Anatomy of a Demonstration at Le Cordon Bleu

The demos are unique and unlike any form of instruction I have ever received. A demo is 3 hours in length with no breaks. The Chef has an assistant who helps him with prep, cleaning, and organization. The assistant is usually a student in a higher course or a graduate who receives a break in tuition be assisting (I am not totally clear on this). Also, a translator is present to translate the Chef's French into English. Each demo is used to introduce a particular style or technique conveyed through one or more recipes. For example, 3 lessons are devoted to doughs (simple dough, pasta, shory pastry, puff pastry, etc..) and within each lesson specific recipes exemplify each type of pastry. Thus far, none of the recipes are exceptional or even something I would want to cook for a guest, but the big picture here is that each of these simple recipes serve as a spine from which more complicated and exotic recipes could be developed in the future. These recipes are the foundations.

With that said, LCB uses an interesting technique. They do not give the students recipes!  What? That's right, no recipes. Nor is any literature or text provided for the recipes. All lessons are provided to us with an ingredient list and their respective quantities. An example would be a list of vegetable for a particular recipe and their associated quantity (i.e, 50 g of carrots). The demonstration chef prepares the dishes in his own style using the ingredient list and it is up to the students to translate his actions into their own words. Since the chef is usually demonstrating 2 or 3 dishes, he may jump around from one to another during the demo. It can be quite confusing to follow and determine which one he is working on. Some chefs are better than others with communicating their actions in an organized fashion. Additionally some of the translators are more capable than others in keeping us better informed with this organization. I have to say that it is CRITICAL not to miss a SINGLE word. Throughout the demo the chef asks us if we understand, or is everything OK to which he expects a boot camp style collective "OUI CHEF" from the class. A 30 second day dream during a demo can be disastrous. Looking down at your notes for more than 10 seconds could be disastrous. It is all paced rapidly and many things can happen in that 30 seconds. The omission of a step could be a deal breaker in the kitchen. A demo can be quite exhausting because it is 3 hours of intense focus.

The demo always concludes with the chef presenting his finished product to the class for pictures and tasting. It is important to use all of one's senses....see, smell, taste, and even touch (for texture and firmness) the dish to know how it should be prepared.

With all of that said, if one finds cooking fun, then the demos can also be fun. I am lucky that I have some experience cooking and reading recipe even though it has only been as a hobby. It has all helped with this process of interpreting the demos and visualizing my words into actions. This is basic cuisine, so theoretically someone with zero experience could take this course. However, I would think that it would be REALLY difficult to keep up with the pace and really absorb everything if one has never cooked.  although I have met at least one person who has never cooked. She seems to be getting along just fine.

It's time to get ready to begin day 5. Today is the final day of doughs with a dish that will incorporate the puff pastry from yesterday.  Gotta run!