Whisked Off

Canapés and Tea Pastries September 17, 2009

I have a newfound appreciation for the artisans of pastry, chefs who make delicate amuse bouches, appetizer tastes and fancy desserts.

Walking past all those Parisian patisseries and traiteurs last week deluded me into thinking ‘no sweat.’ It turns out that patisserie requires precision, stamina and grit. It takes a light touch, an artistic eye and painstaking attention to detail. You can’t just eyeball the butter and sugar and whisk until your arm hurts. There are numerous variables: the temperature of your countertop, the dryness of your batter, the viscosity of the eggs, and the calibration of your oven. Everything counts.

Today was a long day: canapés in the morning, tea pastries in the afternoon, and an early evening wine lesson. By 6pm I felt blind with exhaustion, and more than a little nauseous from all the cream, butter, eggs and sugar I had consumed. Thank God I didn’t enroll in the Patisserie intensive or I’d weigh 200 lbs by the end of the month.

With only 3 weeks on the faculty, Chef Laurent is a natural born teacher.  His enthusiasm for pastry is contagious. It was a workshop day, so instead of the morning demo in the kitchen classroom, we spent all 6 hours in the practical. Chef demonstrated each step as we went along and came around to help the strugglers.

We began by making the bases for the canapés: crostini from thinly sliced baguette, tartlet pastry shells, and melba toast from – no kidding – regular white bread. To make the toast you remove the crusts, flatten the slices with a rolling pin, cut into perfect squares and season with salt and pepper. After 5 minutes on each side in a 180° oven, you have golden brown crackers. Voilà!

Toppings were smoked salmon mousse, smoked chicken and asparagus, and roasted marinated peppers. All were easy to make; the smoked salmon mousse was my favorite. Blend 200 g of sliced smoked salmon and100 g cream cheese in a food processor until smooth, then season with salt, pepper, chopped chives and lemon juice. Put the mixture into a piping bag and squeeze a quenelle of mousse onto each toast.  Decorate with capers and chervil.

The second part of the morning was devoted to assembling the canapés, arranging them on a plate, and taking pictures. This process seemed to spark an unspoken competition in the kitchen and we found ourselves vying to produce the most elaborate combinations. In my desire to win, I ate all of my least attractive canapés. By noon it was clear to me that fresh air and a walk around the block would suit me much better than lunch.

Minor disaster struck in the early afternoon. I don’t have a sweet tooth and baking’s never been my thing but how hard could it be to make scones, twisted cheese sticks, choux buns and éclairs?

Well, hard. My scones were pretty (and tasty) but they didn’t rise very high. Someone turned off my oven before my sticks were done and by the time I rescued them they had untwisted. On my first attempt, I whisked my Chantilly cream a little too vigorously … into butter; then I accidentally whisked milk (to no effect). My éclairs fell flat and I burned my buns.

The day wasn’t a complete success but nor was it a total failure. I added canapés to my repertoire; had a nice lunch; and learned a lot. Bring on the weekend.