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Chaud Froid | Securing a Spot in the Present

Success in a modern Garde Manger is dictated by one's ability to connect the past with the present. You must also know the limitations of a modern kitchen and the present day desires of the clientele. The days of high popularity are over (for now) for edible portions of chaud froid coated foods, but the use of chaud froid as a liner on a platter has never been as important as it is today. Many expensive country and private clubs as well as top-flite hotels still use soft metal trays that will physically interact with food if one is not cushioned from the other: enter chaud froid. Many of these same establishments have tremendous amounts of money tied up in platters whose serving surfaces may have been scratched or marred in some way: enter chaud froid. Many of the chefs who are interested in creating interesting presentations using clean, beautiful herbs find that stainless steel and aluminum trays don't provide the vibrant background they require: enter chaud froid.

Today, the firmest textured chaud froid that can be created is used as a liner on a platter. The color can be white or it can be naturally enhanced to appear like a saffron infused Béchamel, by utilizing turmeric. Now, the first item that a purist would point to is the use of turmeric. But, remember cost. Saffron costs approximately $45 an ounce. Would you really want to color a sauce for that kind of money when turmeric is available? Would you really want to use saffron when the sauce being prepared is not going to be eaten but instead is going to act as a cushion by adhering to a platter? It's here that reality checks have to take place. Spending money foolishly is a management technique that is out of style, but providing a wonderfully clean, natural looking background for a cold presentation never goes out of style.

Another reality check: Many foodservice operations don't budget the money to purchase stainless steel pots and pans; they buy aluminum. When a Béchamel is prepared in one of these pots, the sauce ends up being tinted. The cream's exposure to the metal coupled with the usual stirring and wisking required during preparation causes the cream to almost immediately take on an off-white color. The addition of a roux also dulls the white color even more.

When you evaluate all the factors mentioned above, you have to come to the conclusion that it makes little sense to go through all this difficulty and expense to create an inedible product which will be used strictly for decoration.

Consider this: bloom gelatin together with cold water in a stainless steel bowl in a proportion of 2 oz. of gelatin to 16 oz. of water. Once bloomed, heat the gelatin over a very low open-burner to liquify the gelatin. In a second stainless steel bowl, take 2 cups of heavy cream and heat it until it reaches approximately 100-110 degrees. Slowly, pour the liquified gelatin into the warmed cream without creating any bubbles. Blend the two together slowly with a spoon. Then slowly pour the cream/gelatin combination onto a platter allowing it to spread evenly without creating any bubbles. Once the cream is evenly distributed, be sure that the tray is level, and simply allow the cream to solidify. Once the surface is fairly firm, the tray can be placed in a refrigerator to cool completely. This process is as simple, clean and efficient as its going to get.

This liquid (the argument of sauce can be had at another time) is created to adhere to the platter onto which it is being poured. The French word whose principal translation is "glued" or "adhered to" is "colle". Therefore, colle is the term that can be used to refer to a modern-day inedible chaud froid. Some institutions and publications refer to a similar item as a decorating sauce. The word sauce leads me to believe that the product should be edible, therefore it should not be used to refer to an inedible product.

Some individuals, hesitant to use heavy cream because of its instability and expense, will decide to use sour cream instead. This substitution works out fine provided you take the time to temper the hot gelatin into the cold sour cream and you are very careful not to incorporate bubbles. Many times bubbles cannot be avoided. To eliminate the bubbles, maintain a low heat under the sour cream based colle and slowly skim the surface as the bubbles come to the surface. The drawback to using sour cream as the base for a colle is the challenge of keeping it bubble-free. The advantage is that it will not break ever after continuous cooling and reheating attempts. Because of this forgiving advantage, many inexperienced with this kind of work will opt to use the sour cream colle. You'll probably discover that as you are using the sour cream colle, you'll have the confidence to use heavy cream.

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