2,1,1,2...

Is how you make pate a choux...2 parts liquid: 1 part fat: 1 part flour: 2 parts eggs. It is done by the pre-cooking method which pre-gelatinizes the starch. This is done by first bringing the liquid and fat to a boil, then adding in all the flour, and returning it to the heat until a film forms on the bottom and it forms a mass. You then gradually add the eggs in a mixer until the desired consistency is reached (it should slowly slide down the paddle). The pate a choux is then piped into the desired shape, in our case eclairs...








The eclairs are finished by poking two holes in the bottom and inserting pastry cream (twinkie style lol). Ours were then dipped into a chocolate fondant.

Two of my final product

Custards

Boiled Custard: Pastry Cream-The thickener is cornstarch in this custard so part of the milk and half the sugar is scalded. Then tempered into the remaining milk and cornstarch, eggs, and remaining sugar before being returned to the stove and brought to a full boil for 30-45 seconds. It must be whisked constantly to prevent lumps! Its a workout.







Baked Custard: Creme caramel. First sugar is cooked to make the caramel before making the custard. In this case, eggs are the primary thickener and the custard is baked in a water bath to cause coagulation and thickening. The custard follows much of the same steps as boiled custard but after tempering it is poured into ramekins. Our creme caramels then went down to the main student dining area...our first dessert serving!

One of my final products

Baking Techniques

I'm full swing into my second bakeshop, baking techniques. I am loving this class! It is so fun and the Chef we have for the first half is great. I'm a little bummed we switch chefs at the midway point because I really like this one's teaching style. However, I've only heard good things about the next chef we get...This class is a little different in that its shorter and our group is split into an early afternoon and late afternoon class with an hour shared lecture. This allows us to work alone and get more attention since we are learning methods which we will use for the remainder of our careers! Some methods I have done before, and anyone who has baked at home has as well. Some are a bit new.

Using the creaming method we made poundcakes and butter spritz cookies (or shpritz as our German chef would say)...There is so much more to this than I realized...I knew you creamed the sugar and solid fat together to get air in there but the reason eggs are added slowly is to form an emulsion...add them to fast, it breaks, and thats when you get that curdly look...




Blending method produced lovely corn muffins...this is the mix the wet, add the dry, just mix to incorporate deal...


The warm foaming method was used to make our first sponge cakes. I totally overfolded mine when adding the oil at the end because I was afraid it wasn't mixing in...so my sponge was dense like a poundcake. We do this a couple more times before our practical for this class so I'll get it right...I have to! Its on our practical to go on extern! In warm foaming you first warm the eggs and sugar to dissolve the sugar.

Mine on the left, compared to Chef's

My mistakes with sponge definitely helped me succeed the next day with cold foaming and producing angel food cake. Cold foaming is like warm foaming, minus the warming part.


It also helped me succeed with ladyfingers which uses the separate foaming method. Basically you separate the eggs and foam the yolks and the whites separately then fold the lighter, white meringue into the heavier yolks. Mine were nice and stable.

Piped and ready for the oven

Our lectures cover the type of method we will be producing the next class. We get demos of our assignments when we get to class that day. Friday we discussed custards and my chef used an inventive way to illustrate what happens to a starch molecule when heated and why it gelatinizes...

Apple=starch molecule, sharp pointy things=amino acids

Its hard to pick what pictures to put up for this class! Most things have several steps so I usually have pics of demo, some pics from my production...its all such cool stuff though! I feel that my few weeks at Jean Georges really helped me to feel more comfortable in this class after such a long hiatus from a bakeshop setting from my volunteer days at the hospital (it seems so long ago!).

I'll leave you with a shot of my yummy Mexican food from last night. A couple of us checked out a local place Mole Mole. It was great and authentic...definitely will go back! I got the chili verde which was chicken in a spicy tomatillo sauce. No idea what they do, but it was such a moist piece of chicken it just came apart...so good!

No Excuses

So I realize I've been a really bad blogger these last couple of months and really bad these last few weeks....to be honest, the days I've interned I really have eaten the same stuff so I didn't bother with that...and was too busy (average day was 13 hours) to take pictures let alone blog...but here are a few I did get of final desserts about to head out to guests...

Strawberry Tasting

Rhubarb

Chocolate

On my days off, I've been exploring and walking everywhere...I've eaten a lot, seen tons of places I want to eat at...and yet I'm leaving Sunday and have so much I didn't get to do! No worries though...I will be externing at Jean Georges starting in November and will try to come up and work on long weekends to "stay in the loop" as Chef said...


But, I head back to school Monday, back to a more normal routine, and back to a more normal blogging schedule. Thanks for understanding! Here are some of my favorite day off food discoveries to bide the time! See ya soon!

Drunken noodle with chicken at Land Thai Restaurant

Sun dried tomato bread at Spring Street Natural

Spinach-dill-potato pancakes with poached eggs, caviar, and creme fraiche at Barking Dog Cafe

Soom Soom on the Upper West Side...awesome, awesome falafel

THIS is how I want all my veggie pizzas! Piazza Pizza-3rd ave Upper East Side

Wasabi, yes wasabi, ice cream from Sundaes and Cones...I'd recommend skipping the sprinkles, they take away from the cold, creamy, sweet heat of this awesome stuff...ooo I want more...

Alice's Tea Cup

Not surprisingly, on my internship days, I am working my butt off...but loving it. So far I have not done under a 12 hour day, and yesterday was there from 9:30 am to about 11 pm. The thing is, time just flies by...if you keep me busy, I don't notice the time at all, don't feel tired at all...I love it. Some jobs are very standard like hulling and quartering strawberries or pitting cherries, some are more complex like making sauces and components for plated desserts. Yesterday I made a giant batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and then scooped tiny, tiny amounts of it. It goes to show that its not all glitzy, lots of little steps comprise the final picture. Needless to say, I really don't have time to take pictures. I did get one of a dessert one of the pastry chefs made me that used a blackberry fluid gel I made earlier that day and a coconut petit beurre that I partially made the day before.

Rhubarb panna cotta, coconut petit beurre, blackberry gel

On my days off however, I've been exploring the city, and am lucky enough to have a friend from school in town as well. Today we met up at the Upper East Side Alice's Tea Cup for brunch. This place is great. It has a funky, Alice in Wonderland themed decor, 140 or so teas, and the menu sounded great, as was the meal. We already have plans to go back and try their lunch menu.

Teacups ready and waiting at the tables

My friend's swirled oatmeal with berry coulis and fresh berries

Raisin-fennel semolina bread...sounds weird tastes awesome

My vegetarian egg white omelet exploding with veggies with a side of sauteed asparagus and pears

They also make cakes.




I also stopped at a small Farmer's Market this morning and saw some neat produce.

Yellow carrots

Zucchini blossom

Romanesco cauliflower (labeled as broccoli, tsk tsk)

And I have to admit, during my explorations, I stop and go in just about every market and bakery I pass...this was my find today...tiny heirloom tomatoes! Yay!


I'm so enjoying my time here. I love the city and my internship. My only sad thought is that it will be over too soon and I might not be able to run in Central Park like I imagined I would do before then....stupid injury still is bugging me, but it doesn't hurt walking (so I walk all over) or working (which is really important) so I'm sure when I extern here (like I hope to do) I will get my chance...anyway, time to pack for tomorrow and get some shuteye! Night all!

Nougatine at Jean Georges

Tomorrow is the big day...my first day of interning at the Jean Georges bakeshop. I'm so excited (but also a little nervous), especially after eating at Nougatine at Jean Georges on Sunday after unpacking. This is the more casual of the two, but both are at Trump International Plaza and work out of the same kitchen/bakeshops. I had no idea my mom was going to see if we could get into eat when we made the trek up there. I though they just wanted to see the location! It was definitely a pleasant surprise.

The owner and executive chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, trained under three Michelin star chefs before traveling to Asia to work. His time in Asia, per the website, resulted in him abandoning the traditional meat stocks and instead working with vegetable juices, fruit essences, light broths and herbal vinaigrettes which "results in intense flavors and satisfying textures." I must agree wholeheartedly to this description.

I started with a signature appetizer, the tuna tartare with avocado, spicy radishes, and a ginger marinade. I could have just eaten this all day and been a happy camper. The tuna seemed to melt in my mouth and the ginger was perfect.



Of course I shared bites of my parent's appetizers. Mom had a Coach Farm's goat cheese and honeydew salad with lardons and endive. I want to say it had a passion fruit vinaigrette...It was definitely a combination I would never think of, sounds a bit odd, but was fantastic.


Dad went traditional with a caesar salad, but in all honesty, if a place can't pull off a decent caesar, you don't want to eat there imo. It was definitely a good caesar.


For my main course, I went with another signature type dish per the waiter: the red snapper with lily bulb radish salad, lavender and white sesame. The skin of the fish was perfectly crisp and the sesame sauce underneath just went right with it. I normally leave sauce behind...not in this case...The little touches of flavors like ginger and sesame really brought out the Asian influence.



I think the bites I managed to get of my dad's poached maine lobster were my favorite of all though, perfectly done, not chewy at all.


And how could I not love mom's meal? Anything with chili I like and she got the grilled porkchop with smoked chili glaze.


As if picking my meal wasn't hard enough...then the dessert menu came...Everything sounded great but I was in a fruity and fresh mood since it was a hot summer day and we were outside. But you have to try the signature Jean Georges warm chocolate cake, right? Basically, with this being "your future career" the final decisions were left up to me...the incredibly indecisive one!


In the end I selected:

The local strawberry vacherin, anise meringue, lemon verbena ice cream, and lavender almonds. This one was placed in front of me and I happily ate most of it. I loved each dessert but I think due to the weather, this one truly hit the spot!



Mango tart, coconut, guava, and vanilla lime sorbet...but I definitely stole many bites of the sweet mango custard filling!


The warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream...gooey and melted in the middle...decadent and awesome...it was just too warm for me to eat much of it...which I think made my mom happy!


Its a bit crazy to think I might play some small part in these masterpieces in days to come. I really have no idea what they are going to have me doing but obviously I am starting at the bottom. No matter what, this is such a great opportunity for my future!

Arrived

I'm officially settled into my housing for the month of July in NYC! I'll be interning 4-5 days a week normally but am looking for things to do on my off days...any suggestions?