L'Art de la Pâtisserie - Week Twenty-Two - Sugar Sculpture

                                                      L'Art de la Pâtisserie  Week 22

Chef Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F.

Partner-Michelle     Table 3   Kitchen 1

Monday

Block out time to practice.  3 times a week for 1 hour each time.  
Look on line for examples of Japanese sugar artists and Stephane Leroux.
Showpiece Principals:

• Shapes and form.
• Color.
• Texture.

Shape and form:

Use a combination of round and sharp edges.  Think of a puzzle piece.  There needs to be the perception of a ration.

Ikebana is the art of floral arranging in Japan.

The shapes need to relate to one another.

Texture:

Use a combination of textures.  This appeals to the human eye.  Matte, shiny, pebbles, crinkled, bubbles, holes.  

Color:

Equal intensity of secondary colors.  Or, 3 different shades of 1 color. 

                         Yellow                                       White

   

     Green                                orange                Black

          

                 Blue               Red                            Gray

   

                              

                            Purple                                   Brown

There is meaning in color and significance based on countries and culture.

Volume:

Think of a box.  Fill the box.  The height and width have to relate.

Find a flow.

Start with the largest components at the focal point.

Symbolism is important.

Elegance is the right combination of elements.

Negative space lets you see through the piece.

Stay with the theme.  Tell a story.  Start with and essay about what you want the showpiece to say.  

A dome is the safest and most stable base.  Example, an egg will not break when pressed down from the top.

Odd numbers are better.

Pastillage:

• Hydrate gelatin.
• Sift 10x.
• Put 75% of 10x into mixer bowl.
• Warm vinegar in microwave. Should be pretty hot.
• Add gelatin to vinegar.
• Dissolve gelatin.
• Flash in microwave to completely dissolve the gelatin.
• Make a well in the 10x.
• Add all of the gelatin.
• Paddle on low.
• Make a wet dough.
• Add the rest of the 10x.
• Add water only if you need to adjust.
• Finish mixing by hand on the table.
• Add cornstarch only if needed.
• Knead until smooth.
• Wrap and then put into a deli cup.
• Test a small amount by modeling it.  Should not stick to your hand.

Pastillage Curls:

• Draw a curl onto parchment.
• Roll pastiallage into scrolls with tapered ends.  Do not make it too thin.

Pastillage Foam or Coral:

• 65g of pastiallage in small plastic bowl.
• Microwave on full power for 35 seconds.

Vinegar facilitates drying.  It evaporates much faster than water.  To color, add color to water/gelatin mixture or air brush it when dry.

Dough made with 10x that can be rolled and utilized in different ways.  Stencils, x-acto knives, texturizing, plain and can mold and shape.  

Can use paper coated with shortening to stick pastille to paper so that it can be shaped while drying and then easily removed.

Packed Sugar:

800g sucrose

24g white vinegar (3%)

or

32g white vinegar (4%)

1600g sucrose

60g vinegar

• Mix white vinegar and sucrose until it resemble wet sand.
• Pack it into a dome.
• Press it down a little.
• Turn upside down onto a board.

Vinegar makes a shinier product.  Ideas; lavender or mustard seed.  Isomalt can be used directly with a little water to pack shapes for a rougher more textured look.

Isomalt:

Very low sweeting power (SP).  Not as hydroscopic as sucrose.  Stays dry longer.  Does not yellow like sucrose.  Stays transparent.  Is very strong 

Cook Isomalt to a minimum of 165ºc and regular scrose to 155ºc.

Cooked Isomalt:

• 1 kilo isomalt.
• 200g (20%) water.
• In a pot; water.
• Add ⅓ of isomalt.
• Melt slowly.
• Add ⅓ more isomalt. 
• Melt slowly.
• Add remaining isomalt.
• Melt slowly.
• Turn up heat to high.
• Add water based color at 140ºc.
• cook to 165ºc.
• Pour melted isolmalt on very clean silpat.
• Let edges cool.  
• Use silpat to fold isomalt until it firms up but is not yet shiny.
• Cut what you need to work.
• Place the rest under the heat lamp.

When dry cooking isomalt, it is 165ºc when all of it is melted.  You do not need to add acid to isomalt.  Isomalt cools faster than sucrose.

Tuesday


Fianl Stage

Floriol- 1220 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, Illinois

7:00am - 12:00pm  Owner: Sandra Holl   

Granola

This was my last day at Floriol.  Betsy gave me more recipes to do than before.  It was fun.  I made a Buttermilk Panna Cotta, Granola, Pavlova shells and Canelé de Bordeaux batter.  

Sandra took me through her book collection and told me which ones she used the most and which ones she could not live without.  I will miss this perfect working example of excellence.

Cooked Sucrose (straight method):

• In a pot; cold water.
• Slowly melt sugar into water on low heat.
• Keep sides of pan clean.
• Add glucose.
• Bring to a simmer.
• Filter.
• Boil over medium heat.
• Strain impurities into bowl of hot water.
• Wash sides of pan with water until 120ºc.
• Add color at 140ºc.
• Add 10 drops of tartaric acid at 161ºc.
• Cook to 165ºc.
• Turn off heat.
• Let sugar rest a little.
• Pour onto clean silpat.
• Fold cold edges into middle.
• Cool evenly and equally.
• Pull a cooler sugar for shine.  If it is too soft it will be dull.

Use a new bag of sugar and distilled or purified water.  Cane sugar is cleaner.  Sucrose dissolves better in cold water.

10 drops of acid to 1 kilo of sucrose is good for keeping it soft.  Tartaric acid is the strongest and the cleanest.  Cream of tartar can be used but should be added at the beginning of cooking to give it time to strengthen and invert.

Must add 40% water to this recipe.  If you add 50% water, it will take too long to cool.  Some of the sugar will invert and turn yellow.  Add water or alcohol based food color at 140ºc.  

When cooking sugar with 20% glucose higher than 151 - 155ºc, it makes the sugar dry harder and gives a nice shine. 

Could use sugar cubes which are purer than granulated sugar.

Ideas; pour hot isomalt into tray full of granulated sugar or raw sugar.  Drag fingers through to create curls and shapes.  Make sugar curls using gold or brown colored sugar.  Can also cast blobs into cornstarch or sugar.  Cornstarch makes the blob look like frosted, Lalique glass.  

Wednesday

Using Powdered Food Color:

• Coffee filters work well for filtering out bits of dry powder and impurities.  
• Wear gloves and cover worth surface with plastic wrap.
• In a bowl; whisk water into powdered food color.
• Strain.
• Pour into a dropper bottle.

Do not add powdered sugar to cooking sugar.  It is good to add powdered food color to the egg whites because it further helps to dry them out.

Atomizers are good for adding a little color to sugar pieces.

Blue rises and bubbles up a lot because it has a lot of impurities.  

Blowing Sugar Spheres:

• Warm the copper pipe on the pump.
• Shape a ball on top of the mound.
• Cut the smaller ball.
• Use finger to make a center.
• Heat copper tube.
• Glue ball around copper pipe.
• Press and seal evenly.
• Use hand to cool top part.
• Hang upside down.
• Do not let any part get too thin.  Cool it down if this happens.
• Control the cooling.  
• Warm copper pipe to remove shape.
• Warm end over flame and cut away excess.

Blowing Sugar Apples:

• Take a little more sugar than the sphere.
• Warm and press on the bottom to create apple indents.
• Take off of pump.
• Warm and cut off end.
• Pinch top into stem.

Thursday:

Ideas: pour cooked sugar over flat sugar and push them into blobs.  Cover with sugar to stop it from spreading and to support it so that it cools into shapes with volume.  Push them around before they cool to add dimension and volume.  Pull sugar and press into venires to make leaves.

Cast into colored sugar, and other creative things.  Get creative.  

Always place parchment under vinyl so it does not stick to the table surface.

Sugar Ribbon:

1000g sucrose 
400g water
80g glucose
12 drops of tartaric acid  (10 would make the sugar firmer)

Cook to 170ºc.

• Melt sugar on low.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add glucose.
• Skim impurities.
• Wash sides with water.
• Add tartaric acid at 158ºc.
• Cook to 172ºc.

Pulling Sugar Ribbon:

• Make a big cylinder.
• Glue ends together.
• Pinch ends.
• Only touch the ends.
• Do not touch the middle.  Pinch ends, turn over, separate at least 3 times.
• Pull on leg.
• Lay on table.
• Pull up while rubbing hand underneath the stretch further.
• Cut ribbon with hot, sharp knife off the needs of the table so that it does not stick to the table.

Sugar Ribbons Under the Heat Lamp:

• Under the lamp; place sticks of sugar next to one another.
• Allow heat of lamp to soften and stick parts together.
• Use the heat lamp to pull and stick back together parts that cool too fast.

Coloring Ribbon:

• Color liquid sugar in pot.
• Pour ⅓ into flexi pan.
• Add other color to pot.  Cook water away to 172ºc.
• Pour ½ of that into flexi mold.
• Add dark or black food coloring to final liquid sugar.  
• Cook away water to 172ºc.
• Pour into flexi mold.
• Need each color separately.
• Cut and pull them separately.
• Place different colors next to one another under the lamp.
• Pull as usual.

Friday

Cooked Sucrose;

1500g sucrose

600g water

120g glucose

15 drops tartaric acid

Clear Isomalt Disc.

• Oil a 160mm cake ring.
• Place it on a silpat.
• Cook isomalt to 165ºc.
• Pour cooked isomalt into a pitcher.
• Allow bubbles to dissipate.
• Pour into cake rings approximately ¼" thick or less.
• Torch briefly to remove bubbles.

Pour isomalt onto parchment for a matte finish.  Pour isomalt onto silicone for a shiny finish.

Gluing Parts Together:

Isomalt = melt with a torch or stick in melted isomalt.  Clear is best for assembly.

Isomalt on packed sugar = torch packed sugar and allow it to cool completely before adding a dollop of melted isomalt.  Let cool completely before moving it in any way.

Pastillage to pastillage = melted isomalt. or pastillage glue.

Pastillage to isomalt = melted isomalt as glue.

Pulled Sugar Curls:

• Work until cold.
• Pull until it resists.
• Make curls while pliable.
• Drape over sculpture or dessert.