Just a year ago, I produced Pomme Dauphine with blisters I couldn't find an answer from any website
Sweet variation of Pomme Dauphine, the left side Pomme Dauphine was deep fried from a wok. If it was deep fried from a commercial deep fryer, it would get a perfect browning. The right side were the tapered raw dumplings, air-dried and ready to be deep fried.
By Chef Si
I cooked according to my intuition, even if my chef tutor gave a demo if something was not right, I was a very dangerous student, because I could read his mind from his body language. Asian especially Chinese loves to keep their "face", that means they want to keep their pride, even if they made mistake they wouldn't admit. But my Kiwi chef tutor was a humble person, I recapitulate the story here once more:
Dauphine potato! I had never heard of it when I first learned how to make it in chef school. I was the only one in class came out a different dough that could be tapered like Chef Daniel Boulud's Pomme Dauphine, and my Chinese classmate stood next to me said, "Look, your dough looks differently from everyone's else, you fxxk up!" I kept quiet, told myself, "So what?" while everyone tried to tapper their shit-like sticky dough either with a spoon or hands, my pomme dauphine were sitting all in the same size on a tray and I didn't get sticky hands!
Here came the interesting part, while most classmates were gone to another kitchen to deep fry their dumplings, my young chef tutor crept down to my bench on the last roll told me cheekily in a hush, "Yours is the perfect dough!" Ok chef, I appreciate your confirmation. I was an old maverick-student who didn't follow his instructions exactly, I was not the kind monkeys see monkeys do when I found something was not right, perhaps I prepared and cooked food more inclined to my intuition. And due to this, my chef tutor even taught me some extra skills to prepare Pomme Dauphine through his past experience working as a sous chef.
Cooking takes experience, it doesn't mean the first time I made the Dauphine successfully then I would always make the perfect Dauphine. Cooking is literally a fine art, like piano performance or painting an art piece, you will never get a 100% mark, but all artists seek for that particular magical moment.
Here came the interesting part, while most classmates were gone to another kitchen to deep fry their dumplings, my young chef tutor crept down to my bench on the last roll told me cheekily in a hush, "Yours is the perfect dough!" Ok chef, I appreciate your confirmation. I was an old maverick-student who didn't follow his instructions exactly, I was not the kind monkeys see monkeys do when I found something was not right, perhaps I prepared and cooked food more inclined to my intuition. And due to this, my chef tutor even taught me some extra skills to prepare Pomme Dauphine through his past experience working as a sous chef.
Cooking takes experience, it doesn't mean the first time I made the Dauphine successfully then I would always make the perfect Dauphine. Cooking is literally a fine art, like piano performance or painting an art piece, you will never get a 100% mark, but all artists seek for that particular magical moment.
However, after my first experience in preparing successful Pomme Dauphine, soon I produced deep fried Pomme Dauphine with blisters, I felt like I got chicken pox all over my body too! Those were the hectic final days of my NZ level 4 Cookery course, I could choose to cook mashed potato instead of Pomme Dauphine, I still went on preparing it without using my head figuring the science behind the Pomme Dauphine, I hated the inconsistent results but couldn't get the tips from any website links.
I am so glad that after a year now, I got time to figure out from my brain to crack some tips, and I could also come out my own Pomme Dauphine recipe's variation, in a sweet version or used Kumara instead of potato etc.
A good chef must have good cooking techniques, techniques could be progressed and evolved through experience and intuition to achieve a perfect consistency. Often techniques become the secret tips that many great chefs won't want to share, it's no different from other professionals.
A good chef must have good cooking techniques, techniques could be progressed and evolved through experience and intuition to achieve a perfect consistency. Often techniques become the secret tips that many great chefs won't want to share, it's no different from other professionals.
Here are some of the important tips to make successful and consistent Pomme Dauphine:
1. The stereotype Pomme Dauphine's preparing method found on Youtube - Cookout was done on the Roux but not on the Pomme Dauphine dough. To make successful Pomme Dauphine, you must cookout the Pomme Dauphine dough if you find your dough is too soft and sticky. Pomme Dauphine dough should cookout to end up like the cookout Roux. The oil (butter) begins to split from the dough, thus it is no more sticky.
2. If a young chef or student's dexterity is slow, how could they mix in the egg while the roux is still hot? It ended up cooked egg white and egg yolk are detected, and then when they are told to mix in egg only when the roux is getting colder, and then mix in the mashed potato, the dough resulted as a sticky, mashy and soft dough that required a spoon or a piper to mold, but it's impossible to taper the desired shape like a ball like Chef Daniel Boulud's perfect round Pomme Dauphine.
3. Regarding the blisters appeared on the Pomme Dauphine. To eliminate that, Pomme Dauphine's recipe should be the right recipe. Next, both Roux and Pomme Dauphine dough should "cookout" until oil (butter) has released, thus the dough is becoming smooth, forming into a lump and it is no more sticky. Then you should not taper the dumpling with wet hands.
4. If your dexterity is super fast, like how I achieved during my first Pomme Dauphine task, while your Roux was still quite hot, you mix in more yolks but less egg white gradually but stir vigorously, you have to keep stirring as well until the dough cookouts, formed a smooth lump, it's no more sticky and mashy, the oil just started to split, thus the dough won't stick on your hands and you can taper the dough to your desired shape.
4. If your dexterity is super fast, like how I achieved during my first Pomme Dauphine task, while your Roux was still quite hot, you mix in more yolks but less egg white gradually but stir vigorously, you have to keep stirring as well until the dough cookouts, formed a smooth lump, it's no more sticky and mashy, the oil just started to split, thus the dough won't stick on your hands and you can taper the dough to your desired shape.
5. For a slow dexterity or unskilled person to prepare Pomme Dauphine, after they cookout the roux, let it cools down, add the whisked eggs and potato, if the dough is sticky, mashy and soft, I advise them to turn on the stove fire to the lowest, cook the mashy dough, must stir vigorously until the sticky dough cookout like the cookout Roux, it sticks together, smooth and no more sticky and mashy. Congratulations! You have achieved the successful Michelin standard Pomme Dauphine dough, but make sure your seasoning don't rob a star out of you!
6. The last stage of a successful Pomme Dauphine. Make sure your tapered balls or classic Pomme Dauphine dumplings are air-dried before deep frying.
7. I would advise to deep fry Pomme Dauphine at 171-degree Celsius, and the for sweet variation, the temperature needs a little lower, as the sweet variation will brown faster. Coat the sweet variation of Kumara Dauphine with cornmeal, you will get a delightful bite, kids will love it as a sweet treat for the birthday party!
8. Remember, if you don't cookout your Pomme Dauphine dough, although your sticky Pomme Dauphine dough still could produce a batch of Pomme Dauphine out of your piping bag beautifully shaped like a fat caterpillar, the texture would be different from the cookout Pomme Dauphine dough.
No comments:
Post a Comment