Day 20: Puff Pastry

Wow does time fly! All ready I am done with Choux the test came just 5 days after starting the unit and it had come and gone. We did get to make something that I have been wanting to try for a while, a croquembouche. Literally translated it means " crunch in mouth". It is the traditional french wedding cake. A tower of stacked cream puffs dipped in caramel and decorated with piped choux and spun sugar. Finally I get to be creative!

I also had the great opportunity to go to a demo held by Nils Noren who was a contestant on top chef masters. He made the meal that he made on the show for us and it was all very good. He also demonstrated a lot of the new cutting edge technology in the industry such as sous vide, agar agar clarifying, and vacuum cooking.

Next stop on this adventure? Finding an internship! I have been so bored because I'm used to being so busy all the time. Deciding on doing a restaurant or cake design internship was difficult since both offer such different learning experiences. I decided to first apply to a cake design studio for an internship since those are the most competitive in the city. So I whipped up a resume and sent out some pictures to Mark Joseph cakes. So now I just cross my fingers and wait...

Unit 2: Pate a Choux

It's bye bye tarts (at least for now!) and hello Pate a Choux! not sure what that is? It's commonly known as cream puff dough. And wow is it trickier than it looks. Choux is the only french dough that is cooked twice. First you cook it over the stove in a pan, and then you bake it in the oven.

The first thing we made was eclairs, yumm my favorite! We made chocolate, vanilla, and coffee eclairs. And yes I did take a few of those back to my dorm for a snack they were very good. We also made a traditional dessert called the Paris-Brest. Which is a choux ring filled with a buttery praline pastry cream. My mom and grandmother met me at the train station to take me home for the week end and we devoured that on the drive home.

Today we made a very special dessert. The Gateau St. Honore. Translated this means the cake of St Honore, who is the patron saint of pastry chefs! cool huh? This was probably the most challenging piece we have made so far. It had a Pate Brisee ( flaky tart dough)base with rings of choux piped in rings over that and caramel coated choux balls around the edge. It is then filled with a chiboust which is a vanilla pastry creme lightened with an Italian meringue.

This is a very short unit. I can't believe our test is all ready in two days!

Day 13: Test Day!

After waking up extra early and staring at notes for hours I stumbled into the class room starbucks in hand. After unloading all of my supplies and getting my equipment ready I took out my calculator and got ready for the 45 min written exam. We all scribbled frantically trying to recall conversion formulas and the ingredients and methods of all of our essential recipes. I then turned it in a few minutes early and went into the hallway where the rest of my classmates that had finished were comparing answers.

We were then quickly whisked away into the classroom and the practical portion of the exam started. The mission was to complete one 9 inch Caramel nut tart, 2 small Quiche Lorraine, and 6 hazelnut crescent cookies. I quickly formulated a pan for the day and synced my baking times with those that I was sharing an oven with. Then we were off put this in the oven, roll out that, stir the caramel, temper the custard, grate the gruyere, blanchir the eggs. it was a crazy day we all ran around while working fast and most importantly working clean!

After a quick break for lunch I pulled all my products out of the oven, garnished them and put them on my tray. The only thing I worried about was the caramel in my nut tart. I had almost overcooked it and it was very dark. I could only hope that the sweetness balanced well with it.

Then it was my turn. As I walked up to chef Mike tray in hand I became nervous. To anyone that watched cooking competitions it's kind of like that. They check the angles of your corners to make sure they are a nice 90 degrees. look at the doneness of each product, the aroma, and the garnish. Then for the big one they taste it. I held my breath as Chef cut into the nut tart. He complimented me on my flaky even brisee crust. Then he tried it... and hesitated. "It's a little bitter just on the line of almost being too much so" oh no! I thought. "But I really like how it compliments the sweetness of the tart It's pleasantly bitter" PHEW!

As soon as I got back to my Dorm today I went online and checked my grades. I got a 98 on my written and a 98 on my practical. Not too bad for my first culinary school test, now I just gotta keep it up. Tomorrow we Start Pate a Choux and our first recipe is Eclairs!

Day 9

Yesterday I started volunteering at an organization in New York called God's Love We Deliver. It is a not for profit organization that prepares and delivers meals to home bound HIV patients with severely low immune systems. I had a good time despite cutting my finger. Everyone there was so upbeat and fun and it's great to just go to places like that and give back whenever I can.

I think this week is my slump week. I have had my bad days like when I cut my finger or when those in charge of baking forgot to bake my tart yesterday and it never got done. And yes I have even been homesick at times. No I still haven't fallen in love with city living just yet. But I am still very glad that I am here and so anxious to just keep learning.

Days are getting even busier now that we are done with sanitation class. Today we made lemon tarts and meringue then got to torch them with big welding torches! I'm liking our projects that include fire haha. We also made a nut tart which was very good maybe even my favorite tart we have done so far. Oh and the cookies! gingersnaps, and the oh so yummy fig newtons! We also made candied citrus peel and had a lecture on the three different types of meringues. There's so much science that goes into everything!

After School I had the pleasure of going to a food demo at the international culinary theater which is conveniently just down the hall from my class room. Today the demo was by chef Aaron Sanchez from the food networks melting pot and Chefs vs City. Not only was his food amazingly good! ( I now know how to cook duck and I can't wait to try it!). He also seemed like a great guy and was very caring and open to share all of his knowledge with us. It is great to be in such an environment where everyone is working towards our ( the students) overall success.

End of Week One

Wow this week went by fast. Class goes by very fast each day because we are constantly running around. I hope that next week the AC gets fixed because we have had 4 ovens running all day and it is HOT! I am definitely enjoying this and all ready learning a lot. Our chefs really are a wealth of knowledge and I have taken them up on the don't be afraid to ask tons of questions speech several times.

To wrap up this week I have made lots of tarts and a couple different cookies. I have learned the ins and outs of the proper ways to make tart doughs and custards. As well as how ingredients scientifically affect each recipe. There's a lot more science that goes into these recipes than I thought. Another thing we got to do this week that was really fun was flambe. There's just something exciting about being in control of 4 foot flames!

And yes, we do bring just about everything we make each day home with us. Ironically I'm not much for sweets, so I have a freezer full of tarts all ready. So if you come to visit you better be prepared to take some sweets back home with you because I get rid of them whenever I can.

I can't wait to start a new week of school. But for now I am resting my feet in my dorm and enjoying the AC. Oh and lots of studying and washing dirty uniforms!

Day 2

Today the day was started off with a class on sanitation. We will be studying sanitation for about a week then we will have a national sanitation examination next Friday. This will lead to a national serv-safe certification which can prove to be very valuable in the food industry today. I found the first day of sanitation to be both very interesting and very gross. For example I found out that when I had E Coli poisoning when I was 5 that it was caused by not just milk but milk with cow manure in it. ( I think I could have gone on with life just fine not knowing I ate poop!) Most of all this has me thinking more of where my food comes from, and the fact that we really have no idea half the time. Kinda scary huh?

Then after notes and all the book stuff it was back to cooking and the wonderful pace that comes with it. Today we finished our apple tarts. My first completed dessert as an FCI student! we then made pate brisee and creme de patisserie for the banana cream tart we will be making tomorrow. I'm really starting to get used to weighing all ingredients instead of measuring in volume, it really is a lot more accurate. I can't wait to try out my brand new digital scale tomorrow!

ok, Study Time!

ps: It was so hot i the kitchen today it melted the black design off my aluminum water bottle!

First Day!

Today was my first day in class and wow was it quick and exciting. After getting changed into my oh so cute uniform, we headed down to the kitchen to await instruction.

Chef Tom an Chef Mike were to be our first instructors. After giving us the rundown on the classroom procedures and school rules we had a brief lesson in sanitation and safety. Then it was time to start cooking! Yes, on the first day. They made it very clear that this is a very fast paced program and thus we will always have to be moving quickly.

Our first recipe was Pate Sucree which is a sweet tart dough (Boy am I glad I took French!) this is one of many recipes that will have to be memorized for tests. The instructors worked closely with us to make sure we were doing things right and all on time. In between everything we do we had to watch a demo, clean up our workstation, do our dishes and sanitize.

We then had our lunch break and had our family meal that the level 3 culinary students make for us each day. Our chef instructors shared with us that sometimes the meal is really good and.... sometimes its really not.

After lunch we worked on our knife skills and learned the proper way to peel, core and finely dice apples. This went into our next recipe which was compote de pommes. ultimately both of these recipes will go into an apple tart that we will be finishing up tomorrow.

Oh but before I forget perhaps the best part of today was getting our tool kits. It was like Christmas as we opened them up and inventoried all of our new equipment. Lots of which has been on my wish list for a while. Especially a brand new Silpat and microplane! I labeled all of my equipment in pink and yellow tape to identify that it was mine. I hope nobody else has the same color combo!

Well now I have to go work on homework and read ahead in my book so I know what to expect tomorrow! I don't think I've ever been this excited to go to school. Yes Chef!