Andrea Canton- 1 star Michellin Chef
Ristorante La Primula, Pordenone, Italy

I read about the annual World Gourmet Submit about two to three months back and boy was I ecstatic when I found out that the patissiere whom I idolized, Pierre Herme, was going to be in Singapore to give a Masterclass.

I tried to make a reservation on the following day after the tickets were released and to my dismay there was no more seats were snapped up in one evening! Can you imagine my excitement and delight when I received a call a few weeks later to inform me that they have opened a new Pierre Herme Masterclass and I could go after all?

In any case, being greedy and inquisitive, I signed up for two classes at the World Gourmet Submit. Both of which fell on the 19th of April (last Saturday) which marked my foodie weekend.

The first class was by 1-star Michellin Chef, Andrea Canton. He is the heir of a family restarant- La Primula in Pordenone, Italy. He’s been cooking since he was 14! Sometimes, I wished I was born in a country so steeped in food traditions that would allow me to take that route.

Back to the class, Andrea Canton was assisted by Michele Pavanello (chef of Pontini). The session was made fun and intimate (since the class had only about 30 people-both males and females). What struck me was that as much as Canton was shy, he’s just a serious chef who takes pride and respect for food. Michele, on the other hand, was really funny and spontaneous about the tips for cooking.

The first dish taught in that session was Cream of Porcini Mushroom and Beer Soup. As Canton explains that “Cream” refers to the texture of the soup rather than the fact that cream was used in the making of the soup as many diner would mistakenly assume. How true.

Michele explained how we could substitute the (expensive and hard to find) porcini mushrooms with a blend of wild mushrooms in Singapore or purchase frozen dried porcini mushrooms from gourmet grocers as dried mushrooms are more strongly flavoured since their flavour is compactly sealed within them after they are being packed.

As Canton was cooking, I was sitting at the edge of my seat trying to take in the wonderful aromas from the porcini soup. The beer used in the soup actually gave the soup a foamy texture and surprisingly contrasted well with the porcini mushrooms.

The second dish he prepared was a fruit dessert- "Iced" orange with apple and giner espuma. Canton explained that this dish is usually served as a amuse bouche( for a lack of a better description) before the dessert. You can say that this unassuming dessert blew me away. Its simple use of ingredients to create such textures was really surprisingly as it playfully tease your palate.

The “iced” orange was a cross “between a jelly and a jam”, in the chef’s own words. The espuma (in simple terms is known as foam) of apple and ginger was lovely. Basically, the espuma was made using a Siphon that uses compressed liquid nitrogen to create a light foamy texture compact with the taste of apple and ginger. I don’t support molecular gastronomy. It is just vile because I think cooking should be done the traditional way ( I shall leave this angst for another time), but this light teaser was indeed a refreshing dessert.

Simply out of this world.

Cream of Porcini mushroom and Beer soup

"Iced" Orange with Apple and Ginger Espuma

My inspiration- Pierre Herme

After the masterclass, we headed to jones the grocer for lunch and to check out the food stuff they have. I came to a simple conclusion- “Interesting but way overpriced”.

Throughout lunch, I was fidgety as I was overexcited. We arrived at the Pierre Hermé Masterclass at 4pm (half an hour before the class started). I found a large crowd of his fans waiting at the reception already. I hurriedly went to sign myself up and got a tag that says “38”. My head was screaming “What! You mean there are 37 people before me! How am I going to get a good view of Pierre Hermé then!”

Thankfully though, lady luck was with me. I managed to snag a seat in the front row albeit it was on the side. Pierre Hermé came in and I could hear excited whispers and gasps, I felt I was at a “Meet the celebrity” session of some sort.

To give him credit, Pierre Hermé is described as the “Picasso of Pastries”- a name given by the international press. I couldn’t agree better. He was a little shy from the attention he was getting- Totally not what you expect from someone of his stature.

He began to talk about his food and ingredients and you could see why he is a famed pastry chef. He obeys traditional rules in pastry baking but is unafraid of breaking them either.

“Every ingredient is there for a reason. Even the decorations on the pastry- it must serves a purpose in adding to the flavour, texture, temperature and not just for décor sake,” explains Hermé.

If I were to pinpoint which was the most important lesson that I’ve learnt from this session was this very line that I took home with.

I’ve also learnt not to have pre-conceived notions of the pairings of ingredients say chocolates and strawberries. True, these pairings are like a match made in heaven. But Pierre Hermé takes a step further to be a matchmaker. The dessert, Revelation, lives up to its name- Made up of ingredients typically used for savory dishes, this one is way innovative and it lives up to its taste as well.

Pierre Hermé meant for this dish to be a heartily tucked in with friends and he even created a round dish, about 15 cm in height, so that people could buy the entire dessert from his shop.

The base was a tomato and strawberry compote and allowed to be gelatinized. The middle portion was creamy, like the smooth, velvety texture of tiramisu, but with a refreshing light flavour of Italian black olives and the most sparkling extra virgin olive oil. This is then topped with freshly baked tomato puff pastry.

The other dessert is inspired by Pierre Hermé’s collection Mogador. The base is a pâte sucrée which is a sweet pastry crust. Another thing that Pierre Hermé mentioned about this sweet pastry crust is that the taste of it is like being “dotted with salt”- it’s a funny expression but so true as the fleur del sel used will give this added dimension to the dough- just like to his Korova Cookies.

The tarte is filled with a milk chocolate and passionfruit ganache. (And yes, he too swears by Valrhona chocolate.) In the center of the ganache, you will find a flourless chocolate cake-like a pleasant surprise. He explains that the flourless chocolate cake will make this dessert less rich (especially for the health-conscious) and this acts as a “bridge” for the ganache and the pastry dough as it would not be jarring.

The caramelized pineapple was boiled with sweet syrup before roasting in the oven. It was topped by his chocolate macaron. The Tarte Magador is lusciously heavenly and to die for. I wish I could eat this now!

His session lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes. Too short in my opinion but it left me feeling fueled up in my love for baking.

I got to meet my inspiration in person. (Yes I did the fan-girling thing which I thought I’ll never be caught dead doing). I got him to autograph my recipe as well as to take a photo with him. He looked at the notes I had written down next to my recipe as I told him that I LOVED his pastries and that I was serious about learning.

I was walking on air after the session. Hopefully, I will be able to recreate his dessert.

the chef in deep concentration

Revelation and Tarte Magador

Close up shot

Revelation- Tomato Puff Pastry, tomato and strawberry compote, Mascapone Olive Oil Cream, Dried Black Olives

Tarte Magador- Sweet pastry shell, Milk Chocolate and Passionfruit Ganache, Caramelised Pineapple, Flourless Chocolate Cake

How could I end off without putting this up?