Aux Merveilleux de Fred

I don't know who Fred is...or how merveilleux (marvelous) he is...but his damn pastries are!

I don't think this is Fred unfortunately...

Originally from Lille, the shop expanded to the right bank in the heart of Passy (16th district).
The shop is tiny and its successful among the neighbors. The shop creates a range of specially and freshly made products (their specialty is meringue) right before your eyes (the pastry is made at window display). 

Meringues are made in four different sizes - from small, individual ones to meringue “cakes” that feed eight.

Meringues are not very easy to make - you need to beat white eggs with sugar and cooked the correct temperature - perhaps the tricky part as it cannot be rushed - for a long enough period of time to create the perfect meringue. 

A must-try is Le Merveilleux - air beaten meringue with a chantilly middle rolled in chocolat and chocolate chips and powdered with icing sugar

Or even L’Incroyable - aie beaten meringue with speculos with a chantilly middle and rolled in white chocolate chips 

In the Viennoiserie section, they offer Le Cramique - A sugary Flemish brioche sparkled with pearled sugar with either chocolate chips and sugar with raisons - sold like a buttered toast


Others include Sugary tart, brioche, flan, pain au chocolat and croissant, chocolate ganache and Flemish waffles. 


The Meringues are usually crispy on the outside with a soft with a light and soft middle - but these are something else. I saw long lines during the Christmas holiday time and I can vouch for them, that they are worth standing in line for. 

If you don't believe how good the pastries are, go check it out for yourself! 


Aux Merveilleux de Fred
29 rue de l'Annonciation, 75016
Tel: 01 45 20 13 82


They also have a sister shop in the 15th:

129 bis, rue Saint-Charles
Tél. : 01 45 79 72 47

Menu Régional: Le Grand Ouest

Our last regional meal paid homage to Le Grand Ouest of France, a geographic region used to describe the northwestern region of the country, not corresponding to an administrative entity but groups together Brittany, pars of lower Normandy and the Loire valley. 


A final pic of Anglo B together for regional meal...it has been a very hard, hectic but awesome 5 months with you guys!

Amuse Bouche by Maniko: Rillette de Sardines (Sardine rillette with herbs, on olive bread)

Entrées by Joppe and Me: Carpaccio de langoustines (Langoustine carpaccio with creamed herring eggs)

Poissons by Natalia, Roberto and Diyonisis: Les Encornets (Squid three ways: stuffed with pig's foot, stuffed with ratatouille and with chilled piquillo)

Poissons by Isabel, Carolina and Rosella: Ragout d'homard, Tagliatelle de Legumes et Linguini (Lobster stew with vegetable tagliatelle and Linguini pasta)

Desserts by Yiyu and Sinan: Crêpes à l'orange, Glace caramel au beurre salé (Terrine of orange crepes, Salted butter caramel ice-cream)

This was our last meal together as a class. Right now, everyone is probably studying, memorizing and understanding the recipes we've done since the beginning of the year - for tomorrow and/or Friday's test!


A big hug and good luck to both Anglo A and B during their final exam! Wish you guys all the best...See you on the other side! :)

Petits Fours, Babas, Savarins et Marignans

The last pastry class was all about Petits Fours, Babas, Savarins and Marignans.

A petit four is a small confection generally eaten at the end of a meal (e.g. with coffee) or served as part of dessert. The name is from the French petit four, meaning "small oven".

There are two different categories of petits fours. Petits fours secs (sec meaning "dry") include a variety of small desserts, such as special dainty biscuits (also buttery biscuits), baked meringues, and macaroons. Petits fours glacés (glacé meaning "iced") are iced or decorated in some way, such as tiny cakes covered in fondant or glacé icing, small éclairs, and tartlets. 

Below: Baba au rhum, Savarins and Marignans...

A baba au rhum is a small yeast cake soaked in liquor (rum), and sometimes filled with whipped cream or pastry cream. 

Savarin is a rich yeast cake is soaked with rum-flavored syrup and filled with Pastry Cream, Creme Chantilly or fresh fruit.

Finally, Marignan is a baked savarin soaked in a liqueur-flavoured syrup, covered in apricot jam, and a layer of meringue.

A typical day for Chef Thierry Jamard (our Pastry Chef during our culinary studies at Ferrandi). Thank you!

Noël in Hong Kong

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day!
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas lunches and dinner, and were able to spend it with families and friends.


As for me; a very close family friend invited me to showcase culinary skills that I acquired during my time at Ferrandi. I know I'm fresh out of culinary school and am no superstar Chef but I thought 1. why not do something I love for Christmas and 2. take on the challenge?


I devised an 8-course tasting menu (including dessert) and decided to test my concept of east-meets-west food, a Fusion of Franco-Chinese ingredients. The number of people started out as 12 but last night I cooked for 16.


I was to prepare the meal in the hosts' home and was lucky enough to be assisted by a number of helpers, one of them my sous-chef and my right hand. I went to the local market (Bowrington) to buy all the produce for the next day and ordered the fish and seafood beforehand as during Christmas time it's hard to find a good amount of fresh produce (for such a large meal). I assisted in the location of the meal within the household, which ended up being outside, the place settings and the types of dishes and cutlery I wanted to use. 


It's funny...looking back, I really felt like a Chef in a kitchen, it was hectic at moments especially during the final dressage (plating), making sure the plates and most importantly the food was warm, plates were clean, making sure they were sent at the same time (or almost) so you can imagine the waves of waiters in and out of the kitchen and me trying to put the final pièce de resistance - e.g. dill leaf and the waiters just wanting to take the dish for the guests and me calling them back and telling them it wasn't finished...ahhhh i loved it all! I wanted to say Mais c'est pas possible! haha


The beautifully lit and set dinner party (for 16)

My kitchen for the night, all decked out with pots, pans, equipment even the oven we use at Ferrandi (the double dry and steam oven) and station for plate warmers

Before the guests had dinner, they sat down for hors d'oeuvres...

Now, the Menu and the pictures...

(Note: I was so busy plating at each course that I did not take the pictures, but someone was kind enough to do so but I realized they were also taken in such a rush so apologies for not showing the most accurate pictures of what I created)

Amuse Bouche: Emulsion d’Asperges Vertes, Poitrine de Porc Marinée    

(Emulsion of Green Asparagus, Marinated Pork belly)

Entrées:

Espuma d’ Homard, Crevettes et Tomates  

(Espuma of Lobster, Shrimp with Blanched Tomatoes)

Duo de Foie Gras, Salade Vinaigrette et Carpaccio d’Agrumes   

(Foie Gras Two-way, Vinaigrette Mesclun and Carpaccio of Citrus Fruit)

To Refresh the Palate

Sorbet au citron 

(Lemon sorbet with grated apple)

Poissons

Homard Poché, Sauce Bisque  

(Steamed Lobster, Shellfish Bisque)

1 comment about this photo: We had already sent 16 dishes of lobster (the much nicer lobes) and this was just for the picture, so the lobster bits are the tail ends. Apologies!

Filets de Bar, Purée de Vitelotte  

(Filets of Seabass, Sweet Potato Purée)

                                                                           

Viande

Magret de Canard, Tofu et Champignons Braisés 

(Duck Breast, Braised Bean curd and Chinese Mushrooms)

2 comments about this photo: 1. the braised mushrooms and tofu are not in the picture and 2. after putting the cucumber slices on the left, I decided to replace them with the absent mushrooms and tofu that I originally put below the duck breast. Apologies once more!

Desserts

Mille-feuille aux Fruits de Saison 

(Thousand layer cake with seasonal fruits)

Crème Brulée à la Vanille 

(Vanilla flavored Crème Brulée)

Lisa's famouse Crunch Cake (To die for!)

Don't forget the wine...oh the wine :)

2000 Cristal Champagne

1992 Puligny Montrachet, Bourgogne for Entrées and Poissons

1983 Chateau Cheval Blanc, St Emilion - Bordeaux for Viandes

1988 Chateau d'Yquem, Graves - Bordeaux for Dessert

I was surprisingly not nervous or anxious but felt excited to prepare a full dinner inspired by my culinary experiences at Ferrandi, Paris and abroad. For every course, I even went out to the guests and described the dish. It was my very first time and I enjoyed it all the way through. By the end, I felt a sense of satisfaction of having prepared the most 'gastronomic' meal I have ever prepared in my life. 


Obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement and some things I wasn't happy with but I am very proud of myself as a first-timer and want to relive these moments whether hectic or not again and again and again :)

It's Beginning to Look a Little like Christmas

Today we made Bûche de Noël (or "Yule log") which as most of you know is a traditional dessert served during the Christmas holidays, particularly in France. As you can tell by the name, the cake is prepared, presented, and garnished so as to look like a log.

The bûche we made today was made from a Génoise (sponge cake) which is baked.

Then we brush it with rum and water, put a layer of chestnut butter cream (yum!) and roll it into a large Swiss roll to form a cylinder. 

Then we let it rest in the freezer and top it with chocolate buttercream. Luckily, instead of dragging a fork through the icing to make it look like a log, our tip already had dents to make the icing come out with stripes. 

Finally, we decorated with green leaves, and little cherries. Tada! Merry Christmas!

Macaroon, Macaron, Maccherone...you know what it is

Today it was all about macaroons. Macaroons are derived from the Italian word "ammaccare", to crush and beat, in reference to the main ingredient, almond paste. It is also meringue-based: a mixture of egg whites, sugar and almond flour. 
It is flat-based with a egg-shell like crust giving a moist interior. The interior is usually a buttercream or even jam filling sandwiched between 2 cookies. 


All the colors of the rainbow...

How large is your appetite?

I bet you they're better than  Pierre Hermé and La Durée!

3 more pounds and counting...

Today in pastry, it was all about tarts...simple yet delicious!
The dough was the same for all three but we made: Tarte au citron, Tarte au chocolat and Tarte caramel aux noix.


Tarte au chocolat (Chocolate tart) with a chocolat glacé

Tarte au citron (Lemon tart) and Swiss meringue

Tarte caramel aux noix (Caramel tart with walnuts)

The whole gang...