TASTY CONFESSIONS
All articlesPierre Arditi
If I offer you a chocolate bar?
I’ll eat it! A piece? No, the whole bar. I am not reasonable at all. That’s the whole problem… And I love chocolate!
I heard you like wine?
Yes! And pairing it with chocolate is fantastic! Sauternes also goes very well with desserts.
A particular sweet dish from your childhood that brings back memories?
First of all the barquette aux marrons, a dessert which doesn’t exist anymore. It has completely disappeared! A shortcrust pastry garnished on one side with chestnut cream, on the other side, coffee. The blend was incredible. There was also the puits d’amour, a puff pastry filled with vanilla cream, and a box of Mont Blanc Chocolates. When I was a child, my favorite meal was liver pâté on toast with pickles and on top and for dessert, a box of Mont Blanc Chocolates!
The place indulgence has in your life?
I am indulgent, but also a food lover. Let’s see, something very simple, like a very good piece of bread with salted butter, maybe a piece of cheese, cold cuts, it’s a meal fit for a king.
Tell us a little more about chocolate…
I am going to astonish you, but I think I only really like Belgian milk chocolate (Editor’s Note: his mother was Belgian). Everything goes back to childhood, we forget, then it comes back to us. I spend my time running into my ghost… My job is to analyze feelings…
Your favorite dessert?
The Napoleon. Not the one with a few hard sheets of pastry garnished with strawberries. No, the one with crème pâtissière. A dietetic dessert is not a dessert, there is no pleasure. So, if I eat a Paris-Brest, I eat a real Paris-Brest!
What impresses you about pastry chefs?
It’s their love of a job well done. In these times when manual work is underestimated, there is a kind of condescension regarding people who decide to go into these professions. Yet, they require attention at all times, a tremendous know-how, a colossal amount of work. They are genuine creators, real artists who create things, sensations and help bring out a certain number of visions, emotions and feelings.
What indulgent moment do you prefer?
There is not really a moment. I don’t plan anything… or rather I plan on enjoying myself whenever possible.
A sin to share?
The only sin I know is inhumanity.
If you were a dessert?
(laughs) I would be a chocolate, because I actually only like that. Chocolate pure, without strawberries, spices, anything. Just chocolate!
From "Desserts" Spring/Summer n°09
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BRIEFLY
Pomélo, the food newsletter written by journalist Ezéchiel Zérah, presenting every Sunday evening new concepts, trends and culinary discoveries, has just launched its guide to 99 things to taste (absolutely) in Paris. On the program: 47 salty products and 52 sweet products…
Alain Chartier, Relais Desserts in Vannes has just opened a new 100% organic manufacturing workshop. A big step in its eco-responsible approach.
In this summer season, the freshness of the ice cream calls us! Have you ever tasted your pastry chef’s homemade ice cream? Let yourself be tempted, you will be surprised by their incomparable flavors….
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