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.
Much love!
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