Final Practical Lunch at NWCAV

Today I was happy to visit the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver again and be on the receiving end of the students' creations during their final culinary practical exam. I remember those very intense days when we went through the same assignment. I wish all of the students luck tomorrow when preparing their final dinner.

I really enjoyed my lunch today and the seasoning was spot on in every dish. I understood the pressure that went into coming up with dishes that are interesting and unique while still trying to master the basics and show off what you have learned. The combination is a challenge – especially when you are working with a group of people who all have great ideas. It is remarkable what students can pull off after a 15-week course. Great job everyone! Congratulations to all of the graduates from this term and best wishes to you.


Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snap photos of everyone's meal without hanging over their shoulders but you can click here for a few more pictures.

Tagged as: [ culinary exams nwcav ]

Black Box Friday at NWCAV

This past Thursday we wrote our final theory exam (a sigh of relief). To finish off the week we had a Black Box assignment today. Unlike the Culinary Black Box, this time around was much less nerve-racking. The two main differences were: a) we got to work with a partner; and b) we had all day to work on our creation.

Iwona and I had a lot of fun working together. The three mystery ingredients were: pears, cashews, and gingerbread spices. We had to include four components in our dish. We decided to make cashew sweet paste with gingerbread mousse. Underneath delectable pear sorbet, we caramelized cashews and sprinkled them on the plate. We also sliced pears paper-thin and poached them in a sweet concoction of rum, gingerbread spices, and orange juice, etc. Cashew nougatine was formed into a twirly design and the plate was decorated with cranberry fruit sauce.

How did the dessert turn out? We liked that we kept it simple but elegant. Most importantly, it was delicious and we both were very happy with the result. It was delightful working with Iwona as she always has beautiful ideas. Thanks for the very pleasurable day :)

Tagged as: [ dessert exams nwcav pastry ]

Pastry Mid-Term at NWCAV

Yesterday morning we wrote our mid-term exam, which was followed by a little over 2 hours in the afternoon to prep for the practical part. By the end of the day today, we each had to present the following items that we had previously learned in the curriculum: 1) a poppy seed cake sliced into 3 even layers which were glazed with nappage (apricot glaze), and sliced into 10 even pieces; 2) a baguette;       3) croissants; and 4) checkerboard cookies. Aside from doing these recipes once in class, repeating them at home was where the practice would come in.

The key thing to this exam was how well the team worked to get each of our individual projects done. So many things have to be considered when you only have 2 ovens to work with. There was a third oven but it was only used to bake off cookies if we couldn't squeeze them into the 2 good ovens. The functions in that third oven aren't as good as the others so to try and bake breads and cakes in there would not have been a good idea. We split into 2 teams of 6 and worked out a time-line on how to get things done. We literally had to start building our doughs together so that we would all be at the same stage before proofing our products. If someone was too slow or too speedy, proofing would be affected and they would either block or hold everyone up on going into the oven to finish things off. Communication was the most important factor.

I found it less stressful than the culinary mid-term. The pace of pastry is somewhat different. Even though you can be moving quickly and multi-tasking all day long, there are certain things that just take time and that you have to wait for. Proofing can't be rushed and neither can baking. Other items need to rest or be chilled before you can work with them. That's why it is so important to have an excellent game plan and to be on the same page with other people in the kitchen. If you aren't part of the team, you could put the entire production at risk. Here is a picture of some of the finished products.

Tagged as: [ baking exams nwcav pastry ]

Entremet Project at NWCAV

Yesterday we put the final touches onto each of our entremets that we created. Considering that it is only Day 33 of the program and we have spent roughly 10 days on entremets, the cakes and flavors that each student put together was quite remarkable.

I developed an entremet with the flavors of East India. The first layer of my entremet was a coconut sponge cake followed by a chai tea mousse. Chai is a traditional Indian tea flavored with spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves. Milk is also added to make it rich and creamy. On top of the Chai mousse, I placed a layer of pistachio sponge cake and finally a layer of white chocolate and ginger mousse. In order to avoid waste, we scaled down each mousse recipe. Smaller recipes are often harder to make and almost all of us wound up with less stable mousses. I had made sponge fingers (lady fingers) that had a spiced-sugar coating, but they actually looked like "man fingers"...they spread a bit too much in the oven and I wasn't fond of their look. I wish I could have used them because I had planned to line the outside of the cake for decoration. On to plan B...

To decorate the cake, I wound up spraying it with white chocolate. You actually use a paint sprayer from the hardware store to do this. Mix equal parts of melted chocolate and cocoa butter and ensure that the mixture is just at room temperature (you would melt the cake if it is any higher and the spray gun would get clogged if it is any cooler). This gives it a velvety sort of look. I also made a flower out of tuiles. Tuiles are very thin little cookies that you use a stencil to spread the batter onto your baking sheet. Once they turn golden brown and immediately after you take them out of the oven, they can be formed into any shape. For color, I filled the center of the flower with some pomegranate seeds and also tried to pipe a little design on the cake with chocolate and glaze. I saw the design on a plated dessert in a pastry book and thought I'd give it a try on the cake but I wasn't completely happy with the way it looked in the end.

Entremet making was a fun but humbling experience. I assume with lots of practice it gets easier. A good pastry chef will always want to fine-tune their projects anyway because there is always room for improvement. It can be a little frustrating though when you have an image in your mind of what you want your project to look like/turn out and it doesn't go that way.

I enjoyed the flavors in my entremet. Each layer was subtle and combined it was quite delicious. I'll definitely make it again and fine-tune the components.

Tagged as: [ chai entremet exams ladyfingers mousse nwcav pastry sponge ]

Final Practical and Graduation at NWCAV

Last Sunday, our class began the final practical by spending the day organizing our menu for the week and preparing most of our mise en place. On Monday we served lunch with 3 courses, on Tuesday we bumped it up to 4 courses, and finally for the dinner service on Wednesday, we provided 6 courses. There was a lot of excitement in the kitchen and a lot of pressure as well. We all wanted to do our best and show the Chef instructors, our families, loved ones, and guest Chefs what we have learned during the last 15 weeks.

Every day we were in high gear preparing for that first call from one of the Chefs. Timing, organization, communication, and team playing were the keys to a successful service. As the number of courses grew each day, so did the curve balls that the Chefs would throw at us. On our last night and in the midst of organizing our mise en place for service, the Chefs requested that our team prepare a chocolate sponge cake – bake it, ice it, and write on it to serve to the guest Chefs. That night each team had 6 courses to serve and all teams were switched just before service. How much pressure could we handle? Other teams had to pump out dishes that none of us had ever heard of or practiced in school. Teams had to scramble through culinary and pastry books to find recipes and get it done. Our team had to prepare a Lobster Thermador dish that was not on the menu. Another team had to make Oysters Rockefeller. The list goes on!

The last night we had some important guest chefs in the school. Chef Pierre Dubrulle who opened the Dubrulle International Culinary & Hotel Institute Of Canada (now the Art Institute of Vancouver) was judging our team's food. So with the weight on our shoulders to make him dinner (and do it well), we had to make these unexpected dishes! We were really excited to get his feedback at the end of the evening and he was very pleased with our menu. The guest Chefs marked us based on fine dining standards. All of the groups wound up in the 75-percentile grade, which was excellent considering that we have only been in school for 15 weeks.

During wrap up at the very end of the evening, we were all quite emotional. It had been an unbelievable journey for both the students and the Chef instructors. At the beginning of the term, we all came to the program with baggage and issues that we soon had to confront and deal with when working so intimately with each other. We have all changed and have grown in so many ways in this short period of time. The evening was bittersweet—we were elated and proud that we accomplished so much and also sad because we knew that we wouldn’t be working with each other anymore. We are a profound group of people who gelled like our own little family. One guest shared with Chef Tony that she could feel the love in the room that night—the love for the food and the fact that we all were having so much fun together. We all have formed close friendships that will last and the Chef instructors at NWCAV are like no other. They said that the students make the school but we are of the opinion that without the unique and beautiful relationship that the Chef instructors have, the school would not contain the magic that it does.

The valedictorians (Anna from Pastry and Brendan from Culinary) gave lovely speeches to our family and friends on graduation day. All of our loved ones supported us during this program, understood all of the homework that we had, made sacrifices, and celebrated the good days, while encouraging us during the bad ones. I believe we came out of this course not only more educated on the topic of food, but also more educated about ourselves. We became more compassionate towards other people and learned from situations on how to adapt and make things work. With permission from both valedictorians, I am posting their speeches here:


To all of my fellow graduates, I am thankful for having the opportunity to work with such a special and unique group of people. I have enjoyed meeting every single one of you and wish each of you the utmost of success in whatever path you choose.


 

Tagged as: [ exams graduation nwcav speech ]