00:00Well, summer is here, and with it, one of France's most glamorous vacation spots is starting to spring back to life.
00:06That's the southern seaside city of Saint-Tropez.
00:09Now, Saint-Tropez is famous as a playground for the rich and famous,
00:13but it's also known among pastry lovers as the birthplace of La Tropézienne.
00:19The cream-filled dessert is a regular summer favorite.
00:21To talk more about it now, I'm joined on the set by pastry chef Maëva Marchand.
00:25Hi, Maëva. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
00:28So, voilà La Tropézienne. So, give us a little bit of the background.
00:31Where was it invented? How did it get its name?
00:34Actually, that was invented in Saint-Tropez by a Polish immigrant called Aleksander Mika.
00:41So, he was inspired by his grandmother's pastries.
00:46So, he came to Saint-Tropez and made this excellent pastry.
00:51And actually, the very famous Brigitte Bardot came to Saint-Tropez to shoot a movie of Roger Valdim.
01:03And she loved that pastry and said to Aleksander,
01:07Oh, you have to call that La Tarte Tropézienne.
01:10And the rest is history, as they say.
01:12And I was in 1955, I think.
01:16And what's so great about the Tropézienne is it actually, when you look at it,
01:19it looks quite heavy, quite filling, but it's actually very light and summery.
01:23So, tell us a bit more about what's in it and how you make it.
01:26That's a very light balance between a very light brioche and a very light cream.
01:32So, overall, that's a very, very light dessert to eat when it's hot outside.
01:40So, that's a very, very summery dessert.
01:43And it's all about the cream, which is very important. As you can see, there's a lot of it.
01:47So, what's the trick to making a cream filling for a Tropézienne?
01:51How is it different from other cream fillings?
01:52So, you have two teams for the Tropézienne.
01:55You have the team who made it with only the Chantilly, so with cream.
02:00And you can make that with a crème pâtissière with some whipped cream, which is called Diplomate.
02:08And a very common trick to make it, you have to put Chantilly inside the vanilla custard, right?
02:17So, you have to have the same consistency between the Chantilly and the vanilla custard.
02:23That's the only trick.
02:25So, if you're interested in knowing about pastry creams,
02:27there's a whole article in a magazine, Fous de Patisserie, which is out now in English that you can check out
02:32that talks all about the different creams.
02:34But let's get back to the Tropézienne right now.
02:37How do you fill it? How do you make it look like this?
02:40So, that's very, very simple, actually.
02:42You have the brioche. So, you cut it in half.
02:45You put some syrup inside that's already made.
02:48What is that, sugar and water?
02:49That's sugar and water, like 50% sugar, 50% water, a little boiling, and that's it.
02:57You put it in the fridge for two hours.
02:59You have to have a cold syrup.
03:03And after, you pipe, very gentle, only the contour.
03:13It's beautiful.
03:14Maïva, how did you first become a pastry chef?
03:16I mean, I think I read you started off in neurobiology?
03:19Yeah, actually, I was in neurobiology before, and I took a gap year between my master and my PhD.
03:27And I passed my diploma in pastry between this year, during this year.
03:34Oops.
03:35That's the advantage of being a pastry chef.
03:38So, I show you that's very, very simple and very delicious.
03:44So, I took a gap year between my master degree and my PhD and passed my diploma during this year.
03:50And I never came back to my PhD.
03:53And since then, you have co-created a bakery in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, which is called the Union Bakery.
03:58You've had a lot of success.
04:00I know, among other things, here, I'm just going to whip out some more pastries.
04:03You make something called a pain suisse, which also has a different kind of cream in it.
04:08And then this thing is called an apple bomb, which won the trophy pastry creation of the year last year.
04:14So, congratulations.
04:15Tell us a bit more about these two and how you go about creating new pastries.
04:19So, creating a new pastry, that's teamwork, actually.
04:24So, we made like maybe four or five meetings during the year with all the team.
04:32And everyone gives some ideas.
04:36Actually, the apple bomb, that's me, but that's a very little detail.
04:41That's a very long process.
04:44That's a creation for a pastry that's like between two weeks, from two weeks to two months.
04:51For the apple bomb, that was two months.
04:53That was very difficult to make because there is some apple compote inside.
04:58And apple, like when you cook them, it gives a very large amount of water.
05:05So, you have to kind of cook more before putting in the chausson.
05:11But that's a very, very long process.
05:14Baking is a lot of chemistry, too, I imagine.
05:16I mean, it's a lot about doing things exactly right.
05:19We were talking about the creams before.
05:20So, this one here, here we go, let me show it.
05:22The pain suisse, the Swiss bread, that's got another kind of cream in it.
05:27That's got another kind of cream in it as well.
05:29What's the difference between the cream that's in this one and the cream that's in the trapezium?
05:32Actually, the cream here, that's just a vanilla custard with some chocolate chip.
05:37And in the trapezium, that's chantilly or a diplomat.
05:44And a diplomat is vanilla custard with some whipped cream inside.
05:48So, what's it like when you work as a baker or a pastry chef?
05:51What's a typical day like for you?
05:53For me, there is no typical day because I'm a co-founder.
05:58And we will open a second shop at the end of the year.
06:01So, there is like a lot of work right now.
06:04But for a pastry chef, actually, you come between 5 and 6 a.m.
06:11You make all the cake for the day.
06:14And after, you do the mep, mise en place, for the next day.
06:18Mise en place means the preparation for the next day.
06:20For the cream, for the compote, and so on.
06:23And when you're home, when you're not working, do you bake at all?
06:26Yeah.
06:27A lot as well?
06:28Yeah.
06:29What's your favorite thing to make?
06:30I think for the baking part, just regular like cake, fruit cake.
06:36Especially in that kind of moment when it's summer, you have a lot of good fruits.
06:43So, maybe a clafoutis.
06:45A clafoutis.
06:46And I actually read that France's favorite pastry is a fruit tart.
06:50Yeah.
06:51It's actually, the French, it's the thing they like the most.
06:52But, you know what, I'm going to have to say, I am going to like the trapezienne.
06:55Should we try one?
06:56Yes, of course.
06:57You want a knife?
06:58A knife?
06:59Who needs a knife?
07:00Go on, help yourself.
07:03I guess with this, we will say cheers.
07:05We're going to take a quick break.
07:06Of course.
07:07We're going to eat this baby.
07:08We're going to eat this baby.
07:09We'll see you in a few minutes.
07:10Cheers.
07:11Cheers.
07:12Bye.
07:13You're watching France 24.
07:14Stay with us.
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