Incorporating sugar

When incorporating sugar into egg yolks, always add in a little at time otherwise the yolks can end up granular.

Scorching the cream

If the pastry cream scorches, immediately move it to another pan. It isn’t worth scraping up burnt stuff into the cream. Using a heavy bottom pan should prevent this from happening.

Apricot glaze

Apricot glaze is synonymous with french pastries. It is used as a waterproofing agent in the tart shells as well as a glaze for the top of the filled tart.

Lessons from Julia is a weekly series where I post what I am learning from watching episodes of The French Chef with Julia Child starting at season 1, episode 1.