Adding a little closure to life, thought I’d bring you up to date with my whereabouts.  My London journey has come to a close but my Patisserie journey is just beginning or at least I hope so.  I’m back in Salt Lake City and working towards that now.

Let’s catch up….

I mentioned in my last post we would be doing chocolate work at school.  We did.  It was a chocolate show piece.  Below is a picture of the Chef’s from the demo.  I don’t have one of mine and can not find the group shot although I’m fairly sure there was one taken.

Chef Olivier created this one – not me.  We all had the same basic structure and we all made a similar rose for the top.  The decorations varied greatly.  Although I went into this practical class pretty excited, my chocolate tempering was setting way too fast and I lost about 30 minutes of time redoing the work so I ended up in a huge hurry to finish a product for presentation.  Turned out not to be a great day after all.  Oh well, not the end of the world.

After chocolate, we moved onto Sugar Centerpieces.  This was pretty cool.  We had to prepare and cook sugar to different degrees for structure.  Adding food coloring can be tricky as well.  Too little and the color really washes out.  Too much and the sugar won’t set correctly and basically bend over like something out of a cartoon.  Below is mine.   I worked with a red/violet color.  This is all sugar with different structure and texture.  Unfortunately its one of those things that you really can’t transport home on the Tube and even if you tried, what would you do with it?   So its life was sweet but short.

Everything is sugar from the base, to the roses, to the crinkly pieces and balls.  The right side of the ring is supposed to be a two-tone color.  Ehhh.  Sorta worked.

Croquembouche came next.  This is a traditional wedding cake (although as time would have it, apparently is used as a divorce cake as well). These last handful of classes all involved a couple practical sessions of work.  So they weren’t completed in the standard 2 1/2 hours but more of a 4-5 hour process.

For the Croquembouche, we started by creating the Pâte à Choux pastry on the first day along with the Nougatine which is the base.  The Choux are normally filled with a pastry cream but for the sake of storage and time, we left ours empty.  The Nougatine is cooked sugar with sliced almonds and is delicious if you like caramel and nuts or any type of brittle.  I ate most of my base and some from other people’s bases as well.  After we were done of course.

On the second day we cooked the caramel to dip the choux pastry in and began to build our Croquembouche.  This was fun but difficult because you could really mess the whole thing up if you didn’t cook your sugar correctly, and sugar is tricky.   It can crystallize or burn in seconds and all you can do is start over.  It doesn’t look like it from these pictures but there are several layers involved to hold and balance this sugar piece.

We also piped Royal Icing around the base and created sugar roses and leaves for the top.   I liked my rose on this one.  Probably the best rose I created in class.  Chef Matthew was our Practical class chef and he mentioned all he heard (in a different class) was the secret crunching of Choux pastry with caramel on it.

I mentioned in my last post that we started Superior level classes already thinking about the final exam and what we would produce for our Entrement and plated Dessert.   They give you 3 shots at producing these things and you get critiqued and make changes and practice, etc… so you really should be able to get it done when it comes time for the final but things can still go wrong.  There are no re-dos in the final.  If you screw up a part you make the best of it.

I believe all in all I practiced my Entremet at home 6 times.  But I couldn’t do it all at once.  I had to time myself by each element.  My kitchen and my resources were just too small, as were every student’s.  My hallway became a place a stack trays, my living room (for lack of a better term) became my chocolate tempering spread and any remaining surface there was had a baked element on it.

Anyway, a couple shots of the Entrement from home and in the Mock exam:

The first two shots are from the Mock Exam.  This is a Coconut-lime mousse with a passion fruit crémeux with fresh mango inside.  The base is a Pâté Sucrée with cardamom and the outside sponge ring is an Almond Jaconde with poppy seeds.  The glaze is a white chocolate with Grand Marnier for flavor.  Then we had tempered chocolate for decoration which for me included a ring around the outside with discs and a flower with desiccated coconut on top.  My flower looked even when I submitted my final.  This is very free-form here.

The last pic on the right is from my flat.  I cut it open to check a few things.  1.  was the base cooked enough or was it a little soft from the mousse sitting on top drawing in moisture.  The mousse and crémeux can only be 3 cm in height and this one is obviously larger so I corrected that for the final as well.  This Entrement is really much smaller than these pics make it look as well.

Now, before the final exam, we still had one more class, which was a special torture of the school because – why not give them one more thing to do.

Modern Tarts! Below is a picture of Chef Nick’s modern tarts from Demo:

The one in back is an Exotic Tart (tropical flavors) and the one in front is Chocolate and Pear Tart.  In Practical I paired with Anja and we chose to do the Exotic Tart basically because there were fewer elements involved.  BUT, the glaze has Titanium Dioxide in it to create the stark white look and you really shouldn’t eat that.  It won’t kill you but… you just shouldn’t eat it.  Its banned in some countries. We make enough of all the elements to create 2 tarts. Below is a picture of the tart I assembled:

Almond sable pastry, Normandy tart filling, macerated pineapple, coconut mousse and white tempered chocolate decoration.   I took this one home.  Had a piece and didn’t really care for it.  The coconut mousse had almost no flavor.  The pineapple was the best part.

Last Practical class group shot.  Chef Nicolas is in the center and Chef Jerome is just to his left.

Finally the exam:

I don’t have final pics of my plated dessert or the Entrement for that matter because there are no phones allowed in the exam kitchen.   I used several of the same elements for my plated dessert just in different shapes and included a layer of praline and had Italian Meringue on top with chopped pistachio and moved the passion fruit flavor to a Coulis on the plate for added decoration and flavor.   Your plates must not have one smudge or finger print and your uniform must be clean as well.  The school has Head Chefs from London restaurants judge your work for taste and presentation.  There are 2 chefs in the exam kitchen with you at all times watching your method, organization and preparation.  They also won’t allow you to go 1 second past the clock. You have 5 hours total which goes by in a blink. I pulled it right down to the second and Chef Dominique walked over and said, “Done?” and I put my hands in the air and said, “Yes! Done.”   No turning back.  No changing anything.  One of the porters walks your Entremet and you carry your 2 – identical plated desserts (did I mention you had to make 2 of them?) to another kitchen where everyone is quiet like you are in church or something and you place your plates down where you are told, in line with other student’s work, and you leave.    I don’t know if I envy or feel sorry for the 2 visiting chefs that had to taste all those desserts.  Anyway.  I had mixed feelings of relief and regret.  Relief that it was over and regret that I didn’t do one more thing to make it more appealing (you can always do one more thing it seems).  But instead I had 15 minutes to clean up my work station and everything around me and set up the station for the next student working there the following morning.  Plus I wanted to go and text Bob that I finished and was on time.

The next morning was a one hour Theory test and then we are really done.   Bob arrived in London that Friday, the day of my final debrief.  The debrief is where you find out what your grade is and how the chefs liked your desserts, etc… and if you passed or not.  I passed. Yeah!   We bounced around London for a couple of days and then rented a car and headed off to the Colesbourne Inn by Cheltenham. Beautiful super old place but all the rooms have been modernized.  Just as cozy as you can imagine an English country Inn to be.  They keep the candles on the tables in the dinner area lit all day I assume because it’s rather dim lighting.   We ate breakfast and dinner there twice, the food was delicious.  We also visited Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water by Gloucestershire.  We toured Sudeley Castle which was really fascinating and great history. It’s a 15th century castle where Catherine Parr (6th wife of Henry the VIII) is buried.

 Upper left to right: Red Fiat. Bob drove and I navigated, as it should be.  He’ll tell you he was never comfortable on the other side of the road but he did really well.  Market shot of Stow-on-the-Wold followed by Sudeley Castle.  The grounds are beautiful as is the castle itself.  The castle was built-in the 1500’s but was probably the site of a previous castle from the 1200’s.  The pic on the right is a statue of a dog and a dog bowl.  Interesting touch.  Looked real from a distance.

These pictures are are all of grounds.  Beautiful gardens and the 3rd pic from the left is St.Mary’s Sudeley Chapel.  Its he burial-place for Queen Catherine Parr who was the 6th wife of Henry the VIII.  Last pic on the right is inside the church and Bob is by Catherine Parr’s marble tomb.

These pictures are from Bourton-on-the-Water.  One of the really old churches and the rest of these pictures are from the Cotswold Motoring Museum.  Extensive display of vintage cars, bikes, toys, camping equipment, cigarettes, some uniforms, and the list goes on.  You can spend a long time in here.

I also did have some fun during Superior and it wasn’t all just school work…

London Bus High Tea with YeeLing, Anja and Ana.

My sister, Ariana, was in town for a visit.  She goes to London frequently and made a special trip so we could pal around together.  We were hanging out in Trafalgar Square for the picture on the left and then we headed over to see Meg and Mary Bowman.  We all went to Edgewood High together.  Great time!  Mary lives in England and Meg was in town visiting.

I attended the Le Cordon Bleu High Tea with YeeLing and Anja to support the other classes.   My groups High Tea was a couple of weeks earlier and included in my previous post.  Ana’s group for High Tea was in mid-August so we attended to support her and eat good food.  The menu was the same as ours so it was nice to compare and eat desserts I missed during our High Tea.

I think I mentioned Nosey Nellie in a past post.  Possibly not, because I didn’t have a picture until now?  There was a nosey pigeon I named Nellie.  This pigeon would sit directly on my windowsill and peak in at me.  The table where my computer sat and I did all my work at was right next to this window.   This pigeon (same one every time) would peak in.  Freaked me out a bit so I wouldn’t open my windows further that what you see in this picture for fear I would come home and Nellie would be in the apartment.  But for a while I didn’t see Nellie and didn’t think much of it.  Then Nellie reappeared in my final week right before my exam.  Of course when I tried to get a pic of Nellie actually peaking in I couldn’t.  But you get the point.  The pigeon could have simple stepped right into the flat.

Graduation!

Big Day. September 14th.  The ceremony was held at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, England.   It was an afternoon event.   All groups graduated the same day.  Patisserie, Culinary, Boulangerie, Management, Wine, Etc..  Bob snapped a couple of pictures:

The pic on the left is Chef Dominique making sure my name was correct.  I hugged chef Julie and Chef Matthew on my way across the stage to receive my medal. Then you stand for a quick pic by the LCB photographer.

The LCB photographer takes a group shot as well but this is one Bob popped over and grabbed of the Superior Class (Group C).  Then this final one of the Diploma.  I’ll get the diploma framed with my medal.

Chef Julie Walsh is on the left.  She is head of Patisserie.  Chef Matthew Hodgett is center. Chef Graham Bartholomew is on the right.  All excellent instructors who really make the experience amazing.  There are several other excellent chefs as well but sadly I do not have pictures of them.

Over all a wonderful experience. Wish I could have stayed and maybe continued on into Culinary.

Finally a shout out to my better half, Bob.  He wholly supported me on this adventure from the first time I mentioned it.  He was my rock throughout it.  Talked me off a ledge once or twice (maybe 3 times).  Helped me long distance with computer and math issues even while out of a long bike ride.  He’d pull over and check his phone and call to help as I threatened to throw the computer out the window.  (Duck, Nellie).  He held things together at home beautifully.

I really missed him.  This adventure reinforced that we are better together than apart.

I’m still baking a lot and trying to learn ingredients in the US vs the UK.  Not everything is the same.  Also, altitude it causing some problems but I’m learning my way (slowly) around that as well.

Talk more in a bit.

Thanks.

Mel