We started off the week making various fillings for our chocolates including praline, pistachio/almond paste, and ganache. Making praline was the most intensive as you have to stand over a copper bowl of almonds, hazelnuts, sugar, and water until they are transformed into the most delicious roasted caramel concoction you have ever tasted, seriously. Chef stirred the mixture for at least 30 minutes until the almonds started "singing" which meant the center was finally roasting and the whole mixture was caramelized. He put the mixture on baking sheets to cool (Warning - don't ever put freshly made praline into your mouth, caramel is more than 300 degrees!) and then the snacking began. We could not stop eating the praline! I'm pretty sure that we ate at least half a kilo of praline while we were waiting for it to cool so we could grind it into a paste. Every time chef saw us sneaking a few delectable carmelized almonds and hazelnuts off the tray and into our mouths he would say "Stop, we need those!" After promising ourselves multiple times that this handful would be our last, we did finally stop.
Making praline
Praline!
We had prepared most of the fillings (almond/pistachio paste, hazelnut paste, coffee/hazelnut paste, whisky ganache, basil/lemon ganache, anise/cinnamon ganache, passionfruit/apricot pate de fruit, cointreau/hazelnut paste) and mastered the art of crystalizing chocolate(hopefully) by Wednesday and were ready to assemble the final products. We had to cut several of the now hardened fillings into squares and rectangles using a machine called a "guitar" and Thursday we spent about 7 hours hand-dipping 9 types of chocolate...Quel travail!
Passionfruit/apricot gélée with hazelnut cream
Felt like I was in an episode of I Love Lucy
Hand-dipping chocolates is a pretty intensive process that includes managing your chocolate so that it stays shiny and workable (the temp has to be 31 degrees Celsius) and mastering the proper dipping technique so the chocolates have a thin shiny shell without feet instead of having a thick coating that is dull or swirled that looks more like a baseball cap.
Chocolate with a foot - looks like a cap
The most dangerous part of making chocolate is trying not to eat them while you're making them. If some of the fillings are too small/big or deformed, they can easily find their way into your mouth. As a chef you're supposed to taste EVERYTHING you make anyway...right? ;)
My chocolates
We were allowed to pack up some of the chocolates we made on Thursday to give out to friends and family which worked out perfectly because Mrs. Darkes had flown into Paris that day and was able to take some chocolate home for herself and my mom. After a week of chocolate, I think I can abstain from it for awhile.
Truffles
Palet Or - filled with coffee-flavored ganache
Aladin - filled with almond/pistachio paste and kirsch
On Friday, we had bakery with a new chef because our regular chef, Monsieur Maurice was in Finland learning about Finnish bread. Chef Gillet taught us all about baking croissants, pain au chocolats, brioche feuilleté, and fougasse. For most of us, this was the first time we had made two of the most popular pastries in France (croissant and pain au chocolat) and we watched the chef with rapt attention. After seeing how much butter goes into these pastries, I understand exactly why they taste so good.
Croissants
Pain au chocolat
My very first croissants and pain au chocolats
On Friday, Désirée and I found one of our new favorite restaurants in Paris, Cuisine de Bar (8, rue du Cherche-Midi), a perfect place for lunch. Their specialty is tartines (open-faced sandwiches) made on famous Poîlane bread. They have a fabulous lunch formule that includes a salad (the vinaigrette is to die for!), a tartine, a glass of wine, and coffee for only 14 Euros...pretty good deal. I had the Tartine Tapenade - Poîlane bread topped with olive tapenade, fresh tomatoes, and basil - delicious. We both agreed that this will be the perfect place to go in the summer because the food is very light. I'm off to meet Désirée for lunch at Le Réfectoire, a restaurant decorated like an old school lunchroom that a fellow classmate recommended...A plus!
Tartine Tapenade
Cuisine de Bar
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