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!

Sweet Caro-LINE!

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. That's a very popular saying, though never really rang true for me until yesterdays practical.

Practical #12 Supremes de volialle farcis, sauce aux champignon; tourner les champignons

We walked in to 1ps and everything was set up for us. Definitely the best assistants yet. Lara and Fernando gave us all our cutting boards, and had placed our trays with ingredients in our spots. It was heavenly! OF COURSE Chef Cotte came in to our practical "Bonjour a tous" he says. Having had him yesterday (and done pretty darn well) I was feeling pretty good going into this one. We had to take a balloon chicken (one with the legs chopped off already), remove the breasts- chop the carcass for our braising liquid and sauce, stuff the breasts with chicken mousse (ew) and finish it with turned mushrooms and a cream sauce (are you catching a theme here?)

Chef kept walking by me and singing Sweet Caroline in my ear. He was clearly looking for a reaction- and I knew I had to stay focused. I felt very disorganized in the beginning- not remembering which 'blanc' which mushrooms had to be cooked in, how much the sauce had to reduce- but I managed to get a hold of myself and stay on my game.

I went to work removing the breasts from my chicken. I used the fish filleting knife because I would be able to follow the bones more precisely on the chicken with that knife. I knew it was mainly for fish but I've been told that I leave too much meat on my carcass so this time I was determined to get every ounce of meat off the bones. Chef Stril came into our class and made a comment about my knife choice. I simply said "hey, it's working, I'm getting all the meat" and he couldn't argue. As long as I knew that I was using a knife that was different than what he used- I was ok. That's what they are trying to teach us- we need to find our own groove and realize what works best for US. Every Chef that we encounter has a different way of accomplishing the same thing- they want us to be able to make a choice and deal with it.

3 of the chicken breasts were to be stuffed and one was to be diced and used in the stuffing. Lara and I were the first 2 to the robot (kitchen-aid) to make our mousse. We were actually ahead of the curve! We made our stuffing and went to work pushing it through a sieve to make it more mousse-y. It's repulsive. I found myself really working myself into a full blown sweat getting this mousse through the sieve and into the cooler while I worked on my breasts.

Irene- next to me on the left was hysterical. She had the comment of the term so far "GUYS, MY BREASTS ARE JUST TOO DAMN SMALL!" we couldn't help but laugh. Irene doesn't say boo in class, but when she does speak- it's genius!

I sliced the breasts, concassed the carcass- sauteed it in butter and removed it from the heat to actually stuff the chicken. Using a piping bag (first time this term!!) I took my mousse and piped it into the cavity I had carved into my chicken breasts. I of course blew right through the other end of one of the breasts with the filling, but managed to take the tender of that breast and patch up the mistake. I actually said out loud "come on Carolyn, you can do this" and managed to rock the last two. I poured stock into a saucepan and my chicken was in the oven for 25 minutes.

Turning mushrooms is cruel and unusual punishment. I can't even begin to explain how difficult this process is without a picture. I will spare you the frustration we all felt while trying to do it, and move right into taking our chicken out.

Chef kept singing in my ear, but again- I was determined to not let him get to me today. I worked quickly and cleanly- taking my chicken out of the oven and it looked GREAT. The juices ran clear so I knew it was cooked, and the skin was gorgeous and brown. I removed the breasts, covered them and set them near the heat to keep warm. I put the carcass through a chinois and let the jus reduce for a LONG time. Chef came by and said that he had never seen a sauce so gorgeous. Obviously he was lying, but I went with it. I added cream and butter to my sauce to make it shine and added my cooked mushrooms (not the turned ones).

After heating my plate and making sure everything was very hot- I plated my dish. My sauce was perfect, chicken cooked perfectly. The only note Chef had was that my mousse could have used a touch more salt. Again- better to under season my food than over season. I was thrilled. I had gotten stressed at the end and was dripping sweat. I hadn't even noticed that Phillip had sliced his palm and there was blood everywhere. I was in the zone, and it paid off. Cotte liked it! Even though he's a pastry Chef- he's the one that scared me so badly- and I won him over with my food. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

I cleaned my station and went down to the winter garden. I couldn't stop sweating. It was SO hot in there with everyone's ovens at 200 and all burners fired. I ripped off my necktie (soaked) and noticed that not only was my hair completely sweaty- my undershirt was completely soaking wet. Well at least I did well!

Lara and I went for a crepe and headed home to relax. I did it- I survived practical with Cotte again. I was quick, clean, and my food was good. Best of all, my sauce reduced enough!!! That was HUGE and I was so proud of myself- I can't believe I didn't let him get to me. He was actually starting to grow on me. Best of all, I was feeling I'm really getting it- that I belong here. I can hang with the best of them and I can suck with the worst of them. This is what I'm supposed to be doing and I love it. I don't mind re-writing my notes from class and spending HOURS ironing my uniform. I love it, I belong here and am starting to really get my groove.

Allison said when Cotte first yelled at me that he'd be my favorite at the end. He certainly isn't my favorite (yet) but I survived and even spoke to him in French. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this thing- imagine that!

Will report tomorrow after falafel... I can't wait to have it again!

A Bientot!

ps. Thanks so much to everyone for their kind words of encouragement. They go a LONG way when you're trapped in a kitchen using a cleaver to destroy a chicken carcass. I hope you're all enjoying this journey as much as I am!

Day From Hell

Yesterday was a long one, a really long one.

We had Marche Du Paris at 8:30 with Chef Poupard (my favorite!) where we walked around an open air market and looked at everything. Then we walked back to school and had a little party with all the stuff Chef got for us- We had all sorts of amazing cheeses, pates, bread, cookies, a cheesecake that looked burned on top but was light and fluffy, sausage, charcuterie. It was a feast! It was fascinating to see all of what a market has to offer. We did have to fight some little old ladies who weren't too thrilled with a group of oogling students in their way. Here are some pictures from the market (no pictures of the horse meat place, I couldn't do it!)







Then we had practical- we learned crab bisque on Monday (Poupard!) and were doing that, starting puff pastry and making croutons with clarified butter. We had Poupard again, and I was so excited. He's the type that you really WANT to do well for and impress- not like someone else I know...We started by making the dough for our puff pastry to let is rest in the fridge.

We murdered live crabs in a big pot with VERY hot oil in it (less painful for them). After adding mirepoix aromatic garnish, we took a rolling pin wrapped in film and beat them completely senseless. We crushed them into teeny tiny pieces. Added tomato paste and tomatoes for color and acidity and added a liter of water and a liter of fish stock. Then we just let it cook for 30 minutes.

While the soup was bubbling away, we rolled out our puff pastry dough and did 4 turns. We also cut bread into croutons. Chef said mine were too big (he actually called them sandwiches" but they were the same size- which is key. We fried them in clarified butter and put them aside while we worked on our soup some more.

Finishing the soup, puff pastry and croutons- Chef tasted the soup- he said my consistency was perfect (we thickened it with rice flour) but needed a touch more salt. Overall, good. FEW!

Then we went right to demo where we were learning more soups. We learned French Onion (easy) Fish Soup Marseillaise Style (gross) and we learned to clarify stock into consomme and make cheese straws to go with them.

Right after demo (no food) we went to practical...guess who we had...COTTES. I nearly fell over. The first thing he said to me was "no crying today S'il vous please" that's what he says to be 'funny'. It sucked again with him- I was super behind and he yelled at me a lot again. I'm not sure why he picks on me so much. We had to brunoise vegetables to put in the consomme and he kept telling me mine were too big. I FINALLY got it right, my stock clarified and my cheese straws were 'bien' (a coup for a pastry chef instructor). I threw out my consomme and gave the dishwasher all of my puff pastry. It was 9:15pm and I was exhausted. Frustrated and mad Bruna and I went to have dinner (and dessert- we earned it) and I came home to Skype with Dad. I was in bed at midnight and didn't think I'd wake up this morning I was so tired.

Alas, here I am and I'm pleased to report that Anthony and I are going to Avignon this weekend! I was supposed to go to Spain to see the Weber's but I wasn't able to find flights :( We're going very early on Friday am and returning Saturday evening. It should be really fun! Any and all suggestions welcome!

A Bientot!

Burned but not broken

After a wonderful evening last night, I was pretty excited to get to school today. It was my last day as an assistant and I felt like I had a pretty good handle on how to do this one.

Boy was I wrong.

Chef Cottes- one I hadn't had before was our chef today. He walked in to the kitchen in a bad mood and just started yelling. He was very demanding, but kept telling me that I was doing things well. Then it was time to take the puff pastry out of the oven. He started screaming at us and shoving the hot baking sheets at us. I had my towel and thought I was ok until my towel slipped and I started searing my two pointer fingers. I had to continue to burn them as to not drop the tray full of puff pastry (that turned out not to even be mine). I didn't yell, I didn't scream but my fingers were really burned.

I kept on working and tears started falling- I wasn't actually CRYING, but my face was red and my eyes wouldn't stop tearing. I put my fingers under cold water and people started to notice. "YOU"RE CRYING!" Lara said when I looked up at her to ask her something about the albufera sauce we were making. The Chef came over and was talking to us and I just stared down as to not show him that I was hurting. Loredanna next to me said "you're really in pain, you really need to tell him...he'll be nicer to you". I went over to the Chef and told him about my fingers. His response "SO?" then he looked at the one that had already blistered and started to help. He explained that vinegar really takes the sting out of the burn. I thought he'd be nice to me for the rest of the practical.

I was wrong again.

After he saw that my eyes were watery- it was game over. He was ON me the entire rest of class- yelling at me the whole time. "Am I making you cry? are you crying because of me?" I kept telling him no that it wasn't him, it was my fingers but at this point I couldn't really tell. "YOU ARE NOT A MAN" he'd yell to make sure I knew I wasn't being tough. He stood over me and made me plate my food when I knew it was cold. Then he flew off the handle- screaming and making me run around and get pans to heat everything up. It was all theatrics- he was showing off now and everyone was watching.

Now, not only was I trying to stir my sauces with my bad fingers, Chef was screaming at me and everyone was hearing....oh, I was still fighting back tears. I finished- he said it was 'bon' but I was LIVID. I didn't even try my puff pastry- the labor of love that took us the better part of 2 practicals to make, nor did I taste the poached egg, stewed leeks, sauteed bell pepper or 2 kinds of sauces that I made. I threw it out immediately and got to cleaning. This was my last day as an assistant and I needed to at least finish that off well.

I took everything down to the sous-sol and saw Chef Strill who asked me how it went today. I told him that it was a bad day and he saw the vinegar soaked kleenex on my hands. He took a look, told me to go to the pharmacy and get BiaFine and tapped me on the back.

I knew there were going to be days like this- I signed up for it. I knew there were going to be times when I really got my ass kicked, and I wasn't afraid of it...I just didn't realize that Chef Cottes could break me like that. I was a wreck- I was sweating, SO beat red, and broken. I can handle being yelled at. I didn't subject myself to Coach T at Nichols for 4 years if I couldn't handle it. I could handle also being hurt and trying to push through- hell I've got the scars from 7 operations to prove that. I couldn't handle them at the same time I guess- I am really disappointed in myself for allowing him to break me. I'm better than that, I'm tougher than that.

I went down, changed again fighting the tears and went upstairs. Bruna and Lara were waiting for me, but I was so mad I couldn't even chit chat. My fingers were still burning so badly I had them pressed against a diet coke can for some relief. I decided to go to the front desk and have them bandaged. Vincent- the poor guy who had to wrap both of my pointer fingers was a star. He saw that they were really hurting and was super nice to me. A translator also noticed the look on my face and came to check them out "those hurt like a bitch don't they" she said- at least she knew I wasn't being a wimp!

Laura from class stood with me while I got them fixed and Bruna came in to find me as well. Laura is a mom of 3 and just knows. She said the right things, helped me to calm down and then went to pick up her own little girl. I wanted my mom and my blanky.

Bruna didn't leave me- and she listened to me swear the entire metro to my house where I changed so we could salvage a day. We went to lunch with Anthony in Les Halles and went to the most crowded mall ever. I bought a new Bodum mug to carry my tea in the morning to school and we just laughed. It was a good thing that I couldn't call home when I was feeling awful...it would have made me worse.

I came home, watched a little Entourage and went to meet up with Anthony, Zu, JP, Melissa, Mark, and Siham for Senegalese food in the Marais. It was so much fun- we all just had a great time and laughed. It was just what the Dr. ordered! After dinner, we went to a sports bar in the St. Germaine to watch the NFL playoffs. We talked about our favorite movies and laughed again until it was time to go home...

I came home to find such a sweet email from Laura and a note on facebook from Lara. Lara said she was impressed at how I held it together today...that's funny- I thought I completely fell apart! Laura asked how my fingers were. So thoughtful and sweet of both of them! I'm sure there are going to be many more burned fingers, screaming Chefs and tears, I'm just so lucky that I have met great people who are here to help when it happens next.

A Bientot!