Do you like your pancakes thin in the morning? Do you prefer your desserts lighter and less dense? Or do you like the idea of being able to combine something sweet (i.e. a crepe) with something savory (maybe ham and cheese?) … well then, crepes are for YOU! And it’s super simple, here are some tricks I learned …
1. Use butter. Lots of it, Julia Child style. No oil, no Pam, just buutahh.
2. Flat pan, preferably not nonstick (according to the chef), but I think nonstick is okay, just don’t forget to use #1.
3. Just like pancakes the first couple don’t come out right. The pan needs to be seasoned, the right temperature, and it might take you a crepe or two to get warmed up.
4. Chocolate crepes don’t taste good. Correction they don’t really taste like anything. A better bet would be to take a regular crepe and just add chocolate or Nutella inside.
5. Classically a crepe should have no coloring and still taste “raw.” Americans prefer the color to be a little brown and crispier. I agree with the latter.
6. When plating them (not serving them from a cart, although that’s good too) reheat the crepe and DO NOT place the ice cream directly near the hot crepe, it’s poor presentation skill to have the ice cream melt before it gets to the customer.
7. Recipe will be modified and posted soon!
Today concluded our chocolate unit for level 2. Our written test is tomorrow (which I have not even begun to start thinking about), and our 2-day sculpture piece was due today. Mine didn’t turn out half as bad as I thought it would, so I can’t complain, but let’s just say I don’t think I can smell, taste or look at chocolate for a while.
Today in school we made chocolate boxes. Literally, boxes made out of chocolate. Edible boxes that we filled with chocolate truffles worth more than my little finger with the amount of Valrhona chocolate in them.
These aren’t your mainstream marketed truffles. No preservatives, no additives, simply clean ingredients. Chocolate, butter, cream, and liquor. Covered in tempered chocolate and cocoa powder. They were so good I wouldn’t let myself bring them home because I’d eat them all.
The skill we were meant to master was tempering. Which means heating and cooling the chocolate (depending on type) to certain temperatures to create an ideal “snap and shine.” The problems I encountered were tempering the correct thickness, the tendency for the chocolate to break, and the streaky quality chocolate gets during “fat bloom.”
I’ve included a few pictures. The truffles are supposed to look organic and not perfect circles, as they would in an artisanal hand rolled shop. Godiva isn’t artisanal, sorry. But then again, my box doesn’t look ANYTHING but sloppy. Eh, it’s a learning experience.
My parents’ nickname for me is “Jello.” I’m not sure how or why jello, and say, not “pudding” or “jelly” or even “idiot,” but I think I must resemble an old college friend of theirs that was a bit of a klutz. Actually I know I must resemble this unknown individual, because let’s face it I’m a bull in a china shop. I’m the most athletic klutz you’ll ever meet, an unusual combination on most days, but on others days …
I’ve also figured out my least favorite time of the year in New York: holiday time. There are NO New Yorkers, just tourists. Or, all the natives are aware of how incredibly annoying slow walking tourists are with large shopping bags and how freaking cold it is, that they choose to hibernate. I think I’m going to pick up this trait asap.
That being said, I was freezing, cake in hand and headed to lululemon to buy a new pair of workout pants. I left my cake. My beautifully covered, soaked, coated cake. The cake I was supposed to bring to my New Year Eve party … Whoops!
There are many many things that a wonderful smile can get for you … one of them is partialness. Partialness to me.
1. My fruit bavarian tasted good (sour/sweet mixture of peach and passion fruit puree), but was cooked wrong. Embarrassingly the gelatin didn’t fully melt. Gross. So I strained it, I did what Tim Gun tells me every week on Project Runway, I “made it work.” That being said without gelatin the mixture was soupy. My whipped cream was barely soft peaks, so that added to the lack of viscosity. Stuck that puppy in a pastry bag and freezered it, thank God for the freezer. But like I said it tasted good!
What I did do right is cover my cake. No cracks, no breaks, perfect according to the chef and I agree. Maybe a little thinner, but I just said the atmosphere this cake would be presented in was a warm spring day. The thicker layer of fondant helps protect the cake against the elements. Ha!
I’ve included a few classmates cakes, they’re much better, feel free to agree. But I stuck to my plan, so I can’t complain …
A genoise is a simple French cake. Its an egg foam cake, which means the cake is leavened by creating air within the egg protein structures. No baking powder, baking soda, or 
If there is ONE “celebrity” chef I could be it would be Ina Garten. She’s the cat’s pajamas. Swap the adorable Jewish husband who eats everything she makes for a tall, dark, handsome Catholic that eats everything I make. The barnyard style house of the East End for a southern colonial in Charleston. And the soiree of gay men for my dearest best friends. Done!
Three of the Petite Fours were my responsibility, three were my partner’s. One was combined. For one of my original three, I was inspired by Ina, specifically her Fleur De Sel Caramels. So instead of using the recipe the school provides, I used hers. And it was better, way better. In fact, during my evaluation, the chef said that this recipe was better than the school’s and should be used instead. WOW, huge compliment, go Ina … and ME!
So this post is intended for all the sugar lovers of the world. It’s a recipe we created in class called, Pate de Fruits, which are basically fruit jellies covered in granulated sugar. Think really high-end gummy worms with REAL fruit puree.
Mix the pectin and smaller amount of sugar together. Add the fruit puree to a high rimmed saute pan and allow to boil. Add pectin/sugar mixture. Bring the mixture to a roaring boil. Add remaining ingredients. Be careful but unafraid, use a candy thermometer and allow the mixture to reach 230 degree F. This is known as the “soft ball sugar stage.” Pour the mixture into a well oiled bottomless cake rim placed on a silpat. Allow to cool. Unmold, cut, and cover pieces in granulated sugar.
