Chef Poupard demonstrated the lessons from Instruction #17.
Instruction #17 – Champagne
- Leek and Troyes chitterling sausage pie with Chaource cheese
- Sole fillet and salmon paupiettes with Champagne
- Champagne, golden raisin and current sorbet, madeleines flavored with orange peel
Most famously known for brie, charcuterie – pork fixings – and madeleines. Sharing a border with Paris’ Île de France, this eastern region is surprisingly unpretentious. With name-baring Champagne houses as Dom Pérignon, Taittinger, and Cristal you’d think the neighborhood would be snooty.
Our entrée defied snobbery. A pie with pork and cheese. Not just any part of the swine. Chitterling. Better known as intestines. Uncooked this sausage smelled of manure. Cooking magnified the smell of a pig’s anal tract. Tasting was vomitus.I now met my second food item that I can not swallow. The first is Japanese natto – fermented soybeans. And now? Intestinal delights.
I don’t mean to be dramatic, but this was really the foulest thing I have encountered in Le Cordon Bleu’s kitchen. The room got so stuffed with fecal smell that we had to open the door. Chef took a slight delight in watching our faces as we turned blue from holding our breaths.
Again. Gastronomically, Champagne is far from pretentious.
The main course was better. First we made a mousseline stuffing with salmon, salt, pepper, eggs, cream, and chives. Like a salmon spread. All whipped in a food processor. Stuffed into sole fillets. Which were rolled – tail to head – into small paupiettes. Wrapped in plastic. And poached in fumet.
Passed along our sole rolls, beurre blanc. Melted butter and wine sauce. Staying true to our region-of-the-day, butter was emulsified into shallot infused champagne. A final garnish of sautéed endive in orange juice made its way to the plate.
A side-dish of mushroom flan was also prepared. Rather similar to Chef Caals’ asparagus flan. Sautéed vegetables – mushrooms, in this case – blended with cream, salt, pepper, and eggs. Baked at a low temperature for 20-30 minutes in a bain-marie.
As a progressive treat, Chef stuffed some dried morel mushrooms with the salmon mousseline. And gently simmered in cream.
I loved Chef’s plating. Everything. From the slate board, to the modern designed. Very contemporary. Looking at this dish you would never assume that it was one of France’s most traditional recipes. Eating with our eyes is much more important than some chefs give credit to.
The end results were a bit difficult to taste. As I still had pig intestine flavor on my tongue.
But. The flan tasted too egg-y. The sauce, way too buttery for my liking. Yet the fish was excellent. Perfectly poached sole supplemented by salmon. Not over-powered, or lost. And as for the endive – the entry taste was nice. A bit orange-y, soft and wilted texture. Then the aftertaste arrived. Bitter as bitter can be. Almost knocking the food out of your mouth. Needless to say, it was a bit much for me. Chef, on the other hand, was extremely pleased with his endive. To each their own.
Dessert begged for seconds by most students. Fresh sorbet made of champagne, simple syrup, lemon and orange juice. Sparsely studded with marc de Champagne macerated, dried golden raisins and currants. And let’s not forget the famed madeleines. Orange perfumed with zest. Quite a darling plate.Practical was a busy one. Sautee mushrooms for flan. Fillet fish. Start fumet. Prepare and bake flan. Sautee endive. Make salmon mousseline. Stuff morel mushrooms. Finish fumet. Stuff and roll sole. Poach paupiettes. Make beurre blanc. Finish on-time. Have everything warm. Present a well designed plate. Smile.
Chef Terrien’s feedback was; a bit too much pepper on the fish. And not enough salt in the mushroom flan. The rest was good.
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