Pierre Hermé :: Carré Satine
By Paris Pâtisseries in Pastry Reviews, Pierre Herme
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A couple weeks back, Pierre’s Hermé’s PR agency wrote, on behalf of the Monsieur Hermé and Taittinger Champagne, to invite me to the pre-opening celebration of their ‘Bubble in Paris’ event. The idea of sipping champagne within a gigantic conceptual art bubble – just a hop skip and a jump from the Arc de Triomphe – was certainly enticing, if only I were going to be in Paris. Together with being on the free macaron dole at Monsieur Hermé’s flagship store on rue Bonaparte, I can certainly say that the combined forces of the Hermé empire are more than kind to yours truly. And while I doubt they care enough about what I write to actively try and sway me, they’re doing an excellent job.
My mission with Paris Pâtisseries is of course to provide honest commentary on the pastries I inhale across the City of Light. I have never and will never fib to you. Do I simply not review some pastries I hate (from shops I love)? Yes. Do I sometimes do a delicate dance around disappointing pastries so that my contempt for them is thinly veiled? Absolutely. Do I occasionally eviscerate work I find more than a little displeasing? You know it. Monsieur Hermé’s team has certainly now ensured there will be no more of that latter category. They’ve just been too sweet. So now that that’s on the table, let’s dig into the Carré Satine.
As with Monsieur Hermé’s Carré Envie, the sablé Breton base to this little guy is transplendent. Like the most perfectly buttery Christmas cookie ever, on steroids of excellence, I could eat a stack of them alone. Was there perhaps a chunk of the base missing from the left side of the pastry? Yes, but, really . . . should we quibble over these things? It was still incredibly delicious. Moving up through the piece, the vanillaed white chocolate coating on the cubes was quite smooth, if maybe a bit . . . um . . . um . . . maybe not handled as gingerly as possible from an aesthetic perspective. Was it perhaps a little more way too sweet than I was hoping? Yes, but . . . it was still chocolate with pâte de fruit on top. So…uh… And that orange-passion pâte de fruit chapeau was a nice confection. Does it compare to Mosnieur Genin’s work in pâte de fruit? I mean . . . do we always have to make comparisons? Of course we don’t. If we dive a little deeper into the piece, we get to the cream cheese crème de mascarpone. Did I personally find it extremely buttery in a way that maybe didn’t quite fit at all with the orange-passion compote within? I mean . . . like . . . if you’re really into super buttery crèmes with passion fruit and orange, then this is totally your ballgame. Being completely honest, that orange-passion compote nestled within it all is truly top-notch. Exceptional flavor and just the perfect touch of light sweetness.
Some of you might be thinking, “Hey, reading between the lines there, it seems like you leveled some pretty serious criticisms.” I’d be inclined to say that I actually offered a well-rounded view that takes into account a variety of tastes. If someone were to take any criticism from that, then I’d hope they found it constructive. Like, if I reviewed another non-Pierre Hermé piece in exactly the same way . . . like if it came from another shop entirely but was otherwise identical, my suggestion might be to tone down the sugar in the white chocolate, completely rework the tones of the crème, refine the pâte de fruit texture to be substantially more tender, perhaps consider firing the patissière who assembled it, and maybe have a conversation with the shop manager to make sure pieces with that many aesthetic/compositional issues aren’t put on display. Purely hypothetical.
Did I mention how much I love the sablé Breton base and the orange-passion compote? They were awesome.
So, would I recommend the Carré Satine? You know . . . um . . . Monsieur Hermé has this amazing vanilla tarte, stellar croissants, that super Mogador macaron, and a bunch of great pastries. He doesn’t even have the Carré Satine at this time of year, so I mean how could I suggest you buy it when it’s not even on display? Right?
With the American Thansgiving holiday coming up this Thursday, there will be no pastry review on Friday. Yeah, I know only 30% of you actually come from the States, but all those folks are going to be too catatonic, in the wake of the festivities, to make it to the site or enjoy whatever I post. So look forward a post on Monday, when I think I’ll share a little La Pâtisserie des Reves with you!
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