Introduction
Considered to be a major American composer of the 20th century, Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit! premiered in 1989. Based on a PBS television cooking lesson by Julia Child, this production of Bon Appétit! was produced through a partnership between the Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College and Des Moines Metro Opera. Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle portrays the master chef as she prepares Le Gateau au Chocolate l’Eminence Brune (a chocolate cake). Indulge in Des Moines Metro Opera Presents Bon Appétit!
Content
Funding for Des Moines, Metro Opera presents Bon.
Appetit is provided by friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS Bon Appetit is a comic culinary Extravaganza, based on the iconic PBS personality, Julia Child I'm Julia Child.
Can there be a greater marriage of role and artist than Joyce Castle is Julia.
Child she's enjoyed a long and storied career, not just here at Des, Moines, Metro Opera, but across the world really, and then the next thing to do is to prepare the cake pan to see an icon play an icon and to give such beautiful tribute is really so perfect.
Bon Appetit was written by Lee Hoy B major American composer of the 20th century, the Opera premiered in 1989, our mission at Des, Moines, Metro Opera, whether it's on our main stage or through the second stages series is to create distinctive and Innovative performance.
Experiences for audiences Bon Appetit is the 12th of our second stages Productions.
The goal of the second stages series is to challenge expectations about what Opera is and what the Performing Arts can be and where they can be experienced.
Bon Appetit will be performed in the atrium lobby at the Iowa Culinary Institute, and we will be converting a public gathering space into a performing theatrical space.
The Iowa Culinary Institute is designed to be a two-year program, five semesters, where students come to learn all about working in the food service industry.
For the evening of the Opera, we will be preparing and serving a Julia Child themed Buffet.
At the end of the evening, we will serve a plated chocolate cake, legato, oshakola, luminos brune, which is featured as the focal point of the Opera Julia Child did so much for our industry.
She brought the art of French cooking to the United States.
She did in a way that made it very user friendly so that people could relate to it.
That has everything to do with everything that we teach to this day.
All the words are Julia's they're, taken from one of her episodes for making this particular uh chocolate cake.
It's right out of her PBS special in addition to all of the singing that Miss Castle will be doing.
She also is doing a tremendous amount of cooking and in they go and off the heat she beats eggs.
She makes the batter she frosts the cake, so she has her work cut out for her, but she's uh, brilliant at it.
I think this is my 139th roll I've been singing a very long time, as you can tell this is my 49th year in the business and I have never cooked while I sang, so one challenge I think will rehearse it musically first, but until we actually have her put say a whisk to a bowl and actually beat the egg whites, we don't know how long it's going to take for the egg whites to beat.
We have to have some flexibility built in once.
We actually see the logistics of the cooking at the end of the day, we're making a chocolate cake, and you have to follow that.
But of course I like a challenge like Julia did.
So.
If we're going to have a cake, we really have to have a battle plan.
She says so we're going to battle bon appetit and now Des Moines, Metro Opera presents bon appetit foreign The French Chef take one.
You know welcome to the French chef.
This is the rich buttery Brown batter for lugato chocolate.
Let me know foreign cake and it's a very special, very chocolatey bittersweet and for it you have to have melted, chocolate and melted chocolate.
You have to do very carefully or it's going to turn gray gray and hard.
Now we want mocha flavoring so start up with two teaspoons of instant espresso and one quarter cup of hot water and then we're going to have a seven ounces of semi-sweet chocolate and two ounces of bitter chocolate I like the combination and it's Nicole and- and you just do it around, and then you cover it and go on about your business.
Chocolate is much more complicated than any of our suspect.
When you're going to do a cake, you really have to have a battle plan.
First start the chocolate.
Then he preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and the rack is in the lower middle then get out all of your ingredients and all of your equipment so that you can just go right through the cake.
You don't want to go out and play croquet in the middle, for instance.
No, and then the next thing to do is to prepare the cake pan, and that means buttering it thoroughly at the waxed, aprilateral and then the flower and then turn the bird thoroughly and knock out the flower on the floor.
If you have a self-cleaning kitchen like mine- and this is so, the cake won't stick when the cake is done, it would be nice to be able to get it out of the pan yeah.
Now this is a two-point cake and it's so very delicate cake and like most cakes, it has eggs in it separated eggs, and that makes it a sponge cake or what the French call A, Biscuit or biscuit, and these are United States grade a large eggs and you put the yolk into the yolk Bowl and the white into the white bull, because if you have any yolk in the white you'll find that the eggs won't mount up.
Now we have four egg yolks here and I'm going to gradually beat in two thirds cup of this instant super fine sugar laughs till they are thick and lemon colored and they make a ribbon how it gradually begins to turn thick and lemon colored.
Now, let's take a look here: the thick dissolving ribbon.
Now the chocolate in all a conscience be melted and it is what now is going to be in this chocolate is one stick of the best butter and I can beat the whole business in because it's nice and soft I've got a little pan for the drippies.
Now, just look at this lovely silky, soft, beautiful Sheen and it's just the way melted chocolate should be, and if you're very careful about the melting of it, you're never going to have any trouble because you're never overheating it and that's what's dangerous to do, and now the chocolate goes into the egg.
Yolks oh glove, oh well enough, and if it's hot stir it in gradually it's good enough to eat, just as it is enter it all around soft and smooth.
You don't want the batter to harden up now we're ready to beat our egg yeah egg whites so be sure and order.
An extra set of blades.
Four of them are at this point.
You have to wash and dry the beaters frankly I find that you could beat the eggs just as efficiently with a hand beater.
As with anything so today, I'm going to have some fun I'm going to have a race between the unlined, copper bowl and the Machine I've got four egg whites here and four egg whites here and we're going to see who wins and I think maybe I'll win because I'm bigger but I, don't know you want to start rather slowly at first until they fall off my lights.
Take a bit of time.
They've started foaming now add one quarter: teaspoon cream of tartar, every good kitchen should have cream of tartar because you want them to mount seven times their original volume and silky and set it at a moderate speed.
Now I'm going to start in on the copper boot, with a pinch of salt on the biggest whips in the smallest Bowl Round and Round, and Round they'll Mount faster at room temperature, oh and if you're in good physical trim, you shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to beat up your egg whites.
Now, let's see how our machine is doing, Peaks see so now we'll put in a little bit of sugar and put it up on High and back to the Copper pool whip them till they make stiff peaks they're almost ready, quiet, it's holding in the wind we're almost there.
Cocaine is just a series of the same old thing, sometimes there's chocolate and sometimes there's fish in it.
But the principles are the same.
That's it see the little Peaks that stand up by themselves and you can turn it upside down and they stay in the pool.
Oh and our machine has probably done this thing- yep see, I, don't know who won, but the egg whites in the copper bowl will keep that lovely velvety texture, but the ones in the glass bowl will soon turn granular and lose that lovely Sheen.
So if you do them in the in the machine, you must use them right away now, ready to assemble the rest of the batter and rather than flower.
This cake is going to have cornstarch in it because chocolate is heavy and we want.
We want a light, delicate cake, almost like a sofa.
Oh so three quarters cup of corn starch and you sift it right into the cup and then sift about a quarter of it into the batter soft and smooth, particularly in chocolate.
Cakes.
You want to be very sure that the batteries fairly liquid or you might have to beat it up again.
Third of your eight and put them right in to lighten up the batter and then a little more corn starch then put the rest of the egg whites.
On top now we're going to alternate folding egg whites and cornstarch, not as neat as it could be now here is yours that spatula and you go down into the liquid and up and up and over bringing little cornstarch over the eggplant hey a very important part.
A scooping motion, rather fast up and over the whole mixing business shouldn't, take more than a couple of minutes now ready into the cake pans how in each do it eyeball to eyeball or whatever they say, push them out to the side, so they won't hop up, barely half full and a little bit left for the cook.
Who would like to lick the pan and then bang bang drop them on the counter, just to settle everything and then right into the oven, diagonally for air circulation for 50, 16, 18 minutes and I'd.
Like you to see I hope these are gonna, be just right.
How they look when done is not quite done.
I'm gonna put it back again.
Let's look at this one French chocolate cake is always fairly moist.
It shakes a little in the pan, take a toothpick or something it should almost be set.
At aside, this is not quite set, so these need another two or three minutes watch them very carefully at this point, they'll puff up and they sink down.
I love a nice dry white wine with my chocolate, don't you they're probably done now.
This is a very delicate cake, so you'll unmold them right under the cake stand.
You may want to chill them a bit before unmolding and then we'll have a chocolate and butter.
I sing.
Oh- and this is exactly the same chocolate mixture that we had before now we have the top layer.
We hope that you're too much than too little nicely and evenly, and it goes around carefully.
This could really be quite a mess smooth off that top here.
She goes we're just having a cake party today and I'm going to serve you some.
Let's see how it looks, really soft texture almost like a souffle and it's nicer than a souffle, because it does it fall easy and you can serve it with whipped cream if you want to go the whole way and it's nice with coffee.
So this is really a wonderful chocolaty and no missingly light cake that doesn't fall.
Look at all live in a spring, really one of the best chocolate, cakes, I know, and that's all for today, I'm Julia Child.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Pbs provided Julia Child with a platform to be her authentic self.
This is Julia Child and Cher, with America her knowledge and Love of Cooking and I.
Think it's amusing to think you just watched an opera and a cooking segment all at the same time, and so at the end she says, lugato.
Let me know spring really one of the best chocolate, cakes I know and that's all.
For today, funding for Des, Moines, Metro Opera presents Bon.
Appetit is provided by friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS.
