Week 5 -- Flan, Creme Brulee, and Creme Anglaise

This week in lab, we made Flan (Creme Caramel), Creme Brulee, and Creme Anglaise.


In making the Flan (pictured above), I started by caramelizing sugar. I cooked the sugar with some water until it turned an amber color. Then I put the caramel in the bottom of my ramekins. Next I made the custard for the flan. First I boiled milk with a cinnamon stick and half a vanilla bean. While that was heating up, I whisked eggs, egg yolks, brown sugar, molasses, and amaretto together. I tempered the egg mixture with some of the hot milk, then I incorporated the rest of the milk into the egg mixture. After straining the custard, I filled my ramekins, put them in a half hotel pan with a water bath, and put them in the oven to bake. My flan turned out pretty well. The custard had a creamy consistency. I've never had flan before, and I didn't really like the way it tasted.

Next I made the creme brulee. It is made using pretty much the same method as the flan. First, I put heavy cream and half a vanilla bean on the stove to boil. While that was heating, I mixed egg yolks and sugar. Once my cream started to boil, I added some of it to the egg mixture to temper it. Then I incorporated all of the milk into the egg mixture. I strained the custard, and then put it into ramekins. Then I baked the creme brulee in a water bath. After they came out of the oven, I put them in the blast chiller to cool them down and let them firm up a little bit. Normally, you're supposed to let creme brulee chill for at least 4 hours, but we didn't have that much time. They probably only got to chill for an hour, maybe less. When it was time for grading, I took them out the blast chiller, sprinkled some sugar on top and torched the sugar. I was pretty used to the torching part of it. At Courtright's, when I work the garde manger/dessert station, I torch a lot of creme brulees! My creme brulees turned out well, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them. I guess we'll all just have to imagine how beautiful they were! :-P


Next we made Floating Islands and Creme Anglaise. I think you're going to get bored with this blog I explain the process of the creme anglaise. It is the same as the creme brulee and the flan (except this used half and half instead of milk or heavy cream). Boil the half and half with vanilla bean, mix egg yolks and sugar, temper egg mixture, combine half and half with egg mixture. After the custard is combined, you cook it on the stove until it is nappe (the consistency that it will coat the back of a spoon). It is different from the other two desserts, because you don't bake creme anglaise, it is a dessert sauce. The floating islands, and poached meringues. I took some of the egg whites I had left over and mixed them with some sugar until they had stiff peaks. While the half and half and vanilla bean were simmering, I put some of the meringue in it and poached it. Then I plated my floating islands with the creme anglaise (pictured above).

Week 5 -- Chocolate (Lecture)

This week in lecture, we had our midterm and we discussed chocolate. We talked about how chocolate is made, the differences between milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. I knew that white chocolate isn't actually chocolate, but I wasn't sure what was in it. Now I know that it is cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar. We also had a chocolate tasting in class. Chef made us three different types of truffles to try. The first, if I remember correctly, was cinnamon and ancho chili, with dried pumpkin crumbles on top. The second, was a basil truffle. It was awesome. That is the second time I've had a truffle with basil in it. You wouldn't think the two would be good together, but they really pair well. The third truffle had rosemary and port. I don't really like rosemary that much, so I wasn't really a fan of this one.

Week 4 -- Field Trip

This week, we had a field trip instead of lab. We went to the Great Harvest Bread Co. and Dan McGees restaurant. When we visited Great Harvest, we got to taste many of their different types of breads and tour the kitchen. I thought it was neat that they grind the grains on site to make their own flour. That guarantees that their flour is fresh since they know it hasn't been sitting around for days or weeks since it was milled. They have a really cool rotating oven; it was huge! I enjoyed the field trip and the two breads I bought that night. I'm going to have to go back soon because I need more of the Breakfast Blast bread! It was so good.

After Great Harvest, we headed to Dan McGees Restaurant in Frankfort. Chef McGee put together a prix fixe menu for us, which I thought was really nice of him. For Starters, we could choose from their Simple Salad or Wild Mushroom Soup. I had the Simple Salad, which was really tasty. It was mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette, toasted almonds, and oven-dried tomatoes inside a parmesan "bowl." I really enjoyed the salad and thought the presentation was pretty. For our Entrees, we could choose between a Grilled Filet of Salmon, Roast Breast of Chicken, or Grilled Pork Chop. I was going to order the pork chop until I heard the chicken came with asiago mashed potatoes. I'm a sucker for pretty much any kind of mashed potato! The chicken came wth the mashed potatoes, spicy Italian sausage, tomatoes, and rosemary. Overall, I was kind of disappointed with my entree. I though my chicken was a little overcooked. It still tasted good though. For dessert, they brought out two of all of their desserts for us try share. The desserts were pumpkin creme brulee, orange and espresso mousse, Grand Marnier panne cotta, banana napoleon, chocolate mousse, and chocolate souffle. My favorites were the orange and espresso mousse and the Grand Marnier panne cotta. I didn't think I would like the orange and espresso mousse because I'm not really into coffee-flavored stuff. It was not overwhelmingly coffee flavored. The orange was a nice counterbalance. It was a great dessert. The Grand Marnier panne cotta was also excellent. I think Chef McGee said there was orange marmalade at the bottom of the glass, the panne cotta, and strawberries on top. The dessert didn't taste very liquor-y, which I thought was good. It was a nice balance of all of the flavors. After we finished our desserts, Chef McGee came out to talk to us and answer questions for us. It was very nice of him to take time out to talk to us. He's quite an accomplished chef, so it was nice to hear what he had to say.

Overall, I would have to say that this is the best field trip we've taken throughout our time at RMC. It was nice that Chef Mark took the time to think about giving us an experience that related to our coursework, was informative, and was also fun.

Week 4 -- Custards (Lecture)

Now that my computer is finally virus-free, I can catch up on my blog! Last week in lecture we talked about the different types of custards. It was very interesting. All of the types of custards have similar ingredients, but have minor differeces. One small change, and you are talking about a completely different type of custard! I did not know that there were so many types of creams and custards.

Week 3 -- Apple Pie, Banana Cream Pie, and Fruit Tart

This week in lab we worked alone to make 2 pies and a tart. We made an apple pie, a banana cream pie, and a fruit tart.


For the apple pie, it was my first attempt at a lattice crust (let alone any kind of top crust). I always make my grandma's apple pie recipe, which has a crumble topping so this was new for me. The pie dough was pretty easy to make and it tasted pretty good. I think it is a recipe I would use again. I didn't really have a recipe to follow for the filling. I wasn't pleased with the way it came out. It was pretty dry. I brought in my own pie pans to use so it would be easier to transport my pies home. The pie pan I made the apple pie in was a 9.5 in. pan instead of a 9 in. pan. Because my pan was bigger, I didn't have enough filling and my pie was kind of flat.


The banana cream pie I made had a graham cracker crumb crust, pastry cream/mashed banana filling, and a meringue topping. I thought I had never made pastry cream before this, but I realized today that my grandma's banana cream pie filling is pastry cream. I have made her recipe for banana cream pie a couple times. She also uses meringue as the topping for her pie, but she makes a regular pie crust. My crumb crust wasn't holding together nicely, I think it should have baked longer. My pastry cream came out really nice. For a moment, I thought I messed up the pastry cream. When it thickened, it happened so fast that I thought I was burning it or that the eggs were coagulating. But once I took it off the heat and continued to stir it, I realized that it had thickened nicely and was right. I put the meringue in a pastry bag and tried to pipe it on to make a pretty design. It didn't come out as pretty as I had hoped, but it wasn't bad.

I was very pleased with the way my tart turned out. We made sweet dough for the tart shell. Mine rolled out nicely and baked nicely. Chef had us use our pastry cream to fill the tarts. Then we had an assortment of fruit to choose from to decorate the tart. I thought mine looked pretty!

Week 3 -- Pies and Tarts (Lecture)

This week we talked about pies and tarts. We learned about the different types of pie crusts. I didn't know that there was more than one type of pie dough. Mealy dough is a little bit flaky and is good for cream pies, fruit pies, custard pies, and quiche. Flaky dough is, as the name suggests, very flaky. It is good for pies with uncooked filling. For those you would prebake the shell empty. The last type of pie crust we talked about was a crumb crust. In general, I don't like making crumb crusts. It's so much easier to buy the premade Keebler graham cracker crusts! But if you make your own, you can control the ingredients that go into it, so it's definitely better to make your own. We also talked about sweet dough (pate sucre). Sweet dough is used for tarts and is not flaky. Another thing I learned about was the different categories of pie fillings. They are broken down into cream, fruit (cooked fruit method and cooked juice method), custard, and chiffon. After lecture, I was definitely excited for all of the pies and tarts we were going to make in lab!

Week 2 -- Light Rye Bread, Foccacia, Sticky Buns

This week in lab we made yeast breads. Tyler and I worked together to make Light Rye Bread, Foccacia, and Sticky Buns. I began working on the light rye while tyler started the sticky buns. Chef Mark prepared the sponge for us before class because it needed to sit for an hour before we got there. To make the dough, I put the sponge in the mixer and added caraway seeds, powdered milk, and salt. While it mixed, I added the flour a little bit at a time. After mixing for a while, chef recommended that I take it out of the mixer and knead it by hand. After kneading for about 5 minutes, we decided that it wasn't going to get any better, so we let it ferment. Chef had me throw the bread in an open oven to let it ferment. Then a little bit later I saw him messing with it. Apparently the oven was a little to hot and my bread had kind of started cooking! He took it out and put in the combi oven which was finally through the cleaning cycle.

Light Rye Bread

While the light rye was fermenting, I started the foccacia bread. Foccacia is made using the straight dough method. I combined the yeast, sugar, and water, and then added the flour a little bit at a time. After the dough was mixed, I added onions and salt. I took it out of the mixer to knead it by hand. It was very sticky, so chef had me put it back in the mixer for a little bit longer. Since it was so sticky, I added tiny bits of flour at a time to try to fix it and I think it worked. I took the dough out of the mixer and let it ferment in the combi oven.

Foccacia Bread

When the rye was done fermenting, I punched it down (fun!) and formed it into a ball. I use the term "done fermenting" very loosely. My rye wasn't really rising like some of the others, probably because of the previously mentioned oven debacle! After forming the rye, it had to go back in the combi to proof.

After the foccacia was finished fermenting, I puched it down (fun again!) and pressed it onto a half sheet pan. I brushed the foccacia with olive oil and we sprinkled rosemary, salt, and freshly-cracked black pepper on top. Then, the dough had to go back into the combi to proof.

After both breads were done proofing, we put them in the oven. The rye didn't turn out well at all, which was the case for most of the other students too. Chef thinks it has to do with the fact that the recipe called for rye flour and whole wheat flour instead of rye flour and bread flour. He thought that would've worked out better. Our foccacia turned out really good, so I was really proud of that! The black pepper was a nice addition to the recipe. I think it worked out really well with the rosemary.

While I was working on the rye and foccacia, Tyler was making the sticky buns. First he mad the dough. He mixed and kneaded it by hand. He had a really good rhythm going while he kneaded the dough. I bet it's because of the practice he's gotten making pizza at Angelino's. While the dough was fermenting, he made the filling and the topping. He greased a muffin pan and then put spoonfuls of topping in each muffin cup. After the dough finished fermenting, he rolled it out and spread the filling on it. Then he rolled it jelly roll style, cut it into slices, and put them in the muffin cups. After the sticky buns baked, he took them out of the oven and immediately turned them out onto a sheet pan. They turned out really well. We were both really happy with them.

Week 2 -- Yeast Breads (Lecture)

In lecture this week we learned about yeast breads. I've made bread before but didn't really know a whole lot about the bread-making process. Specifically, I learned a lot that I didn't know about gluten. I didn't realize that fats keep gluten from forming. I thought that was an interesting fact. I also didn't know that there were different bread mixing techniques. The sponge method involves making a "sponge" (a mixture of flour, liquid, and yeast) and letting it sit for a while. For the straight dough method, you pretty much just throw everything in a mixer.