Day 2 Le Cordon Bleu Paris

Today was triple!

We began with a 3 hour demo which focussed on making Veal and fish stocks and the demo meal was Filets de limande Bercy (Lemon sole fillets in white wine sauce). The chef was very professional and serious about the history of the stock making and the traditions of french cooking. A traditionalist, he cited Escoffier (the GOD of all modern french cuisine) at least 2 or 3 times. Since stock is the engine of all kitchens, the demo was really instructive and goes to the heart of one of the things I had hoped to learn more about. I want to learn more about sauces and stocks. Since stocks are the the foundation of all sauces, this was a great start. The dish itself seemed quite simple to make but really taught some nice techniques on stock making, making sauce, and also filleting the fish itself.

The second 3 hours was the practical of the above demo where we had to:

1. Fillet 2 soles
2. Use fish parts of the sole and other fish parts to make a stock (Fumet de poisson)
3. Use the stock to make a white wine sauce (Bercy)
4. Cook the fish
5. Present on hot plate

Above is me hamming it up with the girls in my practical group before we began the session. You can see the ingredients in trays at every student's station. Each student takes turns getting the ingredients for the practical session from the basement. To the right is a picture of our entire practical group with the craziest chef on the staff. He keeps it light and entertaining. If I didn't make it clear before, our entire class is about 26 people and for the demos we are all together, but for the practicals we break into 3 groups and do our cooking in 3 different kitchens. This is my group. All very nice people from all walks of life, age groups and backgrounds. It's quite amazing that yesterday we arrived and today we have begun to exhibit team work and kitchen routine. The chefs really desire that the kitchen work as a team. We have all begun to help each other.."Who has the herbs"? "Does anyone know where the cold butter is?" sharing stuff when someone else is short of that ingredient...etc…Its really not about competition, but more about learning.

 Above is my finished product. I was pretty happy with it but more important, I wolfed it down because I was STARVING. There are no real breaks in this course nor is there a routine. You drink water if you can get a chance, use the bathroom if you can fit it in between classes, and have no real opportunities to eat unless a class ends early. I ate this whole plate in less than 5 minutes!

The final 3 hours today was another demonstration. We learned how to clean and truss a chicken, use it to make a stock. Make a roux. Use the stock and roux to make a béchamel sauce, and also use the stock to make rice. We were also taught how to make a cheese soufflé. On Monday we will do all of what we were taught except the soufflé. That comes later.

An odd observation so far has been that we have yet to use any form of scales or measuring devices for any of the dishes. We were issued scales and all of our ingredient lists are in grams, but it has all been one carrot here, or 2 shallots here, add some water, some butter...it's really teaching me how to think independently instead of being tethered to a recipe. The chefs have been extraordinarily patient and knowledgeable. I am tired, dehydrated, have a headache but very motivated. I am so happy to have the weekend to get some sleep, get organized for what is shaping up to be hell week, and maybe see a few sights.