“I had my first Jésuite on the Île de Ré, a famous (and famously chic) vacation island off the coast of La Rochelle; a place of beautiful, tiny cottages; cycleways everywhere; and a great small boat harbour just in front of an ice cream shop where it is said salt caramel ice cream originated.
The taste of that Jésuite was divine, sort of a cross between a puff pastry turnover and a meringue, with a frangipane cream centre. It was so delicious that it was hard to think of it as something to eat for breakfast; it was verging on a pâtissière. And the name, as explained to me by the madame boulanger, was obvious – the triangular shape was the same as a Jesuit’s hat.”