Le Cordon Bleu - Instruction #16

Once assembled. Covered. And in the oven. It should take 20 minutes. Said Chef Caals about Instruction #16’s lamb chop recipe.

Twenty minutes passed. Chef took out the dish to check. Potatoes – raw. Lamb – bloody. Back into the oven it went. Shifting the cooking time to 40 minutes, Chef continued on the day’s dessert.

Ding! Time to check the lamb again. Raw. Let’s give it another twenty minutes (now equaling an hour). Embarrassedly instructed Chef.

You can see where were going here. Even an hour wasn’t long enough.

Chef Caals’ demonstrations are confusing enough, but this took the cake. Not only was the disjointed lesson hard to follow, it didn’t even work. Near the end of class, Chef rattled off alternative cooking methods for us to perform in practical. Making Instruction #16 that much more of a mystery.

Practical is scheduled for this afternoon. It’ll be a crap-shoot. Let’s just hope that whatever I produce, it’s not raw. And somewhat representative of the traditional recipe. What ever that may be???

Instruction #16 - Île-de-France

• Argenteuil asparagus puff pastry and flan
• Lamb chops braised with onions and potatoes
• Chocolate fondant and pistachio ice cream

By the time the lamb was distributed for tasting it was still undercooked. The potatoes were hard and waxy. Astringency coating the tongue. Lamb leaked blood in an unappetizing way. After five minutes of chewing, most students spit the meat out. The poorest prepared meal so far at Le Cordon Bleu.

Chef can sometimes get in his moods. Commenting how all the recipes are antiquated. Boring. Or down right disgusting.

Disapproving of the entrée. He took out the puff pastry all together. Changed the flan from mushroom to asparagus. And plated the elements on different serving dishes. I mean. Where was this coming from?

The flan and asparagus were very good. Flan is a tricky one. Too much flavoring and it seems like you are eating extract. Knocking your taste buds to an unpleasant state. Not enough taste and you've got nothing else but curdled milk. Chef hit is just right. Subtle seasonings of asparagus wafting through the palate. Paired perfectly with asparagus stalks – the seasonal vegetable of the moment.

Dessert. As far as I can tell was true to the recipe. And very good.

I am really into the tour de France culinary trip that Intermediate is taking us on. Chef Caals is not. Unwilling to comment – or god forbid teach us – on the location of the day, Chef leaves us to research and learn on our own.

Instruction #16 took us to Île-de-France – Island of France. And if you’ve been to Paris (which covers 90% of the region), then you’ve seen this written just about everywhere.

While Paris is an international city, the region is not. Rabbit, poultry, and pork. In addition to wild boar, hare, venison, and pheasant are common foodstuffs of the region. Local towns, Argenteuil, Clamart, and Verrières, harvest asparagus, peas, and morel mushrooms, respectively. Not to mention, cereal, beets, and watercress from the capital city.

Île-de-France would not be French without cheese production. Brie, Coulommiers, and Pierre-Robert are just a few. Paired beautifully with local cherries, peaches, and strawberries.

There is some wine production of the area. But nothing worth mentioning. Its all actually crap.

The richest region in the EU is still known by locals as Région Parisienne. Its current label wasn’t made official until 1972. Population of 11.5 million people makes this the most populous province of France.