Secondly, I forgot when I wrote the last post that I had actually had a practical since the post before that. So in order to rectify that oversight...
The aftermath
Last Friday we had a practical for cuisine. It was after our student event so everyone was pretty brain dead (some more than others, in direct proportion to the amount of partying engaged in after the student event on Thursday night).
We had been instructed to work in pairs while our chef tried to organize a porter. It appears that the class before us (who had had their mock final exam that afternoon) had finished a little late. They had used a lot of pots and pans (someone told me that she when she sat down and planned the 4 hours, she needed 7 pots and pans on the stove at once). There was no porter so we wondered for a little while if there would be 9 of us piling into the various sinks to wash our pots and pans.
Anyway, we did what amounted to a gazpacho with a marscapone cream, then roasted (?) turbot with mashed potatoes and some veggies. The marscapone didn't taste very nice on its own even after we added all the herbs, more salt, more pepper, then more salt and more pepper. Then more salt and more pepper, plus a bit more tobasco. Did I mention salt and pepper? My partner EA and I had considered sneaking in a little lemon juice but it wasn't on the recipe so we didn't.
When Chef FJ tasted our dishes he said the cream was tasteless. I asked him what we could have done since adding salt and pepper didn't seem to make a difference. His answer: more seasonin (i.e. salt and pepper). Perhaps we should have put the lemon juice in anyway...Then the fish - yummy fish. Yummy mashed potatoes. According to chef, undercooked vegetables, even though they were more cooked than his were in demo. Go figure - shows how much things can change in just a few short hours! So the dishes:
Patisserie - so more laundry (but first - dessert)
In the last post I promised photos. So the first one here (right) is a shot of all the things we prepared yesterday, except for the things which needed to be frozen/chilled (i.e. the mousses).Then my presentation plates from today: a bitter chocolate mousse with Amaretto cream and a Mirabelle Bourdaloue Tarte with Mirabelle Cream Chibouste. Today's session started quite warm but the a/c finally kicked in, which made the chocolate tempering go so much more quickly. I had a few problems because this time the chocolate was too thin so the pieces kept breaking while I was trying to peel the acetate off. However, have managed to try a few different things and may finally have the chocolate cup thing down.
First - the yummy dessert
The bitter chocolate mousse (with a vanilla brulee in the middle) with the chocolate chalice came out pretty well - a pleasant surprise because the chocolate went on a little crooked yesterday when I was bending the acetate strip around the mousse. We had to decorate the plate somehow (ok, piping decorations will come later) and make it look pretty. I haven't quite gotten the height of the thing or the lid / base thickness down yet, so will have to work on making those twirls stand up straight. For the moment I'm just glad they came out ok - there were several doubtful moments. Hopefully today consolidated a few things so that I can do this quickly tomorrow for our ricotta mousse.So much work to do and so little time in which to do it! I have a lots of things which need to be improved. Among them is creativity. It's a lot more difficult if you don't have a clear idea in your head about the decorations and you just hope that the thing you are trying to do works out. Of course when that doesn't happen, you do spend a lot of time trying to keep your temper. I can see why the chefs tell us to have everything planned out as much as possible before the exam. I couldn't even think straight today and we only had to make things for one session.
Second - the not yummy (or, Who Likes This Dessert Anyway?) dessert
I'm not a huge fan of almond cream or chibouste cream, so our Mirabelle tart (Mirabelles are a kind of little, yellow plum) didn't inspire me much. In fact, probably my favorite part of the dessert was the fruit compote-y thing and the tuiles. The tuiles are very more-ish - but then again, it's just butter, sugar, flour and egg whites, mixed up then baked golden. You get this crispy light thing. Of course the crispy lightness sucks when you are trying to bend it and it snaps. Or you are trying to place it on the plate and it snaps. Or you looked at it slightly sideways and it snapped. I'm not sure many of these ones made it home. Bed time - but not yet...
Would love to crawl into bed but my laundry is still going. 2 days with chocolate means I have a lot of washing to do. More chocolate tomorrow but I don't want to go to class with a dirty uniform. It looks messy and disorganized and I need help getting organized, not the other way around.
Late start tomorrow, so I will be able to have coffee and hopefully update my portfolio for Cuisine and Patisserie. The Cuisine one is relatively straightforward - write a few recipes, do a bit of research and price out the cost of each dish. I'm not sure photos are even necessary. The Patisserie one is the one that is a bit of a pain (photos, diagrams, lots of lists, many components) and I have had to rethink my designs. This will affect which recipe I use as well as quantities and thought about building the dessert itself. More later, but the washing machine is getting near spin cycle so I am off to have a hot shower, then crawl into my bed with soft cotton sheets.
Too soon for nightmares about finals
Woke up this morning, cursing in my head. I had dreamt that I had presented my plated desserts at the Patisserie final, then turned back around to my station only to find a component staring back at me. I suppose it's a bit of leftover issues from the Cuisine final where I had forgotten to put mint into the sauce at the end.
So until next time, may you have sweet dreams.
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