6 days

Last week I went to school for 6 days in a row. It was really tiring with classes starting at 8:30am. Saturday was a bit much with a demo and a practical right after so I got out of school at 4pm that day. For some reason, my practical group is the only class with multiple Saturday and night classes this term.

Below are a few of the dishes that I have made in the last two weeks. Most of the photos will be from pâtisserie because our cuisine dishes get smashed up too much during the Chef's tasting in order to ensure everything is cooked and tastes appropriately. Enjoy!

Oh, gâteau de fruit.

We made 3 of these. I gave them all away. It is much better than American fruit cake, but I just have never liked glacé fruit. You can see the madeleines in the background.

Madeleines


Vol au vent (pastry case) alone.


Filled with Leeks.


My puff pastry, which we made by hand, came out really well. I even received a very nice compliment from one of the scary Chefs.

The second photo is a replating of Puff Pastry with Leeks and Poached Eggs and the most delicious sauce called Albufera. Unfortunately, I didn't have any eggs at home for the photo but it really did look nice in class and is an absolutely delish dish.

At this point, I have made puff pastry 3 times by hand. I feel fairly confident about it and would make it at home though the recipe calls for dry butter which would be challenging to obtain in the states.

Crab bisque and croûtons


The crab bisque involved killing the live crab with a chef's knife straight through the body. I had no problem doing this although it seemed to both a few people. We later bashed the crabs shells with the ends of our rolling pins. All in a day's work...

A nice tidbit: Our practical chef was showing me how to cook the croûtons. I didn't have enough butter (I had a lot in already) so he grabbed more butter, tossed it into the super hot cast iron pan and stuck his fingers into the hot pan to help the butter melt faster. He then told me not to use my spatula to cook the croûtons and started flipping the croûtons into the air and told me to do the same. It was awesome.


Gâteau Basque


A pound cake like base with pastry cream inside along with a sprinkling of prunes. Not a bad tasting cake, just a whole lot of effort and work for a somewhat plain cake. It does give one practice piping since the whole cake is piped in 3 different layers.


Saint Honoré


I got a tiny burn from the dipping the puffs into caramel which is the worst type of burn you can get. However, this cake is so good but it is a bit of overdose on the whip cream, which we whipped by hand.


Chaussons aux pommes (apple turnovers)


This one is really worth the work. We made three of them and I ate two. Each has 50+ grams of butter. Yum!


Palmiers


Mine came out small but the Chef said it was fine. Also, some of the egg wash sealed the ends so they are not as open as they could be. Still a great snack after school.


Paillettes au fromage


These cheese straws were an accompaniment to a consommé that we clarified and placed a brunoise of vegetables in.

As you can see from the photos, it has been a few weeks of low-calorie food. Hopefully, we will start making some heartier meals. For example, tomorrow I am making stuffed veal rolls and later in the day lots of éclairs. Anyone interested?