Am cursing the fact that I need to sleep. Exams are looming and I feel like I got a very late start. Last term we had so many long weekends that there was an extra week of classes. Then there the long weekends themselves, so we actually had more time to digest and learn things. This term went by extremely quickly - our first day was in the last week of June - so exams are during our 10th week - not a whole lot of time to practice 3 cakes and 2 cuisine dishes, all with multiple components and followed by theory exams.
I think I've forgotten how to memorize and to learn - it's been years since I had to take a closed book exam - law school is pretty forgiving that way - if you know where to look for it, the exact wording is there. It's been writing drills (flashes back to Korean school where they used to make people write things down 10 times to learn something) and trying to learn the components of our cakes.
Here's a quick rundown on the last few days. Tomorrow morning is my Patisserie final and I am praying that I pass the exams. Yes, that's exams, plural. We have our practical exam at 8am followed by theory at noon. You would think they would cut us a break and give us an opportunity to finish our practicing and then focus on the extra reading - but no...and do I remember my quantities, ingredients and methods from basic? Um, not really...do we need to know them? Apparently so.
So last week:
Wednesday - our first vegetarian dish - Artichaut en Croute farci etc. etc. (Stuffed artichoke in puff pastry)We had to saute spinach, make a tomato sauce, glaze 'baby' vegetables (Chef hates the term 'baby' because they are actually just small veggies), stuff an artichoke with spinach and wild mushrooms and top it with a puff pastry lattice, then bake it.
The artichokes are big - the globe ones. Still had to jump on mine (we had 2) to get the stems and attendant fibers off. Then we had to turn them...which means you have to cut off the leaves (about 2/3 from the bottom), cut off all the green and make sure you remember to rub lemon on the cuts so it doesn't discolor. The lemon is very useful - in addition to preventing discoloration of artichokes, mushrooms and certain other fruits, it helps you to find all the tiny little cuts on your hands that you might otherwise not know are there. If the artichokes are really big and you can't fit them in your hand, it helps to just take a knife and cut off the outer leaves first (basically cutting instead of turning) and picking them back up once they're trimmed down a bit.
Not sure why but it seemed to take forever - it's actually not a very time consuming dish but I felt very disorganized. However, it was finished and served - the mushrooms needed more lemon (yes they did - I forgot the lemon altogether and had to try to sneak in a couple of drops between the holes in the lattice just before service) and the carrots needed more salt, as did the sauce. Otherwise - not bad...the pastry was kind of soggy by the time I got home but the sauce and the vegetables were very nice on some leftover chicken the next night.
8am Thursday morning: Chocolate tasting (really)
We started out with a cup of hot chocolate that tasted and felt decadent for the first couple of sips. Then the amount of chocolate and cream started to make themselves felt. No one finished their half cupfuls of hot chocolate, not even the most avid chocoholic.Chef MH played a little trick on us. There was one bag of chocolate which was old but no one was told until after we had tasted the button and a chorus of "ugh!" and "what is that?!" started flying around the room. All I could taste was powdery flour and something not very nice - I'm not sure I have the words for it.
Some of the other chocolate had lingering aftertastes which wouldn't go away, no matter how much water or tea I drank. The colored buttons (clementine and strawberry) are actually flavored white chocolate - so not chocolate at all. I think if you like sweets, they might taste really nice. I was already overdosed on sweets from the hot chocolate so this was just more sickly sweetness.Thursdsay night - Canapes class/workshop - teamwork
...many hands make light work.
They broke this down into little teams so each team of two was in charge of one canape (except for the Thai marinated shrimp - those people also did the parmesan sables). It was odd because each canape had a tiny bit of busy time at the beginning and a little at the end, but the rest of it was a lot of waiting around where everyone asked everyone else if they needed any help. For instance, the dough for the parmesan sables had to rest, as did the batter for the blinis (go TN! Chef JB said they were amazing) and ML and I had to wait for the court bouillon to boil for our cod.As for the cod - we got asked how long we cooked it. No idea - it was more a case of picking up a piece from the court bouillon and looking at it - it looked done so we fished out the pieces and made the balls.
I think generally it went pretty well - VC and TN were a bit upset because they thought there was too much horseradish in the cream for the smoked salmon. Personally I thought it was perfect - and the fact that the horseradish had been freshly grated just gave it that extra zing - really yummy. After plating and a quick talk from Chef JB, we all dug in. A couple of people took some canapes home and I packed a few when it looked like they were not going to be eaten or taken - but there weren't many looking for a home.
Friday morning - Cervelas de Saumon (Salmon and Foie Gras Mousse sausages)
8am on a Friday...way too early for foie gras - but then, any hour is too early for foie gras. We had to test the mousse to check the consistency and texture, which means having to taste some of it after we cook it off - NOT yummy. I suppose if you like foie gras, it tasted good (so said Chef FB) - for me, not so much, mainly because I hate foie gras and I found that even 50g of it really came through even though that was only a small proportion of the mousse itself.We didn't have the pork intestine to stuff the sausages (hooray) and eventually they brought up lamb intestines - yech - so in the meantime I rolled my sausages in cling film (Saran wrap for the Americans) and practiced making roulade shapes, then stuffed a few in the lamb intestines. Anyway - we were all running late and we still had to take the mousse out of the intestines, chill them, roll them in butter, then bake them. We didn't have time to chill them so people just took them out of the casings and fried them in breadcrumbs and butter. The breadcrumbs kind of fell off the sausages when I was frying them in butter but they still turned out ok - I made sure to present one which had been in the casing rather than the saran wrap ones. It was a plain dish and we didn't have any other herbs, so I made a tiny parsley salad/garnish to go with it - still a slightly boring looking plate but there wasn't a whole lot you could do with it, given we only had the ingredients from the dish available.
Head Cheese
Then it was the demo for Charcuterie II and head cheese. FYI - head cheese is made from a pig's head but it is not cheese and apparently, it doesn't resemble cheese either.
Head cheese includes trotters (yes, feet! Chef had a bit of fun, dancing the feet across the chopping board) and tongue, all from pigs. There was a tiny discussion in class as to the various inappropriate things we were not going to say - a bit Gilbert and Sullivan, actually...as for what's below the feet on the right: the pig's brain. It wasn't on the ingredient list but Chef DM wanted to show it to us after he spent all that effort cutting the skull open to get the brains out. They passed it around class - I have to say that the smell alone would keep me from eating it, even if I could get past the texture and knowing what it is. All of these were put into a brine solution and is being kept for the next demo (later this week).So that was the week and you would think it's all smooth sailing from here, except...
Friday night - in which I accidentally crashed a stag night
I'm not sure anyone ever plans to crash a stag night, especially if the person in question is of the wrong gender to attend - in a guest-ish capacity, anyway.
The initial plan was to have dinner with a friend's husband. She was unavailable that night as she had plans to go to the theater as part of pre-wedding celebrations for a friend of hers. He was at loose ends and I hadn't seen them in almost 6 months so dinner after class sounded fine. Another friend who is moving to Hong Kong shortly, joined us for drinks and in the timeless way of going with the flow, we asked him to join us.
We ended up at this place - Mr Kongs? Mr Hong's? Something like that - in Chinatown. I hadn't eaten much during the day except some delicious focaccia from two friends, given the whole foie gras at 8am then the pig's head at noon so I told the guys I was starving. Food duly ordered (3 mains, 2 rice, 1 veggie) - I had to tell them I was still hungry. Another main, veggie and rice later, we were all happy.
It looked like I was going to get my early night after all - but then we got a call from the stag and his best man - both of whom I know and whose girls were also at the theatre. Nothing would do except that we all meet up - and the boys decided they would introduce me to my first strip club. [**Parents - please stop reading now and pick up at the photos below where it says "The long weekend - cakes anyone?"]
Pole dancing vs strip clubs (Education of a different kind)
Lots of walking around later we ended up at an establishment where the girls danced - pole dancing. Having seen pole dancing classes offered where I take ballet, I was curious to see if these girls were any good. I'm not sure if it's because I've never been to one before or if a strip club and a pole dancing place are different - but they didn't dance. I was quite disappointed...one of the guys (not the stag) was a bit disappointed that the girls were all dressed. I suggested it might be because they are dancers and not strippers.
One of the girls then educated me on that point - she said it's the same as the US - they take their clothes off (I wanted to ask what more could they possibly take off and not be naked). So what was the point of the pole and the stage, I wanted to know. Apparently it's their advertisement - they get up and do a lot of pouting, some posing and a little bit of gyrating. If a gentleman likes the look of one of the dancers, he pays (someone - I don't know who) and gets a private dance in the back. They have a garter on their leg but you don't put money in it - so I'm still confused about the garter.
And as all cliches go - the girl who kindly gave me this explanation was studying (she didn't say what) and did this to pay her bills. She was standing much too close to me so I just wanted the conversation to be over as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the boys were telling me this wasn't what they had expected - well, me neither. I think I was the stripper block - they offered to dance for me as well, but I have to say, all I could think was that it was Friday night and I wanted to go to sleep. In any event, the boys went home (I am guessing) and so did I.
The long weekend - cakes, anyone?
When I was in college/law school, my parents always knew when exams were approaching by the following exchange:
Parents: So what are you doing/have you been doing?
Me: Cleaning.
Parents: Exams soon?
Me: Yup. Can't study when it's dirty and untidy.
Parents: Mm hm.
Saturday began with - yes, you guessed it - cleaning. I couldn't start cooking because I didn't have space for anything and I need a lot more space to practice this term than I did for basic. I also cleared off the glass table by the bookshelf and put all my papers and folders in the living room - the most use it's gotten since I moved in.
The Opera - fail
Let's just say that the practice did not go well. For one thing, I forgot that the tray only slides into my oven easily when the washing machine door is open so that the oven door doesn't get caught on the handle of the washing machine door. It meant that unbeknownst to me, the tray was tilted - with the result that the sponge slid and one side got very thick while the other side didn't. The thick side didn't cook and the thin side was burnt to a crisp. The second tray with batter wasn't full because there isn't quite enough batter for 2 full trays - mine are a bit smaller than the ones at LCB but not by a lot - so more trimming was needed. The result was quite a small cake.I finished anyway, just to practice putting the components together and discovered that spatial perception is not one of my gifts. The layers are all supposed to be the same thickness (cake, ganache, cake, buttercream, cake, ganache + glaze). None of them are right - and I was looking at a failing cake. Since the layers weren't even, I just decided to try a zillion different things with the piping, knowing that this cake was going into the rubbish bin.
Sabrina - possibly a low pass
Having put Saturday down to experience, I tried to go over notes and read about eggs until I fell asleep. Sunday was spent with my Sabrina. Once again, improvisation was the name of the game - no pistachios to speak of, so I used toasted almonds on the bottom part of the cake. Baked the sponge on 2 baking trays - but didn't turn the tray so the back part of the full tray was burnt to a crisp and had a concern I wouldn't have enough sponge for the cake.
And the apple and strawberry puree I bought at the store was actually more like apple sauce - so I ended up putting in a couple of frozen raspberries with the puree to get color (they were out of red food coloring at the store too) - except that frozen raspberries leave lumps so that was interesting...
Have learned quite a few things to be careful of for the exam - like not letting the marzipan just hang out all tilted - because it will dry that way and not lie flat on the cake. Also - need to work on my piping (when does anyone not need to do that?) - and also importantly - must learn to cut even sized pieces! It doesn't sound so hard but ask any parent who is asked to cut something in half for two squabbling children - it is impossible because they will pick up the minutest differences. Frankly I should have 5 year-olds check my portioning. But I digress - the cutting of the cake into 8 even sized portions is a part of the final mark and I still can't do it. I think it's the wavy lines from the chocolate - they throw me off.The only things which seemed to work quite well was the chocolate tempering and the masking - I made sure to squish in as much of the strawberry cream down the sides of the ring as possible before I chilled it so it had time to set.
Rewarded myself by having dinner with a friend. A girl has to eat and cake alone isn't sufficient.
Other than that - have sunk to a new low. I am now eating the off-cuts from my cakes. Have eaten so much cream and cake from the Sabrina yesterday and the cake and buttercream from today that I am starting to feel like I should moo when I speak.
Opera again - potentially not bad (except the piping)
You might be thinking it was time for the Fraisier, non? I did it the same day that I did the salmon paupiettes (last weekend? the one before?) - it was so embarrassing that I didn't take a photo of it - but I know what I did wrong and a lot of it is variations on the genoise we did back in Basic (except for the whole marzipan top with rose, which I still suck at). I went back to the one which was scaring me.Better today - turning the tray half way through cooking turned out to be the way to keep the sponge from burning to a crisp. The gas flames are in the back so trimming has to be done - it's just a matter of degree now. Also I have found a new use for my dishwasher - I can't run dishes in it while I am cooking because they are generally things I need almost right away and it takes too long to wash them. So I wash them by hand and put them in the dishwasher to dry/drain - excellent! 2 trays or whatever you call them and I know where they are AND it frees up space on the counter where I don't have space for them to dry. Yes, I could dry them with a kitchen towel but I am in the middle of doing 2 other things at once (laundry...shopping list...oh, and watching the sugar for the buttercream).
Remembered that there had been way too little ganache and buttercream the last time I did this so I trowelled it on. Still needs more ganache but the buttercream is better. This one got stuck because I put the bottom layer (chocolate only) on aluminum foil instead of paper, with the result that the bottom layer of the cake stuck, then buckled. Now I don't know if it's uneven because I spread it unevenly with the palette knife when I put the batter in the tray or if it's because I mangled it when I moved the cake.
Had more practice piping - hoping it will be better on the day but afraid not - last term my hand was shaking by the end of class because of nerves. They say that mainly the cake has to look and taste good. The method of getting there, while important, is more flexible as there are many different ways to do things and we are encouraged to try different ways until we find one that suits us. Not sure if we are allowed to build up the chocolate piping so much but had a little fun seeing if it was possible to replicate anything calligraphic (it may be, but I can't do it).Am looking forward to having a life again. Just need to make it through the week and after tomorrow I can go back to worrying about the regions of France, the dishes, the climate and trying to guess what's going to be on the theory test - because at least Patisserie gives us a list of things we should review (then they tell us other things to add, but the list is a good start) but Cuisine is just hoping you have good notes from class. Oh, and reading the handouts about foie gras, mussels and shellfish.
Have realized we spent a lot of time with chocolate, sponges and mouses in Intermediate Patisserie and a lot of time with seafood in Intermediate Cuisine. Hoping to pass both - but afraid of the finals for Superior already.
Yesterday I happened to be out and about. This weekend was forecasted for a lot of rain and cloud. I got one of the rare sunny patches on the way back from the Marylebone Farmers' Market and the grocery store (stocking up on supplies). It's amazing the difference a few rays of sunshine can make. All this time I thought I was tired, old and grumpy - maybe so, but maybe it was also not seeing the sun for a while. There are the occasional rays in the afternoon or during the coffee break if we are having a demo, but I can't remember the last time I actually was in the sunlight. The fact that it was an instant mood boost brought home how I miss it. London has sunny days and sunny patches but we don't always see that much of it because we are running around in class (or to class) and sunlight in class is not always a good thing, especially during plating.
So until next time, I will be hearing the tune to the song "I'm walking on sunshine!" May you also walk on sunshine.
