Pastry Update #3

Basic Pastry is officially over.  Well, not quite, seeing as we still have our big scary exam to deal with this Tuesday, but today we had our final demo of the term.  That makes this my final Pastry Update of the term, rounding out all of the pastries we discovered in these three months.  Enjoy!

Leçon 13

In lesson 13, we encountered our first (of many, evidently) mousse cake.  The concept seemed junxtaposed, (with the term “cake,” I usually picture something solid and spongy, the definite opposite of what I picture for the term “mousse”) but after the demo, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of cakes. 

In the demo, the Chef made a Mirior Cassis (shiny-topped black currant mousse cake) and a Mirior Citrons (a shiny-topped lemon mousse cake).  They both tasted fabulous, but I preferred the lemon one.  In the practical, we were to reproduce the Mirior Cassis, and it went well, overall.

Chef's Miroir Citron (bottom) and Miroir
Cassis (top)

Chef's Cassis

Chef's Cassis - how whimsical! 

My Cassis!

A little too much glaze, and my mousse wasn't quite as high,
but overall a job well done!

Leçon 14

This was the soufflée lesson!  I had been looking forward to this one, featuring those notoriously time-sensitive (and therefore expensive) desserts that I had only seen in fancy restaurants on family vacations.  I was intrigued by the mystery of making such a strange dessert, and it was fun to learn how.

In the demo, the Chef presented what I think of as a “soufflée,” the “Soufflée chaud Rothschild” (in an individual-sized ramekin, this specific one is kirsch-flavored and spotted with candied fruits).  He also showed us a Tarte Soufflée (a large tart with a soufflée built into the top) with Coulis (a sauce made from assorted blended fruits), and a Gratin de Fruits (fresh fruits in a cream with a thin torched-sugar crust).  We were to do the three latter recipes in our practical.

I was a little disappointed in the taste of a plain vanilla soufflée, but now I know how to make chocolate ones at home, which is definitely an experiment worth trying!

Chef's soufflées, fresh out of the oven

Chef's Tarte Soufflée

After about three minutes...

My Gratin de Fruits

My Tarte Soufflée

Starting to fall a little already!

You can see the Coulis inside

Leçon 15

Lesson 15 featured the Gâteau Basque (almond-flavored cream and fresh cherries incased completely in a crust) and Cake au Citron (lemon bread).  The Chef also showed us some basic shapes to make with marzipan, which we would airbrush during the next lesson.  We only had the Gâteau Basque and a few marzipan characters of our choice to do in the practical, so it was a pretty laid-back class.

Chef's Gateau Basque

Chef's marzipan "characters"

Chef's Lemon Bread (one with fresh cherries on top)

My Gateau Basque

Leçon 16

I didn’t come into this course expecting to learn how to make ice cream, so Lesson 16 was a wonderful surprise!  Ice cream is my favorite food, so it had me pretty excited.  This was also the Crème Brûlée lesson, and we learned how to use the airbrush, so I was all smiles the entire time.  The Chef demoed Soufflée Glacé Montmorency (an ice cream that doesn’t require an ice cream machine, and that looks like a little soufflée in a ramekin), Crème Glacée Vanille (vanilla ice cream), Sorbet aux Framboises (raspberry sorbet), Crème Renversée au Caramel (caramel reversed cream), and Crème Brûlée.  For the practical, we didn’t get our hands on any ice cream, but we did make Crème Brûlée and Crème Renversée, as well as airbrushing the marzipan characters we finished the day before.

Chef's Reversed Cream

Chef's Creme Brulees, vanilla and chocolate

Chef's airbrushing (sorry it's a little blurry)

My plate from the demo.  Clockwise starting at 9:00:
vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, vanilla creme brulee,
reversed cream, and chocolate creme brulee (center)

 The Practical went incredibly well for me!  I surprised myself with the ease of the airbrush, and was happy with the way my marzipan characters turned out.  The chef was also very impressed, and asked if I had any experience airbrushing (I don't).  When he came around to taste my Reversed Cream, he took one bite and seemed to melt.  He looked at me, nodded a few times, and just said, "Yep!...Oh...perfect!"  He then took the one he had taken a small piece out of, set it aside by his personal tools, and said, "I'm keeping this.  Not letting this one go" and smiled at me.  As we walked out of the room after class, he asked me a few details about how I did it; how long I kept it in the oven, the oven temperature, all with a mouthful of my dessert.  It was a wonderful compliment.

Our section's airbrushed characters.  Mine are
in the top left corner

My Creme Brulee, after struggling with the torch that throws
fireballs

My reversed cream - a huge success, even though one of them
broke

My airbrushed characters: a hedgehog, a pear,
a rose with three leaves, and a mouse.
We had green, yellow, red, and orange to work with,
so I made my mouse red.  Why not, right?

Leçon 17

In Lesson 17, Chef Jocelyn demoed the Pavé du Roy, an incredibly chocolaty 3-layer cake filled and topped with dark chocolate ganache; and the Entremets Casino, a very attractive cake that consists of little cake rolls meant to resemble poker chips surrounding a pear cream.  He also finished the Montmorency from the previous demo, since it needed to be frozen overnight.  We made the Pavé du Roy in the practical and, aside from most of us leaving covered in chocolate spatters and smears, it was a pretty simple cake.

Chef's Pave du Roy

Chef's Casino, in the shape of a log because it is Christmas time.
Usually, is it round and flat, like a cake

The Montmorency from the previous lesson

My Pave du Roy: a success!

Very chocolaty!  Chad loved it, but I couldn't have more
than a very small bite a day

This was our first experience with handmade chocolate decor.
I made these chocolate swirls!

Leçon 18

Lesson 18 featured the infamous Charlotte aux Poires, a pastry that is always on the exam list, and that requires the chef to open the demo with an “Architecture Lesson” complete with drawings of buildings and how they stay standing, with plenty of comparisons to this little cake.  It is a small cake lined with Lady Fingers and filled with the most delectable pear cream and pear pieces, but with a flared bottom, it is perilously constructed.  We revisited the Coulis in this lesson, just so we could serve it with the Charlotte, and the Chef also made an Entremet aux Poires (a cake, as we think of it in America, layered with pear cream and pieces of pears).

In the practical, we were all faced with the construction of the Charlotte.  One student had a little trouble, but no one completely failed the construction, and I found it easier than all of the scary hearsay suggested it was.

Chef's Charlotte

Chef's Entremet

My Charlotte

The Chef complimented me greatly on my piping, saying
that if I pipe this well during the exam, Chef Herve will be
proud!

Leçon 19

Our last pastry approached so quickly!  Throughout the term, Chef Jocelyn made it explicitly clear that the course is specifically formatted for us to learn the most difficult cake last so it can be fresh in our minds for the exam.  He talked it up like it was terrible and we would all fail in some fashion.  We learned that cake yesterday: the Saint-Honoré.  Though it didn’t look as scary in the demo as the Chef had talked it up to be, it still involved many of the elements we learned in previous lessons, so it is probably best that this choux-based pastry was left for last.

The Saint-Honoré has a shortcrust base that is surrounded by choux (cream puff pastries filled with Chiboust cream), filled with Chiboust cream, the most delicious but also most difficult cream in the French Pastry realm, and topped with caramel.

The Chef also demoed Paris-Brest, a favorite of one of my French friends that I was anxious to try.  It was so delicious that I will definitely be making this one at home.

The practical was only over the Saint-Honoré, and, though no one completely failed the cake, everyone had a little something that wasn’t quite perfect about it.  For me, it was the color of my caramel.  Overall, though, definitely a doable pastry!

Chef's Paris-Brest -- SO tasty!
(They're puff pastries filled with praline cream
and topped with toasted almond slivers)

Chef's Saint-Honore

My Saint-Honore (not sure why it's sideways)
The caramel is too dark and my "Angel Hair"
decor didn't work out, but it wasn't a complete
failure at all!

Each little puff pastry is filled with delicious
Chiboust, a light, fluffy vanilla cream

Leçon 20

Though we had learned our last pastry, we still had a demo today.  In it, Chef Jocelyn gave us the details on our final exam (coming up on Tuesday – wish me luck!), and gave us an example of an Intermediate Pastry demo.  He made a stunning (and mouthwatering) chocolate mousse cake with layers of chocolate and crunchy praline, and topped with the most beautiful glaze and chocolate décor.  He seduced us with the decorating techniques and arm-saving KitchenAid, and definitely got me excited to begin the Intermediate term.  I just hope, for eveyone’s sake, that no one who saw such a great demo today fails the exam and isn’t allowed to continue!

The bonus cake we got in our final demo!  A tantalizing preview
of what we can expect in Intermediate Pastry

In Intermediate, we will make a small, plated
version of all of our cakes.  Like this little guy!

Marshmallow Time

A little over halfway through the Basic Pastry program there is a written exam, worth 10% of our final grade.  It was a multiple choice exam, containing many of the same types of questions that appear on our weekly (un-graded) quizzes.  The quiz came just as the weather was starting to turn cool with a hint of winter, so I decided to take one of my study breaks to finally teach myself how to make gourmet marshmallows.

Homemade peppermint marshmallows are something I’ve had my eye on for a few winters, but just haven’t taken the time to learn.  There didn’t seem to be a more perfect time, as hot cocoa weather was quickly approaching.  I found a great recipe, took a quick trip to the grocery store (only a couple of blocks away), and began.

It was so great to do some “baking” at home, with my own equipment, and without a time limit.  I leisurely made the marshmallows, measuring ingredients as I went, rather than in advance, and listening to Christmas music.  My KitchenAid got some much-needed attention, and soon, my marshmallows were finished.

It was the best study break ever.  I finished them the next morning before class, shared some with my classmates, and we still have some in the kitchen.  They are so perfect in cocoa, melting completely into a layer of red- or green-swirled minty froth on top of the glass. 

The exam went well the next day, and ever since, I have been deep into the Christmas mood.

Byward Market

A few blocks from our apartment is Ottawa’s famed Byward Market, a very large block centered around a long, skinny building.  In the market there are restaurants and Irish pubs and little specialty shops that sell cheese and pastries and meat and fish.  On the weekends, Byward turns into a regular street market with stands all over selling everything from maple syrup and candies to handmade wares.

The Byward Market in October

Now that the weather is getting colder and snow is more and more common, the market is getting more winterized.  I expected the stands to become more and more sparse and, eventually, leave entirely.  Last weekend, though, when Chad and I ventured to the market in the brutal cold to find me a warm hat and mittens, we found that no stands had left.  They had simply altered their wares.  There were stands with freshly cut Christmas trees and wreaths, rather than fresh berries and fruits, and stands with wool mittens and deerskin moccasins rather than summer jewelry.

It was so cold last weekend that we could only stay outside for a few minutes before retreating to the indoor portion of the market (the long skinny building) to warm up and browse the shops.  We did end up finding a warm hat and mittens, and also got some of our Christmas shopping done.  Chad even bought us a delicious chocolate and hazelnut-filled hedgehog from the indoor candy shop, and we shared him during one of our warm-up trips.

Eating the hedgehog in my new hat!

I love the market; it reminds me of my time in France where we would buy our produce and bread from street stands every Saturday.  In Ottawa we don’t visit the market nearly as often, but when we do, it is always a good time, usually complete with fresh Fish and Chips (from a stand or our favorite Irish pub, the Auld Doubliner) before walking home.

Wine and Cheese Tour

Toward the beginning of my time as a pastry student, I wasn’t able to attend a school field trip because there wasn’t room on the bus for me (so I was volunteered to help out with a cuisine Short Course on sauces).  The trip was so popular that another one was scheduled, and on November 23^rd, I hopped onto a bus and rode to Prince Edward County, Ontario’s wine country, to tour two wineries and an artisan cheese factory.

It was a Saturday morning, and the bus was scheduled to leave from the school at 8:00am, so Jeremie, a member of the Student Services staff, asked us to arrive at 7:45.  I was excitedly on-time, with a bag full of snacks and things to do on the 3-hour bus ride ahead.  I didn’t know anyone who was going on the trip (all of my friends had gone on the first one), and didn’t really want to be the only person sleeping on the bus.

Though it was exactly 7:45, I was one of the first to arrive.  I chose my seat (near the front of the bus, as my friends warned me that it was a pretty curvy bus ride) and watched students and adults from the community, who had been invited to fill the bus, board.  Quite a few of them were speaking French (also the driver’s language of choice), but soon I saw the two Frenchmen I was curiously awaiting:  Chef Jocelyn and Chef Eric.

It was just as strange to see them out of their uniforms as I had expected.  Chef Jocelyn was in a zip-up sweatshirt and jeans and Chef Eric was similarly dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt and scarf.  Each of them seemed to be an intensified version of their school-selves. Though it was early and everyone seemed to still be waking up, Chef Jocelyn was all smiles, happily greeting us and chatting with Jeremie and the bus driver.  Chef Eric (my Intermediate Pastry instructor) was even more intimidating than usual, speaking infrequently and crossing his arms looking out the window.  I’m excited to get to know him next semester, as I’m sure he isn’t quite as intimidating as he seems.

I needn’t worry about being the only one sleeping on the bus: a good majority of the 20 of us slept for most of the way, waking only buy coffee at a rest-stop.  I awoke now and then to watch the scenery: it was gorgeous!  We drove on small roads lined with tall, bare trees that came right up to the ditch, opening now and then to big, round clearings filled with tall brown grass.  It reminded me of how I imagine Vermont to be.

Finally we crossed a bridge into Prince Edward County (which, though it is an island, is different than Prince Edward Island, a province in Canada’s Maritimes) and arrived at the Black River Cheese Company.  It was a small building filled mostly with a store, and warehouses around the back.  In front of a large window looking into the cheese-making vats, we listened to the 3^rd-generation owner and cheese master explain the process to us.  I asked questions about the business-side of cheese making, as I’ve always wondered about things like how they choose how much product to sell immediately and how much to age for years, as sales projections for cheese must be tough 5-years out.  The owner then led us around the back to see the pasteurizing equipment and the large warehouse (called a “cold room”) where they store finished products.  He demonstrated how to test cheddar, then ushered us back into the store to taste a few varieties of their fresh cheese.

Testing blocks of cheddar in the cold room

Tasting cheese!

They had so many cheese varieties to choose from

The cheese was really tasty, and I left with a small brick of Onion and Parsley Mozzarella for Chad to try.

Next, it was off to the Waupoos Winery just up the road, where we were to have a tour and eat lunch in the vineyard’s restaurant.  The tour was short, more of a question and answer session, but I asked quite a few questions there, as well.  Things like the profitability of wines made from grapes grown on site versus the ones they make with grapes from Niagara, and the role of the Canadian government in their production.

They only use American Oak barrels -- something we could see
though the window during our small tour

They had all kinds of witty and clever wine labels,
this series was my favorite 

An entire wall looked like this: dozens of wines to choose from!

It was a cute little building, complete with a chocolate shop,
wine shop, ice cream shop, and cellar, with a restaurant in the back

View of the main building from the back

We were a little late to see grapes...

The vineyard was beautiful, and right on the coast of Lake Michigan.  We tasted wines upstairs in the shop, and browsed their huge selection.  If it was closer, I would definitely go back: they had wines for every price, many with awards or magazine features, and every bottle was unique and fun.  I chose a Riesling for Chad called “Supernova.”  We had a wonderful lunch; I ordered a lovely pear and walnut salad and a mushroom burger with goat cheese and roasted peppers.  I sat right next to a potted, live lemon tree, which I loved! 

Lake Michigan was right there!

They made custom menus for us!

I loved the live lemon tree right next to my seat
in the restaurant.

We were running a little late after the lunch, so we hurried over to the Norman Hardee winery, which was supposed to be the best in Ontario.  We got lost on the way, but arrived only half an hour late and were ushered upstairs into an unattractive attic-like room with exposed insulation in the ceiling and creaky floors.  We were only there for a tasting, so the wine master began to explain the winery’s history and processes.  I wasn’t a fan of how he spoke about the place; he often implied that they are the only winery in Canada who does things right, and that every other place simply doesn’t compare.  He was overly-arrogant and insulted the French (which the Chefs promptly called him out on).  After his explanation, we tasted a few wines, each with its own reason for being the absolute best in the county.  Personally, I didn’t like any of them very much, but it might have just been the attitude of our presenter.  When we were finished, we boarded the bus and headed home.

The Norman Hardee had nice scenery, but not quite as
beautiful as the lake-side Waupoos

The ride home was much like the ride there.  Many of us slept or stared out the window for most of the way, the Chefs spoke to the driver and Jeremie in French, and we stopped for coffee and a snack an hour from home.

We got back to the school at 8:30pm and I walked home in the falling snow.  I slept so well that night: it was a long day!