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During my 10-day stay in Paris back in October 2004, I took a couple of baking class for homecooks at Ecole Lenôtre. I was very excited about going to these pastry classes offered by the famous Lenotre at their Pavillon Elysee branch. With my very limited French vocabulary, I managed to register for both the pain d’epice and the opera cake class by email correspondence with the helpful staff. The classes are hands-on and are taught in French with a maximum of 8 students per class. Before I left for the trip, I was a little worry that I would not understand the instructions given in class. Our instructor chef Francois Schmitt was very patient with my limited understanding of the language. The course was represented in a very clear manner that was easy to understand. Not only did I survived the course, I found the classes to be extremely beneficial.
The pain d’epice class included five different recipes: ice-cream, crème brulee, pain d’epice, spiced hot chocolate, and a pistachio petit-fours that was scheduled in at the last minute. We began with making the ice-cream since it requires the longest chilling time. The ice-cream was an egg-less mixture containing pureed pain d’epice and candied orange peel. The mixture was fragrant with the four spices. I was surprised to find how rich the mixture was even without the eggs. Next, we began to scale for the pain d’epice. It was a simple cake that didn’t require much skill to make but I did learn the importance of using a flavourful honey such as pine (sapin) or chestnut (chaitagne) honey. 
The creme brulee was an easy mixture of uncook custard with a slice of pain d'epice in each dish. The custard was baked in a bain maire until it was set but still jiggly in the center. Don't let the simplicity foold you, this recipe yielded very amazing result. The pain d'epice was soaked with silky custard which made it very delicious. The spiced hot chocolate was a classic european chocolat chaud recipe made with dark chocolate, milk, cream, and sugar but infused with pain d'epice spices. I have yet to come across a cup of chocolat chaud that I didn't like in Paris so I was more than happy to have a recipe from Lenotre. The spices made the rich warm chocolate a bit exotic and it cut the richness well. We enjoyed both the ice-cream and the chocolat chaud at the end of the class while chatting with chef.
Since we had all those egg whites left over from making the ice-cream, chef decided to add another recipe to the class at last minute. We used the eggs whites and pistachio paste to make a pistachier, similar in texture to a financier. We baked the petit-fours in a star-shape flexipan which gave them a rather whimsical appearance.
The next morning, I returned to Pavillon Elysee for my second pastry class. Unlike the day before, I arrived with time to spare. The topic was Opera cake. One of my main reasons for choosing this class was the variety of different skills this cake involves. Little did I know that I would pick up some many useful tips by the end of the class! Here is a brief summary:
- How to make a pliable jaconde: do not overbake. It should only take a little colour. Before the batter goes into the oven, remember to run your thumb against all sides of the pan. This prevents overbaking along the edges.
- How to peel the parchment paper from a sheet of jaconde: turn the jaconde upside-down so that the parchment paper faces the ceiling. Put a cooling rack on top of the jaconde and start peeling. As you pull, the cooling rack is slowly moved away by the parchment as well. The weight of the cooling rack is helpful in keeping the jaconde down and prevents tearing.
- How to slide a cake layer from the cooling rack to the mould/cake ring.
- How to prevent the assembled cake from sticking to the bottom of the mould: paint the bottom of the cake layer with melted chocolate and dust the bottom of the mould with cocoa for good measure.
- How to adhere the assembled cake to the cake board: a tiny dab of glucose
In addition, it was also good to observe the techniques that chef Francois Schmitt used such as glazing, brushing syrup onto the jaconde using cross strokes, cutting & trimming of the cake, whipping egg whites, and most interesting of all, making a crème anglaise-based buttercream. I was surprised to find how easy it was to make this rich buttercream without the hazzle of cooking a sugar syrup. A crème anglaise was made on the stovetop and whipped until cooled to room temperature. By the time it was cooled, the crème anglaise increased in volume by quite a lot. Simply beat in softened butter and the buttercream would be ready for flavouring. Chef also showed us a trick to soften butter using the microwave. Just simply wrap cold butter in clingfilm, heat in microwave briefly, punch & flatten with hand, and heat more as required. This is a very convenient trick indeed that I've been using to this day.
Chef cut the sheet cake into smaller portions so that each student had their own cake to decorate. We each got to pipe on the signature script "Opera" onto the cake along with decorative borders using warm chocolate compound in a parchment cone. As a finishing touch, we dotted some obligatory gold leaf onto the cake as well. I got to take this cake home with me and I must say, having opera cake for breakfast with my best friend S in an apartment by the Eiffel Tower was quite a memorable experience!
Technorati: baking class, Ecole Lenotre, Pavillon Elysee, dessert
No visit to Paris would be complete without a visit to 
The third item I tried from the Desirs collection is Instant, the teardrop shaped chocolate dessert shown on the right. Inside it's shell of dark chocolate, I found Earl-Grey tea gelee, tea-flavoured ganache, chocolate mousse, and soft chocolate biscuit. I did not enjoy this very much, possibly because I had it too cold. The tempered chocolate shell was very hard and so was the mousse. The flavour was rather muted and the texture was just all wrong to me. From the signature collection, I tried the Desire. It was a sable breton base, lemon cream, strawberry & banana compote, soft lemon biscuit, and fresh wild strawberries. It was a very refreshing taste of lilting lemon and fruity strawberry. I wish I had this at the height of the strawberry season. The remaining item in the picture was a bombe de marroon from Rollet Pradier. It was a fondant covered cake with chestnut mousse and genoise filling. It was a little anti-climatic after the much more complicate Pierre Herme desserts.
My appetizer was a ballotin of rabbit, garnihsed with a wedge of lettuce and a drop of reduced balsamic vinegar. It was very meaty and tasty though in a very straightforward kind of way. The reduced balsamic vinegar was a nice touch though. It was another nice day today so I absolutely enjoyed sitting at the outdoor terrace while watching the world went by. Besides, outdoor lighting makes the picture of the food so much more appetizing in a picnic kinda way!
For my main course, I chose the lamb with couscous and dried fruits. I was a little put off by the layer of grease floating on top of the couscous but after a taste of that flavourful couscous, all thoughts of healthy eating went out the window. It picked up all the flavour of the lamb without effort. The mixture of dried prunes, apricots, and golden raisins were a nice touch too, adding a little sweetness to this otherwise heavy dish. The meat was very tender after long hours of cooking.
My dessert was a pots de creme au chocolate. Now, shouldn't it be brown instead of the cream colour in the picture? That was the question many other diners asked as well. They actually floated a layer of creme anglaise on top of the chocolate pots de creme. Once I dug into the custard, the silky smooth chocolate custard revealed itself. It was again a very simple dessert that was done very well.
Here's a look at what I had for breakfast this morning...starting from the top left corner, there was the Palerme from 
More likely than not, pastry shops offer more than one flavour of buche de noel and being chestnut season, a marron flavour buche is a given. For example, I had the buchette de poires et marrons from 
My route today look me to the Palais-Royale/Lourve area, down to Les Halles, and eventually to Place de la Madeleine. Walking along rue St Honore towards Les Halles, it was interesting to see the change in neighbourhood--how the boutiques gave way to butchers, bakeries, and epiceries. The more I walked towards the 1st arrondisement, the less glamourous the surrounding appears. On my way there, I spotted the bakery of Phillip Gosselin. I recalled reading some high praises for his baguette ancienne so I had to try it out myself. The crust was not as crispy as the one I sampled at Poujouran yesterday but it had a very open crumb in creamy colour. The flavour was great. 
I spent quite a bit of time in Les Halles and Montorgueil in my last trip and really enjoyed the boutique shopping here. As much as I like the department stores, there is something fun and a sense of discovery when shopping in small boutiques. A good number of these boutiques were open today due to the Christmas schedule so I had a great time looking at all the pretty things on offer. 
For midday snack, I had a baba au rhum from the very famous pastry shop Stohrer. Legend has it that this is the birthplace of baba au rhum so of course it is not to be missed. I recall not really enjoying it when I tried it two years ago, thinking it was too boozy for my taste. However, I think my taste has changed since. I ate my baba in front of the St Eustache church and enjoyed every single boozy bite. Perhaps eating it at a cold temperature made it better?
For me, no trip to Paris is complete without checking out the original Laduree shop on Place de la Madeleine. It was crowded as usual and I lined up to get my order of macarons gerbet and marshmallow. After sampling macarons from a number of prestigious pastry shops around Paris, Laduree is still my first love. I bought a selection of chestnut, rose, pistachio, orange flower, black pepper (!), and dark chocolate. Chestnut is a seasonal flavour but definitely my favourite. Black pepper was just too weird to my liking.
After hearing so much good words about Yves Camdeborde's new bistro Le Comptoir at the Hotel Relais Saint-Germain, I was determined to dine there this time in Paris. Unable to secure a reservation for one of the weeknight dinners (they have a different menu), I still wanted to try their bistro menu at lunch. After some unexpected delay at the apartment, I finally made it to Odeon around half past noon. The terrace outdoor seating was empty except for two tables but the inside was completely packed. Between the heated lamps above and the blankets that I could use to drape over my lap, I was not at all worry about the cold.
It was a sunny afternoon but the chill in the air was unmistakable. Naturally, my menu selection geared towards the comfort food. For my appetizer, I had a hard time making up my mind. There was a rabbit dish that I wanted to try but in the cochonaille section, there were sooo many choices (I have a weakness for sausages, pate, and forced meat). I ended up selecting the basket of sausages with a little ceramic pot of spread. Well, let's just say I was surprised by the portion the minute the plate was set in front of me. There was a bodin noir (blood sausage), a tripe sausage, and a dried sausage ver similar to salami. The spread was like a rillet. With the crusty baguette slices and a glass of red wine, I could have call this a complete meal. It was delicious. I like the tripe sausage and the spread the best. When the people sitting at the next table saw my order, they ordered the same too.
For my main course, I ordered a piping hot joue de boeuf au vin rouge (beef stew in red wine). It was just the thing for this chilly December afternoon. The broth was robust and hearty; the beef was spoon-tender; the carrots were sweet; the wild-mushroom delicious; and the macaroni was the perfect starch to pick up the broth. This is the kind of comfort food that I've been craving since breaking my 5-week meat-free fast.
The dessert menu stayed in the bistro style of simple offering. I had a hard time deciding between the apple mango tarte tatin, chocolate pot de creme, and the petit gateau basque avec glace de lait brebis. In the end, I had the gateau basque because it was one of my favourte cakes to make. The cake was moist from the baked-in pastry cream filling and fragrant with almond. The ice-cream has the occassional ice crystal but otherwise was delicious.