Macarons: Small pleasures are a big hit with h Vancouverites
Not to be confused with coconut macaroons, these delicate French pastries date back to the he 1830s and are famously fussy to make
Undoubtedly, 2012 is the Year of The Macaron in Vancouver.
We’re late bloomers, but all of a sudden this city’s jonesing for them and they’re popping up everywhere — in bakeries, patisseries, at farmers’ markets, restaurants, retail stores and pop- up shops. This month, a chic shop opened selling nothing but macarons ( oh, and some lovely teas to match too). It’s critical- mass time.
“They’re gluten- free and they’ve got protein [ almond flour, egg whites],” says Shobna Kannusamy, owner of the new shop, Soirette Macarons and Tea on West Pender Street. “I have a passion for desserts and the bite- size macaron really got to me.”
Now, if you think we’re talking about those cookies heavy with shredded coconut, then stick with me — you’ve got a lot to learn. I’m talking French macarons — the delicate, puffed and tinted almond meringues sandwiching a ganache, buttercream or jam filling.
The French have been unwavering macaronphiles since a pastry chef first created them in the 1830s at Laduree patisserie ( which, by the way, is still going strong). When I’m in Paris, I make a beeline to Pierre Herme’s Macaron shop. There’s always a lineup, but the anticipation is part of the plan. ( If Paris is too far, the cookbook Macarons will lead you, step by careful step, to macaron bliss.)
In Vancouver, Carly Wintschel, a macaron baker, says when she sells them at farmers’ markets, people ask if they’re soap or ice cream. ( Her macaron business is called Kitchening with Carly.) “A lot of people still don’t know what a macaron is,” says Wintschel. She’s certainly enlightening the masses, baking about 4,000 to 6,000 a week, which she sells online ( kitcheningwithcarly.com) and at some retail shops in Metro Vancouver.
Until recently, it was up to Thomas Haas, who started selling them fresh and in abundance at his shops about two years ago. ( I’ve tasted imported ones, but they just don’t taste as bright and flavourful.) Thierry Patisserie opened late last year in downtown Vancouver with a huge array of and Bel Cafe, Hawks little sis, has a good s
Macarons are challe
of lovely macarons, ksworth restaurant’s d selection as well. llenging to make. The egg- white batter has to be customized to kitchens and ovens. They take time and a certain skill level to make. To top it off, they don’t last a long time — three or four days at most before the freshness and crisp top begins to fade ( unless, as in Wintschel’s case, the recipe is adjusted so they can be preserved in the freezer).
“You can’t just follow a list of rules,” Wintschel says. “You have to know the batter, when to stop beating, how humid the weather is. You can have it too runny or too thick. If it’s too thick, the surface will be bumpy. If too fluffy, it will crack. If too runny, it might not get the ‘ pied’ or the ruffly skirt at the bottom. It’s touchy,” she says of preparing the batter. “When I was learning in France, there were days we had to turn the air conditioner off. For me, success comes with being observant.”
Kannusamy, who graduated with top honours from Ottawa’s Le Cordon Bleu pastry school, says she tested batters for a month and a half and went through thousands of dollars in ingredients before getting it just right. “I had to experiment and work out the kinks, taking things like the ingredients, oven and weather into consideration. We even find when there’s a lot of people in the store, the batter changes. You’d think the Italian meringue would be more stable but we have to adjust the temperature of the syrup that we pour into the egg whites depending on the ambient temperature. It’s insane.”
Haas, too, had to work out his ideal and exact temperatures for his Italian meringue syrup and for the batter. “Each person has to adapt the recipe,” he says. “And you can’t just ten- fold it. All of a sudden, at a certain volume, you need more egg white. You perfect the beating time, the meringue texture and hopefully, become an expert.”
If you wish to take on the macaron challenge, there is help. Connie Mar, of J’adore Les Macarons gives macaron baking classes ( jadorelesmacarons. com). “I’m willing to share,” she says of the sometimes guarded secrets to perfecting macarons. She teaches fourhour classes in groups of four for $ 100 each and that includes ingredients and 20 macarons. She sells the four- pound black French steel baking pans, which she learned at Le Cordon Bleu were best for the treats.
Macarons are labour- intensive and she thinks she might be making a negative $ 5 an hour when she sells at the Bakers Market, which she founded. ( bakersmarket. com) “To make 80, it takes six to eight hours and everything’s hand done,” she says.
“You have to use the best ingredients, like Valrhona chocolate, which melts nicer and tastes so good. Don’t even dare think about Chipits,” she says. “It doesn’t melt as nicely, contains more sugar and is lower quality.”
You can see a video of Kannusamy at vancouversun. com/ life ( linked to this story) as she makes macarons at Soirette.
Prepare for creative sparks in Vancouver as macaron makers ramp it up. Mar takes pride in her maple chai bacon buttercream as well as foie gras and dark chocolate macaron fillings ( which she admits she copied from Fauchon in Paris). Kannusamy ( a former biomedical engineer) makes a ritual of matching tea with macarons. Currently, her display includes pink peppercorn and milk chocolate; lavender, cappuccino; mandarin and dark chocolate flavours. “It’s all about flavour, pushing the palette and keeping you guessing,” she says. “Maybe in the summer, I’ll do a gelato- filled macaron.”