Brutal

So, last week was exam week, covering Wedding Cakes, Chocolate Showpieces, and Sugar Showpieces.

Monday and Tuesday were practice days, when students are free to do anything they had done in the sections covered by the exam. While those days are great in theory, my opinion is that they tend to be unproductive due to the lack of structure.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were exam days. It started Wednesday morning with the written exam, which was basically pretty easy. It seems, however, that there was one trick question on the test, which kind of pisses me off (because I missed it, and they always tell us there won't be trick questions.)

Then we were given the practical exam, which was:

• Produce a 2-tiered cake, filled and covered with buttercream, and decorated with buttercream. This was due by the end of Thursday.
• Produce a chocolate showpiece to mimic one produced by the Chef. This was due by the end of Thursday. This included 2 discs for a base, and a 200 cm ring with a 140 cm ring inside of it. Also, three small shiny sphere, and three shiny plaquettes. (The fact that it said "shiny" means that they need to sit for 24 hours.) Finally, there needed to be a chocolate rose, and the entire piece should be airbrushed with cocoa butter.
• Produce 3 gum paste roses. (Due anytime.)
• Produce 3 gum paste daisies. (Due anytime.)
• Produce 5 gum paste rose leaves. (Due anytime.)
• Produce a sugar showpiece to mimic one produced by the Chef. This was due by the end of Friday, but some of the elements, such as the pulled rose and the blown apple, could ONLY be done on Friday. In addition, we needed to cast several discs and include at least one pastillage element. (Pastillage must dry for 24-48 hours.) A pulled curl and/or ribbon could be done for extra credit.

So, that's your teaser for today. I'm tired and going to bed right now, so come back to see how I think I did, and hopefully I'll have my grade in a few days and we'll see how Chef thinks I did.

And then this week we start ice creams and sorbets. Umm.... ice cream...

Exams

Thursday finished up exam week for us. The exam covered Tarts, Breads, and Petit Fours.

We had practice days on Friday and Monday where we could make anything we wished to practice for the exam. On Tuesday, we took the written part of the exam, which was 10 quesitons for each section, for a total of 30 questions. The general consensus on the written portion was that we all bombed it pretty badly. This was a lot different than our first exam, which I think we were all very prepared for. On that exam, we all had a pretty good idea of what the questions would likely be on the test, and we had the answers pounded into our heads over the previous 3-4 weeks. But for this exam, I think most of us didn't have a clue what to expect. Anyway, one of the students asked Chef John how we did as he was grading them up front, and he said he thought about only 1 person got an A, most got C's, and even some D's. I'm holding out hope for the A, but I know I got at least a couple questions wrong.

Anyway, right after the exam, we were given the sheet telling us what would comprise the practical part of the exam. By 11:45 on Thursday, we were required to make and turn in the following items:

• 6 blueberry muffins, which must be baked on Day 1, Tuesday
• 9 chocolate eclairs, for which the pate choux must be baked on Day 1
• 12 Madeleines, which must be baked on Day 2, Wednesday
• 1 loaf of Farmer's Bread, which must be baked on the day you draw from a hat, which was Day 2 for me
• 6 plain croissants
• 1 broiche loaf and 6 streussel brioche
• 12 blueberry stressel tarts
• 1 lemon curd tart with italian meringue garnish

This was a pretty daunting task, and everybody jumped in right away. It's really all about being organized and planning your days. For example, if you need to bake Madeleines on day 2, you have to make the batter on Day 1 because it needs to rest at least 12 hours in the fridge. And you need to make the sweet dough for the tart shells right away, because that also must rest overnight. Ditto for broiche and croissants. Then considering that some of the items actually require several components, you've got a lot to get done in 3 days.

Take the lemon curd tart, for example. Day 1, you make the sweet dough and refrigerate it overnight. Day 2, you roll out the dough and bake it in a tart ring, then freeze the shell. On Day 3, you make the lemon curd, fill the shell and bake it for a few minutes to set it, the let it cool on a rack. While it's cooling, you make your italian meringue, then pipe it onto the lemon curd, and go over it with a blowtorch to give it color. I want you all to remember this the next time you're in a pastry shop and wondering why something seems to be a little expensive...

So anyway, I got everything done on Day 1 that I wanted to, except that I had wanted to put one turn into my croissant dough. This was no big deal, since I had all three days to get the croissants done. But everybody was extremely busy, and we worked right down to the wire at 11:45 when Chef told us to stop everything or we'd be penalized for our final grade. But I got my Blueberry Muffins done, baked my pate choux for the eclairs, got my croissant dough and brioche dough started and proofed, and made my Madeleine batter.

Day 2 was still busy, but not quite as hectic. I ended up getting more done than I had hoped for, and turned in my Madeleines, Blueberry Tarts, Brioche, and Farmer's Bread. I also made my chocolate patry cream that I would use to fill the eclairs with on the following day, baked my lemon curd tart shell, made my streussel, and got all 3 turns into my croissant dough.

Day 3 was the final day, when everything was due by 11:45. I went into the day pretty relaxed, knowing that I only had to finish my croissants, fill my eclairs with pastry cream that I had already made, and then make the lemon curd and meringue for my lemon tart. I got going on my croissants first, and they looked awesome. Everyone in class was remarking on how nice they looked before going into the oven, which really boosts your confidence on exam day. It was actually strange how different the croissants looked from person to person. After baking and giving them to Chef, he told me "good job", so I feel pretty good about that.

Filling the eclairs was a pretty fast job, so I actually filled about 2 dozen, rather than just the 9 that were required for the exam. It's funny how fast you can make friends when you have chocolate eclairs to give away....

At that point, I even took time to go have a cup of coffee and freshly baked croissant! Um... breakfast of the gods...

After break, I finished up my lemon tart and turned everything in. I wasn't too thrilled with the meringue decoration on top, but that's life. I'll only get better with piping with more practice.

Couple interesting notes:

• On the first day, Nan finished her croissant dough and then noticed she had forgotten to add her sugar. So she decided to re-make her dough on Day 2, and forgot her sugar again!!! She was not very happy. I told her she should tell Chef that she had made a diabetic version.
• Tara finished her lemon tart, and as she lifted it to more it to a sheet pan so she could turn it in, it broke in half. I thought she was going to cry. Luckily for her, she had leftover dough in the fridge, and she had just enough time to remake the entire thing. I actually think her second tart turned out better than her first!
• Luis and Carlos were teammates, and they finished before everybody else. I finished shortly after them, and it was nice to be done early. General consensus is that Carlos finishes early because he dumps all his dishes in the sink area and leaves them for everybody else to do...

Chocolate Tart, Exam 1

Today we finished our Chocolate Tarts. The shell is a chocolate sweet dough, which is filled with a thin flourless chocolate cake (essentially a chocolate mousse which has been baked), then filled with ganache. The tart is then topped with a chocolate nougatine, which is kind of like a very thin chocolate almond brittle. The end product is very good, but very rich. I brought it home for my lovely preganant wife, Ali, who I'm sure will appreciate it. The tart pictured here is the "stepchild" to our main tart, which Carlos took home. It was made with our leftover scraps, so it is smaller and not as nice looking as our main tart, but it's still pretty tasty.

We also got our results back for the first exam covering Chocolate Candies and Cakes. I got an A- overall, which I'm basically happy with. I thought I performed pretty well on the practial piece of the exam, but there were also a few points that I wish I had done better, so I feel my grade was fair. Some of the others in class were a little more disappointed, while others were not.

We also made Pate Choux today. Pate Choux is best known as the dough used to make cream puffs and eclairs. Tomorrow we'll use the Pate Choux which we baked today to complete our St. Honore, of which I'll try to post a picture. Come back tomorrow for the picture and description of the St. Honore, which also uses the inverted puff pastry I explained previously.

Another note on Inverted Puff Pastry that I omitted yesterday. Another significant difference between Puff Pastry and Inverted Puff Pastry is that since with the inverted form the butter is wrapped around the dough, the end results are different. Rather than a large puff, the butter kind of encases the dough, in essence frying it and creating lots of crispy layers. Mmmmm.... butter....

Finally, I haven't mentioned it yet, but there always seems to be a song floating around our class which ends up in everyone's head. One of the first was "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do" although the word "One" was substituted with "Juan" to poke fun at someone in class. Go ahead, sing it out loud to yourself. You know you want to. And now try not to sing it for the next hour.

Anyway, the song of the day today was "Kung Fu Fighting" for some reason. As usual, I think it was started by Pete. Danny also spreads different tunes, which he normally picks up with his alarm waking him to the oldies station. Poor Chef Bob even feel victim to the song curse, and threated Danny's grade because of it. This from the chef who sings "I gave my love a cherry, that had no stone...", compliments of Animal House, while making Black Forest Cake.

Introduction

The first exam period at the French Pastry School for the Winter, 2007, period was completed last week. Through the first 5 weeks of class, our focus was first on Chocolate Candies, then on Cakes.

In the first few weeks, our focus was on Chocolate Candies, with Chef Sebastien Canonne. Chef Sebastien is arguably one of the finest pastry chefs in the world, and it was truly an honor to have been in his class.

The next few weeks we learned all about cakes with Chef Bob Hartwig. Chef Bob joined the French Pastry School withing th last few years, having spent much of his career in some of the finest hotels in the world. He has a tremendous amount of real world knowledge to share.

Upcoming posts will focus on updating you on everything you've missed over the last few weeks, and follow me through the remaining weeks of the program. For now, however, I will leave you with a reference list of the students you will learn to love over the upcoming weeks and months.

Below is a list of fictional characters in our classroom. The names, descriptions, and any similarities to actual people are purely coincidental, and are not based on real people.

Cast of Characters:
Tim Henkaus, the banker, and your humble blogger
Pete, the Aussie
Danny, the cook from Whole Foods
Trish, the waitress at the pizza place
Carlos, the former military man and prison guard
Luis, the cook from Mexico City
Betty, the daughter of the Executive Chef of a major hotel
Clint, the accountant
Erin, the culinary student
Nat, the sushi chef from Thailand
Sunshine, the graphic designer
Lauren, the birthday cake specialist
Peggy, the cook from Singapore
Kam, the waitress at the buffet restaurant
Max, the theater jack-of-all-trades
Nanette, the investment banker