TOUR DE SNACKS STAGE 6: THE FINISH LINE
The Tour de Snacks wraps up in cream filled, light puff pastry and hella sweet style. Caleb’s stoked about it.
SECTIONS
I: CHOUX PUFFS
II: WRAP UP
Even if you’re not a cycling purist you know the drill of the last stage of the Tour de France. It kicks off with beers and glasses of champagne over the opening kilometres on the outskirts of Paris, as the professionals undertake a processional cruise towards the heart of the city of love.
Despite it being held almost entirely in a city, the final stage gives you plenty of stunning scenery to take in via the TV choppers. With the racing in a bit of a lull for the first hour or so, plus a later start on account of the twilight finish, there was the chance to jump in the kitchen and have a go at one of Gabriel Gaté’s recommended recipes – the one from the cover no less.
NOW FOR THE RECIPE!
ARE YOU KIDDING? Mr Gaté goes to the effort of formulating such a perfect snack, the required recipe, writes it out, shoots it, puts in a book and publishes it and you think we will give it away for free? Man has been producing and presenting Taste Le Tour for the last 15 years, he deserves some extra bank, so go buy the book.
I: RASPBERRY CHOUX PUFFS
For anybody completely interested in giving it a go, the recipe is actually in three parts. First make the choux pastry as we did (from scratch). Then make the Crème Pâtissière. Finally put them all together with a few other ingredients and Voila!
Before proceeding with this recipe you’d do well to make sure you’ve got access to an oven that is slightly above the most typical example of mid-90’s townhouse oven vibe. For every other aspect of this you will be fine, just make sure you’ve got an hour or so free, and it’s not a week where raspberries are 7 Australian Dollars per 150g punnet. J’Adore!
There are currently 7 types of flour in the Soup HQ Pantry, and 6 different kinds of sugar. But along with no food processor, there is also no icing sugar for some reason. Normally sprinkle these with icing sugar to finish and serve up straight away. Or do what we did and make half for eating now, half to go in the fridge for later – we can verify they will still be nice the following evening.
All that is left to do is kick back and watch the final hour of the Tour de France while men battle it out for title honours at the Champs-Élysées crit.
II: POST TOUR WRAP UP
All those late nights have fucked with your sleeping pattern, as such you haven’t seen a proper morning in weeks. To get back into the swing of it we personally recommend getting up and out early, pushing yourself to live with concentrated levels of sleep deprivation for the first few days so you can hit the straight and narrow by weeks end. For a couple members of our crew? A rare meeting south of the river, a stones throw from the famous and historic Soup Park Laps.
Entrecôte, Le Derrière
By all means head into a place that calls itself a Parisian Steak House if that’s your breakfast vibe at 7.30am. Also run that gauntlet if being in a room of geriatrics is your vibe. If not, mad; follow the arrow on the corner of the building and you’ll find “The Bum” of Entrecôte. A few seats and tables, takeaway coffees, French pastries, mini quiches and baguettes are on offer. Pair individual bites of your Quiche Lorraine with single sips of a Soy Hot Chocolate like we saw one gentleman do. The Southside is fucked sometimes.
Thanks for joining us on this wondrous journey through France during the month of July. Once again we extend a big thanks to our Saint in the Kitchen; Gabriel Gaté for providing us with the advice and insight we needed to elevate our snacking experience during the last few weeks of late nights. Also a big shout out to the riders for making the race as exciting as it was, but still being so kind as to take their foot off the gas at just the right time to allow us to cook up a storm in our respective kitchens.
Au Revoir!