My memory stick adaptor may have gotten laundered, but 24 hours in a plastic bag with some rice grains seems to have dried it out and I can get photos off my camera card! So on with the post.
A little cooked - Monday - Day 1 of sugar, Session 1...
Everyone said to be ready to get burns and blisters when we started our sugar module. I was lucky enough to get away today with a couple of minor burns (but stay tuned - we don't finish until next week) when we did our poured sugar. I forgot to grease my measuring cup for the sugar fountain, so it stuck to the sides. One of the porters saw what I had done wrong, so he whispered that I should also pour the sugar down the centre of the ice cubes, not the side of the measuring cup for my coral. I thanked him profusely and got a wink in reply, especially when Chef CB told me the same thing a few minutes later, although his language was a tad more colorful. Yes, I am forgetful.
Anyway - sugar duly poured, I have quite a few things to work on for next time. A few unintended things happened, but over the next few days a design should take shape because we have to do one of these for our final exam - a minimum of 2 - 3 platforms because our petit fours (the truffles and sable biscuits) are supposed to be able to rest on these.
Session 2 - The Rose
This is the one where we had to pull out our gloves. I had bought mine last term while getting other supplies. Even better, I remembered to take them to class! So while some of the guys were whimpering from the heat, the girls who had gloves were happily pulling our sugar to make it satiny and shiny. The final part of pulling the sugar got to be a bit of hard work - I had to basically lay over my hands over my sugar in order to press it after I'd pulled it. We had to make sure it was shiny and silvery, keep it under a heat lamp, then pull bits off of it to make a rose and some leaves.
Eggs and potatoes
Also, as promised in the last post, here are a couple of pictures from the poached eggs and Hollandaise yesterday - oh, and the fondant potato. A small piece of potato (well, we'll have to cook two pieces) slowly confited in an obscene amount of butter and only enough chicken stock to keep things from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Not that the poaching of eggs needs a lot of practice, but I forgot a couple of things so now I think I'm set. The only thing is the potato - AM and I cooked them for about an hour and twenty minutes - and they still could have used a bit more cooking. Thank goodness the final exam is 4 hours long. I have to say, the egg could have been worse. Still not my favorite with the runny yolk, but surprisingly edible.
At least I have the comfort that my shortcrust pastry for the exam has the right consistency this time, even though it's still too thick (and it's see through when I line the moulds). One of these days...
So until next time - may you be less tired and confused than I am.
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