A good few days have passed
already since my last two cooking classes but I make absolutely no
excuse for
this delay in writing as it has taken me this long to recover from the extreme
consumption. However after a few days in the Croatian sun, I now feel ready to
raconte.
My last few days started
with mastering the magic of macarons and ended in getting creamed - so creamed
in fact that I don't think I can cream again for some time.
I’ll leave the creaming
until later and instead start with macarons. The class was fun but
nowhere near as good as the other classes as it was targeted to tourists a
little more than to people who actually have some idea about using a spatula.
Don’t get me wrong, I don't want to be a cooking snob, but it does
somewhat help if you actually like to cook and know some of the basics such as
know what a saucepan and blender looks like and what they are used for. Their piping skills probably irked me the
most. Other than Igor, the Serbian pastry chef who currently works in St
Petersbourg and was looking to add macarons to his repertoire, no one had the
slightest idea about cooking. Apparently macarons have not hit the
Russian market yet and Igor wanted to be the one to make the introductions.
It was more than amusing watching this big burly guy take such an
interest in this dainty dessert but he was happy to share some of his tips with
us all during the class.
We learnt both the French
and the Italian method of macarons and I much prefer the Italian method which
involves pouring a hot sugar mix into egg white mixture as it gives you a
smoother finish. After dabbling with different flavours and fillings, I
learnt that despite their fun and colourful appearance macarons are sickly
sweet and quite expensive to make if you want to have a few different flavours.
Reducing strawberries - Yum!
Fortunately, Olly and I had
a dinner party to go to that evening with some friends so my little collection
was taken along. Although macarons are supposed to be devoured after a 24 hour
waiting period, mine were promptly devoured that very night after the necessary
amount of oohing and ahhing from the taste testers.
Now, onto getting creamed. My
cream class was a small class of four back at Lenotre. It was mostly smooth
sailing until I nearly completely ruined the crème au beurre (butter cream) which
was highly embarrassing and left me cursing in French after the chef’s slightly
overdramatic shrieks of panic. Besides the almost-burnt crème au beurre, we
learnt how to make: crème anglaise (similar to pouring custard), crème
pâtissière (similar to thick custard), crème au chocolat (chocolate custard as
found in eclairs), crème au cafe (coffee custard as found in eclairs), crème a
la pistache (pistachio cream), crème legere (“light” cream similar to pouring
cream which was not light at all!), crème caramel and crème brulee. I
think in total we used about 5 kgs of butter. That can either be viewed as
delicious or really just disgusting. There was a lot of cream to say the least.
I felt totally creamed out by the end of the day and much to my distress, I had
to take the damn stuff home. I must admit the crème brulee and the crème caramel
were nothing short of delicious and were enjoyed by Olly and myself.
Now days later, I still
feel like I am oozing butter and cream from my pores.
Look at this! This is just pure art!
Gorgeous creations coming out of the oven.
A good few days have passed
already since my last two cooking classes but I make absolutely no excuse for this delay in writing as it has taken me this long to recover from the extreme consumption. However after a few days in the Croatian sun, I now feel ready to raconte.
My last few days started
with mastering the magic of macarons and ended in getting creamed - so creamed
in fact that I don't think I can cream again for some time.
I’ll leave the creaming
until later and instead start with macarons. The class was fun but
nowhere near as good as the other classes as it was targeted to tourists a
little more than to people who actually have some idea about using a spatula.
Don’t get me wrong, I don't want to be a cooking snob, but it does
somewhat help if you actually like to cook and know some of the basics such as
know what a saucepan and blender looks like and what they are used for. Their piping skills probably irked me the
most. Other than Igor, the Serbian pastry chef who currently works in St
Petersbourg and was looking to add macarons to his repertoire, no one had the
slightest idea about cooking. Apparently macarons have not hit the
Russian market yet and Igor wanted to be the one to make the introductions.
It was more than amusing watching this big burly guy take such an
interest in this dainty dessert but he was happy to share some of his tips with
us all during the class.
We learnt both the French
and the Italian method of macarons and I much prefer the Italian method which
involves pouring a hot sugar mix into egg white mixture as it gives you a
smoother finish. After dabbling with different flavours and fillings, I
learnt that despite their fun and colourful appearance macarons are sickly
sweet and quite expensive to make if you want to have a few different flavours.
 |
| Reducing strawberries - Yum! |
Fortunately, Olly and I had
a dinner party to go to that evening with some friends so my little collection
was taken along. Although macarons are supposed to be devoured after a 24 hour
waiting period, mine were promptly devoured that very night after the necessary
amount of oohing and ahhing from the taste testers.
Now, onto getting creamed. My
cream class was a small class of four back at Lenotre. It was mostly smooth
sailing until I nearly completely ruined the crème au beurre (butter cream) which
was highly embarrassing and left me cursing in French after the chef’s slightly
overdramatic shrieks of panic. Besides the almost-burnt crème au beurre, we
learnt how to make: crème anglaise (similar to pouring custard), crème
pâtissière (similar to thick custard), crème au chocolat (chocolate custard as
found in eclairs), crème au cafe (coffee custard as found in eclairs), crème a
la pistache (pistachio cream), crème legere (“light” cream similar to pouring
cream which was not light at all!), crème caramel and crème brulee. I
think in total we used about 5 kgs of butter. That can either be viewed as
delicious or really just disgusting. There was a lot of cream to say the least.
I felt totally creamed out by the end of the day and much to my distress, I had
to take the damn stuff home. I must admit the crème brulee and the crème caramel
were nothing short of delicious and were enjoyed by Olly and myself.
Now days later, I still
feel like I am oozing butter and cream from my pores.
 |
| Look at this! This is just pure art! |
 |
| Gorgeous creations coming out of the oven. |
 |
| Nearly there... |