쥴리앙 알바레즈

We are fortunate to have a unique country that offers excellent products. I assume that, in order to make good pastries, the selection of raw materials is paramount. Cream is one of the flagship products in our range of ingredients.

Depending on the recipe, you can play with the specifics of the cream in terms of texture and taste. It is used for its acidity and its taste in contrast with the other ingredients. For banoffee pie, I choose two types of cream: the first is a small, unsweetened and unflavoured ball of cream inside the heart of the cake, and the second is whipped cream on top. When you reach the heart of the cake, your mouth experiences the lightness, acidity and creaminess all at once. The acidity counterbalances and rounds out the basis brownie with milk chocolatebanana/ creamy milk jam flavours. It’s very interesting! Many ingredients can be used to infuse flavour into cream: fig leaves, rosemary, verbena, tea, lemon thyme, rosemary, etc. We look for neutral-tasting cream simply because it is a medium that should not alter the infusion. We make them hot or cold
according to taste. For coffee creams, for example, we take split, roasted coffee beans and mix them into the cold cream and leave the mixture to infuse overnight, which results in a very white whipped cream with a very strong scent.

Cream is used in numerous preparations. In some dishes, such as panna cotta, whipped cream and ice-cream, it is the main ingredient. We can appreciate all its qualities. In other recipes, the composition of cream makes it a flavourful fixative and lets you achieve a smooth, light texture.

I would say passionate, bordering on mad! I just can’t live without it.

When I am in Japan, it is the shortcake. I discovered that this pastry is made to perfection over there. It is composed of a white sponge cake soaked in juice, yuzu for example, with a very slight brushing of vanilla cream, slightly sweetened, and fresh strawberries. It’s wonderful! Otherwise, there is always the classic Saint Honoré pastry, which is one of my guilty pleasures.