Need some good restaurant dessert ideas...

[LoneSavant]

I could use a few bits on inspiration for my new pastry gig...

I'm doing the desserts for a sister restaurant of where I already am the pastry chef. I keep my desserts in the classic european style-- Dobostorte, Panettone, etc., with a little nouveau flair. Going into December, I'm adding a bit of holiday flair to the lists, but this new restaurant is giving me trouble...

1) It's a sortof "Global Fusion" menu, heavily asian-influenced.

2) I only come in once or twice a week, so everything must be pre-preparable.

3) It's the holiday season.

4) I'm a pretty hardcore traditionalist, so obnoxious efforts toward fusion drive me crazy.

5) I don't think I could pull off a wasabi-galangal fruitcake.

Any ideas to get my imagination going? Asian-spiced traditional holiday desserts?

As a jumping-off point, the one I'm planning on doing is a tea-poached pear, roasted and served with a 5-spice sabayon.

And then...?

[pastrygirl]

Check out the Sweet Spot by P. Ong.

gingerbread & kumquats

thai iced tea/coffee & white chocolate

champagne & yuzu

green tea or chai cookies/tuiles

black sesame brittle

pineapple tarte tatin w/ coconut ice cream

cardamom rice pudding

creme brulee in any number of asian flavors

baby pumpkins with coconut custard baked inside - traditional Thai

kaffir lime infused into something else lemon or lime

[pastrygirl]

4) I'm a pretty hardcore traditionalist

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What drives you to be a hardcore traditionalist? Are you the type that sneers at any flavor creme brulee besides vanilla? What are your favorite desserts that you've created so far? At what point does something cross the line into not being traditional anymore?

[LoneSavant]

4) I'm a pretty hardcore traditionalist

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What drives you to be a hardcore traditionalist? Are you the type that sneers at any flavor creme brulee besides vanilla? What are your favorite desserts that you've created so far? At what point does something cross the line into not being traditional anymore?

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Stand back....here come's the tirade...

Well, part of it is the French upbringing and schooling in Italy. If it's not the "right way," then it's not "right."

But I think mostly I have an irk toward food that's too 'nouveau' for its own good. I mean, chocolate torte is fantastic. And if one can artfully nuance the torte with tangerine, or wormwood, or ladybugs, then well done, and I'll be first in line to try it. But when the torte is "fusion"-ed to death, and so stylized and modernized and all that, until it's barely recognizable as a torte at all, I say chuck it, I'm making a plain and simple strawberry shortcake.

I guess I just hate sacrificing simplicity and honesty of ideas and ingredients and traditions for the sake of being able to say "why yes, I invented the white chocolate, duck-fat, and fried-egg gelee." I'd rather be able to say "why yes, I still do make panforte, and I got my recipe from an old lady in Siena, so it's the real stuff."

I figure it's the Capricorn in me...

[LoneSavant]

4) I'm a pretty hardcore traditionalist

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What drives you to be a hardcore traditionalist? Are you the type that sneers at any flavor creme brulee besides vanilla? What are your favorite desserts that you've created so far? At what point does something cross the line into not being traditional anymore?

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And no, I don't sneer at ANY flavor besides vanilla...

....just most of 'em.

[tmriga]

Q - When you say Asian, do you mean only Far Eastern, or are Indian and Middle Eastern flavors included on the menu?

Suggestions - I know it's been done to death, but pomegranate is quite versatile, and very popular right now.

Tamarind is the fruit I would like to learn to work with.

Theresa

[The Old Foodie]

A hint of chilli in any chocolate dessert is a good compromise that should appeal to the traditionalist and the nouveau-inclined ? (I am speaking as an enthusiastic amateur dessert-maker and eater, not a professional)

Janet

[CKatCook]

So not the professional here....

how about an infused panna cotta? like cardamon? with some kind of sauce....

chocolate dipped cannolli, but stuff with something usual...like a ginger, lime something...

just some thoughts..

(I am like you, sometimes the traditional stuff is just plain good!)

[JeanneCake]

sometimes I wonder if the traditional stuff will become "nouveau" because so many people have put their spin on it.

I didn't have anything else to add to that. Except maybe to do individual buche de noels rather than a large one; I've done it two ways: using a large open tube, make a line down a length of biscuit, chill if you need to in order to firm it up if the buttercream is soft, then roll the sponge around it, chill again then apply the ganache with a star tip. cut as needed Or just cutting a sheet of biscuit in half (or thirds), spreading buttercream and rolling as traditional, then the ganache and cutting as needed. Works either way, it came down to those methods based on what the chef was looking for as an end result. personally I felt there was a lot of buttercream with the first method (I was using a #9 Ateco tube), I liked the look of the second better.

You can flavor the buttercream according to your menu - chai maybe? tamarind? It's still a holiday dessert, still has an Asian influence depending on your menu and you can make several and not have to be there for plating.

[LoneSavant]

tmriga: Since it's "global" fusion, it's a little bit of all of them. They have sushi, but the owner is Indian, so there are quite a few Indian-flair dishes, and two or three thai/pacific rim style.

JeanneCake: Could you explain your buche technique a little more? It sounds like a great idea!

CKatCook: I definitely had ricotta on my mind as well- - che Italiani!

[paulraphael]

... I think mostly I have an irk toward food that's too 'nouveau' for its own good. I mean, chocolate torte is fantastic. And if one can artfully nuance the torte with tangerine, or wormwood, or ladybugs, then well done, and I'll be first in line to try it. But when the torte is "fusion"-ed to death, and so stylized and modernized and all that, until it's barely recognizable as a torte at all, I say chuck it, I'm making a plain and simple strawberry shortcake.

I guess I just hate sacrificing simplicity and honesty of ideas and ingredients and traditions for the sake of being able to say "why yes, I invented the white chocolate, duck-fat, and fried-egg gelee." I'd rather be able to say "why yes, I still do make panforte, and I got my recipe from an old lady in Siena, so it's the real stuff."

I figure it's the Capricorn in me...

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I agree with your feelings on this. I think my solution would be to experiment with one flavor at a time. Pick ginger or bacon or green tea or wasabi or thai chilis or whatever. Really start tasting them. Investigate how they've been used in traditional foods. And think about how they might form some marriage with what you already know.

This isn't about gratuitous fusion, or adopting someone else's style, it's about letting your own style and tradition expand in a particular direction.

If you're in a hury you can start by stealing a bunch of recipes that you like, maybe from p*ong, or god knows where else. Little by little, one flavor at a time, make them your own.

Just a thought.

[JeanneCake]

JeanneCake: Could you explain your buche technique a little more? It sounds like a great idea!

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I make a biscuit in a full sheet pans; or if I am cutting the recipe down, into half sheet pans. I think the best way this came out was to use the half sheet pan, cut the biscuit in half on the long side. (In the half sheet pan, the strip of biscuit is about 4" wide and 15" long, which is pretty easy to roll.)

I spread the buttercream on the biscuit, and then roll it just like a jelly roll or the way you would roll a larger buche. Then I wrapped it in parchment and stuck it in the cooler. When it was firm, I would remove the parchment, put it on a board and then use ganache in a pastry bag fitted with an open star tip and go down the length of the roll, starting from the bottom and going up until the entire roll was covered in ganache. (If you are putting multiple ones on a half sheet board for delivery, put the first roll in the center and then you'd have room for two more - one on either side.) Because I don't know how long the restaurant or caterer is going to cut these, I don't put a knob on top - I just suggest that they use a meringue mushroom or holly berry/leaves and some sugar snow, or a petit four "gift box".

I offer people a choice of buttercream fillings in the buche I offer; so if someone wants a yellow sponge and raspberry buttercream, I will put a thin layer of a raspberry ganache or plain ganache on the biscuit and then the layer of buttercream. It is easier to spread if the ganache is just barely firm, and if you have not chilled your biscuit, you won't get a lot of crumbs or pull up the top when you go to apply the ganache. I just like the way it looks to have this thin dark line of chocolate under the buttercream but it is definitely more work that way But most of the restaurants that order this from me go with the traditional yellow sponge and chocolate buttercream filling and ganache on the outside.

Hope this helps!

eta: covering the roll entirely with ganache...

Edited November 22, 2008 by JeanneCake (log)

[rooftop1000]

So not the professional here....

how about an infused panna cotta? like cardamon? with some kind of sauce....

chocolate dipped cannolli, but stuff with something usual...like a ginger, lime something...

just some thoughts..

(I am like you, sometimes the traditional stuff is just plain good!)

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This just popped into my head ...maybe it should stay there but

Since I like playing with wonton skins for savory applications that are often fried...how about forming a wonton cup filled with a cannolli type filling but like CKat said ginger or kafir lime or.... it could even be spiked with candied tropical fruit

tracey

Edited November 22, 2008 by rooftop1000 (log)

[Tri2Cook]

This just popped into my head ...maybe it should stay there but

Since I like playing with wonton skins for savory applications that are often fried...how about forming a wonton cup filled with a cannolli type filling but like CKat said ginger or kafir lime or.... it could even be spiked with candied tropical fruit

tracey

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Wontons in sweet applications are fun. I was first inspired by the apricot-chanterelle wontons with sweet tomago roll and the fried chocolate filled wontons with mango and mint in Wild Sweets and have since done a number of things using wonton skins. Definitely not an idea that should stay in your head.

[LoneSavant]

Thanks for the posts so far! As I plan on being the patissier for a while at this place, I'd love to keep this thread going! (espcially 'cuz I change the desserts every three weeks!)

For next tues, I've decided on these four:

Assam Tea-Roasted Pear with Bitter Chocolate Sorbet

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Torte with Saunf and Caramel Corn

Almond Semifreddo with Curry-Spiked Cranberries

Pineapple-Phyllo Napoleon with Cinnamon-Palm Sugar Gelato

I'll let you know how they go over!