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Made in Normandy since 1830 · Official South African store

The baker’s bench

In these kitchens

Baking is chemistry with a deadline. The bench is a different room to the hob, and it wants different metal.

Mauviel copper and black steel bakeware

One day, hour by hour

  1. 05:50

    Sugar, before anyone is awake

    Unlined copper, because there is no tin to melt and nothing between the flame and the syrup. Caramel is a thirty-second window and the pan is the only instrument you have for finding it.

    M’Passion Sugar PanThe panM’Passion Sugar PanR3 990.00 – R5 380.00Price range: R3 990.00 through R5 380.00 Inc VAT

  2. 09:15

    Jam, in the season it arrives

    Wide, unlined, and shallow so it evaporates fast. Fruit acid on bare copper is the traditional method and the reason a jam pan is used for nothing else. It sets at the right minute rather than ten past it.

    The recipeCape gooseberry jam

    M’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass HandlesThe panM’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass HandlesR5 670.00 – R6 190.00Price range: R5 670.00 through R6 190.00 Inc VAT

  3. 14:00

    A tart shell that browns underneath

    Black steel, 1 mm through the whole mould. Thin tinplate insulates and gives you a pale, soft base. This does not, which is why pâtissiers buy it and supermarkets do not stock it.

    M’Passion Tôle Tart Mould with Removable BaseThe panM’Passion Tôle Tart Mould with Removable BaseR910.00 – R960.00Price range: R910.00 through R960.00 Inc VAT

  4. 16:40

    Tatin, upside down and unrepentant

    Sugar and butter caramelised in the mould itself, apples on top, pastry over, oven, then inverted onto a plate while everyone watches. It is a piece of theatre that requires a pan that can go on the hob and in the oven.

    The recipeTarte Tatin

    M’Passion Tatin MouldThe panM’Passion Tatin MouldR3 660.00 – R5 070.00Price range: R3 660.00 through R5 070.00 Inc VAT

  5. 21:00

    What the bench keeps

    Copper for sugar, steel for the oven, and nothing that goes in a dishwasher. Detergent strips the seasoning off steel and dulls unlined copper.

    M’Passion Syrup PanThe panM’Passion Syrup PanR7 840.00 – R13 030.00Price range: R7 840.00 through R13 030.00 Inc VAT

Everything on this bench is unlined copper or bare steel. That is not nostalgia: a lining slows the response, and on sugar the response is the whole job.

Made by Mauviel1830 in Villedieu-les-Poêles, Normandy.