The Picasso of Pastries

"A good thermometer in the kitchen is like having a good pen." ~ Pierre Hermé

Never did I imagine I could attend one of the world's famous Pastry Chef' Pierre Hermé's dessert workshop 2 saturdays' ago (19 Apr). Though it was a mere 1 hr workshop (maybe slightly longer), there were about 100 pax packed in the small auditorium of Singapore Tourism Board. In conjunction with the World Gourmet Summit, this workshop was organised to bring us pastry lovers, an eye-opener to what true pastries were.

Pierre Hermé conducted the workshop in French and it was translated by a fellow French in English. We had the joy of seeing how great were his art pieces and how complicated they could be. He brought us 2 recipes for Révélation and Tarte mogador.

Révélation puff pastry with tomato
puff pastry with tomato

mascarpone cream
olive oil

pieces of black olives
tomato and strawberry compote

Tarte mogador
shortcrust pastry
milk chocolate and passion fruit ganache
roasted pineapple
flourless chocolate cake

I was surprised I fell in love with Révélation since I never enjoyed sweet and salty going together. Not only was the tomato and strawberry compote fantastic, but the sweetness of the mascarpone lifted the whole taste of the pastry. It was really good. On the other hand, maybe because Tarte mogador was prepared in advance, somehow I tasted bitterness from the caramelized pineapples. And that, I felt brought down the taste of that 2nd dessert.

But overall, I was overwhelmed seeing the complexity for each of Pierre Hermé's pastry. I was really glad that D asked me to attend this workshop.

See how satisfied we were...we finished up all the samples we've got! Nothing was left.