Afternoon Tea 1

Spot The Difference

Towards the end of each term Superior students (I say this without a hint of arrogance, just quiet pride) slog through 10-hour workdays over 2 weeks to put up indulgent Afternoon Teas for the paying public. A great chance for us to recreate products learnt over the entire course and a little more, the good people of the community also get to enjoy the fruits of our labor for the low low price of $20 a pop!

Here's a glimpse of what we've been busy preparing this week, mostly for practice; all products are made fresh on service day itself. See what I mean by value-for-money?

SANDWICHES & CREPES

 Wholemeal Pagnotta With Ham, Cheddar Cheese & Dijon Mustard

Mini Baguette With Grilled Chicken, Lettuce, Tomato & Mayonnaise Dressing

Olive Focaccia With Goats Cheese & Roasted Capsicum (Vegetarian)

Crepes

PASTRIES & TEACAKES

Vacherin Meringue Served With Chantilly Cream & Fresh Fruits (Gluten Free)

Almond Shortcake With Crème Diplomat & Pistachio Croquant

Choux Pastries With Chocolate Mousseline & Chocolate Fondant Garnish

Scones With Cream & Raspberry Jam

MOUSSES, CUSTARDS & MINI GATEAUX

Tiramisu With Sponge Fingers, Mango Jelly With Fresh Berries & Cointreau Sabayon Cream

Opera Gateau

PETIT FOURS

White Chocolate Fudge

Moulded Chocolates With Honey Ganache

SERVICE DAY

Crepes & Drinks Station, Coffee!

Sunny Flambeing Crepes

Crepe Suzette For Service 

Crepes With Chantilly Cream & Raspberry Jam For Lunch :p

Piccolo. MY Piccolo. :)

I have a confession to make: I am a Hopeless. Degenerate. Coffee Junkie. Case in point:

1. I am particularly, painfully fussy about my morning joe: I gotta have it on time (within 30 minutes of waking up), steaming hot (how do you wake up with cold coffee??) and strong, real strong ("triple shot cappuccino with ground cinnamon, no sugar please" is how I roll). 

2. If I go cold turkey for just one morning, I get grumpy - granny-pushing, puppy-kicking grumpy. I walk around with a black cloud hanging over my head, furious at the world, punching everything and everyone in sight as I sink dangerously deeper into dark despair and depression, all while managing the worst pounding migraine ever. 

So you see, not only do I love my coffee, I need it. In fact I'm sipping a double shot long black as I write this. Now you know. Don't judge me.

P.s. I'm kidding about the granny and puppy abuse, really! I love 'em! So please, hold off the hate mail. :p

Glaçage au Chocolat, Bûche de Noël, Biscuit Joconde, Snowflake Decoration

Chef's Bûches de Noël

With the baking and assembly done and dusted, today's was a simply task of finishing up and garnishing the log with all things festive. I gotta say, feeling festive and Christmassy on a hot February morning was just beyond me. In fact, this being Chinese New Year, as my dear San Fran pal Miss Lisa pointed out, surely pineapple tarts would have been a more suitable topic for today's lesson? 

(I had to fly back on New Year's Eve to start class on the 1st day of  the New Year, collecting no Ang Baos as a result. Loved ones and darling relatives...are you reading this?)

Warm Cream + Glucose (For Shine) + Dark Chocolate = Decadent Chocolate Glaze

Blanket Of Oozy Goodness

You'll notice the jaconde has been lined with the almond flakes facing out, to provide the log with the characteristically rugged look of well, a log. Pouring on the still warm and viscous glaze will thinly coat the log, while still allowing the almonds to show through.

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Chef's Marzipan Plaques

Blowtorch-ed For A Touch Of Rustic

Preserved Orange Peel In The Making

Pirate Gert Checking The Brix

At this stage of the preservation process, the peels have been drained and added to a pot of sugar solution brought to a boil. The sugar concentration of the solution has to be carefully monitored to achieve a Brix of 33.

Layers Of Amazing Textures & Flavors

As usual we tasted the cake after demo, though having cake at 10 in the morning isn't my usual feeding routine. I honestly cannot say if it tasted good, I'm sure it did, but I've been down with a serious case of the flu and have not been able to taste anything for the past week! I can say though, the texture of the jaconde was a pleasant surprise, providing the perfect crunch against the creamy mousse and soft, juicy berries.

I miss my taste buds, but things lost and found again are twice as precious, quips Simon. In that case, I can't wait to better appreciate clear breathing and a good night's sleep not interrupted by treacherous coughing fits: I've hardly slept in 3 days, and was still feeling miserable yesterday, but once I stepped into the kitchen and started working on my cake, I was instantly calmer, my nerves soothed, and I was in my happy place once again.

My Bûche de Noël ... & A Timeless Take

You cannot really see it, but my log was actually kinda cute. Chef Andre liked the height of the plaque and the white chocolate stars. I also added some golden dragées (decorative confectionery commonly made with sugar) and flaked almonds for a splash of color and Christmas glam.

To better suit the post-Christmas season, I made a much simpler, more elegantly decorated round cake, swishing the glaze across the top for a subtle pattern and sparsely dotted it with more dragées: silver was my first choice but we didn't have any today. Almond flakes around the edge covers the somewhat messy bits!

Tiffany

This log was topped very simply with broken meringue pieces, flaked almonds and more dragées. For reasons I cannot clearly pinpoint, I've decided to name this creation Tiffany. ;)

Croquembouche (Part 2), Sugar Syrup

Chef Gert Looking Over His Croquembouche

If my ferocious whinging has put the fear of the Croq in you, I apologize for that was not my intent. Sure molten caramel burns like lava and when set cuts like glass, but it had me cussing in the kitchen little more than usual, and with my creme pat properly cooked and choux baked right with their trademark hollow interior, piping the profiteroles was a breeze too.

Truth is, it depresses me to know this particular creation I will so lovingly give life to is sadly ephemeral, for it stands no chance against the elements. Creme pat is highly perishable, left more than 4 hours at room temperature, it will go bad and KILL YOU, while the heat and humidity melts the caramel coating into a sticky mess and renders the glue holding the structure in place soft and unstable. Refrigeration? A double-edged sword, it may keep the creme pat from going off but the moisture-rich environment will only deteriorate the caramel with equal efficiency.

Yet as my Croq came to being, I started to appreciate why there are people (including friends of ours) who continue to request for this bastion of French tradition to mark their special day: a majestic tower of profiteroles each covered in a sheen of golden caramel, punctuated sparingly with intricate marzipan roses, wrapped in a blanket of delicate spun sugar that glistens like morning dew, all resting on a decadently edible platform of golden nougatine to match this proud symbol of grandeur and dramatic flair. Indeed there can be no cake more fitting of a celebration than the Croq.

Coating With Caramel, Filling With Creme Patisserie

Building The Cone, Demolding

The coated and filled roles are dipped in caramel to adhere them in place on a cardboard cone. Once the caramel hardens and sets the roles in place, the cone is carefully coaxed out so as not to damage the structure, which is then placed in the center of the nougatine stand.

Intricate Icing Sugar Lacework

Marzipan flowers are a popular decorative feature while icing sugar is piped on for a splash of white against gold, the classic matrimonial colors. Just another feature which makes this is a perennial wedding favorite.

Marzipan Oinks

Pour Claire & Ross

Yes, I built my grand centerpiece into the container for easy packing and transportation, as I needed it to survive the journey home and last till tomorrow when we have friends over for a barbie. I was quite taken aback when I saw my finished work, it didn't turn out too bad at all! I left the cone in to keep the profiteroles in place, as I did not cement them with as much caramel as Chef did; they held onto the roles so tightly it was impossible to pry them off without breaking.

So I may not be able to prevent the eventually and all-too-soon demise of my Croq, but it was a good experience making it and I finished with a great deal of pride and satisfaction.

Marzipan Roses

Grand Marnier Soufflé Glacée, Raspberry Sorbet, Crème Glacée A La Vanille, Vacherin

 

Special Guest

It's another mise en place lesson today as we prepare some variations of cold desserts: iced souffle, sorbet, ice-cream, and an old classic combination of the three, Vacherin.

I was feeling under the weather today and was tempted to stay in bed sick and miserable, but I'm glad I didn't, for we had Chef Keith covering Chef Michael who was meant to be covering Chef Karen for demo. Confused? Doesn't matter, we got *Blue Eyes*, that's what matters. So I apologize if some of the pictures seem well, a little out of focused from the subject at hand, but I'm entitled to my shameless adoration ever so often, and this is my free pass.

Boiling & Cooling Ice Cream Mix

The beginnings of all ice-creams starts with boiling milk, cream and vanilla to pasteurize the dairies, which is then cooled before an egg yolk and sugar mix is whisked in, to keep the egg from scrambling. The mix is then sieved into another bowl to remove any nasty bits of egg shells or membrane, and to help cool the ice-cream mixture down.

Hastening the cooling process will keep the dangerous dairy-and-egg mixture from basking in the bacteria-happy open for too long, and the sooner we finish, the sooner we eat ice-cream!

Churning On

The brand new, state-of-the-art ice-cream machine is something you'll have to sell your wife and kids to raise money for, as it costs a whopping $40 grand to procure. A hefty investment necessity, if you're into the ice-cream business.

Away we go churning the ice-cream until it freezes into the right consistency, at which time the volume will increase by about 50%, also known as over-run, due to the aeration and formation of ice-crystals in the churning process.

The ice-cream is then pressed out of the machine, into a sanitized and frozen bowl, to be kept in the freezer ready for use, tomorrow.

Piping Meringue For Vacherin, Dusting Shell Meringue With Cocoa Powder

 

Vacherin is the French version of Bombe Alaska: a cold cake made with meringue, ice-cream and sorbet, all covered in a layer of whipped cream. While Bombe Alaska is blanketed in meringue and set ablaze, the Vacherin is served as it is, sometimes with fruits for decoration.

Cooking Souffle Over The Bain Marie, Lining Ramekins With Acetate

 

Pouring Into Moulds

Now this was as close as we got to a complete product today: egg yolk, orange zest and sugar syrup cooked over a bain marie (again to avoid direct heat or we'll be scrambling more eggs than McDonald's on a busy Sunday morning) then cooled, lightened with half-whipped cream and flavored with Grand Marnier, all poured into ramekins to be chilled, alas, for tomorrow.

Chef Keith Showing Us The Saccharometer

I suppose some valuable tidbit of information is warranted, to justify putting up yet more pictures of Chef Keith: 

The saccharometer is device used to measure the amount of sugar in a solution. First constructed by John Richardson in 1784, it consists of a large weighted glass bulb with a thin stem rising from the top with calibrated markings.

The saccharometer is first immersed into a cylinder filled with liquid in question, then the sugar concentration is read from levele where the surface of the liquid crosses the scale. It works by the principle of buoyancy. A solution with a higher sugar content is denser, causing the bulb to float higher. Less sugar results in a lower density and a lower floating bulb.

There, now stop judging me.