The Dessertmeister

Or, “Meisterin” if we’re going with the Germ-lish thing I’ve got going here (the suffix “-in” means the noun is female in German).

Anyway.

This week was exams, which meant that we started off the week with a master demo. Chef Della gave this one and her topic was plated desserts. I feel like plated desserts is the “high end” stuff. Desserts you find at super fancy fine dining restaurants (which I’ve never set foot in…I don’t think), so yes, some of these desserts I’m showing you are a little…well…different. :) But it was still interesting to learn about and I tried some very interesting foods that day. Mom, you’d be so proud ;)

To start: A Petit Basque Soufflé with Sour Cherries and Toasted Walnuts

Petit Basque is a type of French cheese. And it is so. good. So in this dessert was a souffle made with this cheese and some dehydrated sour cherries. On the plate we have more cheese as a garnish, a cherry and black pepper tuile, walnuts, a cherry dressing and I forget with the green herb was…so sorry.  I didn’t get to taste this dessert (though I was pretty happy with just eating the cheese…) but it was cool to see it put together.

Next up: Red Shiso Sorbet with Champagne Mango and Grains of Paradise

Even though we each got a little tasting, I didn’t try this one either. That mysterious white jelly on the right is a Sake (a rice alcohol) jelly and there was sake in the sorbet as well. Anyway, in this dessert, the sorbet interested me the most. Shiso is an herb, so to make the shiso sorbet, Chef infused the shiso leaves into the sorbet base and it really turned that bright fuchsia/purple color. There was mango puree, pickled mango, and a mango tuile as well. The mango tuile was seasoned with grains of paradise, a spice that looks a lot like black peppercorns, but is white on the inside.

And now: I can’t remember the name of this one. So bear with me ;) It was a cake made from a dessert wine and olive oil, with olive oil ice cream, and strawberries in balsamic vinegar and dried strawberry chips. That’s a mouthful!
The cake was cut into little “crouton” shapes, put on top of the strawberries in vinegar, topped with the olive oil ice cream. The ice cream was very…interesting. Olive oil is pretty fatty, so it made it very creamy. But I can’t say I really liked the olive oil taste afterwards. The strawberries in balsamic vinegar were actually really good! I was surprised! I didn’t try the cake, I don’t really like the flavors of alcohol, even when it’s been cooked out. But the overall dessert wasn’t as weird as I thought it would be.

You know what else I tried during the demo (and didn’t get a picture of) and LIKED?!? Mom, you’re going to be in shock: Thai Curry Ice Cream. That’s right. Ice Cream. Now, it’s not something I would order for sure, give me raspberry or vanilla any day, but since I had the chance to actually try it, it was pretty good! You would take a bite, and you’d feel the cold creamy texture of the ice cream on your tongue, then you’d swallow and get a kick of the all spices in your throat! A weird sensation, but fun all the same ;) It was served with fritters…which can be made into churros…if that gives you any indication of what they’re like. I thought it was kind of a weird combination, but it was still pretty tasty.

Finally: White Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Mousse with Stewed Rhubarb and Coriander Shortbread

I thought this one was the prettiest to look at. The squiggly thing going on is rhubarb tuile. We have here coriander shortbread with a white chocolate yogurt mousse (she used greek yogurt), rhubard puree, and cilantro sauce (the green stuff)

And that was the master demo! Interesting, huh? Plated desserts aren’t really my thing, hence the forgetting what one of those was even called…but the demo was pretty interesting, mostly because of the different flavor combinations that are out there. I mean, I know I’d never come up with stuff like this. But all the same…interesting, isn’t it?

Exams were crazy, as usual. We covered Breads & Breakfast Pastries and Petit Fours. And there was soooo much to do. I had a blunder the second day, and forgot to take my croissant dough out of the freezer before we left that night, so on the third day (also the LAST day) I was scrambling to thaw out my croissant dough so that I could get them proofed and baked in time. I managed, and was so proud of myself that I kept my cool and didn’t freak out and tell Chef Jonathan, but it turns out he could tell once he looked at my croissants anyway! It’s uncanny, how they can tell. He cut open one of my croissants, looked at it and asked “did you leave your dough in the freezer?”

Wha..?!?

I guess you can tell because they were underproofed. That’s what happens when they get left in the freezer and don’t have the time to thaw. But I think they still tasted good. And Chef Pierre walked in later and said my laminations (layers of butter and dough) were very nice. So regardless of the grade I get, I think that makes up for it ;) Everything else went pretty smoothly, but I’m glad exams are over. And that was my LAST round of exams! Oh my gosh. This next week is our last week! We’ll be doing buffet prep and cleaning. And then graduation! My dad is flying in and I’m so excited!!!