TK6 JOY OF PASTRY Mar2013.pdf

44
ervé Lemonon, Executive Pastry Chef at
Grand Lapa Macau, gleefully sinks his hands
into a stainless steel bowl full of almond flour and
sugar, clenches two fistfuls of powder, pops his hands open
and begins mixing things up by wiggling his fingers. He looks
like he’s having the time of his life.
“I wake up every day inspired by the wonder of the world
around me,” he says.
Chef Hervé radiates joy. His staff love him. Every morning
there is a scuffle as various chefs on his team vie with
each other to see who will get to help him prepare the buffet.
“He isn’t just a chef,” says Junior Chef de Partie Roberto
Macalalad. “He is also like a father.”
“I’ve been here for twelve years. I came here as an
apprentice,” says Assistant Pastry Chef Leong Kin Man.
“We have great teamwork. It’s like a family.”
An atmosphere of calm concentration prevails in the
kitchen, until somebody cracks a joke. Then all the chefs
erupt into a raucous round of banter. There is a lot of teasing,
and laughing, and then things quiet down again as everybody
focuses on the work.
Hervé fills a piping bag with a mixture of whipped cream,
lemon zest, butter and melted chocolate. Turning away from
the petits fours he is decorating, he checks the glaze on a
beautiful mango caramel cake a junior chef has finished.
| TASTING KITCHEN | march 2013
Chatting, laughing, animated, he swings around to another
chef, who is dexterously spreading apricot jam on layers of
puff pastry. Hervé calls out: “Ah Lei is the fastest Napoleon
maker in Macau!” And then with magic speed and precision
his own hands go to work, squeezing, piping out gloriously
perfect dollops of mousse to top each tiny chocolate tart.
Jr Demi Chef de Partie Kelly Ng is also piping, drawing
lovely Chinese characters onto chocolate plaques. Other chefs
are busy preparing raspberry and cherry mousse cakes, truffles,
egg tarts and Black Forest gateaux, each working steadily at his
or her station, occasionally passing each other instruments.
Every now and then, chefs slip in and out through the
sliced plastic curtains that protect a treasure vault of a cold
storage room. Trolleys there are laden with cakes waiting to be
released to customers upstairs. “It’s a great feeling when the
cake you just made is sold or eaten straight away,” says Hervé.
The joy and pride the chefs take in their work is contagious.
Waiters coming from upstairs to collect bread, kitchen
porters carrying buckets – everybody lights up as they come
into Hervé’s pastry kitchen.
There is a moment when the whole kitchen goes quiet.
Everyone in the room is melting something: Hervé is melting
caramel, Roberto a redcurrant glaze, Kelly chocolate,
and Ah Lei a saucepan of apricot jam. The kitchen is silent
apart from a very quiet bubbling.
“ I wake up every day inspired by the wonder of the world around me.
每天醒来,周遭世界的奇妙都会带给我灵感。”
澳门金丽华酒店行政饼房总厨 Hervé Lemonon 开心地将双
手插到盛满杏仁粉和糖的钢碗里,再一下子张开抓满了粉
的双手,开始揉面。一副乐在其中的样子。
他说: 「每天醒来,周遭世界的奇妙都会带给我灵感。」
总厨 Hervé 整个人散发着喜悦。他的工作人员都很喜欢他。
每天早上他组里不同的厨师都争先恐后想与他一起准备当
日的自助午餐。初级主厨 Roberto Macalalad 表示, 「他不
只是厨师,也像父亲。」
助理饼房厨师梁健文表示 :「 我在这里已经十二年了。
一开始是当学徒。我们的团队合作气氛很好,像个大家庭。」
厨房里通常是大家安静地聚精会神,直到有人说了个
笑话。接着,所有厨师们会突然喧笑戏谑成一团。有很多
的相互打趣和大笑。然后,随着大家又开始专注工作,一
切又回归寂静。
Hervé 将混入了柠檬皮、牛油和巧克力酱的鲜奶油装
进奶油袋,装饰好花式小蛋糕后,转身检查一位新手厨师
刚做好的芒果焦糖蛋糕上的糖衣,然后又兴高采烈地转身
对正灵巧地将杏桃果酱铺在层层酥皮上的另一位厨师喊
道,「阿李是全澳门做法式千层酥最快的人!」 然后,双手
又以神奇的速度和精确度开始工作,在每个小巧克力挞上
挤出完美的一圈慕斯。
初级助理主厨吴紫君 (Kelly) 也正用奶油袋在巧克力片
上画出美丽的中文字。其他厨师则忙着准备覆盆子和樱桃
慕斯蛋糕、蛋挞和黑森林蛋糕。每个人都在自己的工作台
上稳健作业,偶尔帮忙把用具递给别人。
厨师们偶尔会进出像是有塑料门帘保护宝库般的冷藏
储存室。里面的推车上放满了等着拿到楼上给宾客的蛋糕。
Hervé 表示 : 「刚做好的蛋糕一下子就卖完或被客人吃光,
感觉很棒!」
厨师们对所做成品的喜悦感和骄傲感极具渲染力。从
下楼拿面包的服务生到拿水桶进来的厨房搬运工,每个人
一进到 Hervé 的糕点厨房都是笑容满面。
有时整个厨房会突然安静。每个人都在融东西:
Hervé 在融焦糖,Roberto 在融红醋栗糖衣,Kelly 在融巧
克力,阿李在融一锅杏桃果酱。除了小声的冒泡声之外,
整个厨房鸦雀无声。