Finding my feet in the kitchen.

Lesson Two: Swiss rolls and Italian meringue.

I am finding my feet a little more in class now and don't feel as lost as my first day which is always good. We made the same sponge recipe as last week but instead of placing them in Sponge tins we used a tray and made swiss rolls. One traditional swiss roll and the other black forest.

To make the swiss roll follow the recipe of the sponge cake recipe but bake it at 220 degrees celsius for 10-12 min. You have to be very careful not to overcook the sponge and let it go dry otherwise it wont roll nicely and it will crumble and fall apart as soon as you start rolling it.

There is enough mixture for a swiss roll pan and one (or two, depending on how aerated your batter is) sponge tins.

Once the swiss roll cake was cooled we placed the cake on a tea towel, smothered one side with jam, Chantilly cream and dotted it with cherries. We started rolling it tucking it tightly in the tea towel and then placing it in the fridge to firm up. Once it is firmed up you remove it from the fridge, trim the ends and cut it in half. Chefs treat :)  ... the ends not the whole other half!

Tradition swiss roll with cherries.

We dusted the traditional swiss roll with icing sugar and served it as it is.

With the black forest swiss roll we covered the top with a chocolate glaze (from a tub... the pastry chef at work wasn't too happy that we didn't make our own) which we had to heat up and pour over the cake evenly and decorated it with chocolate curls. I had beginners luck with the chocolate curls. They turned out very well as you can see (if I say so myself), then I showed the pastry chef at work and he asked me to do them at work and 2nd time round they were a flop. Practice makes perfect though.

Black Forest swiss roll.

With our left over mixture which we baked in a sponge cake tin we made Italian meringue to ice it. If you have never had italian meringue go and make it now. Thats an order. It is delicious!!!

Italian Meringue
200g egg whites
400g caster sugar
120g water
(The pastry chef at work says it doesn't matter how much water you add because you boil it away anyway. The more water you add the longer time it will take to get to your desired temperature. When I make italian meringue at work I don't measure the water but I think this is a good guide anyway.)

1. Heat the water and sugar over the stove.
2. At the same time as you are heating the water and sugar, start whisking your egg whites to stiff peaks and fluffy in a standing mixer.
3. Once the sugar mixture reaches 120 degrees celsius- this is called soft ball stage or Boule. (It is called soft ball stage because if you drop a spoonful of it in cold water you can make it into a ball with your finger tips.), pour it slowly down the side of the bowl into the fluffy egg whites while still whisking in the mixer.
4. Keep whisking until the mixture is cool.

5. Place into a piping bag and pipe onto your cake or use a cranked spatular and ice your cake as desired.

We then blow torched the top to give it a different look. A must try at home!

Delicious!

And I brought my $5 to take my cakes home and an extra $2 for two boxes.


Thanks for reading and keep watching for more delicious treats next week!

Pastry School: New Kid on the block.

Lesson 1: Sponge cakes (or as our French Pastry teacher says it... spooonge cakes)

This was my first day at a new campus, with new people and a class that is already established that is 3 times the size of my previous one. I hate being the new kid but feel I am getting better at it. I have also started a new job doing just patisserie, (hence the wind changing post) and am also the new kid on the block there too. Having avoided moving schools (except the transition to high school) I avoided this title for 13 years and getting it 4 times in one year I now understand what its like being a newbie and apologise to all newbies for not being more welcoming on your first day!

We kicked off the semester with cakes. First lesson we went with traditional and classic. The sponge cake and chocolate pound cake.

For the sponge cake we whisked by hand at the start in a bowl that fitted a mini-hobart (a hobart is a huge kitchen aid that is so big it sits on the floor, the ones at school are in between a hobart and a kitchen aid) 225g eggs, 160g sugar and vanilla over a bain-marie until it is approx 50-60 degrees celsius and changes colour slightly. We then attach the whisk attachment to the mini-hobart and whisk the mixture in the machine until it doubles in size, turns pale and fluffy and is no longer warm.

You then fold in the 80g bakers flour and 75g cornflour gently, divide into your lined tins and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 15-20 min. When they are done they should spring back when you touch the centre. You must remove the cakes from the tins immediately to stop any moisture forming. Then cool on a wire wrack until the fun begins.

Plain sponge and chocolate pound cakes. Straight from the oven!

The chocolate pound cake. Yes it is as delicious as it sounds!

A pound cake traditionally has a pound of each ingredient, hence the name; pound cake. 

Firstly we creamed 250g butter by hand until there was no lumps, added the 250g sugar and whisked until it was pale and fluffy looking. Next we incorporated the 250g eggs one at a time then finally the 170g bakers flour, 50g cornflour and 35g cocoa ditching our whisk and using a spatular. Divide into two lined tins and bake at 170 degrees celsius for 25-30min. Turn out of tin and cool on wire wrack.

Next we got to decorate them and make them more taste then they already were. 

With the sponge cakes we made a sandwich of raspberry jam and Chantilly cream (Chantilly cream is whipped cream with 10% icing sugar added) slicing the top layer so that when you cut it to serve you don't squash all the filling out. 

Sponge cake with jam and cream.

With our chocolate pound cakes we covered them in chocolate ganache making them even more delicious and chocolatey!

Chocolate pound cakes covered in chocolate ganache.

Unlike Commercial Cookery we get to take what we make home for a $5 fee, cash only ($1 extra if you need a cake box). I however didn't know this on my first day and had no cash on me so either someone else got to buy my cakes or the lovely ladies who do our washing up ended up with them.

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more delicious goodies!

Change.

Feeling a change in the wind...

Show and Tell.

Tell: 

We did emulsion sauces this week at school which meant manual labour. Ok it wasn't that bad but I am going to try and become ambidextrous just because of this lesson. An emulsion is a mixture of two liquids that don't like each other and come together to make one. We made a hot emulsion; hollandaise and a cold emulsion sauce; mayonnaise. Both require you to whisk egg yolks and fat until you get a thick creamy delicious sauce.

For the mayonnaise we whisked a teaspoon of french mustard, a teaspoon of white vinegar with two egg yolks together until pale. We then added about 230mL of olive oil in a fine drizzle while continuously whisking. If you add too much oil at once or over whisk it splits and you end up with gooey oily mess. The way to fix this is add a teaspoonful of boiling water to your mixture and whisk or if its really split start again but whisking an egg yolk in a separate bowl and adding your split mixture to your single egg yolk like you wee doing with the oil. To avoid over mixing your mayonnaise don't whisk it when you have stopped adding your oil and only whisk when adding your oil. Have I confused you yet?

For the hollandaise there was a little more whisking involved. You start by making a reduction of 30mL white wine, 30mL vinegar, 30mL water, 1 tbsp of finely shopped onion and a few peppercorns crushed. Reduce this until the alcohol is cooked away and it has reduced. It should taste bitter when you taste it (nasty!). You then strain your reduction and add your 3 egg yolks to this. Whisk over simmering water until it is so fluffy it can hold its own. This is where you need to make sure NOT to scramble your eggs. Remember that protein sets at 60 degrees so you can not let your eggs get to above 60 degrees. A trick we were taught was that if the bottom of the bowl is too hot for your hand then its too hot for the eggs so take it off the heat for a bit and keep whisking. You are in control of the heat! When the eggs get to the creamy extra fluffy stage you can start adding your clarified butter in a fine drizzle while whisking. We added about 250mL of clarified butter to this mixture and it turned out deliciously rich. 

(Health tip: don't keep homemade hollandaise for more than 20min. Because it has to be kept at blood temperature it is most dangerous temp for bacteria to grow in (the danger zone: 5-60 degrees Celsius). Just keep it in the fridge you say? your sauce will go solid because of the butter in it. Just don't want my readers to attempt this delicious sauce and then think they can keep it for the next day or something like that because its a lot of work for only 20 min)

Whats clarified butter you ask? It's also known as ghee. It is where the milk solids are removed from the butter so you can heat it at a higher temperature without burning it. Here is a link where some chef does it on youtube. I did it slightly different in class and melted the butter using a double boiler and the milk solids sunk to the bottom and I carefully tipped the clear section into a jug without getting the white bit. Everyone does it differently and I couldn't fine a clip with someone doing it my way. Do what ever works for you :)

Show:

This is my deconstructed prawn cocktail with mayonnaise and a derivative of mayonnaise; cocktail sauce.

Toffee flowers that come on top of a croquembouche for a wedding at work. YUM :)

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more show and tell :)

Terrible Mother Hen.

Two weeks in and after having multiple babies I'm going to hire a babysitter. I can't hack it anymore!

Yes babies.

We were told in class that making stock is like looking after a baby. You have to constantly watch it (so it doesn't start boiling) and care for it (keep skimming the impurities off the top). I had to share my baby with the teacher this week and after having it drilled into us now for two weeks that our stocks are our babies I still wasn't prepared when he yelled out in a thick Irish accent..

"OUR BABY IS CRYING!"

I just stood there looking at him dumbstruck thinking 'huh?' until I saw our stock bubbling away out of control. oops!

I've had 2 Brown beef baby, 1 white chicken baby, 1 white fish baby and a brown chicken baby. Been a busy mother hen over the past two weeks and ready to hand them all off to daycare.

Brown beef baby in the back and my White fish baby in the front.

If your keen to make a brown beef baby then here is the process;

• Brown your beef bones and pat off any excess fat.
• Place in a pot with COLD water covering all the bones.
• Bring to the boil and reduce immediately to a simmer- like you have the shakes after a night out.
• Deglaze the pan you used to cook the bones in and add liquid to stock pot.
• Cook for 4-6 hours continuously skimming the top taking off the impurities.
• In the last hour of cooking add your browned mirepoix and bouquet garni. 

Hint: If you boil your stock it will become cloudy (a no no!), if you use hot water to start you cook the impurities in rather then letting them come to the top (also a no no!) and if you add your mirepoix too early the vegetables will soak all the flavour up and your left with a water baby.

I am hanging out for the soups and sauces part of this topic but as we keep getting reminded in class; you need a good stock to make a good sauce. So... keep an eye on your baby readers because a good sauce can make a dish an a bad sauce can ruin it!

Enjoy making babies and thanks for reading again!

Fairytale Kitchen.

Over the past few weeks I've been Cinderella, apprentice pastry chef, nervous wreck and dish-pig. Which was my favourite you ask? The second of course!

At work with Winter closing in, the sea side dining scene is coming to an all time low. Summer usually brings in over 200 people for lunch alone and today we had 10 which means lucky me gets to play Cinderella in the kitchen; getting on my hands and knees or standing on benches scrubbing the walls. There is only one difference... I have no ball to go to, no fairy godmother and no shiny glass slippers.

The slow in customers does have its perks though. I was the resident apprentice pastry chef over the weekend & loved it! Frenchie showed me how to make lemon caramel, chocolate ganache, vanilla panna-cotta and how to make bread. I got to plate up desserts all day and finished work smelling like chocolate and sugar... not prawns. I felt inspired :)

Being a nervous wreck was last week because I had my practical exam for TAFE. We had to cook:
- Pasta with Duxelles in a Cream sauce
- Pan Fried Chicken breast with a tomato reduction sauce along side buttered beans, glazed carrots and chateau potatoes.
- Apple compote with orange segment garnish
- Anglaise Sauce

I was a huge nerd and practiced the 2 nights before :) Good news though. I didn't scramble my Anglaise sauce...

Cooking my custard with my ice bowl and spoon ready.

AND...

Practising my tiny wine barrel potatoes :)

because I practiced my (hated) turned potatoes I had the hang of it. Yes, I stood in my kitchen for what felt like hours and wasted about half of each potato turning them. Was worth it though as they turned out pretty damn good ;)

*Here's an interesting fact about Chateau potatoes that I found out the other week; the reason the potatoes are turned and have 7 sides for chateau potatoes is because the 7 sides represent the 7 wine regions in France and the potato looks like a tiny wine barrel. It all makes sense now... I still don't like doing them and am very happy I don't have to do them at work.


Dish-pig = blurrr! That was me today. As I mentioned before its slow at the moment at work and will only get slower due to the cold weather. This means they don't roster on a kitchen hand and me being the shit kicker was demoted to dish-pig. Ok I exaggerate a little... it wasn't all day but it felt like I had the worst pots and pans to wash up compared to everyone else.

New Subject at TAFE tomorrow... soups, stocks and sauces.

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more frequent (I promise) updates!

Angry Daddy.

Tafe holidays are over this week which means I'm back to college this Wednesday. I've been working the extra day I'm normally at tafe which means I've had a few more hours around the kitchen trying to find my place in the kitchen world.

The french pastry chef at work loves to come up to me randomly during the day and give me tips and tricks about pastry and cakes or like this friday it was about the bread.... when it has had it's second proving it should feel like a breast. Thats right a boob. As he is telling me in a thick french accent which I find extremely hard to understand he is holding one of his own breasts then to my surprise grabs the dough with both hands like he is grabbing a pair of boobs. At first when he started to explain I didn't really understand what he was talking about but as soon as he grabbed his breast then the dough like a pair of boobs I understood completely. Shocked and not knowing what else to do I laughed nervously and politely nodded. What else could I have done...!?

The head chef has also returned back to the kitchen after his wedding weekend is now over. The whole kitchen knew this when on Saturday he yelled across the kitchen;

"Daddy's back and Daddy's angry!!"   

At first I didn't think I heard right as no one else in the kitchen reacted like I wanted to which was to start giggling uncontrollably... well the rest of the kitchen aren't 22 year old girls either so I held my giggles in and continued on peeling my prawns.

A note when ordering prawns: Dear Readers, next time when you go to a restaurant and order the prawns think about the poor shitkicker in the kitchen who has spent hours and hours de-heading, peeling and de-pooping your lovely cooked prawn on your plate and please, please, please enjoy every mouthful...because the poor shitkicker is probably swearing every time a prawn order comes in knowing that tomorrow they'll be doing more de-heading, peeling and de-pooping.

Thanks for reading! More next week on what I learn at college and yes I'll try keep you up to date with more tips from the french pastry chef.