Don't mess with a macaroon that works.
I'm told macaroons aren't all that difficult to make. But you wouldn't know it from this recent story in the New York Times.
Seems that when the Century Association, an august gentleman's club on West 43rd St. in New York City, learned that its macaroon supplier of 60 years would be closing its doors soon, it went on the hunt to find another baker with just the right stuff.But the right stuff proved difficult to find. The club, which had a standing order for 30 pounds of macaroons a week from the late, great Pozzo Pastry Shop in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, was not interested on in just any old macaroon.
The old Century Association versions had, to quote one member cited by the Times: "...just the right amount of texture. They weren't too crispy. They weren't too gooey. You know, they didn't flake or break. They kind of pulled apart. I would say they sort of had a nice elasticity. They displayed a particular combination of crustiness and tensile strength."
Considering the club's membership is traditionally culled from the ranks of academics, authors and politicians, this sort of attention to detail shouldn't surprise you.
After tasting macaroons from all over New York and its every burrough, the Century Association found a pastry shop in Astoria, Queens that approached its ideal. Still, the club's chef had to travel out to meet with the baker, for some trial and error work before accomplishing the macaroon of their dreams.
And did everyone live happily ever after? Not yet. After a few weeks, the club's chef decided that he wasn't 100% satisfied with the macaroons after all. And so the search continues. After all, why change something that worked for so long?
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