If I鈥檝e learned one thing so far about pastry and baking, it鈥檚 patience.
I have to admit that I was anxiously awaiting the start to Module 4, which is the pastry and baking portion of ICE鈥檚 Culinary Career Program. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I love to cook, but my love affair with food actually began as a result of baking. I was the resident Funfetti Birthday Cake Baker at my high school, and while I have yet to come across such a recipe in Mod 4 (I鈥檓 guessing it鈥檚 somewhere between the pulled sugar and the P芒te 脿 choux), I鈥檓 beside myself with all of our buttery and sugary confections.
Our Chef Instructor for the baking and pastry module is Chef Scott McMillen, who was formerly the executive pastry chef at Manhattan Ocean Club for nearly 10 years and also a contributor to the restaurant鈥檚 cookbook. Chef Scott has walked us non-bakers step-by-step through the ins and outs of pastry.
One of the biggest surprises was learning (and experiencing) the amount of work that goes into making classic puff pastry. We mixed, we rolled and we pounded non-stop for four hours. The result? Endless batches of golden brown glory in the form of palmiers, pailletes, bouchees, coques, apple tartlets, prosciutto turnovers and smoked salmon mille feuille. And you better believe that I tasted (at least) one of everything, which inevitably led to a butter coma. But butter will be taking a backseat next week as Chef Scott leads us into the wonderful world of pizza dough, focaccia and calzones. With just two weeks left, Module 5 is in our sights and many of our first steps into professional kitchens are just weeks away.
Coming up next week: Pizza, Focaccia & Calzones