I didn't have a camera with me, but it was a flat piece of hard caramelized sugar, probably about 1/8 of an inch thick, roughly about the size of the eclair, so it stuck out over the rounded top, rather like a pastry aircraft carrier. It was slightly irregular in shape, so I don't think it was cast in a mold. Maybe cut by hand before the sugar sheet had fully hardened, or possibly using a stencil?
It had a slight pattern of stippling on it, like you'd get if the hot sugar syrup had been poured onto a silpat. I could see cutting it to shape, heating it with a torch and then touching it to the top of the eclair to pull it off the silpat.
It was quite tasty, with a nice pastry cream filling.
The North Market is Columbus's indoor year-round farmer's market, sort of like Faneuil Hall in Boston or Pier 39 in San Francisco, but smaller. It had a fish counter, a poultry counter and a meat counter, all the type that I wish we had ANYTHING like in Nebraska! (I can't even find veal chops or cutlets in Lincoln these days, much less specialized cuts, I saw about a half dozen veal cuts at the meat shop, at least 4 types of whole duck, plus duck breasts, confit duck legs and fois gras at the poultry store, there was a place doing sausages, one doing cheeses, a bakery, a patisserie, probably a dozen restaurants. I'm either sad that it isn't close or glad.)
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