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Sunday, November 27, 2016

The Chronicles of Creams (Addendum)

Yes, hello.  In my prior chronicle, I described my trip to Mah ze Dahr bakery in the West Village.  Specifically, I explained in detail the vanilla choux pastry, which was - I think - one of the greatest pastries I've ever had.  But something has been bothering me and I'd like to tell you about my innermost fears.  I've been worried I did not adequately explain what a choux pastry is.  If you've had the pleasure of indulging in choux, then what I wrote most likely did the trick and you knew what I was talking about.  But what about for someone who has never had or even heard of choux?  Would that person understand what choux is from reading my post?  I believe this issue is further compounded with the term "choux" itself: does the term "choux" refer to just the pastry, or does it refer to the pastry and the cream filling?  Yes, choux is often - usually - maybe always - filled with a cream or custard, but it doesn't need to be, does it?.  A person could just eat the pastry and not have it filled with cream.  Anyway, what I need the reader to understand is that there is a) the pastry, a soft, pliant, thinnish pastry that is shaped as a sphere and then inside the pastry sphere, within but separate from the choux pastry itself, b) there is the cream.  Pastry and cream, cream and pastry.  Do you understand?  And as I mentioned in the chronicle, usually the pastry is just fine but the cream is the real star.  But not so for Mah ze Dahr's vanilla pastry: the pastry was every bit as delicious as the cream within the pastry.  Do you understand?   Tell me you understand.