Intensive is over - time-out!

Intensive Intermediate is over. I went back to Amsterdam and Levi (the Canadian 'wanker' on the right) stayed in Paris to do the last stretch - superior. We're pretty tired indeed!

Intermediate Cuisine review - my experience of the course....

Today, it's Monday, 4th January 2010. It's been ages since I came back from Paris. In the meantime we've seen Christmas, the NewYear, we've been to the family in the UK, we've had a few visitors here and we were just enjoying the city of Amsterdam. Time flies by! In the next few days I'll try to write a bit about my LCB experiences.

After finishing my 'Basic Cuisine' adventures last year, I wrote a feedback piece about the course. This turned out to be well-received and appreciated by both fellow students and Cordon Bleu itself. So I have decided to do a similar review again this time about the Intermediate Cuisine Intensive.

The questions that I am most frequently asked are about the differences with Basic Cuisine, what I've learned this time, and if the school (or the people) has/have changed? Last year I already wrote a bit on general issues, so I shall try to not repeat myself too much.

So, without further ado, here is some feedback in no particular order:

Well, the school has changed indeed! For the better I must add. To me, looking at it from the customer's point of view, it looks more professional. You immediately notice the difference when you enter the building - a different set-up at the reception area, different lay-out of the shop, and there is always a nice welcome from the people at the reception. They are a lot 'quicker' and better organized when it comes to purchasing equipment too! The staff all have got new computers. LCB has also changed the computers in the students computer room. Very nice indeed!

My enrollment for this course went very smooth. I just filled in a PDF-form, copied and scanned it at home and returned it to LCB. All by Email. (Oh yeah, and I paid of course!). That was the easy bit.

At the beginning of the course, it turned out that they forgot (?) to ask me for 2 passport photo's, my 'in case of emergency' details, my contact address, telephone numbers etc etc. But hey, who cares, I was booked for intermediate cuisine class !

Some things in administration are still 'very well organised' - not....! - as I already wrote on my blog before, I received a long Email with the question if I was still interested in starting the LCB cuisine course.....(click on the link)
The general discussions people have about the administration office is that they are mainly interested in booking a course; read: your money! At least, that's the students opinion. The admin people are all very nice and always very helpful, but... when the money is in, they tend NOT to respond to Emails/questions that quickly any more or they don't answer at all. I am still waiting for answers to some questions I asked last November in an Email..... and I'm not the only one!
Of course, many many things do go very well, but unfortunately the negative things are often the ones that stick by most people.

The class schedule.
As many others also think, it would be very nice to receive our class schedule well in advance. This would be great, because if we (the family or visitors) can book train journeys or flights to/from Paris earlier, we can save a lot of money! And we can plan our (free) week-ends and evenings a lot easier. It can't be that difficult to send it out by Email a bit earlier to the students. Why not?

Intensive course pace or regular pace?
Doing this intensive course was the only option for me. I didn't even think about doing the regular course of 11 weeks. This was mainly because of time limitations. I'm about to experience the 11 weeks Superior Cuisine soon, we'll see if I like that better. I'll let you know.

A very positive point is that the chefs have access to more (new) equipment now. We used brand new Teflon pans, different sizes of moulds, different plates. Things we didn't have last year. Very good indeed. However, regarding the equipment, we see more and more old pans in the kitchens in which the vegetables/meat tend to  catch on and burn very quickly. Once, one of the chefs threw one of those pans in the bin during a demonstration .....maybe time for some new pans as well?

Good ingredients.
I thought all the ingredients we worked with were very good. Very fresh and good quality of meat and fish. Big portions, sometimes even too big. Absolutely no complaints! (Remember my experience with The Olympic Duck during the Basic Cuisine practical exam last year?)

A big difference between Basic Cuisine and Intermediate Cuisine is the learning curve. Last year, everything was new to me and we had a huge learning curve. I was very excited about everything. However, during this Intermediate session I thought I didn't learn that much new stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a great chef and I don't pretend to be one, but I thought quite often our chef explained things we'd already done (a few times) before in Basic Cuisine. Sometimes this was because people, as an example, had never deboned a fish themselves or killed live crabs; sometimes people didn't do the Basic Cuisine course - they did something else, like another cookery school or not a 'real LCB basic course' and they were admitted too easily in Intermediate Cuisine. Nothing personal, it's just an observation. And sometimes someone just didn't understand a recipe at all...

Recipes.
The recipes we 'did' in intermediate were not very exciting - actually, we thought that in general they were very old fashioned and sometimes even boring and useless without any 'learning point'! I do understand it's classic French regional cuisine, but a more modern touch to the the recipes would be highly appreciated. Chef Caals was trying to make some adjustments every now and then in a demo, but we understood this wasn't that much appreciated by some of the other chefs. That's too bad - why not give it a try to update the program to a bit more modern standard? A pizza from the Alsace? Come on, you can do better than that! We even called some lessons an 'extended basic cuisine recipe'. That not too good for advertising!

What have I learnt from these recipes? Well, I can debone a whole chicken now and leave it whole in one piece (I don't think I'll ever do that again in real life...), I can chop-up a rabbit and a guinea fowl, I can debone a trout by taking its backbone out from the top side. Things like that. But I've learnt probably more than I think I did...
What I've missed in this course is more plating skills. I'd love to learn a bit more about that! Maybe LCB can put a bit more of that in the next Intermediate sessions.

Theft

Here we go again, sorry. Yes, it is still very much present. From little things that just vanish during a practical lesson; from a scraper - I know who took mine and I'm not going to ask it back from an ex-cagefighter, to plastic bowls, magnets, scales, and even a complete knife set. Sometimes it returns, sometimes it doesn't.

Someone in Basic Cuisine lost a complete knife set during the course and we had one (nearly succesful) attempt to steal one. The person who tried (?) this is still at the school and starting the next level soon (January 2010). Unfortunately, LCB wouldn't take any notice or action of what happened; So beware! Even people with good jobs steal stuff and in my opinion: once a thief, always a thief !

A big compliment to the dishwasher- and cleaning people! During the practicals they did a great job. Thank you!

Chefs

I would like to give some feedback on the chefs. There are quite a few chefs in 'cuisine' and they are all very different. We had lessons (both in demos and in practicals) from Mark, Patrick1, Franck, Patrick2, Phillippe, Xavier, Bruno and Frederic. All very nice and very skilled people. They're all great chefs, but at Le Cordon Bleu they have to combine that with teaching (skills). In that case, you are not a chef any more, but you are a teacher! Being a great chef doesn't automatically make you a good teacher though.

There were just a few chefs who were also great teachers!

I would love to get an honest (direct) answer about the plate of food I produce every day. I do understand it's also a cultural issue NOT to give a too direct feedback, but personally I think everybody improves big time with an honest answer from chef when you ask him about the plate of food you produce. ' C'est bon ' isn't good enough. Maybe that's enough for most people (in Basic Cuisine), but I think we deserve a bit more now. The only two chefs who always gave great feedback were Phillippe and Xavier. Thank you for that!
Enough said.

Timing
In Intermediate we learn about timing and plating up our dish warm every day. The exam is even more strict: Plate on time, produce a warm dish, make it look good (hopefully it's tasty enough) or you loose points!
To me, this should also go for the chefs too.... In general, the chefs use the 2.5 hours that they have available for a demonstration class to the max - and they won't stop early, even if they can, but, demo's of 3 hours or once longer (evening class - we left at 21.45 hrs after tasting) is just not done. Maybe it was 3 hours in the old days, but quite often students do have another class directly after a demo. So chef-teachers, could you please be aware of that...?! It just happens too often.

The written exam
Well, what can I say - personally I don't like the idea when you have to reproduce 7 recipes by heart. Or learn the meaning of a few French words. But, to be honest, I don't know how to change this set up.
What is 'interesting', is that certain people who don't speak any English or French at all can still score a 100% on part of their written exam. Their iPhones or photo cameras with all the answers worked overtime... I know this last bit is a bit of my own problem and I have to deal with that myself... but I just don't like it.

To my surprise, and many of my classmates, there are still people doing this advanced level who can't even cut an onion or a garlic correctly, or de-seed and dice a tomato the right way. Come on, how is that possible? All the chefs know this and they see it happening every day, but they are not doing anything about it. They just shake their head and look in disgust when they see it. It's easy to solve: grade them very low and make them fail this level! But these guys even graduate(d), and that's an insult to the students who take this course seriously.
The same goes for wearing dirty clothes in class. We had two chaps in intermediate class who wore their uniform for at least three weeks without even washing it - it was so filthy, you just wouldn't stand next to them! They stank! They don't deserve to be in the kitchen dressed like that - get them out please and make them change their uniform and tea towel more often.
On top of that, when there's someone in class that has such a big negative agressive influence on the whole atmosphere, and the chefs know it, please do something about it. Personally, I think this is also part of the task of the teachers. So, in general, a stricter approach of the chefs regarding all these issues would be highly appreciated! By all of us, I'm sure.

It sounds a bit harsh, but I think that when you've paid for the 'cuisine diplome' or the 'grand diplome', you sort of always graduate. Actually, many of my classmates think alike! LCB, this approach might backfire in the end - when a student graduates and is actually not worth it (sorry to say), and he/she advertises his/her background being LCB trained, it eventually comes back to YOU! Le Cordon Bleu has a great reputation in the world and you don't want that destroyed by people who 'pretend' they finished the cuisine program succesfully. Not because LCB just 'let them go', just to get rid of them. (They've paid and they'll never return...)  Please think about it.

The men's locker room is going to be expanded !!! That's great news. Hopefully they have finished this over the (Xmas) holidays and we get a bit more space.

Another thing I have noticed, is that everybody at LCB (the chefs, administration) speak better English. Great! I heard that they follow English classes at the school... keep it up! We have had great discussions in English with some of the chefs. Super!

WIFI.
There is wireless internet available in the building, but to access it you have to pay for it! Come on, we pay a lot of euros for this course, could you please make WIFI available free of charge?!  Just secure it the right way and have the password available at the reception.

The big question: Would I do it again? The answer is : yes and no.
Yes, but only because you need it when you want to do the next level, superior cuisine. If you finish LCB after this (Intermediate) you'd be a bit disappointed about the cuisine course I think.
If you're thinking of not doing the whole bit, I think it's better to quit after Basic Cuisine (great course!), or do the full stretch 'Cuisine Diplome'; but don't quit after Intermediate.

Let it be clear: I have enjoyed my stay in Paris very very much. Also the LCB experience was great. I was asked (also by LCB) to write honestly about my Cordon Bleu experience and give feedback, and maybe to some of you this review isn't that positive. Let's say it's a critical review. Honestly, I have enjoyed LCB! The school, the chefs, the people and my fellow students - thank you for a good time!

Well, enough for now. Please let me know if I've got something totally wrong. If anyone has got something to say or ask about my review, then please don't hesitate to contact me. No problem. Just let me know and send me an Email.

See you all again at Superior Cuisine at the end of March! Yes, I have already booked, and I'm really looking forward to it. Please check out the new blog already and sign-up to stay tuned.
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Another good review on the LCB experience is the blog of Mark McDowell. He made this during his last intensive in Nov/Dec, and wrote a very honest piece on his Basic Cuisine 2009 adventures. Check it out HERE !

Superior Cuisine - The Next Step, I've booked !

Yes, I've already booked for the next step - superior cuisine. I'll be back in Paris from 22nd March until 4th June 2010. That's a long time....
I found out that about a month ago, there were already 42 people on this list (max 60 students), so I decided to act quickly. I've reserved my place and paid...
I'm sure I'll meet some people I already know from basic cuisine and maybe James and Raffaele will be there as well. Hope so!

I have to sort out an (other?) apartment soon; they're already filling up. So, if you readers have any ideas/weblinks/hints/contacts etc, please let me know! (sjoerd.servaas@hetnet.nl)

And don't even think about visiting already......
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The program for next year will be: Paris Campus  -  Cuisine Supérieure

Description  Haute Cuisine: classique et contemporaine Précision et rapidité du travail en cuisine Maîtrise des techniques et des méthodes Elaboration de recettes avec des produits rares et raffinés Maîtrise de la planification des menus classiques et contemporains Adaptation des menus selon les disponibilités des produits et les saisons Maîtrise de la décoration et de la présentation Développement de la créativité personnelle Programme totalement en Français et Anglais (!) Pré-requis  Certificat de Cuisine Intermédiaire Conditions  Les candidates doivent être âgés d’au moins 18 ans au moment du début du cours .

The last two days in Paris...

Friday and Saturday morning; The last hours in Paris.... I'm glad to go home now. I've done lots of cooking and I want to leave now. Time to go back to Amsterdam! I've missed it.

On Friday, it was cold and windy. So we we went to the museum of 'maison des cultures du monde', Le Musee du Quai Branly, and then to Mark and Beth to have a few drinks and say our goodbyes. We also went to the market to do some weekend-shopping and on Saturday morning we checked out of the apartment; Thank you Ann, my landlady,  for the nice bottle of wine, my graduation present.

One final picture of the two 'Le Cordon Bleu' bloggers.

Saturday: Heavy snowfall, frozen train tracks between Paris and Amsterdam, a man with a knife in the tunnel near Amsterdam, long delays - but after 6 hours on the (high speed?) Thalys train we finally got home! (The Thalys stopped at the airport and didn't go any further... so we took a taxi home.)

Xmas is near - rabbit for exam! I did it.... I think!

Let me tell you a bit about the intermediate exam;
We have to 'learn' 10 recipes by heart, and in the end the chefs pick only two. We don't know which ones that will be....
So, you can imagine that on the day of the exam, we are asking around what those dishes will be! First rumour came to us in the local cafe on the corner - rabbit had been spotted, and it wasn't on the 'basic cuisine' list. So that was clear: it was ours!
The biggest challenge came later: what would be the other dish? So you ask everybody who has access to the downstairs prep-kitchen: assistants, cleaners, even chefs! We even contacted assistants who were at home.... In the end we found out that our second challenge would be a guinea fowl (pintade) dish.

After our demonstration class (lesson 30!), we had some time to prepare for the exam.

Damien and Levi helping out chef Patrick in the last demo; joking around a bit, as usual!

Last demo - champagne!

I can't explain it, but I was nervous. Drank lots (and I mean lots!) of coffee in the cafe. Our group was doing the exam in the 2PS (second floor, petit salle) kitchen. You go upstairs in pairs, and you have exactly 2.5 hrs to finish and plate-up for 4 'judges' (external chefs). The latter wasn't clear to everybody, some of us didn't know to the last minute, right before plating up, that we had to produce food for 4 people!

I went into the kitchen together with Mr. Liu, our Chinese guy. Rabbit was on the menu! That meant lots of deboning, filleting, chopping etc. In by 16.30 and finished at 19.00 hrs - I was exhausted. I did it !! including my technical dish, a bearnaise sauce. Yes, I forgot a few things, but who cares? (forgot my breadcrumbs in the stupid stuffing and in the end I produced a very nice jus - without the cream...) - but I plated on time. ('Chef' Liu was more than 15 minutes late...)

Guinea fowl pie.

Rabbit.
After the exam we downed a few beers and I went home. Some others did go out for dinner or parties, but I just didn't feel like joining them. Sorry about that. I was just knackered!

Graduation day.

Thursday morning  17th December - I didn't receive a phone call or an Email, so that meant that I passed the exam. Not a big suprise, but I was happy. YES, I did it!

Early afternoon, we (Jayne and I) went to the local cafe on the corner of Vaugirard for a coffee.

Here, we met Cris and Leanne (translator, Shiatsu massage). The ceremony at the school started at 15.00 hrs. Most students from basic cuisine and pastry and students from intermediate cuisine and pastry were there. Unfortunately, most of the intermediate cuisine people already left (Maldives, Canada, US or just didn't feel like coming...)

The chefs looked bored again, but hey, they do this ceremony every few months....
Juliette, the new director, had a few kind words and everybody received their certificate.

The top 5 of intensive intermediate cuisine 2009: James, David, Levi, Cristina and Catharine. Even 'Chow Chow' graduated.... that was a HUGE surprise. (no explanation!)

After the ceremony we had lots of champagne and a few sweet nibbles - the pastry chefs did a good job, thank you, but I missed the food they prepared for us last year...
Then we had drinks in the pub at Convention and dinner at a local restaurant in the 15th arrondisement with Jayne, Cris, Petri and Debra.

Here are some pictures of the graduation:

       

 

Later, I will put the rest of the pictures on Picasa....

quick blog - computer not good, graduated, snow in Paris

Today is Friday, my last day in Paris. It's been great, it's been hectic and I'm tired. Jayne's here now and tomorrow we are going back to Amsterdam already. That feel good actually.

I haven't blogged for a while, mainly due to computer problems. And I was also very tired and a bit busy 'avec une petite bierre...'
When I get home i will update the blog with everything that happened in the last few days. And yes, I got my certificate - I passed the intermediate cuisine exam!!!
At the moment it's quite cold here - wind, snow (oh yeah!) and a bit of rain. But today was  dry and 'just a bit cold'.

Going home to Amsterdam - sounds great!
Please come back to tje blog, I'll update soon from another computer.

Sjoerd (graduated...)

Finished, very tired, rabbit, sleep, massage

Didn't blog yesterday - went out after class to 'study'... and have dinner. Didn't sleep well last night. Got up early, read my exam notes and went to school for the last demo by Patrick Caals and the exam itself. Iinteresting where all the info comes from, but we knew fairly quickly that we had to make guinea fowl pie or rabbit tournedos + a technical dish; a bearnaise sauce.
My exam started at 16.30 and finished by 19.00 hrs. I made it, barely. It was tough; I had to make the rabbit dish. More info on the day and the exam later.

After class, I had a few beers at the local cafe, then home for a shower and off to bed; I'm tired! (No party for me tonight!)
On top of that, I'm having computer problems; crash, utra slow computer etc. I'll try to solve it later.
Tomorrow at 13.30 I have booked a massage - I think I've earned that one!

Goodnight,
Sj
PS: I think I've done OK in the exam - it could have been better, but I'm not unhappy with the final result.

studygroup (dream on !), market, wine and a very nice meal

Thank you chef Damien, for cooking most of the meal tonight; duck, trout, pheasant. And thank you James for the VERY good champagne and wine and the rest. It was a very nice evening.
(Pictures tomorrow!)
This morning I studied a bit, oh yes, it's true! I did the first 5 recipes (out of 10...) At 13.00 hrs I picked up Cris at metro staion Emile Zola to go to the market at Dupleix, have something to eat, coffee, buy flowers  and a dessert, 'study', and go to James' place for a nice 'study' afternoon. Damien was in charge of most dishes, but everybody did a bit to help out (cutting, deboning, chopping, washing up, drinking...)
The wines were great; thank you James.
Just got home at 22.00 hrs, time to go to bed. Tomorrow, we have the morning off, but I still have to 'study' a bit. Then a demo at 12.30 and a practical - don't know what it will be about, yet... I'll find out tomorrow.

A demain!
Sj

Anti-burn present from Priska.

Since I'm stupid enough to burn my hands or fingers on a (too) regular basis, Priska, who's in intermediate pastry, had the wondelful idea to buy me a very useful present; a silicon pan holder !

Since all the pans at Le Cordon Bleu are Inox / metal, this is probably a very useful tool for me. Thank you very much and I'll try the handle out next week in our last practical on Monday and at the exam on Tuesday.

3100 hits on my blog in 4 weeks time! Thank you all !

Today I got my 3100 hit on my blog since I put that 'flag counter' up. Thank you all for visting! I've got people visting on both my blogs (basic intensive cuisine 2008 and this blog) from more than 25 different countries.

A demain!
Sjoerd

Weekend! Friday 2 classes, beer and dinner

Finally, it's the weekend. We had quite a week. Long hours, studying, written exam (no results yet, but that was to be expected), demo classes, cafe, more cafe and practicals, petite bierre.
This is my last weekend in Paris. Next Saturday I'll be going back home to Amsterdam again. Time flies when you're having fun!

Yesterday, Friday, we had the morning off and started off with a demo and then our last practical of the week.
Chef Philippe again - it's a delight to see him teach. What a difference compared to other chefs.
The menu:
starter - sea bass and shellfish with aromatic vegetables
mains: veal tenderloin (rose), creamy risotto, mushroom duxelles and asparagus sauce
dessert: warm raspberry tart

How's that for a dinner?

The sea bass would be sliced very thinly and eaten raw. Very refreshing dish! Chef made a super raspberry tart. I'll make that one again at home, that's for sure!
The veal is cooked pink, the risotto should be creamy (make your own stock), the duxelles dry and the sauce, based on a Mornay sauce, green. This dish was our practical; not difficult at all. (Petri took it all home! bon appetit.)

Li Gang Liu enjoying his plate.

Levi & Bruno

Cris & Bruno

Judging ze plate!

Finished by 18.00 hrs, change and run to the pub for a few beers. After the drinks I returned home, got showered quickly (oh yeah, Rafaele - I did shower!) and went out to dinner near Odeon in Rue de Seine at Pere et Fille (or something like that) with Rafaele and Cristina. Very nice evening.

Forgot to tell you: I think I forgot my shoulder bag in the locker room or computer room (?) today. I only missed it when I went home at the end of the day. (contained laptop etc) It was brought in by the LCB maintenance-man. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The plans for the weekend: Study a few exam recipes - we need to know all the ins-and-outs of 10 recipes by Tuesday afternoon. I'll go shopping (supermarket that is..), Sunday my local market, buy Champagne or wine for Sunday afternoon bacause we're going to James' place to cook some exam dishes. Maybe I'll go to Le Bon Marche to do some shopping; don't know yet. One thing is sure: I have to study recipes!

Buying your (cook)books CHEAP - The 'Bookdepository.co.uk ' and free worldwide delivery.

Recently, I have found a great company on the web that sells books at VERY cheap prices. This UK based company, 'The Bookdepository', also SHIPS all the books you buy FOR FREE, wordwide. I have ordered books a few times now, and have not experienced any problems.

Check it out at: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/

For example, they have a huge selection on Cordon Bleu books - click HERE for more information.
Not only do they sell cookbooks, but also :
Art & Photography, Audio Books, Biography, Business, Finance & Law,Children's Books, Computing, Crafts and Hobbies, Crime & Thriller, Dictionaries & Languages, Entertainment, Fiction, Food & Drink, Graphic Novels, Anime & Manga, Health, History & Archaeology,Home & Garden, Humour, Medical, Mind, Body & Spirit, Natural History, Personal Development, Poetry & Drama, Reference, Religion, Romance, Science & Geography, Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, Society & Social Sciences, Sport, Stationery, Teaching Resources & Education, Technology & Engineering, Transport and Travel & Holiday Guides

In short, a 'normal'big bookstore!

LCB intermediate pictures from Picasa. UPDATE TODAY !

Free download of my LCB intermediate pictures from Picasa. UPDATE TODAY !

I put loads of good and bad pictures I made in school in Picasa. Feel free to download any pics you like. In general, the pictures are about 100-300 Kb, but if you want the Mb shots, just send me an email and I'll (try to) send them to you.

check it out at : http://picasaweb.google.nl/sjoerd.servaas

I'll try to be good and update it regularly...

Stuffed lamb, super demo by Philippe C.and fish practical

Today was a 3 lesson-day. Not too bad. At the moment, everybody is tired. You can see it in their eyes, the way they react to things, people skipping classes, etc.

The end is near... today was lesson 27 I think, only 2 more to go and on Tuesday our final practical exam.

In a way this course was more intensive compared to the first 'basic'one. the speed is much higher, although I di'dn't learn that much new things. 30 demo's and 30 practicals in just 5 weeks is pretty intensive indeed!

Well, today started off in the cafe - not a bad start, as ususal. 2 espresso's, a nice chat and off to school around the corner.

Part 1.
Practical: Big piece of lamb (cut it, debone it, trim it, fat off etc) we had to stuff with raisins, dades, dried fruit and season the thing with olive oil and herbs. Sounds good! As a sidedish we made couscous with fruits/nuts/tomatos. And a jus from the (lamb) bones of course.
When I took out the sautee pan from the oven at 200C and left it on the stove, I decided to wash my hands quickly.... when I returned, I moved the pan a bit to the side - oops, too late... that was hot! @%#*& !!
Chef Clergue was supervising our class. He's our superchef; He's honest about the results, whether it's edible or crap, he tells you how to improve and he actually gives you tips how you can change things. Nice man.

And we had to make our technical dish that we are also making at the exam. A Bearnaise sauce. Not difficult, but a tricky sauce. It consists of herbs, a reduction of vinegar/white wine, yolks, a bit of water and clarified butter. It can go wrong fairly quickly. The sauce can split or be overcooked easily. I think I did OK.

Levi working on the couscous.

Damien plating-up.

Then our demo at 12.30; Chef Philippe in charge again. Personally, I think he's the best chef in the whole school, I've already said that before.
Today, we were in for a fantastic demo. Very full program, and chef was working at full speed. And, when he had some sort of quiet moment during the demo (stirring in a pot or so) he would discuss the wines that would go with these dishes. Great guy!

Starter: Salmon (forgot the details.. sorry)
Mains: Fish in a salt/bread crust with beurre blanc and vegetable 'pizza'
dessert: walnut tart and icecream

The main course was a lot (and I mean a lot) of chopping vegetables. And making dough for the crust and for the side dish, some sort of vegetable pizza. I've never seen a fish being baked in this dough/salt combination. I always do it in only a course salt/eggwhite mixture. The advantage of this new mixture is that it seals off the fish completely - no air can get in or out during cooking in the oven. He did a SUPER demo and his presentation of the dishes was fabulous.
Just the pictures:

seabream still in the salt/bread crust.

Fillet of seabream

starter with salmon/salad part1

dessert

starter with salmon/salad part2

encore dessert

After this, we had our fish practical. We could work in pairs, so that saved us a lot of time with all the vegetables chopping , gutting fish, making dough etc.

Chef Xavier was in charge during the practical. Two of us were knackered and didn't show for this pretty exhausting practical (but I wished the never smiling always whining bitchy agressive atmosphere spoiling and probable very unsuccesful ex-cagefighter and kicked-out-of-the-army bitch with a shit attitude wouldn't show, but no, unfortunately she was there... sucking-up to chef again; oops,sorry!). In the end the practical was not that bad....

The results:

Rafaele with his bread/salt crust fish. And James' fish also.

good job, I think.

My fish plate.

Chef Xavier Cotte discussing the results with petit chef Damien. Chef always gave us good and honest feedback - very nice. That's exactly what we want to hear.

Oops, I did it again - je suis stupide.... !

Oops, I did it again...... ! Yes, another burn. This time on my left hand, 3 fingers. I was pretty shaken after it happened and was sent outside to get some fresh air. Merde! It hurts.
Mark helped me to put some 'Biogaze'on it, and that is just super stuff. It cools down the blister/burn and relaxes the skin.

Two petite pictures....

I'm OK now, it doesn't really hurt any more. Thank you.

I'll update the burn counter on the blog.... 1 burn on the thumb, 3 on the index finger and 3 on my middle finger (one really long one!) = score of 7 for the counter.

Back on track, 'study', ze butcher is here, written exam today, beer

This blog update is about today, yes, I'm back on track again!
Today, Wednesday, we had the morning off (to study for the written exam), we had the butcher visiting chopping up a lamb, then the written exam and FINALLY beer.

I studied a bit this morning and went to the cafe, eh, to school at 11.00 hrs. Had a few coffee's with ze locals, changed into my smelly uniform and went upstairs to go to class;

Demo by Mr.Bean. Great chef. Seriously, I think he might well be the best chef in the whole school! Very precise, dedicated, knowledgeable, always willing to explain etc etc.

First, chef showed us how to make a good bearnaise sauce. We did this before in Basic Cuisine, but he showed us again because this will be our technical dish for our exam next Tuesday. Not that difficult, I think.
Then we had a visit of the butcher. He showed us how to chop-up a (big) lamb. Very interesting and an impressive performance!
some pictures:

After the butcher was finished chopping up the thing, chef made a dish with lamb and a Catalan dessert.

Then directly after this class, we did the written exam.

It wasn't that difficult and most people were ready within 30 minutes. I think I did OK, results may be in on Friday.

After the exam we went straight to the cafe and had a few pints...