Demo 28 & 29 on Saturday from 8.00 - 15.30....

Saturday – 2 demo’s ! Are they mad at Le Cordon Bleu? The first one started at 8.30... and after an hour’s break, we had the second one at 12.30 until 15.30.

It was quite a difficult morning in class because my neighbours, opposite my apartment, had a party until 5 ‘o clock this morning. Students...

Today, it was chef Philippe Clergue’s last demo. The final one, number 30, next week on Wednesday, will be given by chef Terrien.

Well, today’s recipes were:

Lesson 28, starter crabmeat in jelly with (molecular gastronomy style) pea pearls. For mains chef made filet de boeuf en gratin gourmand, aux champignons, croquettes de pommes de terre, asperges vertes et blanches au beurre – in short: beef with asparagus! And for dessert he made Tonka Bean panna cotta with cherries.

The most interesting bit was the molecular ‘cooking’, the pea pearls. Chef used Algin and Calcic to make these. Algin comes from brown algae and it can do magic tricks in/with water. Calcic is needed to perform a trick to make droplets; check out this link for making mango droplets; chef did the same with peas;

It was hot in class today; And everybody looked tired. I guess we all showed up just for some possible exam info....

Lesson 29;

·         Langoustine consommé with veggies

·         Semi-wild duckling with a parmentier

·         Watermelon jelly with melon, mint and Sauternes wine cocktail.

Not bad, not special. Allthough the consommé was nice, until chef put gelatine in it. What a waste of a nice soup, but he wanted to make a jelly, so you actually need to use the stuff. Today we got some ideas about plating dishes again, making a good pea puree and making a good potato puree. Exam stuff...

I went home knackered, did some shopping on the way (artichokes, fruit and wine) and fell asleep when I got home. At 7 ‘o clock I started to prepare the rabbit legs that I took home from school yesterday. Just finished dinner; not bad...

Tomorrow, I’ll be going to the market and buy some fish to practice for the exam. I’ll keep you posted!

Sjoerd

Normal weekday with homard, foie gras, a 'light' tiramisu and a loooooong needle.

Indeed, it's one of those normal weekdays.... Chef Franck Poupard is in charge today. We started kind of late because first we received some information about the 'stage', internship that is, we can do after our superior program. We got a list of mainly Parisian posh places where we can go to. I don't think I'll apply to any of these, but I'll look into it some day this week.

Anyway, chef started late and finished very late. He also blamed it on 'silly Peruvian' questions.... and he gave us a lecture on 'NOT being on time in class'; There are too many students already losing too many points. (You are allowed 6 absences; some are on 4 already!). Chef explained the consequences of all of this in detail... and he was quite right actually. With 53 people in class it's pretty full; This is my view on the demo kitchen today.

On the menu today:

starter: A terrine. No tasting today, it's dans le frigo. Chef made a fois gras and oven roasted vegetable terrine. (no picture yet)

mains: Chartreuse de homard aux agrumes confits, jus mousseux. Doesn't that sound great? I'll explain: It actually is a lobster chartreuse with candied orange and lemon with a frotty jus. I liked this dish. But hey, doesn't everybody just loves lobster?

A typical chartreuse.

dessert: A light tiramisu-style mousse with sugared raspberries (with lots of mascarpone that is.... light.... not....)

Chef wasn't really 'sharp' today. Nice guy, but a bit hectic and that showed in the final presentation. But he did produce four desserts. Nice taste, I liked it.



The foie gras (starter dish) was about how to devain a piece of foie. That was quite easy. Assembling the final terrine with all the vegetables was a bit more work, but actually very simple. Further: Cook it in the oven for 40 minutes at 150C, au bain marie (waterbath) and then a few days into the frigo. We'll get a taster next week. It certainly looked good.

Then the live lobster - well, the way chef put that trussing needle up it's arse was just great! Some of us were shocked. This will stay with you forever!

Picture this: You're well alive and kicking and somebody takes a loooooooong needle and choves it straight up your arse... what do you do? you'd freeze! And so did the lobster! The bugger stayed nicely straight and only wiggled it's claws. Actually, that was the only thing left he could move... We finished him off quickly in a nice court bouillon, but just water will also do. What a way to go: Head first into the boiling soup with a needle up your arse!

The end result, after a lot of work (make a mouse, cut/blanch veggie's, make jus from the carcass, blanch spinach, make candid orange and lemon), was OK.

Great taste, shitty plating. Tomorrow early morning 8.46 hrs, after boiling the water first, we have to put 'a big prick up the arse' ourselves.
Oh yeah! Have a good night....
To be continued.

1st day at 'school'. The schedule, demo and practical.

Bonjour à tous!
Today we started our first superior demo at 12.30. Class was full with 53 people in 5 groups. There is one group of 13...  (but they're always in the 'grand salle' practical kitchen)
I'm in group B, together with Raffaele, who was also in intermediate cuisine when I was there last November/December. Actually, I was a bit nervous today. I arrived at school around 11 am, after I already had my daily stop at the local cafe for the usual espresso. It was busy in the school with all the new people, so I quickly found myself a good locker (or two) for my stuff.

The demo: Chef 'terroriste' Terrien was in charge.
After the introductions, hand-outs, schedule and 'recipes', chef explained his rules in demo. No walking around/leaving class, he will notice and punish you in practical, bring in coffee/beer/wine/rum before class - that's OK - don't even think about getting that during his demo. No talking during a demo. Lots of bla,bla, but we got the picture. By the way, 'terroriste' is chef T's favourite word. He is using that all the time: When you ruin a dish, when you're cutting wrongly, etc etc. Deborah was translating today.

So, today's menu was about couscous, shrimps, cauliflower and broccoli (Tabouleh), a nice summer dish, then John Dory, some rice, mango and papaya and for dessert baked banana's in its skin with banana sorbet with a hibiscus and rum sauce.

Actually, I kind of liked all of it - I'm sure I'll make all of these dishes at home. And guess what: you can be late in class or you can be LATE ! But showing up 10 minutes before the end of a demo.... some will never learn.

Straight after the demo we went into the practical; And yes, we ended up filleting fish and chopping up bones already. I liked my end-product, but some little (French? unknown, still don't know her name) chef gave me lots of comments and said 'très bien' in the end. Yeah right!

Raffaele plating the fish and rice.

When we started the practical everybody was kind of nervous or tense, but that changed during the lesson. at least we all smiled when it was over.... I think....

We also received our schedule for the coming months; more about that later!
Just had dinner at home; my leftover John Dory fillets with rice and sauce (not too much butter!!!) And I took all the trimmings of the papaya and mango home - nice breakfast for tomorrow morning. Next class is at 12.30 - 'just' a demo.
See you all back tomorrow,
Sjoerd
(pictures are not he best yet, I'm still playing with the camera to adjust some settings like white balance etc. and I still don't get it.)

1st class today; demo + practical et une petite bière..

1st class etc etc... more to follow later; just got in - a shower first please!