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!

Wait, what day is it?

Students at Le Cordon Bleu know a lot of things. We know how to brunoise, we know how to clean, we know how to make sure our boards don't slide around, and we know how to be on time and in uniform. One thing we don't know is what day it is.

You see, at Le Cordon Bleu- we know time as it relates to class. For example- if you have 12:30 demo, you know for sure that it's about 3:30pm when you leave. When it comes to looking at a real calendar? forget about it. No one has a clue. Students stare at 'le planning' and say "wait, what day is it?" because school is the only thing on their minds. I must look at my planning 17 times per day to make sure I know when class is- and before I go to bed everynight, I triple check it to make sure I wasn't making a mistake and missing a class. In fact, I just emailed Lara to make sure that I'm not mistaken (I left my planning in my locker) that we only have 12:30 demo tomorrow. We're all a little pathetic.

You'll be happy to know that I received an "excellent" on my tart today. It was our first practical with Chef Strill and he made fun of me 23456786543 times because I was so tense. It was our first real grade and I was petrified! For the first time, when I looked around and saw people that were ahead of me, I just looked down and focused. Not one problem. I didn't kill my yeast, my dough rose, I seasoned my onions, I soaked my anchovies in milk and water (OUR anchovies. We had a tin per 2 people) and after 17 minutes, it came out golden and brown. The one thing I would complain about is that the SIDES of my tart were a little bit big. Bruno showed me a new technique and made the edges of my tart look fancy. In demo we learned to use an upside down plate and push the dough against the plate making a spot of the onions. Chef showed me how to make it pretty- and I wish it weren't so puffy.

I'm also pleased to announce that I have my first cut, though I'm sad to report that it happened when I was putting my knives AWAY. I knicked my finger on my cleaver and I had to run down to reception to have it fixed up. It really wouldn't stop bleeding! It didn't hurt at all, but for hygiene and sanitation, we must put this on:



All in all, a great day. I had THE BEST night's sleep ever thanks to my new travel alarm clock/sound machine. I slept to the pitter patter of raindrops and I had a great night's rest! Check out the picture below...a little SF here in PARIS!



A Bientot!