Over the last few days we had a few different chefs in the practical classes; Clergue, Terrien, Poupard, Cotte and Lesourd.
All have their own style of teaching and supervising, but I must say, they all help you out with small tips or they even do 'hands-on' work when you're plating the dish in the end.
They also comment on your cooking (style) or final result. Sometimes they don't say that much, apart from 'très bien' , or something like that, but sometimes they are a bit more, let's say, 'expressive'.
Chef Cotte the other day: 'Maintenow, mes amis, you can begin with cuttink yeur vegeta-bu-lus'. (thick accent!)
Cotte again when tasting Meredith's dish: 'Carefuul, I am not Roger Rabbiet' , when he thought the carrots needed a bit more cooking...
Lesourd is in a different league; He talks about rubbing the spicy into the meat. Oh yeah! Of course he means the spices, but it's funny when you hear him say 'ze spicy'.
After adding ze spicy, he commented on a dish: 'Watch out, zis is not a Tex Mex', when somebody might have added a few too many 'spicy'... It's funny.
Clerque always starts with his standard phrase: 'Bonjour, tous le Monde!'
Terrien makes fun of other chefs, and often comments in a strange/funny voice: 'Oui, mon chef, c'est bien mon chef'. Thivet is chef 'petite histoire'.
And one of the daily rituals is that a certain chef always sticks his head around the corner in EVERY demo and practical (where he's not supposed to be - he's never our chef!), just to get some attention....
And I must say, all the chefs speak English these days. One better than the other, but they do understand you and (try) to talk back in Franglais. It's great! I just love being here.
Dhal Makhani with homegrown beans
8 years ago
