Regional Cuisines of Asia - India

Johnny Cakes. J.C. Johnny Costco. I think that John, pretty much has the most nicknames of anyone in the class. He has a cloud of drama that surrounds him, though just enough to be fun, or funny, or made fun of, depending on he day. We all love him. I think.
John's demonstration ended our unit on Asia with a bang. One of the best presentations to date, he gave a nice sampling and a great overview of Indian cuisine. The first dish he made was a rice dish with chicken called Hyderabad Biryani . A kind of a layered chicken casserole with basmati rice, chicken and a wonderful array of spices taken from a masala dabba, which is an Indian spice box that evidently every Indian household has. Next he made a salad of cucumbers and shredded carrot that he dressed with lemon juice and a little seasoning. He demonstrated how to make an Indian flat bread called chapati.

A Punjabi ( northern India) style bread that is grilled on a flat iron pan. It kinda puffed up as it cooked - like a tortilla.
The last thing he made was a

traditional Indian desserts which was made from ground nuts, milk and sugar served over rice vermicelli noodles and rose syrup called Falooda. Very different.

As our class made Naan, Tandoori chicken and and array of chutneys, the whole school took on the scent of India.


An aroma of spice.
Goodnight.

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Thailand

I spent all weekend learning how to do a power point presentation, (thank you Matt Maxson), practicing Thai recipes and going out to Japanese restaurants for dinner.

I put together a nice Thai menu compliments of Joyce Jue, a wonderful cook, teacher and author that I have been lucky enough to take classes from over the years. I used all her recipes for my dishes and loved learning how to navigate my way through a power point program.
Some things never change. I have never liked speaking in front of a group and I still don't. After my slide show on Thailand I began the demonstration and once behind the stove I felt much better. Pictured above are the chilies I used for my dishes and below the Kaffir lime (rind only) and leaves that I used for the curry paste. Jim Traina (taster extraordinaire) bought me a kaffir lime tree for my birthday a few years back, so I had the fresh leaves and lime on hand.





I began with a Lemongrass soup, then made a glass noodle salad, Scallops in a Red Curry Sauce, and finished with Mangoes over sticky rice and coconut milk for dessert.
Whew. One presentation down and one to go!


After I finished, Chef demonstrated a Pad Thai and a Massaman Curry with Chicken.
Another feast.
I came home, went for a run, then took a long hot shower. I still smell like fish sauce.

Goodnight.

Plated Desserts - Bavarian Raspberry Mousse and Panna Cotta with Chocolate Ganache

These plated desserts are quite time consuming. I learned so much and had fun coming up with various plate designs and practicing all the piping and swirling techniques. It reminded me of art class in school. It does take practice. There are so many different components. If you were making this for a crowd you would really have to have plan ahead. Pictured above is the finished Panna Cotta served on a fresh raspberry sauced with with a little sour cream sauce swirled in to produce the web design. Topped with a chocolate chip and some diced mango and mango puree on the side,.
The chip alone took me 20 minutes to produce. Glenn's dessert was the best in the class. (below) He just has that artist's touch.

Taking coated chocolate, melting and and shaping it is very challenging. (right)
So were the glass cookies. (below) You spread a very thin layer of cookie paste on a parchment paper then bake until golden. As they cool, you cut into strips and wrap them around a baking ring. They are fragile and have to be just the right temperature to work.


The raspberry mousse was served on a pool of chocolate ganache, topped with my broken glass cookie and a dollop of whipped cream and a fresh strawberry.


This was our last day with Chef Thomas. We will miss him but I think we are all ready to start making and eating some real food. The sugar does start buzzing you out after a awhile.
I've heard that some people can live on chocolate...
Not me.

Goodnight

Plated Desserts - Raspberry Mousse and Panna Cotta

Today was a prep day. We had just two desserts to get ready for plating tomorrow.
The first was a Vanilla Panna Cotta. This dessert is of Italian origin and literally translates into English as "cooked milk," which it is. It also has a bit of gelatin in it so that it sets up like custard.
The next recipe was a raspberry mousse. This is basically a creme anglaise base that you add raspberry puree to before folding it into whipped cream.

We also made a base for a "glass cookie" that we will make tomorrow and use as a garnish. Once these two desserts were safely tucked away in the refrigerator to set up overnight, we spent the remainder of the class practicing our chocolate piping. It looks much easier than it is.
If you have bad handwriting you probably have bad chocolate pipe writing.
As is the case for me.
Practice makes perfect.
Goodnight.

Plated Desserts - Strawberry Shortcake, Apple Saks.

Never never take a tart out of the oven, that has a removable bottom, without holding the two pieces together. I guess I just had my hand on the bottom center and before I knew it I was wearing a burning bracelet. Everyone who caught sight of my wrists this weekends quickly averted their eyes as to "not notice" the slash marks. I felt like Bethina425 interrupted.
I know this picture looks a bit creepy but please, learn from my mistake!
It really was the tart pan and not my Baking and Pastry grade.



We will spend the next three days practicing plated desserts. Today began with Apple Saks (above) on a maple Syrup Sauce, topped with vanilla ice cream and a "tumbleweed cookie". It was beautiful, delicious and fun to make. We also a made Strawberry Shortcake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream atop a Sabayon sauce. A wonderful sauce made with egg yolks, sugar and champagne that was fairly easy - just a lot of whisking! Just remember 6 -6-12. Six egg yolks, 6 ounces of sugar and twelve ounce of champagne. Whisk over a bain-marie and Voila. Sabayon.

You get a sense of really being creative when assembling these desserts.

The elements of a plated dessert consist of the base dessert, a sauce, something creamy, something crunchy and a garnish. I like the these set of parameters to work with. It makes sense. Rules and balance.

Goodnight.

Baking and Pastry - Final

On the days of the final I always like to get into class a little early. This morning I arrived around six o’clock and set up my station, pulled out my dough’s and made the butter cream for the cake. We took a break at 7 to take the written final then went to work. I rolled out my pie first and got that safely tucked away in the oven. I made the Bavarian cream for my tart then prepared all my fruit. I carefully assembled the tart (I had the shell the day before) then set it in the refrigerator to set up a bit before adding another coating of apricot glaze. My shell came out a bit too dark but it was going to have to do. I did not want to try and bake another one. It gets pretty crazy with 15 people trying to bake at the same time. In fact yesterday when I baked my chocolate sponge cake, I went to check on it and realized that the oven had been turned off. This happens a lot and is very frustrating. The dial for the oven is the same as for the burners and you can mix them up pretty easily. Oh well. I moved it to another oven and hoped for the best. That night I made a back in case I ran into a problem when I tried to cut it into layers. It wasn’t much of a back up, I forgot to put in the melted butter. When I realized this, the cake had already baked for a few minutes. I figured better late than not at all.

It came out a little flat. At least I would have a choice as to which was worse.

I didnt have to choose because I ended up giving my extra cake to my partner Dennis. He needed it more than I did. I’ll say no more.

My decorating went just OK - a little shaky with the piping. My pie crust was too thick but very flavorful and my tart came out nice, though my wrists were welting up not so nicely from a fumble from the oven the day before.

Tomorrow I am taking a day off. It is Mothers Day weekend and my husband and I are heading out of town with two other couples. We rented a house up North at Sea Ranch and all I know is that I will be bringing an Apple Pie, a Fresh Fruit Tart, a Chocolate Cake and my golf clubs.

Goodnight.

Baking and Pastry - Cake Decorating

Go ahead. Dive in.
That how inviting this cake looked.

I'll give you the evolution of decorating a cake, Chef Thomas style.
He made this process look so easy. I had to remind myself that he has been doing this for over 30 years.
It was beautiful to watch.
He first sliced the crust off the top of the cake to level it. Next he sliced the cake into thirds and frosted them together. After covering the whole cake with a "crumb" layer, he poured a ganache (melted chocolate and cream) layer on the top of the
cake and gave it a spin, applying pressure in the center of the cake with a spatula to create the spiral effect. It reminded me of a potters wheel.









Next, he took the almond sponge cake that we had made the day before and began the assembly for a roulade. He spread out a layer of raspberry butter cream then rolled it up.

Chef was trying to be serious but with the jokes flying around this morning he couldn't keep a straight face. It's all about having fun and eating well.






































Goodnight.

Baking and Pastry - Sponge Cakes

Sponge cakes are made from the three ingredients no baker can do without-eggs, sugar and flour. The basic ratio is 12-12-12. That would be twelve eggs, twelve ounces of flour and twelve ounces of sugar. Some sponge cakes also have a little melted butter.
Classically-made sponge cakes (Genoise in French) do not contain baking powder or baking soda. Their volume and light texture are created from the air that is whipped into the eggs. Today we made two different types of sponge cakes using two different methods. The first was an almond sponge cake using the chiffon method. The eggs are separated and whipped separately then folded together along with the flour and almond paste. The second cake we made was a chocolate sponge using the warm foaming method in which you first heat the sugar and eggs togetherer (low heat so the eggs don't cook) on the stove over simmering water just until the sugar has dissolved. This improves the emulsifying properties of the eggs. Then you whip them at high speed until they reach their maximum volume. The flour and cocoa powder is folded in along with little melted butter.

Lastly, we made a butter cream frosting. I now, unfortunately, know how much butter is in this frosting. It didn't stop me from eating a few spoonfuls of it though. It tasted like it's name and was heavenly. We
scaled out all the ingredients for a carrot cake that we will make and decorate tomorrow. We will also use the almond sponge to make a roulade and then decorate the chocolate cake. I can't wait. The butter cream is waiting for me.

Goodnight.

Baking and Pastry, Pate a Choux, Puff Pastry

I guess the field trip yesterday took a toll on some of the people in the class, for as I walked in this morning, I found about half of my classmates missing. I have to say that having a class of only eight people was pretty nice. We all were able to spread out and have our own mixers. It was much less chaotic.

Chef Thomas demonstrated the making of Pate a Choux dough.

This is really more of a cooked roux that you cool and add eggs into.

You begin by heating milk, butter and salt in a sauce pan on the stove top until it comes to a rolling boil. You add flour into this and stir constantly until a mass is formed and pulls away from the edge of the pan. This is then transferred into a mixing bowl where it is cooled slightly then slowly but surely you incorporate the eggs into the mixture one by one, fully mixing in between additions until all the eggs have been added. It is fairly thick dough that it them piped into shapes. We made classics crème puffs (top) and

éclairs (right).
No swans for us culinaries. We leave the fancy stuff to the full time Baking and Pastry students.

Next we took our puff pastry and made some diamonds and pinwheels with them. It was fun. This is definitely an art that takes some time to master.

The day went quickly and we finished early.

Having only eight people in the class has its advantages. I will now be able to get a jump start on beating the traffic out of the Bay Area. I’m heading up to my cousin Jeannie’s house in Boonville for a weekend getaway. I get to help out at a wine dinner at Handley Vineyards (my cousins works there), then the following day we’re running in a local 5K race.

Wine tasting, cooking, a little exercise, rest, and catching up with my favorite cousin.

In my book, this will be pretty close to a perfect weekend.

Baking and Pastry - Moonside Bakery Field Trip

I dreamt of the sourdough starter all night long, billowing out of it's container, and filling up my house like "The Blob." I finally got up at 4:30 to find it behaving itself in it's bin. I took the croissant dough out of the freezer to thaw and made up my focaccia dough. I rolled it out, leaving it to rise in a sheet pan then loaded everything up in the car. I don't know about this baking thing. It all happens pretty early.
I picked up some classmates at Pete's and we all headed over the hill for our Field Trip to the Moonside Bakery. I was reminded of the movie One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Jack Nicholson. After all, this was our first outing since January, and some of my classmates are a little suspect. I made a mental note to try not to play the part of Nurse Ratchet too much, tempting as it was.

Chef Thomas was waiting for us with fresh pastries and coffee. He immediately put the sourdough starter in the big mixer with the flour and water and started the dough. It's a bit difficult to get a perspective here, but to give you a comparison, this mixer was bigger than my kitchen table and held about fifty pounds of bread dough.
There is a rhythm to a bakery and if you miss a beat you disturb the song. While the bread was mixing we scaled out the challah dough, rolled and braided it. While that was proofing we formed and benched our baguettes and rounds. We egg washed and baked our challa bread then went back to do the final panning of the sour dough breads. While those were proofing, we rolled out the croissants. It was a steady and comfortable rhythm that was very grounding and satisfying. It brought to my mind the biblical examples of bread being the substance of life and the comparisons of the Kingdom of God being like a yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough. (Luke 13:21)
OK. I went from Nurse Ratchet to Evangelist. Any way, bread making moves me.
Sometimes pictures speak louder than words.























































What a great day. Thank you Chef Thomas.