Perishable Pastry

Thursday we made mousse, bavarian cream, ice cream and sorbet. Master and I both like lemon, so we made lemon sorbet. I had to almost double the amount of simple syrup before the baume would read solidly at 15. It's supposed to be at 16.

Master and I made a lemon sorbet. Combine lemon juice with simple syrup. Test in baume - a measuring device to determine how much density there is to sugar syrup. 11-14 intermezzo, 15-18 dessert sorbet (16 is the best reading), 20 cloyingly sweet and won't set up. I could not get it to move from 15, no matter how many times I poured in more simple syrup. I gave up after about 10 minutes - I figured I prefer the tartness of lemon, so I didn't need to keep making it sweeter. Process through an ice-cream machine.

We also made vanilla ice cream. Scald milk, whisk yolks and sugar in a medium bowl, then gradually temper hot liquid into yolk mixture. Whisk well and return to the pot. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour through chinois into clean bowl over ice, then pour in vanilla and cream. Process through an ice cream machine, after resting overnight.

To make chocolate mousse, melt bittersweet chocolate with butter over bain marie (bowl over boiled water - heat turned off), then whisk in yolks. in a separate bowl, whip egg whites with sugar to medium soft peaks. Fold into chocolate mixture. Whip cream separately to soft peaks, then fold into mousse. We stored these in ruber molds refrigerated overnight.

To make fruit bavarian, combine fruit puree (any kind), sugar and lemon juice. Bloom gelatin in water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Warm over bain marie until gelatin granules are completely dissolved. Stir melted gelatin into puree mixture. Whip heavy cream to medium peaks and fold into puree/gelatin mixture. We also poured these into rubber molds and refrigerated overnight.

Lessons Learned:

It's really easy to make these frozen desserts by yourself, but you just need to buy a good ice cream machine. The hardest thing with mousse and bavarian cream is the folding: put one third of whatever you are folding in in with the whipped eggs, then cut down the center and move the spatula under to the left and fold the mixture over. Keep doing this, turning the bowl around as you go.

These will be plated - get excited!