The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (Round 4)

[chiantiglace]

Sorry, I seem to have crispy duck skin toffee stuck in my head...

tracey

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I'm sorry too Tracy, I hope it's not too painful, but I'm sure it would make a great episode on ER. I'm just totally being silly-don't mind me.

But seriously, I love this thread but I am absolutely lost--whew it's all so far over my head the jetstream is above Iceland.

I hope you all enjoy prawns, seaweed soup, chorizo and soup and shrimp? for dessert? But you expanded it right to include more courses??? I can't tell where the desserts start--are we still doing desserts??? Or just baking???

Maybe I'll catch on better next time.

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Dont worry K8, I am just as lost as you are. But I will try to keep an open mind as things unfold.

[Shalmanese]

Salad Tapas:

How do I make a yuzu flavoured hard toffee? Should I melt the sugar with ponzu instead of water? Should I cook the caramel, add ponzu and then cook it again?

I missed something here. Do you mean should you add yuzu juice instead of water for the caramel? Or are you thinking of using ponzu. (I wouldn't add too much if this is the case...would be quite salty!)

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I have something labelled ponzu but WITHOUT soy sauce. The ingredients say it's a type of yuzu vinegar. I don't know if I can get fresh yuzu juice but I'll try.

[Shalmanese]

Just to recap everything that's gone on so far. On Sunday, I will be doing a 7 course menu with the last course being 7 tapas. 6 of those 7 tapas will have some connection to a previous course served and the last one is a mystery surprise tapas I'm going to unveil on the night.

[K8memphis]

Just to recap everything that's gone on so far. On Sunday, I will be doing a 7 course menu with the last course being 7 tapas. 6 of those 7 tapas will have some connection to a previous course served and the last one is a mystery surprise tapas I'm going to unveil on the night.

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Ok cool and which are the desserts, those last seven?? Or are there desserts?

[ludja]

Just to recap everything that's gone on so far. On Sunday, I will be doing a 7 course menu with the last course being 7 tapas. 6 of those 7 tapas will have some connection to a previous course served and the last one is a mystery surprise tapas I'm going to unveil on the night.

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Ok cool and which are the desserts, those last seven?? Or are there desserts?

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Mette's challenge:

Create a dessert tapas plate consisting of 7 items in 7 days, using local and seasonal flavours (I know purist will oppose to the term tapas in the context, but so be it)

Shalmanese's extra twist:

Seeing as I like challenges and I like crazy challenges even more, I've decided to impose the following further restriction on myself: The dinner will consist of 7 courses, and the tapas dessert must evoke 6 features from the previous 6 courses as a "retrospective dessert tapas finish" with one totally unique one in there as well.

[chiantiglace]

ok so, all the stuff that has been discussed, are they the desserts or the meal?

And if they are the meal, what are the desserts?

And if the desserts are a suprise, what are we talking about?

I just want to join in, but I honestly have no Idea where to start.

Edited October 18, 2006 by chiantiglace (log)

[Pontormo]

M: 7 tapa-desserts due in 7 days. "Tapa" indicates small dish vs. an authentic Spanish tapa.

S: Ha! I'll go further and match those sweet tapas to each dish in a 7-course meal.

So, Seven-course meal:

1) Amuse: Crab, Chorizo & grapefruit.

2) App: Pasta, peas, prawns.

3) Soup: Winter squash, seaweed & ginger.

4) Salad: Clueless still. [Pontormo says salad goes after main course]

5) Main: Duck, parsnips, cherry.

6) Official Dessert: Chocolate [Pontormo: Cheese instead]

7) 7-part Tapa-Dessert

Now is this clear? (Continued below)

Pontormo would take the pasta out of #2 since it's a first-course, not an app. or antipasto [the Italian word lets you know it would be paradoxical] and she'd choose between pasta or soup, adding a fish course directly before the duck. Easier solution: The pasta should follow the soup course if a preference for two first courses (primi) are retained. Call the soup the app. This would mean you'd have a total of 6 courses.

CONTINUED: THIS THE SEVENTH COURSE, CONSISTING OF SEVEN TAPA-DESSERTS

TAPAS

a) Amuse Tapa: grapefruit to reflect ingredient in the meal's amuse-bouche

b) App Tapa: tuilles are supposed to mirror pasta, kiwis, peas, pink cookie, prawns.

[This, I don't know about. Too much, too.]

c) Soup Tapa: squash-echo, I guess.

d) Salad tapa: lady apples from WF, so should have apples in salad.

e) Main Tapa: Duck Pastry or Herb Tapa

f) Dessert Tapa: Chocolate but like Mette's. I think this should be cheese.

g) Final Tapas: This is a surprise, most likely indicating who's to be challenged.

Edited October 18, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[chiantiglace]

Yea that helps a bunch. And since I am just now starting to get whats going on I'll just stay out of this one.

[K8memphis]

Oh Oh Oh, thanks for typing slow enough for even me to catch on.

[Shalmanese]

Pontormo would take the pasta out of #2 since it's a first-course, not an app. or antipasto [the Italian word lets you know it would be paradoxical] and she'd choose between pasta or soup, adding a fish course directly before the duck.  Easier solution:  The pasta should follow the soup course if a preference for two first courses (primi) are retained.  Call the soup the app.  This would mean you'd have a total of 6 courses.

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Shalmanese thinks referring to yourself in the 3rd person is a bit pretentious and this isn't an italian meal so both the salad & soup are staying right where they are:raz:. The idea of moving the salad after the main is a good one though because it would allow me to do a sweeter style salad as a segue into dessert.

Good job on the summary though, I don't think I would have had the patience to type all that out myself. Every time I try, my head goes in another direction and something even more bizarre comes out.

[Kouign Aman]

crumbly cookies - I like the ones termed mexican or italian wedding cake. They are usually rolled into a ball and dipped in powdered sugar (confectioners sugar).

You could dye them, or dye the sugar you dip them in.

Im not sure how well they mold.

Have you found a shrimp shaped mold?

[Pontormo]

Shalmanese thinks referring to yourself in the 3rd person is a bit pretentious.

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My scribe was in charge of cutting, pasting and reformatting one of your very long entries into a Word document while I was out on the veranda dictating in between sips of champaigne.

[K8memphis]

Shalmanese thinks referring to yourself in the 3rd person is a bit pretentious.

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My scribe was in charge of cutting, pasting and reformatting one of your very long entries into a Word document while I was out on the veranda dictating in between sips of champaigne.

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At last a post even Kate can understand.

Edited October 18, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[Ling]

I guess I'll answer Shalmanese's PM in this thread, so everyone who's following along with the thought process can see it.

Duck fat pastry:

I'm only tried using it in a basic pie crust recipe. That includes approximately:

1 cup frozen duck fat

2.5 cups AP flour

1 tsp vinegar beaten with

1 egg yolk

and a few tablespoons of ice water

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

And if you want to incorporate some star anise into the pie crust, you can. Be sure to chill/rest the dough and use bench flour to roll it out.

Alternatively, you could use possibly use the frozen duck fat in pate sucree, although I've never tried it. (I'm actually not a huge fan of pate sucree.)

Is your cilantro/mint jam going to be sweetened? I'm assuming so, as it's dessert.

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For the sable:

You could try this recipe, which I've used in the past. It contains liquid (vanilla and egg) so you could try replacing some of that with the berry liquid, but I don't see how the berry taste would be very pronounced by the same addition (several tsps.) in relation to cookie batter.

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I've used this recipe for tuiles.

[Patrick S]

Pontormo would take the pasta out of #2 since it's a first-course, not an app. or antipasto [the Italian word lets you know it would be paradoxical] and she'd choose between pasta or soup, adding a fish course directly before the duck.  Easier solution:  The pasta should follow the soup course if a preference for two first courses (primi) are retained.  Call the soup the app.  This would mean you'd have a total of 6 courses.

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Shalmanese thinks referring to yourself in the 3rd person is a bit pretentious . . . .

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. . . as opposed to having an avatar that says "Out of my kitchen NOOB!," which of course is not pretentious in the least.

[Shalmanese]

Bah, my worthless Australian friends don't know the meaning of RSVP apparently so the whole dinner party has been pushed back to next week due to multiple conflicting prior arrangements. I will still be doing a single set of tapas for this sunday night but the public unveiling will be next sunday.

[Mette]

Sorry for dropping this challenge on you and then dissapearing out of sight Unfortunately, I've had some family issues to deal with the past week, hence the silence.

Too bad about the australians, but glead to hear that it's going to happen after all. The koncep sound very exciting, and I hope we're still going to see som cuisine this weekend. Looking forward to it

/Mette

[gfron1]

Aussies are never quite as reliable as the Kiwis so I guess we'll hang out and wait to see the grand unveiling.

[Shalmanese]

Phew, busy day. I've been procrastinating about doing this for a while so I only really got into it about 3 hours ago. Should be coming in all on schedule though.

I should take some pictures...

[Shalmanese]

And... They're done and here they are:

Phew, it was tough because my heart really wasn't into it today but the ended up coming out impossibly beautiful considering how haphazardly I did everything. For the astute observer, you'll notice there are only 6 desserts on that tray. The 7th Mystery dessert is still cooling and will be ready later. Trust me, it'll be worth the wait.

Grapefruit Terrine and Lygonberry Jelly Shooter

The unmoulding was a bit of a challenge and damaged the dessert somewhat. This one was rather simple, just chunks of grapefruit in a Lyngonberry jello which I made using Lyngonberry Syrup I got at PFI.

The taste was really complex for something so simple. The lyngonberry had a tart astringency to it and then bursts of bitter would flash by as you bit into chunks of the grapefruit.

Lyngonberry Shortbread and Wild Kiwis

This was meant to be visually similar to a pea and shrimp dish. The shortbread was made using the same lyngonberry syrup and it came out slightly pink but not as much as I would have liked. I've never had wild kiwi until I came to seattle but I love the flavour.

The shortcake was just a tiny bit dry so the kiwis really helped provide some moisture and the flavour contrast was quite refreshing. I think the biscuit needed to have a topping of some sort though.

Pumpkin Ice Cream Cake

Astute observers may notice the pumpkin ice-cream is now half the size. The previous portion was far too big so I cut it in half after the group shot. This was the weakest one of the bunch IMHO. The filling really needed to have some lemon in it to punch up the flavour and I tried doing the caramel with lemon juice added at the start and, as I feared, it caused the thing to turn slightly chewy instead of crisp. The caramel was also far too thick and the thing was impossible to eat. Still, it's a nice idea which just needs a better execution next time.

Mini Toffee Apple with Cherry Candy Bits

I bought these mini candies from PFI since I knew I was a pastry challenger but I didn't know what the theme was.

Luckily, they came in handy. Again, the main flaw in this tapas was the toffee which was thick and chewy rather than crisp. The candies added a nice burst of flavour and the apples were really tart which helped a lot.

Star Anise & Cinnamon infused Duck Biscuit with a Cilantro Syrup

My Cilantro Jelly didn't gel so it became a Cilantro Syrup. I really enjoyed this one although it would probably be a bit challenging to some. You could definately get a hit of the duck coming through with hints of anise and cinnamon which made it wonderfully fragrant. The texture was also really good, softer than you would expect a cookie to be but also very crumbly. The Cilantro syrup didn't really add much. next time, I should just sprinkle on some fresh cilantro.

Mini-Chocolate Bar

This is nowhere near as impressive as Mette's efforts. I just made the base of it and didn't bother with the ganache or marshmallow. Very rich and deep chocolate flavour though. Personally, I don't much care for overly intense chocolate flavour but it was very good all the same.

Edited October 23, 2006 by Shalmanese (log)

[Shalmanese]

Also, the 3 people I contacted about being the next Iron Baker all had previous commitments so I'm opening this up to the crowd. If you would like to try your hand at the Challenge, send me a PM. Names will be drawn out of a hat at 9AM tomorrow my time.

[Ling]

My Cilantro Jelly didn't gel so it became a Cilantro Syrup. <snip> The Cilantro syrup didn't really add much. next time, I should just sprinkle on some fresh cilantro.

Instead of sprinkling on fresh cilantro, I would chop it finely and incorporate it into the cookie dough.

Great effort--I think the lingonberry shortbread with wild kiwi would've been my favourite! And the duck biscuit sounds very interesting as well.

[Kerry Beal]

Will be interested to see number 7. Liking especially the idea for the mini toffee apple.

Did the apple stay firm under the candy?

[Pat Churchill]

Bah, my worthless Australian friends don't know the meaning of RSVP apparently so the whole dinner party has been pushed back to next week due to multiple conflicting prior arrangements. I will still be doing a single set of tapas for this sunday night but the public unveiling will be next sunday.

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Gee, we Kiwis know what RSVP means (some of us even know what the initials stand for ). Pity Seattle is a bit far away. But I am there in spirit! I love your lateral thinking...

[K8memphis]

Those look mouth wateringly delicious. So much work! You totally outdid yourself and several other people too. [clapping wildly smile face]

Wow and there's another one?? [faint dead away smilie face]