Le Cordon Bleu - Practical #25

The name of the game is one day at a time.

I am starting to feel completely overwhelmed. In less than two weeks, Intermediate Cuisine will be finished. Completely over. Behind us all.

That – in and of itself – is exciting. The checklist until completion however, is beyond long.

Tomorrow I have two written exams; Intermediate Cuisine and French Wines. Many recipes still to practice for the 28th’s final practical exam. And still four instructions/practicals yet to come.

Each term we have a one-on-one meeting with a chef. Last week Chef Tivet and I discussed my progress, grades, and future. It was an inspiring meeting. With lots of great advice. The most important being, focus on the upcoming Intermediate exam, but don’t forget about the last five lessons. This was in response to my questioning some Superior Cuisine items.

Basically Chef said, whoa there tiger. Let’s finish today’s tasks before looking at next month’s. A difficult assignment for me.

Studying over the weekend for both the written and practical exams I tried not to neglect today’s practical.

Reviewing my notes last night I determined my sequence of events. Starting with making a white roux to thickened milk – béchamel. Then it was onto panade – a paste of milk, butter, flour, and egg yolks. The item that bonded a mousseline of pike-perch, egg whites, whipping cream, and seasoning. I had to make the panade twice…I think I mis-weighed the first time because it was a runny soup! Finally, the base was completed.

Working on the core of the recipe. I decided I would make the crawfish coulis after I cooked – scored in screaming hot olive oil – six freshwater crawfish. Crushing and mixing the shells with celery, onion, and shallots a coulis was underway. Deglazing here and there with cognac and white wine. And finished with tomato paste, fumet, and water. A slight thirty minute simmer developed flavor, consistency, and color.

The mousseline had been resting on ice in the fridge by this point. Using a piping bag I piped three large quenelles. Think over-sized gnocchi. Light poach in simmering water. And drained on paper.

Part of the crawfish coulis made its way into the béchamel. The balance reduced to a syrup. And used to glaze the crawfish meat.

Béchamel-coulis lined the bottom of a roasting pan. With my three poached-quenelles ready to be baked. After about ten minutes the soufflé-like mousseline was puffed and ready to come out.

Trying to find some design to my finished dish. I drizzled each quenelle with more sauce. Syrupy coulis. Topped with glazed crawfish meat. Fried crawfish meat trimmings. And a parsley leaf for a final dash of color.

Chef Poupard gave me an overall parfait. Sauce was good. Quenelles cooked and not too stringy. Crawfish meat nice.

So good news. I was able to stay focused on the first task. Now, focus, focus, focus on tomorrow’s exams. And then. On from there…