Where to buy a Puits d'amour? Our good places to taste it
A pastry monument born of a gallant metaphor, it's the ideal dessert for Valentine's Day, but not only. It's a historical treasure that only a handful of artisans still know how to make.
In 1733, Vincent La Chapelle immortalized the Puits d'amour in Le Cuisinier moderne. originally, this wide, hollowed-out puff pastry filled with redcurrant jam evoked the groves of gardens, places of gallant rendezvous, and by extension, feminine intimacy. The clergy and moralists took offense at its name, deemed indecent, but the Marquise de Pompadour imposed it on Louis XV's table to spice up fine dinners. A small knight's cross in puff pastry then decorated its center.
Nicolas Stohrer, who had set up shop on rue Montorgueil in 1735, made it his signature, replacing the jam with a vanilla custard that was frozen by a red-hot iron to crystallize the sugar. The technicality of this dessert, now sold individually, lies in its architecture. The authentic puits d'amour requires a puff pastry base, but some artisans use choux pastry. This variation can be explained by the absence of specific molds, essential for forcing the puff pastry to rise without collapsing, and whose patent long remained the property of its inventor, pastry chef Paul Coquelin, in the early 20ᵉ century.
Stohrer's love well
Stohrer's version is the oldest and most authentic, since its founder, Nicolas Stohrer, began making it as early as 1730: a generously vanilla-flavored custard garnishes a crisp puff pastry base, and the top is caramelized with sugar. The only concession to modernity: the puff pastry is inverted.
- Price: €7.50 a piece
- Where to buy Stohrer, 51 rue Montorgueil, 75002 Paris
Sébastien Gaudard's well of love
To mark the " rebirth " of his favorite cake, Sébastien Gaudard tops his upside-down puff pastry with a layer of Carpentras strawberry jam and covers the whole with light crème pâtissière. The finishing touch is a veil of caramelized light brown sugar.
- Price: €22.00 for 2 guests
- Where to find us La pâtisserie des Martyrs, 22 rue des Martyrs, 75009 Paris
The Maison Séguin well of love
Founded in 1952, Maison Séguin's puits d'amour comes in three flavors: classic vanilla, ganache heart with chocolate chiboust, or creamy lemon heart with lemon chiboust. Each version is layered on choux pastry and finished with a veil of iron-burnt brown sugar.
- Price: €1.20 a piece
- Where to buy Marché des Capucins, place des Capucins, 33000 Bordeaux
Alain Batt's well of love
For over 50 years, the Alain Batt house has made this classic its historic signature. His puits d'amour is distinguished by an ultra-light custard nestled in a crisp puff pastry. The whole is delicately caramelized over a flame.
- Price: €4 a piece
- Where to buy Alain Batt, 40 Rue Saint-Georges, 54000 Nancy
Dupont's love well with a Tea
One of the house's great classics, this puff pastry is topped with a thin layer of local raspberry compote, followed by a caramelized chiboust cream.
- Price: €6 a piece
- Where to buy Dupont avec un Thé, 6 avenue de la Mer, 14390 Cabourg
The Christian patisserie love well
A sponge cake base with almonds, covered with Peruvian chocolate mousse and topped with a compote of Alsatian raspberries: a very gourmet, very personal reinterpretation of the Christian house.
- Price: €4.90 a piece
- Where to buy Pâtisserie Christian, 12 rue de l'Outre, 67000 Strasbourg
Gaulupeau's well of love, patissier-caterer
Founded in 1998, this Versailles institution perpetuates the recipe of its creator, Jean-Claude Gaulupeau: puff pastry base, raspberry confit and vanilla chiboust cream, all caramelized with brown sugar.
- Price: €7 a piece
- Where to find us Gaulupeau, 44 rue de la Paroisse, 78000 Versailles, France
Le Puits d'amour by Pascal Berthois
Pascal Berthois inherited from his father the molds - a circle with a smaller one - and the recipe of a mythical chef, Paul Coquelin, in charge of the Maison Bourdaloue, in Paris, at the beginning of the 20ᵉ century. Another special feature: its thick, intensely vanilla-flavored crème pâtissière.
- Price: €3.80 a piece
- Where to buy Maison Berthois, 52 rue du Général de Gaulle, 78300 Poissy
Paul Gardères' well of love
Paul Gardères has never forgotten the recipe of his first boss: a choux pastry base, molded like a high-sided tartlet, onto which a Chiboust cream, a mixture of custard and meringue, caramelized with a blowtorch, is poured.
- Price: €4 a piece
- Where to buy Paul Gardères, 36 rue de Tarbes, 64320 Idron
