I must be having a great time at school because the thought of having a whole week off sent me looking for an excuse to get back in the kitchen.
I got my excuse last week at graduation when Chef 3
mentioned that he was teaching the “Tour de France” short course this week. While he already had some student assistants
lined up, he graciously allowed me to tag along for the ride. And you know what? It was possibly the best experience I’ve had so
far at Le Cordon Bleu.
As I mentioned in my last post, the short courses are a way
for the general public to get a little taste of the Cordon Bleu
experience. The prices can be fairly
steep, but where else can a home cook get the experience of learning from a
real French chef and trying their hand a few hardcore old-school French dishes?
The atmosphere, as you can imagine, is a little (okay, a
lot) more casual than in our regular classes.
The Chefs aren’t handing out grades, and the skill levels of the
students are all over the place, so as long as the students are turning out
something edible and not cutting/burning themselves the standards are pretty
relaxed. A skilled home cook could get a
lot out of one of the classes, and other folks get a little coaching about how
to peel a potato (and yes, we had someone in class who struggled to peel a
potato!)
For us as assistants, short courses are a fun opportunity to
spend some time with the Chefs when they are a little more chilled out, and we
get a little glimpse of what they deal with during our classes. During the demo portions of the class we run
and fetch equipment and ingredients, plate samples and tidy up the
kitchen. During the practical part of
the class, we wander around tending unwatched pots, tasting sauces, helping the
dishwasher, and occasionally offering a little help.
I joined the class on Day 2 of 4, and we made some
interesting dishes, some of which I don’t think most home cooks would attempt without a little coaching. On Tuesday the students made a
stuffed cabbage. There’s very little
that’s fashionable about that dish, but it illustrated a few important
techniques like making a farce,
blanching, braising and glazing. And
they got to work with one of my favourite ingredients – caul fat.
Maybe I have a really filthy mind, but surely I’m not the
only person who thinks of it as the lacy panties of pork?
Wednesday the students braised some beef cheeks in red wine
and made a potato gratin. I’d made a
mild goof of myself in the demo earlier in the afternoon by confusing the
sauces for the samples (don’t ask!), but fortunately Chef 3 had good sense of
humour. And then in the practical I suggested
to some of the students to monter their
sauce with butter. Another mild groan of
pain from Chef 3. Not in the recipe Sarah!
But seriously, is there ever a reason not to add more butter?
We ended the class late this afternoon with a brandade and a cauliflower gratin. The students got to make a sauce béchamel for the gratin, and I had
a moment when I really understood what I’ve learned over the past few
months. A sauce like béchamel is very
much about learning the feel and texture of your end result, and an opportunity
to think about flavours. Some of the
students thought that the amount of nutmeg we provided in their trays to be the
amount we wanted them to use. There were
more than a few “nutmeg sauces” made (and I had nearly instant heartburn from
tasting them.)
But you do get a little extra value for your big bucks when
you take a short course. We ended the
afternoon today with a mini-graduation for the students at the
Signatures@Cordon Bleu bar downstairs, and all the students got a certificate,
a chance for a picture with the Chefs, and a glass of sparkling wine. Not a bad deal, eh?
As I was leaving school I bumped into Chef 2 and the new
pastry Chef who were having a smoke by the receiving entrance. Starting next Tuesday I’m going to be a
spending a lot of time with Chef 2 because he’s the main instructor for Superior
Cuisine. He gave me a nod and we had a
little chat. He thinks it will be a “good
challenge” for me. I think I’m ready for
it, so I can’t wait until Tuesday.
And Chef 3? You will
note I didn’t say a word about your carrots!
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