Tiramisu Tag Team

Today, a couple of people worked madly to complete their four required plates — Rudy, in particular, who missed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday due to a family emergency which kept him in the Central Valley since the weekend. When I arrived in class at 6:30, he'd already begun several projects simultaneously, and had both Julian and Tashana running around, collecting his mise en place.

Most of us, though, had only one final dish to present, so the mood was relaxed, even during the final (open notes, 25 questions). Andy made an elaborate "deconstructed banana split" and spent most of the morning designing his plate presentation, and he was joyful after presenting it to Chef Judy: "She said it was the best banana-flavored product she'd ever tasted!" Jordan followed a tip from Chef Joseph, who tasted a couple of the Guinness ice creams yesterday. Chef's suggestion was to use a neutral-flavored base, and churn it almost to completion, then add the beer for the last minute or so of churning. He thought that might result in a more "forward" beer flavor. I guess we'll all be able to judge, tomorrow.

I presented my cinnamon ice cream after some goofing around with puff pastry, eventually settling on a small disc covered with caramelized apple slices. This was set next to two scoops (one large, one mini) of ice cream. I garnished the plate with a drawing of an apple + leaf (in coating chocolate) and the apple and part of the leaf were filled with appropriately colored sauce. Totally acceptable. Then I made the dough for tomorrow's project: (savory) baked buns, from Barbara Tropp's China Moon Cookbook. I'll make the fillings this afternoon (hoison/pork and mushrooms), then roll, fill, proof, bake, and eat them tomorrow. We have a 10:30 start time for the class buffet.

About 10:30, Andrea and I decided to make tiramisu. We both agreed that we could stay after class, if necessary, to complete it. Chef Judy gave us a quick run-down on the process for making ladyfingers, with ingredient measurements that Dava copied from an on-line recipe. We soon had two mixers going, beating egg yolks and whites, and minutes later, I was piping 3" strips onto a sheet pan. Andrea lasso'd Derrick into whipping and flavoring heavy cream, while she cooked the egg yolks for the filling, and after she folded in the mascarpone and marsala, she incorporated the cream and more egg whites that Dava had whipped. Andrea being Andrea, she couldn't resist saying, "Looks like you went a little too far with the whipping, Dava," but it was all good. While Chef Judy kept an eye on the baking ladyfingers, I went down to student dining for two cups of coffee, which I then spiked with a good 1/2 cup of rum. The ladyfingers cooled briefly, then the assembly line cranked into gear: I loosened the ladyfingers from the parchment with a small spatula. Dava dipped them in coffee, then laid them into a small hotel pan. When she'd finished a layer, Andrea laid down a thick layer of mascarpone filling. Then Dava added a second layer of ladyfingers, the rest of the filling went in, and the whole thing was covered with layer of sifted cocoa powder. It's resting in the refrigerator overnight. Total elapsed time: 37 minutes. Sweet dreams.