This is the fourth week of my 10 week long patisserie course and has it gone quickly already. I'm still not sure whether I'm fully enjoying it or not. I suspect that I am, but it's more of a post-session enjoyment than anything as when I am in my chef whites and in that kitchen, it's a crazy crazy situation.
It's very strange. It's not like I'm not comfortable in the kitchen, on the contrary. I am perfectly at home with stove, oven and rolling pin. Yet when I am in that kitchen I turn into this wreck. It's to do with the fact that
a) there are 10 students plus chef plus porter in a fairly small kitchen
b) the chef is constantly shouting instructions and warnings
c) we have to cram in a hell of a lot of stuff into a 3 hour session
I find myself being pulled along with the other students even though I should be concentrating on my own thing. Why is her pastry different to mine? How comes she's so far ahead? How comes her biscuits are that colour already? A conscientious cook should be focussed and attentive to their own produce. I was so unhappy with my puff pastry as I was too busy racing along so as not to be too behind and as a result, it was too dry and slightly lumpy. Trying to pay attention to Chef's instructions as I am reading my notes from the demonstration and keeping an eye on two things at once. It all starts to get a bit much after a while. Especially when time is running out and you then have to worry about presenting your baked goods to Chef for grading.
And then afterwards, when I have escaped the sauna of the kitchen and managed to get my pastries home in one piece, I think about how I enjoyed the cameraderie of it all. The adrenalin rush starts to ease and the deep satisfaction I get when I taste the results of my hard slog is pretty immense.
There is no doubt that patisserie is a fine art. It is pure science and a precise one at that. A gram too much, a degree too high, a second too much whisking and all can be ruins. And yet it is all worth it when the tasting spoons come out..
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Pastry Nerves
Last week I started my Cordon Bleu Basic Patisserie course. 15 hours of demonstrations and practicals over 2 days. I was so exhausted on by the end of Friday that it was all I could do to get my stuff together and get home with my still piping hot Pear Jalousie.
I have much preparation to do before my next class. Not in terms of studying but rather mental preparation for the practical sessions. I was very cross with myself after Friday's class as I felt like I had somehow let myself down. My puff pastry didn't go as it should and I just generally felt like I wasn't on top of things. I know why, of course - I was far more stressed out and tense than I should have been. I guess I had pretty high expectations of myself and also, it's quite important for me to do well. But in retrospect, if I had been a little more relaxed, I would have been able to concentrate better and probably enjoyed myself a bit more.
So my mission for this week is to chill out a bit and have some fun - I am there to learn after all! Besides, on the agenda is custard - yum yum!!! :)
I have much preparation to do before my next class. Not in terms of studying but rather mental preparation for the practical sessions. I was very cross with myself after Friday's class as I felt like I had somehow let myself down. My puff pastry didn't go as it should and I just generally felt like I wasn't on top of things. I know why, of course - I was far more stressed out and tense than I should have been. I guess I had pretty high expectations of myself and also, it's quite important for me to do well. But in retrospect, if I had been a little more relaxed, I would have been able to concentrate better and probably enjoyed myself a bit more.
So my mission for this week is to chill out a bit and have some fun - I am there to learn after all! Besides, on the agenda is custard - yum yum!!! :)
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Choc n Roll
Only 3 more weeks to go until I start my course! I'm really looking forward to it now. I guess it really feels like the ball is about to start rolling because as soon as I have completed it I will be looking for a proper job. I've been monitoring job sites for a couple of weeks now, but since I had marked two weeks for holiday (this weekend woohoo!) it didn't seem like I could commit to a full time job, especially with my course soon after, so I didn't bother applying for any.
So even though I haven't been job hunting, I have still been very busy in the kitchen. I recently came back from a trip to Lille and was totally inspired by the amazing patisseries and boulangeries there. I am so jealous that people can just pop out and buy all these amazing cakes and things and still have a choice of places to go! I bought two recipes books which I am determined to try (just as soon as I find my french dictionary hehe). The books are guides to the amazing french macarons and also all things pate a choux..mmm...
Of course, having all the amazing recipes in the world doesn't necessary help when you can't decide what to bake sometimes. Particularly when you don't happen to have the ingredients for something complex. And now it's towards the end of summer in the UK, something fruity wasn't entirely feasible. I really wanted to make a strawberry mirror cake but sadly the strawberries are not that tasty right now. So anyway, I had my mum choose something random for me from Annie Bell's Gorgeous Cakes. The lucky recipe was the Chocolate Fudge Swiss Roll.
Now I've been using a lot of cocoa powder of late, and I've experimented a little with a couple of different brands. Now that I am more aware of how much difference quality ingredients can make, I am more attentive to what I put into my cakes now. Recently I have tried using Bourneville cocoa and also the delectable Green and Blacks cocoa to see if it would make much difference. It seems that my family don't much like the bitterness of the quality cocoa! Certainly I think you get a much richer chocolate flavour. Hmm I feel a chocolate orange cake urge coming on..
Anyway, I was a tiny bit tentative about making a roll again, since it seemed quite tricky the last time but as my housemate J says, practice makes perfect so I tied my apron and got to work and the results looked like this:
This picture was taken before I put it in the fridge to set. This was after I served me and my mum and piece each to savour the delicious fudge cream.. mmmmmm.. Definitely going to make this one again. And the swiss roll was much easier to roll this time!
So even though I haven't been job hunting, I have still been very busy in the kitchen. I recently came back from a trip to Lille and was totally inspired by the amazing patisseries and boulangeries there. I am so jealous that people can just pop out and buy all these amazing cakes and things and still have a choice of places to go! I bought two recipes books which I am determined to try (just as soon as I find my french dictionary hehe). The books are guides to the amazing french macarons and also all things pate a choux..mmm...
Of course, having all the amazing recipes in the world doesn't necessary help when you can't decide what to bake sometimes. Particularly when you don't happen to have the ingredients for something complex. And now it's towards the end of summer in the UK, something fruity wasn't entirely feasible. I really wanted to make a strawberry mirror cake but sadly the strawberries are not that tasty right now. So anyway, I had my mum choose something random for me from Annie Bell's Gorgeous Cakes. The lucky recipe was the Chocolate Fudge Swiss Roll.
Now I've been using a lot of cocoa powder of late, and I've experimented a little with a couple of different brands. Now that I am more aware of how much difference quality ingredients can make, I am more attentive to what I put into my cakes now. Recently I have tried using Bourneville cocoa and also the delectable Green and Blacks cocoa to see if it would make much difference. It seems that my family don't much like the bitterness of the quality cocoa! Certainly I think you get a much richer chocolate flavour. Hmm I feel a chocolate orange cake urge coming on..
Anyway, I was a tiny bit tentative about making a roll again, since it seemed quite tricky the last time but as my housemate J says, practice makes perfect so I tied my apron and got to work and the results looked like this:
This picture was taken before I put it in the fridge to set. This was after I served me and my mum and piece each to savour the delicious fudge cream.. mmmmmm.. Definitely going to make this one again. And the swiss roll was much easier to roll this time!
Friday, 24 August 2007
Me VS Pat Val
The last two months have really really flown by. In that time I have been to Ljubljana, Venice and Barcelona. I have caught up with a whole bunch of my friends. I had kinky afternoon tea with ladies taking their clothes off (in a non-smutty burlesque way, might I add).
Most importantly of all I have done lots of baking. Some of it has been good, and some of it not so good. I managed to source some macha tea from Chinatown and decided it would be cool to make some layered cupcakes:
Green Tea and Chocolate Cupcakes
It was kind of fiddly, having to make separate batter but the results turned out quite tasty. I also tried making tri-coloured ones with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. The layers didn't quite come out as I hope but they tasted all right I guess.
The last few weeks have been especially busy for me, as my parents asked if I could go and help them at their Chinese takeaway in Kent. Unfortunately, as I have not yet found a job I had no excuses not to. Having said that, it was great experience and also something to put on my CV. I am super-speedy at shelling and gutting prawns now lol.
My dad's 49th birthday recently passed and we celebrated with a big family barbecue. Typically, it was like the one day in August where rain was forecast. *sigh* This wasn't the biggest of my worries though as I was obviously called to make the birthday cake. For 20 plus people, people who all know that I have quit my job to make cakes for a living. So I was feeling somewhat pressured.
On top of all that, because I was helping out at my parents during most of the week, I had no time at all to practise. Having made one sponge trial run a couple of weeks before, I had to stick to that recipe and pray for the best. Of course, being the pessimist that I am I asked my brother to buy a backup from Patisserie Valerie.... Well there was no way that my cake was going to serve 20 people anyway - the biggest cake tin I have is only 21cm!!
Turns out that my brother made a rather strange choice in the cake that he bought. He decided on a black forest gateau - an amazing chocolate sculptured affair that had me quaking in my boots. I'd decided to decorate mine with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Something light and delicate. I made four thin chocolate layers separated by cream and fruit. It took me so long to frost! And still I wasn't entirely happy with the results. How on earth do the pros manage to get their cream so smooth? I will find out one day...
So on the big day we finally (after much scoffing of bbq meat) pull the cakes out of the fridge. We decide to cut both cakes simultaneously and I waited with baited breath for the verdict. Aesthetically, the Valerie cake looks more professional and artistic, but mine didn't look totally pitiful next to it:
And the compliments started rolling in. My cake was the winner in the taste test! The Valerie cake was a little drenched in alcohol, which overpowered the rest of the cake. It made the cream taste a little strange and there was too much chocolate for my family's taste. It was a real confidence boost to see my cake disappearing so quickly - there was not a crumb left of it. Despite the Valerie cake being smaller, we still had pieces left over at the end of the night. Obviously my relatives were just being polite :) But still, there is hope for me yet...
Most importantly of all I have done lots of baking. Some of it has been good, and some of it not so good. I managed to source some macha tea from Chinatown and decided it would be cool to make some layered cupcakes:
Green Tea and Chocolate Cupcakes
It was kind of fiddly, having to make separate batter but the results turned out quite tasty. I also tried making tri-coloured ones with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. The layers didn't quite come out as I hope but they tasted all right I guess.
The last few weeks have been especially busy for me, as my parents asked if I could go and help them at their Chinese takeaway in Kent. Unfortunately, as I have not yet found a job I had no excuses not to. Having said that, it was great experience and also something to put on my CV. I am super-speedy at shelling and gutting prawns now lol.
My dad's 49th birthday recently passed and we celebrated with a big family barbecue. Typically, it was like the one day in August where rain was forecast. *sigh* This wasn't the biggest of my worries though as I was obviously called to make the birthday cake. For 20 plus people, people who all know that I have quit my job to make cakes for a living. So I was feeling somewhat pressured.
On top of all that, because I was helping out at my parents during most of the week, I had no time at all to practise. Having made one sponge trial run a couple of weeks before, I had to stick to that recipe and pray for the best. Of course, being the pessimist that I am I asked my brother to buy a backup from Patisserie Valerie.... Well there was no way that my cake was going to serve 20 people anyway - the biggest cake tin I have is only 21cm!!
Turns out that my brother made a rather strange choice in the cake that he bought. He decided on a black forest gateau - an amazing chocolate sculptured affair that had me quaking in my boots. I'd decided to decorate mine with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Something light and delicate. I made four thin chocolate layers separated by cream and fruit. It took me so long to frost! And still I wasn't entirely happy with the results. How on earth do the pros manage to get their cream so smooth? I will find out one day...
So on the big day we finally (after much scoffing of bbq meat) pull the cakes out of the fridge. We decide to cut both cakes simultaneously and I waited with baited breath for the verdict. Aesthetically, the Valerie cake looks more professional and artistic, but mine didn't look totally pitiful next to it:
And the compliments started rolling in. My cake was the winner in the taste test! The Valerie cake was a little drenched in alcohol, which overpowered the rest of the cake. It made the cream taste a little strange and there was too much chocolate for my family's taste. It was a real confidence boost to see my cake disappearing so quickly - there was not a crumb left of it. Despite the Valerie cake being smaller, we still had pieces left over at the end of the night. Obviously my relatives were just being polite :) But still, there is hope for me yet...
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Potholes
It's been a bit of a slow and winding road, this journey so far.It's strange how you can start out all enthusiastic despite not having a clue what you are doing and then end up feeling anxious and despondent when it proves more difficult to make those key decisions about your future career.
Just over a week ago, I was feeling those frissons of excitement when I discovered a patisserie programme out in Vancouver. It seemed like the perfect opportunity and adventure to be had. I have all these fond memories of Vancouver from when I went to the Rockies a few years ago - and here was a chance to spend 6 months there whilst training for my new vocation! 3 sleepless nights later I realised that it wasn't as simple as that and I had to put aside some of my naivety if ever I was going to give this year out a chance. There were many reasons why I changed my mind, the biggest was money. The more I researched, the more the cost grew until suddenly the cost of my adventure exceeded 12,000 pounds. The training, accommodation, flights, living, insurance. I can learn all the same thing in Europe for cheaper and not have to be on the other side of the world to everyone I knew.
And so I said goodbye to that idea and I have applied to study at Le Cordon Bleu in London. It has a good reputation and will take only 10 weeks, which leaves me with a little bit of skill and lots of time to find myself that job within which to gain experience.
In the meantime I carry on with the quest to make the perfect sponge....
Just over a week ago, I was feeling those frissons of excitement when I discovered a patisserie programme out in Vancouver. It seemed like the perfect opportunity and adventure to be had. I have all these fond memories of Vancouver from when I went to the Rockies a few years ago - and here was a chance to spend 6 months there whilst training for my new vocation! 3 sleepless nights later I realised that it wasn't as simple as that and I had to put aside some of my naivety if ever I was going to give this year out a chance. There were many reasons why I changed my mind, the biggest was money. The more I researched, the more the cost grew until suddenly the cost of my adventure exceeded 12,000 pounds. The training, accommodation, flights, living, insurance. I can learn all the same thing in Europe for cheaper and not have to be on the other side of the world to everyone I knew.
And so I said goodbye to that idea and I have applied to study at Le Cordon Bleu in London. It has a good reputation and will take only 10 weeks, which leaves me with a little bit of skill and lots of time to find myself that job within which to gain experience.
In the meantime I carry on with the quest to make the perfect sponge....
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Roulade Take 2
I have since then discovered that the meringue roulade isn't in fact an April Fool. (Well, not unless there is some sort of conspiracy against newbie bakers).
Mind you, I don't intend to try making it again for a while. No, I thought I'd try my hand at rolling normal cake instead. I followed a recipe from the masters of patisserie - the Roux brothers. This was quite a complicated affair - I had to make fruit coulis, and to make that I had to make a sweet syrup.
The recipe was for a chocolate roulade with raspberries. Whilst the beautifully airy sponge sat in the oven, I reread the recipe. Make sure that the cake is springy but cooked else it will stick to the teatowel. Right. Much prodding of the sponge followed. Definitely springy. A real king size trampoline of sponges. At this point I had some sort of premonition but I ignored these feelings of doubt and pulled the cake out of the oven. I plonked it upside down onto a clean teatowel and left it to cool on a rack.
There was just a small feeling of deja vu as I whipped up some cream and slathered it onto my slab of choccie cake. Even more so as I then sprinkled raspberries over the top (god I love raspberry season). With a small feeling of trepidation I lifted the end of the teatowel to roll the roulade. And then the cream started splurging out of the sides. And the cake stuck fast to the teatowel like fluff to sellotape. It was a delicate operation of gently peeling sponge and trowelling cream back into this chocolate log. I managed to get the ends together and the teatowel off, only the join was on the top and the whole thing too delicate to even roll on the plate! *sigh*
I don't think I'm going to be selling many roulades in the future somehow...
I managed to invert the roulade using the age-old trick of sticking a plate over the top and flipping the whole thing over. My creation looked a little sorry for itself. It certainly didn't much resemble the manufactured Swiss Rolls in Tesco.
After all that hard work I sifted some icing sugar over the top and rewarded myself a piece. It was absolutely divine tasting. And actually, when I cut it, it didn't look half bad!
Mind you, I don't intend to try making it again for a while. No, I thought I'd try my hand at rolling normal cake instead. I followed a recipe from the masters of patisserie - the Roux brothers. This was quite a complicated affair - I had to make fruit coulis, and to make that I had to make a sweet syrup.
The recipe was for a chocolate roulade with raspberries. Whilst the beautifully airy sponge sat in the oven, I reread the recipe. Make sure that the cake is springy but cooked else it will stick to the teatowel. Right. Much prodding of the sponge followed. Definitely springy. A real king size trampoline of sponges. At this point I had some sort of premonition but I ignored these feelings of doubt and pulled the cake out of the oven. I plonked it upside down onto a clean teatowel and left it to cool on a rack.
There was just a small feeling of deja vu as I whipped up some cream and slathered it onto my slab of choccie cake. Even more so as I then sprinkled raspberries over the top (god I love raspberry season). With a small feeling of trepidation I lifted the end of the teatowel to roll the roulade. And then the cream started splurging out of the sides. And the cake stuck fast to the teatowel like fluff to sellotape. It was a delicate operation of gently peeling sponge and trowelling cream back into this chocolate log. I managed to get the ends together and the teatowel off, only the join was on the top and the whole thing too delicate to even roll on the plate! *sigh*
I don't think I'm going to be selling many roulades in the future somehow...
I managed to invert the roulade using the age-old trick of sticking a plate over the top and flipping the whole thing over. My creation looked a little sorry for itself. It certainly didn't much resemble the manufactured Swiss Rolls in Tesco.
After all that hard work I sifted some icing sugar over the top and rewarded myself a piece. It was absolutely divine tasting. And actually, when I cut it, it didn't look half bad!
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
The sorry roulade
One morning I was flicking through one of Mary Berry's recipe books when I came across a very attractive-looking roulade with delicious raspberries in it (I have a penchant for raspberries). A closer look at the recipe revealed that the roulade itself was made of meringue - I remember thinking to myself that I didn't think that it was possible to roll meringue.
I guess I should have known at that point that it was doomed to failure.
After a quick trip to Tesco to pick up some fruit I got the whisk out and prepared the meringue. That was fine. I popped it into the oven. I took it out. Lovely. Smelt delicious. I followed the instructions and turned it over. Almonds scattered across the table but it stayed in one piece. Slathered whipped cream and raspberries over it. Managed to avoid stealing raspberries. All good at this point.
And then I had to roll it. Now meringue is a strange substance. When you bake it the top goes all brown and crispy. It cracks when you poke it. When it's still hot it is all moist and gooey inside. Obviously I had let it cool for a while, thinking that maybe it would be fine but as soon as I started to roll, it fell apart. Deep crevices formed and parts of it started to cave in. Cream oozed everywhere. Almonds flew off. I managed to get it into a sort of roll and looked in despair at the sorry mess.
I wonder afterwards if it was some sort of April Fools recipe, and the photo was some sort of clever Photoshop affair. Or perhaps I made some crucial mistake. Maybe I'll never know :) Still, I did try the roulade before throwing half of it away. Well actually I ate all the raspberries and then threw it away - my mum rescued the other half and said that she'd have it for breakfast. It did taste nice at least!
Observe my first disaster:
I guess I should have known at that point that it was doomed to failure.
After a quick trip to Tesco to pick up some fruit I got the whisk out and prepared the meringue. That was fine. I popped it into the oven. I took it out. Lovely. Smelt delicious. I followed the instructions and turned it over. Almonds scattered across the table but it stayed in one piece. Slathered whipped cream and raspberries over it. Managed to avoid stealing raspberries. All good at this point.
And then I had to roll it. Now meringue is a strange substance. When you bake it the top goes all brown and crispy. It cracks when you poke it. When it's still hot it is all moist and gooey inside. Obviously I had let it cool for a while, thinking that maybe it would be fine but as soon as I started to roll, it fell apart. Deep crevices formed and parts of it started to cave in. Cream oozed everywhere. Almonds flew off. I managed to get it into a sort of roll and looked in despair at the sorry mess.
I wonder afterwards if it was some sort of April Fools recipe, and the photo was some sort of clever Photoshop affair. Or perhaps I made some crucial mistake. Maybe I'll never know :) Still, I did try the roulade before throwing half of it away. Well actually I ate all the raspberries and then threw it away - my mum rescued the other half and said that she'd have it for breakfast. It did taste nice at least!
Observe my first disaster:
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