I'm sensing Twinkies and Instant Pudding won't fly around here.
Advanced Baking and Pastry. While I managed an A the first go around, I will admit that B&P is not my favorite class. As I've mentioned, it's too painstaking, requires too much precision and patience. It's not my strongest either, but I'm determined to at least get on the road to mastery.
Again we're divided into three groups. I landed the plated group the first week. Friday we will each have to compose two fine dining desserts and have them plated by 9:35 to be graded. The first dessert must be a chocolate dessert, the second a fruit dessert based on apples.
Pudding and apple pie won't cut it. There must be different elements and textures to the plate. There are rules, but I won't go into that now.
Rather than go straight to the internet or my modest supply of cookbooks, I've decided to wing it, to come up with completely original (to me) confections. My chocolate dessert will be a chocolate crepe gratin baked in a mascarpone custard, piled with raspberry jam and chocolate wafers between, a chocolate butter pat on top, espresso sauce surrounding. I may toss on a quinelle of cinnamon vanilla ice cream. In a sense, it's a deconstructed tiramisu. Sort of. Now, for the apple dessert, I am going to tempura fry some apples, stack them with a layer of caramelized apples and almonds between, surround it with a cider sauce and maybe a pepermint sauce, and a scoop of cinnamon vanilla cranberry ice cream.
This is a lot of work, kids. I've written 8 pages of instructions for myself, including architectural diagrams that would make Frank Lloyd Wright visibly excited.
At this point I have no fall back recipes. If I really get pinched, something goes horribly wrong, I'll do a quick apple bread pudding. And if the chocolate dessert doesn't work, I can do a chocolate financier cake. This plating is 40% of my grade, so really tanking it won't help me out. I'm sure I'll do fine. Still, desserts are the one area where my confidence in the kitchen, which is pathological, takes hits daily. Give me savory foods and I'm fine. Even if I don't know what I'm doing, I can wrestle whatever situation, whatever product, and come up with something relly good. Throw sugar and flour at me, and I'm longing for a box of macaroni and cheese and the comforts of home.
As anticipated, the management and wine class thinned the herd by two. It was an academically brutal three week stretch, no question. I was focused as hell and I still had a tough time of it. Granted, I got my A's, but it was the first time in nine months that I felt I'd be in danger if I didn't study. Well, there was the first round management and wine fiasco, but I was sleeping four hours a night and grinding out 300 covers a day back then, so whatever.
Meanwhile, the pressure of looming externship is definitely weighing on me. With still no idea of where I'll end up, February feels like next week. And I'm getting advice from the whole world on where to go. Cruise lines, resorts, even other countries. Then there's the handful of people that think I should just go to hell, but I don't talk to them much anyway. Back in June, I felt like I could extern wherever I wanted. Now, I feel like I'll extern anywhere that'll take me. The stress will blow over, I'm sure.
Advanced Baking and Pastry. While I managed an A the first go around, I will admit that B&P is not my favorite class. As I've mentioned, it's too painstaking, requires too much precision and patience. It's not my strongest either, but I'm determined to at least get on the road to mastery.
Again we're divided into three groups. I landed the plated group the first week. Friday we will each have to compose two fine dining desserts and have them plated by 9:35 to be graded. The first dessert must be a chocolate dessert, the second a fruit dessert based on apples.
Pudding and apple pie won't cut it. There must be different elements and textures to the plate. There are rules, but I won't go into that now.
Rather than go straight to the internet or my modest supply of cookbooks, I've decided to wing it, to come up with completely original (to me) confections. My chocolate dessert will be a chocolate crepe gratin baked in a mascarpone custard, piled with raspberry jam and chocolate wafers between, a chocolate butter pat on top, espresso sauce surrounding. I may toss on a quinelle of cinnamon vanilla ice cream. In a sense, it's a deconstructed tiramisu. Sort of. Now, for the apple dessert, I am going to tempura fry some apples, stack them with a layer of caramelized apples and almonds between, surround it with a cider sauce and maybe a pepermint sauce, and a scoop of cinnamon vanilla cranberry ice cream.
This is a lot of work, kids. I've written 8 pages of instructions for myself, including architectural diagrams that would make Frank Lloyd Wright visibly excited.
At this point I have no fall back recipes. If I really get pinched, something goes horribly wrong, I'll do a quick apple bread pudding. And if the chocolate dessert doesn't work, I can do a chocolate financier cake. This plating is 40% of my grade, so really tanking it won't help me out. I'm sure I'll do fine. Still, desserts are the one area where my confidence in the kitchen, which is pathological, takes hits daily. Give me savory foods and I'm fine. Even if I don't know what I'm doing, I can wrestle whatever situation, whatever product, and come up with something relly good. Throw sugar and flour at me, and I'm longing for a box of macaroni and cheese and the comforts of home.
As anticipated, the management and wine class thinned the herd by two. It was an academically brutal three week stretch, no question. I was focused as hell and I still had a tough time of it. Granted, I got my A's, but it was the first time in nine months that I felt I'd be in danger if I didn't study. Well, there was the first round management and wine fiasco, but I was sleeping four hours a night and grinding out 300 covers a day back then, so whatever.
Meanwhile, the pressure of looming externship is definitely weighing on me. With still no idea of where I'll end up, February feels like next week. And I'm getting advice from the whole world on where to go. Cruise lines, resorts, even other countries. Then there's the handful of people that think I should just go to hell, but I don't talk to them much anyway. Back in June, I felt like I could extern wherever I wanted. Now, I feel like I'll extern anywhere that'll take me. The stress will blow over, I'm sure.
