Secrets that make French pastries so notoriously delicious were taught by Jean Michel Raynaud at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) yesterday (Tuesday) on at the Expo Centre until November 14. French-born Master patissier, Jean Michel Raynaud, who has poured his 30 years of experience into his cookbook “The French Baker”, has some easy recipes for delicious desserts that anyone can create at home. In a session at the cookery corner, he demonstrated the classic French Chocolate Ganache Tart recipe with the help of Avis, a girl aged around 10 he plucked from the audience to help make the dough and bake it. Raynaud suggests that using the basic technique like first mixing flour with butter, keeping it at room temperature before adding water or egg can make your tart base crumbly.
As the master chef proceeded with steps on how to bake the base and then ganache, he seemed to make it all look so easy. The surprising twist in the caramel was salt, but then the master knows all about desserts and pastry, he said salt helps mellow the bitterness as you are burning sugar to make caramel and it also gives texture to the taste of ganache. “Ganache,” he explained, “is basically melted chocolate mixed with any heated liquid.” He poured the caramel into heated cream and the foaming liquid was mixed with melted chocolate to make the ganache. It was so delicious to look at, one could only imagine how good it tasted. Raynaud said, “In the Middle East you can top your tart base with chocolate pieces and fruits that match your taste, whether it be dates, figs, or pistachio. Or any fruit that your children or family prefers, and delicious French Chocolate Ganache tart is ready.”In “The French Baker” you can find simple recipes like the tart Jean made above. He says, “These are simple recipes that may trigger a memory of your childhood, and is written for beginners. It just gives extra techniques to get a better result, you can make changes, but the basic recipe stays the same.
”The master patisserie surprised us saying he never used low-fat or processed ingredients, because, he said, when you use low-fat products you feel like eating more, as you don’t process the low-fat food and instead you should cut down on quantity of what you eat. After all, he pointed out, it is a dessert and it needs to be eaten in a small amount.Raynaud began his career as a teenager and was made head pastry chef by the age of 20, he lives in Australia from last 25 years. He is the brains, and hands, behind the sweet treats at La Renaissance in Australia and previously worked at Australia’s Sweet Art and Planet Cake as head chef. He continues creating exceptional tarts, pastries, macarons and desserts at La Renaissance Pâtisserie in Sydney’s The Rocks District. Raynaud is a sweet treat you will not want to miss and he has demonstrations at SIBF on November 12 and 13. Visit www.sharjahbookfair.com for more details.