We are in Eugene on holiday break. We have made some treats, wrapped presents, and watched a few classics (Love Actually, Scrooged). I have a couple more movies I want to watch (It is a Wonderful Life, Serendipity, Sabrina) and I also want to sleep more too.
Wedding planning is slow going, the list is getting longer as the day gets closer. Decor to figure, photographer to find, toasting sets to drool over... I will try and post some pictures of inspiration tomorrow. And tomorrow I will either make sticky buns or cupcakes... what is your vote?
December 22, 2009
December 18, 2009
Whoosh
Time is a funny thing. When you are bored with something, it seems to go on forever. When you are in a groove and are liking the situation, there is suddenly no time at all.
I went to school early again. My new bud Amanda joined me so it was nice. We had the entire back kitchen to ourselves. It was so cool! 12 burner gas stove, the 4 deck oven, industrial mixers, bowls, ingredients, everything and we didn't have to wait on other students for the salt. No one kept opening the oven and screwing up the temperature. I was able to really concentrate. We talked about our homework too. One question was about what needed a higher temperature of oil to fry correctly. You have two batters of yeast-donuts of equal fat but one with higher sugar content. It was cool to hear her reasoning and then explain mine and then between the two of us we figured it out.
It was nice to catch up. I made my coconut macaroons and by golly, they checked out perfect. It is so satisfying to understand the process and just do it. I pulled them out of the oven and when I cracked the crust, just knew that it was right.
I also measured out my ingredients for scones and lemon pound cake. For the scones internal garnish, I decided to use chunks of candied ginger, a little bit of sliced, roasted almonds, and top it with a cream wash and turbinado sugar. Mmmm. We cleaned up our kitchen and went to class happy as peaches...
Well, funny how life works out. Chef also wanted us to do a few other things too. Today was crepe, beignet, and corn muffin day. Yes folks, 5 recipes scaled, mixed, and baked off. I had 2 ready to mix but the crepe and beignets were more important today because the crepe batter was mixed up and had sat the right amount of time and the oil was set up and at the right temperature to fry the eclair paste/pate a choux for the beignets.
I decided to compromise because I realize that I am still not fast enough to do it all (no one in the class is). I decided to bake off one of my pre-scaled formulas (lemon pound cake) and then work on the pate a choux for the beignets, and then, if time permitted, I would practice my crepes. I will bake off my scones and measure out and bake my corn muffins after break.
Meanwhile, I managed to fold my coronets, all 12 from one sheet of parchment perfectly, check. Coconut macaroons, perfect, check. Oatmeal raisin baked last night, bad. Grr. Overdone again. This time Chef let me use the pre-scooped, community dough to try again. My advice, take them out when the don't look done. Seriously, it works out in the end because they still cook on the pan. I finally took them out when I didn't think they were done and they turned out. Check!!! Third time is a charm.
I have made pate a choux/cream puffs before but as I have found with most of my classmates, that means nothing here. You could have made a hundred biscuits a day for 2 years straight and you still don't have it right. I was nervous. I didn't want to be the person who boasted and then bombed. I read the formula, measured everything twice, and checked my temperature often. My dough turned out the right texture and color but the true test is in the frying. Does it puff and do you get nice holy, fried nuggets of goodness? You bag your dough with a #826 star tip, stand over the hot oil (360 degrees), press out a consistent 2 1/2" piece of dough, snip it with your scissors, and repeat until you have a few in the oil. Then you watch them fry. It goes pretty fast and you know right away if your dough is a success or not. Mine puffed up and browned, I couldn't believe it. I made about 10 pieces and was able to get 3 of them checked off as a successful skill. I watched people tonight stand at that fryer with their entire bag of dough and still not have a single piece that was correct. It is crushing.
My lemon pound cake looked done so I pulled it out to let it cool. It was too close to the end of the skill check time though so I knew I had missed the window for it to be tested. I was pretty bummed but Chef just told me to freeze one loaf of it and she would test it after break. So it wasn't a total waste.
I didn't have much time left so I didn't practice the crepes. I did get to bring some batter home so I can practice. It is pretty tough to get it evenly thick, very blonde in color, no crispy edges, and circular. Some of my class mates got pretty good at it by the end of the night though.
Any who... The time is flying by and my brain is overwhelmed with info and my shoes are covered in flour. I am used to taking things out to the oven with my short towels. I was so afraid of using them instead of oven mitts. Now I don't even notice. Alan and I are definitely not craving any sweets. I have so much left over. I am oozing sweets here. Won't anyone visit? ;)
I went to school early again. My new bud Amanda joined me so it was nice. We had the entire back kitchen to ourselves. It was so cool! 12 burner gas stove, the 4 deck oven, industrial mixers, bowls, ingredients, everything and we didn't have to wait on other students for the salt. No one kept opening the oven and screwing up the temperature. I was able to really concentrate. We talked about our homework too. One question was about what needed a higher temperature of oil to fry correctly. You have two batters of yeast-donuts of equal fat but one with higher sugar content. It was cool to hear her reasoning and then explain mine and then between the two of us we figured it out.
It was nice to catch up. I made my coconut macaroons and by golly, they checked out perfect. It is so satisfying to understand the process and just do it. I pulled them out of the oven and when I cracked the crust, just knew that it was right.
I also measured out my ingredients for scones and lemon pound cake. For the scones internal garnish, I decided to use chunks of candied ginger, a little bit of sliced, roasted almonds, and top it with a cream wash and turbinado sugar. Mmmm. We cleaned up our kitchen and went to class happy as peaches...
Well, funny how life works out. Chef also wanted us to do a few other things too. Today was crepe, beignet, and corn muffin day. Yes folks, 5 recipes scaled, mixed, and baked off. I had 2 ready to mix but the crepe and beignets were more important today because the crepe batter was mixed up and had sat the right amount of time and the oil was set up and at the right temperature to fry the eclair paste/pate a choux for the beignets.
I decided to compromise because I realize that I am still not fast enough to do it all (no one in the class is). I decided to bake off one of my pre-scaled formulas (lemon pound cake) and then work on the pate a choux for the beignets, and then, if time permitted, I would practice my crepes. I will bake off my scones and measure out and bake my corn muffins after break.
Meanwhile, I managed to fold my coronets, all 12 from one sheet of parchment perfectly, check. Coconut macaroons, perfect, check. Oatmeal raisin baked last night, bad. Grr. Overdone again. This time Chef let me use the pre-scooped, community dough to try again. My advice, take them out when the don't look done. Seriously, it works out in the end because they still cook on the pan. I finally took them out when I didn't think they were done and they turned out. Check!!! Third time is a charm.
I have made pate a choux/cream puffs before but as I have found with most of my classmates, that means nothing here. You could have made a hundred biscuits a day for 2 years straight and you still don't have it right. I was nervous. I didn't want to be the person who boasted and then bombed. I read the formula, measured everything twice, and checked my temperature often. My dough turned out the right texture and color but the true test is in the frying. Does it puff and do you get nice holy, fried nuggets of goodness? You bag your dough with a #826 star tip, stand over the hot oil (360 degrees), press out a consistent 2 1/2" piece of dough, snip it with your scissors, and repeat until you have a few in the oil. Then you watch them fry. It goes pretty fast and you know right away if your dough is a success or not. Mine puffed up and browned, I couldn't believe it. I made about 10 pieces and was able to get 3 of them checked off as a successful skill. I watched people tonight stand at that fryer with their entire bag of dough and still not have a single piece that was correct. It is crushing.
My lemon pound cake looked done so I pulled it out to let it cool. It was too close to the end of the skill check time though so I knew I had missed the window for it to be tested. I was pretty bummed but Chef just told me to freeze one loaf of it and she would test it after break. So it wasn't a total waste.
I didn't have much time left so I didn't practice the crepes. I did get to bring some batter home so I can practice. It is pretty tough to get it evenly thick, very blonde in color, no crispy edges, and circular. Some of my class mates got pretty good at it by the end of the night though.
Any who... The time is flying by and my brain is overwhelmed with info and my shoes are covered in flour. I am used to taking things out to the oven with my short towels. I was so afraid of using them instead of oven mitts. Now I don't even notice. Alan and I are definitely not craving any sweets. I have so much left over. I am oozing sweets here. Won't anyone visit? ;)
Too much sugar
Uh... this week is almost over. Where did the time go? I baked a ton this week, most good but some not so good.
Monday, we got a demo of creme brulee and ganache and we got to start our own shortbread and biscotti. We could choose between hazelnut and almond biscotti... I love almonds so that was a no brainer. We started what is called our 'skill checks' and it is now serious. I have yet to fold 12 perfect coronets from one sheet of parchment but I am getting there.
Creme brulee is a tricky one to get just right. The picture is pre-torching. Shortbread is so easy and also so easy to screw up. It also bakes really fast. My shortbread passed the skill test. It was so good I kept popping the cookies into my mouth and half were gone before I knew it. Dangerous.
Also demoed, how to heat chocolate and creme Chantilly. We also learned how to make the ganache, how to use the ganache to glaze our dream torte, and how to cut torte and cheesecake. That ganache is wicked good. Sooooo chocolaty. Anytime ya'll want to try it, come on over. It is a staple on the menu at the restaurant OR I could try and make it for you.
Tuesday, more baking. I had the chance to second bake my biscotti. The biscotti was a bit difficult just because I couldn't tell if it was done enough unless I really burnt the tips of my fingers touching it for doneness. I finally decided it was dark enough and my numb fingers didn't feel any give. I let it cool and when Chef did checks, it passed! I can make biscotti!!!
Wednesday... Next up, coconut macaroons, oatmeal raisin cookies, and brownies. I love coconut. LOVE IT. Chef doesn't and I felt so bad for her having to test everyone's. I started with the coconut macs. It seemed easy enough but I was wrong. It takes time to get the mixture to 120 degrees over a bain-marie (water bath) and then scooping, ugh. It is sticky and they really bake in the shape that the scoop is so you have to fix any imperfections. Then they bake for what seems like forever. Mine got really dark so I finally took them out. When they had cooled, Chef tested them and there were almost perfect. The shape, color, outer crust and inner goodness were all great but they were a tad, small tad, undercooked. My first failure. The other problem is that the batter only made enough for one batch so I have to do the whole thing over, not just the baking part. Ha, funny. I ran out of time. I didn't get my oatmeal cookies measured, mixed, or baked off and as a group, we didn't get our brownies made up.
Thursday... Our class got to have dinner in the restaurant tonight. They want us to get to know each other better, relax, and also see what we will soon be producing. The school restaurant puts out a 4 course lunch and dinner. All for a very reasonable price (lunch is $12 and dinner is $18, seriously. 4 courses for that price!!!). All tips go to fund scholarships for the students. If you want to see how fancy the menu is, you can go here. Dinner was fantastic. I had roasted cauliflower soup, an endive salad with apples, walnuts, Oregon blue cheese, and a cider vinaigrette, my entree was crab pappardelle (mmm... crab season is among us), and for dessert a piece of angel food cake served with 3 sorbets in a tuile. OH MY.
The dinner was superb but we lost several kitchen hours because of it. We knew this yesterday so feeling slightly behind, our group decided to go in early today. Well, 3 out of 4 of us made it. We were told that there is space around 2 pm in the kitchens, which means 2 hours without distraction, right? No, not right. There is 2 other classes going on. One is in where the ingredients are and another is practicing eggs where there was only one table free for us to us, at 2:30. Half an hour wasted... Blah.
Since I am ahead of the group by one recipe, I start on the group brownies. I hate brownies. I don't eat them, don't make them, and I was nervous. Hee, hee. I was so distracted in the kitchen that I sort of leave out the sugar... but only for a bit. A group mate catches it before I add the flour. Phew. Anyway, I only manage to get the brownies in and one sheet of oatmeal raisin before I ran out of time. Oh, I over cooked my oatmeal raisin too. In the kitchens, we don't time things. We are supposed to have internal timers. Well, mine was off. The oatmeal raisin cookies were so overcooked that they just snapped in half. I still had 12 balls of dough from the batch so after dinner I tossed in 6 (saved 6 just in case I burned them again) and they might work. I will have Chef check them tomorrow and let you know.
My mates did get a few things done so we are pretty much even at the table. We each have some failures and no time to make it up in class.
Before dinner, Chef H demoed how to make biscuits, scones, and Chef demoed lemon pound cake. We started to scale out the ingredients after dinner. We all get to try lemon pound cake but she wanted us to choose between biscuits or scones. I went with the scones, cream scones... I'm drooling just thinking about it. Chef H's biscuits look sooooo flaky in that picture. I am definitely making those for Paula with some gravy and hashbrowns (please come to Oregon soon 3sott and Paula!)
Oh, and back to the other class practicing eggs. I love it when a breakfast place can make an egg over medium correctly. I understand it takes practice. The culinary students at my school go through racks of eggs (4-5 dozen) just practicing the different eggs. Daily. GO SCHOOL!!! Send them out to make breakfast eggs correctly. Thanks! But really, seeing that much fried eggs made my stomach turn. The smell was crazy.
I am glad Alan is finally back in Portland with me. He was at home in Eugene to work for part of the week. I missed him. It is nice to have someone to share the goodies and information with at the end of the night.
I am going in early again tomorrow. Coconut macaroons, meet your maker. Wwwaaa...
Monday, we got a demo of creme brulee and ganache and we got to start our own shortbread and biscotti. We could choose between hazelnut and almond biscotti... I love almonds so that was a no brainer. We started what is called our 'skill checks' and it is now serious. I have yet to fold 12 perfect coronets from one sheet of parchment but I am getting there.
Creme brulee is a tricky one to get just right. The picture is pre-torching. Shortbread is so easy and also so easy to screw up. It also bakes really fast. My shortbread passed the skill test. It was so good I kept popping the cookies into my mouth and half were gone before I knew it. Dangerous.
Also demoed, how to heat chocolate and creme Chantilly. We also learned how to make the ganache, how to use the ganache to glaze our dream torte, and how to cut torte and cheesecake. That ganache is wicked good. Sooooo chocolaty. Anytime ya'll want to try it, come on over. It is a staple on the menu at the restaurant OR I could try and make it for you.Tuesday, more baking. I had the chance to second bake my biscotti. The biscotti was a bit difficult just because I couldn't tell if it was done enough unless I really burnt the tips of my fingers touching it for doneness. I finally decided it was dark enough and my numb fingers didn't feel any give. I let it cool and when Chef did checks, it passed! I can make biscotti!!!
Wednesday... Next up, coconut macaroons, oatmeal raisin cookies, and brownies. I love coconut. LOVE IT. Chef doesn't and I felt so bad for her having to test everyone's. I started with the coconut macs. It seemed easy enough but I was wrong. It takes time to get the mixture to 120 degrees over a bain-marie (water bath) and then scooping, ugh. It is sticky and they really bake in the shape that the scoop is so you have to fix any imperfections. Then they bake for what seems like forever. Mine got really dark so I finally took them out. When they had cooled, Chef tested them and there were almost perfect. The shape, color, outer crust and inner goodness were all great but they were a tad, small tad, undercooked. My first failure. The other problem is that the batter only made enough for one batch so I have to do the whole thing over, not just the baking part. Ha, funny. I ran out of time. I didn't get my oatmeal cookies measured, mixed, or baked off and as a group, we didn't get our brownies made up.
Thursday... Our class got to have dinner in the restaurant tonight. They want us to get to know each other better, relax, and also see what we will soon be producing. The school restaurant puts out a 4 course lunch and dinner. All for a very reasonable price (lunch is $12 and dinner is $18, seriously. 4 courses for that price!!!). All tips go to fund scholarships for the students. If you want to see how fancy the menu is, you can go here. Dinner was fantastic. I had roasted cauliflower soup, an endive salad with apples, walnuts, Oregon blue cheese, and a cider vinaigrette, my entree was crab pappardelle (mmm... crab season is among us), and for dessert a piece of angel food cake served with 3 sorbets in a tuile. OH MY.
The dinner was superb but we lost several kitchen hours because of it. We knew this yesterday so feeling slightly behind, our group decided to go in early today. Well, 3 out of 4 of us made it. We were told that there is space around 2 pm in the kitchens, which means 2 hours without distraction, right? No, not right. There is 2 other classes going on. One is in where the ingredients are and another is practicing eggs where there was only one table free for us to us, at 2:30. Half an hour wasted... Blah.Since I am ahead of the group by one recipe, I start on the group brownies. I hate brownies. I don't eat them, don't make them, and I was nervous. Hee, hee. I was so distracted in the kitchen that I sort of leave out the sugar... but only for a bit. A group mate catches it before I add the flour. Phew. Anyway, I only manage to get the brownies in and one sheet of oatmeal raisin before I ran out of time. Oh, I over cooked my oatmeal raisin too. In the kitchens, we don't time things. We are supposed to have internal timers. Well, mine was off. The oatmeal raisin cookies were so overcooked that they just snapped in half. I still had 12 balls of dough from the batch so after dinner I tossed in 6 (saved 6 just in case I burned them again) and they might work. I will have Chef check them tomorrow and let you know.
My mates did get a few things done so we are pretty much even at the table. We each have some failures and no time to make it up in class.
Before dinner, Chef H demoed how to make biscuits, scones, and Chef demoed lemon pound cake. We started to scale out the ingredients after dinner. We all get to try lemon pound cake but she wanted us to choose between biscuits or scones. I went with the scones, cream scones... I'm drooling just thinking about it. Chef H's biscuits look sooooo flaky in that picture. I am definitely making those for Paula with some gravy and hashbrowns (please come to Oregon soon 3sott and Paula!)Oh, and back to the other class practicing eggs. I love it when a breakfast place can make an egg over medium correctly. I understand it takes practice. The culinary students at my school go through racks of eggs (4-5 dozen) just practicing the different eggs. Daily. GO SCHOOL!!! Send them out to make breakfast eggs correctly. Thanks! But really, seeing that much fried eggs made my stomach turn. The smell was crazy.
I am glad Alan is finally back in Portland with me. He was at home in Eugene to work for part of the week. I missed him. It is nice to have someone to share the goodies and information with at the end of the night.
I am going in early again tomorrow. Coconut macaroons, meet your maker. Wwwaaa...
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