Quay Po Cooks: craquelin

Showing posts with label craquelin. Show all posts

Monday, June 27, 2011

Pictures speak a thousand words - Part 1

Last week, I received an email from Jade of Mustard Tree Communications asking me if I would be interested in attending a two days "tart" class at the Academy of Pastry Arts, Malaysia. As an amateur baker and not even a very good one, I jumped at the offer! Although I already knew how to make some pastry, I was eager see how a professional pastry chef does it. I knew this would be two days filled with fun (or at least my idea of it). I would get to meet with others who love baking, and would be able to pick their brains on the subject and learn from them. Oh yes, Swee San of The Sweet Spot and Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover were in the class with me. When Jade asked me if there were any food bloggers that I knew that would be interested to join the class, I thought of them and a few others who were not able to make it. Hey, Pei-Lin, if you are reading this post, I am sorry, we missed you this time. I think it would be fun to have local food bloggers weekend events someday.

Chef Guillaume Lejuene himself conducted the tart class. He is a graduate in pastry arts (BTM en Patissier) and CAP Pâtissier- Chocolatier- Glacier- Traiteur. Chef Lejuene has been trained under some of the great pastry chefs ( M.O.F) of France. He is now the Director of Academy Pastry Arts, Malaysia. If you want to know more about him, please click here. The Academy offers both full time and part time courses in Certificate and Diploma Pastry and Bakery Arts. To find out more, please click here.

If you are someone in Malaysia who is thinking of entering the pastry world, you might like what I am going to share with you, so have a sneak peak at the academy and see if this this is the kind of pastry school you are looking for.

Although "yours truly" has been married to a Quay Lo for almost fifteen years, I still have not learned good English or how to speak like an American. Even my Quay Lo has given up teaching me. So, I have to think of ways to tell my story without having to write too many words. I decided I had a better chance of learning more about photography and let the pictures tell the story for me. My husband, who helps a great deal with editing, has told me that I am an enthusiastic communicator. (I think he meant I talk a lot.) However, he also loves photography and agrees with me - a picture can truly speak a thousand words.

Tart Class, Day 1 - 25th June 2011
Item 1 - Quiche Dough and Royale

Chef showing us how to make the quiche dough

Hands on

Using the right cheese is important

We made two kinds of quiche. Spinach tomato and asparagus tomato

Chef showing us how to roll out the quiche dough

He explained that we need to shape the dough perfectly into the pie ring so as to get a good looking quiche

Do not put too much filling, this will do.

Preparing the chocolate pastry cream

Filling the quiche with royale cream and then they are ready to go into the oven

Happy students with the chef, all excited to send those lovely quiches to be baked. We can't wait to taste them.

Our creation! Gorgeous looking and tasted even better than they look. YUM!

Item 2 - Choux Chantilly and Chocolate Eclaires

preparing the chocolate pastry cream for the eclaires

the pastry cream is now ready to go into the fridge for 1 hour

Making choux pastry dough

Chef showing us how to check if the dough is ready for piping.

After piping, and baking. Choux Chantilly and Chocolate Eclaires. LOVELY!

this is how you make craquelin (mixture of butter, brown sugar and flour) we put this on top of the choux dough before baking)

In addition to all the visually appealing and delicious tasting goodies we brought home, the opportunity of learning from Chef Lejuene, and a day surrounded by people who share the same interest as I, had given me much joy. I am so happy that I can in turn share my joy with you.

I will definitely share those wonderful recipes and valuable tips from Chef Lejuene with you when I make these decadent bakes at home again but before that, I have yet to show you what I have learned on the second day of the class.

http://www.academyofpastryartsmalaysia.com

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.