Pastry update

Just in case anyone was wondering why I don't have any more pastry pictures, I thought I should let you know. Because I had strep throat twice, I missed two classes: French shortbreads and Parisian cream cakes (such as the St. Honoré). I don't know what anyone else thinks about those, but I'm not at all disappointed about having missed either; shortbread is easy and cream cakes are...yuck! In the meantime I have made some things which, though fairly tasty, are not photo-worthy in my estimation.

We made French fruitcakes (which do, in all fairness, look and taste different from their popularly hated American counterpart), madeleines and a Gateau Basque. The recipe they gave us for madeleines was much more buttery and moist than the recipe I have used before, so I'll have to have an official tasting with some of you when I get home : ) The Gateau Basque is a cake with a thin layer of pastry cream and prunes (or sometimes dried apricots or cherries) in the middle. It's part of a classification of French cakes called "gateaux de voyages" or travel cakes. These are sturdy cakes that can be shoved in bags, boxes, cars, rucksaks and what-have-you and can be eaten without forks and plates if necessary. The one in question was a cake eaten by pilgrims going from Bretagne to...that really famous Catholic pilgrimage destination in northern Spain whose name I have forgotten...something or other compostela (?).

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday, January 24th) we will be making chausson aux pommes. Those are essentially folded over croissants with largely unsweetened apple compote inside. I am very excited to try my hand at croissant making, though I'm VERY nervous for tomorrow. The demonstration was excessively complicated and underexplained. In fact, the chefs in general do not really give much explanation. They speed through the recipe and then voilà! they have a beautiful result.

But when a student asks, "So how long exactly should we bake it for? And I noticed that you changed the temperature of the oven in the middle of cooking--when should we do that and to what temperature?" The chef, wide-eyed, his mouth opened into an incredulous French "o" shape, will say "Mais...il faut regarder la couleur du gâteau!" (Well...you have to look at the color of the cake!).

Apparently the term "the ART of French pastries" is aptly given; like art, no concrete explanations can/will be given....

(pictures are of chef Xavier Cotte and his fruitcake: )