coda

Our last month of class was stuffed with projects and exams, not least of which was the "menu project." Such a simple name for such a complex beast! It is not, as the name might suggest, merely a menu. It is actually the creation of an entire restaurant and rationale, a black hole-like project capable of absorbing every ounce of energy and ambition a pastry student can muster. I wasn't the only student in my class to lie awake at night thinking about plating designs or foist trial runs of prospective desserts on friends and relatives.

The focus of my labor, my own greedy little black hole, was called Coda. A dessert and wine bar near Lincoln Center, it would feature classical French desserts influenced by the cosmopolitan atmosphere of New York City and the Lincoln Center neighborhood. I envisioned it as the ideal place for a pre- or post-show gathering, with a contemporary, candlelit ambience equally suited to convivial conversation with friends or an intimate first date.

To transform an idea into a fully realized business plan, the project is divided into several components: a printed menu, a business fact sheet, plating diagrams for all the desserts on the menu, a class presentation/pitch, and a practical exam. The menu itself was fun to make and shop for - it gave me an excuse to spend quality time and actually buy something in the tony stationery store Kate's Paperie, usually one of my favorite places to window shop.

I knew I wanted a neutral, sophisticated look to match the clean Scandinavian lines of my virtual decor. I was almost paralyzed by the number of shades offered between white and yellow, but when I tried an ivory paper with a slight rib against a dark chocolate cardstock, I knew I had found my menu. I think it was the hint of shimmer in the cardstock that finally sold me - perfect for candlelight!

Once the written part of the project was finished, it was all about the food. For the practical exam, our chef chose two desserts from each student's menu. The desserts were to be plated and served a la minute at an assigned time, as if they had been ordered in the restaurant. To give you an idea of how the project looked on paper, here are my plating diagrams for the two desserts I prepared for the practical: Pain Perdu and the Metropolitan Opera Cake.

We had two days total for the practical exam: one to mis en place (prepare) the components of our desserts, and one for final touches and plating. As with the wedding cake project, a well-planned itinerary was crucial for success. Since both my desserts included ice cream and components that needed to be baked, I spent most of the first day making and spinning ice cream, baking chocolate and hazelnut cake, and shaping and baking the brioche for my pain perdu. I also candied my hazelnuts, made chocolate sauce, prepared hazelnut cream, and assembled my Opera cake. Whew!

Day 2 was even busier: I made custard for the pain perdu, baked it off, glazed and cut my Opera cake, and successfully flambeed my fruit compote without lighting myself on fire. As my assigned time for plating drew near, I gathered my components. Clean, logical station organization is crucial for successful plated desserts - the chef needs to be able to find everything she needs quickly and not get in her own way. Timing is critical when working with desserts that involve hot or frozen components, and I had both on my plates. The pain perdu needed to be fried right before plating, because no one likes lukewarm French toast, and the ice cream had to be scooped at the last minute so it wouldn't be a sloshy puddle when I got to the chef's station for judging.

My itinerary worked out well, despite a last minute fear that my pain perdu had gotten cold which spurred me to fry two more pieces for grading in the last 90 seconds before my assigned time. All the components made it on the plate, and the desserts basically resembled their paper templates. I was especially excited about my Metropolitan Opera Cake, my version of the French classic, which was named after the Opera Garnier in Paris. The original features hazelnut cake with coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache, and chocolate glaze; mine was composed of chocolate and hazelnut cake layers soaked with a potent espresso-whiskey syrup, filled with a rich hazelnut cream, and topped with a chocolate glaze. Coffee ice cream, chocolate sauce, and candied hazelnuts were served on the side. Yum. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of my desserts until after the ice cream melted, but imagine a cute little scoop of ice cream instead of a puddle, and you've got the idea.

The pain perdu was an interesting challenge for me because it's basically French French toast. And I hate French toast. So my goal was to come up with a recipe that even people who don't like French toast would like. Rather than soaking bread in a custard and frying it off immediately, I decided to try baking the bread in the custard first, then frying it at the last minute. I hoped that this would give the pain a nice crisp crust, while keeping the inside soft and creamy. Luckily for me, I have friends who like French toast and were willing to be guinea pigs - a big thank you to Brian, Ainsley, and Catherine, who sacrificed a Sunday evening to come over and eat lots of dessert!

The experimental technique was a definite success - baking the custard in a low oven kept it sweet and creamy, and it didn't develop the overdone, eggy flavor that normally turns me off French toast. My tasters approved, and I even ate a whole piece myself. I used homemade brioche, but for all you French toast lovers, this technique would also be great with challah or another enriched bread with a texture and crumb hearty enough to stand up to being soaked and baked in custard. Here's what the final product looked like (served with flambeed fruit compote, a whipped cream rosette and a puddle of formerly pretty maple ice cream).

It consumed several weeks of my life, robbed me of many hours of sleep, and gave me a few new grey hairs, but I ended up loving my menu project. I was very sorry to say goodbye to Coda when the last dessert had been graded. So if anyone out there has start-up capital lying around and wants to fund a dessert and wine bar near Lincoln Center, you know where to reach me...