Believe you me, I ain't no Cannelé Connoisseur. But I can discern a good quality cannelé from a shhmeh cannelé. The blurbs I've inserted into the photos above speak for themselves. According to San Francisco editor of TastingTable.com, Scott Hocker, "the perfect canelé is all about a contrast of textures." The cannelé at Balthazar Bakery, however, had a soft exterior and a moist, spongy interior. No contrast of textures in this cannelé. Nope. No crunch/crackle could be heard as I bit into it. How sad. What's more, the cannelé's custard-y interior (though moist) was sweeter than necessary.
[top vid] Here I am, on an e-z breezy Autumn day along Broadway in NYC... trying Balthazar's cannelé for the first time. The sistrens be at it again!!! [bottom vid] A shnacktime foodisode of my favourite cannelé, from Chabichou, a cheese shop/café in Toronto. Small and crunchy and not sickly sweet.
Hey, canneles are only crunchy after they cool for about 8 hours. After that the moisture from the inside makes the outside soggy. To fix, just pop in the oven for a little to dehydrate the outside, and let cool. The inside obviously won't be as moist but still good.
ReplyDelete@eab: Thanks for your comment. Good to know! I've always expected canneles to stay crunchy on the outside. I guess they're ideally supposed to be enjoyed within 8 hours of being baked, huh?
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