Le Cordon Bleu - Practical #3; Practical #4

Group C has been experiencing the extremes.

Practical #3 began at 6:30 p.m. A first for me. The school was quite. Darkness was beginning to creep out for the night. A somber mood all around. I was feeling a bit drowsy by the beginning of class. Nothing a little case of the practical nerves couldn’t fix.

Chef Jean (maybe?) oversaw our group. Another visiting chef with less English skills than the last one. With a case of the, this is France, you’re at a French school, why don’t you speak French? His viewpoint is a little less dramatic than presented as he usually mumbles this under his breath. Passive-aggressive to really drive the point home.

Remembering back to instruction #4. We made guinea-fowl. With half-moon shaped carrots, daikon radish, and celery. Drizzled with a creamed white wine and Calvados sauce. Somewhere along the way, there were some apples. Cut finely. Ran through melted butter. Finishing our plate.

Guinea-fowl tastes like chicken. Looks like it too. It reminded me of a Venice Beach, California muscle dude. Very skinny in the legs – almost nonexistent. Roided-up in the breasts. Attached to broad shoulders making a funny looking, top-heavy fowl.

Calvados was the subtle star of the evening. Deglazing a pan of trimmings and vegetables – the beginning of the sauce. And reprised to finish the sauce. Made from apples, this brandy has a sweet flavor with a powerful alcoholic kick.

Rule of thumb when using multiple alcohols is to proceed from strongest to lightest. Fermented apple cider and white wine followed the Calvados.

The end result. A sauce that hinted towards an orchard in harvest. With a sweet after-taste begging the appetite on. Paired with a more game-y bird – one that you imagine darting between the fruit trees – is a wonderful marriage.

The half-moon shaped vegetable garnish was silly. Not very tasty – bland salt and butter. But a lesson in knife-skills. A more romantic side would be apple sauce. Glazed sweet potatoes. Or roasted beets.

Practical #4 heeded the other extreme. Monday morning, 8:30 a.m. Something I am a bit more used to.

Chef Jean was brought back for another round. It wasn’t long before I heard him mumble about the lack of French-knowledge in our group and how we only speak English. I love the French theatrics.

Having the weekend to forget today’s recipes it was an interesting start. The poor instruction by Chef Caals last Friday didn’t help the memory-bank either.

Fillet red mullet. Make fumet. Toss together tapanade. Bake onion custard. And emulsify star-anise, parsley sauce. The to-do list.

Fumets made with star-anise and fennel trimmings bring a fond smell through the kitchen. Lighting everyone’s nasal passage with something spicy. Slightly Asian. Reminiscent of a likened aperitif.

Using a blender to emulsify the sauce. I disintegrated the parsley into a chartreuse liquid. And mounted – to give volume – with olive oil. At this point the flavor was still too simple. A bit more olive oil, salt, lemon juice and some more fumet. Helped to layer the taste. I smoothed in some butter to keep a glossy finish. Chef approved with a très bonne.

Early morning practicals are good for making your lunch. I ate my red mullet while waiting for our 12:30 p.m. instruction to begin. Munching away I took a liking to the custard.

Presumed to taste of something sweet. The Royal custard surprises with an onion flavor – something that needs to be well balanced. Too much can be overpowering. Too little will taste of bland eggs. Slowly stewing onions with butter, water, salt, and pepper help bring out a thin onion flavor. The end result was tasty. Another très bonne from Chef.

Stepping off the extreme-train. My next practical is 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Now what to do with my day off tomorrow?