Real Food Has Curves

So I know you're ready. For the grand finale, of course. For the whole thing to come together. For a Paris-Brest. For the best of the best.

OK, stick with me here. A great old dessert requires a bit of work. (As if you didn't know.) On this final post of the three, we're going to make two things: crème pâtissière and crème Chantilly. Wow. More and more cream. Mostly because it's a beverage.

To start, make crème pâtissière (crem pah-tee-see-air)--aka, pastry cream. Bring 2 cups milk to a low simmer in a big saucepan over medium heat. Bubbles should fizz around the inside of the pan and whiffs of steam should rise off the milk's surface.

And now a confession: Bruce uses fat-free milk. I suppose whole milk would be even better. I wouldn't know. I keep fat-free milk on hand because it froths better for my latte every morning. (Not for any horrid diet reason, mind you.) So he always uses that milk. And his crème pâtissière has always been great. (Although I hear eyes rolling collectively all across France.)

As the milk heats up, beat 6 large egg yolks, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed until the mixture lightens considerably, until it thickens enough that it looks like batter, and until you can make little ribbons that fall from the turned-off beaters and onto the remainder in the bowl, ribbons that don't immediately dissolve back in. Basically, it starts out looking like this:

And ends up, after up to 5 minutes, looking like this:

Once you're at that stage, beat in 1/2 cup all-purpose flour.

When the milk is hot, beat about half of it into the yolk mixture, adding it in a slow, steady stream with the beaters going at medium speed. Scrape down the inside of the bowl, then beat this combined mixture into the remaining milk in the saucepan.

Set the saucepan back over medium heat and bring the mixture to a slow simmer, whisking ALL THE WHILE. Don't stop. You don't have to go nuts and whisk until your arm hurts, but you've got to keep it moving over the heat or the crème pâtissière will scorch. Once you see a bubble or two, reduce the heat to low and continue whisking for a couple minutes at a very low bubble. Make sure you get into the corners of the saucepan as you whisk.

Pour the crème pâtissière into a bowl and place a sheet of plastic wrap on top to keep it from forming a skin (like pudding). If you're in any doubt about there might be bits of scrambled egg in the mixture, run it through a fine-mesh sieve as you put it into the bowl. Cool to room temperature, about 2 hours--or set it in the fridge as a make-ahead and let it keep chilled for up to 2 days.

To turn the crème pâtissière into the filling for the Paris-Brest, first whir up that nougatine (it's made here) in a food processor until it's the consistency of coarse sand, then fold it into the crème pâtissière. Voilà, much fancier stuff, called crème pralinée (crem prah-lee-nay), .

You're almost there. Cut the cake in half to make two layers. Try to slice right through the middle, rather than just cutting off the thinner top ring you piped onto the two rings below. Gently remove the top layer and set it aside. Set the bottom half on a serving platter. Then fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip with the crème pralinée and pipe this all over the bottom layer, making an even layer of luscious, almond-brittle laced pastry cream.

And one final thing: make crème Chantilly (crem shan-tee-yee)--aka, sweetened whipped cream. In other words, beat about 2 cups whipping or heavy cream with 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar with an electric mixer at high speed in a big bowl until it forms slightly firm whipped cream.

Note that Bruce's version of crème Chantilly for the Paris-Brest is not too sweet. After all, the crème pralinée is. So there's no reason to overdo it. Or not much of one. Isn't a Paris-Brest overdoing it anyway?

Clean and dry your pastry bag, then fill it with whipped cream and pipe this over the top of the crème pralinée. This time, a fluted tip might be best to make those classic ruffles. But honestly, you're just wanting a slice right about now, no?

Set the top back in place on the cake. Gently. Lord, don't press it down. And then dust the whole thing with a little confec-tioners' sugar. And you're done. You can leave it at room temperature for a couple hours. Or you can loosely cover it with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge for several more hours. Make sure you have a sharp knife to slice it for servings.

And any leftovers? Don't even worry about it.