Olive Internship - Day 5

Last night was my sister Alia's 12th Grade final Graduation ceremony, and it was a Sunday so I had the day off. She looked beautiful in her sari, and we are all so proud of her! There was a dinner too; crispy potato wedges, salad, herb rice, paneer stroganoff, and mushroom quiche.

Alia and I

Tonight, I finished work fifteen minutes early.
When I first entered the kitchen, I noticed a pan on the counter. Chef Girish was experimenting with some leftover eclair dough that he fried and immersed in a spiced berry liquid.

Chef Girish had made eclairs for the party tomorrow, and said that he would fill/ice/garnish them tomorrow, on the day, so that they remained fresh.

First I made a large vanilla sponge sheet cake for tiramisu, which is basically the same recipe as the lady finger biscuits except they are piped out. The batter only has eggs (separated), sugar, and flour. It is very aerated and dry, which is why it is soaked in coffee to moisten it up.

Then Chef Babu and I made another sheet cake but with vanilla cupcake batter. This was made the usual way, cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time, add the yoghurt, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat for a minute. At this stage, you have to add all the flour at once. If you beat it for too long after you add the flour, the batter gets tough.
There was some batter leftover so I mixed it with about 10 grams of coffee decoction, poured it in a loaf tin and put it in the oven.

Next, Chef Babu and I made Herb Butter which is rolled in butter paper and packed in a cylindrical shape, and frozen. When they serve it, they just slice a round and serve it with meats, etc. For this, we beat 500g butter with 15g chopped parsley, the zest and juice of 1 lime, and 15g mustard.

After that, Chef Girish and I made Mango Parfait.
They are testing out a new dessert I mentioned in my post on Day 1, with the mint and vanilla bean marshmallows. What they do is they mix the mango parfait with orange sorbet and place a cube of it in the middle of a rectangle of marshmallow.
When beating the egg whites, it is important to add castor sugar because if you don't, the egg whites get whipped to their last peak and immediately split whereas the sugar holds them together.
When beating the egg yolks and the sugar, you have to keep beating till it becomes extremely pale (off-white almost), creamy, and doubles in volume. This helps in forming the texture of the end result.
When you fold the egg whites into the egg yolk and mango mixture, you have to do it gradually, in sections however when you add the whipped cream after that, you have to add all at once.

Finally, Chef Girish and I made a Berry Granola.
I mixed oats, pumpkin seeds, flaked almonds, sesame seeds, and crushed pistachios in a bowl. In a separate saucepan, I added olive oil, brown sugar and honey, and brought it to a boil. Then I mixed everything together, laid it out on a baking sheet and put it in the oven.
When I took it out, I crumbled it using my fingers and added the chopped berries.
Chef Girish even packed a bit for me to take home!

The granola mix before and after baking.

I was done with all my cooking work, and went to the order rail to assist Chef Babu in plating.
Tomorrow evening, there is a party at Olive and one order called for a layered Chocolate Ganache Cake. Chef Babu left it to me to assemble it.
First I placed a round of cake on a base. Then I poured chocolate ganache over it and spread it around. I piped lines of caramel sauce over that, and sprinkled some sea salt. On top of that, I smeared some chocolate mousse. Then I crumbled some dark chocolate, almond and pistachio praline over it. Chef Babu gave me a bowlful of thin brownie pieces which I assembled fittingly (almost like a jigsaw puzzle) so that they formed a layer of their own. Then I placed another round of cake, poured and spread more chocolate ganache, and repeat the whole process once more.
Once that was done, I covered the top of the cake in chocolate ganache, wrapped it, and placed it in the deep freeze.
I was free to go home.

At home, I found my post-dinner dinner on the dining table; Crab Risotto Roulettes. (We made fresh crab and spinach risotto day before yesterday and had some leftover, so we formed balls, rolled them in corn crumbs, and pan fried them).

And my day was done!

Olive Internship - Day 4

This morning, Chef Babu first got me started on the Salted Caramel ice cream. We prepared it the usual way except before tempering the egg yolks and castor sugar with the boiling cream mixture, we caramelised grain sugar in a pot and added butter to make a sticky caramel sauce which we then added to the cream mixture.
Once we tempered it with the egg yolks and castor sugar, we returned it to the heat and it quickly started to thicken up.

Salted Caramel ice cream cooling in an ice bath at the back, Espresso cupcake batter, and Apricot chocolate setting.

When that was done, we glazed frozen sticks of peanut butter mousse with dark chocolate and left them to chill. These sticks are used as a component in Olive's signature 'Snicker Bar' dessert.

Then, we began to make macarons. Something I have personally wanted to make for a long time. They do not require many ingredients, and Chef Girish said that the two real hard parts were (a) getting the temperature of the sugar-water solution right when heating and (b) the last stage; when you mix the almond meal and egg whites with the sugar and egg whites.
When you under mix the batter, the macarons do not spread and come out tasting like cardboard whereas when you over mix it, they spread out too much and lose their shape.
We made two colours, periwinkle (which belongs to blue and purple families), and light pink.

When piping macarons, it is important to keep your piping bag completely upright. For support, you could place your index finger right next to the nozzle to stop yourself from piping at different angles. When you are done piping the macarons, tap the baking tray against a hard surface (like a kitchen counter), and set aside for 10 minutes minimum, to allow the macarons to form a skin on top which helps form the shell when baking as well as provide the top with smoothness.

We then broke for lunch. I went to a place down the road called 'Monkey Bar', and had a peach iced tea with a hearty bowl of prawn and chicken Laksa.

To fill the macarons, we made an Olive Oil Ganache with white chocolate.
Since we ran out of glucose, we used corn syrup instead. It can be used as a substitute however it doesn't always have the same effect on foods as glucose does.

Then, while Chef made Apricot chocolates (photo attached above), I made coffee cupcakes for a party order.

These cupcakes remain moist and soft for a longer period of time because they contain yoghurt. Chef Girish told me that adding either yoghurt or mayonnaise helps prevent the cupcake from hardening very soon, without affecting the flavour of the cupcake.

Finally, we made Florentines using pistachios and almonds. Since there was no more work left and it was already 4pm,
I went home.

Olive Internship - Day 3

I went for my shift this morning instead of the usual evening as it is my cousin sister Keyaa's thirteenth birthday!
The kitchen was extremely busy today, and lots of prep work was to be done.

The first thing I did was make Nutella Powder with Chef Babu. We made it using maltodextrin powder, which is a substance that can convert anything containing fat to a powder. All we did was mix nutella with it, and we were done!

Second, I started on the Tiramisu. I began by making the coffee mascarpone cream filling using egg yolks, Kahlua, and castor sugar; to which I added mascarpone and whipped cream. Chef Girish told me that when folding two liquids or creams together, the best way to ensure an even texture is to make sure the viscosity of both the liquids are equal.
(I beat the whipped cream a few seconds more than I should have which made it firmer than the egg mixture so I added a bit more whipping cream to liquefy it so it was creamy enough).
Once the cream was ready I layered it with a simple Vanilla sponge cake which would also serve as lady finger biscuits, that I just brushed gently with a mixture of a double shot of espresso, kahlua, and instant coffee powder to give that pang of flavour a Tiramisu must deliver.
I then left it in the deep freeze to set.
This was extremely exciting for me as the tiramisu was going to be served to the customers who ordered it!

Next I made Spiced Hot Chocolate. I boiled milk and cream in a heavy-based saucepan with some spices that i had previously put in the oven for about 8 minutes. Then I poured it over chopped dark chocolate and stirred it until it had melted. The hot chocolate was then strained, and ready to serve. The spices really helped cut through the richness of the chocolate and the sweetness it provided.
Chef Babu said that they usually add a shot of rum or brandy to soften the heaviness of the chocolate and provide it with an even stronger flavour paired with the spices.

After that, Chef Babu made Sweet Pastry, which is used in tarts to give the pastry a hint of sweetness and crumbliness. The pastry was then stored in the fridge to rest.

Finally, we made Lemon Sorbet. We used milk powder and stabilizers to help the sorbet hold, and provide it with creaminess while still keeping it light and fresh.
I made Lemon Mousse to go with this. I used egg whites and gelatine to help give the mousse height and fluffiness as well as whipped cream. Chef Girish then piped the mousse into little tubes that would be set in the fridge and then served with Earl Grey Granita.

We finished work about ten minutes early today, so I cleaned up and left for my friend's house.