Today we had the first day of Basic Pastry classes. Chef H gave a 3-hour seminar on the basic ingredients we will be using in the course (it was literally a non-stop, 3-hour class, with all of us listening intently, constantly scribbling and taking notes). He covered things like dairy products, eggs, sugar, flour, chocolate and miscellaneous ingredients (e.g. nuts, spices, yeast, gelatin).
I was able to concentrate for 3 hours without falling asleep, and that is a testament to Chef H's dynamic presentation style. He scribbles things on the whiteboard and explains each item systematically. Sometimes he pauses to pick up the products from the kitchen bench and passes them to students so that we can see samples of sugar, spices, nuts, nut paste, vanilla bean, etc. He even encourages us to smell and touch some of the products. It reminded me of the spice appreciation classes I took at Herbie's (in Sydney) a couple of years ago.
Anyway, I was exhausted at the end of the seminar... I looked at the pages of notes I had, and decided I would have to retype them, if I wanted any chance of remembering the tons of information. I would also have to search for further information on some of the things mentioned in class, because I did not fully grasp some of the concepts. There's definitely some information gaps in my knowledge (even at this basic level) that needs to be filled.
Although Chef H gave us the chance to ask questions in class (and he always did his best to answer them), I think I would feel more comfortable searching for my own answers first, and then approaching him if I still have any questions.
So, that was the first day of class. It was intense, but intellectually stimulating.
