Recently French chef Jacques Pépin turned 80 and retired. Over the years, he educated viewers of Public Television on how to cook and, something that no other cooking show host has done, techniques in the kitchen with wisdom, humor and a smattering of French lessons. As Gilad Edelman wrote in a Slate article, this man will teach you how to cook
All Puffed Up
Jacques doesn’t like to waste anything…not even the dough trimmings from his puff pastry. He uses them to make cookies like Pigs Ears and Sugared Puff Paste Sticks in the episode’s opening segment. The show begins with Jacques’ own method for making Fast Puff Pastry. He then transforms the chilled dough into the delicious dessert, Crystallized Puff Paste of Orange. The other classic recipe of Pate a Choux is demonstrated to make Choux á la Crème, little profiteroles filled with cream. He finishes the episode with another traditional dessert using the same dough, Chocolate Paris-Brest Cake, shaped for the bicycle race of the same name.
The components can be prepared ahead, but the tartlets are at their best when assembled at the last moment.
These cream puffs are filled with blackberry preserves and whipped cream and served on a simple but particularly flavorful chocolate sauce made of melted chocolate and milk.
Resembling a wheel, this French pastry is thought to have been created by a Parisian pastry chef to celebrate the famous bicycle race from Paris to Brest, in Brittany.
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