#22 - In which a lot happens in a few short days...

Not quite sure what happened to the last week, but I will try to catch up.


Brutal day
We had a double practical on Wednesday - 6 hours of meat (the two steaks in the first practical, finished early so a quick little break, then the blanquette in the second practical).



Steak with peppercorn sauce



Well done steak

I think I previously mentioned that there are a couple of friends I made who are in the more advanced patisserie class.  I gave CD a steak with peppercorn sauce (the medium one - I overcooked it), and a serving of the blanquette with rice because I felt bad that I had messed up the potatoes with the steak so badly (black and burned on the outside, not cooked on the inside - yuck!)  CD loved the sauce on the steak - generally thought to be more interesting than the blanquette (which is a much milder dish - LOTS more cream) depending on your preferences.


More evil puff pastry 
So this time was another slice that we made with our own puff pastry.  Chef G (whom I'm not sure I've ever actually met, although he let me borrow ice from his Boulangerie today) looked at my bande and said, "that's not a band - that's an orchestra!"

Bande aux fruits de saison

As you can see, the sides fell over a bit and I have some difficulties with the decorating.  It would help if I had liked more of the fruits, but I chose them for what I felt like eating, rather than what would look prettiest.

I hate wisking the creme patissiere for underneath the fruit.  It always feels like your arm is going to fall off - who needs a gym and do weights when you can get arm muscles from beating the cream?  "I hope I don't get this in the final!"  I managed to gasp to Chef M while I was trying to beat the patisserie cream back into a smooth consistency.

"Really?  You have to do a creme pat in the final?"  he asked innocently.  Um, yes!  It's part of the even more evil Pate a Choux (aka choux pastry aka eclairs, etc.) final.  Pate a Choux is even more evil because if you mess up the dough (which you can do in several places), that's pretty much it - it kills you for the whole basic patisserie course.  The first pitfall is about 5 minutes in.  So pate a choux being evil - more beating (adding the eggs into the batter) and more beating (the cream for the chantilly cream).  Then there's the timing and piping.  But I am getting ahead of myself here.


Really big palmiers and some bowties?

We also put together our dough scraps and made palmier cookies (aka palm leaf cookies aka elephant ears).  We were meant to make them small but I (still) can't cut straight and some of mine turned out gigantic.  The ones that were supposed to be the small palmiers didn't have enough folds so I twisted them and got the bowtie ones (Chef G said too much effort).  The little circle was just so that I could use the scraps of the scraps.  Rufus and the Michaels quite liked the cookies and the not-Bande, actually.  I gave the rest of the bande to the real estate agency downstairs from me.  I didn't want it to take up all that room in my fridge (I had a chestnut filling sponge cake from C in it already) and I was sick of looking at it.

Another brutal day
Saturday was another double whammy - pork cutlets in cuisine and then pate a choux in patisserie, one after the other.

Chef S commented how mashed potatoes are comfort food, then asked, "Who doesn't like mashed potatoes?"  I was the only one who raised her hand.  Hey, I'm from Hawaii - we eat rice with almost everything (not with spaghetti, but otherwise...)  Then she asked, "who doesn't eat pork?"  Guess what?

Anyway - here is the pork cutlet with mashed potatoes - somehow I got lucky and the sauce was pronounced "bangin'".  Thank you EA for helping me get the right consistency!  The chefs seem to be fond of that word - I don't care, as long as they are using it in conjunction with my dish and they mean it's good.  There's also a piece of pork crackling there and the mash potato which had been causing me no end of grief (seriously - I cut it up and it still took the potatoes almost and hour to cook) but ended up fine - thank you tons of butter and lots of cream!  For which LM was also very thankful - she said the mashed potatoes were her favorite part.

Evil choux pastry

And then...choux pastry - a potential exam dish (must practice a LOT)...had problems with piping, as you can see from my sad, lopsided eclairs.  Also had trouble with the fondant icing (you're supposed to pipe a pattern with chocolate on top of the eclairs but I didn't even get that far) - and in the exam, you have to do all this on your own.  In class we worked in teams, so you can see where I'm going with this.  Also my swans didn't have enough fruit (to cut the sweetness of the chantilly cream - there's tones of sugar in it to make it shiny) and I didn't whip the cream enough so it looked fine when Chef M inspected it for marks, it had collapsed a bit when I took it to a birthday party.

I packed all the eclairs, etc. into the cake box, along with Laurie's chestnut cake (a trade for the pork cutlets & mashed potatoes) and took it to TL's 30th birthday shindig.  I missed the gathering at the pub that afternoon because I was in class, but they had all retired to the house so I joined them there.  The sweets were very much appreciated and LM's cake and CD's cake got an almost equal number of votes (LM's cake was preferred by those who liked less sweet, C's cake was preferred for those who liked their desserts more sweet).

I also managed to snap a shot of KP eating one of my (too big) palmiers.  Luckily they were all eaten so I took home an empty cake box, which is good - I need it for later this week.

Basic egg skills - kind of, sort of - not really

Yesterday we did eggs and the remainder of this week is to be spent on soups (cuisine) and bread and sponge cake (patisserie).
  

Way undercooked poached eggs



So - I can't poach an egg.  Or rather - I can poach an egg but can't quite tell when it's done.  It will require lots of practice and tons of poking.  The eggs look so pretty in the dish, even if my mornay sauce split (oven was too hot and I was a little sloppy in making the sauce).  Of course that all changed once Chef J opened the eggs with his fork - the whites (which weren't completely cooked through) hadn't finished in the oven so they were still that disgusting clear runny white by the yolk.  It finished cooking in the dish later, but it was not an attractive sight.  Still, sauce was completely edible - all packed in a tidy container with the 2 eggs which were not pretty enough to present (and which I cooked a bit longer so that LM would have cooked eggs instead of disgusting ones).

  

Good French Omelette



Slightly better luck with the omelette - I knew I couldn't do it the way Chef S did it in demo, with a screeching hot pan and not getting any color on the egg.  So I cheated a tiny bit and had the stove turned a lot lower, then stirred until it was just underdone.  I knew it would be runny when it was all folded - just the way they like it (and just the way I won't eat it).

LM liked both - thank goodness!


Basic Soups - not really

Today was soup.  Possibly the second worst day for me - my chicken veloute (basically a flour & butter mixture to thicken a chicken stock) wouldn't thicken.  I did what the recipe said but it all went wrong.  I suppose it should have been a warning signal when the first roux I did got overcooked and I had to throw it away.

  

Chicken & Mushroom veloute



Everyone had packed up and left before I could present the chicken and mushroom soup.  It ended up tasting fine (bowl was too cold) but I'm not sure I want to try this one ever again...talk about things not working.

Potato & Leek soup with julienned vegetables

The potato and leek went a bit better although this one was too thick and I kept having to let it down with water.  But water makes it so that the flavors kind of separate again - which means each thing is distinct instead of everything kind of jumbling together in your mouth/mind.  However, this is the first time that my julienne passed muster, so that was a happy thing (this picture is after Chef D tasted it, which is why the chervil is off to the side and a bit lopsided).

Still needs more salt!  I haven't trained my palate yet - need to add more salt without going over and adding too much.  One of the chefs said that the usual pattern is - not enough/not enough/too much/too much/just right.  I'm still at the not enough (it's only been over a month!) stage - just hoping I get to the just right stage in time for the exam.  Praying consomme will go better tomorrow.

A taste of Hawaii in London!

LM and I finally made it to Kua'aina Burger in Foubert Place, just off Carnaby Street.  They were really friendly and we took a while to decide because we wanted everything on the menu.  We eventually settled on a mahi burger (me) and an ahi burger (her) - we switched half of each.  Both were a taste of home, but given the distance, I think I will wait till I get home to have another mahi anything.  Next time we have vowed to have the burgers (you know - the kind with meat).  In the meantime, here is a photo of LM helping one of the guys choose a good radio station (or several) for them to stream at the joint.  Good to know we can exert our powers for good and make sure they have good local music in the middle of London.

We were going to put photos of our burgers, but both of us were so food deprived (yes I know - ironic that for people surrounded by so much food, we should miss meals or not eat enough, but that's a discussion for another time) that we inhaled our food and forgot all about photos until our table had been cleared.

So until next time - aloha (and happy eating)!

#21 - Evil puff pastry and too much (?) red meat

Evil puff pastry

Last week was more pastry in cuisine.  Puff pastry, to be precise.  We had to make our allumettes au fromage (i.e. cheese matchsticks - it doesn't translate very well).  They're actually more like cheese rolls instead of sausage rolls, with mornay sauce in the middle.  The sauce was really good.  If only the pastry had been as good.  Alas, alack - the holes in the layers (because I have such hot hands, you know) meant that the butter leaked everywhere.  You can see it on the paper...

Evil puff pastry - before

Allumettes au fromage

 





Then it was pasta with alfredo sauce.  (This is when I found out my hands were hot - something to do with how the dough was/not coming together - I forget).  I didn't manage to take a photo of the pasta when it was fresh so it doesn't look as good, but trust me - it tasted delicious.  You can take the girl out of Hawaii but you can't take the Hawaii out of the girl (note the chopsticks...)

Patisserie - more puff pastry (!) and a dear friend

Then we made jalousie (aka in Australia as pear slice, so I was told by a friend from class) - poached pears, puff pastry (out of a packet because ours have to rest until the next pastry class - next week!)  See how nice it turns out when the pastry is made right?

Also, my dear friend PC came to town for work.  We nearly didn't get organized in time, but somehow we managed to catch each other right after I'd made my pear slice/tarte/whatever.  It had been a few years since we had seen each other so there was a lot to catch up on, including what brought him here (work).

  

Before...

 So - pictures of our civilized dessert - he was suitably impressed and made the requisite yummy noises.  Of course finding the ice cream to go with it was a bit of a thing - I think we tried 3 convenience stores before we found our Haagen Daaz to go with it.  He isn't dead, so I assume that the dessert was safe to eat.

and after...

   I left the rest of it with him to share with his friends the next day while they watched the royal wedding.

All of this is quite hard work actually - it took me a while to figure out on Friday or Saturday that my arms were tired from rolling out the puff pastry on Thursday night.  It's actually easier if you have more leverage - I had been standing on the ledge under my counter but it was a bit of an awkward position (why couldn't I be 6' tall???) - luckier than one of the other girls whose hands were bruised on the heels from the rolling pin...

Royal wedding
EA did an amazing English tea for us on the day of the Royal wedding.  I made it to her house after ballet in time to catch the highlights (good - the ad-free version).  Here are some of my classmates from LCB.  The picture has representatives from South Africa, Chile, Portugal, Colombia, Australia and the US (including me).

EA made scones, cucumber sandwiches, a cake with strawberries and had all the fixin's for various alcoholic beverages - people managed to hold out until around 3pm...she is the most amazing hostess.

Last week's demonstrations

Then there were the demonstrations for the upcoming practical classes.  It included butchery - I have only ever seen that much raw, red meat in one place so early in the morning:  the butcher shop on my way to work in the morning in Sydney.

We made lamb first thing on Saturday morning.  Given the timing of everything, we are a few days behind schedule (i.e. lamb is practical 11 but we have had demonstrations up to class 13).  This is much rarer than I like my meat - but we have to serve it the way they want it, not the way we like it (the words "this is, after all, a French cooking school..." keep ringing in my head).

It took most of us about an hour to French trim the rack of lamb.  I eventually got the hang of it, but it was tough going until I did.  (For the record:  trimming was very nice and the lamb was perfectly cooked - if you like your lamb still baa'ing on the plate!)



What happens after we present
our dishes for inspection

Then I packed the food to take home - dinner...we actually got to use olive oil for the bayaldi (i.e. like ratatouille) so it didn't feel quite so disgusting after I ate it for dinner last night.  Yes - I cooked the meat some more.  The dish below is what it looked like after SL and I butchered it while getting out the pieces for presentation on the plate at the end of class.

Vegetables bayaldi -
NOT ratatouille

One of the girls was going away for the weekend and didn't want to take her lamb with her because she couldn't cook it (travelling and all that) so I took it home with me.  Both Michaels and Rufus were in the art shop on the way home so I gave the guys a bit of a taste.  Rufus was not offered any...

This Michael (on the left) likes his meat cooked "properly".  This other Michael loves rack of lamb but likes it a bit more cooked (I sympathize).  He ate it though - and pronounced it good.

Rufus's Michael and I have made a deal:  he will provide a home for various culinary experiments and in return, he will frame my Grand Diplome when I get it.  Now it's just a matter of actually passing all my classes...i.e. not setting the kitchen on fire during finals!

Seen and overheard...

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...I was at Starbucks when I wrote most of this yesterday afternoon.  The conversation involved snatches of phrases like "...but, like, I can't wait for him forever" and "like, there's never, like, a perfect time to break up with someone"...initially I thought they must be in their late 20s/somewhere in the 30s (except for all the "like"s).  Then one of them said something about being 23/24.  Oh puh-leeze!

There was a fellow sitting at the next table with an older woman - possibly his mom.  Both appeared to be following the girls' conversation quite intently but trying not to look as if they were interested.  All I could think was that this conversation would be much more urgent for these girls in about a decade...and that perhaps Starbucks isn't the place to have a deep and meaningful conversation, especially if you don't want anyone to overhear what you are saying.

We have to cook a roast beef on Tuesday.  Served rare (ew!) so until next time...baa baa, moo moo...

#20 - Up to, and including, Easter Weekend (in which I do pretty much nothing)

It has been a few days since I put anything up...so here's a quick rundown of what we did last week:  pastry.  Pretty much the whole week.  In Cuisine!  And of course in Patisserie.

So you may wonder, "Why are they teaching pastry in Cuisine when you are doing it in Patisserie?"  To which I say, there are only about 18 of us doing both.  There are things in cuisine which use the pastries (think Quiche Lorraine from the last post, puff pastry which I will get to shortly...) so we cover it there too.  I'm pretty sure the Cuisine chefs will get tired of hearing from us that "but in Patisserie they told us..."

In which I discuss the weather...
Last week was also quite warm.  It may be novel for London to be warm (so I've been told - my personal experience has included warm days) and most people enjoy it.  However - it wreaked havoc in our classes.  The chefs can work quickly enough that it may cause a few hiccups but nothing they can't handle.  We students, on the other hand...

So what happens is this:  when you learn something new and there is a chef looking over your shoulder, your hands get clammy (usually a bit warm too).  None of that is good when working with pastry.  It's even worse when it is warm, or in the case of the Cuisine kitchens, hot.  It melts the butter and does bad things to the doughs (I don't know the chemistry - maybe you'll find it in that $600/8 volume? thing that the guy who used to work at Microsoft released earlier this year).  The class before us had been doing something with lobster (2 ways) - the stoves were hot, the refrigerators were not very cold (because everyone had been opening them) and they ran about 25 minutes over time.

Puff Pastry - which may not puff
The hardest parts in the time allowed, was to get the initial pastry dough (aka detrempe) finished in time to allow enough resting before rolling it out.  For some reason, some people in class had very wet dough (including me) and some people had very dry dough (JK two spaces down) even though we had all measured the same - at least I hope so.  That went fine, as did the resting.  And since we had somewhere around 20 - 30 minutes, we rolled out the butter to be included in the dough (the tourage), then made our crepe batters.  More on that later - this is puff pastry time.

The puff pastry rolled out too thin and I could see the butter leaking out between the folds so the cheese sticks, which are actually more like sausage rolls but with cheese instead of sausage, will be uneven.  At least it was still fairly elastic - some of the drier doughs were tearing and really rolling out at all.  Our teaching chef, Chef D, had to help almost everyone with something because we just couldn't work fast enough.  You know how it is - the first time you do anything, it can take ages but once you've done it a couple of times, you might get it down to a 1/10 of the time it took you the first time.

Every 20 minutes or so, there was a frantic burst of activity as we all took our doughballs out of the fridge, rolled it out, made our folds (aka turns), wrapped it again and put it back in the fridge to rest.  On a cool day you can do two turns before resting the dough.  Wednesday was so hot that we had to refrigerate the dough after each turn, which added quite a lot of time to the process.  We actually ended up having to do the last two turns together without resting the dough - hence my being able to see the butter leaking through the layers.  It's not actually mille feuilles - someone did the math and  came up with 1024 layers after the 6 turns.  I haven't checked tha math...

So they are all resting in a fridge for the weekend and on Tuesday we will need to roll them out, make more sauce and make our cheese sticks.  Hopefully there will be pictures from Tuesday.

Crepes au citron
But on to the crepes...my batter was a bit lumpy to start with, but eventually got sorted out - lots of whisking...and I had to cure my crepe pan a second time because it killed my first crepe (as well as the second).  So we did a lemon syrup to go with it (thank you for teaching us how in Patisserie) and I made little extra lemon peel julienne to candy because it seemed like we would have enough time.  Also to practice my julienning - still needs a lot of work...

I wasn't the last one to finish!  It was my goal not to be the last one for at least one class by the end of this term and somehow I made it last week!  Of course I was still the last one to leave (for other reasons) so maybe it's time to rethink the goal.

Sorry - I digress from the crepes.  I know I am biased, but WOW!  I actually managed to finish candying the lemon peel and since it had a bit of extra syrup, I mixed that with a spoonful of the one from the recipe and sprinkled it over my crepes.  I'm sorry that I don't have a photo of the crepes.  I was running short on time because the puff pastry needed another turn and I was hungry, so I ate all my crepes after Chef tasted them.  I almost fainted when he inspected the layers before he ate it, but the crepe was thin enough and he liked the julienned peels ("nice presentation").  We didn't use icing (i.e. powdered) sugar on our crepes - you don't really need it if the crepe has a good sauce/topping.  If you want crepes, you will need to get a crepe pan (or we can fake it in a non-stick small frying pan).

For each class, we get graded:  presentation, taste, hygeine, safety, correct techniques, etc.  I tripped over a big basket near the end of class - I am hoping coordination doesn't go under the hygiene heading...

All about cheese
We also had a technical class on cheese from Tom the Cheese Guy, as he introduced himself.  He was so excited to talk to us about cheese that it was hard not to get at least a little caught up with him.  We have a similar lecture for wine in about 3 weeks.  We actually have wine and cheese lectures for each level of our course.  I have started thinking about putting together a stinky cheese board (but have to figure out the wine to go with it - questions already for ___ the Wine Guy/Lady!).  I have a feeling that I pissed off a couple of my classmates because I kept shushing them, but they may already know this stuff and I didn't know anything so I wasn't interested in not being able to hear the person brought in by the school to teach us about cheese.

Still not a huge fan of bleu cheese (I'm sorry - it's not sweet to me) but got to try some good ones (to quote Homer Simpson:  Mmmmm, cheese...)  Also - finally got an answer about the stinky cheese.

Why stinky cheese
A couple of posts ago I asked why the French like stinky cheese when they don't like their food overseasoned.  Tom the Cheese Guy said that it goes back to the monks making cheese and having it as a substitute for meat.  Since many monks were from the aristocracy (second sons, wasn't it?) and the aristocracy tended to eat (game) meat which you have to hang, they were used to stinky meat.  Hence they wanted their cheese to be stinky too.  So there you have it - the answer without using Google or Wikipedia.  I'm not quite so caught up in cheese to actually go look it up myself, but if you want to do so, feel free!

Tarte au Pommes

Thursday was the sweet pastry dough - a lot harder than short crust because it will break and fall apart in your hands.  Also, it appears that the ovens in the Patisserie are a bit out...apparently our chef (humorous Chef M - the first time we had him) had discussed it with some of the other chefs.  We will need to be very careful for our practical exams but they are not getting new ovens until the school moves premises next January - aagggghhh!  It's kind of like the Cuisine kitchens were we kind of have to guess at the temperature for the ovens based on the position of the dials because the numbers have rubbed off.  So - the apple tart:

Apple Tart with Apple Compote -
it's not supposed to be singed...

 

And this is what the tarte looks like
after you massacre the crust...



Friday morning I made it to ballet - what a relief after not being able to go for a while, to actually move.  Of course the consequence is that muscles tend to protest a bit (I am still paying for it today).  This was followed by a picnic in Hyde Park with CL from LCB and some of her friends.  She had to go (while I was in the longest line ever for the ladies bathroom!!!) for wedding dress fittings for one of her friends.  She felt bad, in case it was awkward since I had only just met this group of people (about 7?  I've forgotten most of their names) but it was fine.  They were all really nice, mostly from elsewhere - some Canadians, a fellow American, a couple from the Czech Republic, I think...

Location, location, location

MS - I realize that Hyde Park isn't exactly my environs, but it's quite near and it's the one where I had my camera out.  Other photos to follow - eventually...

One of my favorite
sights in the spring -
hard to take photos
without random
strangers in them...



Not quite
the road less travelled -
but much less travelled than
Picadilly which is just on the
other side of those trees!

You might just see a building
peeking out from behind the
magnolia tree

It seems that spring not only brings out all the lovers, young and old, but aspiring photographers as well.  I'm not an aspiring photographer so my shots are generally hit or miss.

R&R

Yesterday I slept all day...there was a little bit of thunder last night and yesterday was a little overcast so it was a perfect day to stay home and rest.  Also needed to recover from all the sugar and butter from school.  I have to say that my attitudes toward both are slowly changing (I can hear my dentist cheering.  Also - does anyone know a good cardiologist?  May need one after this year...) but it was nice to eat broccoli and plain steamed rice.  It might become necessary to have weekends off from butter.

It is Easter Sunday and I am contemplating whether or not to go to ballet class.  Well - I was contemplating whether to go to class, but the time has come and gone since I started writing this post.  I may just mosey on out, get some coffee and wander the neighborhood.  London has mostly cleared out for the long weekend so I am enjoying the quiet before the storm of nuttiness that I suspect will ensue with the Royal wedding in less than a week.  No classes on Friday, but we have an 8am practical on Saturday morning to make up for it.

May is quite civilized - only one 6-day week in the whole month, although we have quite a few 9-hour days.

Island Girls in London!

There are also a couple of girls from Hawaii at the LCB.  V was in Hawaii for 10 years before coming here (so she's as much from Hawaii as I am from Sydney) and LM, who is in Intermediate Patisserie, grew up on Oahu.  We are all still new enough that we talk to everyone, although of course people tend to form bonds with their groups.

Anyway, the ladies' locker room is very small - I can't remember if I've already mentioned it.  You can't have a quiet chat in there because people are always rushing in to change into/out of their kitchen gear (aprons, hairnets, hats, etc).  In the course of chatting to whomever - because it takes a little while to figure out who's in Basic whichever - I exchanged pleasantries with a lovely girl.  Somehow the Hawaii thing came up and she said, "Oh, you have to meet L, she's from Hawaii too!"  I didn't actually meet LM until last Wednesday (was it then that I had that headache?) but we've seen each other in passing a couple of times.

With various other people coming to town, I think we might have our own little Hawaii club, for which I am actually quite excited.  LM has a rice cooker (yay - because I didn't buy one when I did my crazy shopping spree for a Kitchen Aid and pots so that I can practice for our exams) and other unspecified local food.  I'm just glad there's someone who understands me when I say that Uncle Ben's IS NOT REAL RICE to a local girl/boy.

Now - just have to figure out where to put the Kitchen Aid and mixing bowls.  I will need a stepladder to reach the higher shelves, which are currently empty.  So until next time - happy Easter everyone!  I hope you know where you hid all those eggs...

#19 - Two Michaels, a Nigel, a Rufus and a Quiche Lorraine

It is week 3 and many of us feel like we have been run over by trucks.  Or at least the germ fairy.  There is a veritable outbreak of coughing, sneezing and sniffling in our classes.

Today was Cuisine's turn to do short crust pastry.  The demonstration was yesterday and our practical was this afternoon.  I have learned that the pastry for Cuisine can be much wetter than the one for Patisserie.  We also cheated on the resting time, or at least I did - Chef L told everyone to put their pastries into the oven at the same time to begin the blind baking (regardless of how long they had been resting).  Shhhhh!  I also finally found out what the missing tool in my kit was - it was the pie crimper.

Our knife kit comes with various thing and each pocket has an item in it.  Even though today was the first (and according to more advanced students, the last) time we used it, I couldn't figure out what was missing when I saw the empty pocket last week.  I thought it was my chef's knife but I eventually found that where I used to store the bread knife.

Quiche Lorraine
Anyway - enough about lost tools.  On to the pastries - I thought it would turn out badly because I had had a small issue with the water (Chef L decided to help by pouring in water to my dough while I was mixing it - except he took the water from the bowl, instead of my measuring cup where I had measured the water and by the time I tried to tell him, it was too late).  Not to worry, said he, as he added a bit more flour to dry out the dough.  I have no idea what the actual measurements were, but I know they weren't what was written on my recipe!

After all the resting and the rolling, the lining and the docking, the blind baking and the rest of the preparations, came the moment of truth - would the liquid filling for my quiche Lorraine leak out of its case?  It didn't...and FYI, we were told that a traditional quiche Lorraine is ham and Gruyere cheese, no onion...

We got through the day and I was told to make sure I was more careful (attention to detail) because my egg/cream/milk mixture had slightly slopped over the side of the quiche case as I went to put it in the oven.  Also, Chef L wanted more cheese (no problem!  I love cheese and am very happy to put in more than the recipe says to put in).

Quiche Lorraine - Bacon & Gruyere cheese...

2 Michaels, a Nigel and a Rufus
On Saturday afternoon, I made a new friend.  I had seen him before as I walked past on my way to or from class.  He likes to hang out on the sidewalk outside the Fine Art store just across the street from me (incidentally next door to Mrs Langan's chocolate pudding).  His name is Rufus and he is big, beautiful and is always glad to see me, if twice can count as always.  I believe we are going to be pretty good friends...


Rufus - with Nigel, aka Not-Michael, sitting behind him

Rufus's person's name is Michael, who works at the Fine Art store.  There is another man also named Michael there, who grimly informed me that his ex-wife had trained at the Cordon Bleu down on Marylebone Lane and look where it got him.  "Where?"  I wondered out loud to Rufus's person.  "Divorced,"  came the whispered reply.

What about me?



Rufus watching carefully for his share...

Anyway, this afternoon I wandered into the store on my way home from class, warm quiche in hand.  I had promised Rufus's Michael that I would bring over the quiche Lorraine because I don't like bacon (especially if it's not crispy).  This was pancetta that had been blanched and cut up really small (all fat trimmed off).  Luckily the two Michaels like quiche.  They also had a visitor, Nigel, whom I initially greeted as Not-Michael.  In any event, all three of them dispatched the quiche in relatively short order while Rufus gave me beseeching looks with his sweet, doggy eyes (see picture with Nigel above).  I felt a bit bad that I was impervious to his looks, having grown up with dogs and their sad, pathetic, not-quite-begging looks.

I tried one little piece of the quiche to see what it tasted like.  "Not bad" was my pronouncement, which was greeted by a snort of laughter from Rufus's Michael.  I am learning understatement from the British (kind of) but this still wouldn't be my first choice of meal although I agree it's a great way to get rid of leftovers.

Nigel, whose mother had also trained at the Cordon Bleu, rather wistfully asked if there were any onions in my quiche.  I regretfully told him no and gave him the explanation above about the traditional quiche Lorraine.  "Oh," he said, disappointed, "my mother put onions in her quiche.  I rather liked them."  Then he bit into his little piece and immediately brightened up a little.  He liked it even without the onions.  It seems there's not much a bit of short crust pastry can't cure, even a quiche with bacon in it or a question as to whether or not he would be breaching copyright by publishing some print or other.  (I asked him who owned the copyright - he's going to check.)



At long last - they caved!  Rupert and some short crust pastry...

Rufus gave the quiche a dinner-plate sized paw up and a tail wag to go with it.  The others were happy to provide homes for any extra portions or items that I don't eat, especially since the portion sizes seem to serve 4-6 people for many things.  Certain recipes lend themselves to making smaller quantities (i.e. salads, vegetables, etc) and some don't (i.e. roast chicken, a whole tart of some description, etc).  It's very hard to keep up with eating what you cook if the recipes serve 4, there's only one of you and you are cooking days in a row.  Rather than waste the food, I choose to share it.  The feedback has been appreciative, warm and generous.  I feel good because it hasn't gone to waste, so there's something for everyone, really.

We are spending quite a bit of time with pastry doughs between last week and the next.  I bought a blueberry puff pastry something-or-other from Paul's (yummy patisserie/boulangerie) - for research purposes, of course, since we are making puff pastry tomorrow.

Unfortunately I have been felled by my craving for bread...it always happens around this time of year.  Having no self control, I have just had (a small) baguette all on my own - with brie and some fig concoction.  Just as an endnote - I think my palate must be wimpy when it comes to cheese.  The sharp or medium English cheddars take off the top layer of my tongue and the French brie I just had in my bread was quite...robust.

The part I don't understand is that the French chefs don't like it if we overseason our food (so we have been told) and overseasoning is a bigger crime than underseasoning.  So why do they like such strong cheeses?

If anyone has an answer or a theory, I am listening (and reading)...so until next time...zzzzzzz...

#18 - Late Start and Shortcrust Pastry (Tarte au Citron)

Borough Market
Today was one of our late start days - our demonstration wasn't until 3pm.  Some of the others went out last night but I sensibly went home (also my headache made me decide that discretion was the better part of valor).  One of the girls suggested that we go to Borough Markets.  I think I mentioned it in the last post.

Anyway - it has the good coffee (thank you Monmouth!) and the good coffee place also has good pain au chocolat.  The only problem was that it was all a bit too rich for breakfast.  We arrived and EA brought a friend who was down for the weekend from Oxford.  He found himself surrounded by four girls (the others, for various reasons, couldn't make it) who wandered around the markets and basically got excited about everything and wanted to eat it all.  He couldn't understand how anyone could be excited by perfect aubergines/eggplants or the seven different kinds of wild mushrooms. 

It could possibly be explained by the fact that each of us love to eat while EA's friend said that he ate so that he wouldn't be hungry.  Philistine!  Still - he took it in good part and eventually just watched in bemusement as we went wild over the various vendors (drunken cheese!  I forget the Italian word for drunk, but I got cheese which had been...soaked? in red wine and prosecco, respectively - ok, I didn't know prosecco was white wine).  We are having some sort of get together at EA's house tomorrow night and since I can't drink, I decided to contribute cheese.  I eventually stopped at 9 cheeses...any more would have been slightly over the top.

Borough Market does not sell clothes or arts and crafts - at least none that I could see.  It's pretty much all food or food related, in the case of the stall selling Borough Market handled bags.  We tried a bunch of different things (raclette - melted cheese starting with "O" whose name I can't remember over baked potato whose name I also can't remember), a steak/egg/caramelized onion/cheese sandwich for me (I have to wash my jacket because I got ketchup all over it), a burger with bacon and egg for TN (they got her order a bit wrong and gave her bacon instead of sausage), some Biltong for EA and her friend (it's kind of like beef jerky - South African), some juices and the coffee & pastries.

Eventually we all went and sat down near the church to chat a bit and discuss any confusion (each chef has their own way of doing things so it can confuse the issue between a demo and a pratical when we are told to do things a bit differently).  We eventually staggered off to class, feeling a big sick from all the food but sublimely happy.

Class demo was a lemon tart and a chocolate tart.  The chocolate tart had so much butter it was kind of disgusting if you think about the amount - but it tasted so good and the lemon tart was yummy too.

French
See Mom?  I knew that taking French was a good idea!  Some of the terms are in French and we have a vocabulary test as part of our written theory exams (not that the Chefs told us any of this of course).  So I have a bit of a head start, but only for this.  The rest of it happens to be still quite difficult - getting the timing down for the Lemon Tart is going to be tricky for the final since I am quite sure that we won't have a chef there to pull our tart casings out of the oven while we are making our meringues, nor will we have a partner to watch the candied julienned lemon peel.  There is a lot of pratice ahead, as well as revising the methods for the various recipes.  1 chance in 3 of drawing this as our final...

We are given a lot of theory in class (for example, why the lemon juice and water have to be a certain temperature to keep the eggs from curdling).

So - pictures from today:

Tarte au Citron avec Creme de Citron Garniture, Meringue Italienne et Decoration
(Lemon Tart with Lemon Cream, Italian Meringue and Candied Lemon Peel Decoration)



Our uniform...

Not there yet, but a second day without injury is indeed a cause for celebration.  Also am beginning to think that I may just survive this course.

Have set aside the weekend to rest, take dance class (to work off all the butter and sugar!), do laundry and catch up with friends.  I have to say, Patisserie is a bit more friendly to my clothes - not so much laundry to do, unlike in Cuisine.

Have found willing victims to give a home to half of my tart.  I have shared part of my other half with my friend JB (whose flatmates are going to eat the tart half I left in their fridge) and have a bit in my fridge for me to take to my ballet teacher tomorrow.  It's a little beaten up now because it was sliding around in the box (and I almost dropped it so the meringue got smushed) but still tastes good, if I do say so myself.  Having made the lemon cream, I am prepared to admit that I may be just a bit biased.

This is my first full weekend off since the course started - can it be only 2 weeks ago?  It seems like a lifetime ago...so until next time, have a wonderful weekend!

#17 - Basic Patisserie Preparations

So, pictures (apologies in advance - it takes too long to line them up perfectly):

Poulet Roti, Ognion glace et Broccoli a L'Anglaise - replated (Chef got the perfect ones and I only had one onion left...) - yesterday's Cuisine practical

Today's class
I won't bore you with the details, but a typo (possibly?) in a recipe almost got me unstuck in class.  It's a big difference whether the ratio of egg white to sugar is 1:1 or 1:2.  Ahem.  Anyway, it eventually got fixed and most importantly, I wasn't the last one finished today!  And I had made a mistake...cause for celebration, much rejoicing and a little jig in my head.  Also, no injuries, so a definite bonus.

Also, the vile headache finally subsided - after more panadol, lots of water and a mocha frappacino from Starbucks (yes, I finally caved!  I needed the sugar and caffeine to get me through the day...) 

Meringue Piping Practice - before baking

  

Chantilly Cream Piping practice (Chef N's shapes

are the first two on the far left of each row) 












   

 

 Meringues after being baked
(Very nice - a little uneven, but will be very
good after some practice)



And now, tasting and judgment...



   










The Creme Chibouste (in the bowl - combination of patisserie cream and italian meringue) was too liquid - no whipping the meringue when adding the cream!  Whoops...

Tomorrow the girls and I have planned on visiting the Borough Markets.  I'm not sure quite what to expect, but it's in a lot of the guidebooks and visitor guides so not to be missed.  Plus - they have good coffee!  Or so I've heard.

Now - on to dinner #2...we were all making meringues and creams in class but everyone was hungry and left wanting something salty.  I just wanted to go home and go to bed.  Going to class in rubber slippers and a t-shirt is fine, but it's a bit chilly not to have a jacket when we go out at night.