INDULGING ABROAD
Robyn Lee travels the world searching for sweets and telling us all about it.
When most people hear the word macaroon, they think of a chewy mound of shredded coconut, lightly sweetened and held together by egg whites. That’s not what I’m talking about. The macaron that I will expound upon this week is a dainty French cream-filled sandwich cookie which, in its best form, will fill your soul with warm, fuzzy happiness after one bite. Pronounce “macaron” like a French person to a non-French person and you’ll have to repeat yourself, perhaps multiple times, until the back of your throat aches from forming one too many rolled Rs. The English word macaroon is derived from the French macaron, which in turn comes from the Italian maccherone, or “fine dough.” The macaron’s origin isn’t clear, but it may have been brought to France from Italy as early as 1533 by Catherine di Medici and her pastry chefs.
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Macarons gained fame in 1792 when two Carmelite nuns seeking asylum in Nancy during the French Revolution baked and sold macarons in order to support themselves, thus becoming known as “the macaron sisters.” The macarons they made were a simple combination of ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar. No special flavors. No filling. Just 100% cookie. It wasn’t until the 1900s that founder of Parisian pastry shop and café Ladurée, Pierre Desfontaines, decided to take two cookies and fill them with ganache. Today Ladurée continues to be one of the first stops for macaron-crazed fans in Paris. No longer a humble almond cookie, the macaron turned into a versatilely flavored treat with a thin, light crust briefly giving way to a layer of moist almond meringue following by a center of silky smooth filling. Although I don’t consider myself to be a picky eater, I do have specific guidelines for the qualities a macaron must possess in order to be deemed “excellent.” Will I eat a macaron that lacks excellence? Probably—it’s hard to make a macaron taste repulsive. But I won’t be very happy about it. The cookie-to-filling ratio should be between 1:1 and 2:1. I have seen the atrocity that is a thin layer of filling spread upon one cookie, or a blob of filling that fails to extend to the edge of the cookie. Not cool, man, not cool. I feel like this is one of the easiest problems to “correct” when
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making a macaron; if the filling looks skimpy, just squeeze in a bit more. Just a bit! But no. We are frequently denied this extra squeezing. The filling should be smooth, firm like ganache, light, and not sticky. Aside from a few wayward crumbs, eating a macaron should be clean. Filling shouldn’t squish out of the cookie nor should it leave much residue on your teeth. This may not apply to all fillings, such as caramel or jams. The texture and surface of the cookie should be very smooth. Bumps show that the almond wasn’t ground finely enough or wasn’t sifted to take out the chunks. A chunky macaron might taste okay, but a finer one tastes better. The crust of the cookie should be thin and only provide the most useless protection against the soft cookie layer underneath. Biting through the crust should be effortless. A dry, semi-hard crust that shatters into the soft center of the cookie is not fun. The cookie’s texture beneath the crust should be light, a little chewy, and soft, but not so soft that it’s mushy. It’s okay if the cookie looks uncooked. As much as I love sugar, sweetness shouldn’t take over in a macaron. They come in a wide variety of flavors for a reason—so you can taste the flavor. Cloying sweetness that forms a lump in the back of your throat is a no-no.
by Lisa Turner
For thousands of years, we’ve been obsessed with chocolate. It is used as a source of cheer and consolation, a potent stimulant, a display of our affection. We’re so smitten that sales in the United States are forecast to reach $18 billion by the year 2011, topping even brewed coffee sales. We’ve even coined a word for our passion: chocoholic, meaning one who is fond of chocolate to the point of addiction, is an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. 47
Our consuming passion for chocolate began with ancient Mesoamerican civilizations. The food we now adore comes from the Theobroma cacao tree, which grows wild in the tropical rain forests of Mexico, Central America, and South America. In Mayan and Aztec cultures, the seeds of the tree were roasted, crushed, combined with chiles, ground almonds, cornmeal, hot water, and a variety of local herbs and spices. The resulting beverage was, xocolatl (pro-
nounced show-co-latl), so highly prized, it was reserved solely for nobility and warriors. Though Christopher Columbus introduced cocoa beans to Europe, it was Hernán Cortés who made them famous. In 1528, he returned to Spain from Mexico with his ships over-flowing with cocoa beans. After making a few adjustments on the original xocolatl, Cortés introduced the beverage to King Charles V. The royal
court of Spain was smitten, and the beverage became an overnight hit, a delicacy reserved for Spanish royalty. In 1643, the Spanish princess Maria Theresa presented an ornate chest filled with cocoa beans to King Louis XIV of France as an engagement gift, and chocolate was thus introduced to the French court. Word of the beverage soon spread throughout Europe, and chocolate’s popularity skyrocketed.
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For over 300 years, chocolate was consumed in the New World almost exclusively as a beverage. In the 1830s, a British chocolate maker added more cocoa butter to the ground beans to make a chewable candy. With further refining—milk was added, filling procedures were developed—the chocolate candy market was born.
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farms where chocolate is grown and harvested in ways that exploit farm workers, damage the environment, and endanger children. Meanwhile, chocolate became increasingly adulterated, with the addition of ingredients like cheap fats, refined sugar, and artificial ingredients. A handful of A merican chocolate makers, determined to restore chocolate to its superior quality, began sourcing and producing organic and fair-trade chocolate, with only the best ingredients available.
In 1911 Frank and Ethel Mars began making the first mass-produced American chocolate, including M&Ms, the Mars bar, and a vast array of other sweets. The widespread availability of cheap chocolate further boosted its popularity. And our obsession was soon born.
Now, chocolate is returning to its original status of prized delicacy and gourmet confection.
But all was not well in the world of chocolate. The increasing demand prompted the rise of commercial
And as history repeats itself, we’re finding that our passionate pursuit has a very happy ending.
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