Comments on: Sugar porn (SFW)

Sugar porn (SFW)

growabrain — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:18:08 -0800

Paris Patisseries is a luscious blog which chronicles Parisian pastry and the great chefs behind it. It is written by Adam Wayda, an American gourmand who spends half of each year in Paris & indulges his time there enjoying pastries. Some mouth-watering posts: Top 17 Best Pastries

Best Pastry Shops in Paris Top 38 Best Pastries in Paris Inside Hugo & Victor Pastry Reviews This blog is one of 6 finalists for Saveur Magazine 2112 Best Food Blog Awards

By: eviemath

eviemath — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:25:50 -0800

*drools*

By: Jody Tresidder

Jody Tresidder — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:26:02 -0800

I love this so much. I also love the way all the pastries are slightly snooty - just like Parisians:)

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:26:36 -0800

That best pastries link is missing one.

By: whatzit

whatzit — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:34:14 -0800

For anyone getting off on the Aoki French-Japanese fusion pastries in the top pastry link, but finding it a bit out of your budget in an already over-priced city, check out Aki pan-ya near metro Pyramides. Aki has other eclairs (yuzu and green tea) as well as Japan-flavored macarons (yuzu, adzuki, black sesame, green tea, and ume), along with very pan-ya type products like katsu-sando and melon bread (no actual melons involved). The Aki restaurant across the street is nice, with one of the few okonomiyaki you can buy in Paris. On the other side of the corner is Kadoya ramen, with one of the few tantanmen ramens I have found in Paris (though the rest of the menu is also pleasant).

By: TedW

TedW — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:35:11 -0800

Those look incroyable! After just seeing the pictures I think I will never be able to eat a Twinkie again (not that that is a bad thing).

By: PorcineWithMe

PorcineWithMe — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:48:00 -0800

The 17 best Blog post was just cruel. (wipes drool from chin)

By: jetlagaddict

jetlagaddict — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:48:58 -0800

Dear tax return, you were supposed to go into my grown-up adult 403(b), but oh my god let's go to Paris and die happy and replete with cream and butter everywhere.

By: Vhanudux

Vhanudux — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:08:54 -0800

I'm going to Paris next week. Thank you so much.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:14:22 -0800

I just got back from Paris and I still don't understand why Macarons are so expensive.

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:16:34 -0800

I am afraid to look at these. I think they will make me sad, since my weekend will not be filled with wonderful pastries, but grading. Oh! Woe!

By: ADent

ADent — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:32:11 -0800

...an American gourmand who spends half of each year in Paris & indulges his time there enjoying pastries. I can finally say I know what jealousy feels like.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:37:49 -0800

blue_beetle, there are a few reasons, which I've puzzled out while making them (thankfully, not for long) in a commercial setting. 1) Ingredient cost. The "cookies" in a macaron are made from almond flour, which is expensive. If you use the amount of food coloring that, say, Laduree uses, that's expensive too. Some flavors are expensive, and if you're developing your own or changing them seasonally, that costs too. 2) Double the "cookies." So if you make a batch of the wafers that equals 72, you've still got only 36 macarons. 3) ...and that's on a perfect day. Macarons are finicky and don't like humidity and sometimes, you do everything right and they still don't come out or aren't perfect enough. You're going to throw away (into your mouth!) some rejects. 4) Labor. Making different-colored wafers for each variety; making a variety of different fillings; piping in the fillings; putting the macarons together. These things are labor-intensive. 5) Fancypants. You charge more not only to reflect your labor and ingredient cost, but because they are beautiful, fancy, and a treat. Charging less would devalue them. Macarons are special. I think that about covers it. They're expensive, sure, but they're a pain to make and the profit margin is still pretty thin.

By: savvysearch

savvysearch — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:38:37 -0800

American pastries never reach the level of French pastries. A lot of the pastries are so complicated to make utilizing so much technique. Unfortunately Americans really shy away from this types of pastries because there are so many french-style pastries here that are done so bad. It's weirdly gotten a bad reputation. A napolean is a simple thing of beauty. I don't know why american bakeries have a way of screwing it up.

By: Soliloquy

Soliloquy — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:40:54 -0800

OH DEAR GOD WHY DO YOU MOCK ME SO?

By: CheeseDigestsAll

CheeseDigestsAll — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:41:43 -0800

I've only spent two weeks in France, but I made sure I got my fill of pastries (2/day minimum). The lovely thing is you can't go more than a few blocks in most neighborhoods without finding a pastry shop, a cheese shop, a charcuterie. In Paris, a glass of wine is cheaper than a Coke. It's wonderful. The worst problem was being in a small town in Normandy where the local baker was closed on Mondays. We had to buy extra and eat day old. :-) I recall taking a cooking class from a French woman once who told me that French kids didn't eat candy bars like American kids. No wonder, they can eat pain au chocolat!

By: WestChester22

WestChester22 — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:45:25 -0800

Nom de Dieu! I miss those little fruit Patisserie thingies! Framboise, Fraise, Cassis . . . Sweet little round slices of heaven. Qu'ils me manquent!!!!

By: biffa

biffa — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:46:23 -0800

MeFi web-experts: how do they make the pictures of the top 17 pastries appear to come out of the screen, expand to take in your full field of vision and then look into your soul?

By: jetlagaddict

jetlagaddict — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:47:09 -0800

They're expensive, sure, but they're a pain to make -- of course, a "fiercecupcake" would insult the saintly macarons! (I am kidding because I tried considering making macarons once but it was summer in DC and the humidity level was 100%, and so I had a Popsicle instead. I just like the image of a cupcake and French pastry rumble in the streets.)

By: Kitty Stardust

Kitty Stardust — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:08:53 -0800

I will stay on my low-carb diet. I will stay on my low-carb diet. I will stay on my low-carb diet. ::cries::

By: d1rge

d1rge — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:11:49 -0800

I'M JUST SO HUNGRY :(

By: spitefullerene

spitefullerene — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:13:59 -0800

Well, hello, Pan de Sucre with a pipette of rum! You're, like, my three favorite things come together (Carbs, alcohol, SCIENCE).

By: twsf

twsf — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:20:14 -0800

Suck it, paleo-diet fans... There's a reason we developed civilization. French pastries.

By: vytae

vytae — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:21:56 -0800

These look delicious! But seriously, why is the lavender one made of 4 boobs? Macarons are finicky and don't like humidity and sometimes, you do everything right and they still don't come out or aren't perfect enough. You're going to throw away (into your mouth!) some rejects. I recently read that one of the French pastry shops in my neck of the woods sells the macaron failures for extra cheap, they get lumped on a plate and, one would assume, served with a fork or spoon. I love how francy French pastry meets down-to-earth Midwesternism here in Minneapolis. It makes a customer feel like part of the family, seeing all these perfect little tarts and pastries, but also having access to the imperfect ones.

By: benito.strauss

benito.strauss — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:43:46 -0800

I used to say that when the Devil came to bargain for my soul, he would offer me pastry. Not for my whole soul, just as an opening move, to soften me up. "Care for a pastry?", he would say, uncovering a plate with chocolate-dipped florentines, crucanti, pains au chocolat, adzuki-bean cream puffs, and almond croissants; and then negotiations would start. I would forget about wielding unlimited power, the ability to contemplate the vast dimensions of galaxies with my mere human mind, or finding a true soul-mate, diverted by choosing which pastry to sample next. (The Devil lets you take all you want, but doesn't care that you finish all you take.) With my concentration broken, I'd probably end up selling my eternal soul for a late model car and and a week at an all-inclusive resort during the off-season. Now I realize it's worse that I had thought. Turns out I would sell my entire soul for a small selection of pastries from that "17 Best" page.

By: thomas j wise

thomas j wise — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:02:39 -0800

I am reading this thread while eating a salad. There appears to be something wrong somewhere, but I can't put my finger on it. *sighs for #7*

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:04:43 -0800

I believe the most impressive aspect of French pastries is their ability to no over do it : tarte au rhubarb, clafoutis aux cerises, tuile aux pralines, etc. Restraint only make em' more tasty.

By: LMGM

LMGM — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:14:56 -0800

I clicked on these links expecting the kind of superficial, easily-impressed, "everything is delicious!" kind of food-critic writing that has been unfortunately common in food-blog writing. I'm actually pleased to see that he pays very close attention to each piece of pastry, writes about them critically and in detail, and seems to have a good view of the entire pastry "scene" in Paris. I still find his writing voice far too pun-intensive and giggly, but I'm willing to overlook it in order to read work by someone who seems to have developed some true expertise. I would come back to this just before heading to Paris (if only I had found this before I went last week!). Also: PIERRE HERME MACARONS FUCK YEAH.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:14:56 -0800

dear god thank you for making me lactose intolerant so that i will never have to have my thousand-pound corpse winched out of a foot-high pile of french pastry crumbs liz

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:20:15 -0800

who am i even kidding it will be taco crumbs

By: sarahnade

sarahnade — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:56:28 -0800

So it turns out I do have some kind of aspiration to be rich, just so I could say things like, "Oh, we grabbed the Concorde to Paris and snacked on some fabulous mille-feuille..." So I guess it's a good thing the Concorde doesn't exist anymore.

By: whatzit

whatzit — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:01:07 -0800

I revisited this page to have a "Cheesecake Factory dinner" with another MeFite here in Paris. That is, you skip dinner and eat only dessert because that is the best part. Anyway, we went to Pain de Sucre where sadly they were out of mille feuille already (reviewed on the page here) but the best thing I had of our 4 pastries and 1 macaron was the tarte au citron. How pedestrian, amirite? But it is a standard by which you can judge how good the rest of the products are. This one was light yet creamy, and obviously had some real zest in it. Neither too sweet nor too tart, it was absolutely perfect. The other three entries were also good, but that was the best one. As for the macaron, I tried it because it is The Flavor I Never Find In France: mint with chocolate! It was green and not pistachio! Huzzah! It was very minty and very very obviously made with French mint. Yow, strong! Anyway, what I really wanted to say about Pain de Sucre is that 1) from previous experience, I can tell you that their fresh marshmallows are fantastic and come in a variety of fun flavors from vanilla to black chocolate with coconut to orange blossom and 2) you can get equally good savory things from them just a few doors to the left of the dessert window. May this comment serve some Paris visitor in the future.

By: whatzit

whatzit — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:03:38 -0800

My mouth must have been typing and not my hands. I mean that the macaron was made with fresh mint, though it very well could have been grown in France as well. Also dark chocolate.