Atelier 2

Well...it's over. Atelier 2 was on Saturday. Here were the regulations:

You must make an entree and a main dish, respecting the required techniques:
1. Make a fish stock
2. A crust or pastry to enrobe the main dish or the entree
3. 1 vegetable flan and 2 simple garnishes
4. 1 hot sauce
5. I small vegetable brunoise
6. You must present 2 servings of the entree and 2 servings of the main dish.

Here were the REQUIRED ingredients that we had to incorporate:
1 gilt head sea bream fish
1 veal tenderloin
veal sweetbreads+caul fat
1 Brittany artichoke
Large spinach leaves
1 raw beet
Cauliflower
New pearl Onions
White asparagus

Between my first atelier experience and anticipation for the final- I was terrified. I was really concerned with making a good menu and also shaving a good hour off my first atelier time. Our final is 4 hours long- so I was aiming to get closer to that time requirement. I had my menu- and 2 days off before the atelier. So I practiced, researched plating ideas, and tried to come up with something 'more interesting'. I resolved that I could take this 1 of 2 ways; I could make a simple recipe and do it VERY well, or I could go for something really jazzy and contemporary and risk it not turning out.

I practiced my flan idea, I practiced my vinaigrette idea, and I wrote out my recipes in 27 'easy' steps. I was ready. Lara had put Top Chef on a USB for me and I had gotten HOOKED on it the night before. So I went in there thinking I was on Top Chef- and I had to really work fast.

We had Chef Terrien- the Chef of Chefs who was recently back from vacation. He's seemingly old school in style, HATES waste and is pretty intimidating. He announced in the beginning that he wanted our entrees at 11am, and that he wanted 1 round plate and 1 square plate. I remembered how screwed I was last time by not starting everything at once. I quickly threw my beet in water and went to filet my fish. I quickly worked out the filets, then trimmed my veal. Proteins were prepped. I started my fish fumet and went on to make my purple potato scales. I used an apple corer to make all of them uniform in shape, and used my mandolin to make them uniform in thickness. I eggwashed my fish, blanched the scales and put them on my fish. That was done. I then became the blanching queen- blanched asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, artichokes, sweetbreads...you name it, I blanched it. Once that was over I quickly moved on with my entree recipe. Plated at 11am on the nose, I presented these to plates to Terrien:




That is pan fried sea bream with purple potato scales on a bed of rocket lettuce with a beetroot vinaigrette and brunoised beetroot. Terrien really liked it. It was pretty, my fish was cooked, my portion was correct and my vinaigrette was good. He offered some good tips: that I should have put green on top of the fish, or something white, and perhaps could have made a tartare of the leftover fish that I cut (he HATES waste) I was really excited, but I was only halfway there.

I quickly cleaned and continued on my way to the finish line. I make pasta dough, made a basil coulis, 2 flans, a jus, cooked my meat and seared some spinach in the coming 2.5 hours. I plated in exactly 5 hours. With the critique and clean up session removed, I'd say I did the whole thing in 4 hours and 45 minutes. I presented these two plates to Terrien:





He really liked these plates too! Portion was correct, my flans were impeccable, cooking of veal (I thought was overcooked) was good, my ravioli was properly seasoned and it was pretty. He offered some good feedback again: that the pan where I cooked my meat was too hot, and that I needed more sauce. I also put a little bit of basil on top of my ravioli and he didn't like that, but all in all I was really pleased. He offered his congratulations (I think because my face lit up) and I quickly ate both portions of veal (hey- I was hungry and I earned it!) and began my cleanup. Before I cleared one of my plates- Chef Clergue came in to survey what we had done. He also really liked my dishes. He's HUGE on portion size and was pleased with mine, and my flan was 'soft' enough. The tired-ness hit me when I was cleaning up. My feet and back started to hurt and I didn't want to do anything. A quick lunch with Anthony and Lauren and I was napping on my couch before a FABULOUS home cooked meal by E'Lane's mom. It was perfect. Having a Mom around is so comforting, even if it's not your own. It was a great end to a long day. I'm really pleased with my atelier, and exceptionally pleased with the progress from #1 to #2. The improvement is what really I'm proud of. I'm excited to start bainstorming my final exam dishes, don't worry I'll be sure to seek out any ideas and advice from you all!

I'm off to bed- I'm still a zombie even after a 2 hour nap today and a great night's sleep last night. I don't think I accounted for the stress of the anticipation of the upcoming atelier. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight! That is, of course before my 8:30am demo class tomorrow.

A bientot!

Reflection.

Sometimes I have these moments where I think about what I'm doing versus what some of my friends are doing. Cate is studying for the bar, Hannah and Jana are in medical school, Beach is back in New Haven in graduate school, Kerry is a lawyer, Talley is an architect, Laura is in business school...and here I am in culinary school...in Paris.

My lcb friends and I joke that a hard day for us is when our sauces won't reduce, or we undersalted or oversalted our mushroom flan- and our friends in the 'real world' are saving lives, and fighting for others' rights. I'm not discounting where I am or what I'm doing, I often just sit back and think about how different our lives are; how similar we can all be in so many ways, yet our passions and interests couldn't be farther from one another.

As I sit here on my couch researching sweetbread recipes, getting ready for lesson 15 of superior cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, I can't help but smile thinking about the different paths we've all taken, and how much farther we have to go. 5 years ago we were all freaked out college graduates hoping to get our first job; now we've all had those first, second, third jobs all eventually getting us to where we are now all over the world.

We had our last student party the other night at Alcazar. As I looked around at all the students letting loose, I wondered where all of us will be in the future, who I will keep in touch with, and who I might never see again. Lara and I were talking today about the first conversation we had- neither of us remember the initial contact that first day, but now we both bemoan the fact that we won't be across the counter from one another everyday cooking, sharing farce, laughing at Chef Cotte's English and griping over who took the sponge from the sink. I can say with confidence that I have grown more in the past 6 months and 13 days than I could have ever imagined. Paralyzing panic for the basic practical exam to dreaming about different flan ideas for my second superior atelier has been the most fulfilling period of my life. I used to consider my 7 leg operations as an accomplishment...that's got nothing on impressing the chefs at school, the anticipation of Chef Clergue putting the toque on my head on August 26th, or Chef Cotte telling me today that he loved my attitude in the kitchen and that he was happy at how far I've come in my time in Paris.

Looking at recipe 15 for tomorrow has brought me back to life- deboned and stuffed squab cooked in a cocotte with pork belly and garlic cloves...YUCK!

Bonne Nuit!

Happy Bastille Day!

July 14th has usually only meant one thing to me in the past...Cate and Jordan's wedding anniversary. This year, I along with about 100,000 of my closest friends watched the fireworks spectacular over the Seine.

The French know how to celebrate!

The start to the 'lasts'.

Tonight is our last student party as LCB students. This first of many lasts is really hitting me harder than I imagined. I knew this would come to an end, but I'm just not ready yet. To all you faithful readers wherever you are, get ready for a lot more of these sappy posts as more and more lasts start to occur. I'm excited to live it up with the students tonight...I'll post pictures tomorrow (Bastille Day!)

Slainte!

Correction/Retraction

As my wonderful father pointed out, I made a mistake. Circle the calendar! Having been an athlete my whole life, it's slightly embarrassing to have made the mistake in the title of my last entry. OBVIOUSLY you only need to win 4 out of 7 games to be world champions.

Crow eaten. Sorry Dad, next time I wont screw up when quoting you! Thanks for always being there to tell me those funny quotes during my various meltdowns...the last one having been pretty biblical. Mom- be thankful you didn't answer your cell phone!

A Bientot!

You only need to win 5 out of 7 to be world champions...

That is a famous Robert Gioia line. He mentions is to me anytime I freak out about a bad day in the kitchen. That can pretty much sum up my first atelier experience. After working through my recipes and finally deciding what to make, I felt like I was ready to walk in, and cook for 6 straight hours. I felt like I had a battle plan, and that I certainly wouldn't need all 6 hours.

Chef Malike- a new Chef was our proctor and we were in the smallest kitchen. My plan had been to completely finish the entree and present them, and then work on my main dishes. I got to working, making my shortbread dough and letting it rest, escaloping my salmon, cleaning my shrimp, making my marinade. I got lost in my garnishes- I blanched and candied lime zest, I sliced very think lime slices, coated them in sugar syrup and left them in an oven on a silpat to dry. I sliced paper thing potato crisps, dunked them in clarified butter, salted them and left them to dry as well. I blanched my peas and made my puree. In the end, a very simple entree took me way too long. Chef Clergue came in to taste all of our dishes. He liked mine, but I put too much salmon on the shortbread, and my marinade cooked my salmon too much. He liked it all in all, my shrimp was cooked well, plated well. My marinade was good, my brunoise of red bell pepper was good...but wasn't out of this world.

A quick and not nearly thorough enough cleaning and I was moving on to the main dish. I made my pastry for my tart, lined the molds and blind baked them, butchered my meat and started my jus, peeled, seeded, and petaled my tomatoes and got them ready to be put in the oven to confit. I used my trusty mandolin and started my eggplant and zucchini roasting in the oven. I made my stuffing, stuffed the legs, steamed them, then browned them, I seasoned and seared the breast meat, sliced, seasoned and cooked my mushrooms and put it all together. Again, Chef gave me some good feedback and some constructive criticism for my dishes. He really liked the plating on my square plate, my jus was very good. My meat cooked very well, tart was good. I survived.

Lara and I were dead last to plate. 2 very speedy people typically in practical were LAST TO PLATE. There was a moment of stress when I was finishing everything up that I wouldn't finish on time. I thought to myself- this is not me in the kitchen, I'm usually not such a wreck. After going over that day about 3 thousand times- I realize now what I did wrong. I should have prepped and began everything at the same time. Butchered all my meat together, started all my sauces at the same time, dried my potatoes, limes, and tomatoes together. I could have been far more efficient. It was certainly not my best work but Chef said my ideas were good, and my food on the whole was good. For the next atelier, we have 5 hours and the one after that 4- which is what we have for our final exam. I need to really think about how to be much more efficient and work on several things at once. I've already begun researching and have a couple of ideas. Here are the required ingredients:
1 sea bream
1 veal tenderloin
veal sweetbreads
caul fat
1 brittany artichoke
Large spinach leaves
1 raw beet
1/2 cauliflower
1/2 bunch spring onions
6 white asparagus

anyone have any ideas?? I need to blow this one out of the park! I'll leave you with a few photos from my 1st atelier.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! I was really bummed not to be sitting on the beach in Rosehill with Mom, Dad, Lauren, Allison, Lily, Ej, and the hounds. I kept calling them and hearing 'beach noises' and getting really sad. Lily apparently has become quite the fetch expert with her equally pint sized pal- Harper! Luckily- because my friends are amazing...we managed to have some American fun this weekend! Saturday night in yoga pants, flip flops and a t-shirt- I went over to Gill's for a little dinner. A yummy salad followed by E'Lane's amazing Cherry Pie (pic above) made me feel very American. After dinner we stopped by a bar on the way home to have a budweiser. It felt great! No one here cares about the 4th and I really didn't care much about it until I wasn't in the States (or Canada). I suppose I'll feel the same way on July 14 when the world here goes insane and celebrates Bastille Day.

Superior cuisine is still going very well- though with the recent heat wave in Paris has made the conditions of the kitchen next to unbearable. I walk out of there absolutely dripping as if I just played a lacrosse game. I love the way I feel when I leave, though walking downstairs to the hellish lockerroom quickly sours my mood. We've made some cool dishes- steamed pigeon wrapped in cabbage (stuffed of course), Red mullet fish with potato scales with an orange beurre blanc, and tonight we're making lamb shank slowly cooked in spices. The menus are getting better, and I feel like I'm still doing better than I did in intermediate. Here are some pictures of my latest creations (including the lamb in brick pastry that I overcooked):




I'm off to work on my atelier recipe. I'm really scared for Thursday but feel like my recipe is coming together nicely. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!