Brioche aux Pralines Roses for Breakfast
Mass hordes of people and the incessant noise pollution that come with living in a densely populated metropolitan area can eventually fray one’s nerves.
The French King Cake: Galette des Rois
New Orleans was my hometown during my early childhood. We only lived there until I was six years old, so my recollections of life in the Big Easy have faded into fragmented blurs. One of the few things that I do remember about Louisiana is eating king cake during the mardi gras festivities, which is as ubiquitous as strings of beads during that time of year. I actually wasn’t particularly fond of eating the cake, which was often topped too generously with icing and colored sugars. I was only interested in finding the tiny plastic baby buried within the cake, because whoever found the prized baby would be crowned king for a day.
Fraisier à la Japonaise
Japanese fraisier is a much lighter take on the traditional French fraisier. It is composed of a couple layers of genoise, whipped cream, and of course, strawberries, whereas the French version is filled with a mousseline cream (pastry cream + butter). Check out this recipe from the 2015 issue of Fou de Pâtisserie.
How to Make Nước Mắm Sauce
Open the fridge in any Vietnamese household and you are sure to find a jar of nước mắm. I’m not talking about the pure bottled stuff, but rather the mix that accompanies many dishes on our dining table. It is often served as a dipping sauce for (eggrolls) or as a sauce drizzled over dishes, such as cơm tấm bì (broken rice with shredded pork) or bánh xèo (savory crêpes ).