He is young and his ideas are clear: patisserie is passion, effort to succeed and worship of the best seasonal products. With these coordinates he develops a pastry which increasingly attracts the attention of his fellow professionals inside and outside France. The colorfulness of his presentations and the originality of their formats stand out. There is a clear desire to play, for example in the Abalone tart, but also in the green apple-looking tatin or the raspberry éclair with red dough (all of them in so good.. magazine #13). But let us not be confused by the irresistible look of each of these creations; Antony Prunet has thought out their content and the chosen flavors well. They are clean and seasonal ingredients, combinations which are very gourmand and not excessively overelaborate… So much that they work great in the pastry shop Maison Guignard of Arcachon, where the chef heads the ‘nouveauté création’ station.

We asked about his future plans, to which he confesses that in addition to his growing partnerships with companies such as PCB Création, he has his eye on television and the opportunity to star in a program that shows the complexity and beauty of the pastry trade.

pâte à choux

• 5 g salt
• 6 g sugar
• 176 g  flour
• 146 g  butter
• 324 g eggs
• 321 g water
• 30 g milk powder
• q.s. red color

Combine the water, salt, sugar, butter and milk powder and bring to a boil. Add the flour, dried for 5 minutes. Add the eggs in batches of two and finish with the color. Bake at 180oC in a deck oven.

raspberry coulis

• 500 g raspberry purée
• 500 g fresh raspberries
• 130 g  sugar
• 1 u  lemon juice
• 3 u gelatin sheets
• q.s. xanthan gum

Combine the raspberry purée and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve. Mix in the fresh, ripe raspberries, previously processed with a blender. Add the strained lemon juice. Add the xanthan and thicken slightly in order to keep the raspberry pips suspended.

raspberry crémeux

• 500 g raspberry purée
• 120 g egg yolks
• 150 g  eggs
• 100 g  sugar
• 150 g butter
• 2 u gelatin sheets

Whisk the egg yolks, eggs and sugar together. Bring the raspberry purée to a boil. Combine and cook to 83oC. Whisk in the dissolved gelatin. Once it has cooled down to 32oC, add the butter. Emulsify and reserve in the refrigerator.

chocolate crémeux

(c) T. Caron

• 250 g milk
• 250 g cream
• 100 g  egg yolks
• 70 g  sugar
• 310 g Macaé dark couverture, 62% cocoa

Make a crème anglaise and pour over the couverture, previously melted. Emulsify for two to three minutes. Store in the refrigerator.

chocolate plaquette

Temper some Macaé dark couverture and cut into rectangles of the size of the éclair.

assembly

Fill the éclair with the thick raspberry coulis and then with the raspberry crémeux. Top with the chocolate plaquette and pipe the chocolate crémeux and a coulis drop on top. Also, place some fresh raspberries.

The post Chocolate and raspberry éclair by Antony Prunet appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Aroma-Menu is the irrefutable evidence of the versatility of desserts. ‘I want to show people that today’s patisserie is able to handle more than just the classic elements’, says Christian Hümbs, currently working as a pastry chef at restaurant Haerlin.

Hümbs took up the challenge which Frank Nagel, managing director of the restaurant La Mer in Sylt (Germany), posed him at the end of 2011, when he was working as pastry chef of the luxury resort, why not a dessert menu?

It was such a great success all through 2012 that the chef was commissioned an expected challenge – Aroma-Menu 2013, to which we devote these pages.

Hümbs describes his proposal as a stroll he takes alongside his guests. The freedom to choose the ingredients he will use is the key; whether spices, salts or vegetables – all of these are options at the chef’s disposal.

Christian Hümbs

The chef constructs his desserts on three pillars – acid, sweet and a linking element. The best example is probably Rhubarb-Chocolate-Yogurt, included in this year’s series. The acid plays an essential role. Through them, he gives his courses a lightness that does not make his guests sluggish. This is how he reaches the searched-for harmony.

Aroma-Menu 2013 consists of a Finger Food, yellow/red paprika, macadamia nut, spinach leaf; an Amuse, lettuce, white chocolate, passion fruit, cucumber; and four courses: carrot, lingonberry, broccoli, watercress; Baked potato; Tomato BBQ; and Yogurt, nutsedge, raspberry, wild herbs.

We would like to share with our readers three of these suggestions with which chef Hümbs exceeds the boundaries of conventional patisserie and offers really surprising experiences.

Lettuce

white chocolate cream

• 1000 g cream
• 28 g glucose
• 875 g  Ivoire chocolate
• 28 g  cocoa butter
• 600 g cold cream

Boil the cream with the glucose.

Mix with the couverture and cocoa butter and emulsify the cold cream.

passion fruit cucumber granite

• 500 g Boiron passion fruit purée
• 350 g fresh cucumber juice
• 150 g  sugar syrup, 1:1
• 1  stalk lemongrass
• 10 g ginger

Mix everything together, and allow to rest for one day.

Pass through a sieve and freeze.

passion fruit stock

• 1 l passion fruit purée
• 500 g sugar
• 4  stalks lemongrass
• 100 g  mango purée
• 80 g pineapple juice

Boil everything together.

white chocolate popcorn

• 300 g Ivoire chocolate
• 400 g milk
• 100 g  cream
• 200 g  egg whites
• 3 gelatin sheets

Heat the milk and cream and mix with the chocolate. Add the bloomed gelatin and the egg whites. Fill a siphon and allow to cool down.
For use, spray into a container with liquid nitrogen.

vanilla sand

• 90 g butter
• 200 g flour
• 40 g  vanilla sugar
• 100 g  brown sugar

Mix everything together and bake at 190°C for 12 minutes.

lettuce soup

• 2  heads of lettuce
• 2  green apples
• cucumber juice
• citric acid
• Syrup, 1:1 sugar/water

Wash the lettuce and squeeze through the juice machine.
Squeeze the apples through the juice machine.
Season the lettuce juice with the apple juice to taste and add the cucumber juice.
Season with citric acid and the syrup made of sugar and water.

Amuse Lettuce: Vegetables in a dessert?

With his now well-known ‘Lettuce, white chocolate, passion fruit, cucumber’ dish, Christian Hümbs raises in his guests the doubt of vegetable in desserts. With this lightweight character, Hümbs follows the classical menu sequence and his guests are not overwhelmed with rich creations. Mainly due to the constant, slightly acid present it arouses the curiosity of the eater.

The post Lettuce, white chocolate, passion fruit, cucumber’ dish, by Christian Hümbs appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Gregoire Michaud (www.gregoiremichaud.com) works from the heart, having written four books of recipes, and his online activity is followed by professionals in five continents. All this without forgetting his role as head of pastries at the Bread Elements in Hong Kong. With the record he has, it is needless to say that Gregoire Michaud is a trendsetter in his understanding of patisserie in Asia and elsewhere. However, the challenge (discover the other crème caramel challengers Miguel Sierra [view the recipe], Ryosuke Sugamata, Joseph Baker in so good.. magazine #10) that brings him to these pages drives him to create one of the most simple and basic classics of pastry. His personal way of approaching the Crème Caramel is by investigating its characteristic structure, achieved thanks to the fat of the egg. His ally is pectin to take the product to another territory, as he explains, as well as combining such different flavors like cassis and Tahitian vanilla.

Crème de la Crème Caramel !

The classic crème caramel is a delight, but despite its firm appearance, its texture does not allow much flexibility when it comes to play with shape. It is usually baked in a mold or in a tray and then cut. I certainly tried to freeze a regular crème caramel in order to obtain other shapes, but the amount of water was just too much and it formed crystals of ice within the crème, making it split and not nice at all.

I had to use another recipe that would combine more fat as well as a thickening agent that would bind and keep together the aqueous matter and the fatty molecules. This is where pectin came into the game, in a recipe that is simply cooked, but not baked.

To my surprise it worked great and the texture was awesome, especially combined with such a high quality vanilla. Then I simply added a good layer of dark caramel jelly and placed it on a fruity, moist and delicious cassis biscuit. This way of shaping a crème caramel, whatever flavor it may be, is a great and versatile way to create desserts and pastries !

crème tahitienne

• 420 ml cream, 35% fat
• 130 ml fresh milk (full fat)
• 55 g  white sugar
• 3 g  pectin X58
• 1 u Alain Abel Tahitian vanilla bean
• 110 g egg yolks

Warm the cream and the milk to 50°C with the vanilla bean cut lengthwise. Mix the sugar and pectin and add to the warm dairy mixture, boil once. Add the yolk and cook to 82°C. Fill the half sphere molds and freeze.

caramel jelly

• 60 g sugar
• 300 ml water
• 11 g  gelatin leaves

Cook the sugar into a very dark caramel. Soak the gelatin in part of the water. Add the warmed water to the hot caramel. Boil once. Add the softened gelatin and melt thoroughly.

cassis biscuit

• 400 g cassis purée
• 220 g butter, melted
• 200 g  egg yolks
• 400 g  egg white
• 220 g  white sugar
• 120 g  flour T45
• 4 g  xantham gum

Slightly warm the cassis purée to 35°C and mix with the melted butter. Add the egg yolks and mix into a smooth batter. Mix the xanthan gum and the flour and add it to the fruit mixture, mix well. Whip the egg white and the sugar to medium peaks. Fold the egg white into the fruit mixture. Spread the mixture into a 1.5-cm-thick layer and bake at 190°C for about 14 minutes. Allow cooling and cut discs the same diameter as the crème Tahitienne.

balsamic & berries semi-pris

• 100 g raspberry purée
• 65 g strawberry purée
• 20 g  cassis purée
• 15 ml  dark balsamic vinegar
• 26 g  white sugar
• 9 g  cornstarch
• 4 g  gelatin leaves
• 18 ml  water

Warm all the purées together to 85°C. Soften the gelatin leaves in the 18 ml of water. Mix the sugar and cornstarch and add to the hot fruit mixture. Cook it for a few minutes so as to cook the cornstarch. Add the gelatin leaves with the water and melt well. Pour on a plastic sheet and spread it to about 3 mm in thickness. Freeze the tray, once frozen, cut the right size discs.

Assembly

Once the caramel jelly is at the right consistency, dip the frozen crème dome twice, shake the excess jelly and place it on top of the cassis biscuit; allow defrosting for half an hour.
Cut a ring the same size as the cassis biscuit out of the balsamic semi-pris and place it on the plate – place the biscuit and the dome in center of the semi-pris. Decorate with fresh purple lucky sorrel and serve.

The post Crème de la Crème Caramel by Gregoire Michaud appeared first on so good.. magazine.

He was professionally discovered alongside the Torres brothers in the Barcelona restaurant, Dos Cielos. Since then, Miquel Guarro’s rise has been meteoric. He won last year’s competition for Spain’s Best Master Chocolatier, the ‘Lluis Santapau’ trophy, and immediately joined the team at the Chocolate Academy in Barcelona. There he found the freedom necessary to create, which he takes advantage of:  ‘I believe that inspiration can come from many places, a photograph, a flavor, a sculpture… and then an idea forms which you reflect and work on. That idea sometimes ends up as something with some consistency and balance,’ says this young chocolatier committed to great
things in the future.

And speaking of the future, we asked Miquel about his professional dreams: ‘In the long-term, I would like to get to have my own small business, offering customers honest and well-made pastry, with quality products, modern influences and perhaps combined with some other type of culinary discipline. Maybe cocktail bartending. But I realize how hard it is.’ In that professional dream, the chef comes up with a healthier pastry with less fat, as a result of rebalancing traditional recipes. And of course, prioritizing flavor and freshness.

Lime and pistachio tartelette

pistachio sablé

• 95 g green pistachio paste
• 70 g butter, 82% fat
• 30 g  pasteurized egg yolks
• 150 g  cake flour
• 100 g green pistachio powder
• 100 g sugar
• 30 g La Mancha Origin caramelized whole pistachio
• 1.2 g fine salt
• 0.3 g mint green color

Combine the butter and pistachio paste and beat together until softened. Mix the pistachio powder and cake flour together. Add the salt, sugar and mix with the fats. Roll to a cylinder and freeze. Once frozen, pulse the dough in a meat grinder to crumbles. Arrange 8cm-wide and 1.5cm-high rings on a silicone mat.
Bake in a 130ºC oven for 25 minutes.

light lime ganache

• 230 g cream, 35% fat
• 40 g dextrose
• 170 g lime juice
• 360 g Zephyr white chocolate, 34% cocoa
• 3.8 g gelatin sheets
• 2 u lemon zest
• 40 g butter, 85% fat

Heat the cream and lime juice separately to 60ºC, combine the liquids and add the gelatin (previously hydrated). Melt the white chocolate to 40ºC and emulsify with the liquids. Add the butter and emulsify again.

Grate the lime over the cream and mix. Leave the ganache to cool down to 26ºC and pipe into the silicone molds.

mango brunoise

Cut a mango brunoise, leave to drain slightly on some kitchen paper and place in a pastry bag.

pistachio gianduja strings

• 380 g Zephyr white chocolate, 34% cocoa
• 500 g green pistachio paste
• 4 g fine salt

Temper the white chocolate and add to the paste at room temperature. Add the salt, emulsify thoroughly and allow to crystallize for 24 hours.
Once crystallized, extract some strings with the help of a zester and interlace them.

dehydrated lime disks

Slice some limes (previously blanched) with the help of a slicing machine and leave to dehydrate at 40ºC for 24 hours.

Montage

Unmold the lime ganache and spray with cold gelatin. Place the ganache on top of the baked pistachio sablé and encircle with a mango belt. Garnish with the gianduja strings on one side and top with the dehydrated lime slice.

The post Lime and pistachio tartelette by Miquel Guarro appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Lighten the recipes, make them healthier and also achieve maximum intensity of pure flavor. With this vocation, without compromise, B•Concept was born, a method developed by Jordi Bordas, world champion in 2011 and newly appointed Ambassador of the Felchlin brand. A project created with the intention of rethinking and updating classic pastry recipes, taking into account the technology, knowledge and equipment available today, as the needs and sensitivities of today’s consumer.

B•Concept is a method for learning how to build a recipe from scratch. For this he abandons the rigidity of classical formulation and what was perceived as constraints on caloric needs, preservation and consumption of the moment each recipe was created. Jordi Bordas assesses each recipe on two pillars: firstly, today’s technology and knowledge and secondly, the needs (fats, sugars, allergens…) and sensitivity (lightness and purity of flavor) of today’s consumer. The result: strong, lightweight and calculated recipes like White Diamond.

In so good #13 you can discover other creations prepared with B•Concep like Origin Cacao and Pure Creole.

White diamond

mango compote

light lychee sponge

These recipes are in so good #13.

gelatin mass 6:1

• 100 g powdered gelatin, 200 bloom
• 600 g water

Mix the powdered gelatin and water at 20ºC with the help of a hand whisk. Allow to hydrate for 10 minutes before use. Keep in the refrigerator at 4ºC.

light lychee mousse

• 165 g heavy cream, 35% fat
• 379 g lychee purée 10%
• 38 g egg white powder
• 99 g sugar
• 157 g atomized glucose DE 38
• 148 g gelatin mass 6:1
• 553 g lychee purée 10%
• 111 g lemon purée 10%

Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Combine the first measurement of lychee purée, egg white powder, sugar and atomized glucose and whip until a meringue is obtained. Heat the gelatin mass to 40ºC, add the second measurement of lychee purée and lemon purée. Vigorously mix. Combine with the meringue and finally fold in the semi-whipped cream with the help of a rubber spatula.

silver neutral glaze

These recipes are in so good #13.

Montage and finishing

Pipe the light lychee mousse into a diamond mold (by Silikomart). Insert then the mango hemisphere.
Finally seal with a 5.5-cm-wide lychee sponge and freeze.
Unmold and spray with the silver-colored neutral glaze. Garnish with flower petals.

The post Light lychee mousse made with B·Concept by Jordi Bordas appeared first on so good.. magazine.

A sweet version of the classic hamburger, based on the adaptation of a traditional specialty such as the savarin. Although the traditional dessert has very high sugar content due to syrup and toasted egg yolk, we have reduced the sweetness of this new version by using the vacuum technique. Besides, this technique allows us to gain some time, to obtain a more homogeneous soaking and, all in all, a better handling of the product.

This recipe is included in Play book.

Check all the information about the book »

Sweetburger

savarin

• 500 g all-purpose flour
• 10 g salt
• 30 g sugar
• 100 g water
• 20 g yeast
• 200 g egg
• 200 butter
• q.s. white sesame

In a mixer fitted with a hook, start by kneading the flour (previously sifted) sugar, salt, yeast (dissolved in water) and half the measurement of egg.
Add the remaining egg and knead to a fine, elastic dough. Cover the surface of the dough with plastic wrap and leave to ferment for one hour at 30ºC and a humidity factor of 70%.
After this time, bring the dough back to the mixer and knead again while adding the melted –but cold- butter carefully, so that it incorporates little by little.
When the dough is ready, place it in a piping bag fitted with a nozzle, then fill the molds cutting the dough with the help of a pair of scissors.
Slightly drizzle some water over the surface and scatter with some white sesame. When fermenting, the sesame seeds will separate from one another, thus resembling hamburger bread.
Leave the dough to ferment at 30ºC with a humidity factor of 70% until it doubles in volume.
Bake at 210-220ºC in a modular deck oven, vents open. They will be ready when the surface is golden brown.
Rapidly unmold and leave to cool on a rack.

apricot ganache

• 250 g apricot purée
• 25 g invert sugar
• 200 g extra bitter 60% dark couverture, melted
• 87 g butter
• 1 g salt

Heat the apricot and invert sugar to 40ºC and pour over the couverture in different batches and while constantly stirring. When the mixture is at 40ºC approximately, add the butter and salt. Emulsify.

ginger infusion

• 400 g water
• 85 g fresh ginger

Peel the fresh ginger with the help of a spoon. Cut into small dice.
Boil the water and ginger, and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
Crush with the Thermomix. Strain.

apricot syrup

• 750 g water
• 500 g sugar
• 500 g apricot purée
• 100 g ginger infusion

Heat the water and sugar to 40ºC. When the sugar is dissolved, add the apricot purée and ginger infusion. Vacuum pack.

‘cheese’ slice

Melt some white couverture and add yellow coloring. Spread a thin layer on a Rhodoid sheet and cut into 3×3-cm squares. Leave aside.

french fries

Cut fresh mango into strips, the regular size of fries.

The post Sweetburger appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Photos: Jose Lasheras

William Curley and his partner, Suzue Curley

At this point, identifying William Curley as one of the most prominent pastry chefs in the UK is not an exaggeration. His establishments in London have become a temptation for the general public, firstly thanks to his bonbons and bars of chocolate, awarded multiple times by the English Academy of Chocolate, and secondly due to a purely French patisserie style whose followers continue to grow daily. Additional proof of this is his second book presented a few months ago with a name that does not leave much to the imagination: Pâtisserie.

Trained in France in such distinguished workshops as Fauchon when Pierre Hermé was there, another one of his main influences and mentors is Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir (Belmond, United Kingdom). Highlighted from his style is the wisdom to perfectly connect tradition, technique and updates to the classics. With an eye on the roots of the tradition, William Curley revisits école française standards with a comprehensive knowledge basis and a sensitive and colorful outlook. In large part, his partner, Suzue Curley, of Japanese origin, has also collaborated in this renewal and with whom he shares a passion and mastery for this trade.

This interesting step-by-step recipe extracted from his second book, Pâtisserie

He will be one of the protagonists of the next edition of So Good, number 14. Now we leave you with this interesting step-by-step recipe for the creation of a raspberry and champagne jelly from his book, Pâtisserie. This jelly is part of a cake that he himself presents:

“I created this entremet for the Master of Culinary Arts award in 2013. It was well received, using classic techniques to create a contemporary design. The flavours were influenced by Pierre Hermé’s famous combination of rose, raspberry and lychee. Since the days of Pierre Hermé at Fauchon in Paris, I have always been inspired by his creations”.
William Curley

Raspberry and Rose Entremet

for the rose infusion:

• 150 g (5 ½ oz/ ¾ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
• 250 ml (8 ½ fl oz/1 cup) water
• 2 vanilla pods (beans) split and scraped
• 50 dried rose buds

To make the infusion: put the sugar, water and vanilla seeds and pod (bean) in a saucepan, bring to the boil and add the rose buds. (1) Cover with cling film (plastic wrap) and leave to infuse for an hour.

for the champagne & rose jelly:

• 12 fresh raspberries halved
• 75 ml (2fl oz/generous ¼ cup) rose infusion (see above)
• 5 g (1⁄8 oz) leaf gelatine
• 150 ml (¼ pint/scant ½ cup) rose champagne

Line the base of the other ring mould with the halved raspberries. Strain the rose infusion, then prepare the jelly. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of ice-cold water for a few minutes until soft. Squeeze the gelatine to remove excess water Put 75ml (3fl oz) of the rose infusion in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the soaked gelatine, then mix in the champagne. Pour into a jug and pour over the raspberries, just covering them. Freeze for at least 2–3 hours.

lytchee cream

praliné feuillantine

raspberry puree

raspberry compote

raspberry mousse

raspberry glaze

champagne and rose syrup

pain de Gène

These recipes belong to his book Pâtisserie

The post Raspberry and Rose Entremet by William Curley appeared first on so good.. magazine.

The executive pastry chef at the helm of The Langham Hotel in Chicago, Scott Green, has gone through several phases in his professional and personal life before crossing paths once again with so good.. magazine to share some of his latest creations. If in the previous issue we found him about to participate in the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie (Lyon), from which he took a creditable third place alongside Josh Johnson and John Kraus, this time we dare say his situation is almost the opposite. If last year there were trips, meetings and team trainings happening, at the moment, working in the kitchen dominates, overseeing the production of each new menu or banquet with his pastry brigade. And of course he is very happy with this change. His body asked for a reduction of the workload by taking on a pastry chef’s line of work. But just because the workload is reduced does not mean that life is less stimulating, on the contrary.

Pavilion. The Langham Hotel in Chicago

Heading the pastry station at a resort such as The Langham, with a first-class restaurant, Travelle, Afternoon Tea service, ice cream kiosk (Parlour at The Pavillion) and intense banquet activity, the great challenge is to ‘solve problems’, as Scott himself likes to define his work. Achieving lovely results that are also well-balanced in the combination of flavors, textures and intensities, but above all feasibly integrated in specific menus or services. That is his daily challenge, ‘solving problems’ is what makes him happiest. And for that he combines the two dimensions that are fundamental to his professional philosophy: art and science.

Understanding the whys

Scott Green remembers his time at the French Pastry School, alongside the great Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sébastien Cannone. Then, while strengthening his bases and foundations closely linked to the French pastry tradition, he began to work as a teacher giving a new dimension to his knowledge, to some extent forced by his students. Not only did he know and explain how to make each creation, each technique, but he also had to learn the reason why, satisfy students’ curiosity and, thus, further expand the scope of his abilities.
His time as professor solving the ‘whys’ also came to an end. For Scott, theory was just as important as practicing, and preparing products which end up in the mouth of a customer who will enjoy it. This is how he ended up in his current destination in Chicago. There he had the opportunity to join two of his main dimensions, science and art.

Savoir Faire and an American point of view

Science, knowledge, theory and technique are fully connected to his time at the French Pastry School. But if his knowledge is French, his gaze is fixed on American tradition and culture. The great classics of American patisserie, the public’s favorite combinations in their environment, are the subject of his work in a revision through a theory that lightens and sharpens each result.
And then there’s the art, to which Scott Green refers to his past as an artist. A concern for expressing forms and objects with which to seduce the outsider has been present in his life. Currently, patisserie is the perfect discipline for him to continue captivating where once this was done with sculpture or paintings. Either on a plated dessert, a cake or an artistic sugar figure, it is always important to draw the guest’s visual attention, as a beginning and warning of a tasting experience which is to be seen.

Balance and context

As a result, science, the knowledge of technique, is a fundamental aspect. But his aesthetic concerns are only part of the work to be performed. Obviously working with flavors is another great aspect to consider. The combination of easily recognizable, intense yet balanced flavors, playing with acidity, crunchiness or sponginess, which tend to be present in varying intensities.
But there is still another critical factor to attend to in his daily work to ‘solve problems’, and that is to fit every creation in the place where it is intended, either in the Afternoon tea proposals, a themed banquet or at the end of a more or less loaded menu. All without losing sight of the common production system and the need to integrate into it.

Creativity, better with limits

These are the challenges that Scott Green likes confronting. And although adding some limits and problems are an obstacle to creativity, this chef is of the opinion that absolute freedom is not always the best fertilizer for a good result. Therefore he moves in this kind of challenges, this is why he likes to focus on combinations and proposals that have long worked and offer new versions and adaptations. A good example of this is these creations he shares with us now. Some, such as Noir, come from the Afternoon Tea service and originally was an éclair with a delicious blackberry jam as its filling. Or the case of Sonya is another challenge, turning a creation that worked very well with pistachio, lime and cherries to that of a shop window cake.

Noir

sablée

• 370 g butter
• 240 g powdered sugar
• 5 g salt
• 3 g pectin X58
• 125 g whole eggs
• 675 g pastry flour

Cream butter, powdered sugar and salt. Add whole eggs and mix until emulsified. Add pastry flour and mix until homogenized. Bake at 165ºC (330ºF) for 9-15 minutes.

blackberry mousse

• 500 g blackberry puree
• 16 g gelatin
• 500 g cream
• 186 g whites
• 500 g sugar
• 125 g water
• 12 g lemon juice

Bloom gelatin in cold water. Whip cream to soft peaks and reserve. Combine sugar and water and cook to 121ºC. Pour sugar syrup over whites while whisking and whip to stiff peaks. Add bloomed and melted gelatin to blackberry puree and let thicken, whisking often. Scale 200 g of Italian meringue and fold into blackberry puree. Fold in whipped cream.

black fruit jam

• 125 g IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) blackberry
• 125 g IQF wild blackberry
• 125 g IQF black currant
• 105 g sugar A
• 20 g sugar B
• 3 g agar agar
• 20 g lemon juice

Combine IQF fruit and sugar A and heat. Combine sugar B and agar and rain into mixture. Bring mixture to a boil. Add lemon juice. Robot briefly to obtain desired texture.

violet mousse

• 253 g whole milk
• 214 g heavy cream A
• 12 g vanilla
• 197 g sugar
• 283 g egg yolks
• 24 g gelatin
• 121 g water
• 788 g heavy cream B
• 13 g violet extract

Bloom gelatin in cold water. Whip cream B to soft peaks and reserve. Combine whole milk, heavy cream A, vanilla, sugar and yolks and cook to 82ºC. Add bloomed gelatin and whisk well. Cool mixture to 30ºC. Fold in whipped cream and violet extract.

violet crémeux

• 1080 g heavy cream
• 21 g vanilla
• 270 g sugar
• 360 g egg yolks
• 9 g gelatin
• 3 g salt
• 12 g violet extract

Bloom gelatin in cold water. Combine heavy cream, salt and vanilla and bring to a simmer. Combine yolks and sugar and whisk well. Temper yolks into cream and cook to 85ºC. Add violet extract.

vanilla cake

• 540 g cake flour
• 16 g baking powder
• 8 g salt
• 324 g milk
• 360 g egg whites
• 48 g vanilla
• 453 g butter
• 740 g sugar

Bring whole milk, egg whites and butter to room temperature. Combine butter, vanilla and sugar and cream. Combine egg whites and whole milk. Combine and sift dry ingredients. Add wet and dry ingredients alternately to butter mixture. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF), 18-20 minutes.

white chocolate glaze

• 510 g whole milk
• 165 g glucose
• 15 g gelatin
• 607 g white chocolate
• 607 g white paté à glacer
• q.s. purple food coloring

Bloom gelatin in cold water. Combine whole milk, glucose and purple coloring and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over chocolate and pate a glacer. Add gelatin and hand blend. Use glaze at 30-35ºC.

Assembly

Roll sablee to 3 mm thick and cut using 100 mm ring. Bake and reserve. Cast black fruit jam half way into demi-sphere silicone mold. Freeze, unmold and reserve. Cast violet mousse into demi-sphere silicone mold and insert frozen jam. Freeze. Punch 60 mm rounds of vanilla cake. Cast black fruit jam into 60mm round flexi. Cast violet crémeux over black fruit jam and chill until slightly set. Place vanilla cake round onto violet crémeux and freeze. Line 80mm ring with acetate and fill with blackberry mousse. Place cake insert into center of blackberry mousse and freeze. Unmold mousse and glaze. Place glazed mousse cake onto center of baked sablée. Unmold demi-sphere of violet mousse and spray with white chocolate spray. Place demi-sphere on top of the glazed blackberry mousse.

You will find two other very special creations in so good.. magazine #14.

Cabana

Sonya

The post Noir by Scott Green appeared first on so good.. magazine.

‘When you look at a dessert you need to see it always in its context. When is it supposed to be eaten? And what did your customer eat in the previous courses? If you have a menu which already contains fruits and a bunch of components made with milk products followed by a cheese course, it makes much more sense to abstain from further milk products in the last course for the sake of your guests’ wellbeing’. So clearly spoke for us René Frank, Executive pastry Chef at the three-starred Relais & Châteaux La Vie (the Chef, Thomas Bühner, appears in so good #7)  in Osnabrueck (Germany) for the last five years.
His challenge leaves no room for doubt, ‘I want to create a modern pastry where people do not have to think much about calories. And desserts which you do not have to stop eating because you’re full.’ This is the conclusion he reaches after an extensive professional and training career in such illustrious places like l’École Lenotre of Paris, Alain Ducasse Formation, The Culinary Institute of America; three-starred restaurants like Georges Blanc, Vonnas (France); Akelarre, San Sebastián (Spain); Restaurant Kikunoi, Kyoto (Japan); and alongside renowned pastry chefs like Oriol Balaguer in Barcelona. In 2013, he was acclaimed as Pastry Chef of the Year 2013 (Gault & Millau).
This tendency towards lightness is perfectly compatible with creativity and enthusiasm for risk. A good example of this is the desserts which this German chef shares with us in these pages. He dares to elegantly introduce a blown sugar doughnut filled with carrot ice cream which, altogether, revisits the traditional and universal carrot cake. And how about his evocative foam bath, rubber duck included.
In conclusion, balance and good sense when it comes to choosing the ingredients, combinations and quantities, and creative madness regarding the shapes and aesthetics. It sounds quite good as a recipe.

Car ,,O” Nut

The idea for this blown sugar doughnut came through experimenting when I was looking for alternative shapes you can make with blown sugar using it as a part of a dish. For me it is always important that the blown sugar component is not only a visual thing. In this case the sugar content is balanced with the granulated carrot sorbet inside, which is made with non-additional sugar in the recipe. Here we reduced carrot juice in vacuum at 35°C to keep its fresh flavour. It got balanced with a bit of passion fruit for being not so ‘in the face’ bitter and sweet. As I grew up in the south of Germany close to the border of Switzerland, sweet carrot always reminds to the rüblitorte, which is a traditional carrot cake my Grandmother used to feed me with. And she was a master in that cake. The idea of using avocado in a dessert is very common in Thai cuisine, so nothing unusual. Its nutty flavour goes perfect with the hazelnut.

avocado cream

saffron isomalt

lime-passion fruit granita

saffron foam

caramelized hazelnut crumble

frozen granulated carrot

These recipes are in so good #14.

You will find two other very special creations in so good #14

Parsley Root & Pistachio

Fluffy Duck

The post Car ,,O” Nut by René Frank appeared first on so good.. magazine.

He is the pastry chef of a Maison which is as peculiar and unclassifiable as it is glamorous and distinguished. His challenge: bringing a personal touch to a patisserie which is built with French basis tradition and nods to Russian cuisine. We are talking about Damien Piscioneri and Café Pouchkine. In these pages we find a deeply vocational professional whose eyes shined in a special way just two years when he was proposed to face the major challenge of directing the sweet creations and production of Pouchkine. In addition, we gather here two recipes that meet with the approval of the international public visiting the Parisian establishments of this house, Belizna and Baba panettone. Luxurious and refined.

During his childhood he frequented the kitchens of great restaurants (‘delivering fresh pasta made by my parents’). His career path was clear – he wanted to be a chef. After some years of experience, he began to feel attracted to patisserie and he sets new challenge: becoming a pastry chef. From there he started a long journey through workshops and kitchens of great names such as Le Moulin de Mougins (Mougins), Oasis (Mandelieu-La Napoule) Gérard Mulot Patisserie (Paris), Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace in Budapest, Novikov Group in Moscow, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Sketch in London, among others.

“Our concept is to harmoniously join Russian products ans French traditions, through sweet little jewels”

In 2013, Andrey Dellos offered him the position of Pastry Chef of Café Pouchkine. ‘My eyes were shining. I was really excited and looking forward to facing this new challenge. In my mind, gourmand ideas came so as to bring my personal touch to the house.’ Thus is how Damien Piscioneri remembers his arrival in one of the most unique and glamorous shops in French patisserie, as well as Russian, pastry, for the peculiarity of this Maison is precisely this communion. The chef himself explains plainly: ‘Our concept is to harmoniously join Russian products and French traditions, through sweet little jewels.’
Indeed, everything made by his hands has the luster of luxury, refinement, and excellence. And desire. ‘For me, pastry is, above all, gourmandise’, says Piscioneri. It is not surprising that a customer were to confess feeling a ‘gustatory orgasm’ after trying one of his delicacies.

The delicate and fresh Belizna is among his accomplishments, with a coconut and raspberry base (whose recipe is included in these pages); the citric and aromatic Diadema; or the chocolatey and imperial Datsha. Piscioneri himself finds he is skillful at a light, subtle and refined patisserie, and defines his creations as moreish, colorful and fruity.
And all this occurs in an equally exclusive setting with a palatial air, with three shops in the French capital plus the original in Moscow. A real luxury.

Belizna

coconut dacquoise

• 360 g egg whites
• 160 g superfine sugar
• 160 g almond powder
• 160 g coconut
• 60 g flour
• 250 g confectioners’ sugar
• 250 g butter, melted

Whip the egg whites and thicken then by mixing in the sugar in three additions. Carefully fold in the powdered ingredients sifted together. Spread the dacquoise on the coconut crumble. Bake at 180ºC.

shredded coconut crémeux

• 600 g coconut purée
• 120 g coconut, shredded
• 80 g Malibú liqueur
• 3 g pectin X58
• 6 g sugar
• 200 g whipped cream
• 120 g gelatin mass

Heat the purée and Malibú. Add the pectin together with the sugar and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the shredded coconut. Reserve. Add the whipped cream and melted gelatin mass.

raspberry preserve

coconut crumble

raspberry crémeux

These recipes are in so good #14.

white coconut glaze

• 300 g water
• 600 g sugar
• 600 g glucose
• 280 g gelatin mass
• 600 g Ivoire white couverture
• 400 g sugared condensed milk
• 10 g coconut aroma
• 5 g titanium dioxide

Combine the water, sugar and glucose and bring to a boil. Pour over the chocolate, condensed milk and gelatin. Process with a hand blender and reserve in the refrigerator.

You will find Baba Panettone’ recipe in so good #14

The post Belizna by Damien Piscioneri appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Xavier Séjournant is one of those restless spirits who stand out in contemporary French pastry. Captivated by this trade at an early age, his different experiences in maisons de pâtisserie and boulangerie made him feel increasingly attracted to the artistic potential that this artisan craft guards. Currently, he is about to open his own pastry establishment “in the Paris region”, as he himself tells us. We want to know more about this upcoming project. For now, we can enjoy one of his Christmas proposals.

Rouge Desir

lemon streussel

• 66 g butter
• 66 g brown sugar
• 66 g almond powder
• 50 g flour
• 1 u lemon skin

Mix all the ingredients in order. Extend to a thickness of 3 mm and cut to a smaller measurement to that of the log. Bake at 160ºC for about 15 minutes.

olive oil madeleine cake

• 56 g sugar
• 22 g inverted sugar
• 66 g eggs
• 66 g flour
• 3 g baking powder
• 2 g lemon peel
• 60 g olive oil

Heat the sugars and eggs to 50ºC and mount in the blender with the rods. Add sifted flour with baking powder. Follow with the lemon peel and finish with olive oil. Spread on the cooled streussel and bake in a ventilated oven at 170 ° C for about 10 minutes. Put in freezer.

berry coulis

• 150 g frozen mixed berries
• 38 g sugar
• 6 g 200 bloom gelatin powder +30 g water (gelatin mass)
• 255 g berry purée

Heat the berry purée with sugar to 50 °C, add the gelatin mass and mix well. Add the berries and pour over the frozen madeleine cake. Freeze.

light vanilla cream and white chocolate

• 120 g milk
• 60 g 35% fat cream
• 0.5 or Madagascar vanilla bean
• 37 g yolks
• 30 g sugar
• 9 g starch
• 24 g Ivoire white covering
• 24 g gelatin mass
• 125 g whipped cream

In a saucepan boil the milk with scraped pods and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Strain and make custard. Add covering and melted gelatin mass. Cool to 30ºC and join with whipped cream. Pour.

rouge mirror glaze

• 150 g sugar
• 150 g glucose
• 75 g water
• 150 g Ivoire white covering
• 50 g concentrated milk
• 500 g neutral gelatin
• 70 g gelatin mass (10 g + 60 g water)
• 5 g fat-soluble red dye

Boil the water, sugar and glucose. Pour over the white covering, concentrated milk, the neutral gelatin and food coloring. Mix. At 60ºC, add melted gelatin mass. Blend with mixer without adding air. Reserve in cold until the following day.

Assembly and finishing

Assemble in reverse in an eight people Oblong mold. Pour the light cream to medium height and place inside the Streussel-cake-Coulis until the cream is closer to the edges. Freeze. Unmold and glaze with melted Miroir Rouge at 30ºC. Then sprinkle a mixture of cocoa butter, Ivoire covering, and titanium oxide coloring, melted, with the help of a brush. Decorate with red-colored white chocolate chips, flowers, sugar paste, gold leaf, and grated coconut.

The post Xavier Séjournant’s Bûche Rouge Desir appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Text by Reiko Matsuno / Photos by Noriko Carlow

The champion of World Chocolate Masters 2009 keeps himself busy in the kitchen with his wife and ex-pâtissière, Rie, and 8 apprentices in his pastry shop, L’AVENUE in Kobe which is located in West Japan. Shigeo Hirai won the victory when he was a sous-chef of the Pastry Department in Grand Hyatt Tokyo after dedicating himself there for 6 years. ‘Chocolates are the same. Jerry or fruit pastes, ganache and chocolate coatings melt in the mouth in order of water content and you would rediscover characteristics of each ingredient. In this way, you can highlight unique aspects of ingredients.’

Hirai wanted to liven up Kobe where he was born and raised, and like-minded six other pastry chefs in neighborhood got together to establish a group called ‘Origine Kobe’

Essence Choux: the same as Essence chocolat a l’orange, it is comprised of vanilla, hazelnut and citrus. In a puff are the lemon custard cream and vanilla-infused white chocolate whipped cream and hazelnut nougatine on the bottom. Creams are separated by a plate of gianduja.

Framb

Two layers of lemon pâte de fruit and raspberry ganache are coated by bitter chocolate, whose bitterness tightens the acidity of lemon and raspberry.

pâte de fruit citron

• 132 g lemon juice
• 66 g water
• 22 g glucose
• 242 g granulated sugar
• 7 g yellow pectin
• 2.5 g cream of tartar
• 2.5 g water

Put the lemon juice, water, glucose and half the granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the rest of the sugar and pectin and heat to 107ºC. Add the cream of tartar and water. Pour into a 30 x 30 cm with 3 mm height frame lined with silicone paper.

ganache framboise

• 99 g raspberry purée
• 25 g fresh cream
• 36 g glucose
• 38 g butter
• 324 g Papouasie milk chocolate, 35% cocoa
• 10 g cocoa butter
• 7 g eau de vie de framboise

Put the raspberry purée, fresh cream and glucose in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the butter. Add the Papouasie and cocoa butter and mix very well. Add the eau de vie de framboise and let it cool to 30ºC. Pour it over the pâte de fruit citron with 5 mm thick. Leave to rest in the refrigerator at 18ºC for 24 hours to crystallize. Turn it upside down and pour the ganache framboise to 5 mm thick. Reserve in the refrigerator at 18ºC for 24 hours to crystallize.

Enrobage

• dark chocolate Extra bitter Guayaquil 65% 　

Finishing

After the ganache framboise has crystallized, coat thinly both sides with Extra bitter Guayaquil and cut into 2.8 x 2.1 cm. Coat them with Extra Bitter Guayaquil.

You will find Essence Chocolat à l’Orange’ss recipe in so good #15

The post Chocolate Framb by Shigeo Hirai appeared first on so good.. magazine.

This minicake by EPGB, included in Play book, has a clear, evident, romantic allusion, and not only because of the hearts that garnish it. The truth is that this piece has been conceived to be shared. Therefore, although its size clearly exceeds the expected one for an individual piece, it has to be split into two portions, one for each in the couple. And a surprise is also included, in the shape of a liquid strawberry and vinegar filling.

Find out more about “Play”

Cuore minicake

pâte sablé

• 250 g T45 flour
• 85 g almond powder
• 6 g salt
• 38 g confectioners’ sugar
• 1 large whole egg

Mix all the solid ingredients, sifted together, in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle and add the chilled butter dice.
Beat to a sandy texture.
Beat in the egg and finish kneading by hand.
Roll out to 4 mm on a 60×40-cm sheet pan with parchment paper. Keep in refrigerator.
With the help of a heart-shaped mold or cutter, cut small hearts out of the dough.
Line a rectangular mold (14×3.5×4 cm) with this dough.
Bake the dough at 180ºC for 25 minutes, vents open.
Unmold and cool.

strawberry and vinegar filling

• 250 g vinegar
• 125 g strawberry

Reduce separately – vinegar should acquire a thick texture, and strawberry should reduce to 50%. Combine both and freeze in a 13.5x2x1.5-cm silicone mold.

strawberry mousse

This recipe is in the book Play.

Montage

Wrap the sablé rectangle in plastic wrap to prevent the filling from leaking through the heart-shaped holes.
Make a whole in the upper part in order to fill with the mousse with the help of a piping bag.
Half fill, carefully place the frozen filling and continue to fill with the mousse. Smooth out, chill and garnish with strawberries and neutral gelatin.

The post Cuore minicake from the book “Play” appeared first on so good.. magazine.

She is a lively, active pastry chef who loves her job and is always moving. This is something that is perceived as soon as you meet Kirsten Tibballs, owner of her own Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School, near Melbourne. But this is also something that her creations transmit as well. We do not talk about the rigor in the process of elaboration, perfection in finishing, and the utmost respect she shows for her trade every day, although we could. We now refer to something more intangible, and it is her incredible capacity to generate and spread ‘good vibes’ through her work. Whether it is the decorations, the use of colors, or the reinterpretation that makes the classics even more sacred, Kirsten Tibballs is able to transmit positivity with her pastry. Perhaps that is why she is the So Good.. magazine collaborator who most frequently visits our pages.

On this occasion, the Australian chef exclusively gives us a modernized version of the classic Saint Honoré, mounted on an elongated Breton shortbread base with cream spheres placed on the profiteroles de choux; a powerful and aromatic mint, pineapple, and coconut cake, decorated with majestic chocolate lilies; and a delicious Apple Cinnamon Tart, crowned with three tantalizing apples of an intense green color.

Modern Saint Honoré

sable breton

yield: 12 rectangles

• 150 g unsalted butter
• 150 g caster sugar
• 1 g sea salt
• 75 g egg yolks
• 205 g plain flour
• 6 g baking powder

Beat the softened butter with the sugar and salt. Add the egg yolks followed by the sifted flour and baking powder. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Roll the dough to 10 mm thick and cut with an éclair cutter. Place each rectangle inside an éclair cutter and bake at 180°C for approximately 10 minutes.

caramel

• 100 g fresh cream, 35% fat
• 175 g caster sugar
• 75 g liquid glucose, warmed
• 125 g unsalted butter
• 3 g sea salt

Bring the cream to a boil and keep it hot. Warm a large saucepan and melt the sugar one third at a time; allow each addition to completely dissolve and caramelize before adding the next amount of sugar. Continue until all the sugar is completely dissolved and a golden brown colour, then add the warmed glucose. Add the hot cream carefully on a low heat. Once all the cream is added, remove from the heat. Still stirring, add the butter and salt. Cover the caramel with cling film, pressing it down onto the surface to avoid a skin forming.

pâte à choux

• 125 g full cream milk
• 125 g water
• 10 g caster sugar
• 2 g sea salt
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 75 g plain flour
• 75 g baker’s flour
• 225 g free range eggs

Place milk, water, sugar, salt and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the sifted flours until combined. Return to low-medium heat and cook for approximately 2 minutes, stirring continuously, until a smooth mass has formed. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat the mixture for about 1 minute then slowly incorporate the eggs in small amounts, stopping the mixer regularly to scrape down the sides. Place the mixture into a piping bag and pipe 30 mm round profiteroles onto a lined tray. Place in the oven at 130°C for 15 minutes. Increase heat to 150°C for 15 minutes. Increase heat to 170°C for 15 minutes or until a golden colour is achieved.

vanilla cream

• 500 g fresh cream, 35% fat
• 1 vanilla bean
• 120 g egg yolks
• 100 g caster sugar
• 6 g gold gelatine leaf

Boil the cream and vanilla beans previously cut into two and scraped. Combine the sugar and yolks in a bowl. Pour the boiled cream over the yolks mixture. Place back on the stove on a low heat to 82°C while stirring and then strain. Sieve the anglaise then add the pre-soaked gelatine. Pipe into a small sphere mould and freeze.

clear set glaze

• 50 g neutral glaze
• 75 g water
• 250 g mirror glaze

Bring the neutral glaze and water to a boil. Fold in the mirror glaze. Use the glaze at 30°C.

Assembly

Pipe caramel into the base of the Breton shortbread. Cut the bases off the profiteroles and turn them upside down. Place the frozen vanilla cream on a glazing rack and glaze with the clear glaze. While still frozen place inside the overturned profiterole. Place three vanilla profiteroles on top of the caramel in a line.

You will find two others recipes in so good #15

Lilium

Apple Cinnamon Tart

The post Modern Saint Honoré by Kirsten Tibballs appeared first on so good.. magazine.

It is not easy knowing if today there are more allergies than ever or if simply they are detected more often. However it may be, it is a factor that food professionals have to take into account when organizing their menus and product offers. Among them we can find the young French man established in Australia, Yves Scherrer (so good #13, so good #15), Head Pastry Chef at Ananas Bar and Brasserie in Sidney. He himself tells us how he faces this situation and how he ends up making his allergen-free desserts into the most on-demand desserts on the menu. Also, we gather two of his most recent creations, which we could classify as ‘suitable for all audiences’.

I’ve got great feedbacks and special thanks from people for considering their allergies. Of course there always is the person that’s allergic but doesn’t want this dessert because they don’t like one of the component… I guess you can never please everyone.

And a part of a few fussy people it was often because of food allergies or intolerance, the most common ones would always be lactose, gluten and nuts.

Being lactose intolerant myself made me consider the issue more seriously. But also I was thinking that it was embarrassing for me to serve beautiful desserts to everyone and just have a sorbet plate for the allergic or intolerant people.

So I started working on one dessert on the menu that would be lactose, gluten and dairy free. However I didn’t want to take a dessert and just change a recipe just to make it that way and to a lower product.

So I made sure that all the component would be great recipes that already had all the requirements and build around it.

People where really receptive about it. And the great thing about having a full real dessert and not a substitute is that anyone can order it and enjoy it and it works. Those desserts are usually on the top sellers.

I’ve got great feedbacks and special thanks from people for considering their allergies. Of course there always is the person that’s allergic but doesn’t want this dessert because they don’t like one of the component… I guess you can never please everyone.

Yves Scherrer

Yuzu Water Mochi

yuzu clarification

• 200 g pure yuzu juice
• 2 g agar

Combine the agar and yuzu juice together and boil for 30 seconds. Let cool down at room temperature and freeze overnight. Let defrost in an oil filter so as to get the clear liquid of the yuzu juice only. This may take around 5 hours.

yuzu water mochi

• 20 g clarified yuzu juice
• 230 g Finé Japanese mineral water
• 45 g sugar
• 1.8 g agar

Combine the sugar and agar together. Heat the water and yuzu in a pot to 40°C and then whisk in the sugar mix. Bring to a boil and simmer for a minute. Pour into half sphere molds and set in the fridge.

wild strawberry sauce

• 75 g sugar
• 105 g wild strawberry purée
• 1 twist of black pepper

Make a dry caramel with the sugar to a light brown color and deglaze with the strawberry purée, reduce until the sauce is slightly thickened. Crack some fresh black pepper on top and reserve.

printed meringues

• 90 g egg whites
• 180 g sugar
• 45 g water
• 20 g pure yuzu juice
• chocolate transfer sheet

Place the egg whites and yuzu juice in a mixing bowl. Cook the sugar and water to 118°C and make an Italian meringue. Pipe small balls of meringue on baking paper and then place some transfer squares on top of each ball to flatten them into small disks. Dry at 60°C for 12 hours.

Assembly

Place a yuzu water mochi on the center of a plate. Cut strawberries into quarters, toss with yuzu juice and space 8 pieces around the mochi. Pipe some strawberry sauce between each strawberry.

Place a printed meringue between every second strawberry. Place big chunks of freeze-dried yuzu chunks between every other strawberry with a baby red shiso leaf on top.

NOTE

The idea started with something quite popular in Japan lately which is the water mochi. Being a see true plain water jelly with kinako powder and black sugar sauce which reminds the flavors of a traditional mochi.

I wanted to keep the idea but make it more playful and flavorful. I clarified some yuzu to add to the jelly and keep it as clear as possible and blended with some strawberries to make a really fresh Summery dessert.

You will find Red Wine and Chocolate Pear’s recipe in so good #15

The post Yuzu Water Mochi by Yves Scherrer appeared first on so good.. magazine.

The chef and professor at the EPGB, Jose Romero, shows in his book Ideas and recipes between cuisine and pastry delicious culinary delights like this ‘Planted’ onion brioche.

The idea of making a brioche in a clay mold has always gone around my head. In Barcelona’s Chocolate Museum’s cafeteria, adjacent to our school, small clay pots are exhibited, individually decorated according to the season: in Spring a chocolate flower, at Easter an egg or at Christmas a fir tree. And in summer we made a brioche. It’s one of those elaborations that turns out the way we think. The idea is to finally present this ‘planted’ brioche in the center of a table that diners can pinch with their fingers to taste it and also to sense the texture and flavor of the freshlybaked dough with onion.

Jose Romero

Find out more Ideas in the book

Planted onion brioche

brioche dough

• 1000 g high gluten flour
• 300 g sourdough starter (see recipe on page 96)
• 12 g dry yeast
• 410 g milk
• 5 u whole eggs
• 150 g sugar
• 150 g butter
• 12 g salt
• 80 g dehydrated onion
• q.s. viennoiserie coating

1. Place the flour and sourdough starter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment.
2. Add 3/4 of the milk and mix on low speed until fully incorporated for about 10 minutes.
3. Mix in the remaining milk together with the eggs and yeast.
4. When it starts to acquire a smooth consistency, add the sugar in three batches and then the salt and chilled butter. Increase the speed and knead for an additional 5 minutes.
5. The dough should form a translucent membrane if stretched (the windowpane test) and should not exceed 28oC.
6. Add the dehydrated onion and mix until fully incorporated.
7. Grease your hands with oil, turn the dough over onto the worktop, dusted with flour, and leave to rest for 40 minutes.
8. Make 80 g portions and gather into balls.
9. Allow to proof in a small flowerpot, previously greased with melted butter and dusted with flour as though it were a mold for a cake.
10. Apply the viennoiserie coating with the help of a brush.
11. Bake at 210oC for 10 minutes and at 180oC for 20 minutes more.

viennoiserie coating

• 50 g whole egg
• 12 g heavy cream
• 2 g salt

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2. Reserve in the refrigerator until needed.

To bear in mind

All the ingredients needed to make the brioche should be at room temperature except butter.
Use some oil for your hands and worktop when gathering the dough into balls.
The firmer the kneaded balls are, the more evenly they will rise when baked.
If a more toasted look is desired, brush the brioche with some viennoiserie coating before proofing and before baking. In order to give them some gloss, brush them slightly after removing them from the oven. When the coating comes into contact with the heat, it forms a sealing layer.

Find out more Ideas in the book

The post ‘Planted’ onion brioche by Jose Romero appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Marike Van Beurden’s curriculum leaves little doubt about her talent. Trained alongside greats like Philippe Rigollot in France, brilliant in championships such as the C3 in plated desserts or the World Chocolate Masters, now her headquarters is placed in Hong Kong, which has lately become home to pastry figures of the highest level. From there, she offers her creativity by traveling around the world and looking for the best application of products the likes of Sosa Ingredients, Ravifruit or Callebaut. And if talent and technical quality are among her best attributes, she does not lack the capacity of exploring new paths which take classic pastry to a more youthful, colorful and casual level without renouncing even a milligram of gourmand pleasure or intensity of flavors. A good example is her line of ‘funky brownies’, although in reality the funky spirit is equally applicable to other formats that she presents on this occasion: entremets shaped like doughnuts and restyled tartlets. Her area of influence is centered in Southeast Asia, a fact that has driven her to foster the use of spices and exotic fruits in her proposals, but without abandoning her European origins as she demonstrates in the Apple tart inspired by the traditional Dutch classic.

Brownie carrot coconut cake

carrot brownie pecan chocolate brownies

• 120 g brown sugar
• 120 g sugar
• 160 g eggs
• 80 g dark chocolate Guayaquil, 64% cocoa
• 180 g butter
• 40 g flour
• 14 g cacao powder
• 70 g pecan nuts
• 30 g macadamia nuts
• 100 g shredded carrots

Mix the eggs with the sugar. Melt the chocolate and butter and add to the whipped egg and sugar mix. Add the powders, nuts and carrots. This recipe makes two 60×40 trays. Bake in a square at 170ºC for 15 minutes approximately.

coconut and carrot ganache

• 375 g coconut purée Ravifruit
• 200 g dark chocolate Guayaquil, 64% cocoa
• 100 g toasted desiccated coconut
• 150 g shredded carrots

Heat up the purée and make a ganache with the chocolate. Add the coconut and carrots. Spread out on top of the first layer of brownies, about 15 mm thick. Place a second brownie layer and finish off with a thin layer of ganache, and place a layer of Sosa Carrot Jam on the top.

coconut mousse

• 375 g coconut purée Ravifruit
• 300 g whipped cream
• 60 g gelatin mass

Melt the gelatin mix with the purée and, once it starts to set, mix with the cream. Pipe into the tubes, freeze and cut when frozen. Dip into white chocolate coating with coconut.

white chocolate coating

• 200 g white chocolate
• 200 g cacao butter
• 100 g desiccated coconut

Melt and mix.

other elements

• Fresh baby carrot
• Pea shoots herbs
• Compressed coconut Sosa
• Cantonese pecan nuts
• Orange cream
• Dark chocolate rounds

The story about ‘funky brownies’

The carrot cake brownie is one in the series I’ve created of Funky Brownies. This series is created to show how much it is possible to be done with brownie, as it’s a big favourite for a lot of people, so why not restyle it and make it funkier.
Old time favourite brownie or carrot cake, no need to make the choice anymore as here these is a combination of both. And, hey! it’s (kind of) healthy because it contains veggies and nuts.
Brownie dough bakes with grated carrots and nuts, a ganache made with Guayaquil chocolate, carrot purée, grated carrots and roasted desiccated coconut. A light coconut mousse piped in tubes and dipped in a coconut chocolate for the extra crisp.
MVB

You will find three others recipes in so good #15

The post Brownie carrot coconut cake by Marike Van Beurden appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Salt can be used for much more than is thought, it can even be used in the world of desserts. Mario Sandoval, chef of the Spanish restaurant Coque (2 Michelin stars), has studied the possibilities offered by Maldon salt, creating a colorful and interesting range of flavored salts which he then applied to a full menu that finishes with a bang with the right mix of chocolate, mint and violet. As Mario Sandoval himself explains, “we season a chocolate dessert with Maldon salt, providing new nuances to the palate”.

Different types of flavored salts

To demonstrate the versatility of this sea salt, Sandoval has worked with nearly a dozen references, including tomato salt, carrot salt, mint salt, polyphenol salt and smoked salt. These are very different organoleptically and also visually, delivering gustatory and visual nuances that are as surprising as they are interesting.

Below we show the most suitable ways for using these salts in pastry and how to make them.

• Citrus salt
  This salt is yellow. It is the result of grated lemon and orange zest which is then mixed with the salt, being careful not to break the crystals. With the humidity of the zest, the salt acquires its color. Before using it, it must be allowed to dry on a warming table at 40ºC for 12 hours. This salt is used in the process of salting sardines which are then paired with guacamole.
• Raspberry salt
  Its intense red color anticipates the power of its aroma. As with the tomato salt, slightly damp salt is added to the freeze-dried fruit, mixed well, and allowed to dry for 12 hours.
• Violet salt
  The intense white of Maldon salt remains, surprising the senses with its floral and fresh touch. To achieve this, Mario Sandoval sprays the salt with violet, then drying it on a warming table at 40ºC for 12 hours. In this case, the scent of this salt provides contrast and freshness to a chocolate dessert, made up of a Guanaja crémeux, a Manjari and violet core, and a dry cocoa cake.
• Cinnamon salt
  This tan-colored salt stands out for its strong aromatic taste. After crushing the cinnamon, it is mixed with the salt, letting it sit and dry.

Chocolate mousse with violet Maldon salt

violet Maldon salt

• c.s. Maldon salt
• c.s. violet water

Spray the salt with violet water and let dry on a warming table at 40ºC for 12 hours.

mint and chocolate crémeux

• 150 g krona cream
• 350 g mint puree
• 100 g egg yolk
• 50 g sugar
• 210 g Guanaja chocolate
• 10 g violet Maldon salt
• 25 g armagnac

Cook all the liquids with the sugar and Maldon salt at 85°C. Freshen the yolks with cold water and incorporate them to the above mixture, cooking until it solidifies. Strain over the chopped chocolate and emulsify. Place cling film directly onto it and let stand at 4ºC for 12 hours.

chocolate and violet ice cream core

• 675 g milk
• 65 g sugar
• 90 g inverted sugar
• 30 g cream
• 170 g Manjari chocolate
• 5 g glycerin
• 5 g stabilizer
• 12 g violet paste

Heat all ingredients to 70 ºC except the chocolate, which is added at 50º C. Let it stand for 24 hours and churn.

dry cocoa cake

• 165 g egg whites
• 137 g sugar
• 190 g praline
• 20 g flour
• 20 g cocoa powder

Beat the egg whites and add sugar halfway through. Once stiff, add sifted cocoa powder and praline. Spread on a tray and bake at 160 ° C for 20 minutes.

brightening coating

• 150 g cream
• 150 g water
• 150 g sugar
• 75 g milk
• 50 g cocoa
• 3 sheets of gelatin

Boil the liquids with the sugar. Add cocoa, then the previously hydrated and drained gelatin. Mix well.

Plating

On the cake, arrange the ice cream core and on top, the crémeux. Glaze and decorate with violet Maldon salt crystals.

The post Chocolate mousse with violet Maldon salt by Mario Sandoval appeared first on so good.. magazine.

The Hofmann School of Barcelona has several commercial establishments that allow pastry teachers and students to acquire a necessary versatility in the trade. In addition to the Hofmann School, there is the Hofmann Restaurant, Hofmann’s Taverna, Terraza La Seca and Hofmann’s Patisserie. Eric Ortuño  is the Pastry head teacher of the School and one of the architects of this small Hofmann universe in the Catalan capital.
In this line five years ago, when Eric Ortuño and the director of the school, Mey Hofmann, launched Pasteleria Hofmann (so good #11), another world opened up to them. Contact with shop pastry has allowed the introduction of more pastry techniques in restaurant desserts with a differential value. For example, they have changed sugar decorations with chocolate figures influenced by the tradition of the Catalan Easter ‘monas’. The cactus and chocolate tree techniques of the new desserts in the Hofmann restaurant illustrate this change very well. An air of creative freedom is also breathed with proposals which are lighthearted and not as tied to the French tradition as it had been in earlier proposals. They are interested in the diner enjoying mimetic desserts inspired in ‘realities that have something fun and poetic,’ says Ortuño. Nevertheless, he says, the desserts of the new menu of the Hofmann Restaurant are based on very recognizable products, ‘in commercial tastes’, in a pastry that is easy to understand, ‘without too many extravagances’.

‘With this dessert, we start a series of more visual dishes which are usually served in front of the diner. Assembling these new amusing desserts in the dining room emphasizes the customer’s response and involves him in the game we propose’

Under the tree

mascarpone mousse

• 375 g mascarpone
• 375 g semi-whipped cream
• 3 u egg yolks
• 150 g sugar
• 50 g water
• 2.5 ugelatin sheets

Cook the water and sugar to 120ºC and pour over the egg yolks. Beat until cooled. Add the melted gelatin and the cream mixed with the mascarpone.

vanilla cream hemispheres

• 1080 g liquid cream
• 2 u vanilla beans
• 6 g pectin x58
• 240 gegg yolks
• 160 g sugar

Infuse the vanilla in the cream. Allow to cool. Mix the sugar and pectin and stir into the cream when at 40ºC. Cook to 85ºC and pour over the egg yolks. Beat in a Thermomix for 2 minutes. Fill hemisphere molds, 2.5 cm in diameter, and freeze.

apple tatin

• 1000 g Russet apples
• 100 gsugar
• 40 g butter

Cut the apple into pieces. Caramelize the sugar together with the butter and sauté the apple. Fill hemisphere molds (2.5 cm in diameter) with the apple and bake at 180ºC for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

green apple

• 200 g vanilla cream
• 15 g Calvados

Mix the cream and Calvados. Fill hemisphere molds. Freeze and join the hemispheres together. Apply a coating (100 g cocoa butter, 150 g white chocolate, 5 g green tea). Finish with dark modeling couverture (60 g couverture, 40 g glucose) for the stem and the apple leaf.

crumble

• 100 g salted butter, chilled
• 100 g flour
• 100 g almond powder
• 100 g sugar
• 20 g cocoa

Knead all the ingredients to a sandy-textured dough. Bake at 150ºC for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and crush.

Finishing

Place 2 vanilla hemispheres and 2 apple tatin hemispheres (2.5 cm each). Dip these hemispheres into a dollop of mascarpone mousse forming a mound. Place the crumble on top. Freeze and spray with chocolate. Lay on the plate, allow to thaw and top with the tree (made with a stencil). Place 3 green apples and garnish with flowers and shiso leaves.

You will find two others recipes in so good #15

Frozen sardine in the sea

Cactus

The post Under the tree plated dessert by Eric Ortuño appeared first on so good.. magazine.

Nathaniel Reid is running his own business in St Louis (Missouri), and is about to open a brand-new pastry establishment, a combination of bakery, pastry shop, and grab-and-go café. In the meantime he works as a pastry chef, consultant and educator working with domestic and international brands.

Graduated from the highly acclaimed Le Cordon Bleu in Paris with a Grand Diploma in Culinary and Pastry Arts, he was recognized in June 2012 by Dessert Professional Magazine as one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America. Reid is a good example of a young man who has been able to take advantage of his chance to evolve – and he has, indeed.

Signature Strawberry Charlotte

I wanted to reimagine a traditional charlotte. We pastry chefs are familiar with making a design on the outside of a cake with a stencil and joconde, but I wanted to do this in a different way. I decided to make the cake ‘insideout’ by making the design on the outside with a jellified coulis and panna cotta, while keeping the traditional appearance of finishing the charlotte with strawberries on top.

almond biscuit

• 260 g powdered sugar
• 180 g egg yolk
• 290 geggs
• 600 g egg white
• 300 g sugar
• 270 g flour
• 340 g almond flour

Whip the powdered sugar and egg yolk until it is thick and airy. Make a soft meringue with the sugar and egg white. Fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Sift together the flour and almond flour and fold into the egg mixture. Divide biscuit between two sheets and bake at 190ºC.
Reserve one sheet for the strawberry coulis and cut 14 cm disks out of the other.

décor panna cotta

• 200 g cream, 36%
• 15 g invert sugar
• 1.5 g gelatin

Soak the gelatin in cold water. Warm half of cream and add invert sugar and soaked gelatin. Mix the two creams together. Pipe a design with the panna cotta on a silicon sheet and freeze.

strawberry coulis

• 1200 g strawberry puree
• 30 g invert sugar
• 50 g glucose
• 65 g sugar
• 24 g gelatin

Warm half of the strawberry puree with the glucose and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Soak the gelatin and then add it together with the invert sugar to the warm strawberry puree. Mix the warmed strawberry puree with the remaining strawberry puree. Pour over the décor panna cotta and place one of the almond biscuits on top. Freeze and cut into strips to line the inside of a 16-cm cake ring.

vanilla mousse

• 295 g whole milk
• 1 piece vanilla bean
• 50 g sugar
• 13 g gelatin
• 575 g whipped cream, 36%

Make a crème anglaise with the milk vanilla bean, sugar and egg yolk. Add the soaked gelatin to the anglaise and let cool to 26ºC. Fold the whipped cream into the anglaise.

Assembly

Line a 16-cm ring with the bands of almond biscuit and strawberry coulis.
Place a 14-cm round of almond biscuit on the bottom of the ring.
Fill the inside of the ring with the mousse.
Freeze and then unmold the cake.
Spray the border of the cake with a neutral glaze.
Decorate the top of the cake with strawberries.

You will find two others recipes in so good #11

Scarlett

Angelo

The post Signature Strawberry Charlotte by Nathaniel Reid appeared first on so good.. magazine.