From haute gastronomy to the most modern showcases, Philippe Conticini has fashioned a pastry of emotion and sharing. Here are five creations to retrace the career of a chef who has combined technique, sensitivity and pure gourmandise.
Mathilde Bourge
Visionary creator, exceptional technician and poet of taste, Philippe Conticini has constantly pushed back the frontiers of French pastry-making. From his beginnings in gourmet restaurants in the 1980s to his iconic creations at La Pâtisserie des Rêves and in his own houses, he has imposed a signature of precision, emotion and gourmandise. For him, each dessert is a language, a way of translating memory, sensation and instinct. through five pastries, the chef looks back on the decisive stages of a life devoted to the exploration of sweet pleasures.
The "revelation" dessert: chocolate croquettes
The year was September 1986. at the time, Philippe Conticini was working in upmarket restaurants, where plated desserts dominated. That's when he came up with a daring, almost magical dessert: his chocolate croquettes. Inspired by a breaded and pan-fried crème pâtissière that he served with a pear and chicory gratin chicory gratin, he came up with the idea of replacing this cream with a very fluid ganache, shaped into a ball. After several trials, the miracle worked: seven little spheres of breaded ganache, crispy on the outside and runny on the inside, served on a plate and then in a fairground cone. "When we ate the croquette, it exploded in our mouths, flowing down our throats, it was very sensual", recalls Philippe Conticini. The surprise effect was total - at the time, everyone wondered about the secret of this recipe. This dessert remained on the menu for a long time, and had a profound effect on his career."It was the first original dessert that was a huge success."
The creation of verrines: the teaser
In 1999, when he opened the Petrossian restaurant in Paris, Philippe Conticini pursued his quest for gustatory emotions with an avant-garde concept: the Teaser. "I proposed a menu of five desserts, with names recalling the origins of the Petrossian family. That's when the Teaser was born, a concentrate of these five creations, presented in vodka glasses... The verrine was born", recalls the pastry chef. Among these desserts are a millefeuille with siphon and crispy puff pastry, another with candied green apple, caramelized popcorn tuile and rice pudding, followed by a verrine of tobacco séché and spiced pineapple, another with pear, molasses and armagnac sabayon, and finally, one with chocolate, coffee, sesame and licorice. Each verrine concentrates several flavors, several emotions. The result? A firework display of sensations, hailed by the press:"I've had an extraordinary number of articles A veritable manifesto of his creativity, the Teaser paves the way for a patisserie of emotion and composition.
Avant-garde pastry: La Bûche B.
at the dawn of the 2000s, Philippe Conticini established himself as a creator of original shapes and flavors. His Bûche B., conceived in 2002 with a designer, turned Christmas codes on their head. "There was no log like it. It was so modern! Beneath this sleek design, two singular propositions: one log with vanilla, white chocolate, dried apricot jam and basil; the other with chocolate, almond-hazelnut praline and fleur de sel - an ingredient then virtually unused in pastry-making. "I worked eight months in advance to be ready for Christmas The result: a sensual, precise and visionary dessert, heralding the era of designer logs.
The classic revisited: the Moka
In 2010, at La Pâtisserie des Rêves, Philippe Conticini created a masterful revisiting of the classic coffee moka. Behind the apparent tradition lies a major technical innovation: back in 1989, the chef developed a milk emulsion to lighten the buttercream, to obtain a"much lighter, frothier" texture. Made in bespoke moulds -"€1,000 a mould at the time!" - the cake for six became a symbol of his approach: revisiting the great classics with respect, but without ever abandoning the modernity of the gesture. This moka, balanced and melting, is the embodiment of this philosophy.
Philippe Conticini's finest dessert: Gran Cru Vanille
In 2014, Philippe Conticini created his Grand Cru Vanille, a cake of absolute purity. "It's the most beautiful dessert of my life," confides the moved pastry chef. Behind its apparent simplicity lie months of research and balance. on the outside, a silky light vanilla mousse, covered in an immaculate velvet veil. inside, a black line of melting vanilla cream, hazelnut-almond cookie, vanilla paste and a crunchy crunchy base."When we cut it, we could see black inside." A striking visual contrast in the service of taste. Within a few months, it became number two in sales, just behind Paris-Brest. "It's a cake that's understandable, legible and incredibly good." The very essence of pastry-making according to Philippe Conticini: clarity, emotion, gourmandise.
