Bienvenue a Le Cordon Bleu: Demonstration #03 and Practical #03

January 14, 2011


This blows: I'm sick today and I'm missing out my first ever class... Certainly not liking it! I think I keep saying this but pâtisserie students are only allowed a maximum of 5 absences (this also includes sickness leave)... Anymore than that, you automatically fail you course...

Yikes!!!

Those people who know my quite well can attest to the fact that I'm the type of person who worries about EVERYTHING... well, NEARLY EVERYTHING.

I try not to though.

In a way, I'm thankful that I'm just missing a practical class today because that means my absences is only counted as 1. If I were to miss demo class... well, then that's a different story. (To read what happens when you miss demo, click here and read the bottom end of the article)

Almost everyone in school are sick and being a cooking school where people share food for taste-tests and are constantly in close proximity with one another... Well, you can imagine: it's so easy to catch the damned bug!

Anyhow, seeing that I have the whole day to myself, I figured that I may as well take some time to update my blog:

Demonstration #03 and Practical #03.
Advance note: no photos of demonstration :(

Reason:
Amidst the crowded entrance into the demo room, a friend and I manage to scuttle and shuffle our way into the front row of demo class - a feat that is ALMOST impossible to manage in demo!

The first two rows of demo class is prime location. The seats on these rows ensures students that they get the chance to take good damn photos, carefully watch the chef at work and before the stampede of white jacket-ed students arrive, jump out for a good photo opportunity of the food in presentation.

So there I was, minutes before the class started, the eager pâtisserie newbie sitting front row armed with her notepad and pen out and ready, camera in the other hand ready to document EVERYTHING or ANYTHING the chef does.

AND THEN.....

Just as lady misfortune would have it: my camera (my main important learning tool - because I'm a visual person) proved to be useless as I had FORGOTTEN *pause for HUGE MORTIFIED GASP* the memory card back in the apartment.

Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt!

So....

I was resorted to making EXTRA-DETAILED notes: sitting there, squiggling 5-year-old-qualified illustrations besides my notes, making weird faces, tongue sticking out as I concentrate on doing clear drawings for my notes.

Boy oh boy was my hand ever SORE after that class!

We had Chef...well, i forgot his name now... for demo. So far in all our demos, we've only had two chefs. Compared to chef Cotte, this chef was less comical and more instructional, getting straight down to work with funny business set aside.

Chef i-forgot-his-name during demo

I liked his demonstration because his explanations were detailed and often during the demonstration, he encouraged us to ask questions. There was even a time in demo where he invited students to come up to the front of the room and practice some piping skills.

This was something I liked about the chef: the encouragement he gave us students and in truth, I was kinda eager to have him as a practical chef.

However... that proved short-lived!

In practical, he was totally different. Quiet, stern and totally a ghost in the background. He moved back and forth around class in silence (like a ninja... CHEF NINJA!!!!!!), simply watching us do our work. Once in a while, he'd come and stand next to me, his hawkish eyes just watching... and watching... and watching...

We didn't even know if we were doing it right or wrong. I'm guessing the reason so he was like that was because as we had him the day before as a DEMO chef, he was expecting us to do everything he taught us without any trouble...?


One of the few things I learnt so far in Le Cordon Bleu is after each demo, every student is expected to go home and try out their skills before coming to practical.

Because in practical, the chefs are already expecting you to do things perfectly. Practical is not really a place to practice - that is something you do independently OUTSIDE the working kitchen.

Example: PIPING SKILLS.

After demo, the translator kept reiterating to us on how later after the demo, all the students should buy piping bags & shaving cream on the way home so we get to practice the skills at home. 

I later found out why: in practical, ALL the chefs expect your piping work to be done PERFECTLY!!

Pratical #03: the Madeleine and Pound Cake challenge
I bought my camera this time! Whoopie!


For this practical, we made madeleines and pound cakes: a pleasant discovery in the world of pâtisserie.

I read it once somewhere that the madeleines are the cupcakes of the French world. Personally, I had never been one for madeleines. Why? I honestly don't know. I was never really taken to them. I just thought they were ok and I never really had an interest in baking them...

BUT THAT was BEFORE I came to Le Cordon Bleu:

Two textures in the shape of one sea shell: crunchy & crispy on the outside from the caramelised and browned edges baked from the oven with a soft, spongy texture in the centre.

Madeleines we baked on that day were DIVINE!!!!

The pound cake was good as well! Dense, fruity and subtle vanilla flavours... I actually wouldn't mind making these at home again!


Practical was a bit of a *ehem ehem* bitch that day because as class assistants, another girl and myself had to run up and down 6 flights of stairs to bring up our ingredients to the room.

waiting for Chef evaluation of our baked goodies

It wasn't until long that we encountered problems:

1. Sent a WHOLE LOAD of food supply into the food shaft elevator to the third floor, only to find out that (after we climbed the 6 flights of stairs in a rush, with myself nearly bumping into chef Cotte otw)...our food supply was sent back downstairs by some ass!!

2. After having run up and down the school and effectively running our leg muscles into overdrive, we finally get the products into the room only to be told by the chefs: it wasn't necessary. All the supplies were in the room already.

3. Having completed the food run, we ran back and forth in class prepping ingredients and utensils for everyone in class to use.

And it was crap because by the time we were done prepping, EVERYONE was half way through their first baking session.... bullshit!

Meh...

It's ok... It doesn't bother me... because...

I made MADELEINES!


Which by the way, when I took home to share with the folks in my apartment... was gone before the sun had set!

Cool, huh?

I can make madeleines now :)

view of the class room at the end of practical

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