First Few Classes Of Superior!!!

This week was my first week in Superior, the top level at Le Cordon Bleu.  There is no longer a translator and my French is still horrible, so I was very nervous about following the chefs' demonstrations.  

During the first demo on Monday, the chef lectured a bit about how serious we need to be, etc.  I understood very little and panicked that I was making a huge mistake taking classes I would never be able to understand.  After I calmed down and the chef began the lesson, I realized I understood a lot more than I thought I would.  The demos also run a lot faster and more seamlessly when there isn't a translator slowing down the chef. 

I was amazed at the differences is the dishes we are making.  Goodbye rustic stews and meat stuffed with more meat, hello fusion cuisine.  On Monday we experimented with Indian-French fusion and made John Dory fillets with tandoori , wild rice and a tropical fruit salsa.  In our next cuisine class, we made lamb chops with a truffled bechamel coating and we used purple potatoes to make crisps.  For pastry classes, we have made the more traditional Baba Rhum.  It is a simple cake soaked for a long time in rum syrup, then garnished with a rum-flavored custard.  The assemble is tricky since the soaking cake is heavy and can crumble easily.  

In our practicals, we are getting a lot more freedom to be creative with our plating and presentation.  I have been loving it and trying a lot of new things.  I make an effort to present at least one extra sauce or garnish with every dish.  Chef was very pleased when I made a mango-papaya-cilantro smoothie to accompany the tandoori fish.  Unfortunately, I have forgotten my camera for the past few days, but I am trying to remember tomorrow, and for my class Saturday morning.  

Sweet Dreams!

Last Week's Pretty Cakes and a Cuisine Catastrophe

After completing basic cuisine and pastry, I thought I had a good idea about what I would be learning in intermediate.  Boy was I wrong.  The cakes are so much prettier than the more rustic desserts we made in basic pastry!  This past week we made 2 beautiful cakes, one Jamaique and one Fraiser.  The Jamaique combined chocolate cake, mango-passionfruit mousse, coconut mousse, and a delicious topping of fresh tropical fruit.  The Fraiser was a bit more traditional, with genoise cake, vanilla pastry cream, loads of strawberries and a meringue topping.  

Every day in cuisine demonstration, we are taught 3 recipes, one of which is always a dessert.  I find this convenient and it definitely makes for a more well-rounded meal, giving everyone a better idea of what desserts might pair well with what entrees.  Of course, in practical classes we don't have to make all 3 recip

es, just the main course along with the appropriate garnishes.  

We have one new chef, who speaks perfect english.  He is also teaching us a lot about keeping our work areas tidy and well organized, a lesson I desperately needed.  I have had him supervise 2 of my practicals so far, one of which I completely bombed.  We were making potato gnocchi with a basil cream sauce and I decided NOT to dry my potatoes after boiling them and before running them through a food mill.  Because of this small error, the gnocchi fell apart upon cooking and turned into a runny, floury paste.  Needless to say, I was very disappointed.  At least my duck "salmis" turned out well.  It was one of the more confusing poultry recipes we have used.  After browning the duck, we roasting it for a very short time, then removed the breasts, thighs, legs and wings, cooking them all completely differently.  

Until next time... Bon Appetit!