Shortbread and Tarts and Fillets - Oh My!

Today marks my first week at Le Cordon Bleu, and it has been an experience so far --- to say the least!!  Where do I even begin??  They welcomed us on Thursday to a wine and cheese reception at the school...at 11AM.  Just in case you don't believe me, check out the picture below!

I also had my first pastry practical class where we made the shortbread cookies that we had seen in demonstration the night before.

They weren't the prettiest cookies in the class (but they weren't the ugliest either - woo!).  They sure did taste incredible though --- and that's all that really counts in my book.  I am embarrassed to admit how quickly these disappeared, and how many times my count got to the double digits in one sitting.  It's best if I keep that information to myself.  So far, the pastry practicals have been a lot more laid back compared to cuisine, so it is a nice break from the absolute chaos and constant running around. 

So, I went from pretty little shortbread cookies on Thursday to filleting fish on Friday.  Yup, that's right.  If you recall, our first cuisine demo/practical was making an easy soup that is pretty difficult to really screw up, and our second required us to fillet TWO sole.  I obviously couldn't take pictures while I was actually doing it, but you can get the gist from the demonstration pictures below.  Of course, the professional chef makes it look soooo easy...and believe me, it was not.  I had never even touched a whole fish prior to this practical, so it was pretty tricky (and disgusting) to say the least...

We started with the whole fish -- head, eyes, EVERYTHING

This was his finished product

And this was mine -- reheated that night.  We had to plate the dish in practical, and it actually looked very similar to his, I promise!

I have spared you the nasty details...including when I had to use my cleaver to break the bones and cut the main artery down the center of the fish in order to make the stock, and every time my knife hit the board, fish blood and guts flew up at me.  It was pretty awesome.  Also, I am fairly positive that I left about 98% of the meat on the bones because apparently filleting is not my forte, so my actual fillets were quite small...oh well.  I did get a hug and a high five when the chef tasted my sauce, so I am assuming it all turned out okay in the end!

One thing I have learned thus far is that you don't get much time off when you are at Le Cordon Bleu. That's fine, I suppose, because that IS the main reason why I am here...which brings me Saturday...when I had class at 08:30 and 15:30.  Sweet.

There is nothing like trussing a chicken at 08:30 to welcome you to the weekend morning (when you should be sleeping in...).  I actually trussed my chicken today, but we had demo and got to watch how it was done.  It was actually pretty easy (after I got over my raw chicken phobia that has haunted me since childhood)!  I would say about a million and one times easier then filleting a stupid fish.  We also made a rice dish to accompany the poached chicken and some sort of white sauce with a roux base (I can't remember the name -- ahh! Bechamel, maybe?).  All I know is it had a whole lotta butta...and it was incredible.  I had it for dinner tonight to accompany my 1,86 euro bottle of wine...which I had to try because I had to see what 1,86 euro wine tasted like.  It's got nothin' on 2 Buck Chuck.

Using a blow torch to remove any remaining feathers.  They actually let us play with fire!

Beginning to truss...

The chef also prepared a cheese souffle which we won't be making until later in the semester, but it was DELICIOUS!  You know you are in a room full of foodie nerds (like myself) when you can feel the excitement in the room as the souffles rise in the oven, and the rush to the front of the kitchen to take pictures before they fall.

It started to fall before I could get all the way up there

We made a tarte aux pomme (apple tart) on Saturday afternoon.  When the chef came around to check mine out, he said something (in French) along the lines of, "the apples are okay on the outer ring, but the interior ring is a catastrophe!!!!!"  Hm...okay...I didn't really know what to make of that.  All I know is, the tart was created on Saturday night.  It is now Monday night, and it's gone.  Maybe I should put a lock on the fridge...

I made a rule with myself that I am not allowed to bring home a new dessert until the one at home is complete...so, if I have to buy 5 seats on the flight home in order to fit, now you know why.

Now that I am a week into school, my assumptions that butter was involved in the preparation of every. single. French. dish. were painfully correct.  We start dishes with butter, add it in the middle of cooking, and then finish them off with pads of butter to give them shine (duh! - why else?!) And have I been shying away from ANYTHING?  NO!!  All I can say is that I hope my arteries are able to come out on top when this is all over.  Seriously...it's almost gross (and delicious!) how much butter is used.

And why we are on the subject of painfully delicious food, I find it incredibly ironic that bread in French is "pain" (think: "pauhn" , rhymes with Ron-- for those of you who are French illiterate, like myself).  Seriously, I have actually consumed a baguette so quickly that it caused me pain (think: short A, rhymes with rain).  When you go and pick one up from the boulangerie, they give it to you like this...

So, it is A. completely exposed to your senses and B. still warm and wonderful, and it tempts you as you are making the long trek home...so after a few short minutes, the above picture quickly turns into this...

The baguette (and the many that have come before and the ones that will come after) did not stand a chance.

Anyway, enough food tangents for one day.  You are now completely caught up on all of the culinary shenanigans that have been happening on this side of the pond.  Thanks for sticking around all the way until the end of this LOOONG post!

- à tout à l’heure!