Mercotte’s best recipes

Culinary critic, radio columnist and outstanding blogger, Mercotte is also known for co-arbitrating the TV show ” The Best Pastry Chef “Alongside Cyril Lignac, where his technical test is feared by many candidates. The one who admits not having been able to cook an egg for many years has only one desire: to democratize recipes that may seem elitist to make as many people as possible want to bake.

A (first) life away from the kitchen

Mercotte, whose real name is Jacqueline Pin, was born in 1942 in Aix-les-Bains and grew up in the city of Chambéry. After the death of her mother when she was only 3 years old, Mercotte was raised by her father’s two sisters. If one of her aunts taught her the taste for rigor, the other who was very greedy, passed on to her that of good things: Mercotte remembers the delicious bugnes with orange blossom that she prepared for Shrove Tuesday . Growing up, Mercotte had very little time to devote to cooking since it was the piano scales that monopolized her until she began her higher education: a first year of literary preparatory class and then integrate Science Po. At 23, Jacqueline married and took the name Mercorelli, hence the nickname “Mercotte” affectionately given to her by those close to her. She then decided to devote herself to her family life and raised her 4 children.

The atypical journey of Mercotte

Once her children have grown up, Mercotte finds more time to devote herself to cooking and more particularly to pastry, which she discovers at the Valrhona school. Inspired by her youngest brother who often entertains and cooks a lot, she takes cooking lessons and internships to perfect herself, learn the gestures, precision and know-how necessary for pastry. Quickly, the one who “didn’t know how to cook an egg” when she got married quickly became a very high-level cook.

Regarding his late arrival in the world of pastry, Mercotte confides that he lived his life upside down: “at the age when people retire, I started working”.

Pastry and education, the cuisine of Mercotte

In 2005 when she had just celebrated her 63rd birthday, Mercotte launched her blog with the editorial line of demystifying the recipes from top pastry chefs. Step-by-step, lexicon and technical gestures: it stops on the sometimes missing explanations of the pastry recipes classics to make them more accessible. Result ? 15 years later, after the publication of several cookbooks and a daily radio column, the Mercotte’s kitchen is still one of the most popular sweet food blogs in France. So much so that in 2012, the French branch of the BBC contacted her to be part of the jury of the Best Pastry Chefa TV show that needs no introduction and which has greatly contributed to the resurgence of popularity and media coverage experienced by haute patisserie for several years.

Learn pastry with Mercotte’s recipes

If it was his simplified macaroons recipe that made him famous, Mercotte is far from being confined to these little round cakes. Galette des rois, Easter brioche, almond cake and panna cotta with exotic fruits… Mercotte’s culinary repertoire is as varied as it is gourmet. As for the technique, don’t hesitate to review the basics by following his recipe for puff pastry, this great classic of French pastry Admittedly requires a little patience but is not so difficult to prepare yourself.

Find Mercotte:
On TV: The Best Pastry Chef on M6, season 11 available in replay
On the radio: the chronicles of Mercotte on France Bleu Pays de Savoie are to be listened to again.
On its website: www.mercotte.fr