Two weeks and two tests down!!

Hello all!
So I have survived my first month and first two tests! A bunch of my classmates and I studied together and I can speak on all of our behalves by saying we were very nervous.  But I guess that just goes to show how much we all care about what we are doing.  I had to make the apple tart, mini clafoutis, and spritz cookies and I, as well as the chefs, were quite pleased with my work! Stay tuned for a picture of my final products....
We completed our pâte à choux unit which included such pastries as éclairs, Paris Brest, profiteroles, cygnes (swans), and gâteau Saint-Honoré, all pictured below. The Paris-Brest  was created in the late 1800's to commemorate the famous bicycle race that went from Paris to Brest and back to Paris, which explains the circular shape. It is filled with a praline based pastry cream and is positively delicious! The gâteau Saint-Honoré is named after the patron saint of pastries! The cake is made up of some of the most difficult techniques; the choux balls have to be consistent sizes which represent your piping skills, the choux itself has to be delicious and tender, the caramel has to be the perfect color without over or under cooking, and the cream is a mixture of pastry cream and Italian meringue, both of which illustrate challenging techniques.  Many years ago, this cake was used as an interview tactic.  When a young pastry chef applied for a job in a kitchen, the head chef would say, "Make this and perhaps I will hire you!"

 

We finished of this unit with the beautiful croquembouche  which, although is the traditional French wedding cake, we had creative license to make it our own. Chef Michael's was beyond impressive:

But I was quite happy with mine as well :)

Our class displayed a selection of ours to show off in the hallway:

"There is just something for you to choux on" :)

Stay tuned for puff pastry pics coming soon!!

"You are what you EATALY!"

If you live in or around Manhattan, and have not yet been to Eataly, GO! NOW! I cannot even describe in words how beautiful and delicious of a haven this authentic-Italian-Batali-created-food-hall is!!

One of my classmates, Kelly, and I went today after class.  We initially went for a quick wine tasting and ended up eating at TWO different places and stayed for THREE hours!!

We began at the carne e formaggio station, then moved on to the pesce station (picture of delicious branzino below), and ended at the cioccolato bar (with a little wine in between :)).  I left with two bottles of delicious Italain wine, some fresh bottled peeled tomatoes that I will use to make homemade sauce, and some homemade chocolate (which I couldn't resist taking a bite out of - can you blame me??).

Best three hours of our lives!

Fire Drill! (Day 9)

I know, I know...I haven't written in a while...but so much has been going on!! I have so much to tell you...and show you. :)

First a few pictures of our creations of the past couple of days: below please see a picture of our tarte aux noix (nut tart), which is my favorite so far.  The first pictured is mine, with a beautiful powdered sugar maple leaf.  The second picture is of my classmate's, Hunter (and resident class clown for all obvious reasons :)).

The next is a mini fruit tart. The other one in the picture was smashed during rush hour in the subway...hey that's what you get in New York City!

One of my favorite endeavors so far was piping our Spritskakor cookies (a Scandinavian butter cookie):

We also did: a savory tart of caramelized onions, gorganzola cheese, and tomatoes; tarte aux citron (lemon tart), with beautiful confit de citron as a garnish, which I gave away to a homeless person on my way home (didn't want to carry it around Eataly - see next blog entry :)); and of course learning how to brulée.  All creations are pictured below, including a picture of Chef Michael demonstrating the brulée technique, and my fellow classmate, Jennifer, practicing said technique.

Our days as pastry students are extremely intense.  You have to LOVE what you are doing or else you will surely fail.  This presents a certain stress within our days, however it also reinforces our dedication to the art.  During our first week or so of class, we have all been walking on egg shells (no pun intended) and quietly learning our way, not only around the kitchen, but around each other.  Last Friday some of the class went out to the "dedicated" student bar, O'Neil's, and got to know each other a bit more.  I learned that my fellow classmates are pretty cool!  We also got to mingle with more seasoned pastry students, as well as some of the culinary students.  Every single person I met had a fire inside them when it came discussing food...a true inspiration and motivation! One of the pastry II students even visited me the following Monday and blessed us with his passion fruit macaroons...yummm!!

With every passing day I am loving pastry more and more...as well as loving my peers more and more! We find time to laugh a bit during the day...especially today when we had our first fire drill.  Whilst filtering out into the street and seeing a sea of white, we could all not help but laugh...and secretly all be proud of what we represented!

Congrats future chefs!!

Day 5: Yes Chef! No Chef! Thank you chef!

These are basically the only three phrases you say in a day as a pastry student...and you barely have time to say them! As I am cutting in my butter for my pâte brisée, I am also weighing out and rolling my viennese vanilla crescent cookies, while simultaneously preparing my mise en place for my beautiful tarte alsacienne. All while I am making sure to keep myself, and my station, sparkling clean!  Oh right, and also all while trying to not pass out from the pressure, sugar high, and pure excitement of it all!

Today we learned how to flambé: a technique that is both classic and exciting! We flambéd apples for the tarte alsacienne by first caramelizing the apples and then adding apple brandy and tipping the pan into the flame in order to catch the liquor on fire and cook it out.  Watching this technique as chef demonstrated was great! But then walking away and realizing that we could potentially burn the school down on our 5th day was, well, completely frightening! However we all walked away with the school in tact, with all of our eyebrows, and with delicious tarte alsacienne.

Here is a picture of the class watching chef  flambé, a picture of my apricot tart, as well as a video of Chef Mike demonstrating rolling the vanilla crescents.
Bon appetit!

Day 1 - 4

I have completed my first four days in the pastry kitchen...and I am exhausted! But I am also elated. I am in pastry boot camp and loving every single second of it.

Walking into the school on the first day was...well...it was scary! This is the Princeton of culinary schools and everyone is there to be the best of the best.  I was so nervous and anxious to start my studies that my uniform was starched to the point where I was not sure I could move, and I had about 20 pens and 3 notebooks.  For those of you who really know me, I have never necessarily been the stellar student.  So my level of preparation can only speak to how excited I was to begin this incredible scholarly adventure. 

After successfully finding my way through the many (confusing) hallways to the locker room, and sloppily dressing into my uniform (I had no clue if my apron went over or under my chef jacket, never mind what the heck I was supposed to do with the necktie) I ventured into the student lounge to meet my other equally-confused classmates.  "Do we put our hats on now? Did you bring your own knives? Do we really have to wear these pants?"  My only internal reactions to these questions were: Thank God I am not the only one that is freaking out. 

Chef Mike started the first minute of the first day off with an obvious zest for cooking.  Every flick of a wrist, slice of a knife, and placement of a product was an inspiration to even the most novice of student-chefs. We were introduced to Chef Jeanne (the assistant chef), the ins and outs of a professional kitchen, how to work as a team, our own personal chef kits (which was a brand new bag of every tool you would ever need and more!), and all of our ingredients. I could not wait to get started!

While I thought perhaps the first day would consist of a 6 hour lecture, the next thing I knew I was beating my pate sucree in preparation to assemble my apple tart.  At this point I realized that I was in the presence of the geniuses of the pastry world as well as the 19 other students aspiring to be just like them.  In other words...I was in heaven!

I will be trying to blog everyday, but here are some pictures of my first 4 days as a student of the French Pastry Arts:


First my chef jacket (so exciting!), my Tarte aux Pommes (apple tart), my Tarte aux Bananes et Creme (banana cream tart), my Tarte aux Fruits Frais (fresh fruit tart), and my Tarte Bourdaloue (poached pear and almond tart). 

Also a picture of Chef presenting his Tarte Bourdaloue, as well as Chef and Chef Jeanne doing a demonstration.

Bon Appetit!!

The Tour

As I walked down Broadway and saw the "L'Ecole Restaurant" sign, my heart began to race. I walked into the door next to the restaurant to the French Culinary Institute, got into the elevator and pushed 4. The door opened into a bright room. "I am here for my tour."

My tour guide was so enthusiastic that it was making me even more excited! We walked through the whole school, not stopping for a breath along the way, and I even got to meet one of the chefs that would be my first teacher. It was the best hour of my life and I cannot wait to start my time at the FCI!

I immediately went home and baked blueberry muffins. It let out some of my excitement :)

Here are my first two gifts from the school! A sugar flower and a loaf of sour dough bread....all freshly made by the current students! I clearly could not resist nibbling on the bread. It was DELICIOUS!

And so it begins...

Hello everyone!

I am about to embark on an incredible new journey and I am so excited to share it with you!

I have been accepted to the highly esteemed French Culinary Institute and will begin my studies in the Classic Pastry Arts on November 11th, 2010. I will be in the kitchen five days a week, six hours a day, for six months... and will be loving every single second!

Follow my blog as I learn from some of the BEST pastry chefs in the world, like Jacques Torres and Ron Ben-Israel (while secretly bowing to them in my own head), as I bake creations I can't even yet pronounce, and as I graduate from the same school as Bobby Flay and Nils Norén.

There will be many opportunities for me to have guests come taste and review my (and my classmates) creations so stay tuned for those dates and times.

I am confident this will be the beginning of a very long and fulfilling career...so I invite you all to come along for the ride!