry maker somewhere along the PBP course. Exactly who that pâtissier was has never been definitively established, though it’s popularly thought that Paris-Brest was created for the 1910 race by one Louis Durand, a resident of Maisons-Laffitte which is just northwest of Paris. It’s said that he created it to look like a bicycle wheel. Seems plausible enough to me.
Thanks to the ever-resourceful Jim Chevallier.
READ ON“Paris-Brest.” An odd name for a pastry, observes reader Joseph, and indeed it is. In fact I’m not aware of any pastry with a name quite like it. For Paris and Brest are the names of two cities, one the largest in France, located in the north-central Île-de-France region. The other is a medium-sized port […]
READ ONPeople tasting praline paste for the first time tend to fall to their knees and weep for all the wasted years. For while it is an ingredient, it’s also a spread in its own right, a sweet nut butter with strong caramel overtones. You’ll need to resist the urge to keep spooning it into your […]
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