Chef Jean-Jacques leading the demonstration
Demonstration 10: Meringue-based Petits Fours.
Finally! It's here! The most-anticipated demonstration that we (mainly the students) have been waiting for since the first day we walked past through the school door!
Finally! It's here! The most-anticipated demonstration that we (mainly the students) have been waiting for since the first day we walked past through the school door!
The reason why most of us hoarded up years of financial earnings to pay our way through this academie d'art culinaire!
On account of why we endure and slave ourselves away in the oven-blazed kitchen, submitting our ears (and bruised egos!) to the yellings of PMS-ing chefs!
The cause as to why we launch ourselves into the frightening world of French pâtisserie...
Well...
Actually... that's a tad bit of an exaggeration...
BUT...
It's still (i believe, anyhow) one of the main reasons why MOST of us wanted to learn french patisserie anyway...
The Macarons!
Well...
Actually... that's a tad bit of an exaggeration...
BUT...
It's still (i believe, anyhow) one of the main reasons why MOST of us wanted to learn french patisserie anyway...
The Macarons!
Colourful macarons with chocolate-cinnamon ganache filling
Now before I begin, allow to start with other desserts we learnt to bake in the same demonstration. Today's main focus was: French Petit Fours.
pe·tit four
noun \ˌpe-tē-ˈfȯr, pə-ˌtē-, -ˈfu̇r\
plural petits fours
Origin of the word: French, literally meaning "small oven", first known use in 1884.
Definition by Cambridge Dictionary Online: "a small cake or biscuit, usually served at the end of a meal with coffee"
There are three different types of petits fours (pronounced as pet-ty fo-ur):
1. Les petits fours secs (Dry petits fours) consist of an assortment of small desserts like meringue-biscuits, macarons and mini puff pastries. I suppose they are considered dry because they've been baked off and are presented without any "wet" components such as icings and fondants.
2. Les petits fours glacés (Iced petits fours) are small desserts that have been iced (d'oh) or decorated. An few examples are: small eclairs, tartlets, and iced dainty cakes.
3. Les petits fours salés (Savourty petits fours) are the final category of this dainty desserts and are mainly bite-sized savoury (not sweet) appetizers served as part of cocktail parties or h'ordeuvres.
To find read out more interesting information about petits fours, click here.
In our demonstration we learnt to make 4 different types of petits fours secs: Raisin Biscuits, Marshall's Batons, Cigarettes and finally the Macarons (Chef was saving the macaron demonstration for last... and with it, he was expecting the onslaught of a million questions... which was true, in a way, there WERE a lot of questions).
Les Petits Fours (front, anti-clockwise): Macarons with Chocolate-Cinnamon Ganache, Cigarettes and Raisin Biscuits
Take note of the macaron bowls:
Instead of rolling the cigarettes, he molded the massive sheets into a bowl! How ingenious!
Between the four: i found the cigarettes most interesting! - no, not because of it's name, but because of it's method. The rolling action seems quite fun and the chef had given us another use of our instruments in our knife set! I'm eager to try this out!
Les Cigarettes
Les Palets aux Raisins (Raisin Biscuits)
The macarons were interesting and throughout the demonstration, chef gave us a LOT of helpful tips on how to make a successful macaron - which I was very happy to jot down! These tips were certainly NEVER in those macaron books you buy at the bookstores! Demonstration class was SO QUIET when he was making the macarons... because everyone was concentrating on everything he was doing!
I think that perhaps my notes on the macarons were by far MORE detailed than any other notes I've made in school so far...
... which is not good, is it?... hahaha
I think that perhaps my notes on the macarons were by far MORE detailed than any other notes I've made in school so far...
... which is not good, is it?... hahaha
Marshall's batons
Practical 10: Les Petits Fours
Sadly though... we didn't make the macarons for practical. Unfortunately, Chef told us that due to the complicated nature of the meringue-based mixture, the macaron practical only starts once you're an intermediate student (how lucky you guys are!) - which is another 3 months of intensive baking!
However we made: the marshall's batons (one of my favourites) and the raisin biscuits (not my favourites).
waiting for the chocolates of my marshall's batons to set
We had a change of chef in our practicals and our class was lead by a cuisine chef who was in the past also a patisserie chef, Chef Patrick Caals (the infamous eye-candy chef uber-popular among the girls in school). In practical, Chef Caals was cool and calm - something I didn't expect because I have heard that he is quite stern with his students and a few times, he can be quite the charming chef, winking and singing at the girls in practical. I find it quite funny actually!
What I liked about this chef was that he made us responsible for the ovens and baking process of the biscuits - this was something that so far all the patisserie chefs haven't allowed us students to do (because they want to minimise the number of times we open to oven door and therefore conserve the heat, making cooking time shorter). Personally I think it's important that we learn to be responsible for our baking process, that way when it comes to practical exams, we know what to do and when to take it out!
Despite not being rushed by the chef, we were done with our practical one hour ahead of schedule and eventually everyone slowed their paced a little, taking more time to organise and clean the work stations appropriately and allowing our chocolates (coated under the marshall's batons) to cool.
I wasn't quite happy with my raisin biscuits because:
What I liked about this chef was that he made us responsible for the ovens and baking process of the biscuits - this was something that so far all the patisserie chefs haven't allowed us students to do (because they want to minimise the number of times we open to oven door and therefore conserve the heat, making cooking time shorter). Personally I think it's important that we learn to be responsible for our baking process, that way when it comes to practical exams, we know what to do and when to take it out!
Despite not being rushed by the chef, we were done with our practical one hour ahead of schedule and eventually everyone slowed their paced a little, taking more time to organise and clean the work stations appropriately and allowing our chocolates (coated under the marshall's batons) to cool.
I wasn't quite happy with my raisin biscuits because:
1. they kept popping out of the cookies AFTER being baked; and
2. the raisins were dried out due to the high temperature baking process; and finally
3. presentation-wise, I really didn't find the cookies appealing. Perhaps I just dont like this biscuits due to my dislike of raisins? I never really liked them, even as a kid!
mes palets aux raisins
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