Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

CELEBRITY pastry chef Yann Brys, an ambassador of the French dairy brand Elle & Vire, shared the recipes of five prized desserts with local chefs and fans at the brand’s Shenzhen kitchen June 6. Brys, honored as a “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” (Best French Craftsman) in 2011, used quality cream, butter, and other ingredients from Elle & Vire to create five appealing desserts for summer at the event, attended by several dozen pastry chefs and aficionados from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

With a projection screen helping to showcase the details of creating these desserts, Brys led the audience through every meticulous step of the process, answering questions along the way, with his assistant serving as the interpreter.

One of the five desserts, especially charming and catering to the Chinese palate, is a jasmine tea cake. This dessert features a smooth cream laced with jasmine tea and a sour-sweet raspberry and grapefruit paste, offering a lingering fragrance in the mouth.

During the demonstration, Brys also showcased his signature Tourbillon technique, created in 2009 and since emulated by other chefs. This technique involved laying a palm-sized cake at the center of a swirling plate, then squeezing lime-flavored ganache onto its top. The centrifugal force caused the ganache to form a pretty even swirl.

The attendees also sampled a black chocolate swirl cake, a guava-flavored mousse tart, and a delightful peach-flavored ball-shaped cake. Brys’ attention to detail and superb skills impressed the audience, with many expressing their intent to try the recipes at their bakeries.

A bakery owner surnamed Wu from the neighboring city of Huizhou, who is a big fan and a frequent attendee at Elle & Vire kitchen events, said, “I will definitely try to make these desserts in my bakery, and I’m confident that our clients will love them.” He also mentioned that Elle & Vire regularly organizes classes for clients and pastry enthusiasts.

Brys, who has his own boutique in Paris, serves as a pastry consultant creating dessert menus for establishments like Hôtel Nolinski. In his role as an ambassador for Elle & Vire, Brys aims to share his innovations with new and veteran chefs, inspiring them to pursue excellence in line with the legacy brand’s motto.

He said, “The brand promotes the idea of following the path of excellence, through time and patience, and encourages chefs to continue learning and exploring new ideas.”

Elle & Vire, initially established in Normandy in northwestern France in 1945, produces quality dairy products sourced from local farms, benefiting from the exceptional terrain and climate of the region. The brand operates the Maison de l’Excellence (House of Excellence), which is a pastry chef training center at Viroflay near the French capital, and also has R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai, in addition to another kitchen in Shanghai.