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!

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.

Slainte!

I went to Ireland this past weekend to attend the wedding of Sarah Mitchell and Anthony Duddy. It was precisely what the doctor ordered. After making Pan fried sea bream, squid stuffed with langoustine risotto and cilantro (I got a tres bien from Clergue!), I journeyed on the RER to Charles de Gaulle. I met my driver at the Belfast Airport and in 2.5 hours, I was among more friendly faces than I could have ever hoped for. My parents and sister Lauren first and foremost, the Mitchells, the Sullivans, the Braens, the Bryans, the Gatewoods, the Constantines, the Kahns, the Jewetts all of them very close family friends and all of them offering up hugs (and Guinness!) I have never made an entrance like I did that night, and really realized how absolutely wonderful all those people are. I was in heaven. A club sandwich to go- and an irish coffee with my parents and the Sullivan's at the local pub, and I was out like a light.

The wedding was gorgeous, the weather was beautiful, everyone was so happy and it was a great time. I was very sad to have to leave on Sunday. After getting home at 2am (flight delays were annoying, but more time with Mom and Dad was fabulous!), I went to class yesterday. We learned about squab breast wrapped in cabbage, legs stuffed, tartlets with wild mushrooms. Chef Clergue was great in the kitchen again and I was excited to get down and dirty with some dirty birds. I was extra excited to learn about squab because our first atelier is squab, so I was anxious to know how it can be done, and most importantly, how it's to be cooked. We had Thivet for practical today and I got a parfait. We quickly and quietly worked and I think he was happy with our group. I'm off tomorrow and need to get packing because I'm moving! I found a new apartment right in the same area where I live now and it's perfect. While I'm really sad to leave the paradise on Rue Casimir Perier, I'm excited about what this new place will bring me!

Also- if anyone has any brilliant thoughts on what I might want to do with squab for my atelier...bring them on!

A Bientot!

So that's what perfect looks like!?

Before I get to perfection, I have to say that the beginning to superior has been so much easier for me than all of intermediate. Aside from the first practical, I've felt in control the whole time. I know what I have to do and I just bang it out. I'm not as unsure as I was before, and it's so refreshing! I've done a bar en croute, I've done a quail-in-pastry thing that I'd rather not get into. I've done a Lobster Chartreuse, I've done rack of lamb and haven't had a problem! I've hate Cotte, Lesourd, Strill, Terrien and have felt like I really have a handle on this cooking thing.

We walked into demo this morning and saw Terrien setting up. We've have every other Chef for demo, but not him. He's a superior Chef but there have been loads of rumors going around that he's retiring, or reasons that he hasn't done a demo. As the Chef of Chefs, he gets a lot of flack. We're all scared of him and were intimidated when we saw him in DRC setting up...

...Then he started. I have never seen anything like it. I love Clergue to death (more on him later) and thought his demos were the be all, end all. Then I watched Terrien. Faces fell, no one spoke, we were all completely in awe of this 64 year old man and how he moves in the kitchen. Butchering a rack of lamb like it was nothing, making a 'real' jus, slicing, chopping, and just general knife skills were like music. Quick, deliberate and truly amazing. THIS IS WHAT IT"S LIKE TO BE PERFECT. I speak for all of us when I saw we walked out of there inspired. I wanted to be just like him- confident, deliberate and all-knowing. I can't decide what is more impressive- his absolute skill or confidence. He KNOWS he's the best- and while he's considered old school, no one can deny his skill. He's had about 40+ years in a kitchen and here he is teaching US about how to butcher lamb.

Thunderous applause met the end of his demonstration. It's amazing how inspiring the Chefs are and how much I want to emulate them when I'm finished. I'm assistant this week with Anthony so I bypassed the shitty Carrefour sandwich to get ahead on my duties. I was so excited to see Chef Clergue walk in the kitchen to proctor our practical. I was fine until my jus wasn't the correct color. It was too light. We were making lamb filet wrapped in brick pastry with a tian garnish and a jus. Jus are my thing- I always do well on that so when it was too light I was concerned. Clergue taught me this great trick and it worked, my tian garnish was a thing of beauty, my tomatoes were confit perfectly, and I had wrapped my filet absolutely impeccably....then I over cooked it. "C'est Dommage" Chef Clergue said to me. HIM of all people I wanted to impress and I blew it. What a bummer. I was depressed all through his demo and while my love for him as a chef hasn't diminished-as I know he's doing it to make me better, it's like disappointing your parents. You almost wish they'd just be MAD instead of disappointed at you. Here's hoping I can step it up and make him proud. Nothing would make me happier than hearing "parfait" from him.

I'm off to Ireland this weekend to see many friendly faces at Sarah Mitchell's wedding. I can't wait to escape the kitchen and not have to worry about stock, jus, butchering or presentation.

I leave you with some pictures of my creations... and the term "slainte" which means cheers/live well in Irish!

A bientot!

That's why they call it Superior...

Well...vacation is over.

E'Lane, Lauren, Gillian and I had the most amazing trip to Lake Como, Italy ever. We read books, talked, solved all the world's problems over wine and cheese on our deck and just had a ball. The FOOD WAS INCREDIBLE. I ate caprese with every single meal and filled myself to capacity with pasta. I love the French, but Italians have the food in my book. I also LOVE Italian wine- we had a Brunello our last night there that would have knocked any wine buff's socks off.

Yesterday started Superior cuisine. Feeling rested and confident, I went to my first demo with Chef Clergue. I haven't pinpointed every reason that I love him, but here are a few:

He's like lightning in the kitchen, every move has a purpose and there is never a moment that he isn't doing something. It's almost as if he dances around the kitchen. He's super easy to follow, and really really engaging. He asks us questions, and asks us to ask questions. Another reason I love him is because he talks about wine pairing. He'll ask us what flavors are in each of the dishes and then will have us talk through which wine would go well with the various dishes. He isn't married to French wine and often tells us about wines from different places that would compliment the dish.

...Ok enough gushing about Clergue. He made John Dory filets with red spices (tandoori and satay) and black rice with exotic fruit.

Walking into practical was intimidating. We were in the small kitchen where I hadn't been since my basic final. I took my place and felt lost. I was amazed at how 'out of shape' I was since leaving intermediate. I managed along ok, but got yelled at by Lesourd when I started a vinaigrette with oil first. I KNOW you ALWAYS start with the acid, and as soon as I poured the oil in, I knew it was a mistake but he was watching me, so I was busted. All in all, I wasn't thrilled with my performance, but it was fine.

We had Lesourd in demo today and he made a great lamb dish that I was super excited to make. We had Terrien, the other Superior Chef for practical, and he's very old school traditional. He likes his meat cooked and his vegetables like mush. I did MUCH better today. It wasn't a complicated recipe, but we were very bust the whole time. I was completely focused and felt really good when I was done. My jus was too runny, but tasted parfait- my cuisson was tres bien, my purple potato chip was great as were my haricots verts wrapped in bacon. I'm happy.

Superior is no joke. The Chef's the whole time yell "THIS IS SUPERIOR CUISINE, NOT BASIC CHILDREN" which is intimidating. They expect a lot of us at this point, and I want nothing more that to impress them. I've got a new system where I write down goals for the week. I'm going to research food every day. I need to be inspired for my presentation, as well as my recipes for upcoming ateliers. I need to turn it on now and really kick it into high gear. I've made it this far- I've got to KNOW in my heart that I can do this!

I'll leave you with some pictures from heaven aka Lake Como and I'll write after tomorrow! I'm off to eat my delightful lamb!

A Bientot!

Red Mullet and a Clergue demo!

After such a lovely weekend with Perrin, it was hard to motivate back into school mode. We walked around the Marais, went out to a fabulous dinner one night with my friends and relaxed. It was so nice! It was like we were back in SF, but with Pierre Hermé macaroons! (Spring flavors are out...Jasmine is so far my favorite). Nevertheless, I headed off to school for 8:30 practical. We had the jerky Chef again, but I ended up ok. We had to fillet the fish in a different way than usual. We kept the tail on so we could stuff the fish- which was neat to learn, but a little tricky. I managed to do really well with that. We only plate 1 fish, and instead of wasting time and food (I knew I wasn't going to eat it the minute I smelled it) I decided to only do 1 fish. That left very little room or time for error.

In the end, I did well- all 3.5s and 4.0s which is great, but I was a mess. I'm not sure if it was because I was tired, or because I hadn't really thought THROUGH the recipe enough times, but I felt like I was losing my mind the whole time. Lara and I shared a sauce that was good, but had a bit too much lemon juice. I for once got a 'parfait' on my presentation. My onion royale (essentially an onion flan) had too much egg white in it, making it too firm, but my fish was cooked perfectly, I was very clean, and my presentation was perfect. I was happy...but I need to improve. I've got a new game plan in place that will make sure that I'm on my A game everyday.

After practical- I took off my hairnet and completely forgot that we had class pictures. We took the picture and headed up to the 1st floor demo room for our Chef Clergue demo. I'm not sure I can pinpoint what it is about him that I love. He's an unreal Chef- he moves at lightning pace, is super clean and seems to dance through the demo. He doesn't tell stupid stories, he makes mistakes, recovers from them, and just generally is a happy guy. He made the most amazing dishes- all from his adopted home of Burgundy. Intermediate is all about the regions of France and this lesson was about Burgundy. He made escargots with smoked bacon and brunoise vegetables, a free range chicken (with the feet...you know what that means, achilles removal), with potato pancakes and a a fabulous sauce, and the dessert- gingerbread millefeuille with gingerbread ice cream (all homemade of course) with a pear poached in red wine. I went back for another potato pancake and another spoonful of the ice cream.

I'm so excited to make the chicken dish tomorrow, I think I have a good handle on the recipe and the order in which I should do it in practical, and it's delish! I might just have to bring it home to make!

I'm off to read- I feel as though I haven't sat down to read anything that isn't French cuisine in months, and I am excited to start a new book and read the rest of my Vanity Fair!

A Bientot!

Veal Stew, Steak with Bearnaise, and Veal Chop

It's been a very busy week here in Paris- with family here and having only a day off from school leaves very little time for blogging. It's 10am on Saturday and I'm the only one awake- circle the calendar...this has never happened before and promises never to happen again. I have a cold which stinks but I'm trying to take medicine and drink all sorts of Vitamin C so I'm not clearing my throat and sniffling all through demo this afternoon.

Monday Mom and Lauren came to demo class with me. Everyone knew immediately that they belonged to me when we were waiting for class to start in the winter garden. We had Chef Poupard who seemed to be an a crabby mood at first. You could hear a pin drop in the classroom. No one was laughing- he wasn't cracking jokes, it was very uncharacteristic of him. I looked back to Mom and Bird to sort of say with my eyes...this isn't usually this scary and weird! Once he was done making dough for the sugar tart- he was back to his normal self...thank goodness!

He went on to make this amazing sugar tart, raw salmon marinated with dill and lemon juice which was awesome and veal stew- which I could have lived without. True to form- we were making the veal stew with glazed onions and rice pilaf in practical. Monday night after class- the farkels went to meet up with Mom and Dad's friend Elisabeth Wilmers for a drink in her house. She lives right around the corner from me and her house shares a wall with the infamous hotel that 'stole' my coke bottle collection the last time I was in Paris 12 years ago. It was very neat being in someone else's home- and boy was it gorgeous! We headed to a simple brasserie on the Saint Germaine where all 4 of us ordered burgers.

For Tuesday's practical- we had Chef Terrien, and it went without incident. I got a tres bien across the board (Chef Terrien doesn't grade using the standard LCB grading palm pilot- he writes your name out and makes a grid with all the grades on it). His method of grading seems a bit archaic- as if he uses an abacus to slide our grades across0 but in a way, it seems more thorough.

Wednesday's demo with Chef Stril was great- we learned about how to cook meat to different temperatures. Usually the cuts of meat that we make don't necessarily make my mouth water, but Wednesday was beef tenderloin, need I say more? We learned to make bearnaise sauce as well. Similar to hollandaise- bearnaise is an emulsion that makes my arms hurt just thinking about it. Why would we use a machine (the French pronounce maCHine- it makes me laugh every time) when we have our hands?

Thursday morning 8:30am practical wasn't too pleasant. We first had to make this reduction- which was actually really gross. A mixture of chopped shallots, wine, tarragon vinegar, salt, pepper and chopped tarragon and chervil stems. We had to let that reduce a lot- so that there were about 2 tablespoons. While that reduced, we clarified butter, and started emulsifying the egg yolks over a bain-marie. We had adorable Chef Clergue (Mr. Bean) and he kept looking over my shoulder telling me that I should whisk in a figure 8 motion. It's very hard to do an 8 motion while trying to whisk something very quickly. Everytime he wasn't around- Lara and I would go back to just whisking in circles. Every once in a while, he'd poke his head between us and we'd go back to doing 8's. We laughed so hard when this happened- I mean obviously we hadn't been doing the 8's, but when he looked at us we pretended her had been. He laughed too- love him. My eggs would NOT emulsify. I was pouring sweat and starting to lose my patience when I asked him "Chef, is this ok?" "1 more hour whisking Caroline" he said as he laughed and told me that I was ready to add the clarified butter. Once I finished the sauce, I cooked my turned artichokes in a blanc and sliced and pre-cooked my french fries or "pommes de pont neuf". They are named after the oldest bridge in Paris- and they needed to be pre boiled and then fried. Once all my sides were finished- I got to grill my meat. We had to cook 3 pieces of meat- 1 bleu (still mooing) 1 rare and 1 a point (medium). I had perfect grill marks and was ready to plate. We were able to plate whichever piece we wanted to, but we needed to identify how it was cooked. I thought I'd plate my medium piece...that was until I cut into it and found that it was rare. I plated it and it filled my turned artichoke bottom with bearnaise and made a little house of my fries. Everything was great- cuisson parfait (perfectly cooked meat), my sauce was tres bien and my artichoke was cooked very well. The only comment he had was that my fries were good, but they couldn't have been cooked anymore. That was like when Chef Cotte told me that my consomme was ALMOST too salty- it's not too salty, so why mention that? Typical French.

I came home after practical and crashed. I had to be back at school at 3 for demo- and I was moving tres slowly. I wanted to snuggle with blanky all day. We were on the 1st floor demo room which was TERRIBLE. The marketing lady from school came in and informed me that there was going to be a journalist from Time magazine sitting next to me- so I had to take good notes. I did and we learned to do our cotes de veau, and mussel soup. I had to go right from demo to practical (count that: 2 practicals in one day while my family was here). I was ready for it and felt like I had a handle on the recipe. We had to French the bone on the chop which means remove all flesh, and then trim and put string around it. The journalist came back and was in the kitchen with us- she asked me my name and how to spell it, so if I were you- I'd keep my eyes out for future issues!!! My veal was cooked perfectly (again), my onions, and mushrooms were great, and my potatoes were seasoned perfectly- the only complaint Chef Stril had for this practical was that my jus was too runny. It had been perfect until I thought I didn't have enough, so I added more water. NUTS. I really feel like I'm getting my groove in school- I'm getting more confident and it's proven to be so when I plate and present my dishes to the Chef's. Everything is cooked and seasoned well- imagine that, I'm improving!

I was assistant this week, so I made sure everything was put away and dragged my tired butt home where Mom, Dad and Bird were waiting with salad, bread, and wine. I told them I'd take care of the meat- and we had meat for days! It was delish- but I literally couldn't have been more tired. I took a sleeping pill just for good measure and thought that my head was sewn to the pillow when I woke up yesterday morning. We had planned to go to Strasbourg for the day to see Mark Gorey- old family friend and also because Aunt Andree was from there, but we didn't make it. I almost fell asleep at the lunch table as it was, a 2 hour train ride would have done me in. So Dad took a page from my Paris walks cards and we went for a fabulous walk in and around the Marais. A totally different area than I had ever been and I loved it. I have been so spoiled this past week with family around- I'm going to be seriously depression child when they leave me tomorrow, who will I talk to? what will I do? Who will I watch Olympic curling with?

I'm off to bond with them before they head back across the pond- I'll try and write tomorrow, but I'm sure I will be crying all day...literally. :( The good thing is- that I recognize how pathetic I become when my family is around me...and I'm OK with it!

A bientot!

Class Dinner, Hake and Hollandaise

Tuesday was GROSS and rainy, but I was so excited to get all gussied up for our class dinner in the Gare de Lyon at Le Train Bleu. I met Lauren at the train station and we walked up to head to the restaurant. Basic cuisine and pastry had a joint dinner so I got to meet some new people which is always fun!

We walked up and there were 6 long tables set for us. We saw Juliette the director of academics and she marked that we were there and we hung up our coats. We were a few minutes late so we started our own table with Noor, Sara, Florence, Laura, Chef Stril and some others. Everyone was so dolled up and looked great- especially the Chefs! As you know by now, we're to address them as Chef. Bonjour Chef, Bon Soir Chef, Merci Chef and the ever popular Oui Chef. While this formality remained for our dinner, it was really fun to get to see them without their whites. It made them seem more human. Of course, none of us could talk about anything else besides food and school- but it was fun to hear about other groups. Group B (my group) is always full of drama- but I love hearing who stands in my spot in the kitchens, who is fast, who is slow, which Chefs are nice to whom etc.

Dinner was served and we started champagne and Pressé de foie gras de canard grillé aux artichaux:


it was delicious but VERY rich. I didn't finish all of mine.

Then we had Blanc de cabillaud, jus corsé, carottes craquantes au miel et cumin which was really, really great. I loved the carrots. OF COURSE being that we're a group of Chefs and Culinary students no one left anything un-commented on. The Chefs (Stril, Clergue (Mr. Bean), and my pal Cotte) especially didn't care for the carrots, they said that they were over cooked. Mine seemed fine and I cleaned my plate!



We then had a sélection de fromages affinés et sa salade which was also great but I couldn't eat all the fromage. The French take triple cream to a whole new level. There was a fantastic Chevre that I just had to finish.

For dessert (no, we weren't done yet!) we had Millefeuille au kirsch et griottines. I liked the millefeuille but I personally don't love Kirsch so I didn't eat that. After we were finished eating, I mingled with other tables and sat down between Lara, Bruna and Anthony. Lara had been sitting with Chef Cotte the whole meal and at one point RAN over to tell me a story.

Apparently he had been telling her that he always seems to pick on students and make them cry. He doesn't mean to, but they end up thanking him in the end. He mentioned to her that he didn't do that with our group- and Lara (love you!) said "oh yes you do, you pick on Carolyn!" He told her that the only reason that he did that was because he thinks that I'm good and that he likes me in the class. That I work hard and am really starting to get it. I was so excited when she told me! When I sat down by them I wanted to make sure he knew I wasn't scared of him. So we chatted (as much as we could) and actually got along nicely. He thinks I'm funny (go figure) and ended up high fiving me about 300 times during the night. Pretty soon the other 2 Chefs- Stril and Clergue came and were sitting by us (there were about 7 of us chatting with them) and we took some fun pictures. It was so nice to see them outside of the scary kitchen and for them to laugh WITH us. We all were comparing war wounds at one point, and let's just say that I have NOTHING to complain about. I have years and years of burns and cuts ahead of me. Here is a picture of the new found friends Chef Cotte and I:




After dinner, I was saying goodbye to Chef Stril and he said "Thank you for always smiling" which I thought was so nice! Chef Clergue was super sweet (of course) too.

It was a great dinner capped off with drinks with a fun small group of us. Though I was slightly overserved and had a headache yesterday- I couldn't have had a better time. Dimitri, Anthony, Bruna, Lauren and I went to the St. Germaine for drinks and ran into JP, Zu, and Siham!!! of all the bars in Paris- we were at the same one!

Chef Stril made poached Hake (fish) with 'spaghetti' vegetables and hollandaise sauce the long way yesterday at 12:30. It looked simple enough but when we got to practical, right after demo it was far more tricky. While Chef Stril (had him in practical) cut the giant fish into slices, we still needed to clean the blood etc out which was tricky. Hake also has this nasty black lining on its stomach that we had to remove...YUCK. We got to use a mandolin to make our zucchini and carrot 'spaghetti' which I was really looking forward to, but it was hard! The vegetables kept slipping and I was one slip away from a spaghetti finger. Luckily I walked away with all 10 fingers but the hollandaise sauce was HARD.

We had to make a bain marie to cook and whip the egg yolks until they emulsified. Then we had to clarify our own butter and add that. All in, it was about 20 minutes of straight whisking. Chef made fun of my faces the whole time- apparently when I'm focused, I'm really really focused and I look funny! The first attempt I turned around and my eggs scrambled. DAMN. I had to start over, but in the end it was PARFAIT! I overcooked my vegetables, but my fish and sauce was perfect. HOORAY!

We had Chef Stril again today for fish demo part 2 which I will go into more detail tomorrow. BUT Chef Cotte came in the demo room when the assistant was plating our testers and yelled BONJOUR CAROLINE in front of everyone. Then came over and gave me a high 5- I was so embarassed...but hopefully he won't pick on me anymore!

Off to have French Sushi- this should be interesting!

A Bientot!

I cooked Peter Cottontail...

Disclaimer: The following blog post promises to be extremely graphic, please skip this one if you happen to be squeamish...Really...

We had to make rabbit yesterday with sauteed potatoes. Chef Stril showed us in demo (at 8am) how to butcher them, but it didn't really prepare me for what I was about to see.

First of all- they have their heads (without ears, but WITH eyes)and most of the major internal organs. Intestines and things were removed- but we were left with heart, lungs, liver, kidneys. We first had to remove the head- Chef Stril told us it was better to use the cleaver and lop it off in one foul chop. The cleaver is really heavy. Once it's in the air it's pretty tough to stop it, so aim is really important. I always remove my left hand from the meat...just in case. The other problem is you can completely mangle a piece of meat if you're not super careful. I was sadly unable to remove the head with one chop- so I had to do some sawing.

I had a really hard time with this. There's something about doing it yourself makes it a lot worse. When you order a chicken, duck, rabbit etc- it comes to you cooked and looking nothing like its original form. Here it takes a lot of work to get it into the 10 pieces that we needed. Also looking at open eyes and a tongue hanging out of a bunny rabbits mouth really made me think about the way that it died. I know- they are bred to be killed for food, but actually seeing it whole did something to me. I had to really focus on not gagging audibly. Chef Clergue (Mr. Bean) noticed that I was struggling and asked me twice if I was ok. I had to concentrate on not looking at its head and just looking at the empty cavity.

We then had to remove the kidneys and liver- mine was FULL of liver! We had to cook that so those were saved, but the heart and lungs were tossed. Once everything was cleaned, chopped and dusted in flour we browned them on the stove, and then put shallot and garlic, wine in there and tossed them in the oven.

I began working on my potatoes which were really hard to do- perfect 2mm round slices is challenging! We also had to remove much of the starch from them, which was tedious rinsing. Once my rabbit came out of the oven, I forgot to put my handy hand saver (le creuset rubber cover for hot handles) and I grabbed the handle. I never cut myself, but I can't seem to manage to not BURN myself. OUCH. I kept right on working and the Chef saw what happened. I was slicing my potatoes and was really fine- it was nothing like the finger burns before, but Chef came over without me noticing and bandaged me up- what a guy!

All in all- Chef liked my dish. Meat was cooked perfectly, potatoes cooked perfectly and seasoned properly (they were damn good) and my sauce was a thing of beauty. The only comments he had were that I plated my rabbit upside down...not really sure why it made a difference, but oh well- I also didn't cook the organs enough. We were told to leave them pink, and mine browned so quickly I didn't want to overcook them. I was pleased- but I handed all my rabbit off to the dishwasher (who loves me). She was excited to have it- which made me feel better not wasting. I just couldn't bring it home and eat it.

I walked with Lauren home and we decided that we were going to order pizza to her house and drink wine. We had no class today so we could sleep in. We had such a blast- Anthony came over and we hung out and laughed until 2am- the kind of laughing where your abs are sore the next day :) it was great AND I managed to order delivery en Francais and our order was correct and they found the apt! A little feather in my cap!

Tonight is our class dinner. I CAN NOT WAIT. We're getting all gussied up and having dinner at Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon. Champagne is served promptly at 8. It's going to be SO MUCH FUN not only seeing everyone (including all our Chefs) in street clothes, but also getting to know everyone not sweating and bonding over rabbit murder. I will be sure to take a lot of pictures so you guys can place names and faces.

I better be off to primp!

A Bientot!