The New Choux!

Another French pastry lecon today deconstructing the basic creme puff or French choux. Sharpen your pencils svp.

Everyone knows the traditional French croquembouche wedding cake - a tower of choux pastry filled with chantilly whipped creme, then dribbled with molten caramel. Here a mini version minus wedding, obligatory hat and gloves. Indulge yourself!

What is the religieuse but a double-decker stack of choux?

La Maison du Chocolat helps you out with a nice cross-section view. Not so helpful since you can only buy these on Fridays/ Saturdays in October in Paris. I missed out...

I loved this decorative drawing on the walls of new patisserie Sebastien Degardin...

If you buy a how-to eclair book you can also make choux - same pastry.

Different shape.

Sadaharu Aoki deconstructs the creme puff by slicing in half and exposing a naughty chou a la creme.

Another new patisserie, Cyril Lignac gives the religieuse a modern twist...

Angelina makes the religieuse's pate a chou crustillant, a newish pastry look = crusty, crunchy texture.

Angelina has a book out showing the revisited Saint-Honore - more choux innovation...

At hotel Mandarin Oriental pastry counter a Saint-Honore of creme puffs de-stacked (8 euros).

Their trio de choux(8 euros) - some say the choux is the new macaron. What do you think?

Some choux you don't want to bite into!

Choux/religieuse do NOT travel well. Avoid the Metro and order a limo for gawds sake!

BONJOUR THE NEW CHOUX!

The Inner Life of Pastry

Bonjour Les Pates aux Choux, watercolor, 9" x 11" Who isn't captivated by the sheer beauty of French pastry? But it's what's inside that really counts. Are you persuaded by just a pretty face? Any patissiere worth his pates aux choux is very much obsessed by what's inside. Top Parisien patissiere, Carl Marletti shows a luscious cross-section of a religieuse and shares the ingredients in quite an innovative way.
Do visit.
The innards of a macaron from Patisserie des Reves' chef Pierre Conticini's cookbook, Sensations. Who knew what mysteries lurked within?A page from a guide to Pierre Herme's L'Ecole Ferrandi. Herme mentions many times that he'd like to be an architect - but he is, isn't he?A cross section of a piece of cake at Des Gateaux et du Pain.

In my mad pursuit to paint French pastry I nearly fell over in a faint when I discovered this FAB book, called I think, Encyclopedia of pastry dough - 100 kinds of pastry dough and petit gateau (旭屋出版MOOK) Essential reading for professionals and pastry artists.

If only I knew a bit more Japanese besides
'Arigato'/thank you.

Wouldn't it be lovely to know the French names of all these yummy ingredients. Any volunteer translators out there?

Second best to knowing what's inside...

Would be a proper knife to cleanly cut through the pastries. A PBer mentioned Kyocera ceramic knives are the best and I'm getting one today. It's Japanese.

Yellow Bird tells me if I had a proper knife I wouldn't make such an awful mess.
Hmmm...(makes a French shrug)
c'est la vie

BONJOUR Inner Life of Pastry!