lighthearted
My Frasca review is up.
The pulled pork definitely gets better with age. The Carolina bbq sauce and the pork were good yesterday, but they weren’t like the bbq Jeremy and I had remembered. Today, it’s almost there. So I think the key is to make it ahead and let it mature for a couple of days… sort of like tiramisu or Brunswick stew – the flavors improve over time.
We had a crazy wind storm yesterday and this morning. Felt like winter again, except for the prolonged daylight hours and green grasses.
My class was terrific today. I got there a little early and enjoyed the chit chat with the chef and the other early students. Chef Will sent some beautiful rose and berry truffles to our class, so we passed those around at the start of the classroom session.
jason does a vanna while offering lovely rose truffles
Class was terrific because I got to partner with Katherine, who is very nice and lots of fun. She’s even more particular about what she likes than my other partner, but the difference is that Katherine is cool about it. She has a preference, but she’s really fine with anything and so easy going about stuff. It was so nice to mise en place my own ingredients and not have to worry if my partner was doing her tasks correctly because… she was! We opted to make a zebra torte today while the other teams made the lemony chiffon thingy and the hazelnut torte. I think I’ll have to try my hand at the hazelnut torte because it looked fabulous.
The mood in class was fun, playful, jolly. We joked around and everyone was more chatty. At one point Shan said, “I hear you laughing, Jen. That’s good. I like it when people enjoy making pastries. I like for my students to be happy.” I was so damn happy.
shan demonstrates egg whites at medium to stiff peaks
While we all worked on our tortes, Shan finished assembling the triangle torte from last week as a demo. My vanilla chiffon cakes came out of the oven beautifully. We cut off the top of one to make two flat layers for the zebra torte and everyone took a taste. The smell of fresh baked vanilla cake is so comforting to me. Katherine rolled the “zebra” part of the torte and it looked like a giant ho-ho.
slicing on the diagonal
katherine rolls the zebra
wrapped in acetate and stuffed into the springform ring
I think the final cake will be really cool. Shan finished the triangle torte with a glaze and then sliced it up for each of us to take a piece home. The teams then wrapped up their cakes and curds and creams to resume assembly next week.
triangle torte
Some of us in class exchanged emails and blogs. Even though this is only the 35th hour together, the class is 2.5 months long and we’re getting to know and like each other.
