Pretending I am going to teach anyone how to make the best French toast (or pain perdu) on Earth would be way beyond my confidence point as I think there are so many people making it very well out there… at most, I might be able to inspire a different take on the classic dish…

It turned out we had an extra loaf of rye figs & walnut sourdough laying around on our wooden bench and I decided to give Kouign-amann’s caramel a serious competitor. I sliced the loaf, cut and round disc and bathed it in cream, milk and egg until well soaked – to finally pan fried it in butter and gave it a beautiful caramelized crust. To go with that, I slowly cooked Japanese pumpkin and added a few pecan nuts.

On the other hand, the way I whip cream nowadays is a bit different than the good old fashion. I whip it to about 80%, add whatever is needed like vanilla or sugar and I finish it with a few grams of xanthan gum. Yes, you read the right word, xanthan gum! It allows the cream to set very smoothly and in a fluffy way, leaving the particles of water and fat in their original condition, and where there is zero risk of having a start of splitting; and not to forgot it allows to pipe cream drops that look smoother than ever before.

The rich caramelized toast loaded with figs blends beautifully with the soft pumpkins, pecan nuts and the dollops of soft cream. 

About a month ago, I had the luck to participate to the Harvest Feast… more Harvest celebration will take place in Hong Kong and I hope more people will join!

It’s just a few minutes past nine in the morning, the sky, shattered with dark clouds, dressed with its typical Hong Kong spring look, wasn’t looking very promising; yet a few rays of sun succeed in bathing Zen Organic Farm with their warmth. I seat down outside the farm house and get wholeheartedly greeted by Ping, the man behind much of the goodness coming out of the farm, together with his sister Joey. A few minutes later, I am greeted by the Matriarch of the farm herself, pouring me a cup of my favorite roselle and honey infusion. And there I was, seating in what was possibly the best place to be in Hong Kong at that time, sipping a cup of wholesome goodness grown on Hong Kong soil.

What a perfect beginning for a day that was to become the third edition of the much talked about Harvest Feast organized by Homegrown Foods; an event where the local farmers and their produces are celebrated. During the day, eleven of the finest chefs in Hong Kong would cook a dish each, using the farmer’s produces. The sky played hide and seek with the sun and the rain, but somehow, I think the sky was listening to us as it stopped raining for the whole afternoon, making the Harvest Feast one perfectly fine day.

The dessert Tracy (Pastry Chef of IHM Group) and I created was an oozing passion fruit curd with cider poached tapioca, a demi-sel butter caramel siphon, grated fresh orange and a banana-ginger beignet. It worked as a great combination and honestly, we sometimes had a hard time following up with the demand! All the ingredients we used were from the local farms and in my opinion, it was absolute deliciousness.

Talking about delicious, I could walk from table to table and be in awe with every other chef’s creation for the event – not a single one dropped the ball on that day. With a special mention to the 85kg roasted pig that Jack from Restoration and Vinny from IHM, roasted all night long before the event. What a splendid display of real delicious slow food. Coincidentally, I had baked pumpkin brioche topped with Chinese style caramelized sesame peanuts, also grown in the local farms. Jack and I were chatting about it and we thought that his pulled pork meat and my brioche would be the perfect match; and perfect was the least to say – it was divine.

Passion fruit curd, cider tapioca, salted butter caramel espuma and ginger banana fritter!

The day ended with the buses bringing back the hundreds of local real food supporters to their busy lives with a full belly. We were all exhausted, tidying up our stations and for some of us, dinner service was waiting back at work.

Grating fresh organic oranges grown in local farms

I could extend on what fundamental differences there are between the industrial processed foods versus wholesome natural foods. Just to mention a story that pops to mind; my friend bought a brioche from the supermarket with a label saying “Made with French Butter”. A quick look on the ingredient label only revealed vegetable oil, butter flavoring and yellow coloring – no real butter to be seen! And yet, people feed on these products thinking they purchase quality…

Whatever the effort we had to put in at the Farm, it was all worth it. You may call us dreamers or utopists, thinking we can make a difference in a world governed by new highways, insane land prices and buildings – shrinking the green side of Hong Kong every day – but if being called a dreamer means living a life where I can actually choose what goes in my 7 year old son’s stomach, then yes, you can call me a dreamer or even an utopist, but you know what’s good?

I am not the only one! ;-)

Tracy and I ready to rock!

Photography by the talented Jesper McIlroy

I have been thinking for a while on how to start this post. It’s always the same with intense moments… so I guess the best way is to say it simply:

Yesterday was officially my last working day at the Four Seasons Hotel! Yes, I am embarking in a new fantastic adventure, chasing my lifelong dream of starting my own bakery!

Every minute of the last 8 years I have spent with the  hotel was worth it. It has truly been the ride of a lifetime! From the pre-opening times, wearing a worker’s helmet, to the culmination in recognition, awards and other books published; I seriously would have never thought it would become so intense. What made it so intense is probably the bunch of people that we were as a team; all more talented one another, it created a unique dynamic. I will dearly miss my team – a bunch of exceptionally talented individuals that made it all possible. But also, I need to thank everyone else in the hotel – no matter who, everyone had an impact on my work at some point.

Being still (reasonably) young, and passionate about my craft brought me to the door step of living my dream after 21 years of baking: my own bakery. Together with a few equally passionate associates, we started a bakery with a very simple goal: bring delicious and authentic bread on Hong Kong’s dining tables. This alone is such an exciting thought! The breads and pastries we are going to bake will be the same standard that we’ve always baked, to the best of our abilities and beyond, because after all, this is what we do and this is who we are.

And so the story goes… the number 3 in the pastry will be the new number 2, the number 2 will be the new number 1…

…and me? I will not be the new anything, I will just be the first me.

I guess if I didn’t have any aspiration to squeeze more greatness out of life, I probably would have stayed another 10 or 20 years working in the same position, because quite simply, I love what I do. But so it is that my ambitions are bigger than life… I am probably dreaming of achieving things I will never reach and so I believe it should be, a lifelong quest towards an ideal that perhaps, even my own mind can’t conceptualize yet. Pretty much like the old adage goes: It’s not the destination, it’s the journey that matters. In fact, I have never chased glory, and never will.  I just pursue happiness – something much more valuable than glory to my eyes.

My passion remains intact, if not growing stronger. I will continue to do what I do best: good food! And I will continue sharing it with all of you. I thank you all for the support over the years and look forward for many more delicious moments in the future! Stay tuned for many EXCITING things coming soon!

Discover Bread Elements website here (which isn’t really live yet:)) or our Facebook page here!

The pastry class actually happened last Saturday and one of the delicious item we did was a chocolate brioche, more traditionally called a Babka. We left aside the origins and other etymology of the bread’s name to focus on the actual baking part… what a treat! When I planned my class I was wondering what I could teach that would be easy to make at home and delicious to share with friends and family. So I did a “Everything chocolate” class, including a sour cherry chocolate tart (with baked sabayon!), some chocolate chouquettes and the chocolate brioche which was inspired by my friend DBaker who happened to bake those for my son’s birthday!

The dough itself isn’t much of a wonder, but the secret lies more in the richness of the stuffing and the syrup soaking after baking.

 For the brioche dough you will need:

• 280 g wheat flour T45
• 55 g butter
• 50 g sugar
• 1 pc Vanilla bean
• 3 pc egg yolks
• 4 g salt
• 60 ml whipping cream
• 60 ml milk
• 15 g fresh yeast

1. Mix all the ingredients in slow speed until the dough forms
2. Increase the speed and knead until you obtain a good gluten network
3. Roll into a ball and allow resting in a covered bowl for at least 30 minutes

For the filling you will need:

• 125 g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp soft butter
• 120 ml sugar syrup (boil together 60 ml of water and 60 g of white sugar)
• 40 g roasted and roughly chopped hazelnuts

The shaping and proofing

1. Roll the dough into a flat rectangle of about 4mm thick and the length of your tin loaf mold
2. Apply some egg wash on the side the nearest to you (where the roll will close)
3. Using a spatula, spread a thin layer of butter all over the dough
4. Sprinkle (a lot) of chocolate all over the butter and dust cinnamon powder over it too
5. Finally sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts
6. Roll the dough tightly as a snail to end up on the egg washed part in front of you
7. Cut the roll in half lengthwise and form a braid with the two halves
8. Place the shaped dough in a greased rectangle tin mold (adding a baking paper in it will help you un-mold it afterwards)
9. Allow proofing for about 30 minutes – remember not to proof it in a too warm temperature as chocolate and butter will melt.

The baking

Going to Vietnam, chasing the origin of chocolate, was all nice and beautiful, but then I had to find what to do with it!

I received a kilo of single origin Vietnam chocolate, vintage 2010, with 72% cocoa content and after having tasted it, I found that the flavors were very gentle and subtle, yet very nice. And in order to support it, I wanted to do something with as less fat as possible. Thus, I opted to make a water based ganache. I infused a beautiful floral tea in the water, containing bergamot and several kinds of flowers and melted the chocolate with it. Then, cooled it over ice bath and whipped it. Chocolate contains lecithin which makes it able to emulsify with water based liquid.

Honey toffee

100 g honey

90 g cream

#Caramelize the honey and add the cream; reduce until the toffee can be piped.

#Add a spoon of boiling water to emulsify.

Above you can see on the left the toffee just cooked with particles of fat from the cream splitting away from the dry matter. And on the right after a small spoon of hot water added – perfect emulsion.

Sesame Chocolate Sheets

72% Single Origin Vietnam chocolate

A pinch of roasted white sesame

#Temper the chocolate and flatten between plastic sheets with the roasted sesame

#Push with your hands to make the chocolate not perfectly flat

Flowery Earl Grey Tea Ganache Montée

200 ml water

12 g Flowery Earl Grey Tea (I used TeaLeaves brand here!)

225 g Single Origin Vietnam Chocolate

#Infuse the tea the water and strain it over the chopped chocolate. Cool over ice bath and whip in mixer for 5 minutes.

Assemblage

Lay chocolate sheet, pipe the cream, add more chocolate sheets and garnish with dots of honey toffee; add some dried violet blossoms for decoration.

This recipe was also featured in DKSH newsletter! :)

This cupcake bouquet is set on all the tables for the guests of our Lounge to enjoy or take away once they are done with our delicious afternoon tea!

Done! Four days of HOFEX are finally over…

HOFEX is one of these hospitality industry fair where you can virtually find everything and anything you need, ranging from wine to black truffle, passing by incredible machines to break eggs or make odd looking waffles. During the four days, the Culinary Classics features a range of competition from the savory side of the kitchen and for the desserts and chocolate too. I was lucky to be part of the judge for the showpiece competition where we saw several very well executed pieces and some less nice pieces too. I thought the pieces presented were too broad in style and techniques; of course this was not the contestants fault, but the people who drafted the rules forgot to mention this small detail. Thus we found ourselves with bread display, cakes, sugar and chocolate showpieces all in the same category – not the easiest thing to judge at once!

Meeting people must be one of the strongest point of HOFEX, at least in my opinion. Never mind you can’t find your dream coffee cup or the long sought after new menu cover for your restaurant – as you wander along the aisle of the exhibition, one by one, you meet people from many different sector of our industry and it is really good for networking and to stay up to date on who’s who and who’s doing what!

Great detailed work – made of bread!

This amazingly detailed work is made of glutinous rice paste and took up to six months to complete!

Great display made of sugar

Beautiful chocolate display!

Interesting chocolate display!

Meeting Mr Sosa himself was the highlight of the show for me!
What an amazing person, full of passion…

The Korean team in chocolate action!

Flowers blossoming and sweetness was all around at a super sweet baby shower – a few highlights to satisfy your eyes and make you hungry!

Macarons, cupcakes, sable cookies, dragees….

A field of daisy flowers made of cookies for the center of the tables…

This is a very rare flower that grows only on jelly bean! ;)

Cake pops in marshmallow for the table center as well…

Raspberry lime macaron tower

full on strawberry flavor domes!

Don’t they look adorable?

Cake play cubes!

little vanilla creams… watch out for those – they are coming big soon! ;)

We’re still baking rhubarb tarts and starting to tackle Gariguette strawberries, but it’s never too late to get ready with our Summer Sundae; a few photos to keep your taste buds chilled this summer!

Chambord ice cream, semi-frozen fresh berries, fresh orange zest, citrus coriander blossom and an oozing hot white chocolate sauce to be poured on!

Green apple textures: granite, jelly, poached and julienne with fresh "chocolate" mint - so fresh!

Kalamansi frozen yogurt, lemon olive oil cake, lemon curd, fresh pineapple, basil oil and micro lime-basil

Affogato - White coffee ice cream, soft cream & cinnamon, biscotti and chocolate shaving and an awesome double espresso to be poured on.

If you look at the back of the affogato you will spot a basket of vanilla chouquette, made with the best Tahitian vanilla, that we will serve with every Sundae on our menu! :) 

April won’t be a bad month at all, besides April’s fool maybe… but this year, The Harvest Feast will fool no one. Aligning nothing less than 11 top Hong Kong Chef’s behind the stoves, the 2013 edition of the Harvest Feast looks way more than promising.

The Harvest Feast is fundamentally organized towards supporting local and organic farming. For the 3^rd edition, we, humble Chefs, say thank you to the amazing work of these artisan of taste that are the farmers. With a bigger scale event than the previous years, accommodating around 300 guests, the Harvest Feast also takes under its wings two charities: The Hummingfish Foundation (a charity that supports Green Entrepreneur programmes) and The Homegrown Foods Academy (a newly launched charitable arm of Homegrown Foods that is raising money to provide sponsored farm trips and field trips to schools).

The Harvest Feast will be held on Saturday, April 20 from 12noon – 5pm at Zen Organic Farm in Fanling! That’s right, it is deep in the country side, in the middle of strawberry fields, tomato plants and other bushes of rosemary that guests will enjoy dishes prepared by the 11 guest chefs, along musical entertainment as I have heard.

I happen to know the ground of the farm fairly well, having been there previously several times, notably for the planting of fig and pitaya trees with Four Seasons Hotel, and I can totally picture the event being a success. The guest tables will be set on a stamped potato field – how cool is that? I love the whole idea and with food made from organic and local produces, everything will be there to create the perfect Harvest Feast.

This year, I will team up with Pastry Chef Tracey Wei, and together, we will work around pumpkin, sesame and peanuts for the bread and around passion fruit, banana and ginger for the dessert! I have heard of a few dishes from the other chefs and I definitely want to sneak out to their station to taste their creations, especially when you know the impressive line up of chefs:

• Vinny Lauria (IHM)
• Matt Abergel (YardBird)
• Erik Idos (Nobu)
• Jeremy Biasiol (The Mirror)
• Peggy Chan (Grassroots Pantry)
• Tracy Wei (IHM)
• Shane Osborn (Saint Betty)
• Anthony Fletcher (The Pawn)
• Gregoire Michaud (Four Seasons) (hi!)
• Jack Carson (Restoration)
• Matt Bishop (22 ships)

If you haven’t been to a local farm yet and you want to find out what’s all the fuss about local organics, AND you want to try food from the chefs of all these top restaurants in town, then this is the occasion! Tickets available here: www.homegrownfoods.com 

This post was featured on Asia Tatler here!