Day 1: Bienvenue en Pâtisserie

    I’ve always been enticed by the decadence and elegance of French pastries. There is such a delicate balance between the beautiful colors, the extravagant decoration and the indulgent flavors, but who knew there was such a rich and significant history behind all of it. 

    This morning I began my A-term, The History and Art of French Pastry and Bread baking, by reading about this history, and how French pastry baking has evolved into a world renowned and respected culinary art. All French pastries consist of two important parts: The appeal to our eyes, and the abundance of flavor. Many pastries rely more heavily on one or the other, but both are often incorporated into the truly delectable experience. 

    Despite the abundance of French pastries and desserts, they are really a somewhat recent invention, not truly gaining recognition until the late 18th century. The concept for desserts likely evolved from spiced wine and spiced candies that began being served towards the end of the Middle Ages,  which then during the Renaissance turned into both sweet and savory pies, fritters and other small treats that were served throughout meals.These were known as entremets, and could be either sweet or savory, but were served throughout the meal instead of at the end. As desserts evolved, entremets have mostly lost their popularity, only occasionally revived in the form of a sorbet or other palate cleanser. Although entremets continued to be served until the 19th century, they grew more distanced from sweet flavors and became instead savory pastries such as spinach tarts and bone marrow pastries.

    By the 1870’s desserts had taken a definitive turn towards being sweet and were also much more delicate. The word “dessert,” comes from the French word desservir, meaning to clear the table, which is what would happen before desserts were served. New napkins and tablecloths would be set out so the delicacy of the dessert didn’t clash with the much less refined main course. The most common first desserts were always fruits, and the words became almost interchangeable. Any cookbooks from the 17th or 18th century did not include fruits or jams, because those were the work of an officer, not a chef. Creating desserts was a completely different profession than creating meals, and required a different kitchen. In the 17th century, desserts would be simple and sweet to close out the meal, but towards the 18th century there was a shift as the visual became much more relevant. Fruit would be arranged in pyramids or other shapes, which we can still see remnants of today at weddings and other fancy events. 

    Although sugar was used, it was less to be eaten, and more to create displays. The attention was meant to be on the display more than the dessert, and these sugar sculptures were the norm for a while. Although they were beautiful, they were extremely difficult to create, so non-edible porcelain biscuits began to replace them as the decorative element. This idea of non-edible dessert led to a distinction in the French dessert world creating two paths: patisserie (where flavor prevailed) and confiserie (where decorations were all the rage). Now while patisseries stuck to perfecting flavors, confiseries were more like candy shops, also selling chocolates or highly decorated treats. This distinction also led to experimentation with desserts being disguised as vegetables or meats. Desserts were also modeled after architecture and sometimes purely for decoration because of the difficulty that could occur when cutting them. 

    All this extravagance went on for a while, but as the French revolution played out and the aristocracy faded, chefs and officers (now becoming a more similar profession) were forced to work on smaller budgets. High cuisine and other dishes became more accessible as the post revolution France allowed more people to enjoy these dining experiences. With more people, though, there came a shift to individualized desserts and a more restrained style. Instead of the awe provoking desserts, they became more equally accessible. Chefs would continue to produce artistic pieces for fashionable events, but there were more pastries constantly being created and patisserie became nearly as important as normal cooking. 

    Although these changes were happening at a rapid rate in France, the rest of the world may not have been on the same page. In 1820, a book was published (purposely in English), so that England could keep up with what was happening in France. Sugar continued to become more widely available (and actually used in the desserts), although there was still a distinction between the upper class desserts being highly decorative, with the middle and lower class being much more for taste. Pastries became much more replicable as more and more people turned to a simpler form of pastry. 

    In present day, emphasis on appearance is mostly found in professional kitchens, where the tradition of stunning visuals has remained alive. More modern desserts do have the wow factor that reflect the unique history of French pastry and dessert, but also rely heavily on edibility as pastries distanced themselves from something only for the wealthy, and instead became a sign of culture and tradition. 

    After learning about the ongoing changes between beauty and flavor, I got to work on my first creation - a fruit tart. Using a Masterclass taught by Dominique Ansel, a James Beard award winning chef, I created a vanilla sable tart shell, and a pastry cream filling. The shell takes a cookie-like dough, with simple ingredients, and transforms it into a delicate shell to be the base for the tart. The cream uses egg yolks, sugar, milk and cornstarch to create a thick and creamy filling. Although it required lots of whisking (I’ll certainly be building up arm muscle during the A-term),that is definitely better than having it burn or curdle! I finished up the day with a quick strawberry jam, that will serve as the other filling for my tart, which used fresh strawberries, lemon juice, and pectin to create a sweet and fresh flavor. 

    The last thing I made was praline paste, which requires caramelizing a combination of hazelnuts and almonds, then processing it, in a food processor, into a paste to use in recipes. 

    Overall, I would say it was an extremely successful first day! I learned a huge amount about the history of these confections, as well as made some progress on what I can only hope is a light and satisfying tart!