Le Cordon Bleu - Intermediate Final Practical Exam

The recipe list for our final exam was distributed last week. Once Tuesday’s written exam is over I will hit these recipes full-time. Practicing them over. And over. And over.

• Bordeaux-style duck breast, potato and bacon rounds
• Savoy cabbage filled with salmon, red wine sauce
• Pan-roasted guinea fowl with Calvados sauce
• Mediterranean scorpion fish and John Dory fillets in a Provençal fish stew
• Guinea fowl and potato pie
• Monkfish wrapped in bacon with braised artichokes, broccoli and cauliflower pannequet
• Rabbit tournedos with prunes, potatoes filled with cheese
• Basque-style chicken sauté
• Lamb fillet with vegetables tian, peppermint jus
• Trout stuffed with morel mushrooms and braised in Riesling wine

Two of these dishes will be chosen for the final. Before entering the kitchen we will draw a colored chip from a hat. Each color will correspond to one of the two narrowed-down dishes. In two and a half hours we will need to complete our dish. Including sauces, side-dishes, and garnishes. And present to a panel of five exterior chefs.

In addition to one of the above dishes we also need to complete a plat technique imposè. This component tests our mastery of a particular technique. For Basic Cuisine it was turning artichokes. This term. Béarnaise sauce.

It is. Nose. To. The. Grind-stone.