plated dessert process

Today at 3:30 pm I have a tasting at a restaurant downtown. I interviewed on Monday and was given three dessert assignments. One fruit, one chocolate and a third of my choice.

Applying for restaurant jobs in the age of the internet is a completely different story than the one I learned when I started in this business almost 13 years ago. The very first big restaurant job I got (LuLu), I found the ad in the SF Chronicle, and mailed, by the US Postal service, my resume in. I had only two things on my side: I was completely naïve about cooking professionally and I had graphic design experience. I was granted an interview at a restaurant that the sous chef told me 50 resumes were coming in a week because my resume looked unique. He told me they found it hysterical that I put ice cream scooper on my resume. And he hired me because of my handshake.

Few restaurants advertise in the Chronicle anymore, it is all done on Craigslist now. Which is really ironic because restaurant people are infamous for being computer illiterate. This is why if your resume is not in the body of the email, but in an attachment, you can forget about the chef on the other end being able to find it. But what makes me the angriest about computer ineptitude when it comes to applying for a job is that email becomes a black hole. Some big company’s have a system that spits out an automatic reply, (Peet’s has one that says something like ‘we’re really happy that so many interesting human beans apply for positions at Peet’s---‘), but for the most part you have no idea what happened to your cover letter and resume. In some instances with restaurants particularly infamous for not responding I have sent a follow up email to ask if they have indeed received my correspondence. Like internet dating, the help wanted sections of Craigslist let you be an invisible spectator and keep tabs on establishments that you decide whether you would ever want to work, or even eat there.

Given the three dessert assignment from the restaurant sent me into a small spin. On the MUNI ride home I started jotting down possibilities on my interim driver’s license. When my roommate asked me what I was going to make I realized that it would be interesting to show here how my process works.

On Monday I wrote: butterscotch pot de crème with coconut cream, meyer lemon, goat yogurt sorbet, chocolate pot, feuilletene, bay leaf gelee, malt milk choc crunch, bay leaf beurre noisette, frozen drained yogurt, cucumber, rose geranium. On Tuesday I went to a reason for living in the Bay Area, The Berkeley Bowl. For a produce lover this place is Valhalla.

On Wednesday I had written down in the fruit column: rhubarb/goat yogurt sorbet, ?rose geranium, ?cucumber, ?verbena, drain goat yogurt and freeze then turn into granite, poach brunoise rhubarb in young ginger simple syrup, brunoise cucumber + fennel + jicama, --cornmeal cookie. In the chocolate column: devil’s food cake/chocolate sauce, ?malt, ?red peppercorns, caramel gelee—with vinegar, malted crunch, coconut sorbet, , malted ice cream, and then drew a few pictures wherein I have cut the center out of the cake and filled it with a malt-inspired-components parfait---- invisible to the eye but a nice surprise for the fork and mouth. In the other column: butterscotch pot de crème (PDC for short), young ginger PDC, ?coconut, red peppercorns>>>>parfait?

Wednesday night I took over the kitchen, the oven and the entire fridge, printed recipes from my database, and made 6 components. Three of them needed to rest overnight. Thursday I woke up at 7:30 and began baking. Made breakfast for a friend and took my mother out for the day. Late that night, after doing a little last minute shopping at Citizen Cake, (for ingredients unavailable to the retail shopper), I came home and baked cakes, made candy and ice cream base.

At 1am I had these final ideas written: 1. Redwood Hill goat yogurt granite with rose tea syrup poached rhubarb dice, ?fennel. 2. devils food cake, hot chocolate sauce, milk chocolate malt crunch, malt ice cream, with possible: fill cake with a column of coconut and cacao nib financiere, toasted coconut, vinegar gelee. 3. Young ginger PDC ?(red peppercorns), ?mango &?carnaroli rice pudding>>>>parfait? At 1am I made my final list for what I needed to make this morning starting at 7:30, and now, at 11:15 am I am taking a small break to think. I called the restaurant to let them know that I would, in fact, as they had offered, need to use the pastry kitchen for finishing my desserts. The person I spoke with had a very thick French accent and said something to the effect of, “You’re the one who used to work at The French Laundry, right?” So, you know, no pressure.

Last night when I called my friend Max he asked me if I had gone all out. He knows me, knows that even though I disclaimed in my interview that desserts I can make at home are far less than what I can produce in a professional kitchen, I went a  little crazy.

This became the final menu:

REDWOOD HILL GOAT YOGURT GRANITA WITH ROSE TEA SYRUP POACHED RHUBARB DICE

DEVILS FOOD CAKE & COCONUT FINANCIERE WITH MALT ICE CREAM AND SHUNA’S FAMOUS HOT FUDGE SAUCE

YOUNG GINGER POT DE CRÈME SERVED ALONGSIDE A PARFAIT OF HAYDEN MANGO, CARNAROLI RICE AND DEMERERA SUGAR

Baking at home is like breaking in a car. Although you may not be one to drive fast, it’s good to bring the engine out on the open road, hit the gas, and see what she can do.

Comments

[Sam]

Sigh...
do you have any leftovers?

my fingers are crossed for you x

[Amy]

Yum! And I hope you get the job, with desserts like those you certainly deserve it. The rhubarb and goat yoghurt granita sounds the best to me, but I'm a sucker for rhubarb anything (and the granita sounds a bit like the creme fraiche gelato I love so much). Which was your favorite of the three? Will any of these become new "standards" of yours?

[Dr. Biggles]

Sounds as though you'll do okay I suppose. AHHAHHAHHAHH, dang. You need a larger kitchen at home so you can have some theatre seats installed. I wanna get some snacks and come watch.

Yay for the berkeley bowl. You hip to their Berkeley Dijon mustard?

Senior Biggles

[Jeanne]

Sweet mother of desserts if they don't hire you with this display of creativity they are not suited for you.

If in the future you need a tasting panel,well, I'm available at the drop of a spoon.

[chronicler]

Shuna, I am glad to see by your pictures, I should not be so afraid to take pictures while I work. They are great, and explain your process well. What I mean is I always want to give the illusion of a large room with endless counter space to work. It is good to know - you produce such wonderful things in tiny spaces too!

How'd it go, by the way?

[Fatemeh]

I would like to make the most sacraficial of offerings to be on any tasting panel you would ever need, day or night.

Those desserts all sound amazing. Thank you SO much for sharing your process!

(I was rooting for the peppercorns, btw!)

[j.gabriel]

chef plz send some plated dessert to my mail.I hope you ll send me some photos.thankyou.

[shuna fish lydon]

Hello J.Gabriel,

Thanks for stopping by and the question, but I don't have photos of my plated desserts. For that you may want to check stock photo agencies or restaurant websites... good luck!