We kicked the week off with the theory exam at 8am on Tuesday, I heard a few people complain about how early it was, but I was secretly happy because my brain is more awake in the mornings! There were a few transport problems in London, which caused some of the group a bit of a headache, but fortunately everyone arrived on time. Given the early start and not wanting to leave my fate to public transport and a 4am alarm, which could have easily been ignored by this point, I decided to stay over in London the night before. A couple of the group did the same thing and we had a very nice meal at Byron the night before!
The exam itself didn't go too badly at all, the revision had paid off and most of the questions I felt comfortable with. The only question that proved a nightmare was a question on the make up of baking powder. We'd had a huge group debate via text the day before and I may have caused some confusion after I contradicted what the folder said. Our folders said it was 2 parts bicarbonate of soda, to 1 part cream of tartar. However, in one of the lessons the chef said it was the other way around, and after a browse on the internet, 5 different websites all confirmed that. I'd stuck my neck on the line and debated hard that the folder was potentially wrong. Unfortunately there wasn't sufficient time to check with a chef before going into the exam. Sod's law, the question came up, and the two scenarios were two of the possible answers, typical! The dilemma was, do you go with the folder, knowing it looks wrong (and with hindsight knowing that thats what the test will be judged against), or pick what looks to be the actual right answer and hope for the best...Some of the class are hoping for the best! We're going to write to the school and get them to look into it, as well as the folder, and see if we can still get the mark. That was it for Tuesday, just an hour and then I had to hot foot it back to Oxford to get to work. This unfortunately meant I missed a hearty post exam breakfast, which I'm still completely gutted about!
Wednesday we started in the afternoon with our final lecture for Basic Patisserie - Ice Cream! It was a good lecture, several ice creams and sorbets had been pre-prepared for us to try and then the chef also made a grand mariner ice cream in class as well as a champagne sorbet. The ice creams we tried were as follows;
- Red wine granita - this was spiced and had a strange flavour, I found myself wanting to go back for more after a little taste, but then almost regretting it instantly. I'd need more to properly decide I think.
- Bailey's ice cream - this was really nice, the Baileys was quite mellow but the flavour came through nicely.
- Coconut parfait - couldn't really tell it was coconut to start with, it was ok but nothing special.
- Chocolate ice cream - this was just ok, I've had (and dare I say, even made) better chocolate ice cream than this. It was a bit grainy, I think they used cocoa powder, alas, it wasn't a complete write off though.
- Mango sorbet - this one was one of the best, probably took the second place spot! It was really mangoey and had lots of flavour and a really nice texture too.
- Grand Marnier ice cream - this was nice, just nice though, nothing better than that. I'd have put more alcohol in, the flavour was too subtle for me, it was a nice texture though. Having said that it did stick to the roof of the mouth a bit.
- Champagne sorbet - this was by far the best, I really really enjoyed this one. So much so that I grabbed a second as the tray made its way back to the front of the class (and third when no-one was looking!). The bubbles stayed in the sorbet and it tasted really fresh and fruity. It'd be really nice after a heavy meal...or any time of the day/night actually. I think I'd need more, a lot more, to properly decide though.
As per usual in these lectures I managed to get a fit of the giggles, not once but twice this time! If you're ever in the vicinity of a Frenchman ask him to say "Hokey Pokey" and "Bounty". It'll sound something like 'occy poccy' and 'bunty'. I couldn't help myself, the chef took it well though and even threw "hokey pokey" out there again, a couple more times, just to make us laugh!
After the lecture we went into the practical for the demo we'd had on biscuits and almond meringue batons last week. The biscuit dough came together ok, but I rolled it too thin, that put me completely on the back foot, because unless I wanted minuscule biscuits, I'd have to settle for a rectangular checkerboard pattern - not the square one they were looking for! Its best to look at the picture below to see what happened, what matters though is that they tasted really nice! These were quite disastrous all told, once you had the checkerboard pattern you had to roll out the trimmings so you could wrap a layer around the outside of the pattern, to hold it together. I'd put this in the blast chiller to firm up, didn't let it warm up enough before trying to roll, next thing I know, snap! It wasn't going to be rolling anytime soon, in one continuous layer. I warmed it, tried again with a second strip I'd got in reserve and that one wrapped up fine fortunately - at least I had something vaguely resembling what I had to make, to bake and present! I got surprisingly good feedback from the chef, they were consistent, well baked, the outer layer wasn't too thick. Not the initial disaster I'd thought they'd be.
We also had to make little almond meringue batons, this was a french meringue, with icing sugar, ground almonds and a little bit of flour folded in. Piped in little baton shapes (and praying you hadn't over folded it so it sunk into a flat slipper), covered in chopped almonds, baked until a bit springy and golden brown, left to cool and then brushed with a chocolate glaze on the bottom. These came out really well, so I was chuffed the entire lesson wasn't a muck up! Got really good feedback for these, only one small criticism - not quite enough chocolate on the bottom. One week too much, the next not enough. The not enough debate I can get on board with, the too much one still perplexes me completely!
Thursday and we had late lessons again, but this time it was a lesson I've been looking forward too. Macarons! Before that though we were out in the courtyard and Gok Wan wandered past. We eventually plucked up the courage to go and ask for a team picture!
The demo for the macarons was interesting, we were shown the french meringue method and the italian meringue method. The french being the more traditional way and the italian being the more modern and conventional way. The french ones were made with cocoa, for chocolate shells and the italian meringue had green food colouring added to match the filling. The fillings were very nice - a chocolate ganache, and a buttercream made with pistachio paste. Chef then decorated the pistachio ones with a drizzle of melted chocolate. They tasted very nice and the pistachio ones were especially nice.
Straight after the demo we had the practical. We started off with the chocolate ones, using the french meringue method. We had to be careful folding the dry ingredients into the wet because it was easier to knock the air our of the meringue with this one. These had to be made first because the french meringue macarons have to sit for a bit to develop a bit of a crust before being baked. As it turned out I was a shade too cautious and didn't quite fold it enough, and the shells had little tiny peaks on when finished baking, aside from that they were good though! Then it was on to the italian meringue, it came together well, then I handed it over to my partner to fold the dry ingredients in while I got on with the ganache. Once the mix was ready we piped it the size of 10p pieces (well done for remembering the 10p's Helen, I forgot!), and it was straight into the oven with them. As they were baking we got on with the buttercream, it was the same method as the genoise sponge cake, so it was good practice ahead of the exam. These came out perfectly! We had to scramble quick to fill 8 of each to present, I was happy with the results - especially as I hadn't made the French meringue method before. We also had to use the leftover buttercream to pipe the 10 shells and rosettes we'll be required to do in the exam. The feedback for this lesson was really good, the shells and rosettes the chef was really impressed with, plus the macarons looked really nice. A great last practical before the exam...the next time we step in the kitchen will be exam day!
Friday afternoon we had a demo, there was no practical attached to this one, it was just a demo of good old fashioned recipes; Trifle, shortbread, cold lemon soufflé and apple tart tatin. The cold lemon soufflé was interesting; a hot sugar syrup added to beaten eggs/egg yolks, lemon juice and zest heated up with gelatine added, which was then all added into the egg mixture. This was then lightened with an italian meringue and spooned into a mould and left to set in the chiller. It was really really nice, and light. The shortbread was a standard shortbread, not much to report on. It was nice, could perhaps have used a tiny bit of salt to bring the flavour out a bit more though. The apple tarte tatin was a thing of beauty and demolished very quickly at the end of the lesson - I didn't get any pastry, but I was more interested in the apple and caramel so I wasn't bothered really, I managed to get extra helpings of apple. And the trifle, one of my favourites, did not disappoint! It just needed a bit more sponge and a bit more sherry, but aside from that it was good! Group D proudly maintained their gannet reputation and stayed behind afterwards eating a load of what was left!
And as soon as it started the week felt like it was over! It was a nice relaxed lesson to finished on, the calm before the impending storm! Monday is our final exam dish for Basic Patisserie, we'll either have the genoise sponge, the lemon tart or the eclairs. Various people have their favourites, also ones they don't want. I can't honestly claim to have a preference or great sense of dread with any of them. I'll take whatever comes and just do my best. I'm refusing to get panicked as well, my mind clogs up and doesn't work properly if I panic about it, so thats off the cards. I'll practice all three dishes and some piping this weekend and then just hope for the best come Monday. When all's said and done, worse things happen at sea!
The checkerboard biscuits looked like they'd been on the stretcher! Kicked myself after I'd done it because I knew exactly what I'd done wrong, it was just a tad late to correct it. They were very short and tasted nice though. Plus the meringue batons were really nice.
The chocolate macarons (french meringue method) and pistachio macarons (italian meringue method), despite the tiny peaks on the chocolate ones they both tasted really good.
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