Crepe Day (and Ice Cream!)

There's nothing like ice-cream or sorbet when temperatures hit record numbers, nearing 100 degrees. What's even better, is fresh ice-cream, right from the machine. Plated desserts today involved volunteer tasks for ice-cream and sorbet. In class, I generally don't volunteer for tasks since someone else always eagerly raises their hand-and the tasks tend to be things like, pull the top of mint leaves off for decorating. But, today when asked for volunteers to make cinnamon ice-cream I for once eagerly offered my help. Hopefully I'll get to learn sorbet soon (and use the sweet refractometer). I learned, which seems obvious now, that when making the base for frozen desserts you have to over exaggerate the flavoring since when they're frozen the taste is not as easily detected by your taste buds.

Orange Crepes with Orange Caramel Sauce and Blueberry Sorbet
We spent the morning making our various batters, sauces, and in my case, ice-cream. We had about 90 min to make two crepe batters, ganach, pastry cream, prep puff pastry for tomorrow, and make ice-cream while keeping everything clean. Seems like enough time until you realize its been 45 minutes, and you aren't nearly as far as you had hoped. The ice-cream was great, and its incredible how good it tastes using a professional machine and tasting it literally as it comes out.

Chocolate Crepes with Pear Compote and Cinnamon Ice-Cream

We ended our day with plating the chocolate marquise we made yesterday paired with cranberry compote, chocolate sauce and a mint creme anglaise. The cake was super rich, which was evident from the micro-bite we were suggested to take (those who didn't follow ended up nauseous after three plating exercises). Very decadent and "old world french."

Overall, a really enjoyable day. I was nervous about making crepes, since I never have before! But it wasn't that bad and after a few attempts they were coming out perfectly! I want to also play around with some savory applications at home. Tomorrow is more tarts, which I'm not ecstatic about, but I am curious to see what the accompaniments will be!

Plated Desserts

When I arrived at school this morning Grand st. was blocked off and about 50 people with cameras/equipment were milling around. On Friday we had signed a waver for Bank of America to film a commercial in our school. I don't know, but I imagine it was one of those follow your dreams! (by getting this loan)...It didn't actually have anything to do with FCI. But still, exciting! the film crew were mostly annoying, blocking hallways making us schlep up staircases and go around the long way. They ended up filming the bread classroom the most since it's pretty open and low key (not running around doing a million things like culinary/pastry). So while I won't be in it (I don't think...) if you see a commercial for Bank of America in the next few months-it may be at FCI!


Today we started plated desserts (above: creme brulee). While most of the desserts themselves are not all that interesting, the pairings are what what I'm mainly looking forward to. We make sauces, compotes, ice-creams, sorbets, and more! The sorbet/ice-cream being the most exciting. There's all these tools I never imagined I would work with! Including instruments that measure syrup density! The first day was fine, the plating was boring (we have to initially follow what the chefs want us to). See below: Creme Caramel (Flan)


But things will get more and more advanced, and I love it! We also no longer all do everything. Groups will prep accompaniments to the main dessert (which we all do make), so its closer to a real kitchen setting. My partner and I volunteered to make a cranberry compote (for tomorrow) as our production task. I'm not particularly fond of cranberries, so I was a bit worried I wouldn't know if it actually tasted good or not. I threw in a bunch with cinnamon, sugar, candied orange peel and grand marnier (as requested by the chef). After making it and testing it I felt like it was dull, and had a slight disagreeable bitterness. Though not exactly what the chef told me to do I added more sugar and lemon juice-in attempt to brighten the flavor and give it a bit of tartness. When he came back over to check on us, he tasted it and replied "excellent, its perfect, well done." Phew. Though I've ironically found that despite my ability in pastry I find myself most confident in situations that are closer to cooking. I think it may be that these items are more forgiving, so I feel at ease playing around a bit with flavors, knowing I can usually fix it if I don't like the outcome. And compotes have become a bit of a specialty for me. I really enjoy making them, finding they have a nice balance between baking and cooking (aka forgiving/manipulable).

I also realized I haven't addressed my internship very much. I feel like I'm learning a lot, though not in terms of baking, but of how bakeries are run. The process is much different than I would have expected (to be honest-not sure what it was that I really expected). Both Jen and Joan are super knowledgable and talented. And they always give great advice to any thing I ask. I'm constantly impressed by them. When I went to the New Amsterdam Market last Sunday I stopped by their booth. It was so strange to see what we had prepped sitting on the table. I told my FCI friends as we approached the table "I put those together yesterday!!!" I was pretty excited. Many other students complain about their internships, the hours, the uniforms, the angry yelling chefs. So I feel very lucky to be among the group that loves where we work. I honestly could not ask for a better place or better people to work with. And it confirms that my ambitions are legitimate, that this truly is something I want to do. When I go to work, I often forget its work, I always have a great time!

My New Favorite Chocolate Cake

Thats right. A cake, and I LOVE it! super moist and full of dark chocolate-goodness! A great way to end chocolate!
Reine de Saba:

We also made another box. Needless to say, round two (especially after that epic stand) was a breeze, and the exam went fine as well!


So now onto Plated Desserts! Monday is Creme Brulee day! And only 2.5 weeks until level 3!

The Chocolate Stand

While yesterday was insane, today was great! And although I didn't have high hopes, I have to admit I'm quite proud of my showpiece! I even had enough time to make it rotate:

I used a bamboo skewer and made a "washer" out of chocolate! My math interest is what saved me today. Most people who had a lot of problems were related to improper balance and load consideration, aside of course from many tempering issues. Every thing I did was carefully calculated and measured. Maybe thats why I enjoyed the project more than most, it felt more like an architectural project than an exercise in baking. Of course I would make some minor changes if I were to do it again, but over all I'm very happy with how it turned out. I can easily say its my best accomplishment in my baking career thus far! We still have our written exam tomorrow, then Monday we start plated desserts! I'm loving class more and more as we get into these advanced topics.

And here's some my classmates produced!

Whoa.

I know I ought to expect class to get harder, to experience more stress...but...whoa. Today began our chocolate showpiece construction. I had come up with a design that I was happy with, and felt manageable. I was very, very wrong. Today was by far, the hardest day yet. I have a new respect for chocolate work, it is very difficult. Or rather, the learning curve is absurd, and we're smack in the middle of it. I managed to get most of my pieces done and will have no problem finishing, though admittedly, it won't look as good as I had envisioned. Most people in the class agree; they all hate chocolate. I don't. I still love it actually. I may have been exceptionally stressed, but at the end of the day I was alright, and I love learning something so challenging. I ended up with a strange sense of accomplishment, despite my disappointing day. Thank goodness Chef Chris is back. He has a calming effect I certainly appreciate, and instead of yelling, he is reassuring. At the end of the day as we all slowly packed up, exhausted he turned on music. It was a simple thing, but livened the class, and most of us went home feeling significantly better. I certainly did! Though not true for everyone. I don't know if it's the rainy weather, or that we're just over half way done but something else was happening in the kitchen today. People were picking fights with one another-resulting in yelling matches and many tears. And it's not just our class, the level above us had some serious drama as well. The tension in that kitchen was so thick, I had to step outside a few times just to catch a breath. Luckily, the cool weather and slight drizzle was exactly what I needed to revive myself. As opposed to the usual 95 and deathly humid nature of August in New York City.
One of my friends mentioned on the walk to the subway after class that she felt like her heart wasn't in it anymore. She didn't care, and was actually considering dropping out (she isn't the only one either). And I realized how lucky I am that I'm so personally invested in this program, and absolutely love baking. This simple fact is what gets me through these occasional exhausting days. Though, having gone through one of the toughest biology programs in the US doesn't hurt either. Chocolate tempering has nothing on Organic Chemistry! I know, it's not the same thing. But all I have to do is think back to that year when I literally dedicated my life to that class, and I feel like I can take anything they throw at me. And I can. I know that with each of these new challenges I'll only become better, and in the end, I know I will have gotten all I can out of this program.
So now, with the afternoon off (no homework!) I'll do absolutely anything, not involving chocolate.

Buzz Words of the Culinary Industry

There are a lot of buzz words associated with the culinary world-especially regarding sourcing recently (organic, natural, farm to table). But also, descriptors of vendors, chefs, employees, general establishments. I can't count how many times I've read "This renegade something or another makes their whatever with fierce dedication". But one, we've been hearing for a long time, and until recently lost a bit of its effect. Think of all the reviews you've ever read, how many times does the chef in question make their what-have-you with "love?" An ambiguous, overused description, which for me anyway conjures up an image of a grandmother making pie with the apples she just picked. "Made with love." "Love is the most important ingredient." And so forth. I think I disregard this term a bit because I can't quantify, or rationalize it. Unlike, say, "made with ingredients found only on this farm." I think of love for what you make as in intrinsic part of cooking, love (and therefore respect) for the ingredients you use, and the care you take in the final outcome. But there's something else...And until today, I could quite figure out how "love" enhances food. Because, really, it does. I love chocolate, I love everything about it. From the molecular level to the taste, it's easily one of my favorite things to eat, and bake with. For me, it defines baking-a luxurious indulgence, that also has the power to comfort with strong emotional associations. Take tempering-anyone can temper, it's a simple process once you get the hang of it. But it takes time, care and patience, not just technical skill. When I take the time to slow down and pay special, careful attention to what I'm doing, the product is always infinitely better. There's something about that extra personal investment and care that takes a well executed technically correct product to the next level. It's precisely why mass manufactured goods can never achieve what what small batch can, despite perfectly calibrated machinery. It seems obvious, but I suppose I've never really thought it through before. There are so many intricacies to baking that only those who truly love it, and are willing to pay close attention will produce a truly fantastic product. Good to know that while technical advancement may provide us more tools, the human quality of baking can't be imitated.
So speaking of chocolate...We made chocolate candies today!!


Rochers

Chocolate covered Almonds with Orange Liquor and Confit Orange Peel

Chocolate covered whole Carmalized Almonds rolled in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and fluer de sel (my favorite/not pictured).

Now, to design a chocolate show piece...wish me luck!

The Truffle Box.

One of the first things I saw when I toured FCI was level 2 pastry's truffle boxes. The first thought that occurred to me was that they weren't particularly good. Now, I see why. Technically not that difficult to produce, just temper chocolate and cut out shapes. But all the little things that can mess it up make this little box more difficult than I would have imagined. Although because we changed chefs today, things were a bit off and we weren't given much time (about 15 minutes) to actually decorate them, so elaborate decorations were out. Overall, I'm pretty happy with mine, and it did serve as good practice for the candy stand later this week. In fact, diagrams are due Wednesday when we begin production on our show pieces (a stand made entirely of chocolate with a bowl to hold chocolates), which are to be done Thursday, the day before our exam. Clearly the program's pace has increased a bit. I don't mind, and I love that we're being challenged a bit more. Although, leading up to October we have a project or exam (or both) every week! And then...Level 3! Time is flying for sure.
Because of the chef switch there was a fair bit of confusion today, mostly regarding guidelines to tempering. There are a multitude of ways to temper, and really mostly all are equally as effective. So the best thing to do is to find what works for you, and go with that. But some people were really struggling with the vague nature of that instruction. So during the downtime of Chef Chris explaining again to a group of students, I figured I may as well try and actually learn something. Using some left over chocolate from my project I attempted to temper without a thermometer. I want to be able to "just know" and use subtle signs that the chocolate is in temper. I was successful! It wasn't the best temper ever, but it was a start and rare as it is, I was actually pretty proud of myself! Being able to temper well is really important to me, given that chocolate is one of my main interests. So I'm well on my way!

What a little frustration gets you...

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling awful. My head ached, I felt drained and lifting my head off my pillow felt as if gravity had increased ten fold overnight just to irritate me. I argued with myself, willing my exhausted body to function. It was not going to happen. A week's worth of lack of sleep and stress of midterms and having our favorite chef back to induce anxiety attacks had taken its toll on me. I wasn't the only one. I text Michelle to let her know I wouldn't be in class, I needed...a mental health day. Her response? "Feel better, me too." Yesterday, and today a fifth of the class was absent. I took the day to relax and treat myself to dinner at Blue Ribbon down the street. It was all I needed and I woke up feeling better than normal. I was ready to take on today! Now, 9pm I sit in my room exhausted yet again. The chef was on another rampage today causing one girl to cry, telling her he didn't even know why she was in the program, she clearly didn't care enough. Another, he wrongly accused of cheating on a non-graded quiz. This poor girl, who works harder than most in class, arrives early, always helps out...Perhaps she is a bit anxious, and stresses too much, but thats hardly the worst quality to have in pastry. During the "quiz" students were asking wach other questions, some didn't take it at all, and others were on their phones. But, he noticed her, glance at her notes. She assumed, that since it wasn't graded, and since everyone else was talking, or ignoring the quiz, she may as well look up what she didn't know. At the wrong time apparently. The chef asked her to stay after class to get her to sign a sheet admitting she had cheated, tarnishing her reputation, going on her record for all (including employers) to see. He told her all her good work would mean nothing with this on her record, and that he was very disappointed in her actions. She flat out refused to sign, of course, how ridiculous indeed! Things like this have been happening all week, apparently our friend is up for review and is a bit stressed...clearly.
Despite the rediculousness of all of this, I generally remain unscathed by his antics, flying under the radar has proved a necessary survival mechanism that has served me well these past months. But something else drained me today. The chef assumes that our class is entirely incompetent, and is constantly surprised when we do well. When it comes to chocolate we overhear him talking about how he must go slow and go over every detail several times, otherwise we won't get it. We get it. We fall asleep after the fifth rendition of "this is how to stir a ganach." He even altered our truffle recipe today, making it simpler! I came to this school with the express purpose of learning the "hard" way of doing things, learning techniques the average home baker lacks. How am I to do this when our lessons are being "dumbed down." Turns out, our class isn't incompetent after all. The assistant chef took over (one of my favorite people in this school, Chef Kirr) and had everyone tempering like, well, not experts, but close in no time. We're lucky to have him. And wanting to "get my 40k worth"-as we say-took every opportunity to pick his brain about chocolate and ideas I had and what he thought of them-giving me suggestions on how to make my ideas realities. For instance-I now have a very good idea on how to make an artisanal and molded form of my "Old Fashioned Truffle"-referring to the bourbon based cocktail of course. I also learned that to be an artisanal truffle-it absolutely must be molded by hand-as opposed to say...a bon bon. Plus, I now have several tempering tricks up my sleeve. Thank goodness for him! I have great respect for this chef, and he's my favorite person ever since I had a twenty minute discussion with him on fernet, and how its absurd more people in the culinary industry don't know what it is. Too bad he's the lead night class instructor. I guess I just have to be happy that Chef Chris is returning Monday! So until then, I get to spend the weekend BBQing with friends and hitting up the once a month New Amsterdam Market!!! Oh, and working of course, helping Liddabit prep for the Market!

Chocolate!!!

Chocolate is easily one of my favorite foods, the darker the better. This is one of the sections I have been most looking forward to, and we got to spend all day working with it! Specifically, learning three methods of tempering. I thought I would give a brief "intro" to chocolate tempering. I think its super interesting, especially since it involves a fair bit of science! What impresses me, is that people have known how to do this for several hundred years, without being able to see the crystal structure of cocoa butter-the key aspect of tempering.

When you buy chocolate, it is in its tempered form. This form is the most ideal, it has the highest melting point, its shiny, with good snap, and a pleasant mouth feel. But in order to work with chocolate to make confections you must first melt the chocolate, and therefore take it out of temper. The cocoa butter in chocolate is polymorphic and can take on six different configurations. The beta-conformation is most ideal, the other five are not! When chocolate is melted the particules are in constant random motion, and could form any one of the structures. The goal of tempering is to direct this formation. The method I like is seeding. By introducing a piece of tempered chocolate to the melted chocolate as a director. Once all the chocolate is melted (around 115 degrees), you add a bit of solid chocolate bringing the temperature down to around 88 degrees. At this point beta-crystals will form, but it is still above the melting point of the other conformations. By agitating within this working range (87 to 89) you aim to allow enough beta crystals to form so that the majority of the final chocolate product is in temper. When done correctly and poured it will contract (since the beta crystals are tightly packed and space-optimized), it will be easily un-molded.

Sounds simple enough. And it is, as long as you constantly pay close attention to details, such as taking temperatures and avoiding contamination. If moisture gets it the cocoa will seize and the chocolate will be ruined. If the chocolate gets too hot it will burn, and be unusable. There are a variety of other small things that can influence the outcome of the chocolate, and there are degrees of temper quality.

Tomorrow we're making a chocolate cake and making decorations out of the chocolate we temper. Hopefully, it won't be nearly as cold as it was today. The room was in the 60's and as a result, many of us spent the day shivering, ending up with runny noses and cold headaches!

The Midterm

My CAKE!



The rest of the classes (in attempted collage form)


Relief....First, the written exam proved exceptionally easy, taking only half an hour (we were given 1.5 hours), and most questions were really straight forward. The pratical (what I was nervous about) went fine. Although I was concerned I wouldn't have enough time, I had plenty and finished without having to rush. Overall, very successful day!

On to chocolate! I have a fair amount of reading to do for tomorrow, despite my urge to just sit and watch netflix doing nothing in particular. Luckily, I absolutely can't wait to learn how to temper chocolate!!!

Half Way!

Today marks a few special occasions. First, last day of cakes!!! That is, until Wedding cakes...But I won't think about that too much. We finished by making a cheesecake (sort of). Made with ricotta, which I was really excited about, but also soaked raisins and a flour addition. It was alright, but given that I don't really like cheesecake, I wasn't a huge fan of this one in particular. The flour made it taste grainer, and the raisins were just strange. More of a baked custard-quiche thing...but oh well...
We spent the rest of the day prepping for our cake exam tomorrow. We made the layers and fillings, which went fine. I ended up making two cakes worth since my first go wasn't as perfect as I wanted. I'm set for tomorrow, and not nervous, but anxious to get it done with. I realize that part of the reason I dislike cakes is my lack of natural ability with them. Anything else, I usually only need a demo and one or two tries before I'm nearing mastering, but not so with cakes. It's difficult to explain, but they are so unlike all other baked goods, and as odd as it sounds, I don't feel as "connected" to cakes, as say, bread. With bread, and many other deserts I can sort of feel my way through, know what to do instinctively. Subtle cues can direct me, such pull of the spatula against the batter, smells, texture changes, noises... But with cakes, I feel, hear, sense nothing. I rely solely on the recipe, and the results are clear. I don't know why this is exactly, though I'm not terribly concerned. I can still make a great cake, it just isn't the perfection I would hope for, and I don't get a feeling of satisfaction after completing. Mostly, I feel relief.

Second, and more importantly, today was the first day in the second half of the program. 12 weeks done, 12 to go! I do enjoy class quite a bit, so I'm not anxious to finish except to be done being a "student." I still can't believe I'll have the title of professional pastry chef, believe me, I never saw this coming until about 6 months ago...So I'm quite excited to see where this all takes me!

Food as art, not as food.

After making Fondant yesterday, and decorating cakes with it today I continue to be puzzled by cake decorating. Granted, there are many talented people who work with cakes that produce exceptionally beautiful cakes that also manage to taste good. But many of them, while they may look impressive (ace of cakes anyone?), aren't appetizing in the least (even if they do in fact taste good). In order to decorate my cakes I've had to remove myself from the fact that what I'm making is actually food. If I didn't, I could stand the idea of covering a perfectly good cake with fondant. I don't know how this is really that different from some aspects molecular gastronomy. Take spherification, it's function is almost purely aesthetic, and involves chemical additives, and yet I don't have a problem with it! In fact, I love it! I suppose its really the science behind it that interests me, whereas fondant seems very arts and craft. At least it is strangely relaxing. Plus, the unit is almost over. In fact today was our last real day. Monday we make a cheesecake, and begin our prep for the midterm on Tuesday. So strange! In only a few days we'll be half way through the program, I can't believe how fast time has gone, even though now it seems to be dragging a bit. It feels a bit like the calm before the storm. The second half of the program, starting Wednesday, is significantly more involved. We have projects or exams almost every week. The pace increases and the material gets more complicated. I'm excited for the challenge, if not a bit nervous. So far we haven't done anything too terribly difficult, or at least I don't think so. But I feel like what makes a professional versus a strong home baker are the things we learn in the second half, so of course I hope it goes well!

Here are a few pictures of cakes we decorated this week. The only one I really like is the Black Forest at the bottom, it's simply covered with creme chantilly (whipped cream and powdered sugar), and is a chocolate layered cake with a cherry compote and kirsch (cherry-brandy) filling.

Cakes, Round 2.

I have to admit, I wasn't exactly thrilled when we started cakes 2 yesterday. But, it isn't so bad. Now that things are getting a bit more advanced, and there's something seriously relaxing about decorating a cake. It's an excellent creative outlet. And once I let myself forget it was cake, meant to be consumed, and viewed it as a "craft" project, it wasn't so bad! We also have our old level one chef back for the week, who likes to yell, a lot. Luckily he doesn't ever yell at me, but two girls have come close to tears this week, and everyone is on their guard. For the exam on Tuesday, we have to make a special occasion cake (aka Happy Birthday, Congratulations! or what not). The theme, chosen by the class is Casino Night. It's a 6 inch three layer round cake, and we can decorate how we choose (and pick the occasion). I have some ideas, but suggestions are very much appreciated!


Fraiser Cake. Layered cake (American Milk Sponge Cake) with strawberries (green decorating is marzipan)

The log cake! Yes, its a Christmas cake...in August.

Petit Four At a Glance

Pate De Fruit

Lemon Curd Barquettes, Macaroons

Palmiers (pistachio), russian tea cakes, flortines, Caramel Mou, checker cookie

Petit Four Glaces (aka, mini cakes)

My exam Tray!
Nougat, Cinnamon-Vanilla Swirl Cookie, Vanilla Brown Butter Financiers

The past week has been very busy! Petit Fours proved challenging, but rewarding. Oddly, I was one of the few people to really enjoy the subject! Above are a sampling of some of the products we made, along with the tray I presented for my exam. This was the first exam where I got only positive reviews. The nougat, which is apparently rarely performed correctly, came out "creamy, with excellent flavor." The swirl cookies, the chef informed me, tasted great, and normally he doesn't like them (I added a bit of cinnamon to the sable dough, and rolled it in vanilla sugar before baking). Last the financiers I decided to make a vanilla brown butter for the batter, to which the chef responded "I don't know what you did to the brown butter, but its working! And the texture is perfect." I was giddy after that exam (normally I want to sleep), while I usually score low to mid A's on exams, I don't particularly care what my final grade is. But on this exam, I was so curious, what would the chef give me with no complaints, I found out ten minutes ago. %100!! A VERY rare score. They tell us they almost never give them out since that suggest that nothing needs to be improved at all. Apparently, I actually can do this pretty well! And good thing I'm in such a happy mood, today we started cakes 2....meh. It's only a week, and then? CHOCOLATE! This time next week, I'll be learning how to temper!