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Second Annual Worlds of Flavor Pastry Retreat


tan319

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Great article in the new Food Arts mag on the Pastry/Baking Confab at the Greystone CIA campus.

Participants were Oriol Balaguer, Stephen Durfee(former French Laundry pastry chef), Elizabeth Falkner, Thomas Hass, Chris Broberg and Emily Luchetti amongst many others.

Bill Yosses reported.

A great read, and you can get a free subscription if you work in the biz ( http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Free/Foo...,2613,,00.html)

In the meantime, the newstand/bookstore beckons you.

2317/5000

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It was an amazing event. I was just finishing school at the CIA when the event happened. Amazing to be around so many talented/awesome chefs. I picked up a lot of little tidbits helping out and the tasting sessions for plated desserts were to die for! I can't wait for the next one.

Devin

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I forgot about Dorie Greenspan :sad:

I don't know about photos though according to the article she did show a video of maser baker Lionel Poilane making Breton sables (forgive the non accented letters).

devinF...

Did you attend the conference?

Anything in particular stand out to you?

2317/5000

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I suppose if being a kitchen slave counts, then yes, I did attend the conference.

I assisted Gilles Renusson in his St. Honore/pate choux demonstration and got more information than I could handle about choux paste. I also tried to attend anything Oriol Balaguer. His demo on bonbons was awesome and I can still remember the taste of poprocks! He also did a few dessert presentations that were simple, but gorgeous.

Overall I remember the abundance of olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar in quite a few dishes/presentations. I have photos of plate presentations and the conference somewhere on my hard drive. If I can gather them and post them I will in the next couple of days (today is Friday!)

Devin

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Ah Devinf, you've mentioned a few things that peaked my interest. Would you possible elaborate a little more?

What did you learn about choux paste, exactly? If you don't mind. I love the tinyest of details.............. perfection is all in the details.

And he put pop rocks in his ganche or on top of his truffles? What flavor matching did he do? heck...........I don't even know if pop rocks come in assorted flavors (Ted, do they?).

I would be incrediably grateful to see the photos you've taken!!!! Overjoyed to see them.........please.

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I would love to see photos too, Devin, it would be boss!!!

If you could elaborate on the bon bon class/demo Balaguer did, it would be fantastic.

Was it a technique you found awesome or just his overall vibe?

Wendy, pop rocks do come in assorted flavors, although they're kind of tough to find.

Right now, in the wal marts/targets of the world, sour is the thing, that's the flavor profile kids dig

:laugh:

An online store might be the ticket.

I was looking for neutral "flavor" pop rocks for a dessert I was doing a year ago but couldn't find jack.

I just wanted the sensation, the "pop".

I did find strawberry and a few others that reminded me of jam, and I was enclosing them in scoops of white chocolate malt and peanut butter ice cream (strawberry in white, raspberry in PB) for a carbonated milk chocolate soda I had on a menu.

The 'rocks kept together till your mouth hit the ice cream, it was good.

2317/5000

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OK... I found the pics, now I just need to take some time to get them posted here. Maybe over morning coffee tomorrow. I'm coming off a long work week and don't want to think about anything just about now.. :P

For the bonbons... he gave out 6 samples to everyone in the audience. His attitude was that chocolate could be matched with anything/any flavor. The poprocks were inside the candies! You got the chocolate love, then all of a sudden your mouth exploded - too cool! Definitely a highlight. The saffron chocolates were also interesting. It was unfortunate that someone in the audience bagan asking how much money he made. It really killed the mood and they wouldn't let it go. Mr. Balaguer did his best to diplomatically avoid the question through his interpreter, but...

There was also a great nougat demo by a German gent whose name escapes me. He torched the hell out of the kitchenaid bowl while trying to dry out his mix. He was very worried that the American appliances couldn't handle making a proper nougat. I tried a piece later in the day and it was tasty, but nothing screamed excellence.

Pate choux. He seemed to not cook his paste all that long. It almost seemed like something he just had to do as part of the process, nothing to integral. Once it started leaving some marks on the bottom of the pan, off the heat it went and into the mixer. He was very exact on his baking. We baked them in both a convection and a deck oven for comparison. The deck oven choux wasn't so hot. He stressed the fact that you shouldn't disturb the choux while it was baking and you only needed one temp (I was taught to use a higher temp at first then switch to a lower temp oven to finish baking). He was a very visual baker so it's hard to describe his methods without showing them. I'd have to dig through mounds of paper to find his recipes. His praline paste was a straight 50/50 mix and he preferred to use the serrated blade on the robotcoupe because it gave a finer texture in the finished product - nothing near the smoothness of commercial stuff, but damn good.

Now I wish I had taken better notes, but for me this was more of a meet and greet event than a learning opportunity. It was a fun time, but nothing compared to the savory Worlds of Flavor conference.

Devin

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Devin,

Why do you think the attendee wanted to focus on the money?

I ask because it seemed, according to the article, that Balaguer surprised people by revealing he does nothing until ordered, at least in final assembly of the product ordered.

I'm not sure that would cover bon bons or chocolates but pastrys, cakes, he feels that everything should be put together as late as possible.

Phillipe Conticini had/has that same outlook.

When he was at Petrossian, he would either assemble fruit tarts when ordered, at the counter, ala minute, or give the customer the components and assembly instructions to be done right before eating.

I like the idea.

Thanks for giving us a look inside.

If you have anymore we're all ears I'm sure!

2317/5000

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I went thanks to an invitation, so since I was not a "participant" I did not stay long. What impressed me the most was the concentration of pastry/bakery professionals that one could meet. As mentioned, networking opportunity.

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Ha! I guess I had already uploaded the pictures after the event. They are in my imagegullet album, but not sure what URL I need to put in to link the album?

There is one mislabelled picture: The one titled "Apple marmalade, etc." is actually a dessert called "Red Light District".

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Tan,

I can tell you that he does not have cakes made in his s. He does have chocolates readily available but for cakes you come in look at a book make your selection and come back and get it the next day. He has a photo ablum with pictures of 8 to 10 cakes and it shows what they look like and the flavor.

Rodney

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