We’re still on our foodie tour Paris, France. It’s been a great tour so far. We’ve been to a chocolate shop, a bakery, and a cheese shop. Or in français, un chocolatier, une boulangerie, and une fromagerie. Now it’s time for “la patisserie”. No wonder everything tastes better over here. Everything sounds like it tastes better to begin with!
We’ve tasted things at each stop, and our guide, Deniz, has grabbed goodies from each stop for us to consume at the end of the tour. I’m thinking we should look into getting her some protection. There’s a lot of good stuff in that bag of hers by now.
Pierre Hermé
We’ve been tasting treats along the way, but at our next stop, there won’t be any up-front tasting. It would spoil our appetites. Why? Because our next stop for la patisserie at “Pierre Hermé.” And at Pierre Hermé, chances are, the morsel you pleasure yourself with will be, how you say, “très riche.“ Ah, oui. Très riche, to be sure, but très bon aussi, eh?
Pierre Hermé, the man, is one of France’s great pastry chefs. And, as you might be thinking, the bar for being a great pastry chef in France is way high. WAY high. If you didn’t know anything else, you should already know that Pierre Hermé is on top of his game, since all he needs to put on his business establishments is his name — nothing else.
Pierre Hermé shops can be found in hotsy-totsy districts of big cities around the world. You’ll find beautiful pastries there, chocolates, and macarons. I’m not sure about this, but I think macarons are where Monsieur Hermé really made his mark. Of course his macarons are perfect, but it’s the flavors he comes up with that really get your attention.
Monsieur Hermé comes from four generations of bakers. At age fourteen, he was apprenticed to one of the most esteemed French bakers of all time, Gaston Lenôtre. He’s got pastry cream flowing in his veins.
Les Macarons
Everything in a Pierre Hermé shop will be decadent and beautiful, but for many customers, it’s all about the macarons. And as noted above, the unique flavors of those delectable little macarons.
A macaron is a sandwich cookie, like an Oreo, taken to extremes. The story goes that it was an Italian who brought the macaron, (or perhaps its ancestor), to France. He was Catherine de’ Medici’s pastry chef. He brought the recipe along when she moved to France to marry King Henry II of France. That was way back in 1533. The French took it from there.
Macarons are tricky to make. The outside disks are made from egg whites, sugar, and almond flour. They’re crunchy, delicate, and as light as can be. The filling is usually a jelly or something creamy like a ganache. The flavor of the filling is often different than that of the outside “cookies.” Because of all those different elements, when you take a bite, all kinds of wild things start happening in your mouth.
Macaron makers like to change their flavors to match the seasons. As of this writing, in December 2019, if you’re at a Pierre Hermé shop, you can stick with one of the classics…
Perhaps the “Ultime” — Chocolate & Madagascan Vanilla.
Or perhaps you would prefer “Infiniment Caramel” — Salted-Butter Caramel.
How about some good old pistachio? Pierre Hermé calls his version “Infiniment Pistache.” Pistachio cookies on the outside and pistachio filling on the inside.
You could go seasonal with something like “Orange de Noël” It has the flavors of bitter orange, candied orange, and clove.
Or you could get wild and try a “Chocolat, Pain d’Epices & Yuzu” — Chocolate, Yuzu & Gingerbread Spices. (“Yuzu” is something like a Chinese tangerine).
You get the idea. These aren’t your grandma’s chocolate chip cookies. No offense to Grandma, of course!
After strolling around the shop, oohing and aahing for a while, everyone chose some macaron flavors to try. Deniz bought a bunch of ‘em, then we set off for our next and final destination – a wine shop.
To be continued…
