Tuesday, July 15

Fiona and I started at 8 AM. I was able to roll out all the croissants on the sheeter, sticking just to my little corner and keeping the dough sheetpans on top of the electrical controlbox, located to the left of the walk-in. By 10 AM, I had made three versions of the pastry cream (control, WPC-34, WPC-80), and I have rolled out all the croissants and proofed them. They went into the oven at 10 AM. As they baked, Fiona and our assistant filled the doughnuts. The filling for the WPC80 version was a brilliant orange, due to my heavyhandedness with the yellow food color.

I, meanwhile, started making the cake--control and WPC-80. I needed some sort of berry jam to spread on the cake, a very thin Swiss Roll. Our assistant found 20-some teeny jars of unknown berry jam, and he proceeded to empty them all using the tip of a knife to scrape them out. I divided the jam into two portions and spread it onto the two cakes, then rolled them up tightly.

The day before, Shirley had purchased some plastic cups. I made both versions of strawberry mousse (actually, a mixed berry mousse from a large bucket found in the walk-in), one control and the other WPC80. Our assistant lined the cups with slices of the cake and dropped in blops of mousse. I made some chocolate grille (a grill made by piping chocolate every which way, allowed to set, then broken into bits) and we put them together.

At 1 PM, I hurried back upstairs, changed into my suit, and rushed down to the ballroom. It occurred to me that we didn't have a refrigerator onstage, which would make it impossible to set the chocolate up in the molds. A member of the hotel staff rushed off to garner one of those wimpy cold-bar refrigerators.

We kicked the thing off at 1:45. The room was completely filled with attendees. Shirley started by giving a 5-minute presentation about USDEC and about whey sales. From 1:50 PM until 3 PM, I spoke about the following topics:

Introduction
Why use whey?
What is whey?
Functional properties of whey
Nutritional aspects of whey products

We stopped for a coffee/tea break. I rushed down to the kitchen to get the ganache out of the refrigerator. I had left it there to harden. I set it out at room temperature and then proceeded with the talk at around 3:20 PM. The second half of the talk consisted of these topics:

Specific examples of functional properties of whey
Comparison of the five breads, pastries and desserts
Chocolate demo

For about 40 minutes, we tasted each of the samples, which had been displayed on plates at each table. I would give some general comments about the product, then go into how whey might impact appearance, texture, and flavor. Then I would ask them to consider whether the differences between versions--control (with whole milk powder), WPC34, or WPC80/lactose--were significantly different. I would then mention that WMP (whole milk powder) costs about $4,000 per MT and that WPC34 costs only $1700. My next question was, "Why continue to use a product that costs so much when you can make an equivalent bread or pastry with a less expensive and more nutritious ingredient?"

This is really the foundation of my sales schtick. The vast majority of SMPs and WMPs (skim milk powders and whole milk powders) sold in the Far East are non-American (New Zealand, European, Indian), so this is an opportunity for American products to compete.

At about 4 PM, I started the chocolate demo. Just as I started, it occurred to me that I didn't have any way to wash my hands! I started with the truffles, which involved scooping the ganache into balls and rolling them in cocoa powder. Stupidly, I had not thought of how to clean my hands, so I was obliged to wipe them on paper towels, of which I had plenty. I quickly rolled the truffles in chocolate and decorated them, then proceeded to demonstrate how to mold chocolate and how to make green tea filled chocolate leaves.

Two members of the Washington DC USDEC office had arrived during my talk, including Matt McKnight with whom I had spent several days baking in the Cairo Sheraton last November. After my talk, Matt, Charles, Dan, and I spent an hour drinking beer and talking. Matt and Charles were at the beginning of an Asian tour, talking with various dairy chemists at universities in China, Japan, and Korea.

Afterwards, we went out to a restaurant. The most memorable dish was cooked pork jowl--moist and tender and very flavorful.