Friday, November 25, 2016
Nemacolin chef creates life-size gingerbread house
TribLIVE: The sweet, gingery scent wafting across the lobby of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort's Chateau LaFayette is enough to make a mouth water and a stomach rumble.
Visitors follow their noses to a vision of a walk-in bakery built from gingerbread, icing and candy.
The pastry team at the Fayette County resort, near Farmington, has for years constructed holiday houses, a train, even a castle out of gingerbread.
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What a zany thing to do. It seems crazy and unnecessary, but I guess life would get pretty boring if we didn’t do outlandish stuff like this. I appreciate how they actually use frosting to stick the cookies and things onto the structure, rather than a more industrial adhesive. I can only imagine how strong the ginger-bread smell would be once inside, and I think it’s cool that for their fifth creation they made a gingerbread house you could enter! I think if I went to see one of their first 4, I’d definitely want to go inside. When I first started reading the article I was wondering how they would have found an oven big enough to bake these huge sheets of gingerbread, but then realized that they were using smaller bricks instead. This is a really smart idea because it also allows them to use less gingerbread and fill the spaces with frosting, which saves costs since frosting is very cheap. There of course will always be that nagging feeling of “oh, this seems so wasteful” but honestly this is something done in good fun and if it brings joy to a lot of people coming through the hotel then I’d say it’s worth it. I think it’s impressive how many people they have working on this project – an “11 person pastry staff” (which in itself sounds funny), but I guess you need that many people if you want to build this thing in a week. I wonder if the gingerbread will still smell as strong a month from now when Christmas actually rolls around... Regardless, reading this article has definitely made me very hungry for some gingerbread cookies!
I love this!!! Both the artistry and work that went into this amazing gingerbread house is astounding! Gingerbread houses are a classic staple of this time of year, and I would love to be able to walk inside of one. I can’t imagine the amount of planning it takes to build something like this. Gingerbread cookie is not nearly as strong as wood or other building material; I wonder how it doesn't just crumble in on itself. The article mentions how they partner with a carpentry shop. It would be interesting to learn more how the house was actually built.However it’s built, it is a great idea! This is a great idea publicity-wise as well. I am sure the bakery gets an upsurge of sales because of the amazing creation they all have worked so hard to make and showcase. It really makes my want to go and decorate my own gingerbread house, or maybe just eat one...
It amazes me that someone actually found the funding to do this. To me it is an absolute dream come true. Who wouldn’t want to live inside of a cookie?! I agree with Scott, if we didn’t find things like this in the world we would be so bored. How could we not have these outlandish spectacles? I have seen large versions of gingerbread houses before but I have never seen one in person let alone been inside of one. The specific details that went into making this are absurd! It never ceases to amaze me how talented some people are. Who knew what icing could do? People that are passing b will never understand how much time it took to place every single peppermint on that archway. It amazes me how much work people are willing to do without getting a hint of recognition or award. Good for them.
Next stop… The North Pole. This is what this project reminds me of. All in all, a very cool project that would be any bakers dream. I think the fascinating thing for me is making it have the structural stability to stand on its own. I don’t think your old run of the mill ginger beard is going to have the capability of supporting itself. As much as this is a baker’s paradise it is also a technical directors dream. The challenges that arose throughout this project must have been completely unique to the project. What climate had to be kept in order to prevent it from melting or what would happen to the materials as they aged. Although I don’t think I will be venturing out to Farmington to check out this structure I wish I could see the edible house for myself. I hope that other customers have the ability to take in the wonders of Christmas through the work of these bakers. Keep it up and keep the sweats coming.
Last night my sister turned to me and showed me a kid's playhouse made of cardboard to look like a gingerbread house. My brother-in-law and I were disappointed it was not made of real gingerbread. We told my sister as much, and she responded: "Well, you'd have to have a really big oven."
I guess Mr. Tenant found an oven big enough. I suppose I will never know what it's like to have a brain that sees the world through pastry, much less one that decides it wants and needs to use its gingerbread skills to build and entire house or train or pretty much anything larger than 12"x12" large. However, I don't suppose Mr. Tenant will ever know what it's like to have a brain that decides to make clothing for fictional characters to wear before a live audience for a living. It would seem we both have found purposes beyond the understanding of many.That being said, they are both purposes which hinge on the deconstruction of the impossible, the unmaking of ideas that say what makes sense and what doesn't. And thank goodness people like Mr. Tenant exist - maybe because they do, theatre has begun to seem a little less crazy of a career path.
I wouldn’t say that I am a gingerbread house making expert, but I did make one once. I think the thing I do most often during the holidays is explain to family and friends what I am in school to do. I explain that it is not set design, its not just construction, there is a whole world of work from taking a picture or drawing and turning it into a real life thing. I explain that what I learn is focused around theater, but can be applied to any themed environments and pretty much anything that is cool. This is a perfect example. Although a technical director did not manage this project, it is completely something that a TD could do, and I am sure has done. I think this is a perfect example of a TDs project because it is something that is different, does not already exist, and people are amazed by. This is the type of project I would want to tell my family and friends I will be a part of.
The one thing I've never understood about gingerbread houses is the using of frosting for glue. I mean, nobody except for the cats eat the houses after they've sat out from Thanksgiving to Christmas. And glue would work so much better yet everyone is determined to use frosting. Even on a small scale frosting can be ever so frustrating so I wonder how long it took to make cement out of frosting. Or on another topic when the entire room is coated in edible products how do they maintain the ant/bug problems. For there previous smaller scale projects they could probably ring around them with bug repelent but when the entire room, wall to wall to ceiling is sugary is there any good way to prevent bugs. How does an entire room of sugar even pass health inspections?
Building an actual life-size house out of ginger bread with candy decorations requires careful design and skill because these are not construction materials. Without some basic skeleton structures inside, the house wouldn’t hold up. And this is a lot of work - 11 people toiling nightly over a week!
For some weird reasons, this actually reminds me of the cottage built of bread cakes and candies that lured Hansel and Gretel to a bloodthirsty witch. Candy house always seems spooky and creepy to me. But I would imagine this to be a fantastic attraction to numerous kids as it is the dream of many to see or play or even live in a candy/ginger bread house with every part edible. Every time I see something like this, a chocolate house, a cake boat, a candy castle or what have you, I start to wonder whether they are only up for display or they will be eaten eventually by someone. If they plan to exhibit it for a long time, then I figure there may be preservative sprayed across the piece to prevent rot? I never know where those “edible” houses end up. Wouldn’t it be interesting to invite a bunch of kids to eat the house? That way the kids have fun, and the food are not wasted at the end of the day.
These photos reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is very cool, but I can't help but think about when it will crumble/melt/fall apart as well as other practicalities of this gingerbread house. There are "fingerprints in the piping" and "candies missing and they haven't fallen onto the floor". Is the gingerbread house sanitary for people to eat after sitting in public with visitors walking through and touching it? What if a visitor breaks the entire house by taking a single piece of candy/cookie? Will it go bad? Once the display is over, are all the gingerbread cookies going to be eaten or thrown away? Nevertheless, this is still a really cool project that took a lot of skill and effort and I would definitely visit if there was one near me. Now that they've made a life sized gingerbread house, I wonder what they will make next.
Like Scott, I like that they used real frosting for this instead of some kind of industrial adhesive. To me it adds to gingerbread house experience and, after all, if you’re already building a life sized ginger bread house you might as well go all the way and make it the same way you would a smaller one. In the same vein I’m curious to know how much wood framing they used. The article mentioned that the floor was wooden, but it also sounded like the carpenters were given information about more than just the floor. Was the house build on a frame wood and so the ginger bread is really more like a decorative covering, or is the ginger bread actually acting as the structure of the house itself? Either one would be cool, the second is just a little more impressive (although almost certainly much harder and potentially impossible).
I too will join the crowd of people happy that they used real frosting instead of glue, however I am mildly disappointed that the house has a wooden skeleton that the gingerbread is tiled on top of. While I realize that making a full size house entirely out of edible materials sounds impractical, I am not convinced that it is impossible as Noah suggests. I think it would be a very interesting structures project to make engineered cookie products that hold up to the loads needed to build a structure like this. I think with candy truss and other structurally beneficial shapes it might be possible. I am reminded of the straw project freshman year for Kevin in Basic PTM. While an individual straw is easily bendable, and in no way would anyone consider it structural, combine them carefully like Chris did and you get a "space frame" that can easily support the weight of one or two people.
This sounds like a fantastic project for the future. Frankly, I think that CMU does not provide nearly enough strange engineering projects. Like Joe, I would gratefully accept the task of engineering and building a structurally sound life-size gingerbread house. It seems like a great way to kick off the season and practice creative problem solving in an area which few of us are comfortable in (I am referring to cooking). I am elated that Tennant builds his house almost entirely out of edible products. I am however, disappointed that the house gets eaten. It seems to be a shame that the public doesn't have enough respect for the work to not take candy off the walls or steal a finger of icing. What type of person eats another persons's art while it's on display and doesn't clearly indicate that you should eat it. The author of the article and the chef both seemed to be okay with these occurrences, but, to me, it just seems wildly disrespectful. It's also just kind of gross. You don't know how long something has been siting out for, why would you eat it?
Ever since I was a small child, my family had made gingerbread houses, and it is by far on of my favorite holiday activities, because of how fun I think the structural component to building them is. Just like my family, I am pleased that they used actual frosting instead of caving and using glue. The hardest and most fun part of building a gingerbread house in my opinion is trying to work around the difficulty that is using frosting as a structural component. While I am disappointed that people choose to steal candy from the outside of the house, and it makes me sad to think about all the hard work they must have put in to have it just be eaten by passersby, I am called back to my childhood, and I remember doing the same thing to both my gingerbread house and my sister's as well. While I wish they had tried another method before resorting to using a wooden skeleton inside the gingerbread house, I understand the reasons for which they did it, and I can still admire the work that went into something so grand.
This is great. I wonder how much weight it can hold. This idea has a lot of potential. Imagine what a whole gingerbread complex would look like. Maybe his bakery doesn't have the funding to do that, but I like the idea. Tennant seems like a really nice guy, and I'm sure this house attracts plenty of customers during the already busy holiday season. It's a pretty great marketing strategy. People walk up, smell the gingerbread, then they purchase something from the bakery. Hopefully Tennant will try an even larger house next year. With a team of 10 carpenters, there's a ton of possibilities for Tennant to explore. I agree with Lauren in that we should make one here at CMU. Sounds like a fun holiday project. We can put it on a turntable and make it snow powdered sugar, too, just for fun. I'm interested to see what Tennant creates next year.
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