Fi Fo Fum: Classic French Desserts

For our last 3 Demonstrations of the course we did desserts. It was a lot of fun and enjoyable but i wasn't so good at them, think i will stick to cuisine! The best part was eating them all!!

Practical 28: Classic French Desserts 1

Choux Eclairs a La Vanille (Eclairs with Pastry Cream)

These images are all the chefs images.. I can tell you that mine did not look like these!

In the demo the chef also made a Sables aux fruits de saison (Seasonal fruit shortbread)

And Bavarois a la vanille, petite salade de fruits rouges, coulis de framboises (Vanilla Bavarian cream, red berries and raspberry coulis)

Practical 29: Classic French Desserts 2

Creme renversee au caramel (Creme caramel)

OEufs al neige, creme anglaise (Meringue eggs with creme anglaise).

This was an unusual way of making a meringue rather than cooking it in the oven to form a hard outer. we poached them in a sugar syrup and then served them over creme anglaise. They were quite nice but after 10 of them with creme anglaise i was feeling very sick!

This dish was also one that chef did in demostration but we were not required to do in practical, although we did end up having spare time in the practical so me and one of the girls beside me thought we would try it. We slightly changed the poaching liquid added red wine to change the taste and appearance.

Poires pochees (poached pears) with sauce au chocolat (chocolate sauce)

Different plating style

This is a video of me in the demonstration room when chef david was making a meringue, testing to see if he could hold it above my head with it dropping to show the meringue had stiff peaks.

Demonstration 30: Classic French Desserts 3

This demonstration was our very last and we did not have a practical for it. So was nice to just sit back and listen without needing to make large amounts of notes or concentrate too hard! And of course got to eat all of it at the end!

Souffle chaud a la vanille (hot vanilla souffle)

Gratin de fruit rouges (red fruit gratin)

I didn't really like this dish, the sauce over the fruit was a Sabayon (egg yolks, sugar and white wine), was a little too rich and wine taste was quite strong.

Mousse au Chocolat (Chocolate Mousse)

This was probably my favorite. The mousse was lovely and light, not to heavy like a lot of other mousse i have had in the past. Very easy recipe this i will most defiantly trying this one soon!

1. Melt 250g dark chocolate in bain-marie

2. Beat 300ml whipping cream

3. Boil to the boil of 180g caster water with a little cup of water until caramelized well

4. Whip 125g egg whites until soft peak

5. Slowly whisk in the caramelized sugar into the beaten egg whites.

6. Fold 5 into the chocolate (around 30c) and whipped cream,then do whatever you want with your chocolate mousse.