Flying toques! Graduated !

Et après, un petit peut de champagne...

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

La petite chef - not bad at all.

The mini chef;

She's good, has a good pallet, she's only little - even with her chefs hat on - she's nice and she gives super feedback during the practicals. And she's the only female chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and certainly the youngest. She speaks French with us and sometimes a little bit of English. We call her a guest chef.

'La Petite' doesn't give demos, that's only for the Cordon Bleu staff. She's Korean and has done the Grand Diplome, did some other culinary stuff in Paris and worked for chef Robuchon (2* Michelin) - so she must be really good...

Yes, I do like her in the practicals; Especially the feedback she gives us. She sometimes stares at a plate for a minute or so, then wipes it completely clean and starts plating herself in a different way - just to give you some ideas. Wonderful ! I still write 'she', because nobody knows her name... even after all these months...

Making fun of Ms.'sweet sweet' David...

(pictures from Will's blog - check it out! )

Jayne still stuck in Ireland; no visit ! yet...flight cancelled again.

Jayne is still stuck in Ireland due to the Icelandic volcanic eruptions. (click on the link for a video!) Actually, most of the airports in western Europe are still closed down due to the ashes in the air.

Jayne is booked on Tuesday's afternoon flight to Paris now - l hope she can make it, I miss her! She's already stuck in Ireland since last Thursday, when she was supposed to fly to Paris... We'll see what happens in the next few days.

Update, Monday evening: It looks good... it seems that flights are going again tomorrow! The flight Cork - CdG (Paris) is still  'on time'.
Update, Tuesday afternoon: All flights from Ireland cancelled again. No Jayne in Paris! Tomorrow's flight to Paris is fully booked and Jayne is now on the late afternoon flight to Amsterdam tomorrow (the last seat!). This time it will work out perfectly to get back to mainland Europe, I'm sure. I guess...

To fly or not to fly - Iceland's revenche ?

To fly or not to fly... that's the question; Jayne's in Ireland at the moment and she was supposed to be on the Aer Lingus flight to Paris today, but.... due to overnight volcanic activity in Iceland, extensive flight disruptions are being experienced today throughout the UK and Ireland. So no Jayne in Paris today! %^*$! She has been booked on tomorrow's flight now (if it actually goes..).
And some people don't like these flight cancellations at all; click on this weblink. Well,  he's Scottish...

Some volcano news: click HERE.

Iceland - nice country - IceSave - bad management - money - volcano - no money - more volcano's - UK loan - Dutch loan - high interest rate - referendum - government Iceland gone - some Icelandic people blame UK and NL - eruption - lava - ash - more eruptions - no flights western Europe - no Jayne = Icelandic revenche !

Hopefully, Jayne will be here tomorrow, right after I had my first exam, the atelier that is all about squab, salmon and shrimp. A demain!
Sjoerd

Ze French - Those little things in class...

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.

Atelier (workshop) coming up and a challenge for YOU !

Next week, on Friday, we have lesson 13; A so called 'atelier', where you just get some ingredients and you have to come with 2 identical starters and 2 main courses. It's an exercise for the grand final, where we have to produce 4 plates of each....

Let me explain the rules of the workshop a bit; yes, there are rules! We have to use certain ingredients like squab, salmon, shrimps, peas, pearl onions, mushrooms and a red bell pepper. On top of that we have some more things available that you CAN use.
Please have a look at the ingredients list.

QUESTION: WHO OF YOU READERS CAN COME UP WITH A FEW NICE SUGGESTIONS WITHIN 2 DAYS ???

(email : sjoerd.servaas@hetnet.nl)

Hint: keep it simple and use the ingredients on the list. Some additional information; we have 6 hours to prep, make and serve it. Peas are fresh. Garnish: two simple ones (just veggies on a plate) and one composed (a combi of vegetables). We have to make a stuffing, a cold sauce for the starter and a jus or sauce for the main course.
Of course I have many ides at the moment - too many! and that's exactly the problem....

I will guarantee you, you'll have a very bad night's sleep over this one. I haven't done this before, well, I've made some menus at home together with Jayne, but this one....

     PLEASE, SURPRISE ME !

Sjoerd

pictures of the week and recipe update

I'm a bit behind with my blogging and publishing of the dishes we made. First things first: I like superior cuisine class a lot ! It's just great. So far, I think I'll make all the recipes again; at home, for somebody else etc. Maybe with a few small adjustments, but I do like like it a lot so far.
Please let me give you an update of the week;

1. the class idiots; you remember those two ? They are quiet. Maybe chef said something to them or they might have read my blog post... I don't know. The 'big one' is still asking stupid questions and she's still filming chef's demonstrations; every day...
2. (pictures of) this week's menu; sea bream/squid/risotto practical on Tuesday evening, demo first, (Wednesday we had the day off), on Thursday the flying rat (demo and practical), Friday - fish again, also a demo and a practical (red mullet with potato scales and artichokes) and on Saturday early afternoon a demo on lamb shanks. In one word: Nice !

Tuesday; Tasting of the fois gras terrine chef made last week (not bad!), dorade poêlée, encornets farcis au risotto de langoustines et coriandre, and for dessert a lemon grass cream with a citrus jelly and a rhubarb crips. Nice! And sweet....

The sea bream was the evening practical.


Wednesday, nothing to report... That is, I forgot what I did on this day.

Thursday; Lesson 8. Franck Poupard in the lead. Shortbread with crab, lime and lemon balm with a green mango and lemon grass sauce (don't remember this one, sorry), flying rat wrapped in cabbage (pffffrrrrrttttt - yes, that was a fart! it's the red meat and the cabbage again, sorry. It still sounds and smells like during those cabbage classes in Intermediate cuisine last year.) with a tartelettes de champignons mélangés and for dessert a coconut meringue with a yoghurt sorbet, blackberries and a parsley coulis. Right.

Of course the pigeon was the corresponding practical - and served pink. Bugger. Pink. And not overcooked! Mine was borderline.

Starter of crab, something with shortbread, dried ham, a sauce and other stuff.

Pigeon, served pink, with mushrooms. That creapy thing on the plate, in the top right corner. is a stuffed leg. Horrible tough piece of meat. It looks like a thing from the Harry Potter movie !

And a meringue dessert. A bit messy, but it had a nice taste to it. I think. The pictures are from Meredith - thank you! I forgot my camera today.

Friday; Chef Clergue- - 'Bonjour tous le Monde ! ' He made a courgette blossom with langoustines, red mullet with spud-scales and an orange beurre (blanc) = LOADS of butter and for dessert candied tomato stuffed with red berries and a lavender shortbread.

2x Langoustines picture, a red mullet and tomato shortbread.

The practical was the red mullet with the potato scales. A bit of therapy! We used the mandolin, a Japanese one - the most dangerous there is, and we all survived. First you peel a potato, then you use an apple corer to drill through the spud and finally you slice the small cilinder over a mandolin to get really really thin slices and stick them on a fish. As I said, therapy.Will I buy a mandolin ... not sure yet.

Chef Xavier Cotte in charge during our practical. He was in a good mood today (yesterday he wasn't - he had quite an argument with somebody in another class next door to ours) and joking around as usual. Al in all, a good lesson. Easy fishdish, although I didn't brown my 'scales' (potato slices) enough. Raffaele called my dish 'shitty'- thank you very much. In a way he was right, I could have done better... next time. Maybe.

My dish...., sauce good (but needs more salt, I don't agree), the fish should have been more browned and NEVER ever pour the butter sauce over an artichoke - always use the jus where it's made in. Yes, I'm an idiot, according to chef X.C. Merci to you too!

Saturday; well, that's tomorrow's blog post I guess. I've had enough of it today.

A demain,

Sjoerd

On the menu today: flying rats and foie gras! lots of foie gras...

Today's demo at 8.30 (after coffee in the cafe, drunk guy, 2 beers, etc - well you get it, the usual), we started off with a meringue based dessert, a starter I can't remember and finally - a flying rat ! A what? Yes, the pest of our lives, the thing that shits everywhere, that spreads uncontrollable diseases and that lives all over the planet! Even next to my bedroom window in Paris. What, what, what is it? It's a ^&;?;a;%^$# pigeon!

It's also one of those things that is quite bloody when you have to prepare it. There's not much meat, just two breasts and the two legs. The rest is for the jusor sauce . And they are expensive; Around 10 euros a piece. And that for a flying rat!

Chef Franck P. in the lead today. A bit chaotic again, so we predicted a late finish, and how right we were. We are all paying attention today; the beast is used in our 'atelier', or workshop next week. More about that later.
I'll tell you more tomorrow about how to prepare these buggers, I'm tired and will go to bed soon. No pictures yet, I forgot my camera today, so I'll ask others for a few snapshots.
Before I forget, we used a lot of foie gras in the stuffing and on the plate today. And truffles. And guess only once where the leftover foie gras, truffles and 5 chicken breasts went..... yes, into my fridge! Thank you chef P.
I'll make something really nice with it. Any ideas from my blog readers?
(terrine, or....)
I'll be back tomorrow,
have a good night, Sjoerd

Les chefs de cuisine supérieur /höher / superior / superiore / superieur

Bonjour/Bonsoir mes ami(e)s,
In our superior cuisine class, we generally have two chefs who do all the demos. Chef Philippe Clergue and chef Patrick Terrien. Occasionally, chef Franck Poupard takes over. In the practicals, there's a variety of chefs showing up; Even 'guestchefs' whose names I don't even know.

Let me give you a bit of background on this team; All of them are French, mais bien sûr!
I'll start with chef Patrick Terrien - he works for Le Cordon Bleu since 1989, he owned a * Michelin star restaurant in Tours, but that's a while ago. He also worked quite a bit abroad.
Chef likes to make fun of other chefs.... 'oui, mon chef'..... Dedicated indeed.

Then there is chef Philippe Clergue. He's from the Pyrenees region. His career started in a 2* Michelin restaurant. He also worked in the Elysee Palace (Ze  President), and he worked in numerous * Michelin star restaurants.

He also owned his own restaurant in the Beaunne rgion for 15 years. Here, he also gave cooking lessons. Chef Clergue is with Le Cordon Bleu since 2006.

Great chef, very dedicated, precise, funny and a wine lover. He ALWAYS gives wine tips during a demo. And he loves applause! 

And last but certainly not least, chef Franck Poupard. Chef is from Normandy and is with Le Cordon Bleu since 2007. He worked in a few *Michelin star places. He also was a chef for the French Olympic team in 1992 in Barcelona. In winter he used to work in the ski regions and in the summer in Corsica. He was a 'fusion chef' in Geneva, Switzerland and in 2003/2004 he worked in London at Harrods, 'Le Georgian'. He can 'roll his eyes' like nobody else, and he smiles a lot. You can also call hin 'monsieur foie gras'.

And who's this? Is this a guest chef? He even has his own Facebook page... check him

out quickly!

Dinner alone with 2 friends; I'm a murderer!

Killed twice today... sorry. I thanked the lobster for a hopefully happy life and stuck the metal pin up its behind. The boiling water was ready and I finished him/her off quickly. Good job, I think.
There are two ways to kill the lobster straight away; Like I described above (and in an earlier blogpost), and there is a more human way. Well, the end result is the same; Cooked meat... This second option is just to tie two lobsters together and throw them in a bigger pan with boiling water. Nice solution for a minor problem.

It wasn't a really difficult practical. Only in the end, there was a bit of pressure - put the chartreuses in the oven over a waterbath, blanch spinach quickly, reduce the sauce, make lecitin in soymilk to thicken the sauce, whisk whisk whisk, and make a frotty sauce, whisk more, then put the plate  in the oven to warm it up and check chartreuses. Un-mould the stuff and plate-up quickly while it's still warm.... Where's chef ???? Busy judging other people's plates... hurry,hurry...

today's creation!

I was very happy with the suace (so was chef), spinach and farce. The only problem was the shitty design of my chartreuse. I ran out of pre-cooked carrot slices, so my chartreuse looked a bit scruffy. Sorry, I'll do better in presentation skills next time.

Raffaele had a good chartreuse I think, but a lousy sauce....

Tonight's dinner will be a nicely cooked lobster chartreuse (or two) with spinach, lobster pieces AND...... an extra lobster.

So, I'll be having two of my lobster friends TO EAT. Wonderful. By the way, I asked chef nicely for it. There was a leftover lobster because somebody didn't show-up today in class. At school, I wrapped it in clingfilm and took  it home safely... hi, hi, he's going to die very soon...

15.00 hrs; I just cooked/killed lobster #2. Reserved the meat and made a bouillon from the bones/carcass. I'll  use that jus for the risotto in combination with my homemade vegetable stock (no Maggi cube in this place!!) Should be a great dinner! Mark M. where are you? Help me out eating some good LCB food here. (picture: tonight's dinner)

Bon appetit to you too!

A demain, Sjoerd

Great guy

What can you say? He's a great guy and he just loves to eat!
I think that's probably the only reason why he's at the school..... and he's NEVER late for class.... Mr. Wen Bo C. from China.
And he giggles when he's eating.... as I said, great guy.
(click on the links and scroll down.)

class photo - I was on time!

After Chef P's belated demo, we went straigt to the local cafe on the corner. Some for coffee, some for beer.
Suddenly, somebody said that our classphoto would be taken at 12 o'clock - so we sort of ran back to school. Just in time...

Here are a few of my classmates looking at the fat man during the set-up for the picture;

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.

Jayne going home, sushi and sweetbreads/quail practical

Today, Jayne went back to Amsterdam. Yes I know, somebody has to make some money; I understand who the breadwinner is at the moment! We went to the Gare du Nord together and I dropped Jayne off at the Thalys. It was a very easy-going trip for her; Paris-Amsterdam in 3.15 hrs. That's just great.

After I left the railway station, I walked around the city centre a bit and then I took the metro to Vaugirard, near the school. It was lunchtime, so I decided to have some sushi. I had a nice lunch with miso soup, a salad and 12 maki (with lots of wasabi) for only 8.80 euro (menu N) - no beer or wine yet...

Then to school, to do the quail and sweetcrap practical.

I cleaned the bird, chopped off its head, legs, toes,wings and tore the liver,lungs and heart out. Then I cut off the breast, and trimmed the meat before I schredded the carcass completely with my cleaver. What a great way to start a cooking session!

The end-result wasn't too bad. I actually took the leftovers (a whole pie) home and just had it for dinner with a glass of white wine. According to chef Clergue, that should have been a full bodied red wine, but who cares.....!?

My dish.

See you all tomorrow! Sj

(And I cut myself twice today; new knife....)

Smell of fried sweetbreads at 9 a.m., Kirsch dessert and smoked eel

Bonjour! Did you all have un bonne weekend?
Today, Monday that is, is a semi-free day. Only one early morning demonstration by chef Clergue.

The picture is taken from one of the TV screen in class;
We have quite a big group with 53 (minus those that are ALWAYS late or absent...). So there is a lot of work to do for the assistant of today, Priska; Helping chef, chopping,chopping,chopping and setting up the plates (53x3) for the tasters. Thanks P! for all the work!

I thought I was looking forward to it, but have a look at today's menu; Keep in mind that it's only 8.30....

starter: smoked eel, smoked salmon and smoked trout with a beetroot mousse and a sauce made from the (smoked) skin of the eel and all the leftover fish-trimmings... LCB calls it 'smoked surf and turf duo', or 'mariage terre et mer en composition fumée'. Now that sounds a lot different! Maybe even better.

For mains, chef made quail with veal sweetbread pastries with shit-aches, I mean shiitake, mushrooms and a peppery jus.

dessert; Frozen chocolate nougat with sour cherry coulis.

Well, let me tell you this; Personally, I'm not that keen on sweetbreads (tasteless funny waste product), but the smell of fried sweetbreads early in the morning, right after a nice breakfast, is just too much.
Then the carcasses of the quails were shredded to the smallest ever possible, leaving the breasts (to eat) and the legs (to make a forcemeat).
Livers and heart were used in the forcemeat. And it's still so early....In the meantime chef also gave us a few tasters; Like the (dessert) sour cherries in kirsch... now that's nice early morning start!! Reminds me of my skiing holidays... Some of us were not that keen on the alcohol shot at this time in the morning.... ha,ha!

Chef ran late today, big time. Not that we really cared actually. Philippe is a super chef and we take it as it comes. That's different with other chefs, like last year in intermediate...
Finally breakfast arrived; a cold fish dish for a starter (smoked), then pastries stuffed with quails and sweetbreed and for dessert a (too sweet for me) chocolate nougat. All fantastically plated. Time for us to take pictures:

Would I make it again? Well, yes and no. I'll make it all, but probably with a few adjustments. (no sweetbreads, adjust suger contents of dessert if possible)
It was good today. Tomorrow (Tuesday), I'll have the corresponding practical at 15.30 at 'holiday-camp LCB' ! I'll promise to use the sweatbreads, yuk.
à plus tart! - that's the culinary version ... I mean à plus tard! of course...
Sjoerd

Demo #2; frog legs, lamb and fruit dessert - nice!

I liked today's demo; Chef Terrien again. A few more people in class today compared to yesterday... and everybody was sort of on time! Even...

So, for a starter, chef made us frog legs with a garlic puree and a green (herb) jus, for mains we had lamb chops 'mantenon' (don't ask ! I don't know.) with purple potato crisps and green beans wrapped in bacon. And for dessert: fruit minestrone with a tomato cappucino.
It was interesting when somebody from class called chef a 'nice looking rabbit' in a discussion.... chef didn't respond or just didn't get it! Some people...

The starter, the little legs, was quite good, except for the garlic puree, that was a bit too much for me; There's not much meat at all on a frog, so you can actually only use the thighs of kermit. But chef also served it's shins.... From the rest (bones) you make 'just a sauce or jus'.

The small pieces in the green herb-sauce are actually the frog shins..... sad isn't it?

But a very nice presentation.

dead frog bits on garlic puree...

Then our main course; Lamb is always served PINK. Especially in France, and how right they are. This was a great dish, with great taste. Chef made a super jus from the meat trimmings, some veggie's, mushroom leftovers and herb stalks. And truffles!
The purple bits are dried purple potato crisps. really tasty! First you boil these spuds, push it through a drum sieve, add butter (oh yeah!) and make a very very thin layer on a 'sylpat' (or baking parchment) - don't forget the salt and put it in ze oven and let them dry out. Nice! (Click on picture for details)

Le dessert;

Chef made crystallized basil leaves on top.

Le dessert was OK I think. I didn't eat it. Must have been good, but I have to watch my 'super body'....
At least it was healthy; loads of pineapple, strawberry (in season, not!), orange, kiwi and mango. A bit of gelatine was used to make the layer of tomato foam on top of the fruit a bit firmer.
But.............. after demo I ate 3 nice pieces of lamb (chops). Thank you chef!

Tomorrow morning at 8.30 we have our lamb practical. Probably quite a bit of work, but I'm looking forward to it. And on Wednesday Jayne comes over to Paris ! Yippee!!!

A demain, Sjoerd