Whistle While You Work

So after my epiphany that I would like to do all 3 courses and get certified as a pastry chef, we had an absolutely ridiculous technical demo. This demo is the type in which we just watch and learn the techniques and hope that one day we'll be able to do them. Anyway, Chef Christophe made Chestnut Charlotte and a Chocolate Fig Tart. The Charlotte is a German dessert and is just extremely tedious. The chef had a huge bowl of batter and spread a thin layer of it in a pan, put it under heat for 2 minutes, then added another layer, and repeated the process until all the batter was used. It had to have been about 50+ layers. I'm sure it tasted amazing, but WOW...that's dedication. He didn't fail to mention though, that to actually get yourself to do this, you probably should be extremely depressed and bored out of your mind.

Anyway, yesterday I went to a pub and met up with some friends from school and there was this chef who had his own catering business there. He was talking about a wedding he was about to cater and we literally spent half an hour discussing the entire menu. I had always said, when I entered Lawrence Berkeley Labs, and joined in the 3:30 p.m. tea time, that it was so exciting overhearing conversations about the formation of the universe, galaxies, and all astrophysics talk. This is the same thing. All conversations that take place are food-centric and it's really just nice to get into the nuances of foods and recipes. For example, I've heard so many people describing the excitement and rush they feel when they cook their own stock-- "And then you keep reducing it, and reducing it, until it's just so flavorful. And it's made all from scratch."

I've started feeling somewhat of that rush when I'm in a practical. After hurrying and scurrying across the room for the past 3 hours, not knowing whether the dish would come out right, it feels so fulfilling seeing that the hard work has paid off. What's interesting is, I don't have the inclination to try the dish because I've realized that when it comes to these classes, unless you mess up terribly, the pastry will probably taste good, it's about getting it to look good that's the problem.

By the way, Chef Christophe is borderline insane. Not only does he sing and whistle loudly while working, he talks to his pots, pans, food, etc. Apparently the food tells him when it's ready to be taken out of the oven. I think you gotta be somewhat crazy to be a pastry chef with the lifestyle, and this Frenchie seems to be a perfect example of that. Maybe I should rethink that decision of doing all 3 courses and subjecting myself to the insanity. Hmmm...nah...I'm loving it.