Quay Po Cooks: macaron demos

Showing posts with label macaron demos. Show all posts

Monday, September 19, 2011

My macs became a platter of "Dolly Partons"

I always hear this old saying; “ Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Look at these macarons of mine. Do you think they are pretty? When I brought them with me to a Hari Raya lunch which hosted by one of my girlfriends, I received a lot of oohs and aahs from her and the other guests.

They did not know that my macarons had a flaw on the surface. Did you notice the little flower design on them? You likely did, as it is uncommon to see macarons decorated like that. So I won't keep you guessing. The decorations are to hide a small flaw in the confection's shape. Somehow, my baked little gems had developed "nipples", meaning a raised feature in the middle on top of all of them. I believe they turned out this way because I underfolded the batter. When I tasted them, the texture was perfect, a little crispy on the skin and soft and chewy on the inside, exactly the way I like it. I showed the macarons to my Quay lo. His first response was that I should use some red food colouring and "rouge" in the unwanted feature. After regaining my composure, I explained that might be ok for him but hardly suitable for a luncheon with my lady friends in celebration of a religious holiday. A platter of "Dolly Partons" just would not do.

Since they were delicious, at least by my own estimation, I thought it was worth hiding the flaw. I piped the little flower on to each of them. Bless my lady friends, they were all duly impressed, and I was duly relieved, while my husband was still at home laughing his head off.

This experience made me think of how outside flaws can sometimes be covered up easily and sometimes not. Have you come across someone who looks attractive and beautiful but as you get to know the person better, you find out that the true character is so ugly that it goes to the bone? Or the reverse, that there are also people who may appear unattractive outwardly, but inwardly they are a gem?

When we look for a soul mate, don’t we all wish we could get someone who is beautiful inside and outside? However, if we are given a choice, which would we prefer? Remember, our ideas of outward beauty seem to change with the times, and the latest fashions, or the latest "look", as popular culture tends to tell us what to think. Too many of us fall prey to those ideas. Quay lo always rants about high heels. He thinks the women of the world have been sold a form of self-torture. I think he may have something there.

In the case of my food and bakes, I would prefer the taste to be right and if they don’t look good, I will find ways to cover up the flaws where I can, and serve anyway if I cannot. But if the taste is not right, there is no way to salvage and one must simply start over.

Oh, and in one respect the same is true of me. I cover up my outside flaws with "war paint", but as for my inside flaws, I must work very hard to get rid of and I hope I will always know them and work on them. Thank goodness I am not a tray of cookies. And thank goodness that my Quay Lo loves me for who I am, flaws and all. And I love him, even though he keeps asking me to recreate those "Dolly Partons".

Okay, I said I will share with you what I learned from the demo of “How to make macarons” by Chef Frederic Oger from Academy of Pastry Arts. He pointed out few important points:

When to stop whipping the egg white. Notice the peak with a hook? That's when you stop.

When to stop folding the batter. Stop folding when the batter slowly flatten

Get to know the behavior of your oven to determine the temperature and the time required.

Lastly, don't forget to tap the base of the baking sheet to flatten the batter before letting it to dry out for at least 30 minutes or more. They should be ready to go into the oven as soon as it does not stick to your finger when you gently touch it.

Macaron Chocolate
Recipe from Academy Art of Pastry, Malaysia

Chocolate Praline

Recipe from Academy Art of Pastry, Malaysia

The correct way of piping out the batter

How to make a piping bag from parchment paper

It was a great demo and we get to eat lots of wonderful pastry. Here are all the goodies displayed in the Academy which is truly a feast for the eyes.

All kinds of breads

These are the cakes on display

The Mac fever

Look at all these breath taking pastries!

Work of Art - Chocholate sculptures

I would like to thank Academy of Pastry Art Malaysia for inviting me to attend the demo. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot about making macarons. It was an eye opening to see so many breath taking and artful bakes! AWESOME!!

After attending the demo, I took heed of all the advice given by Chef Frederic and here is my 3rd batch of Macarons. I must say, I have them perfect, both look and texture! I just need to practise more on my piping and I would say I have conquered the intimidation of making macs! WOOHOO!! I got positive feedback from 5 of my friends whom I get them to taste my macarons and I can't tell you how thrill I am. LOL!

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.