Saturday & Sunday - RTL TV (NOT), skulls, walking and walking..

Last Thursday night we received an email from the school about a filmshoot of a cooking program of RTL television. This Dutch team was expected early Saturday morning and I agreed to help out. To cut a long story short: They cancelled. I received a call from the school at 23.15 - a bit late, but on the other hand, we could have a few more beers now!


Eiffel Tower by night. Not bad !

Henk at the main entrance at the Louvre.

Went out for dinner in St.Germain, and had a few beers and desert later in another place nearby my apartment.

The whole Saturday we walked around the city. Sometimes a bit with the metro, but it was mainly waking; Breakfast St.Germain, walked to Louvre via Cite, Place Vendome (Ritz),Concorde, Champs E, Arc de T., and also part of the Marais, with centre Pompidoe, les Halles.

Bit tired after all this....






Sunday: Metro to Montparnasse for a good breakfast in a cafe opposite the 'catacombes'

of ze city. So after a few eggs, a croissant and a coffee we went to see skulls and millions of bones

stacked together in the catacombes of ze city. Interesting. After that we took the metro to Bastille, the Sunday market, un petit bierre and then to Madeleine. Unfortunately, all the posh shops were closed.... Metro back to Dupleix and then a few petit bierres.

Tonight we wil be going to St.Germain again for dinner.

I have to get up early tomorrow morning because I am one of the assistents this week to get all the ingredients for our group up from the prep kitchen to the classroom.

We start with a nice freshly killed rabbit on Monday morning at 8.30.... Yippppeeee !

Friday, ze weekend and a visitor...

friday; yes, ze weekend in a few hours. I'm tired.

This morning was market day. Cold, cold, cold... we bought fois gras, oysters, vegetabes, shrimps, lots of cheeses, some jambon (ham), etc etc. For lunch chef made us a nice meal with wine, a little bit too much..
After that we had to make the chicken dish we had in the demonstration yesterday. It was a bit hard to concentrate after all that wine, but I think I did allright.

The another demo took ages! rabbit, mustard suace, oniuon/carrot salad (nice). And the at 6.30 another conference class with useless questions... we were all tired!

And 'enk came to visit from Amsterdam. He took the high speed train from Ams to Paris in just over 4 hrs. Jayne sorted out the directions in Paris and even Henk managed... That night I finished class at about 20.15. Later we went out for dinner - gooooooodddd!

PICTURES TO FOLLOW LATER.

not so fat free cooking - the tourist during the break - demo

Thursday already,

and a not so fat free cooking day...

Practical 8.30, but first the cafe. Yes, the local drunk wanted to chat - I don't think so ! After two coffee's, quickly to the practical of the day. We are group A and had to cook today but Group B of the basic cuisine course went to the market. Don't know much about theit outing - we are going tomorrow with (a) chef and a translater.

The practical was about the meat-demo we did yesterday. It went actually quite good. New was the 'turning of vergetables'. We had to cut carrots in a special way - in theory this means only 7 cuts on a piece of carrot and it just looks nice. Bit difficult to explain. Basically it's just a small nicely cut carrot. Cook in water/butter (but of course!) /bit of sugar and salt. They looked great. They call this glazed carrots.

Same for really small onions. No cutting, but we had to make a nice glaze on those too.

The meat was 'not too fat' today - pork shoulder, lots of lard, another piece of pork, beef and whatever. Mix, blend and fry in goose fat... (cholesterol,cholesterol and more cholesterol production....)

Actually, everything was done is goose fat. The French way. Thank god we didn't have to make a butter/cream based sauce to go with our meat!

The jus for the dish was not too fat. It was 'only' made with goose fat and finely chopped vegetables. And a bit of butter...

End result: nice piece of meat. Our new chef Patrick (new, first class?) helped us a bit in class and gave us points for quality, presentation, vegetables, technique etc. I think I did pretty good today!

Then we had 4.5 hrs off. So, we (Erich, Sean, me) went to the cafe for a petit bierre (or two). After that with the metro to Louvre surroundings and walked for about an hour along the Seine river. Lunch in a lousy overpriced place and taxi back to the school. Just in time for the last demo of the day.

'Low fat' chicken nicely put on the plate for presentation.

The demo was all about plating up the paté we made earlier this week and chef Poupard also made a stuffed chicken dish (sort of low in fat...)

See you tomorrow !

Sj

Cristina and chef + Matthew with new hairstyle

just two pictures from our last class.

Until tomorrow, bon soiree,

Moi

Smoky room from salmon and cannabis.... (!?)

oh yeah, finally today some proper food: fish and meat.

The morning demo started with salmon and pork in a herb crust.

First chef put the salmon on the smoking hot grill. Right - as you all know, salmon on a grill just stinks ! and yes, it was still before 9.00. Lucky us, we could finish the salmon in the oven, so no more smell. yeah, right !


After that chef made a nice pice of pork with a herb crust and something with potatoes.













picture time !

Chef is no.8 of the (7) dwarfs - here he's showing his pork chops.... !
Yes, chef looks like a real chef....

The end-result should look like this:




and like this:

In the end we'll help chef and the translator Deborah with all the tastings for us.

Satomi is doing the jus.Later that day, after a brief visit to the cafe (only a petite biere), we had to make the salmon and the vegetables and jus ourselves. Not difficult at all and chef said that we all did a pretty good job ! So, first we used the smoking hot grill. Somebody you know burnt the tip of a finger again... (yes, it hurts) and in the photograph, Rosario is doing a pretty good job grilling the salmon.

Funny thing is, we get to grill 3 (!) pieces of salmon steak each. That's a bit over the top. Most people will only eat one...
Thank god that one of the cleaners likes salmon. In the end he went home with at least 15 salmon steaks ! "lucky" man....

Halfway during the practical Sean smelled a familiar odour. He checked with a few others, and yes, it was cannabis ! Probably coming from somebody smoking in the prep. kitchen. Chef looked shocked.

Well, in the end, we all made a pretty good dish.

Surprise of the day: ME !
See you all tomorrow !

Sj

Tuesday - the morning off; soup too salt and a great (dead) chicken

update: with the pics of today now.

Today, we had the morning off. Start of our first class at 12.30.
I went for coffee and a sandwich first in the cafe, then to school. Our first practical was the finishing off of the consomme. That's basically a nice bouillon with a LOT of work put into it.

Some are really creative with puff pastry.........Here is how the clarifying of the consomme goes: you make a mixture of finely chopped vegetables like carrots, onion, leek in a bowl and mix it with egg white and lots of minced meat. After the (stock) consomme comes to the boil you put in the mixture with the minced meat, stir quickly and let it rest. Simmer for a while and make a hole in the top layer. It's quite hard now because of the egg white. Using a ladle, pour the juices over the crust over and over again.

After a while you get a clear bouillon with lots of flavour/taste. Run through a sieve. Plate up with nicely cut vegetables. Cutting the veggies is very therapeutic...
I left my sieved bouillon too long on the heat - result was an awful (to me) salty soup that just looked nice. Too bad, better luck next time.

Second class was a demo. Snotty egg omelettes - French style.
French style means always three eggs and the omelette should also be a bit runny. Not my kind of omelette.... Well, chef made about 6 omelettes. Looked good and tasted OK.
Then he did a roast chicken (oven). Yes, the oven again at 200C, using a nice metal pan, easy to burn-burn-burn your hands... yes, I did it again, but not too bad at all.

I'll spare you the details, but my chicken turned out to be great. (Little) chef loved it.
We also did 'turning artichokes'. You need really sharp knives for that. It was quite easy actually when you use the right knife - the breadknife. Who would have thought..?

This was the vegetable we had with the chicken. It was also filled with nicely cut strips of crunchy carrots, daikon and celeriac. Not bad, I did a pretty good job.

Class finished at 21.15 . It has been quite a long day.

Took home the rest of the chicken (90%) and just ate it all with a nice glass of red wine. It's now 10.30 pm and I'll have a quick shower and go to bed

PS: we only had one petit bierre between classes.....
who said that chefs are always alcoholics....

Soup,soup,soup and more soup. And fish...

Yes, you've guessed right; Today was soup day part 1 AND part 2.

We started early this morning (8.30) with a demonstration. Oops, almost forgot, I went to the cafe first - for a coffee that is, and yes, my French beerdrinking belly was also there. Had breakfast at the school because I was early. A fresh warm croissant and two mandarins. And more coffee.

The demonstration today was all about consommee, fishstock, sweating vegetables, cutting, chopping onions and lots lots lots lots of vegetables. In general - making soups. We (chef) also had to make fishstock from scratch. (chopping fishbones, veggies, boil, skim, strain; the lot)

Katie using the shredder, her toy....

Did I already mention the very tasty crabsoup (bisque) ? That was the best of the day.

And on top of all that: A very French onion soup in the last demonstration, together with the consommee chef prepared in the morning and also a watercress soup. Lost already ? well, I was (and still am). After class I went straight to the pub to down a HUGE beer in seconds !

By the way, chef ALSO made a cauliflower 'farty' soup. Not too bad, but not too special.

You should look at my journal now. Today's notes are a mess, I think I have to rewrite it quickly before I mix up everything.

Joel waiting to be served. As usual....

Our practical was goooooddd. Today, we had to kill. Kill a lot of small live crabs. Fantastic! You use your big butcher knife/chopper to split them before they start running around on the marble table. None have escaped, I think.... Each of us had about 15 small crabs to 'chop'....

After sweating, adding vegetables, straining etc etc it all came together with cream, butter and a bit of seasoning. There was a lot more to it, but this wil do for now. After plating up, everybody's bisque looked different re. color, texture and taste. Small home-made croutons on top. Chef thought mine was very nice. Yippee ! I was a happy bunny there.

I took about one liter of bisque home to put it in the freezer. I can't see any more fish/bisque today because later in the day we made MORE fishsoup. So no bisque with bread for me tonight. Just beer and.... someting. Don't know yet.

As I already mentioned, we also made really good croutons. Better than you ever tasted. First you clarify your own butter (not difficult) and then you put everything in a frying pan. Easy peasy. Nice !

Erich is happy with his bisque. Big smiles here !

In the meantime (little) chef was practicing his 'Franglais'. He was trying to say 'thank you' for a few minutes but it sounded EXACTLY like f&#k you ! Chef is still learning....

In the first demo we started with the consommee and we finished it in the second demo. Far too much work for 'just' a nice soup. Don't think I'll ever make it. At least it was a clear and light soup.

And yes, as a bonus, we had to make another 8$#@$% puff pastry ! NO, NO, NO. Chef helping out with the puff stuff....

Dead crabs...

Don't want to do it again. Well, I did my best and it's resting in the fridge now. And do you know why we have to make it - in the end we sprinkle it with cheese, cut a nice shape and it will rise nicely in the oven. Result: a cheese stick to go with the soup. I hate it! all that work for a stupid cheese stick.

The results of the second demonstration.

The highlight of the day : The big beer in the end in the cafe ! No, but seriously, it was the bisque I made myself and the French onion soup that chef Stril made.

The big question : would I make it all again? No, definitively not, but I'll do the onion soup and if I can find fresh (live) crab in Amsterdam I'll make the bisque. The rest? Too much work....

Tasting chefs results; Barbara and Katie with Sean and Erich (and just an old guest...probably from the USA..)

See you all tomorrow !

Sj

A little background info on the chefs

For those of you who are interested, here is a bit of background on the teachers/chefs. Some of you have been asking about that last week.

We have seen three chefs in our classes until now. It appears that they are not the worst...... to say the least ! Don't hesitate to Google these chefs on the web. They've got a fantastic background and they are the best you can find !

These three chefs are 'chef de cuisine'.

Chef Bruno Stril Chef Stril started his career as an apprentice in the 2* restaurant "Le Cafe de Paris", and quickly developed his style. Then he went on to work for prestigious Parisian restaurants including "les Armes de Bretagne".

In 1981, chef beacame the head chef of the famous 4* Biarritz establishment"Hotel du Palais". He was also chef at "Espace Cardin" and "20 rue du Cirque". Then he moved on to become head of kitchen at the legendary "Maxim's" in Paris. (also involved in "Maxim's" Shanghai and Geneva).

Chef Stril joined LCB in 2002.

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Chef Franck Poupard.

Started in 1987 at the 1* Michelin establishment "Au Petit Vatel" in Alencon. Within 2 years chef became commis de cuisine at "Hotel restaurant Le Dauphin". This was one of the 1st restaurants to receive a Michelin star in 1926.

Chef worked with the 1992 Barcelona Olympic team, the gastronomic restaurant "La Table Ronde" and "Le Grill du Parc". Also, chef had various jobs as sous-chef and head-chef. Chef worked in Geneva in "Hotel Le President Wilson". Then chef moved on for a few years to Harrods, London at the "Le Georgian" restaurant. In 2006 chef obtained his "Brevet Technique Superieur" and he joined LCB in 2007.

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Chef Frédéric Lesourd

Started by obtaining three (!) cuisine diploma's. The "Certficat d'Aptitude Professionnelle (CAP)", the "Brevet d'Etudes Professionnelles (BEP)" and a "Bac Professionnelle".

Then chef worked at "Maxim's", "Le Prince de Galles" restaurant, "Le Jardin de Cygnes", "The Westminster's", "Le Celadon", the Ritz hotel's "L'Espadon" and the hotel Scribe's "Les Muses". Chefs held several ositions from 'commis poisonnier', 'commis entremets, 'chef suacier' and second sous-chef at the fine dining restaurant of the hotel :Meurice".

Chef worked as chef de cuisine at the Ministry of Internal Affairs before joining "Elysee Palace". (That's the Presidency of the French Republic)

Chef is also a member of the Culinary Academy of France, of Eurotoques and of the association "Disciples d'Auguste Escoffier.

Chef Lesourd is part of the LCB team since 2008.

(Info and copyright from Le Cordon Bleu International 2008. )

Demo/practical - how does it work?

I'll tell you a bit how it actually works at Le Cordon Bleu re. demo's and practical classes;

You receive a 'receipe' which is actually NOT a receipe. It's an ingredients list of the things you need. It only says 500 grams of XX and 5 grams of YY, but there is no info of how to put it together. And there is no information about the oven temperatures or cooking times.

That's why there is a demo class first - chef prepares the dish and you have to take notes yourself how it's all put together. Chef explains about temperatures,timing,consistency of sauces,how to cut,where to cut,which equipment to use etc etc. Quite a good system actually.


In the picture, chef Stril demonstrates the Cannelloni dish. We are sitting in front of him watching him prepare the dish and we can also look in the mirror above the marble table what chef is doing. There are also TV screens in the room.
Chef wil explain everything in French, but there's always a translator present. And by the way, all (!) the chefs we have seen so far DO actually speak some English. So no worries, you can always ask questions in Engish.
There is also an assistent working with chef to sort out all the ingredients and equipment.

When chef's ready with the dish, he will show you the result and you can take photographs. After that we eat the lot within a minute....


On to the practical;

Now we try to copy the dish chef has showed us in the demonstration class earlier. Our group is in the kitchen with 8 people and a chef. (No translator, but that's not a problem - you should know by now what to do.) Until now, the chefs are really helpful and answer all the questions we have. Always in some sort of English - again, no problem with the language so far.

Waiting to start the practical. Everything has been set up. Two people from our class are the assistents of chef. They will take up all the ingredients from the prep kitchen in the basement to the classroom. They have this extra job for the whole week in practical classes. Of course they also prepare the dish.

And during practical, chef is watching closely. As you can see, we're quite busy with the onion tart.
At the end we present our dish to chef. ' C'est bon ' says chef....

(Then we either eat it, take it home, or throw it in the bin. Or we give it to the dishwasher guy(s) who never seem to skip any free meal.... )

Finally we clean everything and after a check from chef we can go. Practicals take about 2.5 hrs. They can start at 8.30 , 12.30 , 15.30 or 18.30.

TGIF ! c'est le weekend.

Thank God It's Friday. I survived the first week. And it's the weekend, finally! I can sleep in for two days. hi,hi.

here we go -

I can honestly say that we have a very nice group with lots of laughs and fun in the classroom. Even our chefs make a lot of fun with us. They're not that strict (yet).

We only sit together with the 'B group' in the demonstrations and not in the practicals, so I don't know how they are in the kitchen - but yes, all nice people.

Last Thursday after class, we had a beer in the cafe at the Rue de Vaugirard. Bit of a cheap place with the odd drunk at the bar (again, but different 'man'). Beer was good. Erich and Sean stayed long (1 am - closing time...). Sean had a bit of a difficult start today in class;

Chef noticed his little eyes and was picking on him for a while; asking him about a 'Beaujolais evening'...

In the 'B'class somebody just didn't show for the first practical, he arrived at 12 ....

Well, we did have a wine tasting of Beaujolais at the school at 6 pm yesterday evening.... but after that....

Today was a busy day, encore. After yesterday's late demo session of the @!$%%#@ puff pastry, we had to finish that today. Hate the stuff. Interesting, but I just don't like it.

And today we also had to do our own creation of a quich Lorraine. That went quite well actually. We even received compliments from our cheffie.

I ate a small part of the quiche, threw a fairly large part in the bin (sorry chef) and took half of the quiche home (probably to throw it away later...).

Then a demo about %$$#@! puff pastry again = the result / endproduct of all this work. This was a filled puff pastry with leaks and sauce. In French it sounds a lot better : Feuilleté de poireaux et oeufs pochés,sauce Albufera. yes, right!

Chef also made a Seasonal Fruit Tart with pears and grapes. This was a different dough; sweet pastry dough, a lot easier to make and handle. We didn't have to make this later in practical, but - yes you guessed right - we have to make a %$#@! puff pastry product with the stuff we have been making of the last few days. Bugger! forgot to tell you, the fruit tart was great!

Right after the demo we have the corresponding practical. We set up the 'mis en place' (that's French for 'put everything in it's place before starting the cooking) and roll out our $%%$#@! puff pastry. In the meantime we prepare the filling, reduce the sauses (2) and prepare Jayne's favourite poached egg....

The pastry went into the oven. When I took out mine it was NOT very big. It should have risen about 10 cm but mine went up (the pastry, that is...) for only 5 bloody centimeters. So something must have gone wrong somewhere. Can't be bothered. The only thing now is, is that I have a FULL pan of leak filling and a ton of sauce waiting to be poured into a tiny pastry. All this work for a minor result.

Matthew made a super puff pastry dish. I think he did one of the best doughs today.

After a check from chef, mine went straight in the bin! but it looked nice....

Chef Stril and Cristina.

The other two photographs are of Erich (finishing off his pastry dish) and Yong Soon with chef Stril plating up.

Comments from chef in his 'Franglais' accent: oui Sjoerd, ze taste is gooood, but you 'ave an-odder opportunity wiz the pâte feuilletéan wiz an-odder dish zoon'. Nice man, lovely accent.

Ze weekend: sightseeing in Paris. I think I'm going to the the Champs E. and surroundings to 'ave a look, maybe the Sunday market at Bastille again and I will definitively sleep a lot.

Sj