Day Two

Making Genoise is tough. Let's just get that out in the open. Genoise is a cake that's one of the basic cake forms in the pastry world, and my team was slated to make the cake today. Our instructor chose to demonstrate genoise to the class, since it's a challenge. I was confident that we'd be able to make it just fine after watching the instructor, but this was not to be. Hockey puck city, baby!

At the beginning of the week, our instructor said he hoped things would go wrong, since you learn from those mistakes. My team was the object lesson today. Here's the deal: you whip eggs and sugar until they've tripled in volume. At that point, you mix in a small portion of that with melted butter, and then set that aside to be folded in later. At this point, you fold in flour and cornstarch into the remaining egg mixture. Now, we're working with big volumes--batter for four cakes all at once. We're using massive Hobart mixers, whipping 15 eggs at a time, so we've got a lot of mass of whipped eggs that we need to fold about a pound of flour into. Ideally, you'll minimize the shrinkage of the batter by gently folding in the flour. This is what's hard.

My partner ended up folding in the flour while I went to take care of the cakes we had put in the oven from the instructor's batch. That took a few minutes, and when I came back, I knew we were in trouble. Those perfectly whipped eggs had deflated way too much, and I knew at that point we were sunk. I'm not going to blame it on my partner--I think the problem was that we kept the batter in the mixer bowl, instead of moving it into a shallower and much larger bowl like the instructor did, though he said he did this only because it would be easier to show the class. In a larger bowl, you have a much larger surface area, so there's more room for the flour to go, and not sink under it's own weight as it was in our case, constrained by the narrower opening of the mixer bowl. Also, you're able to move a much smaller portion of the batter as you move around the bowl, folding in the flour. I think this was the main reason we were tanked. When we poured the batter into our prepared pans, we only used two, while the instructor's batch easily filled four. Incidentally, while he was pouring that batter into the four pans, he gave us a warning that if we didn't fold in the flour properly, we could end up with only three, or even worse, two pans. Umm...that would be us.

It was a good object lesson for us all, but it was still a bit embarrassing. I did my usual thing, making jokes with everybody about the hockey pucks that we were making. It's no big deal, and the instructor is great, just being honest that this happens to everybody. He told us that it's hard to make genoise, and that we certainly the first ones to screw it up. Oh well. Fortunately, we had his cake to work with on the next step in putting a genoise together. As for me and my defeat in the kitchen today, I'll make it right when I get back. I think it's sort of a dud cake though, so I'll mainly make it just to conquer the damn thing.

When you make a genoise, it's incredibly dry. This is a bane and boon, all at the same time. You would never eat a genoise without adding some sort of moistener to it, which is where the boon, and the booze, comes in. (Giddy up!) How about a simple syrup with a bit of Grand Marnier? You cut the genoise into two or three layers, soak each layer with the Grand Marnier mixture, or any other liquer of choice, mixed with simple syrup (two parts water, one part sugar, boiled together). You throw a little whipped cream on the first layer, then place some strawberries on top, then follow that with the next layer, or layers. You then put a little bit of whipped cream on the sides and top of the cake, then chill for about 15 minutes. When you're done, you frost the top with a nice layer of whipped cream, then put something to add texture to the sides: toasted coconut, white chocolate shavings, or in our case, carmelized rice puffs. Carmelized rice puffs? What, you say? That was our reaction too. It looked great though. (Apparently there was a little critter making his home in the box, but we used the stuff anyway. Yum.) Anyway, it looked good, though wasn't very exciting to eat. The instructor says it takes a day for the flavors to truly meld, so we'll see tomorrow. Maybe I'll change my mind.

Besides our little fiasco, there were a lot of other good things happening in the kitchen, and not so good either. Good news that we weren't the only object lessons. We made a boatload of goodies in the class, including several pies. Now, I'm a definite fan of the pie, but mainly fruit pies. We made four pies today, none of them fruit, I'm sad to say. They were alright in their own right, but nothing beats a warm fruit pie fresh from the oven. We made a buttermilk pie, which apparently is a southern specialty. It's essentially a custardy pie, with a little twang from the buttermilk, and a nice acid kick from lemon zest. Not bad, really, though nothing I'd probably ever make again. A coconut cream pie was also on the docket. Good, and very edible, though not likely one I'll make often. The lemon meringue pie that was made needed to set up more, so we'll have that tomorrow, and finish it off with the meringue topping just before dinner. The last pie was a pecan pie, that was very tasty. I've always been a fan of a good pecan pie, though I haven't had the best of luck in the past making them. (One disaster was a pecan/chocolate pie--not a good idea. Pick one, and go with it, but don't mix 'em...yuck!).

The pie crusts were very so-so. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only who has trouble rolling out pie dough. We all need plenty of practice (I don't mind!), and it's clear no one is really a master pie baker in our class. Our instructor told us a funny story about the first year he taught this particular class. In all of his years as a professional pastry chef, including six years at the best restaurant in the country, he had never once ever baked a pie. Hard to believe. The first pie he was ever to make was one in which he needed to teach people like me how to make them. He said he had a bunch of grannies in the class that year, and he knew full well that he was no match for their pie prowess. He's since obviously mastered the craft, though I know my mom could show everybody there a thing or two. You've not lived until you've eaten one of Jan M's cherry pies. It's the way she hooked Mort in, by the way. She made my dad a cherry pie when they were dating, and his roommates at MSU said that my dad would be crazy not to marry such a fine looking woman who could also bake a pie like that!

Beyond the pies, we made two kinds of scones. Now these are really some keepers! I know I'll be making this recipe the rest of my life. A sweet version was made with currants, which I'd make with dried cherries soaked in a little fruity liquer, or else in an apple and cinnamon version. The second version was a savory version, which was definitely the hit of the evening. We made these with ham and mixed cheese, and they were very tasty. I can only imagine the combinations: prosciutto and Gruyere, bacon and smoked Gouda, herbs and parm, basil and mozzarella, with some sun dried tomatoes along for the ride--top that with a little olive oil, toss a little grated parm on top, and you've got yourself a humdinger. Add this one to the list of future samplings for friends and fam. You'll like 'em!

Last on the list today was tiramisu. I really don't get all excited about tiramisu...never have, and doubt I ever will. We made our own ladyfingers for the recipe by piping them out. Seems we forgot about them in the oven and most of them came out as charred digits, smoking as they came out of the oven. There was just enough though for three small batches. We used a marscapone cream cheese, mixed with whipping cream which was quite tasty, and added quite a bit of booze to the proceedings, since our instructor told us that all good tiramisu must be "boozy." (I put that in my notes, fyi). I know I'll make this for some parties since so many people like it, but it's a rather hum-drum dessert for me.

It was sort of a stressful day today, running around trying to get everything done. Fun though, even if we made some hockey pucks. Time flew by insanely fast, which is a good thing. I'm tired though, so off to bed very soon. I'm not taking any time to clean up these posts, so forgive the grammatical errors. I might clean it up when I get back, but I'm going to bed.

Oh, but not before writing about our visit to the chocolate room. Our instructor teaches chocolate skills as well, and is in the middle of all kinds of chocolate fun with another class. He took us to where they were making all kinds of fun, tasty things, and said we could sample whatever we pleased. We took him up on the offer, and I'm sure his students will be surprised at what's missing tomorrow in class. But hey, we're getting our money's worth!

I think my favorite thing I tried was a blackberry gelee, sort of a high-falutin' fruit chew. Amazing. The essence of fresh blackberries in a gelled consistency that was just perfect. I want to make these when I get home. He's been teaching other candy methods besides chocolate, and this was obviously one of those. He also showed us homemade circus peanuts, gummy bears, and marshmallows. Kind of fun.

Oh, and dinner was great tonight, again. Grilled flank steak that was just amazing, some pan fried halibut, grilled chicken, green beans and a salad. It's just great to be able to eat food the way it can and should be cooked. They really know what they're doing here. Everyone kept joking that this was the best college food in the country--I'd pay money to eat it. Though I guess I did, now that I think about it. Better go for seconds next time.

Off to bed.