Honestly, I don’t know many cooks who don’t mind when they fail in the kitchen. But somehow, I think that every single person has une bête noire – something they don’t succeed in every time when cooking.
Well, I might just assume this because I have my own anathema. Indeed, it seems I can never find the right balance of texture for a number of batters. It tends to always be on the too-runny side; always!
When I whip egg whites, I get so panicked by the thought of a grainy mass (indicating that the egg whites have been overwhipped), that I just stop too early. And although, I am fully aware of this fact, it remains exactly the same, time after time. As you can imagine, this is a huge problem when making meringues, pavlova, tiramisu or macarons. Luckily, after a quick stay in an egg-whites rehab – otherwise known as Cloud-like Paradise -, I managed to overcome my fears and whipped up egg whites to perfection.
Still, the problem wasn’t solved as the pâte à choux-dilemma was still is the way. And to tell the truth, I had no intention whatsoever to beat that phobia. Having tried and failed in the past, I just decided that choux were simply not for me; I would say to people: ‘Oh you know, we don’t get along very well, that’s life’.

However, when I received a copy of Leçon de cuisine about pâte à choux, I took it as a sign, and decided to make some gougères.
Gougères are a classique in the French cook’s repertoire (seems I was/am the only person not to be able to make them – I was jinxed at my birth, I tell you). They are small savoury choux; usually flavoured with gruyère.

Do you have any bête noire in your kitchen? Please, say yes so I don’t feel lonely ;)

Gougères au piment de Cayenne et au parmesan
Inspired by Sébastien Serveau’s Leçon de cuisine – pâte à choux

These chilli pepper and parmesan gougères make for a somewhat original nibble and are delicious served with Champagne.
I did twist the recipe a little; first, I preheated my oven to 200°C instead of the suggested 150°C (never seen choux pastry baked at such a low temperature), then I incorporated some parmesan into the dough to give more flavour and added some Cayenne pepper flakes to give a spicy kick.
The end-result was more than satisfactory with the fifty puffs disappearing in less than five minutes (only four people involved there ;))

While I can’t say that I totally master the pâte à choux process, I am proud to have faced this fear. Well, as you can see, the choux are rather flat and not very puffy – maybe I should try using only water next time (although I heard Pierre Hermé saying that it’s the combination of milk and water that gives the best results) as I’ve seen some beautiful choux there and the recipe doesn’t call for milk. Any advice?