Paris-Brest

WHAT? A wheel treat. Since the summer of 1891—long before the Tour de France was even a twinkle in the Gallic eye— France has celebrated another arduous bicycle race, which stretches from Paris to the coastal town of Brest and back again. It took the winner of the inaugural event 72 long hours to traverse the Herculean 1,200-kilometer course, though competitors in more recent years who have forgone sleep to bike the route nonstop have completed the race in as few as 44 hours. To honor the racers in the very first Paris-Brest, a baker along the route designed a cake in the image of a bicycle wheel, naming it after the competition. Today, this ring-shaped pastry is made with pâte à choux and is traditionally filled with a praline-flavored pastry cream called crème Saint-Honoré. The delicious delicacy is finished with a dusting of powdered sugar and sprinkled with almonds. This month, the chefs being honored by Louisiana Cookin’ magazine will be serving their version of the celebratory classic with a cappuccino crème anglaise.

WHEN? July 17, Louisiana Cookin’

Pipette

WHAT? A dose of flavor. From sushi-flavored edible paper to prosciutto cotton candy, chefs all over the world are using tools usually found in scientific laboratories to create cutting-edge food. “In this realm,” wrote Frank Bruni in the New York Times, “centrifuges, dehydrators and chemical and technological transmogrification of food are not reviled methods of corporate kitchens, but paths to discovery.” Ferran Adrià of El Bulli in Spain, for example, uses liquid nitrogen to make his caipirinhas. José Andrés of Minibar at Café Atlantico in Washington, D.C., serves a lightbulb made of spun sugar. And Homaro Cantu of Moto in Chicago has tried to make his food levitate with a hand-held ion particle gun. One avant-garde, though less futuristic, tool that recently we’ve been seeing more of is the pipette, a dainty dropper usually used in labs to transport small volumes of liquids. On the plate, pipettes provide diners with a tiny, but powerful, boost of flavor in an innovative presentation. This month at the Beard House, chef James Wierzelewski from Vix at the Hotel Victor in Miami Beach, Florida, will keep guests on their toes with an hors d’oeuvre of marinated shrimp with avocado and tomatillo pipettes and an interlude of lemon, thyme, and buttermilk pipettes served with a salted blackberry.

WHEN? July 12, James Wierzelewski, Softshell Crab Extravaganza