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03/29/2003 Entry: "Search for the Best Millefeuille"

I've been on a Millefeuille hunt. Millefeuille literally means a thousand leaves or sheets, describing, in this case, layers of puff pastry filled with pastry cream. Good feuilletage is achieved by incorporating a good amount of cold dry butter into the pastry dough, getting bits of butter spread all throughout the dough by folding it several times. In the oven, the moisture from these pieces of butter creates steam and causes the pastry to separate, thus giving you the layers. Some food science for thought -- heh.

When I went to Arnaud Larher's shop last week I bought a Millefeuille with Praliné pastry cream. Today I went to Stephane Vandermeersch's shop in the 12th arrondisement and Laurent Duchêne's in the 13th, two patissiers known for their excellent Millefeuille. I think Duchêne's puff pastry was lighter and had an excellent golden brown color to it, but I preferred Vandermeersch's pastry cream. At Pierre Hermé, we also sell Millefeuille, but it's similar to Larher's because we fill it with Praliné pastry cream also. Mr. Hermé calls it Deux Millefeuille (2000 layers). I've only tried the scraps whenever we slice them, but it's enough for me to say that it's pretty darn good too. I'm not exactly a Millefeuille lover, but part of my learning here includes being able to taste different varieties of a classic and identifying the best. Pretty enjoyable learning, I would say.

Checked my email and got my weekly Hotjobs newsletter. Normally I just delete it, but this time I decided to see what jobs were available. My 'agent' is set to look for java developer jobs, and I was surprised to see 3 listings for startups in San Mateo. I clicked on the first one and it seemed perfect for my experience. I felt a pang of regret, a bit of doubt -- "No, I can't go back to that," I tell myself, "I'm a patissier now." Somehow, I am still unconvinced. Starting over a new career is terribly hard, and after my stage is over in a week, I will be forced to think about what I will be pursuing. We'll see how it goes.

Stephane Vandermeersch's Patisserie
Duchene's Millefeuille (right) and others	Vandermeersch's Millefeuille (middle) and Kugelhopf (right)