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 tuiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tuiles. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
#90 - The C word...
Committing...
There it is - the "C" word...once we turn in our Patisserie portfolios, we are locked in with our desserts, decorations and plating. I'm going to have to take in a photo of mine so that I can remember what I committed to on paper.
I spent Sunday afternoon experimenting with tuiles, puree and plating. If there was ever a time that drove home how unartistic I am, today was it. There was also the scientific curiosity which made me see if I could marble blackberry puree with white chocolate for a tempered decoration. I know that a small amount of water (or other liquid) can make chocolate seize. I just wasn't sure what the quantities were. So the unscientific part of me didn't measure, but it doesn't matter. The puree on chocolate was an unmitigated disaster - if the chocolate stayed tempered, you couldn't see the purple. If you could see the coulis, it took the chocolate out of temper in a spectacularly disastrous fashion that I would be ashamed to present to the chefs at the Patisserie finals. What to do, what to do? I was still dithering as I fell asleep last night...plate design depends on so many factors (like, what if I accidentally overcook my coulis? It turns out blackberries do have pectin so cooking it too long or cooling it too much will make it lumpy because it does something or other to the water. I'd tell you more but that would require going into permutations and I'm still finishing the portfolio which just makes me want to curl up and eat Snickers bars.) You'd think with all the chocolate, sugar, butter, milk and cream around, I'd have no problems making myself something sweet in the absence of any Snickers bars, but no - you'd be wrong. Making any sweets would require cooking and I am pretty much through except for the exams. As for the Snickers bar...well, I already ate it so another one would be massively naughty. And I only had one so actually...
Anyway - the tuiles. A slightly more successful attempt at the lattice but I am beginning to give up on it. Part of it is that the equipment at home is a little bit different - like I don't have a blast chiller or a fridge large enough to accommodate the baking tray once I've spread the diamonds on the silmat, before I pipe the connecting batter. The rest of it was that I was experimenting with the piping but since I didn't use a proper piping bag, the batter melted and I ended up with a closed lattice instead of an open one.
Praticing the plating took a lot of plates. I think for some of them I tried a couple of designs on the plate. All I have to say is thank goodness for dishwashers! This is what the sink looked like after I had cleaned up any and all mess from the preparation and cooking part. It's a good thing no one needed the kitchen because I had things everywhere (plating area, photography area, rubbish area, etc. etc.) I got really lucky with accomodation in that the kitchen is actually usable for most of the practice things.
It's all starting to feel real
I have been sorting out my knife kit and Patisserie tools bag only to discover the acetate that I use to line my moulds for the dessert is not thick or strong enough to use for my chocolate twirls (I want a larger circumference on the twirl so I need a less flexible acetate strip). Ah, the dilemmas of being in culinary school. They're real in the sense that some people will do this for a living. On the other hand, they (most likely) won't change the world or bring about world peace or do anything useful to better someone's life or the world so it's not as real as some other jobs I could name where every day you make a difference to someone's life.
There has been substantial panic in the kitchen as tuile paste refuses to cooperate and I keep forgetting which way I bent the tuiles. Hopefully if it goes on backwards on the day, they won't deduct marks for getting it backwards.
The portfolio has been submitted (with literally just a few minutes, if that, to spare. Formatting took way longer than I had wanted to spend on it but this is Patisserie - how pretty it is counts. How pretty everything is counts. In Cuisine, sometimes you can wing it. As long as your techniques are good, you can always try to save it by saying it's "rustic" - unless of course, that's not what they're looking for, in which case you're just in trouble.
Must go and start mental review now of my game plan. And do laundry. And pack my kit for school. And organize Patisserie tools. And pack my bags. So much to do, so little time.
There won't be much cooking between now and the finals but still a lot of thinking to do. So until next time, may you have as fun a week as mine will be.
There it is - the "C" word...once we turn in our Patisserie portfolios, we are locked in with our desserts, decorations and plating. I'm going to have to take in a photo of mine so that I can remember what I committed to on paper.
I spent Sunday afternoon experimenting with tuiles, puree and plating. If there was ever a time that drove home how unartistic I am, today was it. There was also the scientific curiosity which made me see if I could marble blackberry puree with white chocolate for a tempered decoration. I know that a small amount of water (or other liquid) can make chocolate seize. I just wasn't sure what the quantities were. So the unscientific part of me didn't measure, but it doesn't matter. The puree on chocolate was an unmitigated disaster - if the chocolate stayed tempered, you couldn't see the purple. If you could see the coulis, it took the chocolate out of temper in a spectacularly disastrous fashion that I would be ashamed to present to the chefs at the Patisserie finals. What to do, what to do? I was still dithering as I fell asleep last night...plate design depends on so many factors (like, what if I accidentally overcook my coulis? It turns out blackberries do have pectin so cooking it too long or cooling it too much will make it lumpy because it does something or other to the water. I'd tell you more but that would require going into permutations and I'm still finishing the portfolio which just makes me want to curl up and eat Snickers bars.) You'd think with all the chocolate, sugar, butter, milk and cream around, I'd have no problems making myself something sweet in the absence of any Snickers bars, but no - you'd be wrong. Making any sweets would require cooking and I am pretty much through except for the exams. As for the Snickers bar...well, I already ate it so another one would be massively naughty. And I only had one so actually...
Anyway - the tuiles. A slightly more successful attempt at the lattice but I am beginning to give up on it. Part of it is that the equipment at home is a little bit different - like I don't have a blast chiller or a fridge large enough to accommodate the baking tray once I've spread the diamonds on the silmat, before I pipe the connecting batter. The rest of it was that I was experimenting with the piping but since I didn't use a proper piping bag, the batter melted and I ended up with a closed lattice instead of an open one.
Praticing the plating took a lot of plates. I think for some of them I tried a couple of designs on the plate. All I have to say is thank goodness for dishwashers! This is what the sink looked like after I had cleaned up any and all mess from the preparation and cooking part. It's a good thing no one needed the kitchen because I had things everywhere (plating area, photography area, rubbish area, etc. etc.) I got really lucky with accomodation in that the kitchen is actually usable for most of the practice things.It's all starting to feel real
I have been sorting out my knife kit and Patisserie tools bag only to discover the acetate that I use to line my moulds for the dessert is not thick or strong enough to use for my chocolate twirls (I want a larger circumference on the twirl so I need a less flexible acetate strip). Ah, the dilemmas of being in culinary school. They're real in the sense that some people will do this for a living. On the other hand, they (most likely) won't change the world or bring about world peace or do anything useful to better someone's life or the world so it's not as real as some other jobs I could name where every day you make a difference to someone's life.
There has been substantial panic in the kitchen as tuile paste refuses to cooperate and I keep forgetting which way I bent the tuiles. Hopefully if it goes on backwards on the day, they won't deduct marks for getting it backwards.
The portfolio has been submitted (with literally just a few minutes, if that, to spare. Formatting took way longer than I had wanted to spend on it but this is Patisserie - how pretty it is counts. How pretty everything is counts. In Cuisine, sometimes you can wing it. As long as your techniques are good, you can always try to save it by saying it's "rustic" - unless of course, that's not what they're looking for, in which case you're just in trouble.
Must go and start mental review now of my game plan. And do laundry. And pack my kit for school. And organize Patisserie tools. And pack my bags. So much to do, so little time.
There won't be much cooking between now and the finals but still a lot of thinking to do. So until next time, may you have as fun a week as mine will be.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
#89 - Death by tuiles...
I keep thinking it's Friday night but it's not. My lattice stencil arrived yesterday and I picked it up from a friend today so that I could have a practice run at my plating with all the decorations. Yech - another try tomorrow...it's a pain because I don't feel like I have a natural talent for putting the shapes and things together. Nothing came out quite the way I imagined or hoped except for the white chocolate twirls. I had to make my own blackberry puree so I had to guess a bit. It turned my tuile mix purple instead of a dark pink or deep red. I know part of it is the the tuile batter but still...lavender? And the pretty tuiles broke because I overcooked them so I had to use the crappy one for the plating.
Had to be kind of ruthless with the chocolate twirls. Hopefully I'll get the same shape or be able to snap it around the same place during the exam - it's hard to get the angles exactly right and depending on the acetate you get, sometimes it's easier than others to get the twirls to be around the same circumference/curve as what you're aiming for. Got lucky today with the twirl, but still ended up breaking the long twirls into a better height to go on the plate.
Have been having trouble coming up with a design on the plate where I would have enough sauce and still have something that looks clean and interesting. This still isn't quite what I was looking for, but it's an improvement over what happened during the exam skills class with our plated dessert earlier in the week. I've been lucky enough to get some suggestions from friends who did this exam two terms ago. They had a couple of ideas which I think I can try tomorrow so that I can put photos in the portfolio. At this point if it takes too much time, I'm not doing it for the exam (except for piping the poppyseed tuile and even that has me whining that it sucks when the batter is melting).
Then it was time for dinner. I was really craving the goat's cheese and the baby beets I bought last night. Also the mac 'n cheese. And I bought some chicken today - baked it wrapped in Serrano ham. It sounded good in theory but not good in practice. The bottom part of the chicken / ham roll kind got steamed / boiled so it wasn't crispy like I had thought it would. Super classy dinner, non? I think the best part of dinner was the salad though - the chicken was boring and the mac 'n cheese stopped being nice right around when the breadcrumbs started to go a bit soggy.
Have been having trouble coming up with a design on the plate where I would have enough sauce and still have something that looks clean and interesting. This still isn't quite what I was looking for, but it's an improvement over what happened during the exam skills class with our plated dessert earlier in the week. I've been lucky enough to get some suggestions from friends who did this exam two terms ago. They had a couple of ideas which I think I can try tomorrow so that I can put photos in the portfolio. At this point if it takes too much time, I'm not doing it for the exam (except for piping the poppyseed tuile and even that has me whining that it sucks when the batter is melting).The Anglaise came out this time but the coulis is still really thick even though I didn't boil the sugar as hot as the other day. The coulis gets this weird skin on top - I think blackberries must have some kind of pectin because the coulis looked like it might set if I left it to its own devices for a while. In any case, the Anglaise wasn't as runny today and the coulis not as lumpy so I think I've fixed my technical difficulties. Hopefully there will be time to do them again tomorrow - just in case, and also to try out the suggested platings with the sauces. We've got a few ideas on the go so hopefully one of them will look good. I don't want to try anything fancy because I know my hands will be shaking by the time I get to plating the dessert and wobbly hands don't do good piping or other fine, delicate work.
JB has been a very good sport and tasted each of the components I made today - a bit of a feat given he was trying to eat dinner and go out while I was plying him with the Anglaise (he wanted to know what it was. I could only explain it by saying it's kind of like a custard), the coulis and tuile. He declined the white chocolate - probably just as well, I need the twirls after all so that I can try a couple of more alternative platings.
Dinner
Then it was time for dinner. I was really craving the goat's cheese and the baby beets I bought last night. Also the mac 'n cheese. And I bought some chicken today - baked it wrapped in Serrano ham. It sounded good in theory but not good in practice. The bottom part of the chicken / ham roll kind got steamed / boiled so it wasn't crispy like I had thought it would. Super classy dinner, non? I think the best part of dinner was the salad though - the chicken was boring and the mac 'n cheese stopped being nice right around when the breadcrumbs started to go a bit soggy.
Tempering is really taking it out of me. Somehow managed to get the white chocolate twirls done but my hand has started to peel. Have decided that I will not cook again before finals after I've turned in my portfolio (well, except to cook dinner or something). I want to rest everything as much as possible for the big days.
Anyway, it's time to go to sleep. I've been sitting here trying to formulate a sentence for quite a while now and am afraid I have said something silly further up. Thank goodness for artistic friends who can make a judgment call as to whether something is pretty or not. Or clean looking or not. So until next time, may the suggestions you get from your friends be as good and useful as the ones I have received from mine.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
#68 - In which I get to walk through history...
English Countryside
The day after (not) graduation started relatively early. I say relatively because I had taken to sleeping in as my schedule allowed (i.e. didn't have to get up for exams) and it was a Saturday morning. I was going up to the English countryside and although I had previously promised to cook dinner, obviously this was out of the question given my knife handling skills are still precarious. I chose an alternate occupation for the day - namely, being entertainment and the official photographer. ACP and KP were going to paint a room for the impending arrival of a new family member in the next month or so. Anyway - it was cold. Officially really cold...generally for someone who comes from warmer climes, it's probably safe to say that it feels cold when you can see your breath frosting in the morning air. There was also ice on the asphalt...and of course as we started to drive, there is the iconic symbol for the Underground. You may or may not be able to see that this one we passed is the one for Arsenal.
One of the nice things about the houses in London is that they have little touches which give them such character. This one seems to have been inhabited at some point by someone musical. It was quite cute to see the clefs hanging out over the windows. The treble clef has been kind of popular for patisserie tuile decorations because it's a slightly more interesting (and complicated looking, if you are not a musician) shape than the bass. Potentially the alto as well...
Morning Tea
We drove towards Cambridge (north? west? couldn't tell you...) and eventually ended up going through a little town called Ware (where?)...ACP and KP had some painting to do and various bits and pieces which required our presence sort of by no later than noon. Having arrived and shivered our way through their ritual of turning up the heating, etc. etc. they proceeded to attend to the various tasks. Morning tea duling having been served and consumed (scones courtesy of the Cordon Bleu tea party, which I had kept in the freezer against such an eventuality as this), it was time to start painting.
I was on hand as official photographer, some entertainment (it's always funny when someone else falls and trips, as long as they aren't hurt), occasional joke and general all-around cheerleader. No, there was no cheerleading outfit as it was too cold. I did bring up some scones that had been in my freezer though - they served for a nice morning tea before the others began the job of painting a room. The little church on the right is actually a shot I took from the window of the little room that was being painted. The window had been opened part way to allow paint fumes to waft out into the cold (super clean smelling) air. The only drawback is that it was also quite cold when the breeze blew.
Spoiled
Both ACP and KP are good cooks. The nice thing about this for me was that since my hand was out of commission, KP was going to cook dinner. A welcome change as I had been eating baked beans on toast with cheese. Ok, toast was a baguette and cheese was sometimes a nice, hard chedder and sometimes a gruyere, but it still gets a tiny bit boring if you have it several nights running. Anyway - delicious pasta by KP...in the meantime, ACP had made and put away the Christmas pudding for the following week and she and I watched KP make dinner. What can I say, there are few things more enjoyable than when a someone cooks you dinner.
In which I find out I am not smarter than the heater
We rented a video that night (Body of Lies) - quite entertaining and if we were in any doubt as to whether we might have similar taste in videos, we found another copy of the same video near the TV. It was freezing so I plugged in the little space heater. In my defence, the light went on so I thought it was heating. Couldn't figure out why it wasn't warm so I sucked it up. The next morning when I went to turn it off, I found out I hadn't turned on the heating elements. But honestly, if the light is on, wouldn't that make you think that the heating thing is actually doing its thing?
4 countries in 3 days...
Then it was an early wake up on Sunday so that I could make sure I got back into London on time. There was a booking through Heathrow to fly to Dusseldorf (shorter trip) so that I could visit with a friend from law school. Things are so close in Europe that it was only a little bit longer for him to come get me at Dusseldorf instead of Cologne. Still cold - colder than the countryside had been, actually. I was really regretting the fact that my sweaters were all in a closet in Sydney, which is currently in summer. Especially since we ran into snow on Monday morning as we started to drive towards the mountains.
It was almost as though there was an invisible line over which all of a sudden snow appeared on the side of the road and on the branches. This wasn't your small fall which melts as the day wears on, but rather the kind that has been there for a few days. For the most part the brown bits from being driven over were at a minimum and it was just that smell you get in the air when it's snowing with the slightly glowy but dimmer light.
Winter Wonderland (Monschau)
We arrived at this little place called Monschau - a tiny village, mostly self-contained. The ground wasn't that wet so we got a nice little walk around. There were a bunch of little bridges going over the river - a tributary which eventually feeds into the Maas river (I think). It was so picturesque I couldn't help myself from taking a zillion photos. The Christmas market stalls were mostly closed as the market itself is only open on weekends. Given the amount of traffic - or lack thereof - I can understand why.
We had a little stop for morning coffee / hot chocolate. Once of the nice things about the cold is that since you are desperate to warm up, it feels a little less naughty to have a hot chocolate and since most of the places here use milk (instead of water, which you might get in the US) I think it tastes better. More photos ensued before we went back out. I have to admit to getting a little turned around at one stage so I thought we were on one side of the river when we were actually on the other side. There was a stop at this shop which sold so many different kinds of mustard that I lost track. I wanted to bring some back but hadn't checked any bags and was daunted by the weight so I gave the mustards a miss.
Maastricht
Then it was on through Belgium to the Netherlands - I hope I got the geography right! Again there was an invisible line - a horse cropping grass through snow between Germany and Belgium, then something a bit more subtle at the Belgium/Netherlands border where at the bottom of a hill the snow disappeared and the light all of a sudden turned bit golden. It was like we had driven into a Van Gogh painting of hay and other Dutch paintings with houses along a river.
More Christmas markets! We wanted to go into the church but it was actually closed so that didn't happen. However, one of the good things was that since there had been some French influence since whenever, I was relieved to be able to understand the French signs. Much excitement!
Then there was the option of stopping at Aachen on the way back to Cologne. I love that everything is so close to everything else! I remember reading quite a lot about how the capital of Christianity was in Aachen for a while. Yes, I know this is going back quite a while, but then again, in this part of the world a "young" building was built in the 1500s (part of the wall in Maastricht).
In which the mind boggles - Aachen (aka Aix la Chapelle)
The streets wound their way around. I mistook the Town Hall for the cathedral at one point - we were approaching from the side and it just looked a little church-y. In any event, it wasn't - good thing because it seemed a bit disrespectful to have such a hugh market in front of the church, even though that was probably used as a gathering place for a while.
Stepping into the Aachen Cathedral was a completely different experience. The first thing to hit you is the Byzantine style of everything - the mosaics were intricate, astounding and everywhere - which sounds less impressive than it actually is. Apologies for the bad lighting / photography but this is the best I could do. It invites you to just look and look - you could probably spend a lot of time just looking at everything but we actually had to get back. No matter - it was enough to be in the Cathedral where Charlemagne's throne is. There is a tour available to see it (apparently just a simple wooden throne) but we had missed it for the day. Just something to bring you back another time, I think.
It took UP's kids a little while to decide that perhaps the stranger wasn't so strange after all, although we didn't share a language in common so communication was done through the good graces of their parents translating or a little bit of mime and gestures. They were very generous about my attempts to speak German (prompted, of course!) and if nothing else, there was a little bit of laughter at the American's attempts to pronounce words which to us can be a bit of a tongue twister.
In any event, it snowed early Tuesday morning. I heard the something hitting the skylights and hoped it was snow, not rain. Rain did eventually fall and melt most of the snow away, but when everyone got up in the morning, everything had been softly covered by about an inch of snow. Getting the kiddies ready for school was interesting to watch. I'd forgotten how wiggly they can be and seeing two parents almost outnumbered by an equivalent number of enthusiastic offspring was quite an experience. I have to admit being glad that we don't have to do the same with my nieces and nephews.
After everyone had been dropped off at school and work respectively (UP's wife had to work) UP and I went to the Belgian Quarter of Cologne. We walked through a park whose name I don't know and had coffee at a place whose name I've forgotten...then more walking - to the Cologne Cathedral. When we were here a zillion years ago, the towers were not open to the public and they were covered in scaffolding. There's still scaffolding but it has moved. More Byzantine looking tiles and mosaics inside the Cathedral, as well as the controversial "new" stained glass window. The colors match the cathedral quite well but apparently the design did not, being abstract rather than one depicting your typical stained glass scenes. I could see both sides of the argument, which sometimes drives me crazy. Occasionally it's just restful to have only one idea in your head.
UP was game when I suggested that we climb the tower. Well - if you can count someone jumping up and down as "suggesting". The only drawback was that we got caught in waves of teenage hordes who were there - possibly a school field trip but it was a little hard to tell. I had expected to see Quasimodo up by the bell and the rest of the time I expected to see Harry and Dumbledore having a face-off with the rest of the cast of characters from the various Harry Potter movies. Somehow they seem to end up by bell tower looking things quite often...
Several more Christmas markets later and a walk down slushy side alleys to the Rhine, we went to lunch. A pub whose name I've forgotten where I had something like a brisket in BBQ sauce for lunch. Really yummy and not something you would be able to eat, then do any work in the afternoon but perfect for a really cold day when you are on vacation. Apparently it is a traditional dish (they describe it as braised Rhine beef or something similar)...followed by more walking. Sorely needed after such a heavy lunch...all I can say is that it was delicious and if I could, I would probably have it every week - I wonder how it would taste with white rice to soak up all that delicious sauce. Because the dish wasn't already filling enough, you know...
Back to reality
Back in London, there remains a ton of things to be done: parking dispensation for the moving van, sort clothes, etc. for movers, get coffee so I am awake enough to direct the movers (rather than falling over which is what I feel like doing right now...apologies for any errors, I blame them on sleep typing.
So until next time, may the things that need to be done not pile up on you as they have done to me here.
The day after (not) graduation started relatively early. I say relatively because I had taken to sleeping in as my schedule allowed (i.e. didn't have to get up for exams) and it was a Saturday morning. I was going up to the English countryside and although I had previously promised to cook dinner, obviously this was out of the question given my knife handling skills are still precarious. I chose an alternate occupation for the day - namely, being entertainment and the official photographer. ACP and KP were going to paint a room for the impending arrival of a new family member in the next month or so. Anyway - it was cold. Officially really cold...generally for someone who comes from warmer climes, it's probably safe to say that it feels cold when you can see your breath frosting in the morning air. There was also ice on the asphalt...and of course as we started to drive, there is the iconic symbol for the Underground. You may or may not be able to see that this one we passed is the one for Arsenal.
One of the nice things about the houses in London is that they have little touches which give them such character. This one seems to have been inhabited at some point by someone musical. It was quite cute to see the clefs hanging out over the windows. The treble clef has been kind of popular for patisserie tuile decorations because it's a slightly more interesting (and complicated looking, if you are not a musician) shape than the bass. Potentially the alto as well...Morning Tea
We drove towards Cambridge (north? west? couldn't tell you...) and eventually ended up going through a little town called Ware (where?)...ACP and KP had some painting to do and various bits and pieces which required our presence sort of by no later than noon. Having arrived and shivered our way through their ritual of turning up the heating, etc. etc. they proceeded to attend to the various tasks. Morning tea duling having been served and consumed (scones courtesy of the Cordon Bleu tea party, which I had kept in the freezer against such an eventuality as this), it was time to start painting.
I was on hand as official photographer, some entertainment (it's always funny when someone else falls and trips, as long as they aren't hurt), occasional joke and general all-around cheerleader. No, there was no cheerleading outfit as it was too cold. I did bring up some scones that had been in my freezer though - they served for a nice morning tea before the others began the job of painting a room. The little church on the right is actually a shot I took from the window of the little room that was being painted. The window had been opened part way to allow paint fumes to waft out into the cold (super clean smelling) air. The only drawback is that it was also quite cold when the breeze blew.Spoiled
Both ACP and KP are good cooks. The nice thing about this for me was that since my hand was out of commission, KP was going to cook dinner. A welcome change as I had been eating baked beans on toast with cheese. Ok, toast was a baguette and cheese was sometimes a nice, hard chedder and sometimes a gruyere, but it still gets a tiny bit boring if you have it several nights running. Anyway - delicious pasta by KP...in the meantime, ACP had made and put away the Christmas pudding for the following week and she and I watched KP make dinner. What can I say, there are few things more enjoyable than when a someone cooks you dinner.In which I find out I am not smarter than the heater
We rented a video that night (Body of Lies) - quite entertaining and if we were in any doubt as to whether we might have similar taste in videos, we found another copy of the same video near the TV. It was freezing so I plugged in the little space heater. In my defence, the light went on so I thought it was heating. Couldn't figure out why it wasn't warm so I sucked it up. The next morning when I went to turn it off, I found out I hadn't turned on the heating elements. But honestly, if the light is on, wouldn't that make you think that the heating thing is actually doing its thing?
4 countries in 3 days...
Then it was an early wake up on Sunday so that I could make sure I got back into London on time. There was a booking through Heathrow to fly to Dusseldorf (shorter trip) so that I could visit with a friend from law school. Things are so close in Europe that it was only a little bit longer for him to come get me at Dusseldorf instead of Cologne. Still cold - colder than the countryside had been, actually. I was really regretting the fact that my sweaters were all in a closet in Sydney, which is currently in summer. Especially since we ran into snow on Monday morning as we started to drive towards the mountains.
It was almost as though there was an invisible line over which all of a sudden snow appeared on the side of the road and on the branches. This wasn't your small fall which melts as the day wears on, but rather the kind that has been there for a few days. For the most part the brown bits from being driven over were at a minimum and it was just that smell you get in the air when it's snowing with the slightly glowy but dimmer light.Winter Wonderland (Monschau)
We arrived at this little place called Monschau - a tiny village, mostly self-contained. The ground wasn't that wet so we got a nice little walk around. There were a bunch of little bridges going over the river - a tributary which eventually feeds into the Maas river (I think). It was so picturesque I couldn't help myself from taking a zillion photos. The Christmas market stalls were mostly closed as the market itself is only open on weekends. Given the amount of traffic - or lack thereof - I can understand why.
We had a little stop for morning coffee / hot chocolate. Once of the nice things about the cold is that since you are desperate to warm up, it feels a little less naughty to have a hot chocolate and since most of the places here use milk (instead of water, which you might get in the US) I think it tastes better. More photos ensued before we went back out. I have to admit to getting a little turned around at one stage so I thought we were on one side of the river when we were actually on the other side. There was a stop at this shop which sold so many different kinds of mustard that I lost track. I wanted to bring some back but hadn't checked any bags and was daunted by the weight so I gave the mustards a miss.Maastricht
Then it was on through Belgium to the Netherlands - I hope I got the geography right! Again there was an invisible line - a horse cropping grass through snow between Germany and Belgium, then something a bit more subtle at the Belgium/Netherlands border where at the bottom of a hill the snow disappeared and the light all of a sudden turned bit golden. It was like we had driven into a Van Gogh painting of hay and other Dutch paintings with houses along a river.
More Christmas markets! We wanted to go into the church but it was actually closed so that didn't happen. However, one of the good things was that since there had been some French influence since whenever, I was relieved to be able to understand the French signs. Much excitement!Then there was the option of stopping at Aachen on the way back to Cologne. I love that everything is so close to everything else! I remember reading quite a lot about how the capital of Christianity was in Aachen for a while. Yes, I know this is going back quite a while, but then again, in this part of the world a "young" building was built in the 1500s (part of the wall in Maastricht).
In which the mind boggles - Aachen (aka Aix la Chapelle)
The streets wound their way around. I mistook the Town Hall for the cathedral at one point - we were approaching from the side and it just looked a little church-y. In any event, it wasn't - good thing because it seemed a bit disrespectful to have such a hugh market in front of the church, even though that was probably used as a gathering place for a while.
Stepping into the Aachen Cathedral was a completely different experience. The first thing to hit you is the Byzantine style of everything - the mosaics were intricate, astounding and everywhere - which sounds less impressive than it actually is. Apologies for the bad lighting / photography but this is the best I could do. It invites you to just look and look - you could probably spend a lot of time just looking at everything but we actually had to get back. No matter - it was enough to be in the Cathedral where Charlemagne's throne is. There is a tour available to see it (apparently just a simple wooden throne) but we had missed it for the day. Just something to bring you back another time, I think. |
| Outside view of Aachen Cathedral |
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| Streets of Aachen and a Chrstimas Fai |
It took UP's kids a little while to decide that perhaps the stranger wasn't so strange after all, although we didn't share a language in common so communication was done through the good graces of their parents translating or a little bit of mime and gestures. They were very generous about my attempts to speak German (prompted, of course!) and if nothing else, there was a little bit of laughter at the American's attempts to pronounce words which to us can be a bit of a tongue twister.
In any event, it snowed early Tuesday morning. I heard the something hitting the skylights and hoped it was snow, not rain. Rain did eventually fall and melt most of the snow away, but when everyone got up in the morning, everything had been softly covered by about an inch of snow. Getting the kiddies ready for school was interesting to watch. I'd forgotten how wiggly they can be and seeing two parents almost outnumbered by an equivalent number of enthusiastic offspring was quite an experience. I have to admit being glad that we don't have to do the same with my nieces and nephews.
After everyone had been dropped off at school and work respectively (UP's wife had to work) UP and I went to the Belgian Quarter of Cologne. We walked through a park whose name I don't know and had coffee at a place whose name I've forgotten...then more walking - to the Cologne Cathedral. When we were here a zillion years ago, the towers were not open to the public and they were covered in scaffolding. There's still scaffolding but it has moved. More Byzantine looking tiles and mosaics inside the Cathedral, as well as the controversial "new" stained glass window. The colors match the cathedral quite well but apparently the design did not, being abstract rather than one depicting your typical stained glass scenes. I could see both sides of the argument, which sometimes drives me crazy. Occasionally it's just restful to have only one idea in your head.
UP was game when I suggested that we climb the tower. Well - if you can count someone jumping up and down as "suggesting". The only drawback was that we got caught in waves of teenage hordes who were there - possibly a school field trip but it was a little hard to tell. I had expected to see Quasimodo up by the bell and the rest of the time I expected to see Harry and Dumbledore having a face-off with the rest of the cast of characters from the various Harry Potter movies. Somehow they seem to end up by bell tower looking things quite often...
Several more Christmas markets later and a walk down slushy side alleys to the Rhine, we went to lunch. A pub whose name I've forgotten where I had something like a brisket in BBQ sauce for lunch. Really yummy and not something you would be able to eat, then do any work in the afternoon but perfect for a really cold day when you are on vacation. Apparently it is a traditional dish (they describe it as braised Rhine beef or something similar)...followed by more walking. Sorely needed after such a heavy lunch...all I can say is that it was delicious and if I could, I would probably have it every week - I wonder how it would taste with white rice to soak up all that delicious sauce. Because the dish wasn't already filling enough, you know...Back to reality
Back in London, there remains a ton of things to be done: parking dispensation for the moving van, sort clothes, etc. for movers, get coffee so I am awake enough to direct the movers (rather than falling over which is what I feel like doing right now...apologies for any errors, I blame them on sleep typing.
So until next time, may the things that need to be done not pile up on you as they have done to me here.
Friday, November 4, 2011
#50 - Plated desserts, fish, lamb and a looming mystery
This week has gone by in a flash. One minute it was too early on a Monday morning and the next moment the week is ending with the Mystery Basket looming over us.
Starting at the middle
Because you already know the beginning. We did our identical plated desserts - was it only yesterday? According to my camera, yes, it was. We had another class to practice tuiles and chocolate (worth quite a points in the final exam as they count towards technique, presentation, balance, taste and, possibly, texture). This was then used to decorate our ricotta bavarois (kind of like a mousse, but a mousse is not necessarily a bavarois - analgous to how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square in geometry - fancy schmancy technical terms you know, so that we sound really cool when we talk shop).
Plated desserts
I was of two minds about a piped chocolate decoration which I eventually left off because I thought it was too heavy (above). Chef NH made a suggestion that I trim them (hence the 2-toned chocolate lattice triangles - right) but that was after he marked the ones I presented. I admit it looks a bit more impressive but whether or not I can work quickly enough to pull it off on exam day remains to be seen. It will require some practice sessions to get the timing/texture and piping down so that I can get it all done in 5 minutes - especially if it's a warm day like yesterday so that it takes so much longer to do chocolate and there's much less time to get the tuiles done. The raspberry coulis is a bit of a disaster but all in all it was a good learning and experimental day.
Cuisine - Who knew Mustard is salty?
I apologized to Chef JB about the sauce before he took a taste. Sad - the dish started out so well (good fish, good lentils...) and then the sauce, which made him make a face. He told me how to fix it (basically start over and do things to it - like bringing back a split Hollandaise). Too late for this dish, but possibly useful in the future. (Not a bad day, according to Chef JB.) In the meantime, no, I haven't tasted the dish. We confited (is that how I say it in English?) in duck fat. There was double cream in the sauce (which I tasted and didn't like - very mustard-y). I liked the lentils (had to check the cooking point and the seasoning) which were quite easy to make.
Then this afternoon: lamb a couple of different ways and split pea puree. The pea puree doesn't sound very appetising, but I found it surprisingly yummy - especially the bacon-y goodness which came through after I added quite a bit of salt to the dish. The things that tasted so salty to me were ok for seasoning. It might have tasted ok but the cooking was a bit unfortunate for this one.
Starting at the middle
 |
| Leaning Towers of Ricotta... |
Because you already know the beginning. We did our identical plated desserts - was it only yesterday? According to my camera, yes, it was. We had another class to practice tuiles and chocolate (worth quite a points in the final exam as they count towards technique, presentation, balance, taste and, possibly, texture). This was then used to decorate our ricotta bavarois (kind of like a mousse, but a mousse is not necessarily a bavarois - analgous to how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square in geometry - fancy schmancy technical terms you know, so that we sound really cool when we talk shop).
Plated desserts
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| Leaning Towers of Ricotta with 2-tone chocolate latticework |
Cuisine - Who knew Mustard is salty?
Then it was on to Cuisine and today. 2 practicals sandwiching a demo - all I can say is, it might be 14C outside, but it's still pretty tropical inside. The first class was a seabass confit this morning. It seemed under control until I had to add mustard to the sauce - after which, the sauce tasted terrible. Why? Because it was too salty. Hands up everyone who knew mustard is inherently salty...
I apologized to Chef JB about the sauce before he took a taste. Sad - the dish started out so well (good fish, good lentils...) and then the sauce, which made him make a face. He told me how to fix it (basically start over and do things to it - like bringing back a split Hollandaise). Too late for this dish, but possibly useful in the future. (Not a bad day, according to Chef JB.) In the meantime, no, I haven't tasted the dish. We confited (is that how I say it in English?) in duck fat. There was double cream in the sauce (which I tasted and didn't like - very mustard-y). I liked the lentils (had to check the cooking point and the seasoning) which were quite easy to make.Hit and miss lamb
Then this afternoon: lamb a couple of different ways and split pea puree. The pea puree doesn't sound very appetising, but I found it surprisingly yummy - especially the bacon-y goodness which came through after I added quite a bit of salt to the dish. The things that tasted so salty to me were ok for seasoning. It might have tasted ok but the cooking was a bit unfortunate for this one.Comments: The fondant potato could have used a little more cooking (but Chef, my potato fell apart!)
- The petit fillet of the lamb is blue - so that's not good and needs work. (Yup.)
- The fillet is cooked med/med-well. A bit unevenly cooked as well. (Yup...)
- The confit lamb needed more time. (If only class were longer, Chef.)
- The pea puree was good. (Yes Chef - because you made the puree for us. I just added more salt.)
- The presentation is...ok. (Yes Chef - I'll work on the whole making it pretty.)
- The sauce is good - tastes like red wine sauce. (Hmmm, good to know you didn't see me almost burn it away and have to revive it so many times.)
Looming Mystery
Tomorrow is our mystery basket. We each get a basket of supplies and have our usual class time in which to come up with something. Everything goes except that some things don't go together (i.e. pasta and pastry), it has to taste good and it has to be pretty. Oh, and whatever technique we use has to be done properly.
Surreal life
Wish us luck - this is probably the most like a TV cooking show scenario (except for the countdown during exams). Odd - as much as it sucks to mess up a dish, this is still the most fun I've had on a daily basis in quite a while. I'm living in my own little fantasy world of personal interactive cooking show (we get to taste! Almost every day!) and we get to learn - plus we get pictures and we get to take the food home. I can't imagine when school will ever be so much fun again, seeing as how I can't seem to stay away from classrooms. For the moment, my life is a little bit of a combination of Bridget Jones (from Diary days, not the sequels) + Iron Chef/Master Chef/Top Chef [insert name of your preferred cooking show here] + Ally McBeal / Legally Blonde [although the Ally McBeal / Legally Blonde references are not mine). Must admit I had to check my hair color a couple of times after I spent an entire week thinking it was a day later than it actually was and again today when I couldn't find my camera which was in my bag because it wasn't in the right place. (Everything might have its time and to everything a season, but when they have their time and place, it gets very confusing when they switch around. What's wrong with organized chaos? I never lose things more often than after I tidy up.)
So until next time - would you be able to make a dish (or a meal) based on a list of ingredients? Happy thinking / planning / dreaming!
Friday, October 21, 2011
#46 - The best laid plans, a first and Not-the-End-of-the-World
(Warning: long, rambling post...don't say you weren't warned)
I think the last post ended with a plan for my dessert idea. Well...it didn't work out quite as envisioned. In some ways this is a good thing because I now know what won't work. On the other hand, it wasn't good because (a) I probably got a bad grade on that set of classes and (b) I now have an idea of just how far apart Chef CB's and my tastebuds are (something on the magnitude of from here to Pluto). Which is to say, he said it was "tasteless as hell" and I thought it was way too sweet. My proposed solution? Add copious amounts of alcohol somewhere, but make sure it doesn't destabilize my mousse or jelly. By the way, writing about mousse - I looked at the recipe I had written down for a "pina colada mouse". Now that might have been an interesting dessert! So - to start at the beginning (for once):
The concept was sound but the execution was...
We spent Monday morning and afternoon making the components for our entremets. Tuesday around noon we finished assembling the desserts. The tuiles had to be put back in the oven to crisp up because they had gotten soggy overnight. Consequently the ones which had previously been bent into twirls and things snapped when I tried to bend them back after the second baking. Whoops. The chocolate was not good to begin with - Monday was so cold in the Patisserie that it had pretty much set by the time I had spread it, before I got around to making patterns and bending it. Note to self - must work even faster for the final...and I can hear Chef NB laughing in my head as I write this.
lacking...
I had misunderstood my brief a little bit. Since this was (I thought) part of our restaurant dessert module, I had planned on plating the thing - the plans including making a couple of different sauces and decorations. Ok, an entremet is always served on a cakeboard. No day in which you learn something is wasted and I have been learning a lot! On the other hand, my alcoholic pina colada sauce was a hit downstairs with Reception and the Administration office upstairs, or so I was told. Anyway, here are the photos of my unsuccessful dessert (fyi, Chef CB thought it was mango jelly - it wasn't).
These photos represent 4 class sessions: planning (session 1), making components (sessions 2 & 3) and assembly, presentation, critique and filling out paperwork (session 4). Given the results from this week, I now have a slightly better idea of what might work and what clearly won't. It may require quite a bit of tweaking for the final dessert plate idea, so I am glad that I hadn't started the portfolio yet. Sometimes procrastination does pay off!
In which we puzzle Chef FJ
Then it was straight on to a Cuisine practical, which was a bit unusual. We usually have Cuisine Wednesdays - Fridays. This one was particularly long. I thought we finished on time, or a little late which only goes to show how bad my sense of time is. In any event, one of the guys in my class burned his hand very badly on a pan handle (we had been roasting lobster shells in the oven) and had to go to the hospital. I had a couple of smaller burns on my left hand (same silly mistake) but they are mostly healed now.
My tomatoes got too vinegared in my dressing because I put them in too early and my lamb's lettuce was "burned by the dressing". Hence the reason why you always do it later - so the leaves don't go translucent and lose any crispness they may have. The celeriac salad was yummy, but only after I went home and added another whole spoonful of mustard (we made remoulade - pretty much mayonnaise - by hand in class) and a lot of salt. Yes, it would have been good if I had done that in class, but such is life. Still learning all the time. Chef was a bit unimpressed with the time and wanted to know why we couldn't get it done on time.
So the tips
I had to go to an osteo because I had tweaked a rib - but the appointment was for 2:30pm (can't be choosy about the time on such late notice). My practical was slated to end at 2:30, so I went to see Chef FJ (who had also had us the day before). I thought I would skip class. As Chef FJ laughs, hahahahaha. He said I would do class and leave at 1:30pm, but he gave me a break on the assignment - only do the risotto and the stuffed pepper. I thought about it and asked if I could also try the veal. Given how slow I am in the kitchen, he thought it was a big risk and was doubtful...so this is what I ended up presenting at the 1hr 34 minute mark (4 minutes over - "You're late! What am I going to do with you?")
In which Chef FJ was (a little) impressed - still not quite the end of the world
And yet, when I showed him the plate, everything was there except the Bayonne ham (because they didn't have any in the production kitchen). He wanted to know if I had done everything myself. Yes, Chef! I did...obviously not pefect, but I'm not sure I will ever get even close. A few things wrong with the timing, but it wasn't horrible, or so I hope. Others in class started to plate (and I assume present their dishes) soon after - but it was a nice feeling to get it all done and everyone was very encouraging as well. I have found out the secret to saving some time...which is not to worry about wasting a little bit. They threw out that little bit of carrot so I may as well use it to get the perfect little cubes rather than using as little as possible. The less wastage will come later (I hope). The chefs have been saying to treat our class days as we might an exam - given the nerves, shaking hands and nausea since I had to finish and go, I can only say that the Stanislawsky (sp?) school has something to say for it. Anyway, I still had to clean up before I could leave.
Chef FJ thought I took too long cleaning up, but having a look at my station (after I had cleaned away as much that was unnecessary as possible), wouldn't this take you longer than 5 minutes to clean up? Cleanup duly completed and all my knives cleaned, even had time for a quick shower before getting to the osteo (a little early). Must go back next week, but am back in working order.
More quail (cute, until they get blood everywhere)
Yesterday we had to make quail again. Puff pastry, chicken livers, veal sweetbreads...oops, forgot to tell the guys in the real estate agency there are sweetbreads in the puff pastry friands. I hope they like them. Or at least don't dislike them. We also did a mousse with minced chicken and thigh meat from the quail to spread around the quail, livers and sweetbreads to keep them from drying out. It was fairly warm in the Cuisine kitchen, which kept things a bit tricky with the pastry.
I have the leftover pastry scraps from some of the other students because we had discussed making mini-palmiers as part of our petit fours. The idea was subsequently abandoned, but I have the scraps in the fridge. I suppose this means I can used the poached pears to make some sort of puff pastry something-or-other so that nothing is wasted. Photos later, if I do them. This is a much nicer thought than what I was thinking while cleaning the quail carcasses for the sauce (yes, we butchered 2 of them).
You can't have blood and organs in the sauce because it will not be nice. On chickens this is fairly easy to address. In quails I have resorted to using the back of my knife to scrape out all the spongy (and wormy looking!) bits because it's kind of hard to get quail blood off your hands and the spongy bits feel disgusting. Plus you can't get all of it out unless you use something to get into those little nooks and crannies.
Switching gears - back to desserts, then ballet, then...
We finished our meeting about the Superior Dinner Event (now less than a week away, eek!) and it was still early enough that I got over to ballet class just in time for some exercise. It makes it a lot easier to sleep at night since it clears all the food stuff out of your head. Unless, that is, you're like me and you go grocery shopping at 9:30pm after cooking in class. I didn't want veal or quail (with livers and sweetbread) but Waitrose was selling a couple of salmon pieces for 30p. I was going to cook last night anyway, so I bought them. They were very nice on their own. They didn't taste as good with my salad dressing - something about the Cajun spices I put on the salmon not quite matching the dressing which tasted really good with the seafood ravioli (relax, only 6 raviolis!) but it was an interesting experiment.
I also roasted and marinated some bell peppers (red, yellow and orange) because they make a nice snack with french bread and we start our boulangerie modules on Monday. It feels so much more multi-task-y (even if it's just putting something in the oven) to think that you have 2 pots, a couple of bowls and the oven all going on at once, even if it's all easy, simple stuff. Apparently I am not quite tired of cooking and I knew we wouldn't be cooking at school today.
For now, it is Friday night. I have put on a load of washing (yes, more laundry - I dropped a piece of quail yesterday and it left marks down the front of my apron), written this entry and am about to go meet several of my London friends for dinner. We are celebrating a new job and seeing each other again after a while.
There has been a fair amount of sun this week, which always makes things seem so much brighter. There have been lots of discussions about technique, feasibility of various ideas, potential execution problems, an experiment or three as we prepare for our Student Event. Tickets went on sale yesterday (or possibly the day before) - today there was a sign up at reception informing students that they are all sold out - quite encouraging.
Have been watching the chefs even more closely during demonstrations. I think I have counted up to 7 pots and pans going on at once while things are still being done for other preparations. Way better than watching...is it Masterchef which is full of amateurs cooking? We can't predict the lines which always makes it more entertaining.
Until next time, may you have as enjoyable a week as I have had with all my classes and phone calls home. If everyone could have even half as nice a week, what a happy world we would live in. As it is, people seem pretty cheery and happy most of the time anyway. Everyone has been telling each other to have a nice day (I heard them) and smiling at each other.
I think the last post ended with a plan for my dessert idea. Well...it didn't work out quite as envisioned. In some ways this is a good thing because I now know what won't work. On the other hand, it wasn't good because (a) I probably got a bad grade on that set of classes and (b) I now have an idea of just how far apart Chef CB's and my tastebuds are (something on the magnitude of from here to Pluto). Which is to say, he said it was "tasteless as hell" and I thought it was way too sweet. My proposed solution? Add copious amounts of alcohol somewhere, but make sure it doesn't destabilize my mousse or jelly. By the way, writing about mousse - I looked at the recipe I had written down for a "pina colada mouse". Now that might have been an interesting dessert! So - to start at the beginning (for once):
The concept was sound but the execution was...
We spent Monday morning and afternoon making the components for our entremets. Tuesday around noon we finished assembling the desserts. The tuiles had to be put back in the oven to crisp up because they had gotten soggy overnight. Consequently the ones which had previously been bent into twirls and things snapped when I tried to bend them back after the second baking. Whoops. The chocolate was not good to begin with - Monday was so cold in the Patisserie that it had pretty much set by the time I had spread it, before I got around to making patterns and bending it. Note to self - must work even faster for the final...and I can hear Chef NB laughing in my head as I write this.
lacking...
I had misunderstood my brief a little bit. Since this was (I thought) part of our restaurant dessert module, I had planned on plating the thing - the plans including making a couple of different sauces and decorations. Ok, an entremet is always served on a cakeboard. No day in which you learn something is wasted and I have been learning a lot! On the other hand, my alcoholic pina colada sauce was a hit downstairs with Reception and the Administration office upstairs, or so I was told. Anyway, here are the photos of my unsuccessful dessert (fyi, Chef CB thought it was mango jelly - it wasn't).These photos represent 4 class sessions: planning (session 1), making components (sessions 2 & 3) and assembly, presentation, critique and filling out paperwork (session 4). Given the results from this week, I now have a slightly better idea of what might work and what clearly won't. It may require quite a bit of tweaking for the final dessert plate idea, so I am glad that I hadn't started the portfolio yet. Sometimes procrastination does pay off!
In which we puzzle Chef FJ
Then it was straight on to a Cuisine practical, which was a bit unusual. We usually have Cuisine Wednesdays - Fridays. This one was particularly long. I thought we finished on time, or a little late which only goes to show how bad my sense of time is. In any event, one of the guys in my class burned his hand very badly on a pan handle (we had been roasting lobster shells in the oven) and had to go to the hospital. I had a couple of smaller burns on my left hand (same silly mistake) but they are mostly healed now.
My tomatoes got too vinegared in my dressing because I put them in too early and my lamb's lettuce was "burned by the dressing". Hence the reason why you always do it later - so the leaves don't go translucent and lose any crispness they may have. The celeriac salad was yummy, but only after I went home and added another whole spoonful of mustard (we made remoulade - pretty much mayonnaise - by hand in class) and a lot of salt. Yes, it would have been good if I had done that in class, but such is life. Still learning all the time. Chef was a bit unimpressed with the time and wanted to know why we couldn't get it done on time.
So the tips
- Don't dress your salad too early unless you like limp lettuce;
- Don't grab a hot pan (duh! to quote one of the Patisserie chefs);
- Don't put your tomatoes in the dressing too early or they will be "not tasty";
- When in doubt, add a bit of salt;
- When in doubt, don't add vinegar;
I had to go to an osteo because I had tweaked a rib - but the appointment was for 2:30pm (can't be choosy about the time on such late notice). My practical was slated to end at 2:30, so I went to see Chef FJ (who had also had us the day before). I thought I would skip class. As Chef FJ laughs, hahahahaha. He said I would do class and leave at 1:30pm, but he gave me a break on the assignment - only do the risotto and the stuffed pepper. I thought about it and asked if I could also try the veal. Given how slow I am in the kitchen, he thought it was a big risk and was doubtful...so this is what I ended up presenting at the 1hr 34 minute mark (4 minutes over - "You're late! What am I going to do with you?")
In which Chef FJ was (a little) impressed - still not quite the end of the world
And yet, when I showed him the plate, everything was there except the Bayonne ham (because they didn't have any in the production kitchen). He wanted to know if I had done everything myself. Yes, Chef! I did...obviously not pefect, but I'm not sure I will ever get even close. A few things wrong with the timing, but it wasn't horrible, or so I hope. Others in class started to plate (and I assume present their dishes) soon after - but it was a nice feeling to get it all done and everyone was very encouraging as well. I have found out the secret to saving some time...which is not to worry about wasting a little bit. They threw out that little bit of carrot so I may as well use it to get the perfect little cubes rather than using as little as possible. The less wastage will come later (I hope). The chefs have been saying to treat our class days as we might an exam - given the nerves, shaking hands and nausea since I had to finish and go, I can only say that the Stanislawsky (sp?) school has something to say for it. Anyway, I still had to clean up before I could leave.
Chef FJ thought I took too long cleaning up, but having a look at my station (after I had cleaned away as much that was unnecessary as possible), wouldn't this take you longer than 5 minutes to clean up? Cleanup duly completed and all my knives cleaned, even had time for a quick shower before getting to the osteo (a little early). Must go back next week, but am back in working order.More quail (cute, until they get blood everywhere)
Yesterday we had to make quail again. Puff pastry, chicken livers, veal sweetbreads...oops, forgot to tell the guys in the real estate agency there are sweetbreads in the puff pastry friands. I hope they like them. Or at least don't dislike them. We also did a mousse with minced chicken and thigh meat from the quail to spread around the quail, livers and sweetbreads to keep them from drying out. It was fairly warm in the Cuisine kitchen, which kept things a bit tricky with the pastry.I have the leftover pastry scraps from some of the other students because we had discussed making mini-palmiers as part of our petit fours. The idea was subsequently abandoned, but I have the scraps in the fridge. I suppose this means I can used the poached pears to make some sort of puff pastry something-or-other so that nothing is wasted. Photos later, if I do them. This is a much nicer thought than what I was thinking while cleaning the quail carcasses for the sauce (yes, we butchered 2 of them).
You can't have blood and organs in the sauce because it will not be nice. On chickens this is fairly easy to address. In quails I have resorted to using the back of my knife to scrape out all the spongy (and wormy looking!) bits because it's kind of hard to get quail blood off your hands and the spongy bits feel disgusting. Plus you can't get all of it out unless you use something to get into those little nooks and crannies.
Switching gears - back to desserts, then ballet, then...
We finished our meeting about the Superior Dinner Event (now less than a week away, eek!) and it was still early enough that I got over to ballet class just in time for some exercise. It makes it a lot easier to sleep at night since it clears all the food stuff out of your head. Unless, that is, you're like me and you go grocery shopping at 9:30pm after cooking in class. I didn't want veal or quail (with livers and sweetbread) but Waitrose was selling a couple of salmon pieces for 30p. I was going to cook last night anyway, so I bought them. They were very nice on their own. They didn't taste as good with my salad dressing - something about the Cajun spices I put on the salmon not quite matching the dressing which tasted really good with the seafood ravioli (relax, only 6 raviolis!) but it was an interesting experiment.
I also roasted and marinated some bell peppers (red, yellow and orange) because they make a nice snack with french bread and we start our boulangerie modules on Monday. It feels so much more multi-task-y (even if it's just putting something in the oven) to think that you have 2 pots, a couple of bowls and the oven all going on at once, even if it's all easy, simple stuff. Apparently I am not quite tired of cooking and I knew we wouldn't be cooking at school today.
For now, it is Friday night. I have put on a load of washing (yes, more laundry - I dropped a piece of quail yesterday and it left marks down the front of my apron), written this entry and am about to go meet several of my London friends for dinner. We are celebrating a new job and seeing each other again after a while.
There has been a fair amount of sun this week, which always makes things seem so much brighter. There have been lots of discussions about technique, feasibility of various ideas, potential execution problems, an experiment or three as we prepare for our Student Event. Tickets went on sale yesterday (or possibly the day before) - today there was a sign up at reception informing students that they are all sold out - quite encouraging.
Have been watching the chefs even more closely during demonstrations. I think I have counted up to 7 pots and pans going on at once while things are still being done for other preparations. Way better than watching...is it Masterchef which is full of amateurs cooking? We can't predict the lines which always makes it more entertaining.
Until next time, may you have as enjoyable a week as I have had with all my classes and phone calls home. If everyone could have even half as nice a week, what a happy world we would live in. As it is, people seem pretty cheery and happy most of the time anyway. Everyone has been telling each other to have a nice day (I heard them) and smiling at each other.
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