A flavor you adore?

Vanilla! That of a puff pastry garnished with a real custard filling! If I have one poignant flashback, that’s it. I had a grandmother who baked a lot, a mother who cooks as well… I grew up with the  perfumes and flavors of sweets.

Your favorite recipe?

A vanilla custard. Milk beaten rapidly with a few eggs and sugar, thickened while slow boiling with a little starch. Imake it for my kids. The kitchen is a real bubbly place with them. In addition to cooking intuitively – I like to open my fridge and improvise, mostly savory dishes –, I let the pastry chefs make the pastry. I really admire their technical skills, preparations rigorously elaborated, and the result which is often magical. Be it a pineapple religieuse, a Solférino – a dessert from the North of France, – or simply a Paris- Brest, relishing a pastry is really an exceptional moment for me.

A particular sweet dish from your childhood that brings back memories?

A brown sugar tart. Yes, I’m from the North! My grandmother made her pastry crust very thin, halfcooked, only slightly crispy. Inside, the brown sugar was melted like, for example, the center of a chocolate fondant just barely cooked. When I close my eyes, the memory of its smell comes back. Even as far as visualizing my grandmother’s kitchen… not only the room, but also the way she moved around in it.

A guilty pleasure to share?

The small waffles from Lille, when they are very fresh. They are like little crepes with vanilla cream on the inside. It’s a real sin, and I know that if I share one with someone, I’ll also have a second… A piece of chocolate is a sin as well, magic, but a more solitary one.

If you were a dessert?

A refreshing sorbet: strawberry, raspberry or wild strawberry. It’s a dessert that is good for digestion while bringing a wonderful sweet flavor to the end of the meal, a moment when one has many different sensations in one’s mouth… it tickles a little.

From "Desserts" Autumn/Winter n°06