Homage to Pastry

Anthony Harvey

Anthony Harvey

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Mar 10, 2008
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Oh Lord! Help me Lord!

This is my kinda thread. I have consumed pastries by the tonnage--literally: I have probably eaten over a coupla-thousand pounds of the sweet stuff!

Keep 'em coming! Oh, but just give me a minute whilst I slip out for a quick one to my neighborhood cupcake shop....
 
Oh, and to Vince: Mmmm, yeeeah, I guess doughnuts are technically not a "pastry"....

But, nonetheless, methinks it a perfectly fine addition to such a celebration of calorie laden, confectionary imagery.

(Just an opinion, of course. Ooof! I am feeling more like Homer Simpson by the day!)
 
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I'm disappointed not to have been able to show a good shot of the creme de la creme of Normandy pastry - a true tarte normande. I’ll search my archive to see if I have any better photos - we usually take our summer holidays in the region so I’m sure I’ve got a better shot somewhere. The photo given here is a greatly enlarged part of a much larger image but at least you can get something of the idea of what it looks like. What’s needed is a shot of the side view after it’s been cut in half (or half-eaten!) so as to show the depth and texture, and an idea of the components.

Of course, strictly speaking a tarte normande is no more or less than a soft apple tart but it really is special and superb, and because the local pastry is made by true pastry chefs each shop sells slightly different tarte normande, sometimes very different: for example in thickness and crispness of the base, in the softness of the pastry around the edges, in the flavours in the soft apple mixture, in the amount of creamy custard that’s in the mixture, in the power of that superb burnt-apple toffee-like flavour, in the strength, sweetness and texture of the apples, in the balance of flavours … the list is endless.

In fact, we have a favourite pastry shop near the hotel where we usually stay. It’s been our tradition for at least ten years, other things being equal, to go the shop when we first arrive for the holiday and before we’ve even gone to the hotel. We park the car in the street, still loaded with our luggage, having driven some 300 miles from home, and buy two tarte normandes and eat them in the street. Then we go to the hotel.

Like most of us I’m driven by flavour, made worse by the fact that one can’t get a true tarte normande in the UK, unless it’s in a Michelin-starred restaurant where it will be the desert and will cost an arm and a leg. French people just don’t know how unique their pastry is and how lucky they are. They seem to take it for granted because it’s always been there as part of their food tradition and because it’s relatively cheap.

Pictures above are of the shop and a tarte normande, half hidden in its box.
 
About a previous photo of mine in this thread (and also in the gallery), jesse1dog asked about the slice cakes. They are indeed custard slices. The custard is the local equivalent which has a fair bit of cream in it, and being from an apple region it sometimes has a hint of apple flavour in it too (or perhaps I’m just getting carried away by the thought of it all!).

The row immediately above is also special in that the cake is covered with a true pancake with an extra pancake cone resting on top. It’s as delicious as it looks.
 
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