As you undoubtedly have heard from me in the past, I just love catching as many classes as I can at Le Cordon Bleu when I'm in town. For a mere 45 euros, one can attend a 3-hour lecture/demonstration with the regular students. You receive a copy of the ingredients list for the (usually) three courses that Chef is preparing/teaching and a pen, and you get ready to start taking notes! Chef explains what to do and how, alternative ingredients/methods, history of the dish, info about the region from which the products come, food safety, etc. Because none of this is written down, you have to madly take notes while he's talking, and hope that you don't miss seeing what he's doing while you're writing! Although he teaches in French, most of the classes are translated into English. The students come from all over the world, but French and English are the two common languages. When all the food has been prepared, Chef presents it in an individual serving style (and sometimes in family serving style). Then the students rush up to take photos and tiny portions of each dish are distributed to everyone as the final "demonstration" of how it's supposed to taste.
LCB Paris
Today's lecture/demonstration was even more exciting than most because it was FREE to those of us in the general public. It's a special promotional "Semaine du Goût" ("Week of Taste") all week. So the classroom was packed - more regular students than I've seen before, plus about 8 of us outsiders.
Today's class included these three courses:
1) Crème de chou fleur servie avec un consommé de légumes gélifié aux coques et caviar (Cream of cauliflower served with a jellied vegetable consommé, cockles and caviar)
2) Selle d'agneau Prince Noir, petite chartreuse de légumes (Black prince saddle of lamb, vegetable "chartreuse")
3) Ananas et fraises juste cuits dans un sirop au gingembre, plissé croustillant et sorbet Campari (Pineapple and strawberries in syrup with ginger, crisp fan and Campari sorbet)
Read on and check out the photos of the dishes (you can click on any of the photos in this blog to see it full-screen) and the "recipes" (before I wrote any of the instructions on them):
The cream of cauliflower was quite wonderful - cooked in chicken stock with onions, and then pureed with cream, stabilized with some leaves of gelatin and finally folded together with whipped cream after it had cooled down a bit. It was like a slightly warm savory mousse with a very gentle cauliflower flavor and voluptuous mouthfeel. It was served with cockles - I am shocked that I've never had them before, and I must now add them to my repertoire - they tasted like a cross between shrimp and fish - definitely a shellfish but very mild (and very cute!). The vegetable aspic was really wonderful - I must add this to my repertoire as well - basically a clarified mirepoix (carrots, onion, celery) stock with spices that is jelled and cut into fancy shapes or small cubes. It would be wonderful as a side to any fish or shellfish, or of course as the "glue" for a vegetable terrine. And the little dab of caviar gave a welcome salty and elegant touch to this course.
The saddle of lamb with vegetable "chartreuse" was very complex but delivered probably the best lamb I have ever eaten - intensely flavored, soft & pink, just fatty enough. I wish I could have gotten doubles of the tiny portion handed out to the students! The saddle was very carefully trimmed of all skin (which is called "parchment," I learned!) and excess fat (but not all fat) and nerves & connective tissue. The skirt was pounded thin and rubbed with a half-lemon, then sprinkled with pepper and fleur de sel, then spread with a little veal forcemeat (more about that in a minute), and then rolled up around the "tenderloin" portion of the saddle. The little roast was then wrapped in caul fat and very carefully tied, then gently seared, then roasted for about 20 minutes at 340F, then allowed to rest for 20 minutes before being untied and served. Wowzer...absolutely the best. The veal for the forcemeat was cubed, then ground in the food processor, then pushed through a tamis and transferred to a bowl over ice, at which time cream was whisked in and tiny batons of truffle folded in. A portion was set aside for the lamb, and sweated carrots, shallots, and mushrooms were added to the remainder along with some herbs. This mixture was the "stuffing" for the vegetable "chartreuse" (a very fancy stuffed cabbage with blanched green beans and sticks of carrot and daikon radish (cut to exactly the same dimensions as the beans), made into a tight little sausage-shaped bundle that was steamed). Lamb bones and trimmings with more mirepoix, garlic and rosemary were made into a wonderful sauce. A massive amount of work but oh, my goodness, what results!
The dessert was appropriately light and acidic given the heft of the first two courses. A fabulous tart sorbet was made from orange & lemon juices, orange zest, Campari, sugar and glucose. Oh, my goodness, is this going to be a hit next summer! A baby pineapple was pan-roasted with a ginger syrup and some powdered vanilla and a splash of dark rum. The flavors were deep, sweet and a little bit tart - holey moley, it was good. Chef cut some little strips of brik pastry and brushed them with butter and wrapped them around some cylinders to make cookie tubes in which to hide the sorbet. Then strawberries were simply sliced thinly used as a base for the dish. Heavenly!
Here's a picture of Chef at work - he made this very complex stuff look easy!
And here are the "recipes"
