Week Two begins..

Pictures from Lesson 7 and 8 are online.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Today was a double demo day.  We started the day off with a new instructor, Chef Gilles.  He's an older gentleman, and has a quirky sense of humour.  He has a fairly strong accent, but he speaks well.  We focused on Entrements, or things that are eaten between main dishes to clear/change your palette.

Some terminology
Bain Marie - Cooking something immersed in water.
Sabayon - Foam done with yolks as a base, originally from Italy.  Done by whisking in a metal bowl that is sitting on a pot of boiling water
Chemiser - to coat something (ie. flour on a pan, or bread around a mold)
Compoter - the act of making compote
Blanchir - 3 meanings, today we blanchir by mixing eggs with sugar vigorously to whiten
"A la Nappe" - thickness where you can coat a spoon with sauce and run your finger through it
Caramel - sugar mixed with water until dark
Decuisson - stop cooking (sometimes with ice bath)
Appareil - Mixture that is ready to cook
Macerer - to soak in alcohol
Vanner - to stir or whisk a mixture until it is cooled

Icing sugar has starch in it (up to 10%) to keep it fine, and to draw humidity.

Chef Gilles demonstrated Pruneaux au Vin Blanc (prunes which are rehydrated with white wine), Poires au Vin Rouge (Pears cooked in red wine sauce), Creme Renversee au caramel (upside down caramel cream dessert), Charlotte Aux Pommes with Creme Anglaise(apple tart that uses white bread as a crust), Sabayon aux fruits (foamy cream around mixed fruits, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry)

Practical #7 didn't go exactly smoothly.  I had some trouble cutting the bread to fit the mold, and didn't press them firmly enough onto the mold.  My compote of apples could have been cooked slightly longer, but came out quite well taste wise.  I could have cooked the crust a bit longer, but overall it worked out okay.  My creme anglaise turned out very nice, and Chef Gilles said my allumettes au fromage came out perfect.  I had doubts about my puff pastry dough, since I only folded 5 times (as per Chef Herve's instructions - dont bother with the 6th turn if it wasn't done on Friday), but it turned out great.  I also switched workstations today because you don't know which workstation you will be assigned to for the final exam, so it's good to move around.

Demonstration #8 was also taught by Chef Gilles.  I had to drink a coke to get through the class, I was so freakin' tired.  We dealt mostly with frozen / cold Entretemps.

Terminology:
Degres Baume - measure of the density of a liquid
Densimeter - looks like a thermometer, used to measure degres baume
Meringue (eggs, sugar, air)
* Italienne - Heat sugar first, pour on eggs
* Suisse - cook in bain marie
* Francaise - cook in oven
Confire - to cook in syrup or alcohol
Turbiner - sideways cylinder mixer
Sangler - To mix
Sorbetiere - machine to mix
Beurre Pommade - room temperature butter that is easy to handle
Tuiles - Tiles (ie. roofing tiles)
Souffle - means expansion
Quenelle - football shape with 3 sides (ice cream was spooned like this)

Ice cream - cheap ice cream has lots of air in it, often artificially "fixed" into it.  ie. 1L pain when melted might reduce to 200ml!  Good ice cream might be 800ml.

Sorbet - fruit / puree or juice + sugar / syrup

Simple syrup is 1:1 water and sugar and should be 28 baume.

Chef Gilles made simple syrup, sorbet au citron vert (lime sorbet - very refreshing), creme galcee vanille (vanilla ice cream.. incredible!!), glace au cafe (coffee flavour ice - surprising they use instant for taste), granite au calvados (ice shavings of liquor), souffle glace a l'orange (will be making this tomorrow), cigarette aux amandes (almond pastry).

Tomorrow is a double practical day.  Yikes.  I've already written out my recipe for Souffle Glace a L'Orange for 1st practical, and have reviewed Lesson 9 recipes.  Good thing it's only a four day week.  Although week 3 is a 6 day week.  Ugggh.  Also I just realized, we are more than 25% done the course.  Yikes!