The Supreme eG Pastry and Baking Challenge (Round 10)

[dejaq]

And now for Round 10!

I am Challenging Kerry Beal, a foremost Authoritarian on Chocolate who actually started this thread and can be found here:

the Chocolate Doctor

Dr. Beal has posted some significant contributions to this forum, and for this we are all very grateful.

As a premier authority on Chocolate, I would like to challenge Kerry to making a dessert utilizing White, Milk, and Dark Chocolate, in addition, to your choosing, a Tea of your liking, and any type of fresh Seasonal Pear.

Kerry, I know you have the ability to come up with a stellar dessert, BTW, this can be done as a plated Entremet or as a whole or individual Cake/Tart.

Good Luck, I know you will do very well!

Here's a list of our previous challenges:

Round 1 (Kerry Beal challenges Ling in Vancouver BC)- Take pineapple upside down cake and bring it into this century

Round 2 (Ling Challenges Gfron1 in Silver City NM) - Make a dessert containing an animal ingredient or product other than lard or bacon

Round 3 (Gronf1 challenges Mette in Copenhagen Denmark)- Create a deconstructed beer dessert

Round 4 (Mette Challenges Shalmanese in Seattle WA) - Create a dessert tapas plate consisting of 7 items in 7 days, using local and seasonal flavours

Round 5 (Shalmanese challenges Chiantiglace in West Palm Beach FL) - create a dessert involving smoke that evokes Autumn

Round 6 (Chiantiglace challenges K8Memphis in Memphis, TN) - create a dessert using Southern Sweet Tea

Round 7 (K8Memphis challenges SweetSide in rural CT) - create a desset using 5 kernels of corn representing the 5 blessing of the Pilgrims

Round 8 (SweetSide challenges alanamoana in the Silicon Valley, CA) - take fruitcake out of the land of the misfits and show us the beauty that lies within

Round 9 ( Alanmoana challenges Dejaq in Nation’s Capital) - make a dessert using Champagne and at least three Citrus Fruits, along with Agar Agar.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Smithy
Adjusted title to show sequence (log)

[chiantiglace]

Hmm. I was wondering when someone was going to tag the initiator.

[Kerry Beal]

I've been watching the desserts become more elaborate and thought provoking and I just kept thinking "when is this challenge going to come back and bite me in the ass?". Today is the day!

Thank you Michael for at least allowing me chocolate, which will keep me somewhat in my comfort zone. My mind is spinning a little, what dishes have I got that would look nice with a dessert (can you say 'white round corelle for everything')? What teas could I use? What pears are in season? Where is my GD pear mold?

I know there is no chance I can do anything near as gorgeous looking as what has been presented to date, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

I'm really loving rooibos Provence these days, warm and strong with a spoon of nice manitoulin honey. I did try a rooibos chocolate center a while back, and while it was interesting, it wasn't what I was after. But I've got 3 kinds of pectin in the house these days... Anyone have some basic formulas for pectin NH or pectin X58? I think the apple pectin would require too much heat and sugar and I would lose the nice background flavours of the rooibos.

I drink a couple of gallons of orange pekoe tea each day. My Presidents Choice tea was discontinued a few weeks back and replaced with a tea that is unacceptable. I've hit every Loblaws like store around and picked up stray boxes and I've e-mailed my friend up north and she is hitting every store in her area. She actually has a couple of guys from the Ontario Provincial Police (who buy coffee at her store every morning) checking out the stores in the smaller communities while they do their rounds. They all think I'm nuts! I don't care as long as I have enough tea to last me until I find a new favorite. A friend dropped off 6 boxes yesterday in enchange for the yearly fruitcakes I make for him without raisins.

Ok, fire ideas at me.

[Desiderio]

Kerry I am looking foward to see your progress here , your work is always so amazing and inspiring, go go girl

Umm chocolate , pears and tea , thats a great combo.I would like pear and cardamom, maybe you can find a cardamom tea, or a bergamot one ,but the cardamom sounds great with pear and chocolate.

Edited November 26, 2006 by Desiderio (log)

[chiantiglace]

you could always poach the pears in tea, and then make a tea syrup from that.

Chocolate tea cake?

Pear tart with tea chocolate ganache?

......

[Kerry Beal]

you could always poach the pears in tea, and then make a tea syrup from that.

Chocolate tea cake?

Pear tart with tea chocolate ganache?

......

←

I think poaching is where my brain is at right now for sure. My first experiments are pears poached in rooibos provence. Now if the rug rat would just stop upchucking long enough for me to check out what pears are available at the store.

[jackal10]

Matcha tea?

spiced Chai - go well with pears.

or Herb tea, like ginger or peppermint?

What form are the pears in? Fresh, demi-sec, dried, candied?

Pears poached in red wine with chocolate sauce and matcha ice cream...

[alanamoana]

Kerry, what about the "gelee" recipe from Torreblanca's book that i sent along to you? that might be the right vehicle for a light tea flavored thing without too much sugar or heat.

[Irishgirl]

To me, Rooibos and Vanilla are a natural. I consider white chocolate a good vehicle for vanilla. Perhaps a combination of these three ingredients? Creme Brulee?

Dark and milk chocolate with the pear. I see hazelnuts in the mix...or orange. Pear hazelnut tart with milk chocolate ganache? Orange and dark chocolate sorbet?

Go Kerry!

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry, what about the "gelee" recipe from Torreblanca's book that i sent along to you?  that might be the right vehicle for a light tea flavored thing without too much sugar or heat.

←

Alana,

Thanks for reminding me. I had this idea that the pectin NH recipe you sent me was vanilla, I was please to realize it was fruit based. I should be able to fiddle it quite nicely.

Did you ever get pectin NH yourself?

[SweetSide]

I haven't even seen it, but I so want to eat this dessert!

There is a beautiful tea from Harney and Sons -- if you have time to order with express delivery -- that would be wonderful:

White Christmas Tea

Flavored with almonds, vanilla, and cardomom. Mmmm....

[Kerry Beal]

I haven't even seen it, but I so want to eat this dessert!

There is a beautiful tea from Harney and Sons -- if you have time to order with express delivery -- that would be wonderful:

White Christmas Tea

Flavored with almonds, vanilla, and cardomom.  Mmmm....

←

Sounds great, but here in Canada I would be lucky to get it in less than a week.

I have a lovely little coffee and tea shop close by and I actually have quite a number of samples of different teas that I requested at the last gift show and haven't had a chance to play with yet. I was noticing a package of white tea with strawberries in my cupboard a few hours ago. I think a bigger problem is not finding new tea, but eliminating the ones I have.

I have some pears poaching in 3 different teas right now. Matcha, rooibos provence and orange pekoe.

[Kerry Beal]

I've been playing with my bottle of pectin NH this evening. I made a jelly with rooibus and honey. Very tasty. Unlike apple pectin it makes a more tender jelly, more like jello. I think it might make a nice addition to my dessert, I'll just have to figure out how I want to fit it in.

Rooibos Jelly

500 grams stongly brewed rooibos tea

75 grams honey

75 grams glucose

50 grams sugar

15 grams pectin NH

8 grams citric acid mixed with a tiny bit of water

5 grams lemon vodka

Mix sugar and pectin. Mix tea, honey and glucose. Whisk in pectin-sugar mixture. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, stir in citric acid and vodka. Pour into molds or frame.

[Kouign Aman]

Perhaps instead of or in addition to poaching the pears,

coat them in a layer of tea jelly. My teeth like the idea of the texture change, biting thru the jelly into the gritty soft pear.

And the side-by-side flavors appeal to me more than blending them.

A simple way to use the chocolate (I shouldnt even go here, seeing your expertise) could be to make leaves for the pears.

Or...a multicolored ever-so-thin shell over the jelly-coated pears? (for me, that would not be simple.)

or

make a pear juice/infusion "tea" in a demitasse, and serve a chocolate/tea item as the main dessrt, in a TFL sort of food joke deconstruction.

Edited November 28, 2006 by Kouign Aman (log)

[K8memphis]

How about a chocolate cup & saucer?! maybe

[Kerry Beal]

Perhaps instead of or in addition to poaching the pears,

coat them in a layer of tea jelly. My teeth like the idea of the texture change, biting thru the jelly into the gritty soft pear.

And the side-by-side flavors appeal to me more than blending them.

A simple way to use the chocolate (I shouldnt even go here, seeing your expertise) could be to make leaves for the pears.

Or...a multicolored ever-so-thin shell over the jelly-coated pears? (for me, that would not be simple.)

or

make a pear juice/infusion "tea" in a demitasse, and serve a chocolate/tea item as the main dessrt, in a TFL sort of food joke deconstruction.

←

Great ideas. I wonder if I could sucessfully get the gelee to stick to the pear.

Leaves for the pear are an excellent idea, now where the hell is that leaf mold?

How about a chocolate cup & saucer?! maybe

←

Chocolate cup and saucer, excellent idea. I'm certainly entertaining the idea of some form of chocolate container.

[John DePaula]

Great ideas.  I wonder if I could sucessfully get the gelee to stick to the pear. 

←

I don't suppose you could spray the gelee onto a chilled pear?

[filipe]

Fauchon has a Chocolate Eclair Tea... i don't think it really tastes like chocolate eclairs but it tastes very good anyway... and pate a choux is a good vehicle for some tea flavours...

[Kouign Aman]

I just had a tea-flavored piece of belgian chocolate yesterday. Very nice.

No idea what kind of tea tho.

You know those over-done 'candy' apples, with the dip and the chocolate ribbons etc etc? Saw one of those and thought of this thread.

Half pear on place, cut side down. (dried thoroughly... that might require a blowdryer, given the softness of pears), covered in a thin tea 'aspic', then drizzled with the colors of chocolate as if it were a xmas tree ornament to be hung up.

[Kerry Beal]

Well, thank you everyone for the ideas. I've had a lot of fun this week trying out some interesting ideas and trying to come up with a dessert that can in some way compete with what has gone before. I don't feel that I was able to produce anything with the stunning good looks of the previous desserts, but I love the flavours I have come up with and I've added at least one new trick to my repertoire- sous vide poached pears - it doesn't get any easier, requires no poaching liquid and intensifies the flavour of the poaching tea. Never again will I use a whole bottle of wine to poach a couple of pears.

So let me present the finished product - Bartlett pear with Rooibos tea poached sous vide, White chocolate mousse with a pear ganache praline and Tea broken glass gelee.

So I placed some Rooibos provence tea in a vacuum bag along with a peeled, cored pear, sealed up the whole thing and placed it in water in the crock pot on low for 4 hours. After cooling you have perfectly poached pear, infused with rose, lavender, current and blueberry. Creme anglais decorated with the reduced juices from the pear and a dark chocolate leaf made from chocolate clay.

I made a white chocolate mousse, piped it into a snobinette made with tempered milk chocolate marbled with dark chocolate. I decorated the mousse with a white chocolate molded pear. The filling for the pear was a ganache made by placing a sliced unpeeled pear into a vacuum bag with cream and placing in the slow cooker on low overnight. The cream was strained and added to milk chocolate, some butter, glucose and a bit of Poire William.

This is tea gelee made with brewed rooibos provence, honey, glucose some sugar and pectin NH. A bit of citric acid and touch of lemon vodka finishes it off. A dusting of gold flake. The pectin NH give a nice tender gel, not rubbery at all and the flavour of the rooibos with the touch of honey, makes it outstanding.

[Kerry Beal]

I am awaiting a reply from the next potential contestant, I'll issue the next challenge after we have a new contestant.

[alanamoana]

wow kerry! what a great job. the flavors are perfect for this weather and the dessert sounds like just the right combination of textures and flavors with a touch of chocolate to top it off!

and you're a day early to boot! damn, you're efficient as well as talented.

[CanadianBakin']

It looks and sounds great! I'd be thrilled to be served your dessert. Great job!!

[K8memphis]

Oh man, I'm nearly drooling. You had me at "infused with rose, lavender, current and blueberry." Geez. I'm not a poacher of fruit but your crock pot approach is intriguing. I would definitely do that with fruit.

The little green marbley pear with a blush of ripeness is just begging to be popped into your mouth and eaten--oh it's so cute and looks so good, the filling flavors sound perfect. Umm, the coloring on it is captivating.

Snobinette, a little chocolate cup, I've never heard that word before. I know I met her though because she snubbed me once, twice...

And the colors overall play off each other so well--the rich deep mahogany tones all intermingled so pleasingly then that jazzy little green pear sparkling like a happy emerald relaxing on a creamy chaise.

Really stunning inviting presentation exhuding warmth and after all that there is "a dusting of gold flake," a quiet splurge caught in a random act of goldness.

Way cool!

Edited December 3, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[miladyinsanity]

The little pear's so cute!

I have to see whether I can get some rooibos tea around here.