Day 20 Le Cordon Bleu Paris

I am typing this entry during a 4 hour break in the action. I came home to do some laundry and hopefully study a little. As I finish  my 5th sugar coated beignet au pomme, I am beginning to get motivated to study some recipes.

We had a demo followed by a practical today, followed with a 4 hour break (now), and I'll have to go back in at 6:30 p.m. for another 3 hour demo. This morning's demo consisted of 3 dishes prepared by crazy Chef Lesourd. He has a way of jumping around from one recipe to another as he simultaneously prepared all 3. This proved a little challenging for our new translator trainee. It's not her fault. I guess there is no easy way to learn but to throw her to the wolves. I had mentioned last week that the school has a shortage of translators, so finally in French crisis management style, they have decided to hire one. Better too late than never! Poor girl, she stuck in there with a smile the entire time.

The 1st dish was "Trout Flan with Port Wine Sauce". The trout fillets are placed in a Cuisinart along with eggs and salt then blended. It's then worked through a drum sieve, followed by whisking in some milk and cream and chilled. Later it's placed in buttered ramekins and baked. Meanwhile a sauce is made with deglazed shallots, and reduced with port then reduced with veal stock. Additionally, mushrooms are prepared À Blonde. The final product is pictured to the right with some creative assemblage and presentation.

Next the Chef created a "Fresh Fruit Gratin with Sabayon". He made ice cream, a Sabayon, and assembled it with seasonal fruits which happened to be oranges, kiwi and grapefruit. The layered mix was assembled, broiled and then topped with ice cream.

Fresh Fruit Gratin with Sabayon

Finally the Chef demonstrated the dish we would have to make in the upcoming practical which was "Pork Medallions in Charcutiere sauce, potatoes dauphine. We wrapped up the demo and adjourned for lunch.

As usual, everyone scattered at lunch. Some people head to the corner cafe, the smokers hangout outside, some people live close enough to go home, and some stay in the winter garden. I stayed at the Garden in hopes of studying a few recipes for our Thursday written exam. This exam constitutes 10% of the total grade, so proportionally, in my opinion, the amount of hoopla surrounding it does not equate. Never-the-less, I studied for it during the break.

After lunch we met for the pork medallion practical. This proved to be a relatively simple and quick session.

Tasks:
-Trim Pork rack, manchonner the bones, and cut into fillets, season with S&P
-Peel and cook potatoes in water
-dry the cooked potatoes and crank through a rice grinder
-prepare a mix of water, flour, and eggs (Choux pastry) to mix with the ground potatoes
-place this mixture in a pastry bag and drop small dollops of it in a deep fryer (almost like tater tots)
-cook meat in saute pan with oil and set aside
-sweat onions in same pan
-deglaze with white wine, add veal stock, reduce, and strain
-reduce some more and "shine" with butter
-Off heat, add mustard and julienned pickles, add chopped chervil
-Plate
Not bad. I love the flavor of the sauce. I used 1/2 the amount of the mustard they wanted in the recipe.

My pork Medallion

So, the entry brings me to now. I will not write about tonight's demo since I will be getting home late and we have an early session tomorrow. Bonsoir!

(late entries from demo)

Chicken Saute with Tarragon & Italian

style vegetables

Parisian Style Gnocchi

with Cheese

Apples with Meringue and Raspberry Juice

The late night demo was a cap to a long day with the above 3 dishes presented by Chef Bruno. I guess we tend to forget that it's also long days for the Chefs. At one point the Chef lost his composure a bit when he was peppered with lots questions while he was in the middle of lots of simultaneous tasks. But he regained his composure and the demo went on smoothly. We'll have to prepare the tarragon dish tomorrow morning.