Sick of Sugar

Plating attempt #1: Chocolate Pot de Creme

Remember when I started my first round of Baking & Pastry, I commented here about the fundamental differences between cooking and baking? Well, between then and now, I have determined that although I am a fan of eating baked goods and desserts, I'm definitely not a baker. For me, cooking savory food is not only more forgiving, it's more fun.

Although improvisation and creativity are possible on the pastry side, at our novice level the recipes really must be followed exactly or you'll end up with a ruined dessert. I've seen it happen multiple times this week. One little mistake and the macaroons will be mush, the sponge cake like a sheet of leather, or the creme brulee watery. This makes scaling all of the ingredients and following the recipe step-by-step rather stressful.

In B&P II we're now putting together some pretty complicated multi-component desserts which each incorporate several different techniques. Last week we had a whole day of custards—creme brulee, pot de creme, creme caramel, panna cotta—and this week we'll incorporate a creme brulee center into an elegant cake. We spent the whole day today working on garnishes, like tuiles made with hippen paste (the batter that also makes crisp fortune cookies), chocolate cigarettes, and spun sugar. I usually think of these garnishes as throw-aways—although they're all edible, they're not on the plate for flavor. I could take them or leave them, but pastry chefs tend to be artistic and spend a lot of time and energy making the plate look pretty.

My second plate: Creme Caramel

Third plate: Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

The dessert that I had the most fun with isn't baked at all: bananas foster. This could be considered a "cook's dessert" because it is made pretty much using a saute technique. You make a pan sauce by caramelizing sugar and adding butter, brown sugar, orange juice, zest, banana liqueur and rum, and then cook some bananas in it. Then you can even put on a show and let the alcohol flame up for a true flambe presentation. There's no waiting by the oven and praying your dish will come out well. You can taste the sauce and adjust as you go. It may not look as pretty and elegant as the fancy plated desserts we've done, but this is the one I would order, hands-down:

Bananas Foster, no fancy plating required!

Last Friday, after a long morning of filling piping bags with decorating chocolate, making mediocre chocolate designs on plates, and plating our custards over and over again for the chefs, I came home with a bunch of groceries to make dinner for some guests. Zack's mom and grandparents were coming into town and I wanted to cook for them. We'd be going out to nice restaurants the next two nights, so I went with something homey and casual: spaghetti and meatballs.

I thought I'd be burnt out from working on pastries all morning, but in fact I was more excited than ever to cook. I turned on some music and made tomato sauce from scratch, then made turkey meatballs as it bubbled on the stove. I improvised as I went, adding freshly grated parmesan, chopped parsley, minced garlic, and a little bit of lemon zest to the meatballs (my take on Jeff Seltzer's famous recipe!); a dash of balsamic vinegar and sugar to the sauce. For a side, I simply roasted asparagus with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. I couldn't have been happier and thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon in the kitchen. But when it came to dessert, I was burnt out. Knowing that Zack and his mom love chocolate-covered strawberries, I melted some chocolate over a double boiler and dipped away—no recipe, no scaling ingredients necessary.