Round Two

We had our second exam blanc yesterday. Another marathon day of baking. This one was much more difficult. I think we had more of a clue about what we were doing, however this time we had WAY more to do.

Our agenda (I'll give it to you as written on our instructions + translation):

• Une tarte citron meringué (lemon meringue tarte)
• Un millefeuille au citron et praliné (layerd french dessert with puffed pastry, soft biscuit, hazzelnut mousseline and citrus cream)
• 4 chaussons aux pommes (compote fournie par le centre) (like an apple turnover with puffed pastry)
• Une brioche Nanterre aux pralines rose (fourines par le centre) (loaf of brioche with candied almonds)
• Une pate de fruit framboise (a jelly like candy square covered with sugar)
• Une tablette au chocolat au lait et riz soufflé (milk chocolate bar with rice krispies)
• Des palmiers avec les rognures (little sugary cookie-like things made with left over dough)
• Dresser un millefeuille citron et praliné sur assiette (plated dessert - slice of the millefeuille)
• Une glace vanille au paco jet (vanilla ice cream)

YIKES! That was my initial reaction. Same as before, we had 30 minutes to fill out and turn in our organization chart. And I think it took me that long to figure out how I was going to get it all done. Even after I gave every item a space in my chart, I still wasn't sure if it was possible. At least not the way I had it down. But time was up, and I drew number 1 one, so I started the day with a 5 minute lead.

I started with the brioche, because it needed time for the yeast to do its thing. Then the pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) cause that takes time and tours similar to a croissant. Next the crust for my citrus tarte, and my biscuit jaconde (two of the layers in my millefeuille). I figured I'd get all the baked goods out of the way first. And while I was at it, I'd do my creams as well. It's important to get those done before the break so they can cool and stabilize in the fridge. This will come in handy when I build the millefeuille, it always helps if the creams cooperate. I also had ice cream to think about, but I honestly wasn't sure where to put it. So I left it for first thing after the break, hoping that would be enough time.

When my time officially started I was still feeling slightly flustered. It took me a good half hour to really get into a rhythm, but then I was off. I was in the zone. Focused, efficient, getting shit done. But even that wasn't enough.

Just like the first exam, my three hour afternoon felt like 20 minutes. Even with the majority of my major stuff out of the way, I still had to stabilize chocolate, make my fruit squares, whip up some ice cream, make the meringue and assemble my tarte, construct the millefeuille, AND actually bake my now ready brioche and yet to be puffed puff pastry.

As it turned out, ice cream should have been my first order of business. It takes a few hours for it to freeze enough to put into the paco jet. This was a misunderstanding. The other ice cream machine we used, we had used a liquid batter. And even with a -40ºC blast freezer, it wasn't frozen in time.

To make a long story short, I finished. Just. But it wasn't too pretty. The theme this time was Fete De La Musique (music). The only item that got any musical attention was my lemon tarte. I drew some notes with the meringue. Pretty lame. But I was just focused on getting all my items on the buffet. And I did. With absolutely NO time to spare. None.

I packed up my stuff and left it for the judges. Because this isn't our final, we had regular french peeps. Aurelian's parents, who happened to be in town visiting. Theo, the 12 year-old son of our school's head chef. And Jean-Marc, our head chef.

I'm mostly happy. It was another crazy day but once again, I learned a lot. And I finished everything. (Only two of us did.) We'll have one more blanc exam before our real one the second week of September, just one month from now.

Here are a few photo's from Tam's camera. (after the judges picked through it all)

Tarte Citron
Pate de fruit framboise

Better shot of the chocolate

Brioche
Millefeuille. (I know, I know. Looks a mess. But it tasted great!)

Here are some other buffet trays....

So far we've just received tasting scores, which were high enough to be happy about. And we each got a verbal debriefing about our workmanship. I got the usual notes. Good worker, messy work station. But overall there was more positive than negative. I think. At least that's what I heard.

So that's that. Now I REALLY need to write this presentation I'm going to give next Wednesday. Geez. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. Ugg. It's late. I should get some sleep. I'll start the presentation tomorrow.

The procrastination continues.....