Day Seven

So tonight was an interesting night. It started with massive traffic on 59 resulting in me getting to school with only 10 minutes to spare. This is the reason I leave and hour and half early. Get to school and remember that we are supposed to have new partners in class today, who did I get? Colleen, the same Colleen who loaned me a Batman book, so I think this counts as a win. I asked her if I could put her picture up so you would know what she looks like so here it is.

Colleen, my new Lab Partner.

First chef tells us to make a Pate a Foncer, which I guess is tart dough. The butter, flour, and salt are worked together in a kitchen aid with a paddle attachment until they look like sand. Then add sugar, egg, and milk and continue to mix until it looks kind of crumbly. Then dump it out onto a floured work surface and work it together into a nice round dough ball, then smash it into a patty and wrap with plastic wrap, and toss into the freezer.

Ok so chef tells us to make Pate Sablee aux Amandes, or Almond Sugar Dough. It stars by mixing butter, salt, and powdered sugar in a kitchen aid with a paddle attachment. Then the egg, almond powder, and flour go in. then just like before, finish on a floured work surface, wrap and freeze.

Next we made Chiboust Cream; witch starts out similar to Vanilla cream. Whisk pastry cream powder, sugar and egg yoke in a bowl, and boil milk with orange zest to infuse it with flavor. Then temper the two together into a sauce which goes back on the burner to come to a boil. You must stir continuously with your whisk because as soon as it boils it thickens up to a cream, and it is a thick cream. Then take it off the heat and add in some gelatin and flavoring. Then of course whisk up some meringue and fold it in and Boom, you got your cream. We then took it over to some rings on a sheet pan and filled them right up and tossed them in the freezer to chill.

Filling rings with Chiboust Cream.

Next was Almond Cream, easiest thing of the day. Cream some butter and sugar in a kitchen Aid, add almond powder and Rum. When it looks like a moist batter scoop it out, and put it in the fridge. Man did that rum stink thou, I bet if you were to drink it you would go blind.

Next chef had us get out our firs dough and showed us how to Foncer. He said that is the technique we will always use, I looked it up, it’s the process that you line a pan with a pie dough. First roll out your dough and then lift it with your rolling pin onto a tart ring. Then lift your dough from the outside of the ring while pushing it into the corners of the inside of your ring. Then you loop part over on top, cut off the extra, and then to a neat little crimp design. Sounds easy, well it’s not, it’s hard. If the dough gets too warm it tears, if you roll it to thin it tears. Chef Rudy laughed at me and said it will be a hard week for me. Little pastry ring and big hands he said, makes it hard.

Chef putting the finishing touches on a tart dough.

The day was not without incident either. Dropped a few things, screwed up once and had to start over, and couldn’t get my tart dough to, well stop acting like a little tart. To top it off dinner was nothing but fish and I missed Rock Band at Gary’s. I really could have used a turn at singing Rebel Yell after school. Oh well, maybe next time.

Ok I just read what I wrote and it was very technical, and let’s face it, I hate writing technical. So here are some cool highlights. Chef Rudy has taken it upon himself to tease Daniel over the last few days. And some of the gals in class have taken to saying Daniel steels everything, in a joking manner of course. Daniel, being the laid back guy that he is, is ok with most of it, and even taken to claiming to have stolen a few things. There is no evidence to support his claims, and we had to let him go. Monique is one of the gals in my class and apparently made contact with a company that sells vanilla and got us all a discount. She said that we should call her Mo, or is it Moe, can girls go by Moe? Also what is up with the cuisine class cooking all this fish? No offence but fish stinks, both literally and figuratively. When are they going to cook steak, or pizza?