In our final week of instruction at SFBI, we swapped hats from bakers to restaurant pastry chefs to tackle plated desserts. Our instructors, Juliette and Frank, have both worked at some pretty high end restaurants in the Bay area, so kept us mesmerised with their creative constructions.
I think my biggest takeaway for the week though was the importance of adjectives in dish descriptions, particularly the word caramelised! Note how many times it appears below. It seems the blowtorch is a natural extension of any pastry chef's right arm.
Teff tarts with caramelised apples, cinnamon sabayon and French vanilla icecream (yes, those little balls are apple):
Crispy sable breton with caramelised figs, French vanilla icecream and fresh raspberry sorbet:
Breton style crepes with caramelised pineapple, roasted hazelnuts and French vanilla icecream:
Chocolate mousse and marshmallow tarts, with a crispy, caramelised croquant wafer:
Coffee cream tarts with a caramelised croquant wafer and caramelised cocoa nib sand:
Pistachio frangiapane with mint sorbet, white chocolate icecream and, you guessed it, caramelised pistachio dragees:
Cheesecake - finally a dessert unique in no caramelisation!:
And while we celebrated Thiago's birthday this week........
(Two days later - Thiago still recovering outside at lunch!)
.....we mourned the fact that this was our last week of class. There is only one week left in the SFBI program and it will be wholly production ahead of the graduation party and buffet next Friday. If any of you is looking for an excuse to use up some FF miles, here is the menu for the occasion. Just make sure you pack clothes with an expandable waist:
So no more teachers, no more books....... Until next week and my last SFBI blog ever!
