Menu Project Day 1

8am: we arrive, and begin to set up. It smells a bit funny in class, the heater is on. At first, this was good. Considering we normally spend the class shivering. But then, it got REALLY hot. With several ovens running and the heater the room quickly jumped from pleasant to sweltering. If the heat wasn't enough, slowing us down and making us feel a bit nauseous, I manage to burn myself within the first hour on a bowl someone left on a pilot light. On my thumb. This isn's a good start. Then, the freezers broke down, hopefully we were able to get our ice-creams down stairs to a better freezer before it was too late (we'll see tomorrow). I managed to get most of what I wanted done, but not get ahead (I had really hoped to do so). But I was lucky, my partner, not so much. Due to the heat she ended up fainting (having thermo-regulation issues) and had to go home. The Chef of course was unconcerned. "You guys keep complaining about the temperature, you're never happy, and I'm done with it." Ummm, it's clearly a heath hazard! Oh well, what did we really expect from him anyway? Tomorrow we have about two and a half hours to finish, and 30 minutes to plate. I have absolutely NO idea how I'm going to get everything done, I just hope it comes together! Though it's hard to be motivated when the Chef clearly doesn't really care about the class. 10 days and counting! From now on, "we'll be running!"

The plague!

It's official, I'm sick. I have a head cold, started as a sore throat and progressed into a full on cold. Something has been going around school, and I was hoping to avoid it, but with my current stress level, I'm not surprised! I have no idea how I'm supposed to get through the next 2.5 weeks feeling as lethargic as I do. On the plus side, I'm in a sort of euphoric daze which at the very least leaves me feeling happy, if not slightly unconcerned. Of course, that doesn't exactly translate to productivity. I think this may be my body's way of forcing me to slow down. Touche. Unfortunately no amount of sleep, hydration, vitamin C and sudafed seems to be helping all that much!
Here's to hoping for a sudden recovery!
We also drew our lottery for the final. For the practical portion of our final exam, we have to produce whatever we drew and display it on the final showpiece (theme: favorite city). I'm happy with mine, I do have to make strudel, bu other than that my cake, con-cons and petit fours are all pretty easy! Quite a relief!

And then there were 13.

13.
13 days of class left. 13 days until I regain my sanity, ability to formulate coherent thoughts and not fall asleep on the subway in the middle of the day. 13 days to execute my dessert menu, make a wedding cake, and construct a final showpiece to display my practical final exam pastries. And of course, take a couple of exams! I am excited though, believe it or not. This doesn't have to be so stressful, I don't need to obsess about my platting or wedding cake design, I don't have to be spending every day after class working on the chocolate showpiece. But I am, because despite the stress, sleeplessness, potential malnutrition (popchips and an apple count for dinner right???) and generally being "out of it," I absolutely love every second of it. I spent 5 hours last night (Friday night!) working on recipes and plating. And yes, maybe it's borderline OCD, but I'm pretty sure all great pastry chefs are a tad compulsive, you kind of need to be. And because I wanted to do something unique, I've had to develop my own recipes for a few items. I've never learned so much! I think I now know more about mousse than could ever be necessary. For instance, the percentage of chocolate you use will greatly affect what method you use for your mousse (there are MANY by the way) since the cocoa butter crystallization is the primary stabilizing agent in the mousse. I think recipe development has to be one of the best mechanisms for learning, you absolutely have to understand the science behind each ingredient. It's hard, and effective, and I'm surprised not utilized as a teaching method more often. Luckily for me, the science is what really interests me, so spending hours researching is enjoyable, exhausting, but enjoyable.

Plated desserts from Friday:

Fig-chocolate chiboust, dried fruit compote, choc almond sable, milk gelato, port reduction

coconut sable, coconut chiboust, cherry compote, chocolate sherbet

Warm Pecan Cake with Pistachio Ice Cream and Flambeed Banana

chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream

Souffles!

I've never really understood what the big deal with the soufflé is...granted, they're easy to mess up and hard to do well. But I've always preferred a mousse or even brownie to a chocolate souffle. Seems like a lot of fuss for the dessert! Over the past few days we've been perfecting our soufflé-ing skills, and while I still absolutely love savory souffles, I'm still not completely sold on the sweet ones. Though they are admittedly fun to make, even if eating them is slightly less thrilling. And you know that rule about making noise or moving too much around a baking souffle? So not true, in fact if you open the oven a few times during baking, it'll be fine! That is of course, provided you've made a good meringue!

The chocolate soufflé

Béchamel soufflé with gruyere and black truffle (so good!)

Another application-souffled pancakes! lemon, served with lemon yogurt ice-cream and a blueberry compote.

Our menu project were turned in today! Such a relief. Now, just to produce 2 of them upon chef's request next week! Next up: wedding cake design. I think I can do this...

Deep Fry Day

Strawberry Strudel with Port-Wine Balsamic Reduction.
Not deep fried, we did these Friday. I think I liked the Reduction more. I've never really been a fan of breaded desserts, makes the filling "mushy" and I'd rather just have a homemade strawberry "pop-tart" which is amazing (more cookie like).

Apple Fritters! They were good, though again, I liked the apples with all the spices more without the batter. The pecans were coated with a bourbon caramel sauce, that was pretty great.

Brioche Beignets! The one exception to fried desserts (aka, one I like). One of my favorite desserts are the beignets with a creme anglaise from LAMILL, and these were just as good! they're pretty easy, and could be filled, but I like them plain with powdered sugar. Like a mini donut, but better.
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Tropical fruit fritters. This, I didn't like. The fruit was too acidic and just tasted strange fried. BUT as an accompaniment the chef asked us to make a coconut creme anglaise instead of the coconut foam it calls for since the foam doesn't usually work. So we did, but I also decided to make the foam anyway, using lecithin to stabilize. I always get excited when I get to use hydrocolloids, and it ended up working! I have a foam on my menu, so I felt it necessary to practice.

Tomorrow starts day 1 of 2 of souffles! I've made before, but I have a feeling it wasn't exactly perfect...plus we get to make a savory version, which is always a welcome break!

Pate a Bric?

It's alright if you don't know what pate a bric is. I certainly didn't, and neither did most of our class. Essentially, its phyllo dough, only thicker and made with oil instead of butter. We used it to make beggars purses and fried spring rolls, but to be honest, I didn't like it at all...too doughy and quite bland.

Mango beggars purse with sake-lime sabayon and lychee sorbet.
While the beggars purse was, alright...the sorbet was phenomenal, as all sorbets should be; it tasted like concentrated lychee. I could eat way too much of that quite easily.

Asian pear spring rolls with champagne vinegar gastrique and creme fraiche ice-cream. Again, alright. Frying the pears softened them, and took away the great flambe flavor we previously gave them.

Speaking of plated desserts...the menu project is due next week! Though, we don't actually make it until the next week since we have to get orders in. But I have been analyzing each dessert far too much, and think I'm FINALLY done changing things...
So, unless I can't control my need to tweak things, here it is!


amuse buche
iced tea orb, honey, ginger.

guiness and pretzel ice cream.
%85 valrhona truffle brownie, caramel corn.

bourbon 3-ways.
brioche beignet, bacon infused bourbon-maple creme anglaise. bourbon ice-milk. coconut- bourbon dark chocolate truffle.

mousse cone.
olive oil & sea salt. meyer lemon & black pepper bombe. vanilla-campari gelee.

ginger-apple trifle.
pomelo curd, caramel-apple granola, ginger sorbet.

fuyu persimmon “cobbler.”
tahitian vanilla-kumquat jam,cinnamon foam.

fernet infused fig upside-down cake.
Lillet sorbet, lilac, honeycomb.

pear.
sous-vide poached pear, hazelnut financier, carbonated pear consomme, chamomile sorbet.

hong kong milk tea panna cotta.
sesame bark, yuzu jelly, shisho reduction, tapioca pearls.

Sugar Showpieces!

Andy Warhol Cake Stand

Halloween Showpiece

Since Chef. Tom was out of the class (and will be the rest of the week), today, was a good day. We worked in teams for the past two days constructing showpieces out of sugar. With Chef Chris and Jae in the kitchen the vibe in the classroom was instantly transformed. Everyone was happy, and relaxed. We were able to work (creating according to Chef. Chris-some of the best student showpieces he's seen). It was truly, a great day. And we all need it! Right now, we have this huge menu project (due Wed) to finish, as well as beginning to design our final showpiece/prep for the exam, and design our wedding cakes. Needless to say, we won't be bored! Tomorrow we start our last section, plated desserts 3. Then the last three weeks are finals/wedding cakes! I can't believe we're almost done-excited-but sort of in disbelief!

Blown Sugar

Blowing sugar. Significantly more difficult than expected. Sugar work in general has proved to be a challenge for me (with the obvious exception of pouring sugar). We spent the better part of the morning trying to blow sugar vases. Essentially, you need to have the right consistency of sugar (temperature) as well as thickness, and try to cool the sugar as you blow (or rather, pump air into), or it collapses, pops, or generally doesn't work. But once you get the hang of it, it gets easier, though even after several hours I don't feel particularly confident! Tomorrow we start showpiece one of two. Tomorrow's theme is halloween, and luckily, we're working in teams so its a bit more low key than usual!

Today, also marks exactly one month from graduation!!! And as we get closer to finishing, we're finding time spent outside of class being more and more occupied. A group of us (as well as a few from the night class) are participating in the New York Chocolate Show. While not giving too much away, the ten of us are creating a life-size piece of "haute couture" chocolate. I'm really excited for this! We get to work alongside some of the nation's top chocolatiers! AND our names appear on the piece! The show is on graduation day, so we'll be running between that and school, and to be honest, I'm more excited about the show! I never thought I would be able to blend my interests in baking and fashion...We'll be working in the afternoons over the next three and a half weeks to get it finished, seems like enough time, but we'll see!

Pulling Sugar Ribbons

More sugar today! It was fine, and admittedly, its pretty interesting. Although the process isn't much fun. Our chef was lecturing about how only a small percentage of pastry chefs can work with sugar, its a very rare skill and about as advanced as it gets. No kidding! It's really hard to do well, not to mention dangerous!Third degree burns are a real threat, and about half the class has ridiculous blisters from today. Luckily, I haven't gotten one yet! But, we have three more days left in the unit, so we'll see!

Poured Sugar

We spent all day cooking sugar. To pour. To make sugar owls. It was a bit of a slow day. I do admit sugar work can be super interesting. But, I don't have a particular interest in it at the moment!

We also talked a bit more about our menu projects. As I continue to think about my project, which is an actual business proposal for my future business, I've been a bit "forced" to think about my future in the industry. Although I'm really excited to start working, I had a moment of panic. And this impulse to go back to the "science route." The unpredictability of this industry is both exciting and frightening all at the same time. I love what I do, but the realization I may not have a secure job for several years, or that the business I may open could completely fail does concern me! For example, to get a job (unless you plan on working minimum wage) you need at least a year experience, which you usually get from interning-unpaid. The ideal in the restaurant world is to "get in" with a highly acclaimed chef (think Michelin Stars), then from there use connections to get other jobs. It all sounds so....unreliable. And it is. I'm trying to accept this, and generally, I'm OK with it, there are so many areas of the industry that I would be happy working in, and I know I'll be fine. I just have to deal with the occasional moment of panic!

Soups & Sous-Vide

In the morning each kitchen was assigned a soup plate to make and plate for the class before lunch. Soups are really basic, usually just an infusion. So although it wasn't complicated I was excited to try something I hadn't yet!

Tropical Fruit Salad with Pineapple-Cilantro Syrup, Lime Sorbet, and Pineapple Chip

Summer Fruit Salad with Strawberry broth and Orange-Champagne Granita

Autumn Fruit Soup with Almond Custard Cubes and Quince Sorbet

Exotic Spiced Fruit Soup with Ginger-Lemongrass Ice Cream and Sesame seed Wafer
This is the one my kitchen worked on. Naturally I volunteered to make the ice-cream. As I was making the infusion I felt like the ratio of ginger to lemongrass wasn't great. The lemongrass was there, but the ginger was lost (not OK). I personally feel that in dessert applications (and most any) that if you add ginger, it should be obvious, it has such an incredible spicy flavor, why wouldn't you want to showcase it? Then again, I absolutely LOVE ginger. So while it was making I juiced some ginger and after the creme anglais cooled, added it until I was satisfied. It ended being about 4x the original amount. I was worried my fellow classmates would find it too spicy, though it was nicely mellowed by the lemongrass. I was wrong, everyone loved it! I got rave reviews, and the entire hotel pan full disappeared as we tasted. I was pretty proud. It's one thing to replicate a recipe successfully, but I always aim to make it as good as I possibly can. I liked it so much, I'm thinking of using it (or its sorbet equivalent) in my menu project.

The second half of the day was a sous-vide demo! Sous-vide is essentially "under vacuum." Although after food is vacuum sealed, it is often slow cooked in an immersion circulator the processes are not the same thing. Generally sous-vide and low temperature cooking are used together to attain better texture for meats. Basically, when you cook steak you want to break down collagen fibers, but not muscle fibers. In order to attain proper temperature, the outside is often over-cooked and many meats will become tough and dry. Sous-vide allows to reach to break down collagen (breakdown depends on time and temperature) while leaving muscle fibers (breakdown only related to temperature), by keeping it at a low temperature for a long time. Although, searing the meat is also often used after to get that desired brown crust. But it has many more applications, from infusions to flash pickling and creating multi-layered tarinnes. Though it was a brief demo, I'm glad we got an introduction!

Afternoon of Desserts

Today was the the last day of plated desserts 2 (3 next week), and instead of an exam we were to plate for actual customers. Students invited friends, family, or co-workers to come in and taste our desserts. It was meant to be a close approximation to running a kitchen, and we served in the Italian dining room using the staff from the restaurant to serve for us. The menu wasn't all that exciting, but it was much better than an exam! And it all went smoothly, above are the final pates for the day! All of which are things we've done before.
Below: a few sabayon plates from last week-with fresh fruit and french toast.



Tomorrow we are doing fruit soups and consommes as well as sous vide! I was a bit concerned we wouldn't get to do this since the afternoon of desserts replaces it on our schedule, but they worked it in anyway! And I can't wait!