The Eiffel Tower from the water canons of Trocadéro Square in Paris under a stormy gray sky. You can see the reflection of the tower in the water next to the canons.
Today we begin our culinary journey with a 2 hour “Patisserie of Paris” walking/tasting tour. It is in the same (Marais) district as yesterdays class so we know the way. Unfortunately, we mentioned at dinner last night that we knew how to get there by metro, which is the fastest way. Several people started asking if they could meet us in the lobby and go with us. Before we left, most everyone was planning to go with us. Yikes! There are 14 of us: 4 from California, 2 from India, 2 New Yorkers, 1 from Tennessee, 1 from Montana (but she brought her husband and two year old son, a story in itself) and they want the two of us from tiny little towns in Texas to guide them 🤣? After the incredibly slow stroll to dinner with the group last night, we decided to meet early for the walk to the metro as it could take awhile with that many. As a side note: this transportation should have been arranged by the tour company and not by the two of us. We thought the lady from Tennessee missed the train as she was getting on when the doors were closing and we couldn't see her. It was a moment of panic, but we managed to get everyone there with 10 minutes to spare. Whew!
We haven’t seen the sun yet but it hasn’t been raining since we first got here, so for that we are extremely grateful. It is also cool but not unbearably cold to be outside. Again, a blessing. However as the morning progressed the wind picked up and it got much colder.
The oldest church in Paris. Saint-Germain-des-Pres is a parish church founded by Childebert I in 540 as the Abbey-Sainte-Croix-Saint-Vincent.
Montmorency is officially recognized as the oldest house in Paris. Built by Nicolas Flamel in 1407, who according to legend, would have discovered the secret of the philosophers stone, and transformed lead into gold. Wouldn’t that have been a feat?
A pâtisserie with one of the best master pastry chefs in France. “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” or best craftsman of France is a very prestigious title. It recognizes work approaching perfection. Several of the shops we visited on our tour had chefs who had achieved this honor.
Most baguettes in Paris are white baguettes which means they are made with enriched flour. Baguettes traditionnelle are made with only all natural flour and. by law, must be made onsite.
These little kouignettes (butter/sugar pastries) were indescribable. Bear in mind that we are tasting something at every one of these shops.
The most amazing chocolate work.
Chocolate eggs with the flag of Brittany.
Caramel
A Jewish patisserie. It is the National Jewish holiday of Purim so there was much celebrating going on in this Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
A bit of history around le macaron: I know people think it’s something new but it actually dates back to 8th century Italy, where it earned the nickname “priests bellybuttons”. Legend has it, there was a monk who used to knead almond paste with his shirt off. One day he passed out from exhaustion (or a possible sugar crash) and left a trace of his navel in the dough. The macaron, at that time, was a humble biscuit (cookie) that was soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. It is believed that the macaron was introduced to France in the 1500s by Catherine di Medici, an Italian noblewoman who married King Henry II. It wasn’t until the late 1700s that these little treats became really popular. Two Carmelite nuns were seeking asylum during the French Revolution and in order to support themselves, they baked and sold macarons. These nuns became known as the Maison des Sœurs Macaron.
Pierre Hermè, the founder of le jour du macaron (macaron day), is infamous for his elaborate flavor concoctions, and has won the award for the best macaron in the world, Madagascar vanilla (which we got to taste).
Large macarons 😁
Part of our group standing outside the shop.
Rose Pralines
This bakery is known for it’s praline brioche. It was magnifique.
That’s it for the pastry tour. We may come down off this sugar high in the next year or two.
Next up for today is our first cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu. We finished up the pastry tour about 12:30 and had to be back across town for the cooking class at 1:30 so back on the train we hopped.
We dropped off our things in the room and walked over to the school (about 10 minutes) in time to have a light lunch (something NOT sweet) before class started. Cauliflower soup and traditional baguette.
Our classroom for the next three days.
Jo Anne is discussing her macarons with our instructor.
First up was strawberry and black pepper macarons. We made a ganache with strawberry purée, black peppercorn infused cream and white chocolate.
Finished product.
Aren’t we cute in our little chef caps and aprons?
Our instructor chef Corentin Droulin and his translator. Even though he speaks perfect English, it is tradition that all classes at Le Cordon Bleu be taught in French, then translated as necessary.
Sugar and chocolate work displays in the lobby.
We took a quick break while the little gremlins came in and cleaned up all our mess and set up our stations for the next lesson.
The next thing we made was a chocolate and raspberry tart, starting with a raspberry flavored chocolate mousse. The mousse was put in the blast chiller while we worked on the sweet pastry dough, chocolate glaze and almond cream.
The pastry crust has been blind-baked and now I’m filling it with the almond cream. We then added fresh raspberries to the cream before baking the final time.
The tart is now baked, cooled and ready to be assembled.
We took the frozen mousse out of the mould, warmed the chocolate glaze to ~40 C, then poured the warm glaze over the mousse, placed it on the tart and then decorated with fresh raspberries.
My finished tart.
Jo Anne’s tart. She swiped some of chefs mini macarons to put on hers 😁.
We have been wishing we could share some of these amazing pastries with all of you because, after a small tasting, they will be thrown out. They will only last so long in our little refrigerator in the room and we can only stuff ourselves with so much.
The sun actually showed up in time to create a beautiful sunset outside our classroom window this evening.
It has been a VERY long day, but so memorable, and I have to keep telling myself this is really happening. It’s not a dream.
Moon rising over Paris
15,299 steps
6.9 miles
11 floors.
Bonne nuit!
Carol, it is all so amazing, the food, the sweets and sweets. Your mileage is looking better than mine. John knows when you are blogging because he asks, "have your heard from Carol"
ReplyDeleteCarol, you are the perfect and only logical tour guide! Lead on :-) Your tasting tour pictures made my mouth water oh my goodness.
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