Caramelised apple pie

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Apple pie made with caramelised apples.

Pear tart with almond cream

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This is a very quick and easy tart to make, as everything (or almost) can be done in advance. A piece of sweetcrust pastry, some almond cream and pears? You have "everything you need".

Soft fruits in sabayon

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This recipe is made by briefly cooking an assortment of soft fruits (raspberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, blueberries, currants...) with a little sugar to glaze them. They are served in a small dish, covered with a delicious sabayon which can be lightly "burned" on surface.

Traditional nutty choc-chip cookies

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A traditional American recipe for homely biscuits, which can be made in different flavours or with additions (seeds, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, etc.).

How to glaze a tart

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Professional pastrycooks usually say that "a beautiful cake is already half sold", it is one of the reasons why they do not put a tart on sale without glazing it ("abricoter" in Fench), i.e. coating it with a thick apricot syrup. This glaze gives a glossy finish to the tart (see the photographs below) and also protects it from the air and thus from oxidation and browning. It's a quite simple technique that you can easily apply to give to your desserts a professional look. This is how you do it.

How to prepare egg glaze

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Bakers and pastry chefs use a glaze ("dorure" in French - the same word as for gilding) made with whole full eggs, beaten in a blender. This is used with a brush on pastry that would not naturally brown during cooking (brioche, puff pastry, ...).

Scallops with fondue of leeks

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In this very creamy dish, the scallops are pan-fried, then the leeks fondue is added to absorb all the flavours.

Pan-fried scallops and chanterelles with Noilly Prat sauce

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The chanterelles are fried first briefly, then the scallops fried in the same pan. The pan is deglazed with Noilly to make a delicious cream sauce.

Scallops with cabbage julienne

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Pan-fried scallops in a sauce of their juices deglazed with a little Noilly Prat, served with a julienne of blanched cabbage in cream.

Rhubarb tart

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This version of rhubarb tart uses a sweetcrust pastry base, almond cream, diced rhubarb cooked until just tender and a rhubarb syrup glaze.

Pork chops in the oven

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To cook a pork chop well, without it drying out, one of the best methods is to cook it in two stages: start by pan-frying, then finish in the oven. This recipe adds flavour with mustard and thyme, with the cooking juices deglazed and reduced before serving.

Caribbean upside-down cake

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The dominant flavours in this cake are pineapple and almonds. The pineapple is caramelized first separately, with brown sugar and lime, before being laid in the bottom of the tin. The cake batter is then poured over. The cooked cake is turned out to reveal the lovely golden pineapple layer on top a moist almond cake.

Bonnevaux apple tart

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This is without doubt the easiest apple tart you can make: a simple pastry case (a sweetened sort of shortcrust pastry without egg) and apples - that's all! It's the tart my grandmother Jeanne made when I was a boy (a long time ago, as you can probably gather) and my father's favourite dessert.In short, a genuine family recipe that is dear to my heart...

Linzer torte

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Linzer torte, or tart from Linz (Austria), has a cinnamon-flavoured crust filled with raspberry jam. The special and rather crumbly sweet pastry used for the case is made with cinnamon, ground almonds and the yolks of hard-boiled eggs. There are many different versions. In this rather unusual one, inspired by Gaston Lenôtre, the raspberry jam is mixed with a little tart (in the other sense!) stewed apple.

Galette Charentaise

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This is a traditional cake from France's Charente region. The recipe is straightforward and the cake is slightly dense in texture, but quite delicious.

How to cook caramelized puff pastry well

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When puff pastry is caramelized to use in patisseries like millefeuille, French chefs call it a "feuilletage" (which means "lamination" or "leafing"). This is baked on its own before being assembled with cream, fruit, etc. The baking needs to be carefully managed: the pastry should puff into layers, but not swell too much (just a few millimeters normally). To achieve this, we need to follow a special method that I have explained for you here.

Raspberry tart

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This gorgeous and delicious rasperry tart is not just any old fruit tart: the base is made with "sablé breton" dough, topped with a raspberry crémeux and a layer of whole fresh raspberries, finished with a glaze. It's a bit more complicated than a normal tart, but the result is well worth the effort.

Normandy seafood stew

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A "marmite normande" is a combination of different seasonal julienne vegetables and a mix of shellfish, rapidly sautéed, then deglazed with cider. The vegetables and shellfish are then simmered together in cream, which intensifies the flavours while it gently reduces and thickens. This recipe is rather long to prepare, as there is a lot of peeling, but it is really quite easy to make.

Autumn apple and plum crumble pie

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This crumble with a difference captures real autumn flavours: apples, plums and hazelnuts. For a change, the crumble topping is pressed into a thin crust, more like a pie.

Apple custard tart

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You may well know the classic Parisian custard tart (or "flan"), traditionally vanilla-flavoured. Here is an apple version, with extra apple flavour as the custard is made with apple juice. This is topped with delicious caramelized apple slices.

Let's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown finish. French pastry chefs call this "dorure" (literally, "gilding"). Behind this quirky term there lurks a real problem (and the solution): when using puff pastry (pâte feuilletée) for a pie, or...
February 8^th 201852 K 24.6

The next instalment in my life as an apprentice baker at the French INBP professional school. I’m now halfway through training and it’s still as exciting as ever, and exhausting – but maybe I’m just getting old, or both… Anyway, a few days ago we had to go through the mock CAP exam. A sort...
May 1^st 201823 K4.4

You certainly have one in your kitchen, an oven, the essential tool for all kinds of cooking, whether in the kitchen of course, but also in pastry, bakery, pizza, and many others. Here is some information on its structure and operation.
May 16^th 202037 K4.4

I start this new year by evoking an old product, that you most probably have in your cupboards, a white powder, often in a small cardboard package with a slightly outdated look, only the "gluten free" is relatively recent, it is simply cornstarch, hence its name of maïzena. It's used for a lot...
January 14^th 202217 K

Where we see that a non-stick frying pan, if it is very practical in general, sometimes it is not enough.
February 26^th 202213 K4.7

Abricoter

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Glazing a tart or cake with a little apricot jelly (using a brush) to make it glossy and appetising.
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Déglacer

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Deglazing. Pouring a little liquid into a pan where cooking has left a deposit on the bottom, then scraping to free all the juices and mix them with the liquid. .
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Apricot glaze

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Apricot glaze is an apricot jelly (strained jam), used to coat tarts, to protect them from the air and give them a glossy appearance.
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