October 29, 2010

Gougères

Restaurant: Jacques Reymond (Vic)
Recipe from Cuisine du Temps, Jacques Reymond
2011 Rating: Number 15, 2 Stars

jacques reymond book

I'm setting myself a challenge within a challenge. I recently purchased a copy of Jacques Reymond's book, Cuisine du Temps, for two reasons really 1) He's a hot, older French guy and 2) I'm a sucker for fine dining cook books. I was sitting on the couch flipping through my new purchase deciding on which recipes I wanted to try, so I thought wouldn't it be great if I could cook a three course meal using the recipes in this book. So that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to bring you a three course meal!! Lets start with something easy and most likely extremely yummy....the Gougères. Gougères are savory choux pastry puffs and can be often filled with a multitude of ingredients. In this case they will be serve filling-less. The gougères themselves have been on the Jacques Reymond menu for over 25 years, they gotta be good if they've been on the menu for that long.

So here's the recipe and a picture of what they're supposed to look like. Fingers crossed mine will turn out similar.

gougeres

INGREDIENTS

250ml water
150g butter, cut into small knobs
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
200g plain/all purpose flour
5 eggs at room temperature
120g Gruyere or comte cheese, dices in 1/2cm cubes. Don't use other types of cheese or you won't get the right result. Australian Gruyere is perfectly suitable for this recipe
extra egg, beaten, for egg wash

METHOD

In a large saucepan put water, butter and seasoning and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. It is very important to keep stirring so the butter mixes in with the water; that way when you add the flour the dough forms immediately and it doesn't split.

Once boiling, turn off the heat and add the flour. Combine well and keep stirring for one minutes until dough is compact and well combined. Add eggs one by one using a small mixer at a low speed, or if you do it by hand, keep the dough in the saucepan it has been cooked in. It is very important to have the dough still hot while you incorporate the eggs. Once all the eggs are incorporated, fold through the diced cheese.

Using a tablespoon, spoon onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, with a pastry brush, egg wash the tops - ensure not to let the wash drip down the sides as it will prevent them rising evenly.

Bake in a preheated fan-forced over for approximately 25 minutes at 200C or 180C convection oven.

Take out of the oven as soon as they are cooked so they will stay crispy. Gougères can be eaten straight out of the oven or reheated as required.

This recipe is for 15-18 large gougères because once you put them on the table they will disappear in no time. You can make them any size you wish, but bigger is better.

NOTE: You can also freeze raw gougères. When ready to eat, put them straight into the hot oven, do not defrost them, and allow a few more minutes of cooking time.

8 comments:

Hannah said...

It's like you were reading my mind and then prodded me with the naughty student stick. See, I was reading the recipe, thinking "blue cheese! I'm going to try this with blue cheese!" and then you sternly informed me not to perform any substitutions.

Is it bad that I now feel even more desperate to play around with blue cheese? ;)

My Restaurants Melbourne said...

I have always wanted to go to that place, I'm a huge huge huge fan of Jacques. Where did you purchase the cookbook from? Have you been to his restaurant?

Arwen from Hoglet K said...

Mmm, profiteroles with cheese, yes please!

Maria@TheGourmetChallenge said...

Hi Hannah - hmmmmm blue cheese, that sounds good actually. The stern note on only using gruyere is in the book, I feel like jacques is personally tell me off with that note....best not upset him

Hi Restaurant Melbourne - I bought the book online at better world books....only cost me 30 bukcs....bargain eh? And yes I've been to jacques reymond, just before I started this blog. At the time they were really strict about taking photos in the dining room, I've heard they're a little more relaxed now. Jacques even comes to your table to ask how things are going! Cool huh....very jealous I haven't gone recently

Hi Arwen - I think I have to make a half serve of these, I'm thinking I'll try to eat all of them in one go

Agnes said...

So.... where's my invite to dinner?? ;) Fingers crossed that they turn out out well (I'm sure they will!)

Sarah @ For the Love of Food said...

Good luck - will be watching with interest.

Conor @ Hold the Beef said...

I'm with Hannah on the blue cheese thing. I reckon if we all join forces then Jacques will have to let us do it. We're pretty tough. Grrrr.

Adrian in Food Rehab said...

Still haven't made it to Jacques. IT could be one of two things... a damn mortgage and the recent trip to Japan/Phils! LOL