Christmas Fun or Madness in the Pastry Kitchen
The Christmas Holidays are the biggest deal in every pastry kitchen.
Well in advance chefs start to think about special Christmas items that will be put in the production for Christmas. This year for me it was back in July (!!!) that I developed one of our Christmas Logs – Red Currant / Almond /Amaretto. I wanted to use local red currants and preserve them to create this unique log. So pallets of fresh red currant have been bought from local farm, processed into puree and freezed till Christmas!
Christmas log is the main product and the must for Christmas dinner around the world. Every year chefs try to come out with new flavors and designs for this dessert. As an owner of pastry shop when I develop design for holiday dessert I not only think about esthetics but first of all the practicality – yes of course I can put intricate decorations on, but will my team be able realize the design on all the logs when you have just one morning to do it?! So it has to be practical, simple and tasteful.
The morning of December 24thstarts early in the kitchen. Glazing game begun at 5 AM when all you do is glaze, glaze glaze! Than the rows of glazed logs lined up to put identical décor on all of them! Everything has to be the same!
I admit it is the hardest but also the most rewarding day of the year. Our Christmas Logs will decorate someone’s Christmas dinner and this is the best reward for us!
Merry Christmas!
