A Ball of Escargot, Inside-Out Quail, Tropical Temptations - Saturday, 13 April

Today I attended a lecture/demonstration at Le Cordon Bleu.  Anyone can do this for 45 euro, and typically there is no need to pre-register.  You're just attending the 2.5 hour lecture portion of a lesson along with the regular students (they later make the same dishes in their "practical" - this portion is not available to the public) and you get to taste the end results.  LCB publishes a quarterly schedule of these classes and you can call ahead to get your name on the list if you like or just show up at least 15 minutes before class starts (it can get pretty crazy busy in their lobby).  You can pick up the quarterly schedule at the school (8, rue Leon Delhomme in the 15th arrondissement) or request one from their website www.lcbparis.com (although finding it is a bit tricky) or write them an email at paris@cordonbleu.edu  Classes are taught in French, but they are fully or partially interpreted in English.

Even though I've taken dozens of classes and worked my way through their published curriculum, I always learn something new and worthwhile or just plain fun!

Today's first course was escargot in a "crust" served with small "St. George's" mushrooms 2 ways (some of the caps were gently fried and the rest of the mushrooms and stems cooked into a veloute - a creamed soup that was used as a room-temp garnish).  Chef discussed a few ways to prepare and encrust the snails, but the one he demo'd was absolutely delightful.  He softened some butter and brushed a fairly thick layer of it into hemispherical silicone molds.  He then froze these.  After frying cleaned/prepared snails with butter and cognac and a tiny bit of garlic, he cooled them and combined them with finely sliced parsley.  Then he filled each hemisphere of the butter "shell" with the snails and sealed the hemispheres together with more softened butter.  Then back to the freezer to completely harden.  Then they were rolled in flour, dipped in an egg/water mixture, then rolled in very fine fresh breadcrumbs and back to the freezer.  Then egg & crumbs two more times, with a rest in the freezer between one.  Then the spheres were deep-fried.  Result: a breading "crust" with butter, escargot and parsley inside.  Dramatic and yummy!

The second course was deboned quail stuffed with a "forcemeat" of veal sweetbreads and shiitake mushrooms, served with glazed pearl onions and small potatoes.  Lots of interesting and complex stuff here, but maybe the most fascinating was watching Chef debone the quail from the inside using a very small knife - it actually looked like a scalpel.  Quail are the smallest in the poultry family, less than 6 inches long, so this was quite a feat!  They have some lovely-looking quail in the meat market around the corner, so I might just have to give this a try before I leave town.  Chef removed the wishbone, then broke the wing joint, then pushed back the skin and started gradually scraping the flesh away from the backbone, turning the bird inside-out as he went.  (The backbones were set aside to use as a "rack" under the birds when they were roasted later - they also contributed their flavor to the pan sauce that was eventually painted on the plate and served with the dish.)  When he got to the leg he broke the "hip" joint and removed the thigh bone.  Then he turned the whole bird back rightside-out.  It almost reminded me of the technique required to sew a blouse, understanding the geometry and how things are placed inside-out and rightside-out!  Each quail took maybe 5 minutes to debone, and I haven't even mentioned all of the complexity of the stuffing, so this ain't no "30-minute meal" dish!  But oh, so worth it!  I also loved the glazed pearl onions.  Normally these are made by braising the skinned onions in water, butter and sugar in a covered pan and, once tender, removing the lid to evaporate the water and brown them slightly.  Today they were glazed with maple syrup, butter and a bit of salt using pretty much the same technique.  Yummy!

Finally, the dessert course - baby pineapple pan-roasted with butter and vanilla bean and a little sugar, served with honey-glazed spicebread, coconut sorbet and a coconut/rum/saffron sauce.  Deeeeelicious, although I think I would leave the coconut flesh out of the sorbet so that it was completely smooth. I absolutely love the spicebread you can buy in Paris (it's served with everything from foie gras to cheese courses to dessert to ...), and I'm always looking for better ways to make it myself.  Today's mix of 5-spice powder in addition to the usual ginger and cinnamon was really good, and the butter was cooked to the "noisette" stage, adding a nice complexity.  Also the loaf was glazed with a heated honey-orangezest mixture when it was 2/3 baked and after it was removed from the pans.  The aroma that wafted across the room when Chef removed it from the oven made everyone swoon!  (They use vented convection ovens here, so you usually don't smell things while they're baking.)  Gotta try it when I get home!

After all of the food is prepared and presented, Chef's assistants divide it up and serve it to the students and visitors so that we can understand the expected taste and texture.  Here's a shot of today's tasting.

At one point during today's class (I think it was while he was preparing what he called the "dinosaur egg" escargot shells), Chef looked at me and asked if I was French.  I said no, I was American.  That was it.  It was the first time a chef has ever addressed me during class, so gotta say I was a bit stunned!  I should have gone up after class and asked him why he asked - did I just look that knowledgeable or sophisticated (ha ha) or something, but we were running overtime and the next lecture/demonstration was about to start and the students were getting restless out in the hall.  And I was chicken...er...quail!