In my second installment of Friends with Blogs, I would like to direct your attention to two new (but super awesome) friends with blogs. These are different blogs because they both include pastry!
The first blog is by one of my friends who is at LCB for cuisine AND pastry. Talk about a busy schedule!
Anyways, she is American and much better about posting, so I would definitely check out her blog at https://uhohparis.wordpress.com/ if you want to hear about our course on a more consistent and well done basis.
The second blog is by a friend who is just doing pastry. She has also traveled quite a bit (or at least more than me!) and has some pretty pictures from those trips. PLUS, she's pastry, so her pictures look amazing and very sweet.
So, I came across this article a little while back as the author recently won a James Beard Award for it. While I was just perusing it, by about page 3 (it is six pages and a little bit of a commitment to read through) I was engrossed.
As someone who grew up with squirrels in the attic, planning their demise as they ran around my walls as I tried to sleep, I sympathize with this man. As someone who gets excited about terrines and making food out of whatever is available, I find it an interesting take.
Anyways, read the article and let me know what you think!
1 Sea Bass
1 Veal Tenderloin
250g Spinach
1/4 bunch Green Asparagus
4 Mini Turnips
4 Poivrade Artichokes
So, as you can see, much less than the amount of Musts for the first Atelier.
Other ingredients included: 4 slices of pancetta, 30g ginger, 2 lemons, 4 cherry tomatoes, 1 leek, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 2 shallots, 1/2 head of garlic, tarragon, basil, parsley, veal stock, chicken stock, white and red wines, Vermouth, Port, spices, rice, soy sauce, phyllo, gelatin, pistachios.
The guidelines:
1. A warm entree
2. There must be a julienne on the entree
3. The veal tenderloin must be stuffed
4. The main must have a sauce or jus
5. The garnishes: 1 dough based garnish for a vegetable, 1 good puree, 1 vegetable glazed brown
The same no-nos still applied that I listed for the first Atelier.
My menu:
Entree: Sea bass in two ways- poached and seared with a spinach puree and julienne pancetta.
First, I fileted the fish, using the bones to make a stock. I also confit garlic which I added to the finished and strained stock. I reduced that down together to make my poaching liquid, which I poached part of the fish in and then reduced down adding whipped cream at the last minute. I julienned the pancetta and dried it in the oven (looking back, it would have probably been nicer to just sweat it at the last minute on the stove top). I sauteed shallots, carrot, and pistachios- deglazed with vermouth and puree-d that with quickly sauteed spinach. At the last minute, I pan seared part of the fish.
(This is a terrible picture, but you get the idea)
The Chef's comments:
Well, this is kinda different. So, I planned my menu out with the idea in mind that we would have one of the three chef's in charge of the course at the atelier. Something must of happened because we got the young, Japanese chef, who only works at the school occasionally. While a nice guy, amazing chef, and great teacher, he is also young and super modern. Not what I was expecting.
I was hoping to show the chef that I could improve and really plate with "finesse." To do this, I kept it simple and focused on doing it well. Instead, I got told that everything was boring and too simple.
My fish was also like a minute over-cooked and he thought there was too much spinach puree on the plate. However, he did tell me a better way to pan-fry the fish, which ensures perfect cooking.
Now the Main:
Veal tenderloin stuffed with lemon/basil rice and green asparagus, turnip puree with candied lemon peel, artichokes glazed brown, and basil crepes stuffed with confit shallots and asparagus tips.
Chef's comments:
Well, first, the meat is over-cooked on one side and under-cooked on the other. Great. But, it's because I didn't rotate the meat every 5-6 minutes- something I will never forget to do again! The artichokes needed to be glazed more brown, and my puree came out too liquidy, so I had to dry it out which made it too salty and therefore really bizarre with sweet lemon peel. No problems at all with my crepes.
However, it was all BORING and too SIMPLE.
Oh well.
In the end, I learned quite a bit and can only keep getting better from here. Hopefully for the next Atelier, aka THE FINAL, I will be able to intertwine finesse with NOT boring/simple and perfectly cooked meat.
Atelier in French means "workshop" and here in Superior Cuisine, we are given (told we must?) the opportunity to create and cook our own menus for a grade.
However, there are some rules.
A la Chopped or Top Chef or whatever, we are given a list of ingredients and we can ONLY use ingredients from this list for our Atelier.
Some of these items are marked with an * and MUST be used in one of the two dishes
There are some components that must be completed for each dish.
I'll give examples starting with the first Atelier. For the first one, we were given a list of ingredients with the following ingredients marked by an *:
Other ingredients not marked by asterics were 2 tomatoes, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1/2 head of garlic, 2 shallots, 1 onion, 1 leek, parsley, chervil, 1 red bell pepper, milk, eggs, breadcrumbs, veal stock, fish stock, Gruyere, Parmesan, butter, red wine, white wine, Madeira, Cognac, Port, assortment of spices, flour, tomato paste, pine nuts, honey, yeast.
The main dish must include the following garnishes: 1 flan, 1 composed garnish with 3 ingredients and "gratinee", and 1 turned vegetable
You must plate 2 servings of the entree and 2 servings of the main
There are some other "no-no's" that we are not allowed to do. Namely, no reductions of balsamic vinegar, no use of vacuum sealed bags or the vacuum sealer machine, no outside dishes or pieces for serving. We have 5 hours to complete both dishes.
So, the menu I devised from these rules was as follows. (Sorry- I totally spaced and forgot to take pictures)
Entree: Sea bream croquettes with a red pepper brunoise, pan seared shrimp, and a roasted red pepper mayonnaise.
Main: Lamb rack stuffed with braised lamb neck, peas, pine nuts, Tandoori spices, honey, cilantro; tomato flan with suspended peas; zucchini, mushroom, lamb neck composed garnish au gratin.
The result?
Well, I ended up making the croquettes too big so they weren't fully cooked in the middle. Oh well! Next time I know to not make them quite so big. The roasted red pepper mayonnaise? Now that is a funny story.
So, anyone who knows me, knows that I love mayonnaise. When I eat most sandwhiches, I order a side of mayo or as my brother calls it, "Elyssa's Dipping Mayo." Because yes, I dip my sandwiches in the mayo- just for that extra flavor.
I can therefore obviously make mayonnaise. Or so I thought. You may have noticed on that list of ingredients that I gave you that there was no mustard listed. Now, I knew that it was possible to make mayo without mustard- I had just never done it. What I didn't find out until later is that while it is possible, the mustard is the stabalizer for the emulsion- without it, you need a drop of water or something to start the emusifying process.
Well, I get in there and I've got my egg yolks, dash of vinegar, salt and pepper, and I'm slowly adding oil and whisking and NOTHING. It is a liquidy-runny mess. Not mayonnaise.
I panic. Start over. Then I start again. And a third time. By now, I'm whispering at my friends around me asking for their advice or help. They can't really help me. And keep asking things like, "2 egg yolks?" "Did you add too much vinegar?" And while nice, not super helpful.
Finally, the chef walks over and because he knows me from working at Omnivore, can tell I'm having a minor panic attack. He asks me if I'm okay, what I'm trying to do, and if I know how to make mayonnaise. He then decides to help me by slowly pouring the oil while I whisk.
Well, that ended up working well enough and tasting fine (especially when I whisked in the roasted bits of red pepper), but I was not expecting the most stressful part of my day to be the mayonnaise.
Now, the main.
Well, my lamb neck stuffing was amazing if I do say so myself (and I do). My tomato flan, loved it. It had peas suspended in it and tasted very good. My gratin dish, delicious.
As the chef said, everything tasted great- it was just the way it looked.
Here's what happened. Apparently I did not take enough fat off of the wrap around the lamb making it pull apart in the cooking and why it wasn't a perfect circle at serving.
And then, there was the problem of not having enough time. See, we have to plate at a specific time and I was running literally one minute late, throwing every part of the dish on the plate, including the sauce and it just looked a bit messy. Plus, the lamb was a little under-done.
So, my main advice from the chef: More finesse. Everything was good, but lacked "finesse."
So for the next atelier, I focused a whole lot on Finesse. I'll let you know how that went tomorrow.
Superior Cuisine is going great. Seriously, it's amazing.
Now that our group is at our final course before we (hopefully!) graduate, we've noticed some differences. First, as we have been told all along, in Superior, the chefs want to see our skills and creativity in our platings. Before, it was here's a recipe, let's see how perfectly you can replicate it. Now, they say, here's a recipe, let's see what you can do with it.
Obviously, the second way is a lot more fun.
Second, the chefs in general give us a little more respect (if respect is even the right word as the chefs/French in general are very concerned with being respectful). Partly because they know us better after these seven months and partly because they know that we can hack it now. For example, the other day one of the chefs (who is a complete neat-freak, cleaning nazi) walked up to my bench and pulled out his camera phone.
"Are these your knives?"
"Yes, chef. What are you doing?"
"Just taking a picture, so I can remember what messy looks like in case I forget."
A few months ago, when a similar situation of cleanliness/organization not being up to his par, he just screamed "CLEAN-UP!" at us and took our knives away so we would have to go clean them at that moment.
It's the subtle differences.
Third, the recipes in Superior are also superiorly better than the past recipes that we have had. Every demonstration class, we watch an entree, main, and dessert be made. Then we go into the kitchens and make the main dish. Usually, at least one of those trio of dishes is not something I particularly care to eat. (Usually it's the crayfish/shell fish sauces. There is just some taste off to me on sauces made from shells).
But this past week, at one of our demonstrations, all three of our dishes were delicious.
The entree was "Escargot a l'ail et persil en coque croustillante, poelee et veloute de mousserons de la St-George" OR "Garlic and parsley snails in a crust, pan-fried St. George's Mushrooms and St. George's mushroom veloute"
Basically, you know how escargot are always served in garlic and butter in those little dishes with the dips for the snails to sit in? Well, this recipe basically made a croquette shell, stuffed with garlic, butter, and snails. Yep, a deep fried butter and snails ball. It was delicious.
(Once again, I am not a photographer, these aren't the prettiest photos. If you want pretty photos, go to pinterest)
For the main, we had "Caille et ris de veau aux shiitakes, sauce parfumee au poivre, petits oignons glaces" OR "Quail and veal sweetbreads with shiitake mushrooms, pepper flavored sauce, glazed pearl onions"
Now, I know what you may be thinking. Sweetbreads? Gross. But sweetbreads are actually not that gross. And this was a sweetbread stuffing, which was pretty awesome. Basically, we braised the sweetbreads, then made a stuffing with them and the mushrooms, took out the backbone/ribcage/etc from the quail (only bones left were thigh and wing bones) and stuffed the bird with the stuffing. Roasted the quail on top of its bones and then deglazed the bones with the remaining braising liquid (from the sweetbreads). The onions were glazed with butter, water, salt, and maple syrup.
It was delicious. Plus, the chef served it with a piece of dried thyme which he seared with a blow torch before sending out, so the smoky thyme added a new level to the dish.
For dessert, we had "Ananas Victoria a la vanille et pain d'epice, sauce coco legerement safranee" OR "Baby pineapple with vanilla and gingerbread, coconut sauce with safron"
The pineapple was seared, the gingerbread baked, and we also made a coconut sorbet as well as the sauce. It was all very tasty.
This week, the mom and grandmom of one of my good friend from college are coming to Paris and a demonstration class with me! This is the first time that I have gotten to take someone with me to class, so I am very excited to share the experience with them and see what they have to say about the school and the set-up. I hope they love it as much as I do!
That's about it for right now. Working on trying to post more as I know I have been more than a little lax in that department as of late.
So, a few months ago, one of the chefs (Chef Clergue) walked into our demo and told us there would be this food festival going on in March here in Paris. It would be a food festival featuring chefs around the world and they would need volunteers, so we should think about it.
About 2 weeks ago, I had the chance to sign up. If you remember in October, I signed up as a volunteer to prep an event at the New Zealand Embassy and wrote about it here. Signing up for Omnivore was much in the same process and form.
Anyways, because this food festival was during our break between Intermediate and Superior, I decided to sign up for all three days of the festival. Plus, I knew there would be American chefs at the event and I hoped I would get the chance to work with at least one of them.
So, one week ago on this past Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed at 5:30am and made my way to the conference center for this Omnivore Festival thing.
I had no idea that I was walking into three of the best days possible.
Basically, there were about 12-15 LCB students there each day (about 8 of us were there all three days) whose main jobs included: helping chefs in the Prep Pastry Kitchen, helping chefs in the Prep Cuisine Kitchen, helping make the tasters for passing around the conference, and helping prep the Masterclass demonstrations.
Despite the fact that I have no pastry knowledge, the first day I was put in the pastry kitchen (probably because the other two girls who were assigned to pastry from school speak English before French and are friends of mine). It turned out well because working in that kitchen helped me figure out where everything was, who everyone was, and what was actually going on.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain what Omnivore is:
It is a food festival that highlights up and coming chefs in the cuisine world. The festival travels around the world to 10-12 different cities holding these festivals and highlighting these up and coming chefs who hold these "Masterclass Demonstrations". Each year, they kick it off here in Paris, probably because it is a French idea/thing first.
So, back to my experience- after running up and down multiple steps in search of an ingredient or tool that one of the Pastry chefs needed the first day (which despite being 13hrs of work went by in a flash), the second day, I was moved into the Cuisine kitchen!
In the cuisine kitchen, I was assigned a chef each day. On Monday (day 2), my chef was Massimiliano Alajmo from Italy. At first, I was a little confused because 1. It was 7am and 2. I was the only American volunteer all week and there were two American chefs that day and they assign me the Italian chef?? But, then I realized that the day before (the first day aka pastry kitchen day), someone had asked me in the pastry kitchen to find a PacoJet container for one of the cuisine chefs. So, I had run around looking for a PacoJet container for this chef and when I had finally found an extra one, I was told he had gone to the basement where the refrigerators were. So, I run back downstairs and see him at the end of this long hallway that leads to the freezers and he sees me with the PacoJet container he has been looking for a good 30mins at least. He and his assistant for the festival start cheering that we finally found one!
Anyways, being a little giggle-tired after the full day, I start slow sprinting down the hallway as if I'm in Chariots of Fire. Well, Chef Max and Silvio totally bought into it and played along with me overemphasizing how ridiculous all of us were running around looking for this stupid container that they actually really did need for Chef Max's demonstration the next day.
So, back to that second day, when I found out I was assigned to my Chariots of Fire friend, I said to our Chef and the Omnivore organizers, "Oh, don't worry- he's awesome. We're buds. This'll be great." (They just laughed at me. But again, it was 7am.)
And it was great. I could not have been more impressed with Chef Massimiliano (Also- how great is that name??). First- he is a complete class act and really cared about our experience in helping him. He went around to all of the other chefs in the prep kitchen and introduced himself and chatted with them as he speaks fluent French, English, Spanish, and Italian- at least! When I saw this happening, I just figured he was networking and schmoozing and being his friendly self. It was not until later that I found out that in fact those chefs were in awe to be in the same kitchen as him!
Turns out, Chef Max is one of the best Italian chefs, has 3 Michelin stars, 3 restaurants, and is really famous. Who knew?!? I didn't until after he left. Plus, he has a great attitude. Case in point: on his chef jacket where the restaurant logo usually goes, Chef Max has a cross-stitch of a stick figure wearing a toque and cooking over a stove top. When I pointed out how great I thought this was to the chef, he told me, "You have to stay young! Always having fun." What a great attitude. Seriously. (Can you tell that I am star-struck, in awe of this chef? I know I'm being super subtle about it...)
Anyways, in his Masterclass, which I acted as an assistant for as well, he made a coffee and caper risotto, a tomato-based ratatouille style dish, and an apple meringue dessert.
Can we have a serious discussion about the coffee and capers for the risotto? I was surprised when he told me about it originally, but it plain, flat-out worked. I've told about 30 million people about it this week. (Okay 40, but who's counting?) It is also very easy to make- just add in 3 coffee beans while you stir your risotto, remove them after cooking and then finish it off with some espresso powder and crushed capers on top. Ok. Done. Got it.
The apple meringue dessert, he filled with the apple sorbet (made with the elusive PacoJet) and shaped it into an apple, adding a stem for a final touch. He showed me a video on his Iphone of how to do it before we went on stage, really including me in the whole process. Plus, we both agreed it kept in with all of the fun we were trying to have in the kitchen.
Back to the Masterclass demo. Basically, my face was on the big screen (in the back, to the side) while he worked and used my knife, so I feel pretty famous about the whole situation.
After the demo, Chef Max's assistant for the day and the Executive Chef at his restaurant, Quadri, in Venice, Silvio Giavendoni, gave me his card. Then later when I was running down a flight of stairs (probably running a PacoJet container to some other chef!) I ran into Chefs Max and Silvio on their way out of the conference center.
I stopped to thank them again and wish them well and Chef Max looked at me and said, "You have Silvio's card, if you need anything or are in Italy, send us a message."
What did I tell you? Class act. It blew me away that both of these amazing chefs cared that much about some silly American start-up kid who has no real cooking credentials.
They also gave me two gifts from Chef Max's product line, Ingredienti:
Olive Oil (which is incredible- we're talking sediment on the bottom of the bottle)
Lemon spray (almost like perfume, but for finishing off food)
Needless to say, my first two days at Omnivore are completely unforgettable. If you would like to learn a little bit more about Chef Max's restaurants and Chef Silvio, check out their website (it's in English!) here
Here's a picture of us in the Cuisine kitchen after the first day of Omnivore
(The two guys on the Left in plain clothes are Pierre and then Michael, our fearless organizers from Omnivore. On the far right is Chef Clergue, the LCB chef in charge. I'm on the back left peeking out above the heads!)
Here's a video of an interview with Chef Max. The interviewer is SUPER boring, but it's still cool to see the chef and his attitude. I think you'll understand why I call him a class act.
Here is Chef Max cooking a dish. Some highlights to look for: the emblem on his jacket, a PacoJet container, the Ingredienti sprays.
Look out for the next post for the rest of Omnivore highlights including all of the American chefs and the third day!
This past Wednesday (aka my 23rd Birthday), I graduated from Intermediate Cuisine!
No, my grades were not as high as they had been in Basic, but I was still above class average and I have a certificate, so I am happy!
A lot less of us showed up for Intermediate Graduation than showed up for Basic Graduation, but that was kind of nice because it took a lot less time.
After the ceremony, we got to go upstairs for free champagne, macaroons, little sandwiches, and other bites. I of course made the joke and thanked everyone for showing up for my little birthday get together. The champagne was on me, of course. You're welcome.
Anyways, that was about it. Most of the chefs for the school are travelling right now- at other schools around the world or promoting LCB Paris around the world or teaching the week-long classes the school sometimes ho.ds, so there were only 4 of them there for graduation, but I didn't mind. The chef who handed me my certificate, Chef Clergue, is the chef in charge of Superior Cuisine (the next step!) and the chef who was with me for the prior three days at Omnivore (post to come soon) and the chef who told me my farce was good for the final! So, it was nice to have someone who now knows me pretty well hand me that certificate.
Here are some pictures! There are a lot more on Facebook if you are interested in seeing more :)
(me and the chefs getting my certificate)
(From L-R: Pastry chef, Chef Cotte, Chef Caals (one of the chefs in charge of Intermediate), Chef Clergue, and the Academic Director of the School)
(The top three for Intermediate Cuisine: From L-R, #3, #1, #2. 1 & 2 are two of my best friends and I could not be prouder of both of them! I already knew they were that good, now everyone knows!!)
(Some of the girls at the free champagne and food part)
This Wednesday, I passed my Intermediate Cuisine final.
PHEW! What a relief.
You may remember my Basic Final went a little more smoothly and quickly, but I passed and that's all that matters!
Instead of starting the final at 8am, this time I was scheduled for 1pm. Those 5 hours make a really big difference in how much time you have to psych yourself out over the final. So, I tried my hardest to not psych myself out, though I know that I sorta did.
Anyways, I pulled the Guinea Fowl Pie, which is known around the school as a dish mentioned with a shudder. It can take about an hour to cook and you have in reality less than 2.5 hours to prep, cook, and plate your dish. So, that pie pastry and stuffing have to be prepped FAST.
Well, I totally botched my pastry dough. Looking back on it, I know I added too much flour. I know now why my measurements got thrown off and I know now that I should have thrown it away and started over.
Unfortunately, super adrenaline rush-ed out Elyssa was not thinking so sanely. I just kept trying to fix the dough and when I laid the pie crust top over the stuffing and it cracked literally everywhere, all I could do was cut out little diamond-shaped patches and egg wash them over the holes and pray it would hold.
It didn't hold. It was the ugliest god damn pie you've ever seen. No joke.
And despite that it was no joke, I laughed incessantly about it, almost hysterically throughout the process. One of those times was right after I put the dough disaster in the oven. I then had to chop up what was left of the carcass bones to make my sauce. So, I'm pissed and hacking at that bird with my cleaver when all of a sudden, the girl across from me screams.
Apparently, a piece of my bloody bird bits had gone flying into her flan mixture. She starts yelling at me to get myself under control and I lose it. Bent over laughing. She kept yelling at me. Then I apologized and said, "you're right it's not funny. (It's effing hilarious) I'm sorry."
Another one of those times was about 5 mins after it was sent out the door to the mysterious tasting panel in the other room. The chef who had taken my dish to that room also happens to be the chef in charge of Superior Cuisine- the next and final course for me.
He came back into the room, walked up to me and goes, "Elyssa?"He has no idea who I am as I have yet to have him as a teacher.
"Yes, Chef?" My heart is racing. This is the moment. Because, I was not sure at this point that I would pass (re: ugliest effing pie in the world) and was having visions of re-doing the course, figuring out a plan on what to do next.
He smiles. "Your face (forcemeat stuffing)" he tells me in French, "was really, really good." (*yes there were TWO reallys)
"ooof. Merci, Chef. Merci Beaucoup!"
Then I started laughing hysterically.
See, as you may have noticed from previous posts, I love terrines and forcemeat stuffings and sausages. It's something I pride myself in and to have the chef who will be my next teacher find me out to tell me that my farce was "really really good," is better than scoring a higher grade. It's the most self-affirming compliment I've received in a long time.
So, it was at that moment that I knew I had passed.
Now, I graduate on the 20th (my birthday) and will start Superior cuisine on the 23rd or 25th.
Phew!
You can only eat, cook, study French food for so long before all you want EVER is not.french.food.
So, I've been finding some nonfrenchfood places to enjoy.
First, Blues BBQ. A place so like America, that I had to go. In my message inviting people to join me at this American-style, American-owned Parisian BBQ place, I may have said the following:
So, you may have missed it, but this past monday was President's Day aka a day all about celebrating America's Presidents. (We're talking Gdubbs, Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, FDR and Obama. And holla at mah Georgia boy Jimmy Carter!!)
PLUS, Brittany and I have been craving BBQ like crazy pants and when you google "Paris Barbeque", you get this place in Bastille that is owned by Americans.
PLUS PLUS, there's this bar in roughly the same area called like the Scottish Pub where Brittany knows some of the American bartenders.
SO, Friday night after class get's out at 6:30pm, we (as in me and Brittany) are officially celebrating 'MERICA (f*ck yeah!) by eating PULLED PORK, drinking MILKSHAKES (and beer), and being super loud and annoying!
We would like ALL Y'ALL (aka everyone bc I'm sure I forgot to include someone in this message) to join us.
It was a great night.
I enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and mac 'n cheese, 2 milkshakes, and a few glasses of beer (I am not a fan of beer usually, but we got pitchers. And you just can't get "pitchers" in Paris, so I just HAD to partake).
Here are some pictures of the adorable place:
(The owners are originally Texans)
2. Greek Traiteur: The other day while running with a friend to the doctor (we were worried she may have cut the tendon in her index finger. Luckily she did not) from school, we passed this tiny little Greek diner just around the corner from school.
We stopped. "We should totally eat here one day after class/in between classes," Then we started running to the doctor again.
Well, we were true to our word and after our written final, we went to eat lunch.
It was delicious. I had the moussaka with roasted potatoes, baklava for dessert, and a glass of rose wine for 11 euros! It was a great change of pace. One of my friends ordered the hummus and it was good, middle-eastern style hummus that I haven't tasted since I was last in Israel 5 years ago.
We have added it as a must place for that quick bite in between classes.
(the counter)
(It's a pretty small place, but totally worth the squeezing!)
Every course, we get some sort of cultural thing/demo/trip to help deepen our learning.
For basic, you may remember that we went on the Market Tour.
For Intermediate, an MOF butcher came to class and butchered a whole lamb!
An MOF is a Meilleurs Ouvriers de France or an artisan/craftsman who has been awarded the title of one of the best in his/her field. There are competitions and the different competitors have different tasks to complete, but the most perfect of the highly skilled group wins the title. Only a few are given out at each competition and it is an honor that one holds for life. For a full list of MOF categories, check out here.
Well, you may remember from the Market Tour, that one of the butchers we met was an MOF. The guy who showed up to our class- same guy! I was excited to see that mustache once more.
(The red, white, and blue collar distinguishes the MOF award)
To try and recount how he exactly broke down the lamb, would be an impossible task by blog and without pictures, so instead, I will tell you some interesting things that we learned about the man himself. (I asked this question about his life story while he was breaking down the lamb because obviously he is too much of a character to not hear about.)
He came from a poor family in country, so they ate little meat while he was growing up. However, his uncle was a big hunter, so when they saw him, he would help his uncle break down the meat starting his interest in being a butcher. When he was 14 years old, he decided to pursue being a butcher instead of going to college. The principal of his school tried very hard to discourage him, but apparently that same principal walked into his shop not too long ago and it turns out that he is one of the only people still employed/always been employed out of his high school classmates.
After high school, he learned "country-style" butchering and traditional charcuterie close to home while earning his technical degree by correspondence. After earning that degree, he moved to Tours for 2 years, then joined the army for a year. Three days after getting out of the army, he moved to Paris for the first time. He has never left. He spent his first thirteen years in Paris with the same butcher, who had a MOF distinction. Working with this butcher, he first started going to competitions.
It was later that he decided to have his own "big adventure" and try to become an MOF. The competition is held once every four years. So, he started at the regional level, made it to the finals which consists of 17 butchers. Only the top 2 earn the title. He decided that if he didn't win, that would be it as it is too much work to keep trying for the title. Plus, he was giving his best- there was no point in trying to better than he could ever do. Luckily for him, he won an MOF.
He emphasized his background in country styles as well as Parisian style as credit for his success. Despite his title, he is firm that he will not/has not rest on his laurels and continues to work, passing on his knowledge and the French butchering traditions. Plus, he was in a movie, Un Long Dimanche de Tiancailles. (I haven't seen it)
He was a pretty great guy. And watching him work was amazing. The knife cuts were incredibly smooth, accurate, and graceful. It was really captivating to watch. Especially when I think about our butchering skills in the kitchen when we get the chance.
It also made me think about butchering in general. As in France, it is a dying field in America. Yes, there are small pockets where a renewed interest is growing, but the art that this man displayed is not something you can see everyday or even somedays.
He really cares about his produce. All meat in France is tracked- where it is from, how it was killed, what other pieces of meat were killed at the slaughterhouse and even where those pieces of meat were sold. I wish that same attitude could make its way to the US. To care that much about the meat we are eating and to see the beauty that can be in a product before we eat it really changes the experience.
Anyways, enough preaching. Below is the final product of our demonstration!
Well, I've been gone from here for awhile again! Seriously, where did February go? Oh right- school, interning, and travel-time.
So, some quick updates.
1. It makes me sad to think the last time I posted, it was about my stage (or internship). Well, unfortunately that is over already. No, I did not get fired, but instead, it turns out that I was in fact working for free illegally.
Basically, France has strict laws about working for free (socialist country) and I am not allowed to intern until after I graduate, so I got one solid month in until this was all figured out and now I'm out. "Auf wiedersehen, Au revoir!"
At first, I was pretty upset about the whole situation, but now that I've had a few days off and some more time to relax (before my big final especially), I do have to appreciate that France is trying to protect me. Even if they are not. Because, I've been reading a lot lately about the intern epidemic that is taking over DC and watching HBO's Girls and realizing how much more shitty the system of interning for 10 years before you ever get paid in your field is much worse than France not letting me get some experience for a few months. Well, a mix of the two systems might be best.
But I did learn a lot and the Chef will give me a recommendation in the future. So, it was definitely worth it.
2. FINALS: that's right. It's that time again. This Wednesday, I will enter the kitchen and choose a recipe out of a hat (literally) and cook it in exactly 2.5 hours for 45% of my grade for Intermediate coarse. So, we have been studying a lot in preparation for that event.
Yesterday, me and a group of friends went shopping for extra tools we may need. For example: a hook to pull the tendons out of a duck or guinea fowl, small meat thermometers, squeeze bottles for sauce, industrial wipes for plates and counters and stoves, molds for risottos/meat/flans/etc.
We have also been practicing in our own kitchens various potential dishes. Not to mention the hours going over recipes in various cafes and bars.
3. Finishing the course: We also had a written final, which according to my professional opinion was complete horsesh*t as the exam had little to do with what we have/had/are learning and all about random cheeses that no one has ever heard of before. Let me explain, as this course is all about the different regions of France, we learned the different traditional styles/dishes/produce/wines of each culinary region of France. Awesome. I like it! So, when we were told by other students to make sure to know the desserts/wines/cheeses of each region, we did just that! I can get behind that.
(A studying montage)
That's not what happened. Instead of choosing the main cheese known from that region, they asked us about practically unknown cheeses that none of us had ever heard of before. Because that's a fair testament to how good of a chef I could be.
Basically, they hate perfect scores. Well, they won- the highest grade out of 60 people was a 93 and there were only 3 or 4 A's in general.
Besides that stupidity, we've just been cooking up a storm. Despite my early hesitance, I ended up falling in love with my practical/kitchen group. We were good at cooking, had no drama, worked well as a team, and the chefs liked us. Not every group gets that lucky.
Here we are on our last day.
(With the chef in the middle- yes there were only three of us girls, but we held our own!)
(Me and two of my best friends with one of the Chefs in charge of Intermediate cuisine after our last demonstration)
(At the end of our last demo, waiting for our complimentary glasses of champagne)
4. Student Party: Every course, there is a student party. It's a very fun night. Maybe too fun at times.
Here are some photos from that night:
(A group of us girls at the party)
(Drinks at the bar below my apartment before going over to the party. The waiter behind us is Vincent and the only waiter that I know the name of despite the fact that I live above them...)
(Some new pastry friends! We're crossing the divide!)
(Not sure what Alexis is doing- believe it or not he is a runway/photo model when he's not in class. But love these three very ridiculous people.)
5. Birthdays: February was full of them! Two of my closest friends here celebrated big birthdays this month. Here we all are at different events having a great time.
*Cheesy Alert: I really can't believe how lucky I have been in meeting the most amazing people while here. Whether at school or friends of friends, somehow I have been able to surround myself with people that inspire me while being a helluva good time. Ok- I'm done.
6. Weather: It is finally getting warmer in Paris! We have had a week of sun and decent temperatures! There was even a time yesterday when I didn't need to wear my coat!! Now, they are saying it's going to get colder again by the end of the week, but these few days of sun for the first time in 4-5 months has been amazing.
PS. it means my break dancers are back!
Anyways, that's about it that is interesting around here right now! Report back for more posts in the next few days- especially about the final and then (hopefully) GRADUATION!
Instead, I am talking about the French term for someone who works in the kitchen for free. In the US, we would recognize this as an intern (and apparently if you live in DC, you would recognize it as the average post-grad 20-something). In France, we call it your stage (pronounced like corsage)or being a stagiaire.
At the end of our diploma, if you have followed all of the right steps and protocols, the school places you in a stage in a kitchen here in Paris.
At school, that is known as your "official" or "real" stage.
However, some people take on extra jobs or stages while in school (most of the job people happen to be fluent in French or even better, citizens). Well, as of yesterday, I joined that rank of super cool people as I started my own "unofficial" stage.
You may remember the first part of my two part Thanksgiving Post Special (or you could refresh your memory here), in which I discuss dining at the opening of a good friend's new restaurant. Well, I was finally able to convince that good friend to let be his newest stagiaire.
So, I showed up Tuesday at 5pm with my jacket and security shoes, ready to go. I helped prep some of the mise and then worked the passe with Chef Yann during service! It was definitely a trial by fire experience, but also completely amazing.
Some highlights:
Yann speaks perfect English, which he used when speaking to me
No one else in the kitchen speaks English and at one time when Yann was giving me shit for a stupid mistake, they all started chanting "Translate! Translate!" to which I responded with an emphatic, "Non!"
It took me like an hour to distinguish Yann speaking to the other chefs in French versus when he was reading off a ticket that I needed to prep- which can be a HUGE problem
I made all of the steak tartare served last night
I had to taste the tartare to make sure it was good
I've never had tartare before...
I was an hour in before I realized I kept referring to Yann as Yann and not Chef which is not only disrespectful, but also super embarrassing!
The 3 other chefs in the kitchen even though they speak NO English could not have been NICER to me
At the end of the night when I was looking for where the spritz-cleaner-bottle was, I asked the pastry chef in terrible French if he knew where the *insert spritz-bottle trigger finger motion* for the *wax on/wax off motion* was. The look on his face as I did this for a good 30 seconds was priceless. We finally figured it out together.
In my mind, I made so many mistakes, but at the end of the night Yann told me that I did a good job, especially for my first time
So, that was my first night at Beaucoup and I can't wait for Friday night and Saturday when I will be back. Hopefully, Yann will indulge me and let me stay for the rest of my time here in France. Maybe my French will even become just bad as opposed to horrific.
Today, I am going to talk about having friends with blogs. Because I have such friends. And they post some pretty neat stuff.
First, I would like all of y'all to go look at my good friend Brittany's blog. It is adorable. But more than adorable, it is a lot more informative than my blog here.
So, first read this entry where Brittany talks about what it's like inside the school and in the kitchens because it explains a lot of things that I would like to talk about, but I don't have the camera to sneak into class with! http://brittanyinparis.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/a-look-inside/
Then, read her whole blog, Brittany in Paris as she talks details about each region we study along with the dishes we are making to accompany it. Also, her photo skills are a bazillion times better than mine.
Second, for those of you that speak Russian, check out this blog, Meal Time by Roma. Roman takes AMAZING pictures. If you do not speak Russian, I would recommend Google Translate or just the pictures.
Third, is Nat Cooks in Paris which is written by another of my dear friends here. However, Nat is just a smidge technology un-savy, so she has yet to figure out how to post on her blog. We're working on this.
So, it has been an unfortunate trend in my time in Paris that I keep getting sick. Stomach sick. It's not pretty whether it's cramping, pain, heartburn, food poisoning, or god knows what. I get at least one of those things a week.
Yay.
Today was one of those days, but worse. I'm not sure what caused it, but in the space of 2 hours I went from being a little uncomfortable to downright sick as a dog.
And that sick as a dog part happened in the kitchen.
I had made the decision to go in today despite not feeling my best because I knew I could fight through it. If I let this stomach thing win over my life, then I'm done for.
But after about 30mins of being in the kitchen, I had to run out as my body decided to vomit. And I am not a vomit-er by nature. It's always the last resort.
Anyways, as I unfortunately have been making the rounds of the LCB toilets most enjoyable for vomiting in, I must say the second floor ladies is quite nice. In case you ever find yourself in the same situation in the same location.
Anyways, after cleaning up, I returned to the kitchen and finished my dish. The chef, one of my favorites and who likes me, told me multiple times to go home.
I told him I was fine. He told me, "Quel courage." (What courage).
While I'd say we're on pretty good terms, he doesn't know how much of a stubborn ass I can be. Or badass for that matter.
But I survived. I plated a great dish, no serious complaints from the chef. So, Stomach, I won. You did not earn me a zero for today and I beat you. Take that.
But can we be friends again tomorrow? I'd like that.
So, this week we received our mid-semester grades same as we did in Basic Cuisine. I wrote about that time here.
I just re-read that post and the excitement contained within that post has me thoroughly annoyed. Why? Because grade time did not go quite so well this time. And we all know how much I love grades and being a teacher's pet.
I came it at a 3.24 and my kitchen's average is a 3.26. I am below average. Granted, the other two kitchen's averages are 3.15 and 3.04, so I am still actually above class average, but I am not happy.
In the meeting, the chef (pictured in the group photo in this post) and I discussed my areas that need improvement to return my grade to a happy place of bunnies and sunshine. Except I don't really like bunnies, so let's substitute in scotch. I like scotch.
These areas were/are:
1. Filleting fish- yeah, yeah I know I suck at this
2. Sauce- true, but I think my suckiness is less sucky in this area so that could be an improvement
3. Organization- wait, schwatt?? I had NO idea about this one
4. Hygiene- wait, wait- I am all about hygiene! (seen here)
5. Plating- duh, I do have some serious issues here
However, I am looking at this whole experience as a good thing. A kick in the derrière, if you please, to get a grip on it. Maybe I was getting too comfortable? Maybe I really did want to buy a few hundred pounds of mackerel and fillet them for hours? I still wait for that allusive perfect sauce to appear on my stove...alas.
Anyways, the next day (yesterday), I had two kitchen turns and I hyper focused on hygiene and organization and at the end of the second turn, I asked my chef how I had done and he said, "Good. Today you did good."
So we're back at it baby.
Also. I filleted AND de-skinned my fish perfectly yesterday. Even the chef had to agree and there were no comments of "Sashimi?" when looking at my fish bones post fillet job.
Well, this week has been crazy and super busy with lots of class everyday. So, I will give a run down of what it was that we were doing this week!
First: Guinea Fowl Pie
This recipe is not too bad, except for the fact that it takes about an hour to cook in the oven and has a lot of prep time. First, you have to make the pie crust. Then there's the whole cutting the guinea fowl up into two breasts and separating the dark meats for the stuffing. You also have to make the stuffing which includes the separate task of cooking the potato lining and cooking the chicken livers. So, it was a pretty hectic morning in the kitchen with this recipe, but it was a great leftover especially during all of the snowy/icy days we have been having here in Paris.
Second: Bordeaux-style Duck Breast, Fondant Potato Rounds, Pan Fried Cep Mushrooms with Smoked Bacon
We made this later in the day after the GF Pie (above). This recipe was pretty easy and included a Bordelaise Sauce, which I really liked. A bordelaise sauce is essentially reduced wine infused with shallots, bay leaf, thyme, and pepper and then you add reduced veal stock. It has a nice flavor.
Third: Lobster "A l'americaine", Rice with Raisins
Yep, we were all killing live lobsters. Which really didn't bother me and I killed someone else's for them as well. The rough thing I found with lobsters is that even once they are dead, like really dead, their reflexes are still working. It threw me for a shock when I was slicing the tail and it snapped back at me as I placed my knife into the flesh. I jumped a mile high. Then I learned how to palm the tail down, so it will not do that whole attack thing.
Also, the fact that it is called American style Lobster is because it is served with what the French call an American sauce. I do not know what is SO American about this sauce, but I am definitely not claiming it for my country. Just give me a good garlic/butter sauce with my lobster. This sauce is a fish stock base with seared lobster shells, white wine, tomatoes and onion. And then coral at the end to thicken it. It was ok, but definitely no garlic/butter sauce.
Fourth: Ballotine or Chicken Stuffed with Foie Gras Mousse and Pistachios
This recipe required deboning a chicken. Yes. Taking every single bone out of a chicken. It was fun! I really enjoyed it. We then took this carcass, lined it in a pork stuffing, and placed the foie gras mousse which had been rolled in pistachios inside. Rolled the whole thing up and poached it in a court bouillion.
However, during this lesson, I couldn't figure out how to get the foie gras mousse out of the can, so one of my classmates showed me how he did it- by taking a spoon and scooping out a bit to let in some air so the very compacted mousse could slide out. Well, the chef saw me do this and FREAKED out. We're talking him telling me that this was a travesty; that I was destroying the product; that I had no respect for food; and that I was getting a zero for the day. All because I emptied a can incorrectly. Luckily, it's a MOUSSE, so it was really easy to roll it all back up together and continue on with the cooking. I think by the end of the day I did not get a zero. But, who knows!
(The ballotine on the Aspic plating)
Fifth: White sausage (Boudin Blanc) with Apples
(the sausage)
Yep, I stuffed sausage this week. Which, also yes, earned a lot of snickers and inappropriate jokes from students and chefs alike for that day. But, I enjoyed making the sausage- it's actually pretty easy and allows for a lot of experimentation. Also, on this day, we made Aspic (from the court bouillon that we cooked the ballotine in). Aspic is a meat jelly. There are also lots of jokes back home about me and my love of aspic, hence my real excitement. I think it stems back to all of my grandmother's jello salads. We made it from a chicken based consomme, so our's was pretty clear. We lined dishes with it and made vegetable decorations. I made tomato roses with leek stems. It was fun, if not super 1950s looking.
(Individual plate. This is the chef's but mine ended up looking similar)
Sixth: Trout stuffed with Morrel Mushrooms and Braised in Riesling Wine
This recipe was for Alsace. It is basically trout with a duxelle of mushroom. It was very good, but those trout were a pain in the butt to filet. And I did not do a very good job of it at all! So.Many.Bones. But it all worked out. Except for my sauce.
It was a white fish stock based sauce that you add cream to at the end. So, I reduced my sauce, added the cream, turned around to start plating, went to grab my sauce and there was essentially scrambled egg in the bottom. SCHWAT?!? Not cool. I had to strain my sauce, leaving I kid you not what looked like a flan in the chinois.
(We also learned how to make Choucroute for Alsace, but did not cook this recipe)
This left my sauce super thin again so I ran to grab flour and butter, whipped up a beurre manie (a cold roux) and threw it into my sauce and plated before the fish (that had now been sitting for a minute or two) got any colder. When the chef tasted, he said my sauce was one of the best for the day (because it was so thick from the beurre manie) and not to worry about the cream particles in there because it was something wrong with that box of cream and that a few others had had the issue. He only speaks French, so I only understood that the milk is ok (it had not smelled bad to me or anything) to eat, it just reacted weirdly to the fish sauce, but apparently this happens. Whatever. It was over.
Seventh: Lamb Filet with vegetable "tian", peppermint jus
This was a great recipe and I love lamb. It was a tomato concassee on the bottom, then sauteed spinach, with lamb on top and little sauteed potato balls to cover. It was my kind of recipe and I definitely ate all of the leftovers. I didn't even use rice or pasta to get creative. Just ate it all.
And that's where we are now. There were a few other recipes in their, but these were the best/most exciting/most difficult ones of the week. It was pretty busy! But also a lot of fun and definitely preferable to the lazy weeks we had before.
For each course, we have a student dinner. You may remember Basic cuisine's went like this.
Well, Intermediate Cuisine was not that different. Except that we are SO much more knowledgeable and SO less innocent.
This time, we were expected to show up at the Eiffel Tower at 8pm as dinner would be served at 8:30pm in Restaurant 58. And in usual fashion, we showed up a few glasses of champagne and wine for the better. This pre-libation was necessary as the elevators in the Eiffel Tower are not my definition of a good time. I do not like heights or confined spaces, so my friendly champagne definitely was helping me.
When we got to the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, we entered 58 for a lovely night. If I'm being honest, the food was not that great. What was more exciting was being in the Eiffel Tower, seeing everyone dressed up and being all together for a fun night.
(Most of my kitchen group with the Chef. FYI The Chef is in the Red Scarf which is a scarf for Paris St. Germain, the soccer team. The tall blonde guy next to the chef is A, a Parisian student who is a big fan and the chef is always messing with him about them. However, on this Thursday, Beckham had just signed with Paris St. Germain aka a huge win for A and why the chef was being made to wear it.)
We had an amuse buche, a shrimp entree, lamb with creamed leeks and potato puree for the main, and a chocolate brownie-like cake for dessert. As well as glasses of red and white wine.
(the shrimp)
(dessert)
Unfortunately, one of the Pastry girls had a little too much free wine and ended up vomiting all over the stairs. It was pretty gross and embarrassing, but honestly, what do you expect when you invite pastry people? They can never hold their liquor.
(Great friends)
A big group of us ended up going out after to a bar of all leopard print sofas (I can't remember the name...) and then to Duplex, a classic skeezy Paris club. We danced all night and had a great time. At 6am when we all finally stumbled out of the club and got back to our respective apartments, my whole body hurt from so much dancing. Especially my neck as apparently, I like to whip my hair back and forth. BUT, I did make it in to cook the next day and plated very well.
Someone mentioned that our kitchen smelled a little stronger of alcohol than what we were cooking with...To them, I say, "No Comment."
But actually, it was Duplex we were at, not No Comment. No Comment was Saturday night for a different friend's birthday and equally fun.
So, that was Intermediate Cuisine's Student Dinner. I think we did ourselves proud.
