Le Cordon Bleu - Instruction #10

Chef Stril’s Basic-Cuisine-chef-colleague is in London for a month leaving him to do most of the instructions. Again, yet still eager. Chef Stril greeted the class this morning and dove head first into Instruction #10.

Instruction #10

• Grilled Salmon, emulsified butter sauce with chives


• Roasted pork with herb crust, Byron potatoes


• Choux pastry with ice cream and chocolate sauce, Chantilly Cream

Like most instructions, things started off slow – seeming as though we wouldn’t finish in time.

Chef Stril began with preparing the dessert ingredients. First, the chocolate sauce. Combine dark chocolate, sugar, water, and butter in a bowl set over a double-boiler. Allow to melt on very low heat.

“The chocolate and butter should melt by the steam of the water, not by boiling water,” underscored Chef.

Next. The vanilla ice cream was prepared and left to chill before passing though an ice cream machine.

The choux pastry was third. Milk, water, butter, sugar, salt, flour, eggs, and vanilla are combined in four steps using a particular sequence. End result is an airy dough that “puffs” when baked. Choux is most commonly used for profiteroles (as we were making), éclairs, and savory gougeres.

With the dessert completed we moved straight into the pork.

Including a brief explanation of the type of cut we were using, Chef trimmed and “frenched” the loin. Just as the chicken was roasted, the pork was placed on some trimmings and into the oven. Flipped once. Aromatics added (onion, carrot, shallot, garlic). And left to stand. A mixture of herbs (sage, savory, thyme, parsley, tarragon) and coarse-grained mustard was spread on the loin. And finished in the oven just before serving.

Byron potatoes were paired with the pork loin today. Think mashed-potatoes with a crater carved into the center. Filled with béchamel sauce. Topped with gruyere. And baked until golden brown. [smile]

The final recipe of today was grilled salmon, emulsified butter sauce with chives on a bed of spinach.

Grilling the salmon, flipping four times, Chef seared an “X” pattern into each steak. Then finished in the oven for 6 minutes.

Meanwhile Chef prepared the emulsified butter sauce. As the name suggests - this is a butter sauce. So no alarm when you hear that 100 g of butter was mixed with a splash of lemon and water to make this sauce. Finley chopped chives were added right before serving – preventing the sauce from turning green.

And for the spinach? Quickly wilted in butter with a dash of salt and a hint of garlic.

Voilà! Dinner is served.