One thing that I tend not to like about those big, professional pastry manuals is how formulaic they are. To make product 1, combine components A and B. To make product 2, combine components B and C. To make product 3, combine components A, B and C…and so on. It’s not that the people who […]
READ ONA good Sacher torte, I admit, can be a bit of a beast to mix. I can’t do much to simplify that. However you’ll be relieved to know that I’ve simplified the assembly somewhat with a streamlined cook-and-pour glaze, which should help. Is it completely authentic? Maybe not, but the end result is excellent. For […]
READ ONSo what are some of the ways in which pastry chefs have attempted to “improve” Sacher torte? Firstly, by adding more apricot jam. A Sacher Hotel-style Sacher torte has one layer of filling in the middle. Demel’s modification is a full glazing of jam over the entire exterior. Most of the Sacher torte recipes you […]
READ ONThe complaint that pastry lovers most often levy again Sacher torte is that it’s dry. You hear that a lot from people returning from trips to Vienna: I went to the Sacher hotel and ordered Sacher torte and I was so disappointed…it was so dry. Is that true? No and yes. Defenders of Sacher torte […]
READ ONHow many Sacher Tortes does the Sacher Hotel sell each year? Through the Sacher hotel, the various Sacher shops and via their online store, some quarter million “original” Sacher tortes are sold each year.
READ ONOther than its flavor, texture, and historical and cultural pedigree, Sacher torte is notable in that it is the only pastry ever to be the subject of a nearly decade-long lawsuit. It seems that Franz, the son of Eduard the Inept Innkeeper (grandson of Franz Sacher, the inventor of Sacher torte) was himself a bit […]
READ ONOther than the man for whom the first Sacher torte was made you mean? He was the most powerful statesman of his time, the so-called “arbiter of Europe” who oversaw the joint effort to redraw the map after the 25 years of turmoil that began with the French Revolution in 1789 and finished with the […]
READ ONReader Laura G. writes: This weekend I was taken out for a VERY nice dinner in a super fancy and famous restaurant in the SF area. The pastry chef sent out macaron as an off-the-menu treat, as some chefs are wont to do. I found myself wondering, “does Chef ____ read Joe Pastry?” Further bonus […]
READ ONYesterday I wrote this about coconut fat: Easy to extract, abundant, cheap, and above all solid at room temperature (a very rare thing for a plant fat), it was the perfect alternative to butter. Except that one day some food scientist somewhere realized that it was rather a bad thing as a regular part of […]
READ ONPastry Chef Philana weighs in from London with these thoughts on coconut macarons: You can do the same for pistachio macarons (1/3 finely ground pistachios 2/3 ground almonds to combat the excess fat in the pistachios) Although Spanish or peeled pistachios are the only ones that look nice. If you use pistachios with skins – […]
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