Another weekend, another macaron

I did a lot of tourist-y things last weekend.

While my friend Vince was in town, we showed him Paris as we know it while helping him cross off things on his list. There was walking along the Champs Élysée, a visit to Notre Dame, getting lost in Père Lachaise and even a nice evening cruise on the Seine.

Seeing the Iron Lady sparkle on the hour, every hour, just doesn’t get old. Somehow, it’s even more magical when you’re looking at it with someone who’s seeing it for the first time.

One of the many patisseries we took him to was of course, my homeboy Pierre Hermé.

I go to Hermé’s every weekend, mainly holding my breath and hoping for a pastry miracle and that I would see my beloved Infiniment Vanille entremet in the window again.  But no dice.

There actually wasn’t much change in the display case this week. Stocked were the usual suspects- his Carrément Chocolat, 2000 Feuilles, Tarte Citron…

However, I noticed a few new colours in the rainbow that is the macaron display.

Frankly, I’ve had enough of macarons.

When they’re good, they’re tender, but still slightly chewy, the almond discs a colourful vehicle for the wide array of possible delicious fillings in the middle.

It’s always fun to see what flavours are offered by different establishments, but they’ve become a bit boring to me. Why choose macarons when there are other pastries to try?

Regardless, I always keep an eye out for Pierre Hermé’s macarons- the Macaron King,  if there ever was one. The man is a pastry genius in general, and he’s known to have pulled off some interesting flavours when it comes to macarons.

While other patisseries have chocolate or lemon macarons, you’ll find a white truffle and hazelnut flavoured one at Hermé’s. I happened to have this flavour a few weeks ago- it was really good. I’m a huge truffle fan, particularily white ones.

My first encounter with white truffles was while working at Buca. Chef had gotten some in for a new pasta dish. The smell was incredible. We served it shaven thinly on housemade parpadelle with Ottawa sweet butter. It was delicious and simple, and really, the only way to have truffles.

So Hermé’s white truffle hazelnut macaron. I was curious as to how he was going to find that balance between the sweet filling and the white truffle. He did it, though. It was a cross between a buttercream and a ganache, with a generous enough addition of white truffles that you can sense its presence, but not so much that it feels too savoury. Pieces of toasted hazelnuts were laced throughout. It was my favourite macaron ever, until I spotted this one:

Olive oil mandarin macaron from Pierre Herme

At the time, it was the only double coloured macaron in the case, so it immediately caught my attention.

I’ve had his olive oil macaron a few months ago- it was also really good, with a piece of olive tucked inside. I wanted to see what the addition of mandarin would do to it.

It was stellar. The bright citrus-y flavour of the mandarin was perfect in matching the fruitiness in the olive oil. It was smooth, slightly floral, and you’re left with that pleasant aftertaste that only happens after you’ve had good olive oil. And also because he’s a genius like that, there’s an ever so small piece of slightly salty candied orange peel between the silkiness.

That’s a macaron.