So much fun with fewer calories, is that possible? In any case, this is the goal that pastry chefs Pierre Hermé and Frédéric Bau have set for themselves. For three years, they have been working together on “reasoned delicacies”, lighter pastries, where the calorie reduction is not based on the use of artificial sweetener, but on a profound overhaul of recipes.
Take, for example, a Pierre Hermé classic, the “Infinitely Vanilla” tart: in its new version, it is still as powerful in taste, if not more. The identifiable difference lies in the change in type of dough: instead of a traditional shortbread dough, the new crunchy bite and seems less buttery, a bit like an aperitif cookie. Wheat flour has been replaced by rice flour, corn starch and potato; in addition, the amount of egg yolks has been reduced in the cookie; the ganache and the mascarpone have been replaced by a preparation based on skimmed milk, egg white, white sugar, chicory fibers and pectin worked in two textures. Result of the races: 250 calories for an individual pastry instead of 400.
To date, Pierre Hermé has launched four “reasoned” pastries (available until May 29): in addition to the vanilla pie, he tackled with Frédéric Bau (creative director at Valrhona and author of the book Reasoned delicacy, La Martinière, 2020) with a lemon tart, a chocolate chou and a strawberry dessert. All of them are extremely convincing, around 30% less caloric than traditional desserts, but also more expensive: the single portion costs 10 euros each. A long-term project detailed by the two pastry chefs.
Where does the idea of sustainable pastry come from?
Frédéric Bau: Fifteen years ago, I co-hosted a conference with Pierre Gagnaire where he spoke about reasonable and gourmet gastronomy. In front of a hundred and fifty cooks, he told how he had already replaced cream with rice starch. He was bright and shiny, and he concluded by saying : “The cooks are the guardians of the well-being of our customers and if we continue to cook with our methods inherited from Auguste Escoffier, we will become completely“ has-been ”. “ We were in the days of great Spanish cuisine [moléculaire] which annoyed the French. And we, the pastry chefs, we were always in the culture of the more: no more egg yolks, sugar, butter, cream… This conference upset me. But I didn’t necessarily have a battle plan behind.
What made you move forward?
FB: Three years later, I met the nutritionist doctor Thierry Hahn, specialized in feeding people at the end of their life, but also a consultant for several gourmet restaurants in Vichy. He explained to me that Pierre Gagnaire created “taste lures”: by putting rice starch in his white butter, replacing his Nantes butter with whipping cream, he offered just as much pleasure, but offered dishes. better for your health. Once I got that in, there were a lot of rules that I had to unlearn that I took for granted. Like, for example, the custard recipe: I realized that with egg whites rather than yolks, it works just as well, it’s just that we hadn’t thought of it.
Did the project therefore take nearly ten years to mature?
FB: I work very slowly [rires] ! And then I preached for a long time in the desert, I often lost my footing. Chef Michel Guérard, who signed the preface to Reasoned delicacy, told me that when he launched his dietetic kitchen in 1973, he had passed for a fanatic and had lost three-star friends who criticized him for sending them to the wall. I struggled to move forward until La Martinière, who had heard of my thoughts, offered to make a book about it.
Pierre Hermé, the dietetic question had never preoccupied you?
Pierre Hermé : About ten years ago, Frédéric gave a conference on the subject where there was all the gratin of Parisian pastry. And no one followed suit, including me. It was too abstract. It became concrete when, in 2018, Frédéric asked me to entrust him with the recipe for my vanilla pie to lighten it up. When I tasted the result, I had the emotion of finding my pie, only more impactful in the tastes. I then suggested to Frédéric to work on other recipes.
FB: The idea is not to make war on all calories, nor to do without butter or sugar. But to put the minimum of everything where it is needed, when it is needed. And don’t hesitate to substitute products: cocoa butter, for example, is very hard, like beeswax; to obtain a silky texture in a lemon cream, we use much less than animal butter.
The “reasoned delicacies” are more expensive than the classic Hermé pastries: 10 euros against 7.30. Why ?
P. H .: The cost of raw materials is higher, and there is all the upstream research work.
FB: If you buy a Guerlain cream, you are not only paying for the jar and 40 grams of cream, but also for the labs to develop it. For reasoned delicacies, we had to reinvent recipes, imagine new protocols, find new suppliers, modify purchases. That’s a lot of energy, money, and brain juice! I find it very courageous of Pierre to have dared to touch his vanilla pie which is one of his best sellers.
Do you think that healthier pastry can become more democratic over time?
PH: It will have to be part of the pastry know-how because it is a demand of the public, like vegan or gluten-free. And it goes in the direction of the story.
FB: Between my book which gives sixty recipes for healthier pastries and our collaboration with Pierre, I think we are setting in motion a process that will appeal to professionals. And end up getting into mentalities.
PH: It is true that the main difficulty of this exercise is to make it your own. With Frédéric, we provide solutions.
Do you consider that we should avoid the refined white sugar made from French beets, which has been criticized a lot these days?
PH: Why bring in sugars [comme la panela ou le sucre de coco] that cover 10,000 kilometers, rather than using the one that is at hand? Knowing that in terms of nutrition, it changes nothing, or almost.
FB: There are a few exceptions, like agave syrup, but you would need to drink two liters a day for it to have an impact on the body! Overall, one should not consume too much sugar, which is a product invented by man for man. The problem seems to me less related to the nature of the sugar than to the quantity that we ingest… and the fact that today, we do not move our buttocks much.
Do all pastries have the potential to be healthier?
PH: Some seem a priori more difficult to convert, such as the macaroon, whose shell is made of almond powder with 56% fat … and for it to crisp, you need sugar.
FB: This does not prevent attacking the cream in the middle. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that in nutrition, there are no small savings!