Some new choux

It has been way to long since my last post. Never planned on taking a long break like this. It has been a busy time, both personally and professionally. Unfortunately something had to be put on the back burner, and this was it.

Since my last post I competed in Lyon in The Coupe du Monde (4th place) and Dubai in the World Hospitality Championship ( 2nd place and gold medal). We completed a photo shoot for the 300 pictures that will go in my text book, The Advanced Art of Baking and Pastry. All of my writing energy was focused into completing the manuscript for the book.

Most recently I was one of four candidates taking the CMPC exam in August. Taking the exam challenged me to take on tasks I had not done before. It is always good to challenge yourself. At the end of the exam there were no new Certified Master Pastry Chefs. However, preparing for the exam and taking the exam has inspired me to keep pushing and sharing. 

I have seen pictures of pate a choux that looked like it was baked in a mold. Over a year ago I started playing around with this. The first attempt led me to use a stainless steel mold. At first I didn't think this would work. Would there be enough heat to create a cavity? Would enough moisture escape from the mold to properly dry the choux? Using the mold I was able to confirm the choux would puff, but not enough moisture was escaping. All that was left in the end was a collapsed gummy dough. The testing of the molded pate a choux was put on hold so I could focus on other projects.

Learn what you can from the first test and move onto the second. I needed a way to let the moisture escape. Looking back through the images I found, it became clear that the choux had a texture. Very similar to the texture of a silpan. I cut a strip of silpain to line the mold and it worked, all that was left was to determine the baking time and temperature. This will vary with every oven and a little trial and error will need to be conducted in your oven. 

Pate a Choux

225 gr              Milk

25 gr                Cream

125 gr              Butter

5 gr                  Sugar

1.5gr                Salt

65 gr                AP flour

65 gr                Bread flour

250 gr              Eggs

Method:

Boil; milk, cream, sugar, salt and butter

Sift flours, add off the stove

Cook on low heat

Transfer to a mixer, cool a little

Gradually add eggs

Pipe into mold

 Bake at 300-320 F Convection

Trim the silpain to fit the ring, a slight overlap is OK. 

Too much and the choux will not bake in this spot.

Place the lined rings onto a flat sheet pan lined with a silpain.

Fill the mold about 1/2 way. 

Place another silpain on top of the molds and top with another flat sheet pan

You can check the choux while it is baking, I found it could take 45-60 minutes to bake fully.

Reverse Thermoforming

It's good to be back, took a little time off due to the tryouts.  We finished up last week, and it was a great group of chefs to compete with.

I am always on a hunt to find ways to do things that produce a great end result using some simple and inexpensive tools.  The reverse thermoforming process, really wasn't that simple to come up with and it does involve some equipment but the end result is fantastic.

This whole process would not have been possible without the help of Clay Williams.  I was on a quest for the perfect feather mold, the goal was a plastic mold that would provide a nice shine to the finished product while looking natural.  A significant amount of time was spent searching, nothing available was in the correct size.  After searching a little longer I stumbled on some YouTube videos of Clay demonstrating Lifeform Silicone.  It will release from anything, only problem it's not foodsafe.  I reached out to Clay and he brought some silicone molds and acrylics of actual feathers.  After several attempts the process below was developed.

Please visit Eaglewood Sculpts to see more of Clay's great work.

The feather was placed on a piece of foam padding to ensure it would not break.  I cut a piece of dura-lar to fit in the vacuum bag on top of the acrylic feather.

The contents of the vacuum bag were sealed at 99.9% 

The dura-lar requires heat to become soft.  I used the Rational in combi mode at 40% steam and 140 F for 20 minutes.  This oven is a great tool to have in the kitchen!

After being heated you can see the detail of the feather comes through the bag.   Below is a finished feather cast in dark chocolate.  

Time sure is flying by!

It has been too long since my last post, and I have been thinking about what to write about.  Here I sit on a Friday night and decide that it is time to do it.

The past few months have been spent preparing for Team USA Coupe du Monde de la patisserie tryouts.  More information can be found at Pastry Team USA.  It is an honor to be selected for the tryouts, many pastry chefs that have been an inspiration to me as I grew in the industry were members of previous teams.  The Coupe du Monde truly is the number pastry competition in the world, being chosen as a candidate to possibly represent the USA is one of the greatest accomplishments of my career.

That is the primary reason for not updating the blog.  Many hours have gone into preparing for the tryouts. As always the sacrifice is not my own, the extra time at work means time away from my family and more work for my wife (we will be celebrating our 14th anniversary just days before the tryouts).  One of my former students and employees, Tony Kozlowski, has been hard at  work apprenticing with me for the competition.  Along with help from several other students on the other projects that are always popping up Heather Schreiner, Stacey Lyons, and Jacob Shuttleworth.  There are many more that have contributed and I apologize if I left anyone out.  They contribute a great deal along with other colleagues that have advised me on this and previous competitions.

The good news is that there a some fun technique posts of some techniques that I will be using for the tryouts, that will come after the competition.

So please get the word out about the tryouts and help to support Team USA.

Hotel reservations - https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=8725674

Awards reception will be held at Grand Rapids Community College on Saturday April 21st at 6:30, $50 per person.

All the best to everyone trying out!  Looking forward to seeing everyone at the tryouts!

Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream

There are few things that I enjoy more than a good ice cream and cooking shows.  I prefer the professional type shows, others are such a train wreck you can't help but watch.

A few weeks ago my wife and I were waiting for our table to open up at the restaurant, so we headed over to Williams Sonoma.  We looked through the tools and equipment and finished up at the books.  Michael and Bryan Voltaggio just put out a cookbook, they have a unique style and compliment each other nicely so I took a look.  Not only was their book out, but they had a special coming right before Thanksgiving.

I just so happened to be home that night, working in kitchen and decided I would see what they were up to.  As luck would have it the show became a 60 minute commercial were the boys go shopping at Williams Sonoma.  At this point I went back to whatever I was working on, then something caught my attention - Caramelized White Chocolate.

We had been working with this for a few years trying to perfect it.  Following blogs and demonstrations to see what the best way was to get the best flavor.  It is exactly what it sounds like, basically you "burn" the chocolate.  The chocolate is overheated to the point that the milk solids caramelize and develop into a very complex flavor.

A majority of the time this achieved by placing the chocolate in pan and cooking it in the oven temperatures and times vary providing different colors and flavor.  I was in search of more, this technique may be new to some while others may have no idea what it is.  Bryan vacuum packed his white chocolate then placed it in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes.  It reminded me of Christmas morning, what will I find when I open the pressure cooker.  To my surprise it was exactly what he had on the show, a deep dark caramelized white chocolate.  

This result was nothing that I could accomplish in the oven.  The chocolate had a slightly bitter flavor, which I enjoy.  The sweetness of the chocolate was dramatically reduced.  We figured since we had it available it was time to make some ice cream.  

Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream Philadelphia Style

819  gr        Whole Milk

36    gr         Non-Fat Milk Solids

33    gr         Granulated Sugar

38    gr          Inverted Sugar

5      gr          Ice Cream Stabilizer

239  gr          Caramelized White Chocolate

Method

1. In a bowl combine non-fat milk solids, granulated sugar and stabilizer

2. Place milk and inverted sugar in a saucepan, whisk in dry ingredients

3. Heat this mixture to 185F - do not boil

5. Add chocolate and warm mixture to 189F

6. Emulsify mixture and strain through a chinois

7. Refrigerate overnight, emulsify again

8. Freeze according to manufacturers instructions

I have found a Pacojet to provide the best results, a conventional batch freezer will work as well.  Caram

The Sphere

A couple of weeks ago Nancy and I were rebuilding our piece from Pastry Live at the Chicago Mold School for the Chicago Restaurant Pastry Chef Competition.  I had been wanting to post how I assembled the sphere and almost forgot to take pictures while I was assembling.

This piece was originally conceived as an interesting technique that I felt would be suitable for a competition where you bring your piece mostly assembled.  When I completed, what we lovingly referred to as "the helmet", Nancy loved it and we incorporated it into the piece.  Now my biggest concern was trying to figure out how to assemble it in a way that would be efficient and clean.  After thinking it through I developed a system to speed up the assembly.

This was the prototype

The fins were created using a simple chablon
This was made using a piece of vinyl flooring

Before the fins set they were placed into a mold to shape them.
The outer sphere was cut using a warmed round cutter

The center was composed of a half sphere with a plate to attach the fins

Once the fins were attached the sphere was placed over them

The piece has the appearance of being able to move.  One of the aspects I enjoyed most of Pastry Live was that we were not allowed to use any commercial molds, other than simple geometric shapes.  We really wanted to play with many of the traditional showpiece elements and break them down and transform them.  That way the basic technique was there, but we gave it our own touch.  The stand you see in the images was what was used in the competition.

Rock n Roll

This is the first technique post, please let me know what you think.

This technique was shown to me by Nancy Carey as we prepared for the National Showpiece Championship.  At first I was a little apprehensive to use it, seemed to be too time consuming.  In the end we were able to streamline the process.  In the end the judges loved the idea, it helped to transition our piece from the white boxes we were using to the darker color of the chocolate.  We also used them to give the piece the appearance it was growing out of the ground.

What you will need -
Formula
1000 gr Dark Couverture
1000 gr Granulated Sugar
Method
1. Combine melted chocolate and sugar
2. Spread evenly between metal bars
3. Allow to crystallize

Tools
Wood rasp
Scraper

Scrape surface with rasp

Continue until surface is evenly scraped

Use scraper to smooth out the surface

Break sheet into rocks

Use the rasp to finish the edges

I have tried this working with tempered couverture and no tempered, there was no significant difference in the final product.  This batch was made with some recycled chocolate we used for another showpiece, as you can see it was a nice finished product.  These rocks were created for the rebuild of our winning piece we are assembling this weekend at the Chicago School of Mold Making.

Relaxation at the top

An interesting reflection

There is nothing like a great meal with that special someone.  This blog is not in anyway going to become a platform to critique meals, that I can guarantee.  However, my wife and I had a fantastic meal, complimented by fantastic service.  Prior to the arrival of all our children we would go out at least once a year to a nice restaurant.  It has been a good three years since we had the opportunity to enjoy an experience like this. 

Everest is located on the 40th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building.  It has a long history of being one of the best.  When you arrive you are buzzed into the garage, met by a valet and proceed up a series of elevators.  This really starts to build the excitement for the meal that you are someone special going somewhere very special.

One of my former students, Molly, is the Assistant Pastry Chef at Everest.  For several months she had been inviting us to come down and finally we had the time, a great reason and the resources to do it.  We were anticipating dinner and Molly was anxiously awaiting us coming in.  In a previous post I mentioned the importance of balance.  That was the main purpose of this meal.  I have spent a considerable amount of time practicing the last few months, the plan was for a nice quiet night out alone enjoying each others company, and that was exactly what we did.  The meal was a marathon, we ate and drank for almost four hours, and the food kept coming and coming.  Here are some photos of what we were served.

The biggest amuse ever!  We knew it was going to be long night.

When you are in a French restaurant could you pass on Foie Gras and figs???

Butter, Gewurztraminer, Ginger and Lobster....Oh my!

 

Halibut and Fricassee of Tomatoes

I could have cut the veal with a plastic fork

Bring on the cheese

I was waiting for this one.  Concord grape gelee with a honey grape sorbet

Asian Pear

Plum Financier

Fromage Blanc Souffle

Kougelhopf

What a great night out!  I have to thank my wife for supporting me before, during and after everything that comes our way.  Molly thank you for putting in the long day and getting everything ready it was appreciated.  Chef Thierry, all I can say is WOW!  I think any chef out there would be humbled to see the quality of food they put out of such a small line.  They are a very talented crew.  While we were in the kitchen it was like watching a well rehearsed dance routine, adding colorful well flavored touches to every plate.  Thanks again!!!!

Stay tuned for the next post, going to talk a little about mystery baskets and pushing through the wall.