It was a very LONG day. We had 4 sessions for a total of 12 hours. It's late, so I'll make a quick entry to sum up the day.
The first demo covered the very tedious process of consommé clarification. Essentially a mix consisting of ground beef, finely brunoised veg's, tomato paste, tomatoes, and egg whites is placed in the bullion which serves as a filter. It is actually a nifty trick, but I will never do this at home. We were also shown how to make the classic French Onion soup, and a Fish soup Marseillaise style. Lots going on in this demo, but we were only responsible for the consommeé part in the ensuing practical.
After the demo, we had a short lunch break. I went to the common area fridge where I had placed my lunch earlier to find that it had been stolen! It was in a bag with my name on it. The bag was still there but the contents were gone. Later in the day we discovered that the knife kit of one of the students was stolen from his locker. He had inadvertently forgotten to lock his locker and someone stole his kit. It's really difficult for me to comprehend this kind of behavior. It is disgraceful.
I ran into Sjoerd who showed me his blistered pan burn from the previous day...OUCH!!!!!
He said it didn't hurt. I joined Sjoerd and Cristina for a quick espresso.
After lunch was the practical to perform the consommé clarification, and the making of puff pastry cheese sticks to be used along with the consommé. As we were getting into the thick of it, the fire alarms went off and we had to turn all burners off and evacuate the school. We had been told last week that a drill would take place at some point during the term. Well, it was a good photo-op to get a picture of the entire student group.
6 hours down, 6 hours to go. I was trying to get myself psyched for another demo. As I sat down, I noticed an older gentleman in the class wearing street clothes. No one seemed to be talking to him, so I struck up a conversation with him. He is retired and lives in Minnesota and is on vacation in Paris. He decided that he wanted to take a demo class. I guess LCB allows people to pay to watch the demos. That's all I got out of him. I wonder how much he paid for the 3 hour demo! This demo was mostly about preparing a chicken for roasting, and then roasting it. Along with the chicken we learned a very specific presentation of garden style vegetables as a side dish. We were also shown several classic French omelettes. Here is William from Washington DC volunteering to show us how to elegantly roll the omelette from the skillet to the plate. Voila!
OK...on to the final demo. We were all dragging a bit, and getting a little punchy. Even the usually mild mannered Chef Poupard was coming out of his shell and displaying a bit of "The Lesourd". I have to say that the Chef WORKED VERY HARD during this demo. In 3 hours he prepared grilled salmon with an emulsified butter sauce, Standing pork rib roast with an herb crust, byron potatoes, and a choux pastry with ice cream and chocolate sauce. He did it all in the most detailed French style. No short cuts! NO pretty fillets handed to him (he started with the whole fish..it was gutted already). Even more impressive is that he had started his day with us on the first demo! My hat if off to the chef. Needless to say, most of us were famished after sitting amid the sizzling aromas. The class rushed the tasting plates like a stampede of ravenous bulls.
The first demo covered the very tedious process of consommé clarification. Essentially a mix consisting of ground beef, finely brunoised veg's, tomato paste, tomatoes, and egg whites is placed in the bullion which serves as a filter. It is actually a nifty trick, but I will never do this at home. We were also shown how to make the classic French Onion soup, and a Fish soup Marseillaise style. Lots going on in this demo, but we were only responsible for the consommeé part in the ensuing practical.
After the demo, we had a short lunch break. I went to the common area fridge where I had placed my lunch earlier to find that it had been stolen! It was in a bag with my name on it. The bag was still there but the contents were gone. Later in the day we discovered that the knife kit of one of the students was stolen from his locker. He had inadvertently forgotten to lock his locker and someone stole his kit. It's really difficult for me to comprehend this kind of behavior. It is disgraceful.
He said it didn't hurt. I joined Sjoerd and Cristina for a quick espresso.
After lunch was the practical to perform the consommé clarification, and the making of puff pastry cheese sticks to be used along with the consommé. As we were getting into the thick of it, the fire alarms went off and we had to turn all burners off and evacuate the school. We had been told last week that a drill would take place at some point during the term. Well, it was a good photo-op to get a picture of the entire student group.
Enjoying the break
This lasted a few minutes and we were back in the kitchen. Not much to say about this practical. It was an uninspiring, very time intensive, tedious event which is of very little use (to me any way).
6 hours down, 6 hours to go. I was trying to get myself psyched for another demo. As I sat down, I noticed an older gentleman in the class wearing street clothes. No one seemed to be talking to him, so I struck up a conversation with him. He is retired and lives in Minnesota and is on vacation in Paris. He decided that he wanted to take a demo class. I guess LCB allows people to pay to watch the demos. That's all I got out of him. I wonder how much he paid for the 3 hour demo! This demo was mostly about preparing a chicken for roasting, and then roasting it. Along with the chicken we learned a very specific presentation of garden style vegetables as a side dish. We were also shown several classic French omelettes. Here is William from Washington DC volunteering to show us how to elegantly roll the omelette from the skillet to the plate. Voila!OK...on to the final demo. We were all dragging a bit, and getting a little punchy. Even the usually mild mannered Chef Poupard was coming out of his shell and displaying a bit of "The Lesourd". I have to say that the Chef WORKED VERY HARD during this demo. In 3 hours he prepared grilled salmon with an emulsified butter sauce, Standing pork rib roast with an herb crust, byron potatoes, and a choux pastry with ice cream and chocolate sauce. He did it all in the most detailed French style. No short cuts! NO pretty fillets handed to him (he started with the whole fish..it was gutted already). Even more impressive is that he had started his day with us on the first demo! My hat if off to the chef. Needless to say, most of us were famished after sitting amid the sizzling aromas. The class rushed the tasting plates like a stampede of ravenous bulls.
The class tasting the bounty
Grilled Salmon with emulsified butter and chive sauce
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