Channeled through my extremely generous In-Laws, a brand new 6 quart 525 watt Kitchenaid mixer arrived at my door the week before Xmas. It is a beautiful behemoth. It does not fit on my kitchen counter under the cabinets so it is currently living on the chest of drawers that serves as additional storage space in the kitchen. I am in awe. It is a thing to behold, in its matte gray magnificence. I am a shred intimidated, although I am sure I will get over it, I mean I've got to make New Year's Eve dinner for 6-8. I am thrilled and abundantly grateful to my in-laws.
The old mixer (old? I bought it as a present to myself for one of those milestone birthdays I had recently) was serving well enough. It is the 5 qt 325 watt version with the tilt up head and it has some issues. When you do any serious mixing the pin that keeps the head attached to the base wiggles it's way out of the socket. It goes pretty slowly unless you're making bread. I didn't realize it was working it's way out until I went to raise the head and the thing almost came off in my hands. My extremely handy husband saved the day with a hammer and a towel to pound it back into place. However, now I am constantly aware of this issue and watch it nervously whenever I use it. Don tried a permanent fix with some gizmos from the hardware store but they made the raising of the head difficult and so were abandoned. It also has locking problems. In order to maintain enough integrity between the movable head and the base for the machine to mix properly there is a locking mechanism, a switch, that you throw when operating. My machine holds on tightly and doesn't want to let go so you have to turn the motor on and off quickly while simultaneously throwing the switch to disengage it. Not a huge deal, but I imagine that the whole thing will jam one day and I will be unable to move the head from position A to position B, whichever way it gets stuck. These smaller models are definitely made for home usage of the more gentle and refined nature.
No more do I have to worry about those annoying issues. I have joined the big girl club. The smaller model will continue to reside with us, but will be moved to the back of the kitchen (?). I am sure there will come a day when I need two at once and I will be happy to pull junior out of the closet. I am fond of it for its significance as my first serious foray into the world of food preparation. I am just a shred intimidated by the big one. It's not like I've never used one, they were what we used at school and there has been one in every(?) pro kitchen I have had the pleasure to move around in. But in my very own kitchen? Feel like its first job should be memorable.
Probably will start with some bread, as that will be a true test of its strength and fortitude. Before Xmas I did find a successful recipe for a crunchy Italian loaf in the Baking Illustrated book that I neglected to mention due to cookie obsession. It is an overnight proposition with a starter involved, and it made one overly large loaf (this time I think I will make two smaller loaves), but I was very happy with the tasty crumb/crackly crust results. Don gave me a beautiful bread book by Jeffrey Hamelman, director of baking at King Arthur flour, for Xmas so I think I will be directing my energies that way in the new year. Think I also declined to mention that I gave up on Jim Lahey at Sullivan Street bakery a month or so back. Was advised, wisely by someone with a sane perspective, that if I hadn't heard back after a couple weeks of message leaving that I probably was harassing the guy and was unlikely to get a response. He has my numbers if he becomes interested in the future. I was a bit disappointed by that one, but need to move on.
The new year needs to begin with work for pastryelf. I will try more earnestly to contact Aumont at MoMA, and if that is not fruitful will do some trailing, and maybe become a little less picky. After a couple days in Maine started thinking that I might be better suited to finding some smaller restaurant and getting more hands on pragmatic experience. We were in a Borders book store in Portland and I was drooling over cookbooks (they have an impressive array) when I realized how much I want to be working. There are so many things I want to try, want to learn how to make, want to get rote with the preparation of. Baking at home is good, but working with someone who has been making puff pastry for years and can show you ins and outs is invaluable. There was a job fair at Whole Foods a couple weeks back and they were looking for bakery people. I told my cousins girlfriend (who wants to get into food but hasn't done the school route) about it, she had mentioned that they are a good company to work for and she was interested in working there. She went and started work this week (I believe). I wondered after I heard whether I was being too picky and shouldn't have tried them out. They make all sorts of artisanal breads. I know there is a job out there for me, I am just impatient with not having found it yet. grumph.
This will be the first New Years in many where I have been home with all my kitchen gear to prepare a feast. I am scouring books to find the perfect thing to make. Dinner will include some sort of roast (pork, lamb?), garlic rosemary roasted potatoes, a braised veggie (leeks, fennel?) and a salad. But the desert, what should I make? Thoughts have included the chocolate mousse cake from Nigella Lawson (a repeated success), a chocolate souffle (Don's request), some sort of custard (butterscotch with coconut cream from Claudia Fleming), profiteroles (would let me work out the new mixer) with home made ice cream (!), chocolate caramel tarts (also Fleming). I am doing the Libra thing and having trouble choosing. Think I will make crackers to go with the artichoke dip my friend Jessica is bringing. Want to make something impressive but not pretentious. Want to stretch but not so much that the failure possibility is formidable. Want it to be well received, delicious, recognizable and competent.
Will post when it is all over. Don and I like to entertain, we are a good team with complementary skills. He is very good at setting the stage and I come through with the vittles. It's fun, albeit usually exhausting. I am looking forward to sitting around the table with good friends eating good food, drinking good wine and generally having a good time....
addendum:
someone commented that I was too forthcoming with specific information regarding the Gramercy situation. Don had also expressed reservations about that post. I am feeling cautious, not sure how far my readership reaches, do not want to burn any bridges before they are even built. Feel chastened by an article about bloggers and the repercussions of their actions in a recent NYTimes. Am going to be more circumspect in the future. Think I am typically (for my family) self involved enough not to write too much about anyone but myself anyway. Nonetheless will be vetting some posts with Don, my ombudsman.
Happy New Year ALL!
A bientot,
Samantha
short post, no, really, got to tidy, pack and get out the door so we can get to chilly Maine for some r&r.....
At last count I made somewhere in the vicinity of 50 dozen cookies. That's 600 cookies! I think I am a little cookied out. I finished them on deadline, all that needed to be shipped, were, yesterday. I still have a pretty honking pile sitting on the chest on the kitchen area. Final array included: orange chocolate checkerboards; chocolate cherry diamonds; pecan sandies; cardamom squares; lemon rosemary discs and a late addition, anise sesame circles. The last was another Gourmet recipe and I must say the magazine is earning it's subscription price this season. They are very tasty, all the markings of an Italian cookie but in a thin wafer package. Subtle, haunting, delicious without being overly sweet, in other words my favorite type of cookie. Didn't get to the Pierre Herme recipe, think I will save it for new year's, got all the ingredients in the pantry.
I completely forgot to mention the pistachio brittle that I made last week. It is a Claudia Fleming recipe, just a simple brittle but with pistachios instead of peanuts. I made it last year and fell in love with it. I love pistachios in anything, and I love brittle: the perfect match of sweet and salty, so what's not to love.
The cookies for Staceyjoy were a success, she is my own personal cheerleader, posted about the cookies on her blog (which if I were more computer literate I would link to, but sadly I am an luddite in that area). Thank you Stacyejoy for all your support and good luck with the construction.
So I think I can hang up my cookie cap for a spell. no? I mean I shipped to all my far flung relatives and I still have many dozens left. I may have gone a bit overboard with the anise sesame cookies. Bringing the pile to Maine for that side of the family to enjoy. Cannot come back to Brooklyn with any leftover cookies. Going to make a Golden Grand Marnier cake for Xmas dinner. It is a glorified bundt cake with chocolate chips in the batter, a Grand Marnier syrup and a chocolate ganache glaze. It's a Rose Levy Beranbaum recipe, she's usually pretty reliable in the cake department.
Did hear back from Gramercy Tavern and there is no job there for me right now. In January I will need to hit the pavement seriously. Have let the job search lag somewhat for the holiday season, but need to find work for 2005. Feel like some of that education is seeping out my ears while I sleep. They need to be used, those skills.
Have a very merry holiday, all who are reading, and I will be back next week.
A bientot,
Samantha
how many cookies can an unemployed pastryelf make?
it's not a trick question, I promise
Trying to keep up my baking skills with practice. I may be starting to burn out on the cookie concept, will keep it up through the holidays but after that I think I will have to move on to something else. [tortes? cakes? bread?] (hoping I will be working in the new year so this will be a moot point, but just in case) So I've been making cookies. Have not yet touched the doughs in the freezer that I made last month. Starting from scratch. We have a rather full party schedule this holiday circuit, which is influencing my production levels. We were invited to a Swedish St. Lucia party on Saturday night. I took the opportunity to make the cardamom butter cookie recipe from the current Gourmet. I love anything cardamom, think it has an unusual spiced flavor that is a wonderful alternative to cinnamon. I highly recommend this recipe. The cookies are easy to make, the recipe has a large yield, and being icebox cookies they are a snap to bake off. The recipe as printed calls for a double drizzle of melted chocolate and espresso icing that I found gratuitous and fussy. It made them look good, but the flavor improvement was negligable. Planning on doing the recipe again to ship as gifts but not sure what I will do about the drizzle idea. They passed muster at the Swedish extravaganza, our host said they were very authentic. As he is a first generation Swede I thought that was a good thing.
Sunday was another invitation to a brunch party at the house of some dear friends. It was billed as a holiday party so I thought I would give the Cook's Illustrated sugar cookie recipe a try. This recipe is billed as being the ultimate dough for cut out cookies, you know the Xmas tree/snowman/candy cane shaped cookies that show up on holiday party tables, often iced in outrageous colors. I have been amassing cookie cutters so thought it was time to give them a work out. If you are at all familiar with the Cook's Illustrated ethos you know that they explain the rhyme and reason for every element of any given recipe. I find it helpful because you really learn the mechanics and the science of whatever you are trying to make. Some find their approach overly technical and anal. I have had much success with all of their recipes I have tried. The sugar cookies were very tasty and simple enough to roll out and bake off. However they make this big deal about the order of mixing the ingredients, don't want you to cream the butter and sugar, so as to eliminate the puffing up of the dough when they bake (therefore producing a smooth even cookie palette ready for icing). The recipe advises you to mix the cool butter into the dry ingredients much the way you would make pastry, and it certainly came together well enough. However when baked, they puffed! I varied the thickness that I rolled the dough out, thinking that maybe a fatter cookie would bake slower thereby reducing the release of water from the butter which causes the dough to rise? No luck. It is quite possible that I did not fully incorporate the butter into the dough in the mixing phase, treating it too much like the pastry that it felt like. But there were no streaks of butter in the dough when I turned it out of the mixer bowl. They are delicious cookies, don't get me wrong, and I dusted them with red/green/white sanding sugar (had no intention of icing the suckers) so they were festive, albeit puffy. I will try the recipe again and see if I have the same results. I have planned to give cookie bags to our doormen/porters and the garage guys, so I have more cookies to make.
I can be a bit of a windbag about this baking stuff, no?
Going to make some gingerbread cookies, got myself a gingerbread man cutter. Also going to do the Pierre Herme chocolate sable recipe from the Times a couple weeks back. Bought some European butter just for it. And I have gotten my first commision. StaceyJoy of Red lipstick fame has asked me to make cookies for the shop this weekend, extra added incentive to spend money. Always happy to help out a local small buisness person, I love the small shops, think WalMart is an abomination that should be excised from the planet. Besides it is my first commision! yeehaw! Waiting to hear back from her about her preferences.
On the job front, no word from Gramercy, no word from Cafe Gray. Job posting list from school on Friday had a listing from MoMA looking for pastry assistants. Hmmmm. Does this mean that they forgot about me? I did call the HR person last week and he did say he was going to pass my name and number along to Marc Aumont. The name attached to the listing was not his. I am waiting to get the contact info from school (details are not given with the listings you have to contact school for that) and will reply as soon as I get it. Puzzled. anxious. Wondering if those two positive (I thought) interviews I had were not as positive as I perceived. I thought he said he wanted to hire me.... Maybe it was wishful thinking?
back to baking cookies
and knitting socks, my other new obsession
A bientot,
Samantha
I'm going to be a tease and not mention Gramercy or Cafe Gray till I get through the baking in DC.
Well, maybe not. I mean it's not like I've got a job or anything.
(Insert here: I am trying HARD not to stress about not working, to trust in cosmic karma that the job I really want will come along before I blow through all my savings.)
But I did trail (?) at Gramercy last Thursday. Actually I went in for two hours watched the service line and spoke with the pastry chef. Again, another woman younger than me by a goodly amount. Will be needing to get used to that soon. She was nice, Michelle Antonishek, we seemed to connect well. I like her menu, big though it may be. She uses interesting ingredients in different ways. She likes to use herbs; has a chocolate dessert that includes candied rosemary and rosemary crusted phyllo, that is quite tasty. She also has a dessert of homemade cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and served with thyme ice cream. It was the thyme ice cream that knocked my socks off when we ate there last winter.
I think I could learn a thing or two working there. I would certainly have a large menu to absorb and others to work with/learn from. She has a large staff, something like 10 or 11 people. Says she isn't happy with someone on her staff and is trying to figure out what to do with them, said she would be figuring it all out in the next couple of weeks and that she would call. Best of all, it would nto necessarily be night service, she has prep/production people who are entry level who work during the day. She wanted me to come in so she had a face to go with the resume and to see if I want to do the type of desserts she is doing. We chatted for a bit, which was good considering she was doing service She seemed to like me.
(and no this isn't high school but in this biz i think personality makes a big difference in the beginning because i have little on my resume to prove i am a good risk)
Apparently Anya (sous at Craft) recommended me to Michelle, even called her up to urge her to hire me. That was a nice thing to hear. Anya had told me to check in with her after Thanksgiving becaue she thought she would have Holiday work. This unfortunately did not turn out to be the case, so I am still in limbo.
When I was at Gramercy I spied the company bulletin board which had job postings for other Danny Meyer (to be referenced as USHG for Union Square Hospitality group from here on) restaurants. On the list was the name and # for the HR person for the Modern (though no listings for pastry people). So this morning I called and spoke with that person to see if I could get in contact with Marc Aumont (pc for the Modern). He would not give me a number but told me he would give my name and number to Aumont. At least that will jog his memory. At this point I figure I am unemployed through Xmas, but it would be nice to start 2005 with a new job.
On the same topic I scanned the ICE job postings on Friday and there, somewhat hidden under the surface of the posting, was a pastry cook position at Cafe Gray, Gray Kunz's place in the Time Warner center. I say hidden because the name of the restaurant was not mentioned in the description ( they usually aren't) nor was the name of the pastry chef in the contact position (they often are). So if you weren't curious, as I am, one might have sped past the listing of "upscale modern french restaurant with european flair seeks pastry cook" with the contact name of the pastry sous. With the most cursory of searches in Google I found her name attached to Cafe Gray, in only one citation I might add. So this morning I sent off a resume/cover letter. I am sure I will not be the only person replying to this ad, by any means, but am glad that I figured that little smoke screen out. PC there is a guy named Chris Broberg who apears a heavy hitter in the pastry world, and working anywhere near Kunz would seem to be a good thing. Unless he's a screamer, don't know about that one.....
Finally to the baking in DC. Seems a bit pedantic compared to Gramercy Tavern and Cafe Gray, but no less important to my family. I was a whirlwind. Made two different kinds of butter cookies (orange scented and cinnamon), rugelah and brownies for their freezer. Have been told that the brownies are almost all gone already. I make mine with Scharffen Berger chocolate which I think makes a big difference (hey guys if you need someone to plug your chocolate I'm the girl!), they are truly rich and deep.
Also made desserts for each night's meal. First was a pear pound cake from the Patricia Wells Bistro book which would have been much better if I had put it in the oven that had not just been turned off. Still tasty, but the texture was a little odd. Next night was Nigella Lawson's chocolate mousse cake from the Times food section some time this summer. Again with the Scarffen Berger chocolate, this time with seperated beaten eggs and some butter. Yum. Last night was an apple galette from Baking With Julia (which I have noticed is identical to the Baking Illustrated recipe). All three were well received, although I wish the pear pound cake had been properly baked.
It was a whirlwind, I tell you!
I like baking.
Guess that's a good thing, no?
We have been invited to four, count'em four, Xmas parties. I will need to make even more cookies. Going to go get some colored sugar to decorate sugar cookies. Also think I will make gingerbread cookies (men?).
a bientot,
Samantha