I've been far too busy to update my blog since last Tuesday! There's so much going on, mainly - practising piping and doing the lining of my tart shell. These has been my top priorities since two weekends ago.
Exam is just a week away, and I'm been chanting my mantra really often - Keep calm & bake on. It's really all that I can do on that day, since we'll only know the entremet we'll be baking upon picking our lucky draw, going by numbers, and we'll have about 15-20 minutes before the start of the exam to revise and read through our chosen recipe.
I'm just a bundle of nerves right now. =(
Anyway! Just want to update the blog (and you guys) on what has been done during last Wednesday & Friday's classes!
First, Chef Marc did the demonstration on Poires pochées , crème au caramel, Crème brûlée vanille, Crème brûlée gingembre and Crème brûlée au thé vert on Wednesday. Basically, it was a day on plated desserts, usually served in a restaurant, he also demonstrated on how to prepare the raspberry tuiles for decoration.
Here, we have the Poires pochées; which means poached pears, and we poached them in syrup, vanilla pod, water, strips of lemon and orange zest till they are cooked. Of course, they have to be peeled first, with the stems and the seeds remained. The seeds and the core will only be removed after they are cooked and cooked down.
Chef Marc says that the first and only rule to making poached fruits in syrup, is to use ripe fruits only, other wise, it will oxidise really fast and the colour wouldn't be nice. The picture shown above, is a traditional method where the jar is sealed and the pears is poached in it for about an hour and a half. This method allows the fruit to be stored for up to 3 years, provided the jar is air tight and the rubber is of good quality; no air should be inside and ferment instead. The pear is poached together with cinnamon sticks and star anise.
Next, we have the Crème au caramel, which is also known as Caramel Custard, usually found in restaurants. Personally, I don't like to order this dessert at all, to me, I prefer Crème brûlée, which is nicer with the caramelised top and it's less heavy on the egg taste side.
Oh, this was also the plated dessert we had to prepare during Practical on Wednesday; more on that later.
Finally, we have my favourites; Crème brûlée in ginger, matcha (green tea) and the classic flavour, vanilla.
I didn't like the ginger flavoured very much, but I do find the matcha refreshing. My vote still goes for vanilla, it's a classic, baby! Look at Chef Marc's plating...at first it was like plain and boring...and then with fruits and sauces, he added life to the plated dessert. I really have to read up more on my books for plating! You'll get to see my efforts later.
Another view of the Crème brûlée vanille, served in a really traditional cast iron skillet (I think). The trick to creating the lovely caramelized top, is to heat the sugar bit by bit...meaning, we sprinkle little sugar around at a time, before repeating it 2 to 4 times.
Then, we moved to the practical room and did the recipes as required; do the poached pears, the caramel custard's batter and the raspberry tuiles. We did the pears individually, did the caramel custard's batter in pairs and tuiles in group of 4.
Presenting to you, one and only picture of my Crème au caramel !
The view from the top is nice, but the view from the customer's point of view; according to my grading Chef, wasn't good enough. The curved tuiles is almost blocking the raspberry from sight. I did the same pizza shaped tuile like Chef's during his demonstration, but I didn't use that because my vision was all about creating an arch.
He also commented that the caramel was slightly too light, though, the temperature of caramel is supposed to be at 180º, it is best that we observe the required colour (dark brown) before deglacing it (stopping the caramel from cooking further by pouring in hot water).
Well, what can I say...
Customer point of view or not, I could see the raspberry because I was standing up, and after grading, we took our spoons and started devouring it. It's a good addictive dessert when paired with the tuiles, the tuiles gave a crunchy, chewy bite to the eggy dessert.
Moving on, for Thursday + Friday's class, Chef Marc did the demonstration for Charlotte Aux poires and Charlotte Aux Fraises, a.k.a Pear Charlotte and Strawberry Charlotte respectively.
Chef Marc presented us with two looks for the pear charlotte. One is with the 'lid' and the other is without. However, during practical, we have to present with the lid, but first, to line the pears around the entremet like the one shown on the left hand side.
Charlotte entremets consists of lady finger biscuits, with the fruit's filings and mousse; flavoured by the same fruit theme. Like pear mousse with pear diced filings and with pear brandy...and strawberry mousse with strawberry toppings and strawberry branded, etc.
The thing about charlotte entremet is that, you cannot over mix the lady finger biscuit. Once you've done that, it is liquid and difficult to do the piping for the decoration (around and the flower lid). It's pretty tough, I tell ya, because I managed to over mix it, and my piping was terrible, the lines was not distinctive enough. More on that later.
A closer look at these two. If you notice, charlottes entremet is always tied with a ribbon...it seemed prettier. HAHA!
Here, we have the Charlotte aux Fraisers; strawberries heaven!! I love, love this so much, I returned for one more slice. It was super good!!! Sweet, not too sour, the mousse was perfect, and the lady finger biscuit just go so well! I don't know how else to describe this...but I know for sure, I will bake it. I just can't wait to be home now!! =)
Alright, presenting to you, my pear charlotte!!
Sorry about the soaked corners around the poached pears, I missed the sun in the morning during the weekend, and only had time to take the pictures yesterday...hence the syrup from the pear had seeped around.
If you noticed, my lady finger is kinda liquid, the lines is not as fat and defined as Chef's Marc, and that is because I had over mixed the batter. =( I'll do better next time! Considering that this could also be the entremet I may pick out during the lucky draw, I have bought a weighing scale and the ingredients required, to fold in my batter properly and practice piping. Cost me a bomb! Spent nearly 200SGD on the things necessary.
I wished I was at home with almost every I need to practice. =( Oh well, I have to make do then!
Over here, as you can clearly see the layers, the bottom is the first layer of the biscuit (a spiral), and then the sides is the piped strips of the biscuit, layered with mousse and then the diced pears, more lady fingers, mousse and then finally, the slices of poached pears.
That's all I have to share with you before carrying on with my practice!
Till then!
P.S
With all the attention on the haze situation back home, I urge all to drink a lot of water, take preventions (like get authentic N95 masks and all.) If there's friends or family members requiring me to bring back mask for them, please contact me through FB Message. I'll get my hands on them and will be back on 4th July.
Take care one and all!
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