Sugar High

Day 52

Who knew a classic culinary arts program would involve so much pastry?

When I signed up for the course, I knew we would at least cover it. In Level 2, there were two intense weeks. In this level, our rotations require that we make a dessert at least once—if not twice—a week.

So here's the thing: I like dessert when I can make it on my own

time. And most often, I prepare pastries that don't involve making a crust. I guess if anything, all this practice will make me more prone to bake tarts and pies without cheating by buying a pre-made shell.

Today I made the apple tart, which, like the chicken grandmother-style, seems like I've made it 40 times. It turned out OK—personally, I think it could have been a bit more caramelized on the top. I also made cream puffs with pate a choux dough and filled them with creme chantilly, and I was happy with the results.

Of course this won't be the last time I make pastries in culinary school; next week I'm bound to have at least one to tackle. It's also probable I'll have to make a pastry dish for the practical (lemon tart was the hint).

I need some sweet relief.

Ice, Ice Baby

Day 28

There's nothing sadder than walking into frozen dessert day and discovering the ice cream machine is broken. However, our dismay quickly turned to delight when a chef strolled into the classroom with a canister of liquid nitrogen proclaiming a substitute lesson.

We were like kids in a candy shop—er, an ice cream parlor.

The chef poured creme anglaise into the KitchenAid stand mixer and doused it with the liquid nitrogen. Smoke billowed from the machine like a witches brew, and the class was in awe. Within minutes, we were on our way to something scoop-able.

A lesson that could have been plain wasn't so vanilla after all.

Besides ice cream (and grapefruit sorbet, which was done in the same manner), we made two dishes with meringue: a frozen fruit souffle and meringue chantilly. The souffle used Italian meringue—where hot sugar syrup is drizzled into whipped egg whites—combined with whipped cream and raspberry puree. The meringue chantilly involved swiss meringue, or egg whites and sugar initially incorporated over a bain-marie and then whipped off the heat until it's finished.

The latter recipe involves piping, a technique I have come to despise. I know some people find joy in decorating cakes or making pommes duchesse. Not me. "It looks like doodoo," chef joked in Level 1, the first time I used a pastry bag to pipe out potatoes. I'll be the first to admit my skills could use some work.

Since we had some extra time, chef showed the class how to prepare pate a choux. It's the only pastry dough that's cooked twice, and it's commonly used for eclairs. We made profiteroles, which involved—you guessed it—piping. However, I can handle this technique; all you have to do is keep the pastry bag in one spot.

Right now, creating perfect rosettes seems like a pipe dream.