Desserts

A. J. Liebling in Between Meals describes a dessert served at Maillabuau’s in Paris, 1927: “The omelette au kirsch was the sole dessert he ever permitted to be served, he said. He was against sweets on principle, since they were ‘not French,’ but the omelette was light and healthy. It contained about two dozen eggs.”

M. Maillabuau’s comment is as amusingly preposterous as an omelette made with two dozen eggs. French desserts are peerless; the restaurateur happened to have been a chef, not a pâtissier. I am not against desserts on principle; it’s just that my passion for them cooled at the end of my adolescence. The art of the pastry chef is a very special one and requires a long apprenticeship. Besides that, it’s a gift; being a crack sauce-maker doesn’t guarantee you’ll ever succeed with puff paste.