Day 18 Le Cordon Bleu Paris

I am exhausted and so thankful for the arrival of the weekend. Today was our longest day to date with 4 sessions. We had a demo, 2 practical sessions back-to-back, and another demo! I am wiped out. We finished the day with 22 lessons completed, leaving only 8 demos and practicals. As tired as I feel, I have to savor this time because it will all be over very soon. As most things in life, we tend not to appreciate the moment until it's gone.


The first demo, presented by Chef Poupard, ranked as one of my favorites for its content. We had a guest translator today (who is normally the reception manager) since the school is woefully short on translators! I am amazed that the school operates on such a shoe string despite its world renowned status. I have to say that she did a fantastic job for not being a professional translator!

Chef Poupard announced that he will be away on an assignment until our graduation and this would be his last day working with my class. That's too bad, because his even temperament and patient teaching approach ranks him as one of my favorite Chefs.

The demo covered a Saffroned mussel soup, Sautéed veal with "grand-mere" vegetables, and a Strawberries Italian style with pistachio biscuits. Once again the dessert really won me over (maybe I should have done the pastry course!). The pastry was creatively made using a sweet pastry dough infused with crushed pistachios giving it a light green color. The dough was then rolled out and cut with cookie cutters of various shapes then baked. A filling was made with mascarpone, cream and vanilla extract. Finally it was all put together with fresh strawberries. The construction of the plate below looks involved but was actually rather simple.

Strawberries Italian style with pistachio biscuits

portions for the hungry students

lightly Saffroned mussel soup

After the demo we faced a seemingly herculean task of back-to-back practicals. The first practical was the Grilled tournedos with Hollandaise and pont neuf potatoes. For a simple dish, it seemed like a lot of work. The chef set up a deep fryer and 2 griddles for all of us to use forcing us to pace our flow based on availability of the 2 stations. The ventilation was inadequate and the room quickly filled with the smell of steak frying. It was a collision of the senses Between the smell of steak and the clickity-clack of all the whisks whipping the Hollandaise sauce. The chaotic session finally came to an end. The fillets were actually quite bland despite the salt and pepper. We all desperately miss the "heat" of spicy dishes. Julia is always hunting down the Tabasco to give her food an extra oomph ...after the Chef's inspection of her plate of course. Today was no different. Here are Kelsey, Flavia, and Julia proudly displaying their secret ingredient.

We had a break. Then it was back to the kitchen. The 2nd practical was a recreation of the morning's Veal chop demo. Once again, a simple dish, but lots of tasks occurring simultaneously made this a challenging session.

tasks:

Trim and tie up veal chop
chop up veal trimmings
Brown veal chops and trimmings
prepare pearl onions and glaze
prepare potatoes (turned), blanch, then brown
cut, blanch, and saute salt slab bacon
prep button mushrooms and cook
use meat pan of dried parts, deglaze and make jus
strain jus and reduce with butter
reheat everything and present

Lots going on in another chaotic session. Actually the time passed by quickly because we were so engrossed with the task at hand.  Eduardo and Flavia who were this week's assistants, really rose to the occasion on their final day and delivered the goods. Below is my plate.

It went down hill after that. I think we were all fried and ready to end the day. The thought of any more instruction just seemed impossible to absorb. Deep in the doldrums, there were two successive moments of rapture that uplifted our spirits. First Greg walked in with a cake that he received from one of the dishwashers. Like a bunch of crackheads in need of a fix, we dove in for the desperately  needed sugar high. Here we are celebrating the moment.
Not feeling quite satisfied, Alan ran out to the corner market and bought beers for everyone and we had an impromptu sidewalk party. It was short lived but it served its purpose. We were now ready to face the final demo. Thanks Greg and Alan.

Carbo loading

The final demo is just a blur. I remember odds and ends, my notes look like gibberish, but luckily I had the presence of mind to capture a great picture of Bernie shucking an oyster.


Have a nice weekend everyone!

Bernie...carefully shucking an oyster
under the watchful eye of Chef Lesourd