Spring 2001

Pastry Project / The Brecht

An edible tribute

Sebastian Brecht

Photo Eran Offek
For a short introduction to this pastry commissioned from Sebastian Brecht, grandson of Bertolt, see here. The interview in this issue with a Finnish historian of pastry culture also played an important role in the editors’ decision to commission a pastry in honor of Brecht.

10 oz. of cream
10 oz. of dark chocolate
2 oz. of milk chocolate
1 oz. of organic tobacco
7 oz. pure white chocolate (for teeth)

Put 1 oz. of crumpled organic tobacco of your choice into 10 oz. of simmering cream. Take off the heat and leave for 30 minutes. Strain the mixture through a very fine sieve. Reheat the infused cream until simmering and then pour over 4 oz. of dark chocolate and 2 oz. of milk chocolate. Whisk this mixture until it is smooth. When this mixture is cool, put it into a pastry bag with a half-inch tip and pipe out cigar length shapes.

Temper the remainder of the dark chocolate and put it down on some tin foil.

To temper dark chocolate, melt it to 45 degrees centigrade, cool it down to 27 degrees centigrade (until it begins to look muddy), and then reheat it up to 31 degrees centigrade (until you can pour it). The process for white chocolate is the same but the temperatures are 45, 26, and 29 degrees centigrade respectively.

Roll the piped chocolate cigar shape around until it is evenly coated (you do not want it to be too neat).

Get some molding compound from your dentist and make impressions of your teeth or your loved ones.

Temper 7 oz. of white chocolate and pour into impressions. Take out when shiny and hard.

Place cigar in mouth.

Sebastian Brecht wishes to thank his dentist, Dr. Theodore Sewitch, for his technical advice.

Sebastian Brecht has been making art-inspired desserts for ten years and plans to open a shop in New York in the near future. He lives in New York City.

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