Christmas is fast approaching and here in France that means the spotlight is on the traditional Yule log, or Bûche de Noël. This week, the magazine Fou de Pâtisserie held its annual awards ceremony, including prizes for the sweet creation of the year and the Palace Log. We speak to this year's winner Jordan Talbot, who is head pastry chef under Jérôme Banctel at La Réserve Paris and Eugenie Pont, trophy director for Fou de Pâtisserie.
A programme produced by Amanda Alexander, Marina Pajovic and Georgina RobertsonRecipes can be found here.
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A programme produced by Amanda Alexander, Marina Pajovic and Georgina RobertsonRecipes can be found here.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, Christmas is fast approaching and here in France, that means in the spotlight is
00:04the traditional Yule Log or Bûche de Noël.
00:08This week, the magazine Fou de Patisserie held its annual award ceremony, including
00:12prizes for the sweet creation of the year and the Palace Log, which goes to a pastry
00:17chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant for their Bûche de Noël.
00:21This year, it was awarded to Jordan Talbot, who's the head pastry chef under Jérôme
00:26Bontel at La Réserve Paris.
00:28He joins me on set now.
00:30Congratulations to you.
00:32Tell us about your creation, which is called L'Etoile Gabrielle.
00:36Our Bûche de Noël is composed of crispy cacao and fleur de sel, chocolate cookie and
00:43biquette crème, chocolate mousse Grand Cru.
00:48On the top, it is a chocolate bar with caramel fleur de sel.
00:53Sounds delicious.
00:54Also with you in the studio is Eugénie Epon, who's the trophy director at Fou de Patisserie.
01:00Tell us about the awards ceremony, then.
01:03How do you decide?
01:05Just to explain, we decided to create this award four years ago because we, as Bédiard
01:11Fou de Patisserie, we are meeting a lot of chefs all over the year from all over France
01:18and we see the creativity of the chefs.
01:22So we wanted to shine the light on creativity and have different categories and reward this
01:31creativity and these chefs who are doing an amazing job.
01:34All right.
01:35Well, that sounds like my dream job, to be able to taste all of these wonderful, sweet
01:40treats.
01:41But how exactly do you vote?
01:43I imagine it's a little bit more complicated than just tasting.
01:46Exactly.
01:47But we are not voting.
01:48The redaction, the Fou de Patisserie redaction team is nominating four chefs per category.
01:56We have different categories, ice cream, chocolate, pastry creation, etc.
02:03And we are gathering a jury that we are creating and composed of star chefs and media experts.
02:14They have a registration where they are voting.
02:19It's an anonymous vote and the tasting, sorry, the tasting is anonymous, not the vote.
02:25But this is a secret ballot supervised by a bailiff.
02:30And the winners are revealed at the ceremony.
02:33All right.
02:34And Jordan, let's go back to you.
02:35I want to ask, what exactly does this award mean for you?
02:39It is a really great recognition for me and my team at the hotel.
02:46It is fabulous.
02:49And where did you get the idea for the Etoile Gabriel?
02:52L'Etoile Gabriel, it is a tribute for the optician for the Suisse Michelin star at Le
03:02Gabriel, the restaurant Suisse Michelin star for Jérôme Bontel at La Réserve Paris.
03:08And so how do you get imagination every year?
03:11How do you keep coming up with new things?
03:15It is my first ever bush.
03:18My first aspiration for the moment, it is the hotel.
03:24And usually you have 10 Yule log recipes in your magazine.
03:29Does this mean that people are making their own at home more and more?
03:32I mean, it sounds awfully complicated.
03:34It is complicated, but it's not that complicated.
03:39And that's why we want to give access to passionate and to people who want to make good bakeries
03:45and pastries at home.
03:48So yes, in the magazine, every two months, we have a lot of recipes.
03:52And this last issue, we have a different recipe of Yule log, sorry.
04:01And we have different level.
04:03So you have because everybody is not at the same level, of course.
04:08So we have the recipe of Jordan in the magazine and he has the extreme generosity to give
04:16us the recipe and you have different levels.
04:18So it's really accessible for everybody.
04:23And just on that, I'd like to see a little bit more of what you've created.
04:27If you can just turn that towards the camera.
04:31We see there on the top, the decoration and inside, you said it's got biscuits and other
04:37different layers.
04:38This is a chocolate tablet on the side, on the top.
04:43And this is a biscuit with mousse and praline and caramel.
04:50It's a mix of chocolate and buckwheat.
04:53So it's amazing.
04:56It's beautiful, of course.
04:59It's like a jewel.
05:00This is amazing to see what the chef can create.
05:05And obviously, you want to put it on your table for Christmas.
05:08Absolutely.
05:09It's like a decoration in itself.
05:11Jordan, I believe that you read Fou De Patisserie as you were starting out in the industry.
05:17Was there something in particular that helped you as you were making your way?
05:22Yes, I'm inspired for looking the magazine and the parkour for the chef.
05:31I make the recipes in the magazine for my experience.
05:36All right.
05:38And the holiday season is obviously a very busy time of year for restaurants and hotels.
05:43How do you try to make the Christmas period special for your customers?
05:49Hmm.
05:50You, I think you, Jérôme Bantel, the cooking chef who won the three stars this year.
05:59It's an amazing experience to go to La Réserve because you see what Jordan is able to create.
06:07And Jérôme is a magician.
06:09So this is typical, the kind of place you can have an amazing experience around food,
06:16but also because the place is amazing.
06:18And this is like a little cocoon, you know, and this is very great food and atmosphere.
06:28And this is a dream.
06:29All right.
06:30Well, thank you very much, Jordan Talbot.
06:33And congratulations again for L'Etoile Gabrielle.
06:36And thank you, Eugenie Pond, for coming in.
06:38And for our viewers, they can get all those recipes and details in the magazine Fou De
06:43Patisserie.