Lucky dip - choux pastry
"it's only pastry" Ruby Tandoh - The Guardian
Yes it is only pastry and yes it is much easier than you might think when you see a creation like the above. Indeed my lucky dip book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking says: "Most people do not realise cream puff pastry is only a very, very thick white sauce or panade of flour, water, seasonings, and butter, into which eggs are beaten." Croquembouche is the most spectacular use of it, but really it just consists of a lot of choux buns piled up in a pyramid and then decorated. Not that I am about to attempt that. But I have made choux pastry - many, many, years ago and I remember finding it surprisingly easy - and surprisingly fun. A good thing to do with kids in fact.
Surprising because there is so much mystique about it and there seem to be so many things not to do.
There’s so much that you’re not supposed to do when making choux: don’t add the flour too slowly, don’t add the egg too fast, don’t add too much of this or too little of that, don’t open the oven door ... Ruby Tandoh - The Guardian
It's also one of those recipes that all the various chefs insist on having just the right tip to make it easy and perfect. All of which is pretty off-putting.
My lucky dip book is the classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking - another battered book of mine. It's one of the books that taught me to cook. Yes really. Because it does, at first sight, look very daunting. Like making choux pastry one shouldn't be put off by the apparent complication of the recipes. They tend to be very long, whereas Elizabeth David tends to be very short. They are long because they are very 'step by step' and explain along the way why you are doing things the way that Julia Child and Simone Beck suggest. (Louisette Bertholle apparently had little input.) Persevere though and you will end up with something that really tastes superb - and authentic.
The choux pastry recipe begins with this reassuring little piece:
"You cannot fail with puff shells - as mounds of pâte à choux puff and brown automatically in a hot oven - if you take the proper final measures to ensure the shells remain crisp. A perfect puff is firm to the touch, tender and dry to the taste. ... When you have done puff shells once or twice you will find that it takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish to make them ready for the oven, and that they are a wonderfully useful invention. Hot, bit-sized filled puffs make delicious appetisers. Large ones may contain creamed fish, meat, or mushrooms and be a hot first course. And sweet puffs with ice-cream or custard filling and chocolate or caramel topping are always an attractive dessert."
And these days, of course, people are a lot more inventive about what they put in them. For example look at these superb Baked apple choux buns by Nigel Slater.
It's one of those things that can be used for any number of things.
"Once mastered, choux pastry dough is the basis of a wide variety of desserts. Think profiteroles, croquembouche, éclairs, and religieuses. In Spain this dough is fried, rolled in sugar and dipped in thick chocolate to make churros. Don’t have a sweet tooth? Add your favourite cheese, spices and herbs to the pastry dough to bake wonderfully savoury gougères. A most elegant and delicious canapé." the Paddington Foodie
I didn't realise that churros were choux pastry or gougère but there you are.
When I go to France and we visit the local patisserie - a daily ritual for my husband - I like to indulge, occasionally, in an eclair - preferably a coffee one but a chocolate one will do. I just love them and I guess it's partly the gooey filling, but the filling wouldn't be the same without the crisp pastry that surrounds it.
Then, of course, there are profiteroles - of which many of those elaborate croquembouches are made.
I actually tried hard to find a good photograph of just one, but people don't seem to be able to resist piling them up - and these looked the best to me. Gooey but crisp.
Historically speaking they have been around since Caterina di Medici left Italy for the French court taking her Italian cook with her. He is credited with changing the French perception of food, and one of his innovations was choux pastry. It was later refined by other French chefs, but basically it goes all the way back to the 16th century.
I'll finish with a couple more tips. The tips were almost endless.
"The secret is to beat it well, until your arms are falling off." Dan Lepard - The Guardian
"When baking choux pastry always use a greased tin - never baking parchment or greased glass as the eclairs will stick to it. Also when the tray is greased put a drop of water on it and swirl it around before you pipe the pastery out as to create more steam, which will help the choux rise more." Cara Davey
Master it and you too might be able to make a croquembouche for your child's wedding!
Looks pretty spectacular doesn't it?
By the way 'petit choux' means little cabbage and is an oft used term of endearment in French. The choux buns look a little like a cabbage you see. I must say I never quite saw why you would call your love a little cabbage, but now I see, if the little cabbage is a profiterole.
