I was expecting something a little different when I took a stroll over the Sain boulangerie, a bakery Iโd heard about, which was on my list of bakeries in Paris to visit. My friend Romina of Les Madeleines bakery was is in town, and sheโs always up to visit new places, or places new to us, so I arranged to meet her there. I figuredโฆ
Iโm always happy to hear of a new pastry shop opening in Paris, especially when it offers something a bit different than the others. Sometimes I go and theyโre interesting. Other times, Iโmย less enthusiastic. I was especially excited when I heard about Maison Aleph, which offers bite-size tastes of the Middle East, referencing French techniques, but creating something completely original.
From the outside, Compagnie Gรฉnรฉrale de Biscuiterie is a low-slung place, resembling a workshop of some sort, rather than a pรขtisserie, located on the way up to Sacrรฉ Cลur, in Montmartre. I made the trek up there to check it out because I was interested in the one thing the low-key place makes: cookies. The French use the word โcookiesโ primarily to refer to chocolateโฆ
I first met Jacques Genin a number of years ago when he was (somewhat famously) working out of a battered storefront, on an uninteresting street deep in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. I say โfamouslyโ because as he became quite a bit better known, many folks learning about him through Mort Rosenblumโs book, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Light and Dark. And subsequently, people startedโฆ
Maybe more than Americans, French people do like marshmallows. A lot. You see them in bakeries and pastry shops, often in long strands, on display either in lengths, or tied into knots, often stored in apothecary jars. Itโs a tradition that goes back, before the advent of gelatin, when marshmallows were made with mallow extract which was (and still may be) considered good for yourโฆ
Ladurรฉe makes what I consider the best macarons anywhere. And apparently so do many others: the four shops of Ladurรฉe in Paris sell 12,000 macarons each day, over four million per year. Many Americans raise an eyebrow when confronted with their first French macaron, since macaroons in the US are normally chewy, egg white-based cookies heaped with shredded coconut. But both the French macaron andโฆ
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