Conversations Savoureuses by Mathilde Bretillot

The kitchen of feelings, the kitchen of ideas, the kitchen of emotions, the kitchen of sensations.
The kitchen: a centre for incredible everyday experiences. “Conversations”: conversations are small tarts made with puff pastry and filled two-thirds with frangipane flavoured with rum, or an almond custard, and covered with a second layer of pastry followed by a layer of sweet icing. The top is decorated with tiny strips of leftover pastry arranged in a cross. According to the dictionary of the Académie des Gastronomes, these tarts were invented at the end of the 18th century and took their name from the title of a book on fashion called Les Conversations d’Émilie by Mme d’Épinay (1774).

Conversations are small tarts of language filled two-thirds with feelings, flavoured with tender love and spicy venom, covered with a touch of good manners and a smattering of tact. The top is decorated with a few half-smiles and a watchful eye in constant motion.