At 44, Christelle Brua has held the prestigious position of pastry chef at the Élysée since 2019. A year earlier, she had been named the best restaurant pastry chef in the world. It is therefore a very good catch for M6 and its competition The best pastry chef – Professionals, which magnificently completes its jury already composed of Pierre Hermé and Cyril Lignac. The 5th season starts Thursday, June 23, with seven pairs in competition. “I immediately accepted because I have known Cyril Lignac for a very long time, it is a very good show, and I also wanted to learn alongside the candidates”explains Christelle Brua.
“They are great technicians, who approach the subjects differently. Certain themes might have made me uncomfortable, such as that of the cheese that had to be associated with a pastry. They did very well and we made some great discoveries. It proves that I don’t know everything and that I can still learn things.”
Christine Bruaat franceinfo
For 16 years, she worked at Le Pré Catelan, with the three-starred chef Frédéric Anton. It was there that she perfected her signature dessert: a green apple in puffed sugar, caramel ice cream, cider and popping sugar. “Having a signature dessert is the Holy Grail for every pastry chefrecount Christine Brua. It is our quest to all. But it’s a lot of work. It took me over a month for mine. Between the thought that we have of the dessert and its realization, there is a gap!
It is with great pride that Christelle Brua now works at the presidential palace, “the most beautiful house in France!” She is at the head of a brigade of five people, including three women. Proof that things are changing, even if cooking remains a predominantly male world: “When I started 25 years ago, there were no or very few women in the kitchen. I was one of the first to become a pastry chef. Today, in my brigade, women are in the majority. Out of five people, three are women. And they are not present because they are women, but because they are competent.”