The last few days have been chock full of sweet things, with results ranging from delicate masterpieces to well-meaning missteps. There were 3 main dessert types that we covered: custards, cookies, and chocolate. As a side note, I’ll have to say that this segment of the baking course is so condensed that we are really only able to lightly scratch the surface of each subject. It is interesting to see the chefs maneuver within such restrictive boundaries. Ideally we would have a whole week to fully explore the depth of every topic! But alas, getting a small taste of each has its own rewards…
The custard day was quite interesting and a little challenging. I’m not a big fan of custards myself. Crème brulee is actually one of my most hated desserts! Its not much more than eggs and sugar. However, flan is something I do love, despite the similarities the aforementioned adversary. Perhaps it’s the consistency that does it for me; flan is a lot richer whereas crème brulee is a cooked custard with torched sugar on top. We worked in groups of 4 to create all these recipes. Cooking the desserts was quite challenging mostly because they had to be steamed rather than baked. The challenge with doing that in a classroom of 30 people is that students are frequently opening and closing the ovens to check on their product. This changes the temperature and affects cooking time. The flan turned out fairly good but the crème brulee wasn’t too pretty. It ended up being too eggy; a deranged cousin to a scrambled egg dish. Around the same time in the week that we worked with custard (I’m glad it was a short spell!) we also learned how to decorate cakes!
We spent a whole day learning to do this. We each produced a couple different creams and played around with some piping techniques to create our decorations. I created a completely pink cake! It was a lot of fun; I learned how to make little roses and leaves. The whole class seemed to morph into a virtual cake art gallery! People ran the gamut of cake designs. Baseballs, balloons, and Christmas trees are just examples of cake imagery utilized. It was really amazing, like being back in kindergarten finger painting class! Next up we were lucky enough to have a day of cookie making…
We also broke into groups of 4 for that, mostly because there was such a large amount of product. We had 9 different cookies to make in one day! Everything from chocolate chip, linzer, macaroons, shortbread, and citrus sable cookies were attempted. The cookie recipes were split between the students in the group, though I do wish there was time to tackle each one individually. The chocolate chip cookies (which are supposed to be relatively easy to make) were our weakest link. They turned out really flat and thin. We ended up just throwing them away! The student that created the dough for that particular cookie put too much cream in it, which contributed to the undesirable outcome. But overall it was a good experience and I learned a couple of really great recipes. The macaroon recipe from the book was not nearly as good or rich as the one Chef King handed me a couple weeks ago. I think ill probably end up going back to his when in need. And of course we had hundreds of cookies in class that we took home and gave away…
Today’s class consisted of learned how to make chocolate truffles! First off, we were given a lecture about chocolate and how to work with it. I made white chocolate truffles covered with toasted coconut and then made orange flavored chocolate truffles. Chocolate is such a vast subject, and a 4-hour class just doesn’t cut it. Nevertheless it was fun and gave me the inspiration to learn more about it. At some point I’m going to start looking into taking another course on chocolate alone…
I am also starting to think about my externship, which is slated to start in 6 weeks. I have 3 different pursuits in that end. One of them is working at Sur la Table, which is a cooking supply store/gourmet chef store. (They have one at the Grove) There is a cooking school in the back and I’d love to work there and help out in the kitchen. I actually have an interview there tonight! It sounded like they might give me a few hours a week. The second opportunity that I’m looking into is to work for a company called CEO Chef. Its a company that uses cooking as a team-building mechanism for corporations. This is definitely an area that id like to eventually start working in. They are actually based here in Los Angeles, and I’m having coffee with their CEO next week to talk about the possibilities. The 3rd thing that I’m pursuing is teaching private cooking classes for people at their homes. And I’m looking to spend that portion of the externship time developing a course outline. Eventually I’ll have something I can market and take around town. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the chef at the school who is in charge of externships. He is going to assist in shaping my curriculum…
So I’m really excited about all the opportunities that are lining up. Week 18 is coming to an end, along with the baking segment. Overall, I’m finding that I love to bake! I feel like a have a real knack for it. And I’m definitely looking to spend more time developing some of these recipes a wheat-free alternatives…
Dessert has always been a guilty pleasure for both adults and kids, which translates to 'Only to be indulged in on special occassions'. Good luck on the interviews Peleg ! For all you gourmet/travel enthusiast, Gourmet magazine is running a contest where you could instantly win a trip for 2 to a luxury resort for 2 days. Check it out http://condenast.eprize.net/gourmet/index.tbapp?affiliate_id=1v and watch a clip from a top NY chef, answer 5 simple questions and find out if you're an instant winner. Its that simple. Just some inside scoop since i work with Gourmet.
Posted by: Vito | May 18, 2007 at 11:49 AM
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Posted by: Amien | June 05, 2007 at 07:17 PM