Caneles Roundup Part 1

I recently decided to start studying a bit the Caneles market out there to get a chance to compare a bit my products with the competition.

I didn’t mean this as self serving adventure, I really do love Caneles and sampling what is out there is actually pretty exciting but it quickly turned into a spying game trying to see whose Caneles were the best.

Here is the first installment of my research.

I was in Paris in June and … Click here to read the rest of the article

Ode to a Smack

This week a Smack aficionado sent me this email and I could not resist sharing. Thanks Mr G for the thorough account of your Smack eating experimentation.

The world is roughly divided into two clans. Those who eat their Smacks in three bites and those who prefer two bites.
I am a three-biter.Since I have a natural tendency toward eccentric positions, I considered other options for a while, but actually one-biters are barbarians, and I suspect four-biters to
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It’s a tough life…

This week has been, culinary speaking, splendid!

It started early on in NYC with a dinner at Megu. The star of the night, a dish of scallops in Teriyaki & Foie Gras sauce: So rich, so soft and silky. I’ll have to try to make it one of these days.

Then, back home, as I was grocery shopping, I found passion fruits. I just love passion fruit and when they have them, I can never resist the urge to put … Click here to read the rest of the article

What’s in a bean?

Don’t settle, Vanilla matters and will make a huge difference.

If your recipe calls for vanilla extract, replace it by a real bean and throw away the cook book. Comparing vanilla extract to a real vanilla bean is like comparing a Cupcake to a Canelé; there’s just no contest.

Vanilla beans will bring the subtlety and richness that characterizes vanilla to your pastries instead of a soulless overpowering taste. My experience with beans however is that they’re not equal. I … Click here to read the rest of the article

What’s for dessert?

If there’s one pastry from France that’s close to being a consensus for a wedding cake, it is the “piéce montée”. It’s also used for other celebrations, its main interest is that unlike american wedding cakes it’s actually good. When done by pros, it is this perfect conical shaped tower of cream puffs and caramel. It gets to be pretty high. It’s also called croquembouche or “croque en bouche” which can be literally translated by “crunches in the mouth”. Here … Click here to read the rest of the article