Two weeks ago, I attended a home sale of Demarle Flexipan molds, hosted by my friend and fellow food-blogger Pascale. Demarle is the original inventor of those nonstick flexible baking molds, made of silicon and glass fiber. Originally sold to professionals only, they have been available to happy home bakers for a few years : most brands distribute their products in department stores and such, but Demarle chose to sell their molds (and the other cooking/baking tools they make) in Tupperware-style meetings instead.
Pascale was there of course, as were her sister and our friends Alisa and Isabelle, of the Paris Potluck crowd. Pascale and Chantal, the Demarle representative, had prepared quite a few things for us to taste, to illustrate what you could make with the molds. In particular, Pascale had baked chocolate hazelnut madeleines, which she insisted were “ratées” (failed). We couldn’t have disagreed more, and in fact thought they represented such a high risk for the health and sanity of the general public, that we made sure to eat as many as we possibly could. It was tough, but I think we have reason to be proud.
It was my first time attenting such a meeting, and it was a lot of fun. Chantal presented the different products and their possible uses, they were passed from hand to hand, and we made a couple of recipes together (a really tasty spinach and fresh cheese roll, and some gougères, those little cheese puffs). I had a grand time, as I always do when I’m in the same room with other cooking enthusiasts, and Pascale’s bright and sunny kitchen, filled with goodies as it was, was the perfect place to be on that beautiful June day.
The men — Isabelle’s boyfriend Ethan, and Pascale’s husband David and son Noé — had safely left for a long walk along the nearby Marne river. By the time they came back we were all done, and those of us who wanted to order stuff were filling out little order forms. Normally your order is delivered to whomever hosted the meeting, but since Pascale was (lucky her) leaving for her vacation, Chantal kindly offered to deliver mine directly to my apartment, which she did this past Saturday.
And so it is that I am now in possession of brand new sets of those black, shiny, magic tools. I pretty much wanted everything on the catalog — I mean who could resist getting mini-molds for charlottes and brioches, and a really efficient zester, and beautiful knives, and new skillets, and a special zigzag knife to cut melons? — but I had to limit myself slightly of course.
I got a tray of mini-tartlet molds and a tray of hemispherical petit-four molds (both of which I had planned to buy before coming) and also got the jelly roll pan : this allows you to bake batter (sweet or savory) in a large and thin rectangular shape, which you can then fill and roll, or cut in two smaller rectangles to make a rectangular cake stuffed with mousse and/or fruit, such as a fraisier or an opéra. The jelly roll pan also came with a large rectangular metal shape (which you can see on the pic above) to help you put the cake together.
I am proud to say that one of these new toys has been put to good use not but one day after landing on my door step : quite a record, and an excellent omen. As for which one I used and what I made with it, I’ll let you speculate a bit on this, while I write up the post!
