Culinary School photos!

Hello! I haven't posted in a while because I've been attending Culinary School. It's been 7 days so far and I've learned a lot of things. These are some photos I've taken at the end of plating the dishes. They turned out pretty looking and delicious. Hopefully you'd like what you see, I may take more if I have enough time so my chef instructor doesn't yell at us. 

Roasted Beet Salad (bottom) covered with Goat Cheese (top) 

and Macedoine (cubed) Granny Smith Apples in a Shallot Vinaigrette. 

From left to right,

Caramelized Pearl Onions, Pommes Rissolees (French Roasted Potatoes), Cooked Haricot Verts,

Tournage Carrots, and Tournage Turnips.

Strawberry with Sweet Sabayon (made with Marsala wine)

I've checked with my school on whether I can post photos of the food I've made, and I've been given the permission to post on my own blog. So Stay Tune for more plated dishes that I'm learning to make on a weekday basis. Thank you to everyone who have shown support. I really appreciate it!

Brownies!

The past few days I've been craving something like Chocolate Fudge. So I decided to look into Gretchen Price (the owner of Woodland Bakery and Woodland Bakery blog) for some ideas as to what to make. I came across Gretchen's Fudgy Fudge Brownies. You know it's good when its Fudgy Fudge and when its from Gretchen Price because I've had a lot of success with her recipe (being a person with no professional pastry experience).

In the previous post, I mentioned that I'm attending Culinary School so this might be my last post for quite a while. I'm really sorry everyone! The food porn that I show will come to stop temporally. I hope I have the ability to write for the blog for my school, but I will let you know when I do. Please Stay Tune.

Speaking of food porn, these Fudgy Fudge Brownies were VERY delicious! I would say that the pictures are as flattering but with a sprinkles of powdered sugar, it would look even better. I'm not a professional Food Stylist but I wouldn't mind if I was one. The changes that I've made to the original recipe will be said after the Food Porn.

Original Recipe: http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/fudgy-fudge-brownies/

Now the pictures are below,

The changes that I've made to this recipe was the following:

Used 1/2 cup less sugar for a bitter note at the end

Added 1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder

That's it. Next time to add more chocolate flavor, I'd add 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder. I would also use a 9 by 13 baking pan to make a thicker and more chewier brownies.  

Leave suggestions of what you might've done. I like to learn from others. Please Stay Tune for what's to come on my Young Chef's Journey! 

Good News!

Hello Everyone! I'd like to thank everyone who decided to follow my blog. A young home cook, who has a huge passion for cooking and baking, wanting to become a chef as his career. I intend to learn all that the food industry has to offer and I will savor every bite of food. Hopefully I can take pictures of the food as well and post them on this blog.

In the past few post, I've mentioned that I have good news. I didn't mention what it was "in regards to" and so I will "shred some light on it" with this post. Over the past few months, I've been researching Culinary Schools around my area and trying to look for the best one for me. I've located one in the heart of my city and I registered for it a month ago. On this very day, I've been accepted to enroll in their Culinary Program and I'm excited to begin the course. 

Now my Journey as a Young Chef begins! I can't wait what the future has in store for me. 

In the coming months, I'm not sure what will happen with my own blog, but I will keep everyone updated. Fortunately my school does have its own blog, so I might be the temporary writer because I signed up for it. I enjoy writing everything about food and I hope you can feel it as you read this! Please Stay Tune to get the most updated news about this blog.

I might decide to make sweet treat during the weekends depending on how intense the classes are. Stay Tune!

French Macaron

Today I wanted to conquer the one of the most finicky cookie in the world. The finicky cookies are called The French Macaron! Not the Classic Coconut Macaron, which are very good sweet treats by themselves. The reason why French Macarons are so finicky (or temperamental) is because they require a meringue based, which some people are intimidated. I've worked with Meringues before like the classic meringue cookies or making the based for a classic Swiss Buttercream. I can definitely say that playing with meringues requires a lot of practice, so be patient and give your attention to the details with your egg whites.

So the French Macaron has a meringue based that also requires almond meal (or flour) and powdered sugar to mix into the batter. I have to say mixing the flour with the meringue is extremely difficult because you have to mix the batter perfectly or else the result will be one of three; Cracked on top, Flat (will not rise), or Achieve gorgeous "feet".

If you reading this and you read "feet", then your not the only one. The "feet" of a French Macaron is the ridges on the bottom of the cookies. If you see those ridges, then you have achieve greatness and you've mixed the batter perfectly.

To be honest, I didn't test trial any French Macaron recipe. One day I saw on my YouTube subscription page that one of my favorite chefs has created a FOOLPROOF French Macaron Recipe. I thought I want to join that bandwagon and ride to achieve "feet" on my cookies! The YouTube chef that recently created her own channel, has different recipes for different people like In-a-Budget Meals, Fancy Dinner Party Ideas, Great Gift ideas, etc... Check her out on YouTube. Her channel is called Entertaining with Beth.

Her recipe for FOOLPROOF French Macaron is also in her channel, but the link is below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ636Y8N6E8

(Also includes the video and the recipe in the description box, either watch what she is doing, or print the recipe. I watched the video 6 times, and read' the recipe 10 times to make sure I was doing everything correctly)

Now the pictures of the lovely French Macarons! Everyone's been waiting for them!

I didn't dye these Macarons any color because I wanted to "master" the technique before I waste any color. Traditionally a French Macaron is a sandwich cookie, so there is a filling. I decided to make a Strawberry Buttercream using Fresh squeezed strawberry and a vanilla buttercream from Crumb Boss! So I hope you like this recipe and try to master this finicky cookie. 

Suggestions: The cookies were a bit too sweet for my liking, so I'd use only 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar only when I use my strawberry buttercream recipe. If its a tart preserve or jelly, I'd use 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar. I think 2 cups of powdered sugar may be too sweet. 

Please Subscribe or Stay Tune for new recipe that I might try. Please feel free to leave any suggestions so I can try. I'd LOVE know!