Chefs at le Meridien hotel have introduced desi flavours of éclairs. A Banerjee tastes jaggery ginger, rose cardamom and kalakand and finds out that fusion should not always be carried to ridiculous extremes
Eclairs, generally thought to have originated in France, is an oblong pastry made with choux dough filled with cream and topped with icing. The dough is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside. Once it is cool, the pastry is filled with sweetened crème patisserie (whipped cream) and then iced with a flavoured fondant. literally, it means a flash of lighting in French because people usually eat it quickly, ‘in a flash’ being the operative term.
Considering its popularity, le Meridien has launched its first ever Global Éclair Programme in partnership with American pastry chef Jhonny luzzini, who is the newest addition to the lM100 club, which included a hundred consulting specialist of the hotel chain. He is also a television celebrity and a cookbook author. Over a 12-month period, Johnny is set to create eight signature éclair recipes exclusively for le Méridien inspired by his travels throughout the hotel’s destinations. The series is titled The Éclair Diaries and it starts with his travels around San Francisco, where he finds an inspiration for his first éclair recipe to be unveiled this Sunday. The programme in New Delhi is being helmed by the in-house pastry chef, Vikas Shrivastava.
The interesting twist is that the usual flavours of coffee, vanilla and chocolate are getting paired up with seasonal ingredients that are available locally. “The destination inspired éclairs is a novel take on the Parisian pastry where our chefs and the guests are being encouraged to explore their palate pleasing creativity,” says the chief operating officer Tarun Takral.
When you bite into an éclair, it is essential that the filling go down smoothly with the icing accompanied by a cup of coffee. The items on the menu are inspired by the diversity of Indian cuisine, where the chosen ingredients represent the variety that is associated with it. Jaggery ginger, rose cardamom and clotted cream (kalakand) are the flavours from Delhi among which kalakand seems to have quite a few fans. The filling and topping both have just the right amount of sugar, a balance that is hard to achieve when attempting a fusion dessert recipe. Ginger, a spice usually used to brew tea, enhance flavour of the food, is probably not the best choice for a jaggery éclair. The flavours are in contrast. Rose and cardamom turn out to be a bit too sweet but it’s quite a good combination.
The Chennai le Royal Meridien has given their exclusive input to the event — hazelnut tamarind éclair. Tamarind’s unusual pairing with hazelnut doesn’t hit the right notes. The ginger feels too warm a spice to be added to a non-savoury item.
Coconut jaggery cardamom from le Meridien Kochi is a surprising twist on the palate as the flavours really blend well and it turns out to be the second in line after the kalakand éclairs. In the other non-regional flavours, there are vanilla, coffee and chocolate.