paris postcard: macaron wars (split decision)

Posted: July 11th, 2011 | Author: anita | Filed under: photo, road trips and travel | Tags: cookie, dessert, laduree, macaron, macarons, paris, pastry, pierre herme | No Comments »

one of the birthday gifts i received from my sister is a slim, beautifully photographed guide to baking macarons. i am almost certain she meant this to be an “inspiration” for the picture taking–ideas for lighting and simple prop styling–rather than as a nudge toward the kitchen. but you know, the macarons have an allure that’s so irresistibly feminine–they are so pretty, delicate, sweet, challenging–and the variations in this book can sound innocently flirtatious: honey cream, sweet ganache... i’m tempted to make them at least once, just so i  could say, oh my sweet, i made you some vanilla-honey cream …

ok. that’s a bit much.

still, it would be fun…

i read that the first step involves tracing 2.5 inch diameter circles on parchment paper to use as a guide for piping the batter (oh no, there’s drawing); next, i’d have to pulverize almond flour in a food processor (i don’t have one), and then there’s the matter of my gently sloping oven.

a perfect little meringue cookies, with” feet,”  might be an impossible dream… something to be saved for trips to paris… or the upper east side (more on that later).

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rewind to may: i planned to make 2 stops for macarons and buy a dozen or so from each store to bring home for a little macaron face-off.

defending champ (by default) is ladurée –the brand that created the “double decker”/ sandwich macaron in the 1930s, and widely regarded as best in paris. i’ve had them before and i am guessing they are what every macaron aspires to.

the upstart challenger: pierre hermé.  i’d never heard of him or his boutique until recently — some “foodies” were making noise about his macarons being the best in town (and naturally, then, the world). hermé was hailed “the picasso of pastry” by french vogue, is the youngest to be named pastry chef of the year and the only pastry chef to be honored as chevalier (knight) of arts and letters. he’s known for his inventiveness, his use of savory ingredients like olive oil and balsamic vinegar in his sweets. his concoctions do sound exotic. his most famous macaron variation, ispahan, is made with rose, lychee, and raspberry.

 

but for the purpose of this taste test i chose:

infiniment caramel — salted caramel;

mogador – chocolate and passion fruit–which is, as an fyi, a winning combination of berthilion ice cream flavors…

the ladurée selections were similar: chocolate, bitter chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, pistachio and coconut.

for the tasting here at home, the hermés were first up. RAVES–almost everyone declared his macarons “better.”  they thought they were fresher, sweeter, lighter. (but to be fair, this was before they even tried this year’s ladurée offerings. they were judging by “recall” from years earlier!)

i was the holdout– i thought the passion fruit was plain weird. i didn’t like the lingering sour notes. and i don’t like butter cream–i wish i’d known that all the hermés i chose had butter cream filling, it might have changed the selection process. the stuff was fresh, to be sure, but i love biting into a macaron and meeting a thick, sweet ganache in the middle. i missed that. the test also underscored that i am, for the most part, a traditionalist. not a foodie. i like to exercise the old adventurous spirit, but if you asked me to choose–and i’ve said this before– i would take an ice cream sundae over some mousse-y thing, a chocolate chip cookie over a fancy dacquoise, and so on. the same is true for macarons: i will probably only have them if i am in paris*– and i’ll have mine straight: caramel…chocolate…pistachio… no top notes or contrasting flavors required.

i think my fellow “tasters” came to appreciate the ladurée macs that i brought home this time– it really is high quality pastry–though perhaps they were on the fence about which one is “better.”

but i know what i like, i know what i want….

THESE

 

*there is a ladurée shop opening on the upper east side this summer, i’m sure i won’t stay away…

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links to ladurée and pierre hermé shops worldwide…

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