[pastrytracy]

Okay, so posting about the Vday dinners picked at a wound that I thought was healing, but turns out I am still annoyed. It seems that many of my dessert ideas are not French enough for the owner of the restaurant. Okay, I will give him that...I am fairly inexperienced in cooking French foods and that is why I love this job, because I learn something new all the time..Many French recipes are very labor intensive and because I pull double duty as dessert cook and all around good guy (covering shifts, being sous chef while we try to find another) I do not have the time to do authentic French desserts...That being said...how are spring rolls French? because they are on our Vday menu and while the flavors may be French..it is a spring roll...a spring roll. So I am annoyed. ..now I am not looking to be told I am right, because when you get down to it, I am not the owner...so I do not make the menu...I do have input, so yeah, I am lucky to have that....but spring rolls...

end vent.

[Kraftchef]

Don't worry, remember that Americans as in the eyes of Europeans we have no culinary traditions and we can do whatever we want, that's one of the reasons many European Chefs move to the States, it is a play yard and they want to do things that are often ridicule in their own countries; so just go with the flow...
as long as you understand the origins it is fine.

and, you may not do crap like Guinness Ice Cream

Respect the limits! (and there are limits in good taste)

Best Wishes

[panini]

PT,
Kraftchef is right. The classical french desserts are pretty much set in stone with little variation.
I've walked in your shoes. It does get tough. I was fortunate to be classicallytrained a hundred years ago. You might have a little more luck in gathering small easy french items and pairing them together. That will give you a canvas which might allow local infusions.
Also understand that the french influenced many areas where spring rolls are popular. When I was doing the french thing many years ago I always sought out Viet Nam trained bakers.

[Plongeur]

You see a fair amount of Vietnamese influence in many restaurants here, because the French spent a lot of time in Indochina before the USA arrived and many Vietnamese came here.
There are lots of Vietnamese restaurants too - in fact, all 'Chinese' restaurants seem really to be Vietnamese/Chinese mixtures; almost all of them are completely rubbish, too.
That said, I don't think I've seen many spring rolls on many French restaurant menus...

[Suzanne]

If it's any consolation: I was doing pastry at a place that did a lot of Asian- and Latin American-inflected stuff. Lots of hot stuff, such as a guajillo/chipotle/cayenne-coated grilled tuna; and chile-garlic and lemongrass dipping sauces for the shrimp summer rolls that were plated with the sauteed mahi-mahi. Banana-passionfruit sorbet. Mango sundae with coconut ice cream, mango sorbet, tamarind sauce, and mango salsa (diced mango, lime juice, julienne lime leaf, cayenne). Not exactly white bread.

The "Seasonal Fruit" on the dessert menu was mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries) -- YEAR ROUND! So I tried to change it in the winter to citrus supremes, sliced apples (?iirc), and diced jicama in a chile-infused syrup. The chef (not the original one I'd started working for years before) said that our customers would think that was too strange. Huh?

I hope you feel a little better now.

[Kraftchef]

I know I'll be stoned to death by saying this, but I'm not a big believer of the "seasonal ingredient" movement that made Alice Waters famous, maybe I'm just lucky but down here in Miami I'm always able to find great produce from all around the world, so it's never been a big concern to me. I don't know it's just my case...

[pastrytracy]

Thanks for the support guys...I figured out today that as long as the flavors are anything BUT American, it's cool. (I just can't say that out loud) It is just frustrating to have all of these ideas banging around in my head and not having an outlet for them at work..guess he would never approve of what I am eating right now!...choco ice cream with cocoa krispies mixed in..yummy

[panini]

actually he would. You would use chocolate croquant (rice crispy like, used to decorate cake sides and such). And choco ice cream. see, it's easy. Do you have enough books for reference? We might be able to help there. One good source for insperation would be catalogs from wholesale food importers. It will at least give you some french stuff to work with. Email
Paris gourmet, Patice France, Carma,aussiswiss, etc. have them send you all the literature and catalogs. course you might already have this.
vent anytime! especially if it's about the french

[kuan]

Well springrolls are French, imported from Vietnam.

Hehe, I hear you. Give it a French name. There you go, French!

[pastrytracy]

Good point Kuan!

Thanks Panini!...Is there a definitive resource that you would use for reference...book, website, whatever? I was never that big into dessert making before this job, so I don't have as much experience w/ it. Thanks for your help!