The last few weeks have been a blur--with the downtown convention, the restaurant got swamped. We went through the cheesecake and the trifle rather quickly, but things settled down...and we're back to being very slow. I've learned to pace the dessert-making so there will be a steady supply of fresh desserts--that way, there will be enough for service, but not so much that they end up not getting consumed and have to be thrown out.
About two weeks ago, I baked a sample Eggnog Cheesecake w/Gingerbread crust for the upcoming holiday. Everyone loved it! So far, I've come up with eggnog cream puffs, eggnog trifle, eggnog creme brulee, kabocha pumpkin trifle, kabocha cheesecake...the list goes on. But it's all up to the owner's decision...and he had better make that decision quick. Once we're past Thanksgiving, the holiday chaos will arrive, and then we'll have only one month to serve them.
So that's what's been going on at work...
Here's the recap from Week 6. This week, we learned about puff pastry. It's one of those pastry elements that everyone finds very intimidating. I was kinda scared myself. But once I got my hands down and dirty, it wasn't as bad as I thought.
Done by N. Coconut Panna Cotta with Raspberry and Lime Sauce. He substituted coconut milk for the cream in the recipe, but didn't taste like coconut at all.
Done by G. Raspberry Napoleon Cake. Both he and I did our own puff pastry dough, just to get the experience. He wanted to do the Napoleon cake (i.e. layers of puff pastry and cream), so I did the vol-au-vent (i.e. cup-shaped puff pastry). Being the overachiever that he is, he started doing sugar work on raspberries for the garnish...then he got too distracted doing that and forgot about the pastry in the oven. He ended up burning one of his batches, and his other ones puffed up a LOT. He had to cut a piece horizontally to make the layer, and sandwiched pastry cream inbetween. They were very flaky and tasty, but G was definitely not happy with his work this time.
My work. Vol-au-vent with Persimmon Cream, Cranberry Compote, and pomegranate sauce. For the persimmon cream, I just pureed persimmon and folded it into the vanilla pastry cream. But being such a mild-flavored fruit, the persimmon taste was just barely there. Otherwise, it turned out pretty good--the pastry puffed up, was flaky...puff pastry isn't as scary as it used to.
Then on to Week 7....
Then on to Week 7....
We had a group change, which is nice....don't get me wrong, I got along fine with my group. But working with G for six weeks straight (he's a nice guy, but tends to be somewhat of a control freak) gets tiresome.
My new group members are 'R' and 'B' (no pun intended...). R is apparently quite experienced in the kitchen, and has been in the restaurant industry for a while. B, on the other hand...a nice guy, but very quirky. He's in the same Baking & Pastry Program like me, which is quite unusual for a guy. Most of the males are in the Culinary Program and the females make up the majority of the Baking Program.
While he's passionate about baking and cooking, his products tend to turn into culinary fiascos. In Week 6, he was excitedly telling me about his dessert...
B: "I'm gonna churn vanilla ice cream, and towards the end, mix in some grated cheddar cheese and crumbled ultimate bacon, then serve that over warm, sugar-glazed croissants. Behold.... the Ultimate Bacon & Cheddar Ice Cream Croissants! It's like, dessert-breakfast--the marriage of dessert and breakfast, two of the best meals of the day!! Don't you agree!!???"
Me: "....................."
The result? His croissants were heavy, doughy and flat (due to overworking the dough), his ice cream didn't have enough time in the freezer (he should've churned the ice cream the day before to freeze overnight) so it completely melted. And the flavor? Bacon overpowered everything, and was perhaps the only part of the "dessert" that was remotely edible.
So this guy is in my group. Things definitely got interesting with him around...
Our new recipes to do were strudel dough and cheesecake. I volunteered to do the cheesecake (since it's my specialty), R wanted to do a Panna Cotta, and that left B to do the strudel dough. After each of us did the initial tasks for our own desserts, both R and I helped B with the strudel dough. Unlike danish or croissants, strudel dough needs to be stretched, not rolled. Each of us grabbed a corner and slowly stretched it, being careful not to tear the dough. The dough needed to be stretched until nearly transparent (you can "read through it"). We wanted to try something different from everyone else, so instead of filling it and wrapping it, we baked it flat, in sheets. Our plan was to layer the sheets and pastry cream to make a napoleon-like dessert.
With the cheesecake, I decided to do a trio of flavors: pumpkin, chocolate, and apple (since that was the only fruit available other than pomegranate...), each flavor with different crust. Pumpkin had the gingerbread, chocolate had chocolate, and apple had pecan crust.
And then I found out there's no cream cheese. I had to substitute mascarpone, which I've never used. The three different crusts were done by this time. I look at the clock--45 minutes until our 25 minute break. Our class is over an hour and a half after the break. The cheesecakes need at least an hour of baking time. If I didn't put the cakes in the oven before the break, I was screwed.
I quickly mixed the base for the cheesecakes, and had to ask...B for help.... After I dumped in the pumpkin spice into one of the bowls, I told him to mix in 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree into it. Then I told him to melt 3 oz. of chocolate. He grins and asks, "OK....8 oz???"
I told him, no, 3 oz. He grins back and asks, "Oh, so 6 oz?????". I tell him again, no, 3 oz. By this time, I was getting very, very annoyed. There was 15 minutes left til break.
He finally left to get chocolate. While he was measuring them out, he asks, "So...12 oz, right??????". At which point, I declared that if he doesn't measure out 3 oz. of chocolate right now, I'm going to flay him with a pineapple.
He finally relented and did as he was told...but goodness....
But I did get the cakes in the oven in the nick of time! An hour later, they came out OK. The next day, I made the garnishes--the brittle, chocolate work, and candied apple slices. I decided to use the sauce made by R, the caramel whiskey sauce. I figured caramel would be the only sauce that will go with these trios.
We got everything done on time!
R's work. Kahlua and Irish Cream Panna Cotta with caramel whiskey sauce...
B's work. Deconstructed strudel with pastry cream and fig filling...
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