Mentor to Pierre Hermé and Michel Richard, pastry chef Gaston Lenôtre was one of the first to make desserts less heavy, and his 40-year-old recipes stand the test of time
- Even chocolate truffles taste better when you make them yourself, chef Gaston Lenôtre says in the preface to his cookbook Lenôtre’s Ice Creams and Candies
- Lenôtre was among the first dessert chefs to focus on purity of flavour. His book contains recipes for classics such as baked Alaska, profiteroles and sorbet
Gaston Lenôtre came a long way from the little farm in Normandy where he was born, in 1920. By the time the French pastry chef died, in 2009, he had a cooking school, and an empire of shops, not just in France, but also in countries such as Japan, Germany and Kuwait.
In the preface to Lenôtre’s Ice Creams and Candies (1979), Lenôtre wrote: “This book is for people who like parties and who like to make special things for others. Every meal can be festive when your own home-made ice creams are in the freezer; children’s snacks can turn into parties (they love to help make candies); and a family meal becomes a special occasion when you serve a frozen vacherin or frozen soufflé, then offer home-made candies to add to the feeling of festivity created by these special treats.
“Candies and chocolates – the ideal gift for friends and relatives – take on a very special importance when you make them yourself; they never go unappreciated […]
“Don’t think that making ice cream and candy is complicated. If you read the general comments which precede each section of this book, you should have no trouble whatever in following the recipes, and whether they be for ice creams, which you may have made before, or candies, such as chocolate cherries, chocolate thistles, or chocolate truffles, you’ll be surprised at how quickly and easily you master the techniques involved.
Although the photos in the book look rather old-fashioned (it was written more than 40 years ago), in his time Lenôtre was considered modern and innovative, and he is widely thought to have been one of the first to make desserts less heavy and focus on purity of flavour. Notable pastry chefs who worked for Lenôtre include Pierre Hermé and Michel Richard.
“Most important here, as in pastry, is the quality of the ingredients. You must first learn to know what you are buying and how to choose the best products: the taste of an ice cream or a sherbet, whether it is good or bad, depends absolutely on the taste of the fruit or cream that went into it, so if the fruit you use is of the best quality, full of flavour, and perfectly ripe and your cream is fresh and sweet, you have all the chances in the world of making desserts everyone will rave about.”
Recipes in the book include champagne sorbet, coffee granité, frozen Grand Marnier soufflés, frozen strawberry or raspberry vacherin, profiteroles, frozen rice pudding with apricots, baked Alaska, chocolate-coated ice cream on a stick, passion fruit sundae, bitter orange marmalade, vanilla-flavoured caramels, brandied cherries, black currant liqueur, raspberry jellies, black currant fondant candies, and Norman chocolate truffles.
