Le Cordon Bleu - Instruction #30 - A Farewell

For the last time I write to you from the demonstration room of Le Cordon Bleu.

Other than a couple notes about the final exam. Chef Terrien proceeded as though it were any other class. Leaving the group with an anti-climatic end.

The entire process through LCB has been without flare. Moments I sometimes feel like I am a number in a mass-producing giant.

Graduation for Basic and Intermediate were held in the Winter Garden. Rather quick jumbles of name calling. This. I dismissed because it was only a small milestone – like finishing a semester. One certainly doesn’t expect grandeur for that.

I must say, however. Orientation was heightened with emotion. Probably more due to my nerves than the school’s performance.

Le Cordon Bleu will not disappoint. From what I know. Superior graduation is something to write home about. Hosted in one of Paris’ most posh hotels. Formal dress required. And a ceremony worthy of putting a sugar-rushed two year old asleep. But. More about this later.

Instruction #30 – A farewell. Forever.

• Shot glass of goat cheese and oven-roasted vegetables, mini sacristains with black salt
• Mini veal loin in a salt crust with vegetable spaghetti, soufflé potatoes
• Small pear cooked with caramel, gingerbread bostock, carambar ice cream

The entrée was nothing innovative. But heavenly delicious. Items naturally paired.

Goat cheese mixed with a touch of honey, olive oil, and fresh herbs of chive and basil. Roasted vegetables – tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, and fennel. Twisted puff pastry seasoned with black salt and sesame seeds – sacristains. And a final dash of reduced balsamic vinegar.

Black salt – sea salt – hails from Hawaii. Land of lava. Simply, sea salt harvested with charcoal. And thought to have detoxifying characteristics.

As we have seen sea bass crusted, so was today’s veal loin. Protected with a layer of salt, flour, egg whites, crushed black peppercorns, and fresh herbs. Disrobed for plating, this meat was packed with flavor.

Long, thin slices of carrot, zucchini, and daikon radish made a spaghetti-type garnish. Accompained by potatoes that were naturally souffléed. First frying slices in 130 degree Celsius oil until they start to swell. And shocked at a higher 170 degrees made them explode like little pillows. Neat, but time consuming and unreliable.

Carambar are hard, French candies made of caramel from the mid-1950’s. Most known for chipping teeth and poor jokes found inside the wrappers. Melting a few. Chef added to crème anglaise. And churned for ice cream.

Pears poached in syrup and later caramelized made way to the dessert plate. Along with syrup imbibed gingerbread topped with almond cream. A simple, great dessert all around.

[I am not quite ready for this post to end. This is a special moment for me. One that I know I will never have again. A time in my life that is too unique for words. Trying to hold on. I realize that whether I embrace it or not. Life progresses forward. *deep breath*]

And. Without fail. Chef Terrien produced a meal worthy of any Michelin-starred restaurant. Finding moans of satisfaction throughout the room.