Hugo & Victor :: Victor Framboise
By Paris Pâtisseries in Hugo & Victor, Pastry Reviews
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Now that I’m back in the States, I’ve been trying to figure out how to unleash my storehouse of pastry photos and reviews upon you. The “problem” is that many of the shops I covered throughout 2010 and the first half of 2011 never really introduced that many new pieces, while shops like Café Pouchkine and Un Dimanche à Paris came freshly onto the scene with cases of goodies never seen before. So my diversity moving forward is to be a bit skewed. Added to that is the simple fact that I believe Jacques Genin and Hugues Pouget essentially rule the pastry universe and deserve as much attention as is humanly possible. You guys aren’t as concerned with seeing a well-paced hodgepodge of sweets as you are with being privy the latest and the best, right?
It really is Messieurs Genin and Pouget that represent the pinnacle. Jacques Genin, as I’ve said and will say many times again, is a wizard. His chocolate éclair and tarte au citron are both so good that it’s no exaggeration to say that he invented both pastries – for anything that came before was merely an awkward prototype . . . a crude approximation. Hugues Pouget is a veritable Perseus of pastry – half man, half deity of sugar and crème. In fact, last time I photographed him, he’d so thoroughly dominated crème patissiere that was making it without any milk products (true fact). These men are ******* legends. So let’s indulge in at least one of their great creations right now – Hugues Pouget’s Victor Framboise . . .
I’m not sure what makes this little lady so delicious. Is it her undulating waves of delicately vanilla’ed crème Chantilly that fill your mouth with their pillowy gush of lightly sweet, smooth decadence? Perhaps. Could it be the orbs of golden choux jammed with crème patissiere so laden with cheek-tinglingly piquant raspberry flavor that it’s reasonable to assume that any milk products therein clearly came from cattle fed a pure raspberry diet? Maybe. Or is it the deftly caramelizé cradle of feuilletage that supports it all – a wonderously crisp and nuanced ode to puff pastry? Could be. Or is it all these elements taken together, in a gustatory orgy of excellence? That . . . that I think is it.
Oddly enough, this is only my third favorite of Monsieur Pouget’s Saint-Honoré variants. The peach version is sublime, and the pistachio version is nothing short of one of the greatest works in the history of the pistachio. It is that good.
Isn’t the above just beautiful? And don’t you kind of want to eat your computer screen when you look at the shot below? I do.
So, yes, while H&V’s raspberry creations won’t make a return until next Spring, you can look forward to snagging one of these guys. And if they do a repeat of their Mother’s Day pastry from last year – one that combined the magic of raspberries and pistachios – then you’ll have twice as much to giddily anticipate. But more on that piece another day. For now, just add the Victor Framboise to your list of goodies to purchase at Hugo & Victor.
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