IN HOUSE DINNER This dessert was created as a well-rounded end to a dinner that we catered in our kitchen for one of our top clients. Though this dinner was held in February, I wanted the feel of the dessert to be very fruity and fresh in anticipation of the coming spring. I consider color to be a very important part of the design of dessert and this was created to include as many colors as possible. 2 Frozen Yogurt Chiboust, Graham Cracker Crust, Lemon Honey Syrup, Pickled Rhubarb, Red Wine Poached Pears, Grape Confit, Mandarin Oranges, Yuzu Pearls, Blackberries, Micro Flowers, Fresh Mint
I start almost all of my plated desserts as a sketch created from the image in my head. Once I have a base idea for the dessert, drawing it out allows me to play with shape, color and design before the product is even created. One of my favorite desserts is chiboust because it is a perfect cross of ice cream, frozen yogurt and mousse. Its texture is smooth and is served chilled like ice cream but because of the gelatin, it is easily molded into shapes or cutouts, making it ideal for a plated dessert. Because I used a basic flavor like vanilla, I was able to freely play with almost any complementary flavor for the garnishes and sauce. This client group in particular is very interested in food looking great first and tasting great second, so I knew I had to wow them with a complicated plate design and a lot of color. I started by picking out a few of my favorite brightly colored fruits, knowing I especially wanted to use one of my favorite pickled rhubarb recipes I had found a few months earlier. From there, I pulled any fruit that had a great contrast with the others and ended up with pickled rhubarb, red wine poached pears, green grapes, mandarin oranges and blackberries. I made mini yuzu pearls and prickly pear pearls to add more color, acidic flavor and the notion of cute, small and colorful details. No spring time inspired dessert would have been complete without micro flowers and micro greens so those were added on for mostly aesthetics. As a final touch, I added graham cracker crust, which I believe to be a very underrated mix that is both neutral and delicious with a great texture for desserts. 3 I designed the plate for this dessert to have a strong linear feel to it by crossing the lemon honey syrup and the graham cracker crust in an x to meet where I placed the chiboust. Plates and vessels often play one of the strongest roles when it comes to the design of how I would like my dessert to look so I chose a square plate to compliment the round shape of the chiboust and create a focal point to where all of the garnishes were on top of the dessert.
Because this dessert was eaten in our kitchen, it allowed me to create something that was a little more complicated than I would normally design if it had been at an off-site venue. Part of the challenge of this dessert was being able to plate up the components early enough without them sitting too long. The sauce and the graham crust would create a soggy unpleasant texture if it were to sit too long and because the chiboust should be served chilled, we couldn t give ourselves a lot of time to place all of the small garnishes on top. Even though it was February, our kitchen was extremely hot because the hood fans were off and there was a lot of extra lighting. This also posed a problem for plating our dessert because heat is not our friend in these circumstances. Luckily, this dessert is created with gelatin and is stable enough to hold if the room happens to get warmer than we d like. As with any other complicated plate, one of the biggest obstacles is to plate each setting with exactly the same detail and manner of the plate next to it. With that many garnishes it seems easy to miss one here or there but my team has a strict habit of two different people checking each plate before it leaves for service. This event in particular had the added stress of being made in front of client, who happened to be very interested in what we were doing behind the scenes. They even had us come to the table and share unknown facts about ourselves, as if the dinner wasn t stressful enough! On the flip side, this client interaction is part of the benefit of doing an event like this. On any normal day, I wouldn t see my desserts after they left our kitchen, at which point they re 4 always in separate pieces anyway and haven t been plated together. It s rare that I get to see each dessert from creation, to plate, to service all in one day. In the end, I was able to have the satisfaction of seeing the look on our guests faces when they were presented with a dessert that was too beautiful to pass up even though they may not have had room after the four courses before that. In our technology based era, it s a great compliment to see photos being snapped before they ve even taken the first bite because at least the photo will last longer than dessert will!
Apple Chiboust Recipe Yield: ½ Sheetpans 5 Sheetpans 300 g. 4 oz. 200 ml. 6.5 sheets 1 tsp. 6 each 60 g. 2 pinch 24 oz. 8 oz. 2 tsp. 3000 g. 2.5 # 2000 L 65 sheets 2 oz. 60 each 600 g. ½ oz. 15 # 5# 3.5 oz. Granulated Sugar Liquid Glucose Water Gelatin Citric Acid Fresh Egg Whites Granulated Sugar Salt Pastry Cream Apple Filling Vanilla Bean Paste In a small pot, combine the 300 g. of sugar, glucose and water and cook to 121ºC (soft ball). Add the bloomed gelatin and citric acid. Place the whites in a kitchenaid bowl and whip until foamy, slowly add the 60 g. of sugar and whip to medium peaks. Add the cooked sugar against the side of the bowl (to make an Italian Meringue) In a separate bowl combine the pastry cream, apple filling, vanilla bean paste and salt. Slowly fold into the meringue. Spread onto a FLAT ½ sheet pan or pipe into desired molds. *No more than a 5 sheetpan recipe fits in the 60 Qt. Mixer. Yuzu Pearls Recipe 250 g. 6 g. 1000 g. 6.5 g. Yuzu Puree Algin Purified Water "Calcic" Mix puree with algin and buzz with an immersion blender. Rest for 30 minutes at room temp. (covered) Combine the water with the calcic, mix with immersion blender and set aside. 5 Pickled Rhubarb Recipe 1# 5 oz. 5 oz. 8 oz. 1# 3 T. 1 T. 2 pieces Rhubarb Sherry Vinegar Rice Vinegar Honey Granulated Sugar Grenadine Salt Star Anise Boil all liquid ingredients with the sugar Pour over rhubarb, cool to room temp. If too crunchy, strain and repeat method Chill, serve cold