Oooops!

This is Why I Wear an Apron

Mistakes happen; even in professional kitchens.  And when bad luck, miscalculations, loss of balance or other acts of God occur, the laughter is faint and restrained- because we're all thanking God it wasn't us, but know that next time it could be.  It's almost a kind of kitchen respect.  Make fun of your coworkers for their personal lives, but don't rub in big mistakes in the kitchen (or at least I haven't seen it yet any place I have worked).  

I am now working in the Bandes post of Laduree.  I don't know what Bandes really translates to in English, have not bothered to look it up or ask.  However at Laduree, Bandes is the little kitchen where the Pate a Choux pastries are filled and finished, and large slabs of lovely Plaisir Sucre and Carre Chocolat are cut into the individual portions and finished as well.  It's not exciting work; it's more routine like it was in Decor.  But I do love referring to the tiny choux puffs as La Tete (the head for the reglieusse) and laughed when I saw the etiquette on the plaque that said, "corps de religeusse".....am I at Laduree or the catacombs?  

My first task this morning was to mix the various flavors of Creme Patissier for the filling of the choux.  Cafe, Pistache, Rose, Violette and Chocolate.  I take 2 large tubs of creme patissier from the Entremets Kitchen and scoop all of the creme into a very large mixing bowl (Cuve in French).  I whip up the pastry creme and then tote it back to the Bandes kitchen for weighing and mixing with the flavors.  Most of the cremes are flavored with very extracts and sirops.  The Chocolate is mixed with, you got it, Chocolate.  Mixing chocolate into Pastry Cream is not an easy task.  You have to melt the chocolate and then temper it into the cold pastry cream in order to get it to mix completely.  At Laduree very hot milk is involved in melting the chocolate....and this is where today's ooops! happened. (Thankfully I was not involved, except that I was waiting for the milk.)

One patissiere is working dilligently cutting the Carre Chocolat into the perfect sized squares.  Just above his head is the Micro-ondes (microwave).  Things are coming and going in and out of the microwave like clockwork.  He is doing a little dance to the tune of, "Pardon, excuse-moi" while performing his cutting task.  He gets a brief 4 minute break while the milk is heated to tres chaud in the microwave.  Other patissieres come in and out of the kitchen looking for keys or ingredients they couldn't find else where.  A third patissier, trying to be helpful (he is taller than me) goes to retreive the very hot milk from the microwave.  We now have three dance partners.  Someone missed a step and the rest is a blur of white. Afterwards there is hot milk streaming from microwave, onto the counter, over the blocks of Carre Chocolat and spilling onto the floor.  The kitchen is quiet, we exchange nervous glances and NO ONE dares to laugh.  

I say a silent THANK YOU GOD IT WASN'T ME.  

Composure is quickly regained, the mess is promptly clean up and the tasks are restarted, and I think everyone is a little more careful in their movements as the day's work continues. 

It's not the first big mess I've seen, nor will it be the last.  During the my two weeks on the night shift, one of the patissiers drops a large bucket of pistachio paste (not cheap!) directly upside down on the floor, creating a dark muddy green looking puddle.  Just last week, a fellow stagiare realized after pushing frozen coulis pieces into the rose cupcakes, that they were using Strawberry instead of the Raspberry that is supposed to be in there.  I quickly helped remove the Strawberry flavored ones and then helped redo the Raspberry.  

As you can see from the photo above, I have made my own messes as well.  Back when I was working on my cupcakes for cupcake camp I had a little mishap with my handheld mixer.  The container I was mixing in was not heavy enough to stay in one place as I mixed.  I had to keep one hand on the container and use the other hand to hold the mixer.  In a momentary lapse of concentration, my hand holding the container released it while I had the mixer on high speed.  The container spun wildly around, sending Chocolate cake batter in a 360 degree splatter pattern- on the floor, the door, the cabinets, the wall, the stove, the clean dishes, and me!  I'm still amazed none got on my shirt, my apron protected me well, but I felt like such an idiot.

This is why I am not a doctor.  I loved how one of my instructors at school always said, "there is no open heart on the table, it's just pastry".  The chef at Crema had another great saying, "you're allowed to make mistakes, just don't repeat the same one over and over".  This is another reason why I love what I do.  The stress is really only the stress you put on yourself. Yes, I want to produce beautiful and flawless pastries all the time, but it's nice to know I can still be human.  And in this business, sometimes you get to eat your mistakes and they can be quite delicious!

Laduree Week 4&5- Decor

After finishing my 2 weeks on the night shift, I had just one weekend to try to flip my sleeping schedule to accommodate a 7am start time.  On the first Monday of my new post, after much tossing and turning and difficulty trying to sleep, I got up and headed off to the Champs-Elysees once again.  It was strange walking into the kitchen bleary eyed and meeting with my coworkers of the past two weeks just as they were finishing work, and I was now just starting.

I've been meaning to write this post since I started my two week stint in the Decor department.  In my mind as the two weeks progressed my idea for this post changed, and now I am glad I waited to write it.  This is what Decor is:  If you go to the Laduree website the first thing you see as the page loads is what looks like a Christmas tree that has flying macarons attaching themselves to it.  When the animation finishes, it morphs into a photo of the famous Laduree Macaron pyramid.  Decor is the dept at Laduree responsible for making these, The whole thing (except the macarons, more on that later).  I remember my first day, just a few weeks ago, I walked past one of the smaller labs and caught a glimpse of one over 3 feet tall, covered in multitude of macarons, with a beautiful Etiquette made of White Chocolate place on it, and then another White Chocolate plaque with elegant looking writing saying "Catherine & Francois" and a date- it was going to be someone's wedding cake.  I stared wide-eyed and wide mouthed for a minute.  It was another one of those, oh my, I AM working at Laduree moments. Decor also makes several other Piece Montees (name for the large cake, macaron and cream puff creations) and as I was soon to find out, display pieces for the windows of the all the stores, including the ones outside of Paris.

If I hadn't known better, when I first started Decor, I would have thought I was being punished for bad behavior/performance.  It seemed like the place were you would send employees who you didn't trust to touch the real pastries yet.  I found the work tedious and boring from the start, but I was working with a staff of just 3 so, it was nice to be part of a small and much better organized group, then the seeming craziness of the larger kitchens.

My biggest problem with Decor, was really an issue with myself.  On the first day I was handed a bag of Glace Royal (Royal icing) and instructed to take a styrofoam form and practice piping a border for the base of the pyramids.  Ever wonder why you don't see elaborate hand-decorated cakes on my blog?  Because its not my strong point, and I have little patience with myself when trying to do these things.  I've never been good at playing video games, I can't draw a straight line to save my life, and if I were an artist, well my work would be of the abstract kind.

Decor quickly became my hell.  Piping the border is one thing, but then after I had emptied a bag of icing and told maybe tomorrow I could actually pipe on a base that we would keep, I was given another bag with a smaller tip and then it got worse.  Now I had to do stringwork. (this page here will show you the items I was working on in decor).  I had to pipe 3 little thing lines of icing,one at a time, letting them hang just so, and then attach them to the cake to look like a pretty little swag.  AND they have to be evenly spaced.  I wanted to cry.  They wouldn't let me quit.  I kept piping and wiping away the icing, and then doing it again.  Then finally my punishment for one day was fulfilled and I was given other less intricate tasks to do.

In Decor communication was a little easier working with the same 2-3 people each day and I learned the routine very quickly.  Going to the storage space to get the styrofoam cones and circles, making the Glace Royal, the process of covering the cones and circles quickly and then making sure the coating was not to thick and then setting them to dry.  Finally on Thursday of my first week, I got to start making the macaron pyramids.  On Friday when I arrived, I notice a familar set-up of two heat lamps over a silpat and a large pot boiling sugar syrup on a portable induction cook top.  The head chef of the dept was going to do sugarwork. 

I've mentioned before that I work with a lot of young men, practically boys to me.  It is because most of them start working in the pastry field as apprentices at the young age of 14.  Guilliame, the head chef of Decor, is only 18.  On my first day of working with him, I found it odd that someone so young was in charge of a dept already and so serious.  By later on in the week he had relaxed and stopped being so serious and started joking with me.  When I watched him move quickly with the sugar and pull perfect sugar ribbons (which I cannot do), I started to understand why he was the chef.  At the end of my two weeks I saw him complete all the decorating and the string work on a 6 tier wedding cake.  It was practically flawless.

My sleep schedule finally adjusted back to nights and I started to enjoy getting out of work by 4pm and having a good amount of time afterwork to do stuff.  My string work improved and by the end of my time in Decor I was allowed to pipe on the actual bases, but I still feel I need some work on it.  I think my counting in French improved during these two weeks as well.  I also learned a new word, "Factice" or artificial in English.  In Decor we made many Factice display pieces that were used in the window displays at the store and sent to other stores as well.  I made an entire pyramid of Factice pistachio macarons for a display.  A week later I discovered it in the Printemps window display on Rue Lafayette.

 Look closely behind my left shoulder

Factice macarons use the same meringue shell as the edible ones, but they are filled with Royal icing colored to make the normal filling so that they do not go bad.  You could technically eat one, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I have now passed another two weeks with the Entremets morning team, and will be starting in Bandes tomorrow morning. Time is flying by. I'll be playing catch up on my blog here soon.  Stay tuned!

Apricots

Fresh Apricots

 

My first taste of Apricots as a child was dried Apricots.  My mom would often buy them through a food co-op. We didn’t have them all the time, so they became a special treat.  I loved them.  Secretly I would pick through the bag, selecting the softer, slightly plump ones that gave way to a bit of a squeeze between my fingers. This meant that they were not too chewy and often times a little sweeter than the others.  I remember getting a cake from a church fair one time that had bits of Apricot in it.  It was so delicious and it was the first time it occurred to me that you could put the Apricots in things.  I was in college, I think, the first time I ate a fresh Apricot and a new love was born. 

The Apricot is another popular fruit here in France.  Almost every patisserie has a Tarte au abricot.  Laduree is now making a mini tart with Apricot and Pistachio, another flavor combination I like.  I also tasted an Apricot Pistachio macaron from Dallyaou when I visited in April and it was amazing.  Last summer I bought a few fresh Apricots from my favorite fruit stand on the rue de Commerce and used them to make my own Apricot tart with browned butter filling.

Praline bar: Chocolate with Hazelnut paste

The other day while buying groceries, Apricots were on sale, but I had to buy a 1 kg carton.  Pas du problem, I would just have to make a dessert.  At home I had a nice Praline Chocolate bar I had bought previously and I had been wanting to make a Hazelnut Dacqouise, inspired by one of my favorite treats at Laduree.  The plan started to come together.  I cooked most of the apricots down and pureed them.  I baked the Dacqouise, I melted the Praline bar and mixed it with crushed Gavottes biscuits and made a small layer to go on top of the Dacqouise.  Then I chopped a few Apricots into small pieces and scattered them across the top of the Praline layer.  Next I made a nice sweet-tart Apricot Mousse (the Apricots I bought were more tart then sweet).  I poured the mouse into the cake ring and then placed it in the freezer to set up.

Apricot Puree and Mousse base, 

 Pieces of Apricot on top of the Praline layer

 Finished Cake

Romain and I were invited to dinner at a friends house that night, so I took the cake with us for dessert.  When I presented the cake, everyone oooh and ahhhhed.  Then Romain thought it funny to say I had just bought it at a shop around the corner.  Good thing I had my camera with the photos I took along the way, or they might have believed him.  There were 6 of us, and we easily finished the entire cake.  I definitely plan to make this one again.  I saw that the Apricots are still on special in the grocery and are overflowing the bins in many of the fruit stands around me, so maybe there will be some other Apricot inspired desserts in the near future.

Paris Patisseries

I found an amazing new website/blog today.  I think if I couldn't work as a pastry chef anymore, I would want this woman's job.  Though I'd need to consider a serious fitness regime, unless she is vigilant and doesn't eat the whole dessert, but how can you resist?  Although now that I think about it, hardly a day goes by for me without dessert or something sweet....hmmmm

Anyway, check it out here: http://www.parispatisseries.com/ and I'll also be adding it to my blogroll and definitely be visiting some of these places as well. 

a tout a l'heure,
Jenni

Sugar OVERLOAD

Yes, I am quite aware of what I do for a living involves large amounts of sugar (amongst other delicious things).  However I generally try to exercise some self-discipline and not over indulge.  Well, Sunday was an exception, maybe even the whole weekend.  I spent most of Saturday in my kitchen preping my two cupcake flavors for my Cupcake Camp entry and of course this involved plenty of taste testing.  Fortunately Romain was a very willing (although slightly biased) taster, so I didn't have to do it all myself. It was also fortunate that the 90+ heat that had settled on Paris on Friday disappated and Saturday was a nice comfortable day, not too bad for cooking in a tiny, non-AC kitchen.

Here are my two cupcakes:

S'mores Cupcake

A Speculoos (cookie sort of like a graham cracker but more cinnamon flavored here in France) flavored cake with bits of broken Speculoos cookies, a Milk Chocolate ganache filling and topped with home made Marshmallow topping and Speculoos crumbles.  

Almond Joy

Chocolate cake filled with creamy Coconut filling and an Almond, topped with Milk Chocolate and a Coconut buttercream and Almond Flower. 

Yay, I made it to the judges!

I was quite pleased with both cupcakes, but the S'mores appeared to be the most popular.  As I fought to get through the crowd at Bistro Vivienne to deliver my cupcakes to the judges upstairs, I had several hands sneak cupcakes of my tray before I could object.  I feared none would make it to the judges.  After finally getting my cupcakes settled in upstairs, it was time to start sugar feast.  Thankfully I had several friends show up to help me taste cupcakes.  We made our rounds gathering the cupcakes we wanted to try and then gathered in the courtyard to share and critique. There were lots of pretty designs, and flavors ranging from traditional to exotic. 

 Flavors from top left to top right:

Dulce De Leche, unknown, Lemon Meringue

 Flavors from top left to right:

Rosewater Poppyseed,

something Chocolate,

Watermelon Wasabi

Some cupcakes we definitely liked better than others. I think the best one I tasted was the Dulce de Leche.  The cake was almost Angel Food like, if was filled with a lucious and creamy Ducle de Leche filling and topped with a nice light Caramel buttercream.  This one I could have eaten all by myself, but I shared. 

I think one of the reason my cupcakes went so fast (other than their great taste and appearance) was that they were minis- much easier to get a taste but not be too full to try the other tasty delights as well. 

Most interesting flavor was a Chocolate Fennel. I'm sure it was quite good, but if there is one flavor I don't like, it's Fennel, Anise or Licorice.  I tasted it by accident because Romain passed it to me after he tasted it. He said what it was, but all I heard was the Chocolate part, Fennel (in French) was lost in the noise of the crowd.  Apparently some other people either were unpleasantly surprised by the flavors they tasted, didn't have friends to share with, or had finally reached their sugar limit because half eaten cupcakes were left in discreet and more conspicous places. 

Poor half-eaten cupcake left in the stairwell.  Thankfully it wasn't one of mine.

At then end of the evening we couldn't look at another cupcake.  When we arrived home to find 5 extra S'mores cupcakes I had forgotten about in the kitchen still, Romain suggested we put them in the fridge.  Good idea, I may take them to my coworkers tomorrow.  Normally at lunch time at work I'd take a dessert, but when offered a macaron to try first thing Monday morning, I quickly turned it down without even thinking. 

I guess I'm going through detox. Hope it ends soon, I have a nice barquette of Apricots bought on sale and I'm itching to get back into the kitchen and make something.  

It is also time for me to start seriously job searching in Paris.  If anyone has any tips or advice, please send it my way, it would be greatly appreciated- I have no idea where to start, I just know I want to stay here.

Cupcake Camp Paris!

 Test Subject #1 for My Cupcake Camp Entry

In the midst of working La Nuit at Laduree and trying to catch up on sleep during the day, I've been quite busy in my petite cuisine.  My friend Lindsay of Lost in Cheeseland informed me of a cool event taking place (quite appropriately) on July 4th here in Paris.  It's called "Cupcake Camp".  I believe one was held in Boston shortly before I left for Paris, but I did not know enough about it in advance to participate.  Once I heard about Cupcake Camp Paris I had to join in on the fun. 

Now as many of you know, cupcakes have become quite the rage across the US.  What's not to love about individual sized yummy cakes in almost any flavor and decoration you can imagine?  Honestly I can't say I have the cupcake fever like so many, but I do like them.  Our cake decorator at Whole Foods created many great combinations for our store.  My favorite might have been the Banana Split Sundae cupcake- Vanilla cupcake filled with Chocolate ganache and Strawberry jam, topped with a scoop of Banana flavored buttercream, and sprinkled with chopped nuts.  Looked just like a Sundae.  I always enjoyed the days at WF when I got to help decorate the cupcakes, it was fun and a nice change of pace from finishing my mini pastries.

The event planners for Cupcake Camp Paris have been blown away by the response of people who want to make cupcakes and by people who want to come and eat cupcakes.  I'm excited to go and see what flavors and decor my fellow bakers have come up with, and I'm hoping to network and make some new Parisian friends as well.  If you are in Paris, its only 10 euros to get in and have a drink and eat all the cupcakes you want!  All the proceeds go to Rebuilding Haiti.  Find more information about the event here, including a list of bakers participating: http://cupcakecampparis.blogspot.com

In other news....
Tonight is my last night on the night shift at Laduree.  It's been a fun and challenging two weeks.  I'm going to miss that crazy group of boys, but I will see them in passing as I shift back to working days. I've got lots of fun memories, and lets just say don't let boys with lighters play with alcohol based sanitizer.......oh kitchens!

In the Night Kitchen - Week 2

"The Bakers who bake till Dawn, so we can have cake in the morn......"  
                          -In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak

Who Wouldn't Like to Wake Up to This Every Morning?

It was my first job out of high school at a local bakery, where I  learned to love coffee.  No, scratch that, not love, started to need it's power punch of caffeine early in the morning.  I would often start work at 5am and first chore on the list was brew the coffee.  All the donuts and pastries were already made by a night shift that had started at midnight and finished some time before I arrived (it was a very small shop).  Once I got to fill in on the donut making shift.  I came to work at Midnight and Finished around 4am.  In my young mind, at first I couldn't understand why the donuts had to be made at night.  Then it occurred to me, how else would they be ready for those first customers at 6am?

It's now 6:30 am Paris time, do you know where your favorite Pastry Chef is???  I'm just finishing my 8 hour night shift at Laduree.  All the lovely little pastries have been decorated, garnished with fresh berries, and the tiny little Etiquettes (little gold oval pieces of paper with Laduree Paris on them) have been properly placed.  I see carts of fresh-from-the-oven Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Brioche Sucre and Canneles ready to be sent up to the store front for Petit Dejuener of many Parisians.   I can't decided if I'm more hungry or more tired, but I'm happy!


So I have survived my second week at Laduree (first on the night shift).  I hasn't been as difficult as I imagined.  I am almost nocturnal now, working all night and sleeping away most of the day.  It helps that Redbull is available in France. The night time staff is mostly young men (younger than me).  Everyone has been nice.  I feel I had a better start with them.  Maxim is the head chef on my first night.  He asks (in French) if I speak French.  Oui, I speak just a little, but I explain that if  he speaks slowly and simply, I can mostly understand.  He seems to take this into consideration, as does most of the staff.  I find myself understanding them better than some of the day staff. 

I am told to work with Bastien.  We start with assembling the Isphan.  Rosey rounds of biscuit meringue, topped with a dab of Rose Buttercream, fresh Raspberries and Litchis and topped with another round, so it almost looks like a fancy round Raspberry sandwich.  It is explained to me to turn all the tops so that the end where the spiral of meringue was finished being piped is in the back.  I sigh a happy sigh, this is the level of precision and detail in pastry that makes me giddy, I get it!  Then 2 dabs of buttercream are added to the top; one to anchor another fresh Raspberry, and the other to anchor the Rose petal.  It's midnight and I'm tearing petals off of gorgeous, deep red roses.  Instead of chanting, he loves me, he loves me not, I wonder how many customers (American tourists in particular) try to eat the Rose petal, or a try to ask if it is edible?  The Etiquette is rested against the Raspberry.  The final touch is little dots of gelatin-like mixture piped from a frosting bag onto the Rose petals so they look as if they have been kissed by the morning dew.  After 2 nights of doing this, I"m over the novelty, but I think if I could take a picture of it and send it to my mother, she would sigh. 

The Laduree Etiquette

Next we start the Harmonie.  Much like the Fraisier cake, it combines the flavors of Pistachio and Strawberry.  I love it.  We take the pistachio green meringue rounds from the freezer and fill them with a little Pistachio mousseline.  Then we thinly slice Fresh Strawberries and place them on top of the mousseline. Then another layer of mousseline.  Halved Strawberries have been sprayed with a vanilla glaze, and are arranged just so on top of the mousseline.  One night I am shown by Bastien to arrange 2 in the back, 1 in the middle, and 2 laying sideways in the front.  Three nights later, Fabian observes me doing this and says, no no no, comme ca..... I stop and just shake my head.  I can't even begin in my little French to tell him, that it was how I was shown before.  I just say Bastien, and point.  We laugh. I think he gets it, but I do it his way with the Strawberries pointing up in front.  I think it looks better anyway.

After finishing the Harmonies, if we are doing well on time, we take a short break. Sometimes Maxim finds some food for us, probably left overs from the Laduree kitchen.  I now carry a fork in my pocket because of this.  Otherwise I have to eat with my fingers, it's like camping.  When the break is over, I usually get sent to another kitchen to help with finishing the tarts and this is where I end my long night.

In tarts I fill small pate sucree crusts with a Rhubarb compote and then carefully arrange tiny Frais de Bois strawberrys on top.  I don't understand the Frais de bois.  I don't think they are pretty, the coloring is never consistent, and they are often very mushy.  I ask Damien if they taste good. He doesn't think so.  I finally taste one and it's not bad.  Sweet, and almost kind of floral tasting.  I try to imagine it with the Rhubarb. Once the tiny Frais are all placed perfectly, I pipe a spiral of Strawberry gelee on top and of course, don't forget the etiquette!

About 5am the early morning staff starts to trickle in.  One by one, coming in to say Bonjour and give a kiss, or grasp your wrist for a shake if you are busy working.  Damiem tells me to go ask for the Cuit Sucre, or cooked sugar.  I am given several plaques of hardened caramel colored sugar that I then break into pieces to be melted down.  Several kilos of butter and a small amount of pectin is added, we are making the caramel for the Tart Tatins.  I tried one the other day and it was good, but way too buttery for my tastes.   I'd prefer to taste more of the apples.  I find it clever the way they make the individual Tart Tatins.  Large silicon flexi-molds.  A laddle full of the caramel goes in each round mold.  Then 1 and 1/2 apples are pushed in on top of the caramel.  Someone, probably in the oven room places the butter rounds of dough on top before baking them in the oven.  Then the following night I may have to take them out of the flexi-molds before starting the process over.

I am now bleary eyed and thinking of my bed.  We clean the kitchens, mopping the floors and washing the marble counters.  Make sure things are put away.  Our aprons are collected to be washed and I make my rounds saying goodbye to the staff before I go change out of my uniform. Then its up the stairs and into the day light on the Champs-Elysees.  I walk to my metro stop, passing the fruite and vegetable vendors setting up there stalls, deliveries are being made to the restaurants along the street and everyone is getting ready for the day.  At Laduree there are lots of fresh buttery Croissants, Brioche and other delights waiting for the first of the day's customers. 

So next time you are up early and visiting your local bakery or pastry shop, enjoy the first cup of coffee or tea, keep in mind all the work that went into making sure that pastry was fresh and waiting for you that morning.

In steaming on into Week 3 at Laduree with the night team.  Lots of other exciting things happening as well, that I will share after I catch up on a little more sleep.