By Marione Borela Lineses
Pastry Chef Mohamed Baz proudly exhibits his plating whimsy, slowly browning the candied pineapple using a blowtorch. Then he carefully spreads passion fruit sauce on the plate. He finishes off by taking a pinch of earthy saffron and gently putting it on top of the cake.
That was the last but nevertheless important part before serving it to customers. To ensure they receive a beautifully plated and delicious pastry. Of course, the tedious part of baking took many hours (or even a day) before this enticing gem was brought to the table.
With precision in timing, method, measurement and even temperature, everything must be followed 100% to achieve the desired result. “You need to use your sense and how to finalise the product after,” Mohamed says.
After finishing a diploma in hospitality and tourism, Mohamed jump-started his career in various international hotels chains starting from his homeland Egypt.
Then he shifted to Doha where he worked for five years before going to Saudi Arabia, and Macau. Now he’s back to Doha as the new Pastry Chef of The Grand Heritage Doha Hotel and Spa.
Being a chef is not just about how to cook or bake. It requires a lot of qualifications, talent and creativity, plus management, communication and organisational skills. “It’s something that I really love to do,” he says. And 15 years of continuous hard work took him to be at the helm of the pastry department.
About the numerous awards that he has won, he contemplates, “Now I say that continuing to be creative and satisfying my customers is the best award I could receive, because I feel that I have succeeded in my career over all.”
His flair for creativity especially on making wedding cakes best describes his cream of the crop, because they represent each married couple differently, thus infusing his use of various colours, flavours, art and designs.
For someone with the unique skills like his, that strength can also be his weakness in a sense for his superlative love for food. “I’m a chef, what do you expect?” He chuckles. “But I am working on this, by running for at least one hour every day,” says Mohamed, who is also a husband and a father of two children who will follow him soon to Doha.
When asked about where he draws his inspiration, “It can come from anything, it’s how you see things and think how it can be useful for you. At the end, in everything there is an idea, but in our career there are basics we have to follow. Then it’s up to you to create something in the end.”
Then, cheerfully, he serves us his creation and asks how it is.
Lovely! The combination of custard cream and marshmallow kind of merinque with gelatine melts in your mouth, you almost always want to keep dipping your spoon for more.
Iced Passion Fruit
Chiboust with Caramelised Pineapple and Passion Fruit Sauce
Creme Chiboust
Makes 30 individual 6cm rings
Ingredients
300ml passion fruit puree
300ml double cream
90g caster sugar
50g crème patisserie powder
12 egg yolks
50g of gelatine leafs
For Italian Meringue
Ingredients
400g caster sugar
100 ml water
8 egg whites
Method
Boil together the passion fruit puree and cream.
Soak gelatine leaves in cold water.
In a separate bowl mix together the egg yolks, crème patissiere powder and sugar, whisk until pale and the sugar dissolved.
Heat the cream and juice mix gently and pour onto the egg yolk mix and temper before adding all.
Return to the pan and carefully cook out until thick waiting for the first bubbles to appear.
Add the squeezed out gelatine leaves and mix into the hot custard.
Pass and set aside, covering with cling film.
Meanwhile in a scrupulously cleaned sugar pan boil the sugar and water, when the temperature reaches 110°C start whisking the egg whites to a thick foam.
When the boiling sugar reaches 121°C or hard ball stage, plunge the bottom of the pan in cold water to stop any more rise in temperature, then allow the bubbles to disappear.
With the machine running on a medium speed slowly pour the hot sugar in a thin thread into the meringue mix.
Once the sugar has been introduced increase the speed but do not allow the meringue to become “cakey” taking only to a very soft “shaving foam” texture.
Whilst still warm add a little meringue to the lemon custard and mix in well.
Then carefully fold in the remaining meringue, so as the final mix is very light.
Pour into the tightly cling filmed 9cm rings on a flat tray and freeze immediately.
Turn out and glaze the top golden brown with a blow torch.
Leave at room temperature for 12 minutes to soften.
Serve with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis.
Vanilla Pineapple Squares
Cut the pineapple into neat (approx 2cm) squares, saving any chunky trimmings for the caramel pineapple syrup pieces.
Mix together 300g of caster sugar with 300ml of water and 1 split vanilla pod.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes before adding the pineapple squares. Simmer gently for 10 minutes and the pineapple is just tender but left with a slight bite.
Remove the squares from the syrup and cool on a rinsed cloth tray. Serve at room temperature, 7 squares per portion.
Passion Fruit Sauce
Follow the recipe below, making sure the passion fruit sauce is thicker and without any seeds. This can now be squeezed from a bottle.
Note: 1 box of passion fruits will normally yield about 500-600ml juice — simply scoop the fruits into a food blender and quickly blitz without allowing the seeds to puree. A quick blitz or two helps release the fruit from the seeds.
Ingredients
1 litre passion fruit puree
400ml stock syrup
500g fresh passion fruit
3-4 tablespoons cornflour
Take out the seeds and pulp of the passion fruit. Reduce the puree 50% on the stove. Add the fresh passion fruit (saving ½ of the seeds for the finished sauce) and cook for 5 minutes more.
Add the stock syrup and mix in the blender until the seeds are broken in a smaller size. Pass through the chinois to separate the seeds from the puree.
Put the puree back again on the stove, bringing it to the simmer before and thickening it with the cornflour.
Chef Mohamed Baz shows off a beautifully set plate of Iced Passion Fruit Chiboust.
