Pastries, Anyone?
When we talk about pastries, we talk about a large collection of foods that come from the baking process. While we could put together a long list of pastries, we want to talk about our friend the croissant and why Barcelona is the best place to have one. Well, the croissant is now a worldwide hit having been popularized by people from all walks of life owing to the ease with which it can be made. However, as it is with anything, there is always the skill and ingredient that makes the different. That is the reason why Barcelona has recently come out on top as the state in Spain with croissants the rest of the world will agree are the best.
Best of the Best
Just recently, a pastries competition was organized in the country. It was dubbed the 1 IX Best Competition Croissant Artisan Butter Spain. As you might guess from the wording, the competition had a focus on one particular type of pastry and that is the croissant. The event, which was held at the Escola de Pastisseria the Guild of Barcelona (EPGB) saw pastry chef Toni Vera and The Pastisseria Canal emerge as the top chef and hotel respectively.
Toni Vera actually works for The Pastisseria Canal and is from Barcelona. You should have seen how the judges drooled over his croissants to know why Barcelona is the home of the croissant. Out of the 32 patisseries, Toni was the best of the best.
The Entrails of the Competition
While the croissant may appear as a simple type of pastry, the judges focused on a few things that only those with ken eyes can see. The jury was made up of various people all of whom were professionals in the hospitality industry. They were also accompanied by the sponsors of the event who made sure everything ran as designated. Among the aspects they looked for were the execution of the croissants, how original their experience was, the regularity and fineness of the lines in terms of the outside flakiness and many other things. It was an experience many of the competitors say was strict yet very fair to have chosen Toni Vera as the winner.
Taking Standards Higher
The judges lauded the participants for all their efforts. The jury, which was headed by Antoni Bellart who is the Pastiseria Triomf in Poble Nou, stated that this 9th edition of the event has been one of the competitions to record the highest level of participation. In attendance was Secretary Migule Moreno of the Mallorca Pastry in Madrid. He also said that, unlike previous years where people presented bad croissants that would later on be rejected, this year had no such shortcomings. This attest to the fact that the whole country had improved in terms of the quality of croissants offered and thus making the nation better in making croissants with Barcelona right at the top of it all.
The Inevitable
Of the 42 croissants presented, only one was rejected. If you thought it was due to other defects, you are wrong since it was due to the weight of the croissant and nothing else. Each croissant was to measure between 45 and 65 grams. The rejected one was outside of this range by a few grams. Olivier Fernandez, who is the director of the EPGB, regretted that such a thing could occur but they had to stick to the rules. It was joked that if you walked into a restaurant and ordered your croissant, the little difference in weight is not even perceptible by the human hand. Given the correct ingredients, the rejected croissant was nothing short of perfect.
Perfection
Looking at the way the judging was done, one would come to the conclusion that only the very best could make it through to the finals. First on the list of the items checked was the taste of the croissant. No matter what one did, it had to be a specific taste and the judge made sure nothing short of perfection was accepted. Also, the croissant had to be honeycombed in that it had to have air bubbles that form on the inside of it. The flakiness of the croissant was also a factor put into consideration at the competition. Other aspects considered were the color, finish and the format of the croissant. Anything less than the perfect combination of these aspects and croissant did not go any further.
Previous Winners
The competition has been running for a while now and it is in its 9th edition at the moment. Continuing in the footsteps of other greats, the winner joins previous winners who include patisseries in the name of Vallflorida Xocolaters (2015), Oriol Balaguer (2014), Ochiai (2013), Abraham Balaguer (2012), Turull (2011) and Hofmann (2010). The competition was made stiffer given that the details of the croissant were increased and the qualifications to the jury increased too. On the jury were names such as Francisco Migoya who is a professor at the Culinary Institute of America, Moreno, Bellart and MArike van Beurden. Looking at this list of judges, one would conclude that nothing but the very best of pastries would be picked as the winner. Looking at the winner, it was nothing short of the best croissant.
Hail Barcelona
As one of the major cities of the world, Barcelona is known for many things among them its tasty pastries such as the croissant. The competition having concluded that a chef from this city is the winner and maker of the best croissants in the country (and the world too), there is no doubt that Barcelona is the place for the best croissant in the world. Even looking at the list of the previous winners, it is easy to conclude that a majority of them came from Barcelona and they serve as further evidence to the fact that it is the best place to find croissants and other pastries.
- CEO of Events Marketing Group, an events agency based in Barcelona
- Event organiser since 2011
- Entrepreneur, SEO specialist and web designer since 2003