Today was a day of tears: tears of stress, tears of nervous anticipation, tears of worry and unalloyed terror and finally...tears of relief.
Yes, it's official - I passed both of my practical exams although the Patisserie one was a very near thing. It wasn't anywhere near what I would have called even a good effort in terms of technique, having done every single element better previously (and actually, same for the Cuisine final) - but it was done and it was enough to get me through. I heard someone who is progressing through the levels tell someone else that now they are nervous - well, I can't help the tears which came with the relief of finally knowing, one way or the other.
The rundown
Friday's Patisserie was a nightmare. It started with a dream during the night in which I was already in my exams, but then I woke up and I actually had to do it. Who knows how long the dream lasted, but I was working on my sable biscuits in it - and in that odd, dreamlike way that time passes, it seemed like it had been going for days.
It was time to get equipment and things ready for the exam room - my bag had been packed the night before and all extraneous knives had been removed from my knife kit. Eventually found the bread knife and the cleaver I had removed for the Cuisine final - in a box with odds and ends when I tidied up my room. See, it might look more tidy with things put away, but then I can't get my hands on things so tidy is not the same as organized.
The first 3 hours of my exam were great - the brioche was done on time and proving in the prover (although I had initially written down the wrong time, I had written the start time so it was easy to fix) and the sable dough was done. The bain maries were set up for the chocolates, my lemons zested, juiced and on the stove, ready to start reducing when we were allowed to turn on the heat and the raspberries with the sugar on another burner, ready to go for the jelly. They have a rule that in the 1st hour, you may not turn on your stoves.
Turned the stove on as soon as I was allowed to so that things could do what they needed to do. I set up my tray for the truffles (paper, wire rack) and baking trays for the jaconde biscuit (the cake sponge for my dessert) and tuiles. The brioche was chilling in the fridge so I tempered the chocolate and checked on the lemon juice and raspberries, both merrily heating but not boiling away - perfect, right?
In which the cascade starts
Somewhere in the 4th hour, things started to go wrong. I was all of a sudden starting to get a little behind and I'm not sure why. The melted butter for my sponge had disappeared off my stove when I wasn't looking and I thought I had messed up the sponge (no, it turned out ok) but it was time to make the mousse. The jelly was already setting in the blast chiller and the chocolate twirls were in the fridge but all of a sudden - my lemon juice and zest for the mousse were no longer on my stove. There was no chance of sabotage because everyone was making different desserts and I wouldn't have taken the pots to the washup because I needed them - but where was the lemon juice? The chef went to investigate but all of a sudden my timing was off. The sugar couldn't get started because the mousse had to set while I did the sugar and my truffles hadn't been capped - already a problem because it was so cold in the Patisserie that the chocolate was too cold when I flooded the mould and the shells were very thick - I knew they weren't going to score high...what do you do when you know that things aren't going well and you can't fix it? You keep on going and hope that somehow it works out. Had to keep going but there were a few moments when it would have been nice to curl up in a little ball under my station and just wait to wake up so that I could do my exam for real. Except this was real and it was starting to feel horrible.
Towards the end, I knew I wasn't going to get the biscuits done in time because I didn't have enough time to chill them down as much as I needed to - a lightning decision to salvage what was possible - take them out early (delineations of the colors got lost, lost a bunch of points for technique and presentation) and presented them less than half baked because I was already 5 minutes over (automatic 10% deduction) and didn't want to get disqualified by going over the maximum time. There is a certain agonizing pain that comes with presenting something you know is sub-par but there was nothing to be done except hope for the best and hope it was enough.
Debrief
Waiting for the results was absolutely excruciating. On the one hand, not knowing means that there's always a glimmer of hope - you haven't failed until they tell you that you did. On the other hand, waiting to know one way or the other leaves you unable to think of anything else. Despite everything I could do to keep my mind off it (tons of laundry, packing and re-packing, multiple ballet classes in the same day, going out with friends) somehow it always came back to the nauseating finale of the Patisserie. I knew the Cuisine exam wasn't as good as the mock exam but the Patisserie - it was touch and go as to whether I had passed. Failure meant no Patisserie Diplome, no Grand Diplome (and trust me, it's a big piece of paper) and could almost seem to be a waste of having returned to London to finish the last month of classes. Of course there's a bright side (seeing the new school, using the new equipment, being back in London) but the silver lining was hard to see under the doom and gloom of a possible failure.
So - how did it all go?
Cuisine:
Chef EB told me I should go to France for 5 years and eat out at restaurants more. Yes, chef! I think he told a lot of people that they should go to France and eat there more, though - at least 5 other people in my group were told the same thing. Oddly enough, the dishes were better during the mock exam although the timing was definitely better for this one. Managed to have a respectable plate although the detailed comments weren't available due to a computer glitch. Good - I don't need to know about my hollandaise or my tartlet which I know could have been better. I'm sure they would have said the turning could have been better, some veggies overcooked (turnips again?), some veggies undercooked (carrots?) and who knows for the rest of it?
"Congratulations - you passed." Even though I had felt quite confident about the Cuisine final, I didn't realize how tightly I'd been strung while waiting to hear those words until the tears started. The release of some of the tension was almost unbearable, especially as Patisserie debrief was next and the tension ratcheted back up almost immediately, even worse than before. I exited the debriefing room for a hug from classmates who were going through the same thing. Some concern from the others as they saw my tears - "What happened? Did you pass?" A sigh of relief as I nodded, then congratulations all around as we said them to each other as each person exited a debriefing room (the Cuisine and Patisserie debriefs were in adjacent rooms - I am guessing it's because a few of us had to go to both rooms).
Patisserie:
Chef CB's comment about my tuiles - "cremated". Well, that's about right - I'm not sure what happened - the temperature in the oven at home must be a little different from the one at school - hard go gauge, I didn't use the oven thermometer at home. Also - a tuile and the backup broke during plating so marks were deducted for the plates not being identical, although since all the elements on the plate were present, I got credit for that and the portfolio.
And then the compulsory items...brioche - a bit tasteless (needed more salt) and the head was crooked. Otherwise, ok.
Truffles - white chocolate went out of temper (again!) and the shells were too thick, the caps uneven, but the ganache had a good texture, technique was fine and tasted very nice (yes, the extra 5 drops of Framboise helped, I think).
Sable biscuis - were not cooked, not chilled enough before cutting, etc. etc. No points for taste because it wasn't cooked so they wouldn't have tasted the biscuits. Evil petit fours - I saw some on a menu the other night and ended up pushing it away with a shudder, unable to think about the ones I had presented on the cakeboard.
Coulis needed more sugar, the glacage was a bit too runny, mousse was nice, jelly was too jelled and at the bottom of the mousse instead of in the middle and the sponge needed more syrup (which also had Framboise in it. I soaked the sponge well, but maybe I should have done the sides too...) Messy plate, messy sauces...it could have been so much better. The white chocolate twirl was way too thick - I probably should have used the small teeth on the comb but was too nervous I'd melt through them while plating - my fingers tend to run hot which sucks when working with dough or sugar or chocolate.
Then the sugar...oh dear - let's just say it was not good - but I'm glad I managed to get it done at all and it was still standing when it got downstairs - a relief since the sugar kind of got overcooked at the initial stages. I don't have a photo of it (for my reference only) but let's just say that it fell far short of what I had hoped to produce.
"Despite all that, you passed." More tears, a hug and a kiss before heading downstairs to clean out my locker. What a relief to know that it hadn't all been in vain and although the day produced a crappy performance, it was enough to get me through to the end.
Nor was I the only one to cry from the sheer relief of knowing finally - and knowing that we had done it. There was more than one person who was still upset about the performance we had handed in on the exam days and we compared notes in terms of what we had been told - quite a few of us were told our dishes didn't taste so nice (hence the the suggestions that we live in France and eat out more), as well as other problematic areas of our techniques and things.
I do want to re-do and try out some of the suggestions the chefs made - I'm sure I can do better than I did. Now just to figure out a way to do it...some things are easier to try at home than others and although my sugar pretty much sucked, I am so glad I don't have to do it again.
So until next time, may you find that the effort you put in is worth the final result.
Showing posts with label brioche. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brioche. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
#85 - Finals Practice Day 1 - Compulsories
It's almost like the old school figure skating competitions. We worked on our compulsory items today and tomorrow we work on our free plated dessert.
Disclaimer: Keep in mind the following while you look at the photos: I haven't made chocolates since October and this is my second sugar sculpture since November. I have never before made the spiral sables (and it shows!) but I made the brioche a few times last week. You can see what was practiced recently and what wasn't...I'd fix the formatting but it's difficult to keep my eyes open and I have an early class, so must get on with it.
Compulsories started well enough. The first hour was a frantic rush - the brioche got made, the sables were finished and rolled and by the second hour, the chocolate shells for the truffles had set and were filled with ganache. It all started to come apart in the third hour - my sables ended up way too big (I'll make a half recipe next time) and the brioche took twice as long as it should have to prove.
Then the truffles - the seal went on well enough, but they were really stuck when I tried to get them out at the end. Chef asked if I had cleaned my mould well - yes I had, and I had the extra spilled over bits of chocolate which had gotten into other holds in the mould which had come out easily, all shiny and pretty. The culprit was my white chocolate - it had gone out of temper when I brushed it onto the mould because I wanted to get a lot of definition on the white lines. Too many brush strokes and it kills your chocolate - the truffles stick to the mould and they don't come out cleanly, if at all. The result - broken chocolates. Since we have to present 6 identical chocolates on the day, this is a bit of a failure unless you count the broken-ness as them being identical. I think the chefs might consider that an identical lack of skill...
I don't know what happened to my sugar but it was all bad. It crystallized, which it had never done before, so it was hideous when I tried to stick things together. Then the main piece was too top heavy (and answers the question of which way the teardrop window should face) and it broke before I managed to present it to the chef. In the exam you have to somehow glue the pieces back together and present something because the compulsories are just that - compulsory. Failure to present one is an automatic disqualification - i.e. you fail the exam and the course - or at least, that's how I understand it. If you manage to stick something on a cake board, you might eke out a half point, keeping you in the game - as long as the rest of your work is good. I think most people had a shocker of a day today, although not all. In my case, most of the tasting seemed ok but the execution of the techniques - oh my. I so don't want to put up photos because it was all a bit of a disaster, but the whole point of this is to share the good (sometimes) and the not-so-good (lately feels like an awful lot of the time).
The brioche wasn't so bad although the head was on crooked. I felt so disorganized this morning - my kit and bits and pieces had all been left at home because I had taken things out of my bag or put them back in or I thought I had put them back in. When I found I didn't have a few things, there was some mild panicking for the first hour or so. Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly now that I kind of have a better idea of what I want to do and I've reviewed my knife kit / Patisserie toolbox. It's kind of stupid - there's a rule that you can't bring in a bag other than your knife kit because people were stealing stuff from the old school. The thing is, we need a lot of extra stuff in Patisserie so you actually do need that extra bag for things like our paint scrapers, grout spreaders (I'm not sure if that's even the right term), extra palette knife - and since there are quite a few of us who seem to want to do the same thing, I've packed my own moulds. This way I am guaranteed to have the correct sized moulds for various things, like my chocolate and tuile decorations, as well as the actual dessert itself.
Lunch provided a sop to the OCD part of my personality -a sink right in the middle of a casual Portuguese chicken place! No need for hand sanitizer, I could wash my hands after I paid for my food and before I sat down. How could any germaphobe or a self-professed clean freak not be happy?
Wish us Merde - we will need it in order to survive our feedback and the subsequent change of recipes.
Until next time, may you feel more competent at whatever it is you're doing than I have felt today.
Disclaimer: Keep in mind the following while you look at the photos: I haven't made chocolates since October and this is my second sugar sculpture since November. I have never before made the spiral sables (and it shows!) but I made the brioche a few times last week. You can see what was practiced recently and what wasn't...I'd fix the formatting but it's difficult to keep my eyes open and I have an early class, so must get on with it.
Compulsories started well enough. The first hour was a frantic rush - the brioche got made, the sables were finished and rolled and by the second hour, the chocolate shells for the truffles had set and were filled with ganache. It all started to come apart in the third hour - my sables ended up way too big (I'll make a half recipe next time) and the brioche took twice as long as it should have to prove.
Then the truffles - the seal went on well enough, but they were really stuck when I tried to get them out at the end. Chef asked if I had cleaned my mould well - yes I had, and I had the extra spilled over bits of chocolate which had gotten into other holds in the mould which had come out easily, all shiny and pretty. The culprit was my white chocolate - it had gone out of temper when I brushed it onto the mould because I wanted to get a lot of definition on the white lines. Too many brush strokes and it kills your chocolate - the truffles stick to the mould and they don't come out cleanly, if at all. The result - broken chocolates. Since we have to present 6 identical chocolates on the day, this is a bit of a failure unless you count the broken-ness as them being identical. I think the chefs might consider that an identical lack of skill...
I don't know what happened to my sugar but it was all bad. It crystallized, which it had never done before, so it was hideous when I tried to stick things together. Then the main piece was too top heavy (and answers the question of which way the teardrop window should face) and it broke before I managed to present it to the chef. In the exam you have to somehow glue the pieces back together and present something because the compulsories are just that - compulsory. Failure to present one is an automatic disqualification - i.e. you fail the exam and the course - or at least, that's how I understand it. If you manage to stick something on a cake board, you might eke out a half point, keeping you in the game - as long as the rest of your work is good. I think most people had a shocker of a day today, although not all. In my case, most of the tasting seemed ok but the execution of the techniques - oh my. I so don't want to put up photos because it was all a bit of a disaster, but the whole point of this is to share the good (sometimes) and the not-so-good (lately feels like an awful lot of the time).
The brioche wasn't so bad although the head was on crooked. I felt so disorganized this morning - my kit and bits and pieces had all been left at home because I had taken things out of my bag or put them back in or I thought I had put them back in. When I found I didn't have a few things, there was some mild panicking for the first hour or so. Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly now that I kind of have a better idea of what I want to do and I've reviewed my knife kit / Patisserie toolbox. It's kind of stupid - there's a rule that you can't bring in a bag other than your knife kit because people were stealing stuff from the old school. The thing is, we need a lot of extra stuff in Patisserie so you actually do need that extra bag for things like our paint scrapers, grout spreaders (I'm not sure if that's even the right term), extra palette knife - and since there are quite a few of us who seem to want to do the same thing, I've packed my own moulds. This way I am guaranteed to have the correct sized moulds for various things, like my chocolate and tuile decorations, as well as the actual dessert itself.
Lunch provided a sop to the OCD part of my personality -a sink right in the middle of a casual Portuguese chicken place! No need for hand sanitizer, I could wash my hands after I paid for my food and before I sat down. How could any germaphobe or a self-professed clean freak not be happy?
Wish us Merde - we will need it in order to survive our feedback and the subsequent change of recipes.
Until next time, may you feel more competent at whatever it is you're doing than I have felt today.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
#82 - Taking home the bread...
In which I have discovered new levels of stress
Whatever thoughts I might have had last term about getting ready for finals and doing portfolios was trumped yesterday. An email reminder arrived from a course I enrolled for back in September - related to my job and obviously before I got injured. The reminder email was to confirm technical setup with our lecturers in Sydney. Yes, I am beyond silly in that I now have to finish my Patisserie portfolio, finalise the Cuisine portfolio, practice for the exams and...do readings for a dispute resolution course. That could always go on the back burner but I have a couple of assignments due during the period that I am away so what I had thought would be easy down time at home over the Easter holidays now bid fair to be rather involved in catching up on the reading that I don't really have time to do over the next couple of weeks. Between study / practice sessions and classes finishing full pelt, I have little free time as I have to pack up pretty much right after finals in preparation for leaving London for the foreseeable future.
Finals have started to permeate every aspect of life, from allowing no time for ballet classes to taking over conversations and any conversations I might have with anyone. There has been random browsing on the internet as well as trying to think of flavor combinations within the list of ingredients which don't sound horrible (cinnamon and white chocolate made various faces screw up at the very thought). Thus far we have had some good natured guinea pigs as evidenced by the mousse and raspberry thing the other night.
Good influences
There are good influences everywhere you look. One of the girls from Cuisine has kicked my butt into actually making a practice schedule for our cuisine final. That influenced a slightly less ambitious one for Patisserie - less so because there are a few things I can't practice at home (sugar and brioche). In the meantime, our first practice session is tomorrow. She has kindly offered the use of her kitchen and equipment - I will provide the things she doesn't have. I have high hopes for the upcoming finals as I have only practiced on my own in the past. If nothing else, this will teach me whether I am capable of practicing with other people or whether I need to do it on my own.
Gather ye roses...
In the meantime, we have been using the boulangerie module to practice brioche. Mondy and today resulted in more bread items than we could carry - a happy bonus for friends not doing Patisserie. We made a few breads for the day, then prepped a few other things for Tuesday (a second brioche recipe, the croissant doughs, etc.) which we did first thing in the morning - not a bad breakfast / morning snack. We actually had so many that I gave a few to various people. The porters like these days because they also get to share - we need assistance in making our take-home packages manageable and they get to have fresh bread - a win/win situation for all concerned.
After all the Viennoiserie was baked, we all had to do a quality control/taste test. As you can see, they looked quite nice (my croissants are the two outer columns and the pains au chocolat on the left - we shared trays). For hygiene reasons, I've been wearing a mask while I cook, but that doesn't interfere with tasting time. The others in the background are ladling hot water in their cups so they can have coffee with their croissants. Milk and sugar were already on hand for other ingredients so we were well supplied.
In which we eat - a lot...
Tuesday's afternoon session was for finishing a few other breads, then time for some fun. We have these enormous deck ovens which can make their own steam so you get a really nice crust on bread. The only thing is, these are apparently the small ones so it makes it a bit harder to have one at home. You can make do but it's a bit more dangerous to make your own steam so I just do simpler ones. The Viennese baguettes are baking on the left (just before we went for lunch). Then we had to turn out and cut our pains de campagne in the second session. It gets a really nice crust, it freezes well and it's really good when you defrost and toast it. This is the one I had in my freezer when I got injured last term - really good with beans on toast - even better if the beans and toast is topped with melted Gruyere and a fried egg on top.
Pain Surprise
This is one we make with a rye bread mix (pain de siegle). We baked the bread the day before, then chilled it over night - apparently that makes it easier to slice. It's something you can do with any bread (so we were told) and traditionally people make them for parties - either as a finger food, part of a buffet or whatever - easy to eat and the display is quite nice.
Hollowing out my Aloha Honu ("honu" is Hawaiian for turtle) was a bit of a pain, mainly because I missed a little bit on the bottom and it was uneven. Did manage to disguise the layers - the one on the left below is Chef's turtle, Terry. Mine is in the centre and on the right below - the girls work at the dentist's office on the ground floor of the building where I'm staying. They saw the turtle and they made the same impressed sounds I made when I first saw a Superior student taking home her hedgehog back when I was in basic. Anyway, both girls are from Australia. One didn't like smoked salmon so she just sampled the prosciutto one and the other one tried both.
As you can see, Honu was quite popular. Knowing just how much butter I had spread over the various layers when making the sandwiches, I couldn't face eating so many more for dinner, especially since I had already had a pain au chocolat by then. All I want was a nice salad - so this was dinner. Of course I ended up having a second dinner a few hours later - apparently eating lots of butter and refined flour doesn't satisfy your body's need for food and it still demands the good stuff after you've given it tons of bad (but oh so delicious) stuff.
One of the girls who lives here asked why we make such a random thing as a turtle while we make such beautiful bread. I had to think about it - but I think it comes back to Chef's explanation of the bread. It's good for parties and canape-ish type things. They teach us this stuff because some of the people will leave LCB wanting to open their own businesses. This might not be appropriate, but then for those who go into catering or events type things, it might be a great way to do something that looks quite impressive and might make you a good profit. I have to agree with my hosts though - the turtle did look a bit random just hanging out in the fridge while waiting to be eaten. One of the guys doesn't like hard crusts on his bread so I told him this was perfect because there was actually no crust on the sandwiches whatsoever.
The remainder of the evening was spent doing more laundry - the baking trays have been cured over years of use but the whole not washing them thing means that they get crap on the bottom of the trays - so each day the pristine white uniform gets random rusty looking streaks not too long after you handle the trays. I've washed my oven gloves but they still look a bit cooked. Hopefully they don't affect hygiene marks.
Today is a late start - 3pm demo, then a 6:30pm practical. Luckily the main time of the practical will be waiting for the lemongrass / ginger/ other spices bouillon to come together so there should be some yummy goodness to bring home for dinner. There's enough time to drop off a Kugelhopf bread to a girlfriend (not cooking school) who had a baby not so long ago, with some of the bread from yesterday, then it's on to meet a friend from Cuisine to go over a couple of things for finals. I can finally get some things out of the fridge, like the wood pigeons I bought over the weekend -I'm not sure if that means they were wild but we have to look for shot in them - and some of the vegetables. Busy day ahead - must go.
So until next time, happy eating and sleeping!
Whatever thoughts I might have had last term about getting ready for finals and doing portfolios was trumped yesterday. An email reminder arrived from a course I enrolled for back in September - related to my job and obviously before I got injured. The reminder email was to confirm technical setup with our lecturers in Sydney. Yes, I am beyond silly in that I now have to finish my Patisserie portfolio, finalise the Cuisine portfolio, practice for the exams and...do readings for a dispute resolution course. That could always go on the back burner but I have a couple of assignments due during the period that I am away so what I had thought would be easy down time at home over the Easter holidays now bid fair to be rather involved in catching up on the reading that I don't really have time to do over the next couple of weeks. Between study / practice sessions and classes finishing full pelt, I have little free time as I have to pack up pretty much right after finals in preparation for leaving London for the foreseeable future.
Finals have started to permeate every aspect of life, from allowing no time for ballet classes to taking over conversations and any conversations I might have with anyone. There has been random browsing on the internet as well as trying to think of flavor combinations within the list of ingredients which don't sound horrible (cinnamon and white chocolate made various faces screw up at the very thought). Thus far we have had some good natured guinea pigs as evidenced by the mousse and raspberry thing the other night.
Good influences
There are good influences everywhere you look. One of the girls from Cuisine has kicked my butt into actually making a practice schedule for our cuisine final. That influenced a slightly less ambitious one for Patisserie - less so because there are a few things I can't practice at home (sugar and brioche). In the meantime, our first practice session is tomorrow. She has kindly offered the use of her kitchen and equipment - I will provide the things she doesn't have. I have high hopes for the upcoming finals as I have only practiced on my own in the past. If nothing else, this will teach me whether I am capable of practicing with other people or whether I need to do it on my own.
Gather ye roses...
In the meantime, we have been using the boulangerie module to practice brioche. Mondy and today resulted in more bread items than we could carry - a happy bonus for friends not doing Patisserie. We made a few breads for the day, then prepped a few other things for Tuesday (a second brioche recipe, the croissant doughs, etc.) which we did first thing in the morning - not a bad breakfast / morning snack. We actually had so many that I gave a few to various people. The porters like these days because they also get to share - we need assistance in making our take-home packages manageable and they get to have fresh bread - a win/win situation for all concerned.
After all the Viennoiserie was baked, we all had to do a quality control/taste test. As you can see, they looked quite nice (my croissants are the two outer columns and the pains au chocolat on the left - we shared trays). For hygiene reasons, I've been wearing a mask while I cook, but that doesn't interfere with tasting time. The others in the background are ladling hot water in their cups so they can have coffee with their croissants. Milk and sugar were already on hand for other ingredients so we were well supplied.
In which we eat - a lot...
Tuesday's afternoon session was for finishing a few other breads, then time for some fun. We have these enormous deck ovens which can make their own steam so you get a really nice crust on bread. The only thing is, these are apparently the small ones so it makes it a bit harder to have one at home. You can make do but it's a bit more dangerous to make your own steam so I just do simpler ones. The Viennese baguettes are baking on the left (just before we went for lunch). Then we had to turn out and cut our pains de campagne in the second session. It gets a really nice crust, it freezes well and it's really good when you defrost and toast it. This is the one I had in my freezer when I got injured last term - really good with beans on toast - even better if the beans and toast is topped with melted Gruyere and a fried egg on top.
Pain Surprise
This is one we make with a rye bread mix (pain de siegle). We baked the bread the day before, then chilled it over night - apparently that makes it easier to slice. It's something you can do with any bread (so we were told) and traditionally people make them for parties - either as a finger food, part of a buffet or whatever - easy to eat and the display is quite nice.
Hollowing out my Aloha Honu ("honu" is Hawaiian for turtle) was a bit of a pain, mainly because I missed a little bit on the bottom and it was uneven. Did manage to disguise the layers - the one on the left below is Chef's turtle, Terry. Mine is in the centre and on the right below - the girls work at the dentist's office on the ground floor of the building where I'm staying. They saw the turtle and they made the same impressed sounds I made when I first saw a Superior student taking home her hedgehog back when I was in basic. Anyway, both girls are from Australia. One didn't like smoked salmon so she just sampled the prosciutto one and the other one tried both.
As you can see, Honu was quite popular. Knowing just how much butter I had spread over the various layers when making the sandwiches, I couldn't face eating so many more for dinner, especially since I had already had a pain au chocolat by then. All I want was a nice salad - so this was dinner. Of course I ended up having a second dinner a few hours later - apparently eating lots of butter and refined flour doesn't satisfy your body's need for food and it still demands the good stuff after you've given it tons of bad (but oh so delicious) stuff.
The remainder of the evening was spent doing more laundry - the baking trays have been cured over years of use but the whole not washing them thing means that they get crap on the bottom of the trays - so each day the pristine white uniform gets random rusty looking streaks not too long after you handle the trays. I've washed my oven gloves but they still look a bit cooked. Hopefully they don't affect hygiene marks.
Today is a late start - 3pm demo, then a 6:30pm practical. Luckily the main time of the practical will be waiting for the lemongrass / ginger/ other spices bouillon to come together so there should be some yummy goodness to bring home for dinner. There's enough time to drop off a Kugelhopf bread to a girlfriend (not cooking school) who had a baby not so long ago, with some of the bread from yesterday, then it's on to meet a friend from Cuisine to go over a couple of things for finals. I can finally get some things out of the fridge, like the wood pigeons I bought over the weekend -I'm not sure if that means they were wild but we have to look for shot in them - and some of the vegetables. Busy day ahead - must go.
So until next time, happy eating and sleeping!
Friday, December 16, 2011
#67 - (Not) Graduation and variations on a theme
The variations are not on a theme by Paganini. It's more a theme by Le Cordon Bleu London - that is to say, hygiene. Kind of. Sort of. What can I say, it's more laundry. But as usual, I've begun in the middle so must loop back to the beginning.
Good bye Dinner
On Thursday night I had dinner with a friend of one of my brothers (they of the walk in the countryside and trip on canal boat fame) - she and her partner took me to a lovely restaurant called Alba near the Barbican - really good Italian food - definitely comfort food. I took a photo of the dessert as research. As delicious as my vegetable soup and slow cooked lamb were, they weren't something I might put in an exam. Probably not the pear either, but it was good for taste, texture and potential ideas (the marscapone cream was really good - definitely on the list for a future dessert). The Alba is a family owned and operated establishment and my hostess had been going there for years. I must say that I will definitely go back - what's not to like? Small but thoughtful menu with something available for the carnivore, the vegetarian and the pescatarian (they're the ones who eat fish but not meat, right?). I was tempted to get the set menu which had a truffle dish on it, but couldn't go past the lamb.
Graduation Lunch
As of Friday, 16 December 2011, the term has officially ended for my fellows in Superior Cuisine and Patisserie - they are now chefs, some of them entitled to wear the toque at least for the last few minutes of the graduation ceremony. Today was graduation day for most of those who began this long quest to learn how to cook, improve technique and to share our love of all things food. The party was at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Much better food than what I remember being served when we had our graduation from Basic. This is the final graduating batch of Superior students from 114 Marylebone Lane. From next year, students will be taking classes in Bloomsbury Square.
It was nice to see everyone dressed up and out of their school uniforms. It appears that people dress up more for the Superior Graduation - not that I remember much from when I was in Basic (and I wasn't here for the Intermediate one) but I have to admit people cleaned up very well.
Everyone had put their best shod foot forward and you could feel the palpable air of relief, excitement and (possibly it's my imagination, but who knows?) the need to catch up on just a little more sleep after the marathon Patisserie exam a couple of days ago. Some of people said that a few problems had occurred in one of the exams and sometimes it was little but important things which just went wrong on the day. I think it's always frustrating when you have an element which normally is not a trouble maker all of a sudden causing problems on the day because it tends to throw you off your stride.
The Dorchester was very pretty - a little OTT perhaps, but then again, this was a big occasion for everyone - a culmination of a lot of work and in many cases, some blood, lots of sweat and a lot of tears. Possibly also some grumpy moments, loss of sleep and monumental self control when something didn't go right in class and continued not to go right. Yes, it is personal experience talking...
Having had so much time in class, I have to say I cast an eye over our lunch as though we were having it presented to us for tasting and judgment. Maybe not Iron Chef - but definitely consideration on a couple of levels: the first being, could I do this? (Sometimes yes, sometimes maybe...) - and the second one being, what might the chefs say if this was a dish that we were presenting to them.
So I do not have a 3 Michelin star palate - even after al this time and the incredible ingredients we used in class, I still do not like foie gras (although today I hated it less than usual). The toasted brioche was a nice touch although I observed a demonstration of someone's objection to it which is that you get this large slab of foie gras but only a little bit of bread and salad.
The menu said cannon of lamb. I thought the cannon was part of the leg but this looked more like a steak-ish type of cut. Also, it didn't taste particularly lamb-y, but maybe the tastebuds were confused by the foie gras and a piece of the toasted brioche (yummy, by the way) which had preceded it. Again, left the sweetbreads behind. I think they are considered a delicacy nowadays - certainly they seem to be trendy at the moment, both as part of the head-to-tail philosophy of using every part of the animal and as part of the offal-is-trendy-because-it-sounds-kind-of-weird-and-no-one-knows-what-it-is.
Dessert was a mocha and something-or-other parfait, macadamia nut brittle, coconut ice cream (milk ice cream?) and sauce. This one got particular scrutiny as there were several patisserie students at my table from all the levels as well as our head Patisserie chef. The students looked at it from the view of a plated dessert and Chef JW looked at it, comparing it to what had been served during the tasting (when they chose the menu) as well as technical points. The only really technical point is that a parfait is frozen, which these weren't. I thought the mousse might have been a tad heavy on the gelatine, but that might just have been me.
There was some discussion as to how well the chocolate was tempered, some people at the table having had rather recent and harrowing experience with uncooperative chocolate. Split verdict - I thought it was fine, someone else thought not and Chef JW did not weigh in with her opinion. She did observe that there are two LCB graduates who worked in the pastry team of the Dorchester and at least one of them had worked on these desserts. In any event, it tasted good and was quite pretty. They stuck the tuile and chocolate in the dome though, so I'm not sure what Chef GB thought of that - he told us particularly not to do that to our plated desserts.
I also found out one of the girls who just completed Basic Patisserie has been reading this blog - rather a compliment. I asked her how she had found it and she said it was because she had been searching for photos of the dishes we had been making in class.
Chefs!
Anyway - they made it and have the medals, papers (lots of papers) and the hats to show it.
Good bye Dinner
On Thursday night I had dinner with a friend of one of my brothers (they of the walk in the countryside and trip on canal boat fame) - she and her partner took me to a lovely restaurant called Alba near the Barbican - really good Italian food - definitely comfort food. I took a photo of the dessert as research. As delicious as my vegetable soup and slow cooked lamb were, they weren't something I might put in an exam. Probably not the pear either, but it was good for taste, texture and potential ideas (the marscapone cream was really good - definitely on the list for a future dessert). The Alba is a family owned and operated establishment and my hostess had been going there for years. I must say that I will definitely go back - what's not to like? Small but thoughtful menu with something available for the carnivore, the vegetarian and the pescatarian (they're the ones who eat fish but not meat, right?). I was tempted to get the set menu which had a truffle dish on it, but couldn't go past the lamb.Graduation Lunch
As of Friday, 16 December 2011, the term has officially ended for my fellows in Superior Cuisine and Patisserie - they are now chefs, some of them entitled to wear the toque at least for the last few minutes of the graduation ceremony. Today was graduation day for most of those who began this long quest to learn how to cook, improve technique and to share our love of all things food. The party was at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Much better food than what I remember being served when we had our graduation from Basic. This is the final graduating batch of Superior students from 114 Marylebone Lane. From next year, students will be taking classes in Bloomsbury Square.
It was nice to see everyone dressed up and out of their school uniforms. It appears that people dress up more for the Superior Graduation - not that I remember much from when I was in Basic (and I wasn't here for the Intermediate one) but I have to admit people cleaned up very well.
Everyone had put their best shod foot forward and you could feel the palpable air of relief, excitement and (possibly it's my imagination, but who knows?) the need to catch up on just a little more sleep after the marathon Patisserie exam a couple of days ago. Some of people said that a few problems had occurred in one of the exams and sometimes it was little but important things which just went wrong on the day. I think it's always frustrating when you have an element which normally is not a trouble maker all of a sudden causing problems on the day because it tends to throw you off your stride.
The Dorchester was very pretty - a little OTT perhaps, but then again, this was a big occasion for everyone - a culmination of a lot of work and in many cases, some blood, lots of sweat and a lot of tears. Possibly also some grumpy moments, loss of sleep and monumental self control when something didn't go right in class and continued not to go right. Yes, it is personal experience talking...Having had so much time in class, I have to say I cast an eye over our lunch as though we were having it presented to us for tasting and judgment. Maybe not Iron Chef - but definitely consideration on a couple of levels: the first being, could I do this? (Sometimes yes, sometimes maybe...) - and the second one being, what might the chefs say if this was a dish that we were presenting to them.
So I do not have a 3 Michelin star palate - even after al this time and the incredible ingredients we used in class, I still do not like foie gras (although today I hated it less than usual). The toasted brioche was a nice touch although I observed a demonstration of someone's objection to it which is that you get this large slab of foie gras but only a little bit of bread and salad.
The menu said cannon of lamb. I thought the cannon was part of the leg but this looked more like a steak-ish type of cut. Also, it didn't taste particularly lamb-y, but maybe the tastebuds were confused by the foie gras and a piece of the toasted brioche (yummy, by the way) which had preceded it. Again, left the sweetbreads behind. I think they are considered a delicacy nowadays - certainly they seem to be trendy at the moment, both as part of the head-to-tail philosophy of using every part of the animal and as part of the offal-is-trendy-because-it-sounds-kind-of-weird-and-no-one-knows-what-it-is.
Dessert was a mocha and something-or-other parfait, macadamia nut brittle, coconut ice cream (milk ice cream?) and sauce. This one got particular scrutiny as there were several patisserie students at my table from all the levels as well as our head Patisserie chef. The students looked at it from the view of a plated dessert and Chef JW looked at it, comparing it to what had been served during the tasting (when they chose the menu) as well as technical points. The only really technical point is that a parfait is frozen, which these weren't. I thought the mousse might have been a tad heavy on the gelatine, but that might just have been me.
There was some discussion as to how well the chocolate was tempered, some people at the table having had rather recent and harrowing experience with uncooperative chocolate. Split verdict - I thought it was fine, someone else thought not and Chef JW did not weigh in with her opinion. She did observe that there are two LCB graduates who worked in the pastry team of the Dorchester and at least one of them had worked on these desserts. In any event, it tasted good and was quite pretty. They stuck the tuile and chocolate in the dome though, so I'm not sure what Chef GB thought of that - he told us particularly not to do that to our plated desserts.I also found out one of the girls who just completed Basic Patisserie has been reading this blog - rather a compliment. I asked her how she had found it and she said it was because she had been searching for photos of the dishes we had been making in class.
Chefs!
Anyway - they made it and have the medals, papers (lots of papers) and the hats to show it.
Well done chefs!
As for my graduation, hopefully I will be able to time my finals with the next batch of graduating Superior students. This was supposed to be a year of food, but it's turning out to be a bit longer. It's been more of a year of building character - in which food played a large role. I will know more once I hear back from the Academic committe but for now, there will be photos of practice sessions (once my hand is back in shape), possibly some bitching and moaning and now I have a great excuse to eat a lot of things at a lot of places. After all, it's a chance to collect ideas for finals without trying to get too clever. It wasn't far to find a very large silver lining (a break to reorganize, get warm at home for the holidays with family and friends and a chance to see the new school).
So until next time, happy holidays - may your year end as positively as mine bids to do.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
#30 - Um, where did the time go?
Somehow the first week has gone by in a complete blur. Then the second week...I'm not sure where the time went, but here is a quick recap:
The end of June had Pithivier (right) and Mille-Feuille cake (left), both made with the Evil Puff Pastry from Hot Monday (aka the first day of Intermediate) - and I was so tired by the end of the day that I got the two mixed up on their labels when I put the photos up on Facebook.
Then we had three practicals for Cuisine - a (too salty!) pumpkin soup and Flemish style beef stew with braised endives on Wednesday, a Dover (?) sole with seafood and cream sauce on Thursday and a braised salmon fillet roulade with sole and scallop mousse, turned mushrooms and broccoli on Friday. The salmon dish, by the way, is one of our potential exam dishes for cuisine this term.
FYI, it was 39 degrees in the kitchen on Thursday and on Friday it was 40 degrees.
Saturday was a lovely day of nothing, ending with a delicious meal (Lebanese?) in Islington. I don't think I've been there before, so it was a nice little adventure. Then came Sunday and the highlight of my week - a cruise down the Thames followed by a pub lunch and a long walk in the English countryside.
Anyway, I arrived and we took the canal boat from Abingdon to...I've forgotten the name of the little town. During the trip we went through a couple of locks and I got to steer for a little while. I gave back the rudder when we approached the first lock, mainly because it required steering in a straight(ish) line and my steering had the boat basically waggling along down the river.
KTQ hopped out of the boat to push buttons to open the sluice gates or the lock gates to adjust the levels of water so that we could get into it, T had the rudder and one of the big ropes and I got to play deckhand and loop the rope around one of the things on the side of the lock while they lowered the water.
Then came week 2
There was baking - lots and lots of baking. We did various buns, pastries, more fish and for the first time, quail. Quail is a lot harder to carve once it's cooked because it's so small and you don't want to mess it up - bones aren't nice for anyone. I'm so happy that there are more vegetables on the menus this term. I'm not sure if it's because we have to work faster or if it's more advanced stuff, but depending on the day, we sometimes make a starter and a main in our cuisine classes. It will take too long to write about all the food, but here are the pictures:
Patisserie
Cuisine
I couldn't find my camera to take photos of the roast pork filet with prunes that we did the day before the quail so I don't have any photos for that one, unfortunately. They are starting to do desserts in our cuisine classes as well, hence the souffle.
Also, finally made it to the British Museum on Saturday morning. There are just as many tourists as I feared there might be, but I did get to see things I haven't seen before. Last time it was most of Ancient Egypt (the ground floor part) and part of Assyria. This time it was some of Ancient Egypt, then on to Ancient Greece and Rome with a wander through the Celtic region and Britain during the Iron Age. It's amazing how so things have survived, virtually intact, for a few thousand years. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of eeling through hordes of people who stop in the middle of a sidewalk to check their maps. You tend to run into them if you're walking quickly and then they give you a dirty look and you just have to smile sweetly and apologize.
Yesterday was bread day...I officially have bad boulangerie hands. The dough for the rye (pain de siegle) kept sticking to my hands.
No cooking today, but tomorrow it will be back to two classes in the kitchen. Wish us luck - we start going over our exam cakes next week.
So until next time, may the tourists not be with you.
The end of June had Pithivier (right) and Mille-Feuille cake (left), both made with the Evil Puff Pastry from Hot Monday (aka the first day of Intermediate) - and I was so tired by the end of the day that I got the two mixed up on their labels when I put the photos up on Facebook.Then we had three practicals for Cuisine - a (too salty!) pumpkin soup and Flemish style beef stew with braised endives on Wednesday, a Dover (?) sole with seafood and cream sauce on Thursday and a braised salmon fillet roulade with sole and scallop mousse, turned mushrooms and broccoli on Friday. The salmon dish, by the way, is one of our potential exam dishes for cuisine this term.
 |
| Braised endive with Beurre Meuniere |
 |
| Pumpkin Soup |
 |
| Braised fillet of Sole with seafood sauce |
 |
| Salmon stuffed with scallop and sole mousse, mushroom cream sauce and steamed broccoli |
 |
| Carbonnade of Beef |
FYI, it was 39 degrees in the kitchen on Thursday and on Friday it was 40 degrees.
Saturday was a lovely day of nothing, ending with a delicious meal (Lebanese?) in Islington. I don't think I've been there before, so it was a nice little adventure. Then came Sunday and the highlight of my week - a cruise down the Thames followed by a pub lunch and a long walk in the English countryside.
I was invited by a friend of my eldest brother (from their university days). There was some unfortunate miscommunication at Paddington station involving my asking for the next train to my stop, the lady (it appears) not knowing and telling me that the trains only run once an hour to that stop (they don't) and my arrival much later than originally planned.
Anyway, I arrived and we took the canal boat from Abingdon to...I've forgotten the name of the little town. During the trip we went through a couple of locks and I got to steer for a little while. I gave back the rudder when we approached the first lock, mainly because it required steering in a straight(ish) line and my steering had the boat basically waggling along down the river.
We saw lots of swans, coots which look like ducks a little, ducks and gulls with black heads. There was a cricket game going on - it wasn't over when we came back 5 hours later - and we passed by little village churches, under various bridges and past fields of wheat and barley. The wheat has already started to turn golden but the barley is still somewhat green. In the meantime, I had Sting's Fields of Gold running through my head. Until we arrived at the second lock, anyway.
KTQ hopped out of the boat to push buttons to open the sluice gates or the lock gates to adjust the levels of water so that we could get into it, T had the rudder and one of the big ropes and I got to play deckhand and loop the rope around one of the things on the side of the lock while they lowered the water.
We made pretty good time and stopped by the bridge of this tiny little village where I didn't even know which direction was the town center. We had lunch by a pub which had delicious looking food. I couldn't go past the traditional roast beef (very traditional beef!), Yorkshire pudding and some vegetables. I feel bad I couldn't finish the potatoes but we had a lot of walking to do and we were starting to feel tired from all the food.
Then came week 2
There was baking - lots and lots of baking. We did various buns, pastries, more fish and for the first time, quail. Quail is a lot harder to carve once it's cooked because it's so small and you don't want to mess it up - bones aren't nice for anyone. I'm so happy that there are more vegetables on the menus this term. I'm not sure if it's because we have to work faster or if it's more advanced stuff, but depending on the day, we sometimes make a starter and a main in our cuisine classes. It will take too long to write about all the food, but here are the pictures:
Patisserie
 |
| Hot cross buns |
 |
| Brioche |
 |
| Croissants and Danois |
I couldn't find my camera to take photos of the roast pork filet with prunes that we did the day before the quail so I don't have any photos for that one, unfortunately. They are starting to do desserts in our cuisine classes as well, hence the souffle.
 |
and braised lettuce |
 |
| Vanilla Souffle |
 |
| Roast quail with glazed veggies, potato rosti and jus |
 |
| Selle sur cher with glazed beetroot, grape and poppyseed vinaigrette |
Also, finally made it to the British Museum on Saturday morning. There are just as many tourists as I feared there might be, but I did get to see things I haven't seen before. Last time it was most of Ancient Egypt (the ground floor part) and part of Assyria. This time it was some of Ancient Egypt, then on to Ancient Greece and Rome with a wander through the Celtic region and Britain during the Iron Age. It's amazing how so things have survived, virtually intact, for a few thousand years. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of eeling through hordes of people who stop in the middle of a sidewalk to check their maps. You tend to run into them if you're walking quickly and then they give you a dirty look and you just have to smile sweetly and apologize.
Yesterday was bread day...I officially have bad boulangerie hands. The dough for the rye (pain de siegle) kept sticking to my hands.
 |
| Baguette viennoise, pain de siegle and focaccia |
No cooking today, but tomorrow it will be back to two classes in the kitchen. Wish us luck - we start going over our exam cakes next week.
So until next time, may the tourists not be with you.
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