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| MAY 2004 | ||||||||
RIDING THE SUGAR HIGH |
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By Laura Morriss Photos by Björg Arnarsdottir On March 7th, 2004, PastryScoop.com hosted its first annual Passion for Pastry Conference at The French Culinary Institute in New York City. This inaugural event allowed the Web site's online community to learn first hand, from some of the best in the industry, while exchanging ideas with each other face to face. In addition, PastryScoop.com presented five awards for excellence and innovation in pastry and baking at their namesake Golden Scoop Awards the following day.
SUNDAY, The baking enthusiasts in Hans Welker's class were treated to a late breakfast of freshly made bagels complete with house-cured lox and cream cheese. Welker, chef-director of The FCI's bread program, demonstrated how to make the chewy New York favorite along with goat cheese and herb focaccia and Irish soda bread. Laughter could be heard from down the hall as Jürgen David, another chef-instructor at The FCI, explained the ins and outs of tempering chocolate. Since tempering is an exacting and sometimes frustrating task, David maintained that keeping a sense of humor can be as essential as achieving proper temperatures. |
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The Peninsula Hotel's executive pastry chef Jason Licker stressed the versatility of citrus fruit in his workshop. Licker eschews flavored oils for their "fake lollipop" taste and praises the Microplane zester as "the best" tool for the job. From an elegant grapefruit Campari martini to a simple orange shortbread, participants learned a wide range of uses for citrus. Tina Casaceli, the chef-coordinator of The FCI's pastry program, proved wedding cakes can be as sturdy as they are beautiful in her demonstration on how to create and assemble a tiered cake. Her partner-in-crime, Ron Ben-Israel, even tipped the four-tiered creation sideways to show how a center dowel functions to anchor a cake in place. After a break for lunch, attendees returned for another round of classes including: Chocolate Desserts, Texture as Taste, Crèmes and Custards, and Wedding Cake Decoration.
Patrick Coston, founder of The Art of Chocolate, had his students enthralled by his intense, meticulous approach to chocolate, and his precise techniques make the difference between a good dessert and something truly memorable. One such tip is adding warm brown butter to chocolate financier batter so that some of the chocolate pieces melt and incorporate more flavor into the cake. Down the hall, Citarella's Bill Yosses engaged his participants in a lively discussion about the importance of texture in the overall enjoyment of a dessert. He encouraged his students to think about the right filling-to-crust ratio in a tart and to ponder the creaminess or stickiness of a sauce. His demonstration featured smooth, silky, springy coconut agar agar confections contrasted with gooey, dense, rich jackfruit toffee pudding. Vicki Wells, of Bolo and Mesa Grill fame, gave traditional crèmes and custard a new spin by spicing up a basic flan with smoked vanilla and coffee-infused caramel and adding roasted corn, garlic, and black pepper to a savory version. Perhaps the most oohs and aahs heard all day were in Ron Ben-Israel's seminar on how to create sugar flowers. As owner of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, he's famous for his life-like, botanically-correct sugar flowers. He and chef Casaceli used the flowers to decorate the wedding cake they had constructed in their previous demonstration. After another break, this one featuring champagne and chocolate, the final round of workshops began. Some participants had been there since nine o'clock in the morning but enthusiasm was still running strong (or maybe it was the champagne and chocolate kicking in). Maureen Ferraro, a corporate event planner about to attend The FCI's pastry arts program, loved the two classes she had attended already. Her only lament was that she couldn't be in more than one workshop at a time.
Though master confectioner and chef-instructor Bo Friberg of the San Diego Culinary Institute has 40 years of experience, he didn't hesitate to mention some modern updates to traditional candies and plating techniques. Friberg made bubble sugar, a beautiful cooked sugar garnish, using the standard method and another using Isomalt which stays colorless even at high temperatures. Meredith Kurtzman, pastry chef of Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, treated her classes to freshly run samples of four different types of gelato and sorbet. Her students commented over and over that it was the best ice cream they had ever had, and Kurtzman's devotion to high-quality ingredients and to constant taste testing explain why. The other two classes featured prominent California pastry chefs, Sherry Yard of Spago and Emily Luchetti of Farallon, who shared recipes from their recent cookbooks. Demonstrating brioche, one of her master recipes, and its variations, chef Yard advised getting to know the rules of a basic recipe so that it can be adapted to achieve different end results. Participants got to sample two permutations-bread pudding and doughnuts. A truly delicious aroma greeted me at the door of Emily Luchetti's classroom. While the smell of sautéed apples brought me inside, it was the devotion to seasonal produce that Luchetti spoke of that made me pay attention. She encouraged her students to make the fruit the star of a dessert, not complicating it with too many flavors. Happy participants departed in the early evening hours, some still munching raspberry-filled doughnuts or licking spoonfuls of gelato on the way out. MONDAY, MARCH 8th Staying Ahead of the Dessert Crowd: Techniques You Need To Be Creative on the Pastry Chef Scene
Approximately fifty professional chefs gathered to hear about trends in East coast and West coast desserts at the following day's seminar. Dorothy Cann Hamilton, founder and CEO of The FCI, and Michael Batterberry, founder and editor-in-chief of Food Arts, gave introductory remarks. Representing the East were New York pastry chefs Sam Mason of wd~50 and Pierre Reboul of Wallsé and Café Sabarsky. Reboul talked about the need to innovate, to be "creative" and "edgy" by taking something familiar and altering it enough that it is recognizable but also somewhat different. Demonstrating this idea with poached pears, a perennial favorite, he set them in a cylinder of gelée, froze it, and cut it thinly on an electric slicer. The pear is still an integral part even though the presentation is unexpected. Reboul also spent a good deal of time talking about the virtues of the Pacojet ice cream maker, which he takes advantage of to create texture, in this case a "chocolate powder." He again twists the familiar slightly because the intense flavor instantly disappears instead of coating the mouth like ice cream. To cap off his presentation, the audience enjoyed a plated dessert of pear-filled chocolate beignet with poached pear gelée, chocolate powder, and pear sorbet. Sam Mason does not strive for creativity; it is an extension of his outlook. His advice is to "mix it up more often" when it comes to cooking techniques and "don't be complacent in your in ingredients. Use anything." Sous vide, poaching in sealed plastic, is often used for torchons and other meats, but Mason demonstrated the technique using bananas, caramel, and spices. He also demonstrated how to make crispy-thin carrot, beet, mustard seed, and kumquat papers and how to create texture through dehydration. Caramelized grapefruit segments were dried just long enough to achieve a crunchy outside while retaining a moist interior.
After a short break, which included more champagne and a tasting of Mason's pine nut parfait with kumquat confit and saffron sauce, West coast pastry chefs Sherry Yard of Spago Beverly Hills and Emily Luchetti of San Francisco's Farallon took the stage. While innovation, either planned or spontaneous, and use of unusual techniques, equipment, and ingredients marked the work of the East coast chefs, the California contingent stressed the use of seasonal produce and fresh products. The two chefs discussed how they plan their menus around the harvest cycle. Both stressed that creating and maintaining relationships with local farmers is critical to getting higher quality produce and more personalized service. Menu flexibility is another key aspect of working with seasonal produce. The point of a recipe should be to showcase the unique flavor and texture of the fruit. If small, flattened doughnut peaches are available, Yard will use them whole because of their unusual shape whereas the shape of traditional peaches is not as unique so she will make a dish with pieces of fruit like a cobbler. Luchetti notes that produce from a farmers' market is never uniform like supermarket varieties. When the fruit she receives is irregular, she will make a sorbet or a sauce so that the appearance of the fruit does not affect the finished product. Luchetti showcased Meyer lemons, just then in season and brought from California at their peak, in a delectable trifle. Another point that the two highlighted was complementing the fruit with the freshest preparations possible. Finishing dishes à la minute and making all of the components of a dessert from scratch are particularly important. Luchetti does not understand why some restaurants will have amazing berries and then place them in pre-made tart shells bought in mass. The freshness of the berries is lost on a stale, dry crust. Yard's buttery tartlets filled with Persian mulberry and apricot preserves drove home the point. Also, the chefs noted that theatrical, complicated presentations with lots of height and fancy garnishes do not always add to the dessert; the flavor of a dish is much more important. While it should be pleasing to the eye, paying so much attention to decoration can distract from the taste. The seminar wrapped with a question and answer session. Golden Scoop Awards
Just before the dessert course of apple charlotte with cider sabayon, the presentation of this year's Golden Scoop Award winners took place with master of ceremonies, Sherry Yard, announcing the recipients with her signature charm. Entries were judged on originality, appearance, and taste, and the judging panel consisted of prominent pastry chefs and industry professionals. Each winner received an engraved silver champagne bucket, a gift from All-Clad Metalcrafters, an embroidered Golden Scoop Award Winner patch to be worn on the chef's jacket along with a big hug of support from chef Yard. The 2004 Golden Scoop Award Winners Include: Best Confection Best Dessert Revival Best Dessert Using New Techniques Best Bakery Recipe Best Dessert Menu After the awards presentation, conference attendees lingered over dessert, tea, and coffee exchanging business cards with new friends and colleagues, congratulating the winners, and asked a final question or two of the instructors. Everyone agreed that the conference was a blast and many look forward to attending next year. Though professionals will have to wait for the next Passion for Pastry Conference, the demands of pastry enthusiasts will be answered with a full day of workshops scheduled for October 17, 2004. Log on to PastryScoop.com this summer for more details. Laura Morriss is a native Texan who ventured to New York City for culinary school and never left. She is a freelance writer, pastry professional, and also an editorial assistant at PastryScoop.com.
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