music-city-missy
Well-known member
The World Pastry Team Championship is here in Nashville next weekend and our culinary program was among the first to be asked and agree to host a team. So the head of our progam said that if we were going to do it, he wanted to pick his team and wanted a team that was from a country he wants to eventually go to one of these days. So we got Italy. They have never worked together until this competition but OMG - you have to see the stuff. We are ll sitting here with our jaws hitting the floor. The professional photographer they brought with them is also AWESOME! A couple of them, the photographer and one of the pastry chefs, speak minimal English and the others, none. So communication has been fun.
Communication before they got here was difficult. They got delayed and didn't get in on Wednesday night as planned and finally got in around 7pm on Thursday. We found a friend of a friend's wife's husband who is an Italian pastry chef living here so that helped the initial meeting to have him as interpreter. Hotel reservations were messed up to say the least. THen Chef took them to a late dinner and they said they didn't want fast food because 'we have King Burger in Italy'. So he took them to a local 'chain' that is very good and what did they order, CHEESEBURGERS!
I came over last night after work to see what needed to be done and go out to dinner with them but they said they didn't want to go out and eat - 'we are here to win'. I was shown photos of the pieces they are doing from their test runs in Italy. Absolutely incredible. After putting the chocolate in the pot to melt overnight, they discovered they needed more powdered sugar and sheet gelatin. I called the few places still open at that point and found nothing in the way of sheet gelatin.
This morning started with a call from Fabrizio - they discovered their chocolate was 'different' here in Nashville's wonderful humid climate. So they needed cocoa butter. So my search continued for sheet gelatin and started for cocoa butter. After almost giving up, someone suggested Williams Sonoma and I found sheet gelatin and had her pull all of it off the shelf and hold for me. At the wholesale restaurant supply house retail operation (where my daughter used to work) the assistant manager told me that another team had been looking for the sheet gelatin also. Now that I know who is hosting that team, I'm thinking I might go clean out all other Williams Sonoma stores in town. He was a culinary instructor at our school and thank goodness I never had him. He hit on the female students and was worthless. I worked a few charity events with him and he insulted me not even giving me the respect I was due just as a human being or adult. So I have no desire to make his life easier by sharing my resources - he brings out the witch in me.
Cocoa butter proved to be more difficult. I called all the cake stores and thought I hit pay dirt when she saidshe had a block of it. They asked for a kilo, I thought I had probably hit on about 1/2 kilo. You know what they say about not counting your eggs before they hatch? The 'block' was a 'knob', it was maybe 1 ounce.
We finally got the chef that loaned us the chocolate pot and he had some cocoa butter.
I get to school with the stash of gelatin and confectioner's sugar and they break for lunch. Chef's wife picked up bbq because one was asking for bbq. She never thought about it and set it up buffet style and they sat down at the table with the food. The big laugh came when we never thought about showing them how to make a bbq sandwich. Roberto grabs a bun and proceeds to heap a spoon of baked beans on it. Then we showed them how to do it. Thank goodness for the photography department head and someone she knew from Vanderbilt that spoke fairly fluent Italian and they helped explain.
After lunch brought an unbelievable photo shoot. Their professional photographer was absolutely incredible.
After that, they dug back in on making up their practice pieces. WOW OH WOW! The pulled 'sugar' pieces are the most incredible things I have ever seen. I've always been fascinated with blowing glass and this is the same thing but more delicate. The twisted shapes remind me of David Chihuly whose work I am in love with so you can imagine how I am enjoying this.
Tomorrow they are making lunch for us. I've offered up whatever they want of my CSA share out in the car - they wanted fresh tomatoes and we'll see what else they want in the end.
Tuesday they move out to Opryland into the official kitchens. I have a ton of things to do but I don't care, I am having way too much fun just sitting out here and going in there every so often to see what they are doing next.
We are supposed to get some comp tickets for next weekend since we are hosting a team but not sure at this point how many. Since I am one of only two folks other than the two school professors, I hope that I get one. I don't know that I will pay that much just to go watch but I sure want to see their finished products as well as the competition's.
Communication before they got here was difficult. They got delayed and didn't get in on Wednesday night as planned and finally got in around 7pm on Thursday. We found a friend of a friend's wife's husband who is an Italian pastry chef living here so that helped the initial meeting to have him as interpreter. Hotel reservations were messed up to say the least. THen Chef took them to a late dinner and they said they didn't want fast food because 'we have King Burger in Italy'. So he took them to a local 'chain' that is very good and what did they order, CHEESEBURGERS!
I came over last night after work to see what needed to be done and go out to dinner with them but they said they didn't want to go out and eat - 'we are here to win'. I was shown photos of the pieces they are doing from their test runs in Italy. Absolutely incredible. After putting the chocolate in the pot to melt overnight, they discovered they needed more powdered sugar and sheet gelatin. I called the few places still open at that point and found nothing in the way of sheet gelatin.
This morning started with a call from Fabrizio - they discovered their chocolate was 'different' here in Nashville's wonderful humid climate. So they needed cocoa butter. So my search continued for sheet gelatin and started for cocoa butter. After almost giving up, someone suggested Williams Sonoma and I found sheet gelatin and had her pull all of it off the shelf and hold for me. At the wholesale restaurant supply house retail operation (where my daughter used to work) the assistant manager told me that another team had been looking for the sheet gelatin also. Now that I know who is hosting that team, I'm thinking I might go clean out all other Williams Sonoma stores in town. He was a culinary instructor at our school and thank goodness I never had him. He hit on the female students and was worthless. I worked a few charity events with him and he insulted me not even giving me the respect I was due just as a human being or adult. So I have no desire to make his life easier by sharing my resources - he brings out the witch in me.
Cocoa butter proved to be more difficult. I called all the cake stores and thought I hit pay dirt when she saidshe had a block of it. They asked for a kilo, I thought I had probably hit on about 1/2 kilo. You know what they say about not counting your eggs before they hatch? The 'block' was a 'knob', it was maybe 1 ounce.
We finally got the chef that loaned us the chocolate pot and he had some cocoa butter.
I get to school with the stash of gelatin and confectioner's sugar and they break for lunch. Chef's wife picked up bbq because one was asking for bbq. She never thought about it and set it up buffet style and they sat down at the table with the food. The big laugh came when we never thought about showing them how to make a bbq sandwich. Roberto grabs a bun and proceeds to heap a spoon of baked beans on it. Then we showed them how to do it. Thank goodness for the photography department head and someone she knew from Vanderbilt that spoke fairly fluent Italian and they helped explain.
After lunch brought an unbelievable photo shoot. Their professional photographer was absolutely incredible.
After that, they dug back in on making up their practice pieces. WOW OH WOW! The pulled 'sugar' pieces are the most incredible things I have ever seen. I've always been fascinated with blowing glass and this is the same thing but more delicate. The twisted shapes remind me of David Chihuly whose work I am in love with so you can imagine how I am enjoying this.
Tomorrow they are making lunch for us. I've offered up whatever they want of my CSA share out in the car - they wanted fresh tomatoes and we'll see what else they want in the end.
Tuesday they move out to Opryland into the official kitchens. I have a ton of things to do but I don't care, I am having way too much fun just sitting out here and going in there every so often to see what they are doing next.
We are supposed to get some comp tickets for next weekend since we are hosting a team but not sure at this point how many. Since I am one of only two folks other than the two school professors, I hope that I get one. I don't know that I will pay that much just to go watch but I sure want to see their finished products as well as the competition's.