Philippe Conticini

It’s extremely important! In pastry-making, it’s an element that is as essential as butter, sugar, flour and eggs. I use hundreds of kilos of it every month. This is the case even if I use less today, since in the 1980s I invented a 50% milk-60% cream emulsion for mousse. Because when I eat a strawberry mouse, I want to encounter this flavour of the little siflorette strawberry in a spoon, covered in whipping cream, that mixes in the mouth with the strawberry juice that has just exploded on the taste buds, along with the sweetness of cream that rounds out the acidity of the fruit. For a long time, I looked for a structure that was neutral in taste that provided body, that balanced the acidity, but that fully gave way to the strawberry. My halfcream, half-milk emulsion, which is very low in butterfat, has a neutral flavour, but holds as well as the beaten egg whites and allows me to create lighter mousses and ultimately have exactly what I want in the mouth.

I draw from the vast field of potential and prepare it in all possible ways: basic, beaten in a Chantilly for mousselines, creams. Together with a reduced juice. In a ganache or a crème brûlée, it’s necessary to just use a little. The same applies for a buttercream frosting: with a compressor gun to be able to control the thickness, which influences the taste. For this, I just want it to function as a decoration. Also, cream is important for my biscuits, where it contributes moisture and is a vehicle for flavour.

There are a thousand and one ways to use cream, just like sugar! Mostly liquid, in some preparations. Also in clafoutis, which is a priority this year. I’ve experimented with tons of cream for this and finally hit on a heavy cream, because the acidity is different. I wanted to respect this idea – a structure and a memory – that I had of the little clafoutis. For the vanilla biscuit, I tasted no less than 7 or 8 creams. I use cream for the structure, taste, the reaction in the oven, etc. I take it to the limit and the next limit and the next! So when I use it, I know exactly what I want, why and how.

Madly, of course, because it has been so important in my career, my life, my work. It and everything that it forms contributes a thousand different things. I analyse it completely and all of its components make it possible for me to structure my pastries. I adore the taste of cream.

Hmm… the Saint Honoré, with the cream that I make (85% cream to 15% mascarpone). Or the Agache, a cake by an Austrian pastry chef, Rue Poncelet.