關於 history of meringue ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

[Paris pastry shop / 巴黎甜點店] Maison Plume • Pâtisserie (For English, please click "see more")

還記得幾個禮拜以前我們討論過「#為什麼法式甜點需要鑑賞」嗎？那時候我曾經提到希望「#甜或不甜」不會再是評判一個甜點是否好吃的主要標準，畢竟法式甜點能夠品味的部分太多，從作品本身的製作細節、風味搭配，到主廚理念、創意、過往創作，甚至整個淵遠流長的歷史發展，都可以是欣賞的重點。不過，那之後我仍然收到不少回應，希望我能分享「#最不甜」的甜點...正好我前陣子去了一家以「無添加糖、無麩質、有機」為號召的甜點店，可以和大家介紹一下。

「有機」、「無麩質」等都是近幾年巴黎飲食界最流行的關鍵詞，不過甜點店要做到「無添加糖」還是比較前衛，Maison Plume 是其中一家。所謂「無添加糖」（sans sucre ajouté）意思是指「不在食材原有的甜味額外加入人工製糖」，所以利用食材本身的甜味、本來就有糖分的水果、果汁等等都是可以接受的。有些號稱「無糖」的店家會使用蜂蜜或是龍舌蘭糖漿等來代替砂糖，但位於巴黎的瑪黑區 Maison Plume 卻在女主廚 Tara Pidoux 的堅持下一概不使用。

這家以淡紫色為主要視覺的甜點店風格雅致，以「plume」（羽毛）為名，更暗示了作品輕盈無負擔的特色。店中所有的甜點從慕斯蛋糕、塔、泡芙、沙布列餅乾等，都使用橢圓形的模具，以符合「羽毛」的整體形狀。當天我和朋友們總共選了三樣甜點：開心果泡芙（Chou Pistache）、香草核桃塔（Plume Vanille-Pécan）、西洋梨杏仁塔（Plume Poire-Amandine），外觀呈現非常細緻美麗，也吃得出選材的用心。最妙的是我的德國朋友在吃了幾口之後，竟然說出所有台灣人都會說的一句話：「嗯，好吃！而且不會太甜！」不過我是覺得有加入西洋梨的那一款因為有水果天然的芳香和甜度，整體比較平衡，我自己點的那一個香草核桃塔因為沒有糖，所以底下的沙布列不夠濕潤、較為乾燥鬆碎，堅果的香氣如果能有多一點糖襯托，會更為明顯。

「減糖」議題在法國一直有不少討論，但我個人認為，如果是品嚐甜點，有糖是應該的。甜味是愉悅感非常重要的來源、人類為什麼發展出吃甜點的文化正是奠基於此。適宜的甜度能夠更好地發揮許多食材的特色，風味會比完全不加糖來得更為豐富，更不用提許多甜點元素如蛋白霜等，沒有足夠的糖量根本無法成功製作。只不過把握甜度是專業，還需要考慮到各地的消費者口味、主廚本人的主觀意見等，也是一門藝術。不過許多人因為健康的需求，確實需要控制糖量攝取，完全不加糖的甜點應該造福了不少顧客。

接下來就請大家點開照片欣賞；追求「不甜」的台灣消費者們，也別忘了把這家店記起來喔！

🔖 延伸閱讀：

為什麼法式甜點需要鑑賞：https://tinyurl.com/y54dacbu

手把手教你如何鑑賞檸檬塔：https://tinyurl.com/y3ht8tt2

甜點作為藝術品：https://tinyurl.com/t62yj2r

*****

Still remember that we’ve discussed “why tasting is needed when having French pastries” several weeks ago? I mentioned that I hope one day “sweet or not” will no longer be a major criteria to judge whether a pastry / dessert is good not for certain people since there’re so many parameters and details to appreciate, such as the visual presentation, match of flavours, the philosophy and creativeness of the chefs, as well as the long history of the development of French pastries as a whole. But I still got lots of feedbacks asking me to recommend where to find the “least sweet” pastries and desserts in Paris. I happened to visit a pastry shop making organic pastries free of sugar and gluten a while ago, so here you are!

“Bio” (organic), “sans gluten” (gluten-free), etc. are some keywords that you can’t miss when you talk about the food scene in Paris in recent years. But it is still quite edgy for a pastry shop to offer pastries free of sugar. Maison Plume is one of the very few of them. “Sugar free” actually means “no sugar added”. Using the natural sweetness of the ingredients, fruits, and juices are a common strategy. Some people might use honey or agave syrup as an alternative sweetener, but at Maison Plume, the female chef Tara Pidoux takes none of them.

Named after “plume” (“feather” in French), Tara makes pastries that are as light as feather. Almost everything is in feather shape, including mouse cakes, tarts, choux pastry, and sablé biscuits, etc. The day when I visited, my friends and I picked the Chou Pistache, Plume Vanille-Pécan, and Plume Poire-Amandine. All of them are very delicate in their presentations and are made with quality ingredients that you could really taste. One interesting thing is, after the first several bites, my German friends announced, “Hmmm, they’re really delicious! Not so sweet!”, just as what we hear all the time in Taiwan. But for me, I actually preferred the Poire-Amandine that is sweet enough, thanks to the pears, to add some depth and layers to the overall taste. The sablé base of the “Plume Vanille-Pécan” that I had was crumbly but a bit dry. The nutty flavour of the pastry could actually be more pronounced if there was a little more sweetness.

Sugar reduction has been a topic of debate, even in France. But I personally think sugar is necessary since we’re talking about desserts and pastries. Sweetness is strongly linked to pleasure, which lays the foundation of the development of pastries and desserts. Proper sweetness could actually bring out the best of many ingredients that might taste plain when sugar is absent, not to mention the fact that sugar is an essential factor to succeed many pastry components, such as meringue. Nevertheless, sugar level control is an art that the taste of customers and opinions and beliefs of pâtissiers have to be taken into consideration as well. Given the rising health concern, the emergence of no sugar pastries and desserts is indeed a wonderful news for many.

Click on the photos and get to know more about the shop and the pastries. Don’t forget to note it down if you’re also opt for low- or no-sugar pastries!

🔖 You might also be interested:

Why "tasting" is needed when we enjoy French pastries: https://tinyurl.com/y54dacbu

How to taste a lemon tart: https://tinyurl.com/y3ht8tt2

Pastries and desserts as artworks: https://tinyurl.com/t62yj2r

#yingspastryguide #paris #maisonplumepatisserie #yingc

[Tasting / #法式甜點鑑賞] 巴黎 Pâtisserie Gilles Marchal 檸檬塔 / Lemon tart of Pâtisserie Gilles Marchal, Paris (for English, please click "see more")

你今天吃甜點了嗎？

讀完 #為什麼法式甜點需要鑑賞，就有正當理由吃甜點訓練品味了😉 今天就讓我們用實際案例一起來看看究竟該怎麼鑑賞一個法式甜點！

📌 鑑賞重點：

🚩 1. #知道自己在吃什麼：這句話聽起來像句廢話，但是其實很多人並不知道自己現在正在品嚐的東西到底是什麼。舉例來說，巧克力塔和巧克力慕斯蛋糕是完全不同的東西、費南雪與瑪德蓮也不一樣，如果將兩者混為一談，不清楚該有的外型、元素、組成，自然也就不會有正確的期待與評判標準，也不知道除了「好不好吃」、「甜不甜」之外還能怎麼欣賞。

🚩 2. #好吃又好看「c'est bon et c'est beau!」：

#外型：先觀察作品的外觀，欣賞其美感、細節和特殊之處。很多甜點（尤其是元素越簡單的甜點）光看外表，從其基礎元素完成的細緻程度，就可以預測它到底好不好吃。而甜點美麗與否，是否讓人想更進一步一親芳澤、讚嘆甜點人的巧思，又是另外一個層次。

#味道與口感：首先掌握甜點本身的組成元素，吃一口看看味道是否均衡細緻、口感是否兼顧軟硬、柔滑、酥脆的對比、是否有風味組合搭配上的驚喜，都是鑑賞的重點。接著可以分開品味不同元素的表現。請注意，「#甜或不甜」#並不是品評的必要標準。既然是吃甜點，請不要再說「這個看起來好甜」、「給我最不甜的」、「我喜歡，因為它不是很甜」！

🚩 3. #其他：諸如該甜點的歷史掌故、創意來源、主題、甜點主廚的背景、風格、創作哲學、如何對經典重新詮釋、使用元素等，都是值得品味之處。

🍋 前言結束，讓我們從最經典、元素最單純的 #檸檬塔（tart au citron）開始，一起欣賞有趣的作品！

檸檬塔的基礎元素是 #塔皮（pâte sucrée）、#檸檬奶餡（crème au citron）、#蛋白霜（meringue），有的檸檬塔更單純，只有前面兩個元素。巴黎甜點店 Pâtisserie Gilles Marchal 的檸檬塔三個元素都具備、又在經典上有所變化，正好適合拿來當作範例解說。點開照片看詳細說明！

🔖 延伸閱讀：

為什麼法式甜點需要鑑賞？https://tinyurl.com/y54dacbu

「重新詮釋」——法式甜點經典重生、歷久彌新的秘訣：https://tinyurl.com/y5xenfqz

從類型與組成元素徹底解析法式甜點：https://tinyurl.com/y5c9nbeb

了解關鍵概念、解析基礎元素：看懂、吃懂法式甜點的入門課：https://tinyurl.com/y4w9sxxs

*****

Have you all read the article “Why tasting is important when we enjoy French pastries”? Shall we take an example today to practice how exactly tasting should be like?

📌 Key points:

🚩 1. Knowing exactly what we are tasting before making any comments. This sounds like nonsense, but it’s pretty much true because many people do give comments even when they don’t have a clear on what they’re eating. For example, a chocolate tart is different from a chocolate mousse cake, a financier is not the same as a madeleine. If you mix them up and don’t know the basic components and classic look of the pastries, you wouldn’t have correct expectations and criteria to judge whether this cake is good or not besides having comments like “oh this tastes good/bad”, “this is (not) too sweet”, etc.

🚩 2. It’s delicious AND pretty. (In French, we say, “c’est bon et c’est beau!”)

#Look: Have a thorough look on the presentation of the pastry and appreciate its beauty, details, and characteristics. In fact, the presentation tells a lot about the taste if you know how it's made. The more delicate the details are, the more likely it would taste good. Besides, visual appeal also makes customers feel like tasting and admiring the ideas of the creators.

#Taste and #textures: First, you have to know what are the components of the cake, then have a bite and see if different flavours match each other well and are balanced, if there’s enough contrast between different textures such as soft vs. hard, smooth vs. crunchy, etc., and if there’s any surprise with regard to the taste combinations. After that, you could have a further taste on each of the components to get to know them further. Attention: since we are tasting a pastry/cake which is sweet, don’t judge it according to its sweetness only.

🚩 3. Others: If you know more about the history, the origin, the inspirations, background, styles and philosophy of the chef, how he/she reinterprets the classics and what ingredients he/she uses, tasting would become even more interesting.

🍋 Now let’s take the classic lemon tart (tarte au citron) as an example. The basic components are sweet shortcrust pastry (pâte sucrée), lemon curd (crème au citron), and meringue. Some lemon tarts are even more simple, leaving the latter out. We’re having a closer look on the lemon tart of the Pâtisserie Gilles Marchal in Paris today. It has the all three components and is made with a little twist of the classic, which serves as a perfect example. Click on the photos and discover more!

🔖 To read more on the topic:

Why “tasting” is important when having French pastries: https://tinyurl.com/y54dacbu

Revisiting classics, the fountain of youth secret of French pastries: https://tinyurl.com/y5xenfqz

Decomposing French pastries by categories and basic components: https://tinyurl.com/y5c9nbeb

Your first class in French pastries, getting to know basic ingredients and key concepts: https://tinyurl.com/y4w9sxxs

#yingspastryguide #frenchpastrytasting #dégustation #tarteaucitron #lemontart #gillesmarchal

最療癒嬌貴的小酥餅

有段時間我迷上彩虹般五顏六色的馬卡龍，看著他們繽紛的排列，從視覺就已經開始療癒的魔法。酥脆的杏仁蛋白霜餅加上柔軟綿密的甜蜜內餡，每一口都輕輕咬下鬆脆和滑順的衝突。Akoi青木定治、侯布雄惠比壽、La Maison du Chocolat這三家的馬卡龍都不錯，但是我心中最喜歡的是Laduree和Pierre Herme。兩家都是多年的馬卡龍高手，不斷的研發創新。仔細比較，Laduree的小圓餅更細緻酥脆，內餡和其他家最大的不同是像marshmallows一樣的口感，些許的彈牙又圓潤飽滿，而PH是混合多重口味的專家，利用各種味道間化學變化的互補。

買一盒琳琅滿目的馬卡龍吧，讓雪花般醉人的甜蜜陪你一起回味人生的五味和意味深長。那夜PH陪我登上東京鐵塔，我分不清撫慰人心的是手中甜蜜的馬卡龍，還是眼前鐵塔下的萬點繁星

The most sensual and delicate pastry

There was a time in my life when I was seriously addicted to macaroons. I just feel a sense of pure comfort every time I look at one of those colorful displays. The smooth and crunchy meringue shell surrounding creamy and sweet filling, when done right, is a thing of beauty. Every bite is a piece of art combining chaos and harmony in the form of silky and crispy textures.

I cannot get enough macaroons from Aoki, Robuchon Ebisu and La Maison du Chocolat, but the real contenders for the top spot on my list are Laduree and Pierre Herme. They are both traditional shops with long macaroon making history and a track record of innovation. Laduree has a crunchier shell and the filling almost tastes like marshmallows, velvety and a little bouncy. On the other hand, Pierre Herme is a master at utilizing and combining non traditional flavors. It is always a pleasure to have a box of these gorgeous French delicacies with me. I enjoy the sweetness as the pastry crumbles like snowflakes, with all the flavors and essences melding together in my mouth. On a recent trip to Japan, I visited the top of Tokyo Tower at night. I am not sure which was more comforting, the luscious macaroons or the starry night in the background of that crazy, lovely mess of a city.