The Profiterole

Appears in

From Scratch: 10 Meals, 175 Recipes, and Dozens of Techniques You Will Use Over and Over

Published 2019

About

In the world of the professional restaurant, there is a long-standing divide between the savory kitchen and the pastry kitchen. Often the savory cooks will denigrate the pastry cooks as being too froufrou, and pastry chefs will denigrate the cooks as imprecise cretins. It’s always in good fun, especially as savory cooks tend to be imprecise cretins and it takes considerably more skill (and decorum) to be an excellent pastry chef than it does to be an excellent savory chef.

The fact is, very few savory chefs become famous pastry chefs (Stephen Durfee did it at the French Laundry, out of necessity, and he created some desserts that are still renowned). Michel Richard was one of the best pastry chefs in both his native country, France, and his adopted country, America, and he went on to be every bit as innovative in the savory world at his many restaurants. But it’s hard to think of many others with that kind of ambidextrous virtuosity.