This week I started my classes at my baking and pastry program and it couldn’t have been better. I’ve been waiting for this for many years and I couldn’t be happier about life right now. Wondering what this past week has been like? Read on to learn about my baking and pastry program! My School and Program Before I get into the nitty gritty, I’ll tell you a little bit about my school and my program. Ferrandi – Paris is a very highly respected culinary school all throughout the world but especially in France. Ferrandi has been described as the Hogwarts of culinary schools. It’s been around for about 100 years and has 3 campuses in France. All of the chef instructors in my program have trained and worked for at least 20 years in the field in various settings (hotels, fine dining, small pastry shops, etc). In total, this year there are about 50 students in the international intensive program. The international intensive program is 5 months of training with approximately 80% of the time spent working (actually making pastry) and 20% of the time in lecture or watching demonstrations. After the 5-month program, we receive a certificate and are matched by our chefs to an internship for 3 – 6 months. Thankfully, the program is taught all in English but we are required to attend French classes in order to be able to work at our internships. Chef Instructors The chef instructors in my program are all professionals and have years of industry experience. They are very eager to share their knowledge with students and answer as many questions as possible. In order to get a more personalized experience, the entire program is divided into 4 different classes and each assigned a chef. This means there’s approximately a 13:1 student to chef instructor ratio, which is a great learning environment. Every 2 weeks, our chef instructors shuffle groups so we can learn from different chefs (as they all have different teaching styles but still cover the same material in each class). My first chef instructor has insanely high standards; he expects absolute perfection. He tells us that we are making products to sell to customers, so he wants everything to be perfect because that’s what customers expect. His attention to detail is insanely critical in everything he does including the preparation of the workspace, the process of making pastry and adding the finishing touches on the product. It’s eye opening and I’m so glad to be able to train under him. Uniforms As with most professional places, uniforms are required to be clean, ironed and worn at all times while on campus. If chefs don’t approve of your uniform you can be sent home to change and/or excluded from class. So they are quite serious about uniforms here. Honestly, this is the only uniform that I absolutely love! It consists of a chef jacket, apron, black chef pants (with guy-sized pockets!!! Girls know what I’m talking about!), a hat, and non-slip super fashionable shoes (sarcasm). I feel so professional! Classmates My classmates come from all over the world. In my class alone (just 14 students) there are students from China, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, the Bahamas, and Brazil. Now that I think of it, I’m the only one in my class from the United States. Everyone in my class all came to pastry school for the same reason, to follow our dreams. But, all of us come from very different backgrounds and experience levels with pastry. Before following their passion for baking and pastry some students were chemists, accountants, doctors, academics, military soldiers, journalists, primary school teachers, civil engineers, and even chefs of cuisine. Because everyone comes from different backgrounds, this also means that we all have different levels of experience with pastry. Some students have absolutely no experience while others have already been to a culinary school. As you would probably guess, most people baked as a hobby and it turned into a passion. Now we are all learning and growing together to live our dreams and it’s quite amazing! The energy of a room filled with like-minded people is unmatched. Library I wasn’t really surprised to discover there was a library on campus mainly because almost every single university does. What I didn’t realize when I walked into the library that it was essentially going to be super culinary nerd heaven. There are entire sections on chocolate, pastry, fruit, running food businesses, flour, food science, etc. I couldn’t help but get really giddy about all the time I’m going to spend in there. Although, I don’t think it’s going to be possible to read everything since most books are in French but hey, it’ll be great practice! In The Classroom I know this is defiantly the part everyone is waiting for. There are two different kitchens where we train, also referred to as labs. One is more modern and spacious, while the other one is older and more compact. Every week we switch labs in order to become familiar with both types of working environments. Our class is structured very organically to how one would work in a professional kitchen. The chefs require us to respond with a resounding, “Yes, chef!” To know that we understand what he is saying. (Except keep in mind it’s in French so it’s technically “Oui, chef!”) The chef will explain and demonstrate what we are working on for that class then will tell us to go try it. While we are working, the chef walks around and ensures everyone is doing things properly. After each step is completed, we all gather around together to see the next step and so on until we each have our own finished products. Check out these cream puffs I made all by myself! They definitely were not perfect but I think they came out alright! The chef makes everything look so easy… So far, this week has been amazing. I can’t wait to see how I will develop my techniques and grow throughout this program. I’m so elated to finally be studying what I’m truly passionate about and I know my classmates are too. Time seems to fly by and I’m doing my best to get the most out of this experience!
What do you think about my chocolate cream puffs? Maybe I’ll add these to my menu when I get back home!
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If this is your first time reading check out my post Europain 2018: Getting Ready For The Most Exciting Weekend to get some background information and see why I was so excited for this weekend (a.k.a. it’s the first part of this 2 post series). This past weekend I spent 4 days at Europe’s biggest bakery exposition and learned quite a lot about the baking industry not only in Europe but around the world. With seminars on ancient versus modern wheat, chocolate tastings from around the world, pastry chef demonstrations and over 400 exhibitors, I returned home pretty exhausted every day. Interested in what I did this weekend? Read on for this weekends highlights. Day 1: Highlights The night before the first day I spent at least an hour trying to plan my schedule with critical precision. I wanted to get the absolute most out of this weekend so I made sure to plan my schedule accordingly (a.k.a. I had 5 minutes to go from one section to the next, which meant I couldn’t stay for the Q&A session and considering the enormity of the exposition I had to more or less speed walk everywhere.) So, as you could probably already imagine I was in a constant hustle the first day. Ancient and Modern Wheat Highlights I know you guys are just as excited as I am to learn about ancient and modern wheat! Don’t worry I won’t give you the full breakdown of the hour long hot debate but I will give you some nice highlights! But before I do that I want to note that the panel consisted of Jean-Francois Berthelot, a farmer, miller and baker, Alain Bonjean, an expert in modern seeds, and Isabel (I didn’t catch her last name) a wheat researcher. These people seriously know their stuff! So without further ado…the highlights from the debate!
I honestly could write a whole post about the discussion they had regarding the classification of ancient and modern wheat, links to gluten intolerance and celiac disease, and the genetic modification of wheat. I kept it nice and simple for you here! If you are interested, leave me a comment below and I’d be more than happy to explain further. :) What does all of this have to do with cake? Well, wheat is harvested and then milled to make flour which goes into cake! Ta da! The Pastry Chef Demonstration Miracle & Aftermath Pastry Chef demonstrations consist of you watching a master create a recipe right in front of your eyes. PLUS, you get to taste it after. Hopefully, unless there’s a giant mob, which there always is, that fights over the samples. Pastry Chef François Perret of the Ritz Paris created a gorgeous 5 star honey, almond, and pear dessert. As he assembled different components of the dessert, he passed out the candied almonds he made which were amazing! The plated dessert consisted of chopped fresh Williams Pear, candied almonds, a scoop of vanilla ice cream encased in an igloo of whipped cream, topped with a cookie (resembling a honey comb) topped with honey. He made enough desserts for everyone that initially came to the demonstration and stayed the whole time but of course people see food and stick around to grab some as they walk by. Long story short, when the dessert was completed I saw the pastry sous chef, Jeremy hand the last sample to the couple next to me. :( Sadness. My heart sank. But just then, Jeremy walks over to the demonstration dessert plated by the pastry chef François Perret, picks it up, walks over to me and sets it in front of me. I turned into a bright red tomato!! God is good. My heart stopped. Here I was looking down at a gold trimmed plate with the dessert that was just made in front of me. I looked back up and Jeremy was there again with a silver spoon for me to dig in. I didn’t hesitate. Three bites in to this delectable dessert of multiple layers and textures, I wasn’t even ready for what was about to happen… From behind me the crowd of people managed to somehow obtain tiny sample spoons (I assume from fighting someone to the death) and literally swooped in and started eating off my plate. UHM WHAT?!? I was stunned. So stunned, I froze in fact and that started a chain reaction of the rest of the mob munching on my dessert. I felt like a poor injured zebra being attacked by a swarm of hungry vultures. Below is a photo for reference. Day 2 Highlights The second day at Europain started off pretty well, or so I thought. I managed to get there with plenty of time to spare before the demonstration I wanted to see, so I decided to check out some of the exhibitors in the mean time. Of course, what I didn’t realize was they switched the first and second pastry chef demonstrations meaning when I casually arrived early to the first one I was at the end of the one I actually wanted to see! :( At least I still got to try the rich chocolate tart! Mustard Whipped Cream?!? I stayed for the next demonstration since I already had that time planned to be there for the first one titled, Strawberry and Mustard. Yeah, not a combination I would typically put together and if you know me I’m a pretty picky eater. Hence why I went the route of pastry because I love almost everything sweet. Anyway, the dessert consisted of strawberry jam, a raspberry, a layer of crunch and topped with mustard whipped cream. By itself mustard whipped cream is well…mustard whipped cream. Exactly how you would imagine it. Except here mustard is all from Dijon so it had a certain spice to it. I don’t think my palette is refined enough to enjoy the flavors the pastry chef was trying to convey in this dish. Would you try mustard whipped cream? Cocoa beans and chocolate from around the world I was excited for this one because well, put simply, I LOVE chocolate. Giving me a space where I can learn more about it and try different types? Heaven. Cocoa bean farmers from around the world each had a station to showcase their regions cocoa beans and the resulting chocolate bar. The first lady that I talked to instructed me to simple peel off the skin from the bean and eat it. Now, eating chocolate and eating a cocoa bean are two completely different things. To put it in perspective, imagine 100% dark chocolate. Eating a cocoa bean is sooooooooooo bitter. That’s because the chocolate bars we know and love are filled with cocoa butter (fat), sugar, and milk (in the case of milk chocolate)! Each region that grows cocoa beans has its own unique taste, smell and appearance. The variations in flavor are so slight you have to really make sure you cover all of your taste buds to detect it but there definitely is a difference and when you notice it, it seems huge. I always thought chocolate was just chocolate but now it’s so much more than that. I plan on studying more into chocolate so maybe I’ll turn into Willy Wonka? 2017 World Pastry Chef Champion *Imagine me jumping up and down while saying this* I met the 2017 World Pastry Chef Champion, Jean-Thomas Schneider!!!!!!!!!! And he taught me how to make an amazing lemon crème and lemon mousse for the replicated half lemon dessert he demonstrated. What’s even better than that? I GOT TO TRY IT. And it was out of this world! After taking a photo with him and scratching that off my bucket list, my first thought was, “note to self: new life goal – World Pastry Chef Champion” The world isn’t even ready yet ;) Day 3 Highlights Agri Ethical I mentioned this seminar in my last post and I was really excited to hear from the founder of Agri Ethical – the European equivalent to Fair Trade. Those of you who know me well know that I am very fond of the idea of Fair Trade and am glad the future is heading that way. For those that aren’t sure what Fair Trade means, it’s basically the idea that the farmers harvesting our products are paid fair wages, improve our environmental farming conditions and provide better products for consumers! Sounds great huh? Yup! It is! So I’m really glad this organization, Agri Ethical is making steps towards implementing that concept in France. Coupe de France des Ecoles The Coupe de France des Ecoles is basically a competition for student teams from different schools to go head to head and create masterpieces of sugar and bread. They worked tirelessly throughout the weekend and created beautiful works of edible art. It was exciting to watch students work and compete with the skills they learned in class. I couldn’t help but think that soon I will be one of those students! Day 4 Highlights Mondial des Arts Sucrés (International Confectionary Art Competition) The Mondial des Arts Sucrés (International Confectionary Art Competition) was mesmerizing to watch. There were a total of 16 countries that competed: Ecuador, Russia, Taiwan, France, Canada, Venezuela, Morocco, Colombia, Ukraine, Brazil, USA, Japan, Singapore, Mexico and Georgia. Each team consisted of one female and one male pastry chef to represent their respective countries. Here’s a list of everything they had to make for the competition: · 20 plated desserts · 20 individual small ice cream cakes · 30 x 2 types of confectionary · 4 entremets (small snack dessert) · 1 sugar centerpiece · 1 chocolate center piece · 1 sugar and chocolate presentation stand for their confectionary Just typing that list was exhausting, I couldn’t imagine having to make it all! Each country had plenty of people in the crowd cheering them on with flags. There was some really great energy there! The theme this year was French luxury. Masters de La Boulangerie (Bakery Masters) I have never seen bread like this before. Honestly, I didn’t know there were so many different types of bread other than sandwich bread and a baguette. There were 3 different categories of the competition: · Nutritional Bread Making · Gourmet Baking · Artistic Bread Making The USA competed in Gourmet Baking represented by Jeffrey de Leon and Artistic Bread Making represented by Jacob Baggenstos. Unfortunately we didn’t win either of the sections BUT we did a great job and the competition was fierce. The 2018 winners in each category are: · Nutritional Bread Making – Peter Bienefelt – The Netherlands · Gourmet Baking – Déborah Ott - France · Artistic Bread Making – Peng-Chieh Wang - Tawian This is a huge honor because there are (now) only 9 Master Bakers in the entire world! So there you have it! A behind the scenes look at Europe’s largest baking exposition. I hope you enjoyed this post because I truly did enjoy every second of this past weekend, despite the fact that I came home exhausted every day. I’m so excited for my pastry courses to start next week and going to Europain was only a little introduction into my future career and life. And you know what? It looks pretty sweet.
Yes, that pun was intended. So what do you think? Would you be up for the challenge of eating bread and sweets all day for an entire weekend? P.S. I should mention that this entire expo was in French with only a couple of the seminars being translated so forgive me if some topics aren’t as thorough as you hoped. P.P.S. I should also mention I ate WAYYYYYYYY too much bread this weekend but it was for a good purpose: education. ;) Want to see more photos? Subscribe to the blog and enter the Pati Cake & Friends Facebook group for FULL access to all photos I took at Europain 2018. |
AuthorHey there! I'm Patricia a recent college grad and business owner who had the crazy idea of picking up my life and moving to Paris to chase my dreams! Follow me on my journey to becoming a Pastry Chef. 😁👩🏻🍳 Archives
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