Chef Nicholas Lodge

Recently all students had the pleasure of watching a demo by Chef Nicholas Lodge, a world-renowned cake decorator. He spent an entire class period teaching us the fine details of gumpaste flowers and piping techniques. As students, we've all grown accustomed to seeing a (relatively) quick demo after we scale all of our ingredients, then returning to our stations to begin production. The catch concerning Chef Lodge's presentation was that very little interaction was required on our parts, so at times it was tough to keep our bodies from falling into a state of utter comatose. Regardless, the opportunity to watch this true craftsman was a privilege for us, and has me curious to learn how well I will respond to making my own gumpaste flowers next month.

Exam II Recap

My class recently completed our second exam out of what will eventually be a total of four. It's strange to think we're at a halfway point, but there hasn't been much time to dwell on it. This exam tested our knowledge of ice creams & sorbets, plated desserts, sugar candies, and tarts. We began with a written test comprised of 40 questions (ten from each section). I considered myself remarkably unprepared for this since I had a stage the previous evening and didn't get home until very late, yet I ended up only missing two questions out of the 40.

With the first hurdle cleared, we had the rest of the day Wednesday as well as Thursday and Friday to present the following items to Chef John:

• vacherin cake (chocolate ice cream sandwiched between two rounds of meringue, frosted with whipped cream, decorated with meringues, and frozen)
• cappuccino creme brulee served with biscotti and a scoop of chocolate cream
• traditional souffle
• 12 chocolate caramels, wrapped
• 12 passion fruit-apricot pate de fruit candies
• 12 peppermint-flavored pastille sugar candies
• lemon curd tart (made with sweet dough and decorated with meringues)

The process went smoothly overall. To be sure, there are always jitters, but after the first day it's a lot easier to evaluate where the rest of the week will lead. My partner, Carolynn, is a speedy rock star and finished quite early on Friday; I wasn't too far behind her. No rush, no panic attack, just a quality effort with good results.

Here are a few product pictures:

Tarts

Finishing out this set of classes before our next exam: tarts. We learned several types of dough, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, and we also learned to make multiple fillings.

lemon cream tart with French meringue (with pate sablee crust)

lemon curd tart with Italian meringue (with pate sablee crust)

The difference between lemon cream and lemon curd is the amount of butter called for in the recipe. Lemon cream contains more butter, and therefore cannot go into the oven after the tart is filled or else the butter will melt and cause separation. The French meringue is baked separately, then the pieces are decoratively placed on the tart. In the case of a lemon curd tart, the Italian meringue is baked for a very short amount of time directly onto the tart filling. (I took my eye off the ball for a minute, so mine browned too much, but I like how the spread meringue looks regardless. Luckily there's not a very noticeable taste discrepancy.) Both tarts are delicious, but only remain so for about a day before turning gummy.

Sablee, which translates to sand in French, is exactly what one would assume: crumbly and delicate. It is temperamental when being rolled; it becomes sticky quickly, so often it has to be re-chilled and rolled again. It is not advisable to use sablee dough with extremely liquid fillings (like fruit) due to its tendency to become soggy. The gelatin content in the lemon cream and curd are stable enough to stand up to the baked sablee crust. We also baked a chocolate tart using sablee dough; the chocolate filling has a custard-like texture.

blueberry tart with streusel topping

The blueberry filling is essentially the same one would use in a classic blueberry pie. We topped our tarts with an almond streusel; an Italian meringue could also be used.

We also made an apricot tart, which was baked in a pate a foncer shell. Pate a foncer is more durable than pate sablee, but lacks vanilla or any other sweet flavor. This dough would be good to use for a savory tart or quiche. In this case, almond cream is piped into the shell and topped with apricot slices. When baked, the cream rises to envelop the apricots. I thought I had a picture of this, but it turns out I don't. It's still tasty enough to mention, though!

Paris brest

Paris brest is a pastry made using a hazelnut pastry cream combined with a traditional buttercream, as well as rings made from pate a choux (typically used as dough for eclairs, cream puffs, etc.). This is a heart attack waiting to happen.

St. Honore

We made an inverted puff pastry as part of this recipe, which was a very satisfying experience (I mean, who makes their own puff pastry?!). Two separate dough-like elements are needed for the puff pastry: a flour base and a butter base. After each is chilled, the flour base is sandwiched between the two halves of the butter base, then rolled thinly and folded. This rolling and folding process is repeated twice more over an extended period of time. The remainder of the "tart" consists of cream puffs made with pate a choux and a vanilla creme legere, which is pastry cream with whipped cream folded into it. The base of the tart is a square of the inverted puff pastry. The puffs are dipped in caramel and secured around the edges, and the inside is filled with the creme legere. Delicious? Yes. Good for you? Absolutely not.

Our second exam takes place this week. It will cover ice creams & sorbets, plated desserts, sugar candies, and tarts.