Petting Fair - French Style

On Friday, before cooking Pork medallions, I saw some real Pork. Hog style.

I'm not sure what description I can give the Salon d'Agriculture, so let me start with some statistics:

Size: 8 exhibition halls... 140,000 sqm .

Animal Visitors: In 2007, (2008 statistics yet to be released, but they are probably similar) 4,000 animals were presented.

Their 2-legged Friends: In 2007, there were 590,703 visitors of whom 122,315 were trade visitors from the agriculture or food industry sector

Without further ado...some pictures (We stupidly gave ourselves only 3 hours to visit, and we only got to visit 3 of the exhibit halls - 2 farm animal halls and 1 food hall... so this is not completely representative of *all* there is!)

Ayako (above), Andrew (below) we had to stand in line to get tickets it was so popular! (We split up to see whose line was the fastest.. Ayako came from behind to win!)

Cock-a-doodle-dooo!!

Its hard to see in this picture, but the geese are being chased by a dog.

There were even cats and dogs there!

Cute rabbit!

I just loved how the merchants were dressed at the food salon!

This was *so* incredibly yummy!!

Okay. Fine, I'm vain - I had to include a picture of me...

My family portrait...

Me and Scott....

Baaaaaahhhh

Check out the horns on this guy!!

(Apparently the French have relaxed their standards...even cows can be MOFs! j/k)

Awww Piglets!!

In case you were wondering...the smell wasn't that great - and at part of the salon it appeared that they were actually selling industrial vacuum cleaners! If they're strong enough for the animals, they must be strong enough for your home!

Another thing. The French have *NO* qualms about killing their food. For example, next to living cows...there was a vendor talking about beef with cow parts in front of him. And goat cheese next to the goats. And perhaps the most sacrilegious thing I have ever seen, a cow in front of a big "McDonalds" sign!!

There wasn't actually a McDonalds restaurant in the middle of the cow section of the fair, but rather a pretty significant Public Relations booth (booth understates it though, it was probably half the size of a McD's). There was also a similar "booth" with Danone Yogurt here were are in front of it (Yes, it had a gigantic cow attached!)



No French event this size is complete without Sarkozy, but this time it brought a little bit more of a mess - Video of actual event
Newsweek coverage of this (In English)

A very interesting story, but in effect there was one guy who refused to shake Sarkozy's hand and Sarkozy told the guy the equivalent of "fuck you, asshole"....

Oh the French. Gotta Love 'Em.

MOOOOOH!
Daria

Class Dinner - Restaurant Review

I haven't really been able to savor truly amazing French food (except for guest C.B. Chefs) mainly because the price tag on most *great* food is more than my budget allows. 100 Euros for a main course? Me thinks not. This is why I was so excited for our class dinner.

We had it at Le Procope :
" The oldest café in Paris...This prestigious place, founded in 1686 by Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, welcomed such famous patrons as Voltaire, Danton, Robespierre, Molière, Diderot and Benjamin Franklin. The restaurant, which is steeped in history and has a decor largely inspired by the great Parisian events that took place there, will undoubtedly entice you."

Cordon Bleu allows students to bring a guest to the class dinner...for 65 Euros...so while I knew this wasn't going to be the Ledoyen (http://dariainparis.blogspot.com/2008/01/300-euro-meal.html) It should be pretty good!

The evening started very well. We were in the Benjamin Franklin room:
... and were immediately served with cherry infused champagne (Cherry Kir Royale) which was heavenly!


From there, we started with "Salade Gourmand au Foie Gras" which on the main menu is "Salade du Café Procope" and includes a mix of lettuce, lightly cooked green beans, tomatoes, and Foi Gras. This was, of course, served with baguettes which, like most baguettes in Paris, were wonderful. Though some of the other people at the table thought that this appetizer was a bit juvenile, I liked it very much. The service left a bit to be desired though... we were supposed to be served with white wine with the salad, and it took the servers about 10-15 minutes between serving us our salads to pouring us our wine.

The main problems came with the main dish... "Lamb Shoulder '7 hours' with Rosemary and Coco beans." First of all, my plate was cold (though my neighbors was piping hot, most of ours were cold). I also noticed *many* greasy fingerprints on the side of my plate - a BIG no no. In class, we always make sure to wipe the edge of the plate before chef tastes it. The main dish so far gets a 2 for "mise en place." Then I try it.

The meat is tender. (It better be, considering it was braising for 7 hours!) but had no depth in its flavor. The beans didn't add anything either. The saving grace was that it was served with a very nice red wine and since reds are served at room temperature, we already had a bottle on the table. Overall, it was no better than an "everyday" dinner. And even Chef remarked that we could have made better.

Chef with Patricio and Ayako:



I shouldn't be too hard on the restaurant...this dish wasn't even listed on their menu! And I'm only somewhat sure that they served this to us because it was a cheaper dish that they could make for a large crowd (we, basic pastry and cuisine, were about 70).

Despite mediocre performance from the first two dishes, dessert was excellent. The name of the dish we were supposed to have is "Croustillant aux 2 Chocolats" ...but I'm not sure thats what we ended up getting served since "Croustillant" is supposed to be "crunchy" or "crisp" and what we had is much more custard-y. But nonetheless, it was yummy (its hard to mess up dessert):


After dessert, we had espresso (no one ever drinks "cafe au lait" except in the morning) and then the entire class went out drinking. We had an excellent time, and I was surprised that we got out of the bar at 2:30am, by which time the Metro had closed. I taxi-d it home with a full belly, a only somewhat clear head, and happy memories of people in my class.

Not as yummy, but definitely fun!

-Daria

P.S. More pictures to follow...my camera ran out of batteries, so I'll have to wait for one of my classmates to send me her pictures.

My Wellesley Girl Self

I have never considered myself a particularly exemplary student. I didn't expect to, and won't, graduate with a 4.0. But my grades were "above average" and I could probably count the number of non-recruiting related class absences on one hand.

So this is why Cordon Bleu has presented a real disappointment to me.

We are graded on a very long list of skills (about 20) including: Seasoning (protein), Seasoning (Veggie), Trussing, Puff pastry making skill, Hygiene...etc etc. I have a 3.49 out of a possible 5. (As of Feb. 11) The grade doesn't mean much until you know the average. Average is 3.5.

I'm not a grade-grubbing-whore...I'm not a grade-grubbing-whore. I won't let this bother me...I won't let this bother me... Watch the steam come out of my ears.

I'm actually not *that* upset over it. Most people get around a 3.5 average...and I think the highest person in our class probably only got a 3.6. And I'm not trying to compare myself with people who have already worked in a restaurant, or people who have been home cooks for over 30 years.

There is something I am more upset about...attendance.
I really like the classes, I enjoy sitting through the demos, and then though they are masochistically stressful, I even enjoy the practicals. So when I had to miss a demo earlier this week for personal reasons, I was sad. Missing a demo means that you are noat allowed to attend the practical that follows. So there were my first 2 absences.

And today (actually as I type this) I am missing 2 more.

Today I had an 8:30 class. 8:30's are much harder in cooking school than at Wellesley. At sWells, I could wake up at 8:10, grab a banana in the dining hall and rush off to class to be in my seat at 8:30...or 8:32. In cooking school, I have to wake up at 6:45, to get out of the house by 7:20, to get on a metro that gets me to school by 7:45, change into my uniform, talk to my friends a bit, and be seated in the class ready to go at 8:15. At 8:30 (exactly, if not at 8:29) attendance is taken. If you are not there, you have 15 minutes to get your butt into class..if you are not there by 8:45, it counts as an absence.

I woke up this morning at 9:10. Oh I was mad. I always have trouble waking up for early classes, but yesterday I made sure to set my alarm. Set, Double-checked, phone not on vibrate, Set. Not to mention, when I have early classes, Scott gives me a call at 7:20 (since its 10:20 PM Pacific time) to chat on my way in the metro. So I couldn't believe it. Neither my alarm clock, nor Scott woke me up. Why? Because my phone ran out of battery. I charged my phone yesterday. Then I made 2 phone calls, probably totaling 50 minutes of talk time. Then I went to bed. At 5:30 am (I know this because my phone time said 5:30 when I finally plugged it in), my cell phone ran out of juice. So right now, my friends are in demo. And I'm sitting at home writing a blogpost. And in an hour and a half, my friends will be starting a practical...and there is no point in me even going to school because I know I won't be admitted.

So there goes my attendance record :(...and even more...2 awesome classes that I'm sad to miss.

A very sad,
Daria


1pm Update.

What was funny about today's demo is that half my group didn't show up. Out of 7 people that are in my practical subsection, only 4 people were at the demo! This is *very* odd because usually we are always a full class. My friend called me after the demo and told me this very interesting news, so I decided to wing it...I ran to school and got here in record time.

Surprisingly, I even saw one of the other girls who missed the demo and both of us went upstairs to our practical room. Hoping and praying that perhaps the chef (who is very nice) would let us watch. When he got there, we begged and pleaded the Chef's forgiveness (and I even got down on one knee for a moment -- don't worry Scott, it was all in gest ;) ). He let us watch.

We thought we were safe. We started taking notes and even helping out our friends empty their trash bowls and bringing them string to tie up their meat. Until Ms. Bitch arrived.

Ms. Bitch is a school administrator. She says "rules are rules" and kicks us out. We beg and plead (though no one got down on one knee in front of her) and we take our stuff and leave. So the other girl and I go downstairs, put our knives away...and decide to try just once more and sneak back upstairs!

We were greeted by a less friendly chef who had a practical in the classroom next to us (Chef Bruno, the amazing wonderful fantasticly kind chef, was no where to be seen). This Chef told us that we couldn't go - and in fact when I entered the class just to ask my friend if we were still meeting up before the class dinner tonight, she said that I really needed to go because they called Ms. Bitch back up here. We ran as fast as we could.

Leave it up to me to break the rules in order to be able to attend class... I guess these are really my true Wellesley colors.

-Daria

Mickey Mouse

"Think about this: the national hero of children in the US is Mickey Mouse."...

...So says my host-family father today after putting the following little contraption in my bedroom.
A few weeks ago, I was on the phone and I thought I saw a shadow of a mouse. I did not have a clear view, and I told my host-mom that I was a bit concerned. She said that she would call the "Maire de Paris," Paris Mayor's office, and have them come over to the house and put some poison on the ground. (Yes, even the mice are controlled by the government in Paris) But as all things French, it takes a long time for anything to be done. So the inspectors are scheduled to come on Tuesday. Well thank goodness for that, because today I saw a mouse. Not a shadow, but a real, small, almost-cute-if-it-were-not-uninvited, gray mouse.

There is construction next to the house that I am living in, and though my host family is very nice, cleanliness is not exactly one of their strengths. (We have a cleaner that comes once a week, but its not enough to keep this place clean throughout the week.) But what surprised me most was not the mouse. Even though I was disgusted by the mouse, the explanation for the mouse was perhaps of more concern.

"The garage next door to us had mice, obvious since it was a garage." My host-dad starts, trying to console me after I ran downstairs in a panic.
"When they tore it down, the mice went looking for food. And since we often keep the door to the garden open, they sometimes come in." (I'm not joking here) "So they go through the kitchen,"
"WE HAVE MICE IN THE KITCHEN?!?" - Me
"Well, they just run through looking for food, and since you don't keep food in your room, you don't have to worry. They're only passing through."

OK. I consider myself open minded....but mice just "passing through" my room does not much to console me... So he gives his famous gem...

"Think about this: the national hero of children in the US is Mickey Mouse."

So perhaps living with mice is a "city adaptation," much like cramming into a subway at rush hour with no personal space.... the sounds of construction or police/ambulance sirens going off almost all the time...being comfortable with the time that I had a crumb on my lip and a random stranger tells me and then proceeds to wipe it off with her hand...or living in apartments that are about 1/4th the size of American average...

Don't get me wrong - I love the conveniences of living in a city. I love walking and taking the metro everywhere, and I certainly don't miss driving and high gas prices. I adore the fact that I can get a fresh baguette every day without going out of my way to do so. I <3 the fact that when I go to the corner store to buy a tomato for my salad, the owner remembers me and asks me how I liked the wine that I bought there a few weeks ago. And even though sometimes people stare (a major reason I have only gone jogging in this city once), they actually communicate with strangers.

But at the end of the day, I am a suburban girl...and I like to consider Mickey Mouse as a cartoon character only and not a rodent who "sometimes passes through my room."

<3
Daria

P.S. Did you know that mousetraps are made with bread rather than cheese?

Travel Woes

In honor of my dead computer, I'm writing a post on travel woes. (On the family computer)

#1 - My mom was amazing and shipped me the home computer last week. I was supposed to get it on Friday and in fact I did get a phone call that day when I was told that I have to pay 241 Euros in taxes and duties. 241!!! WTF? I needed to talk to my parents about this (we are crossing our fingers that when I leave the country I will get this $$ back) so I told Fedex that I would call them back. I called them back in the early afternoon, credit card in hand. They said - "Great! But its already too late to deliver it to you today...and no....we can't deliver on Saturdays...and no...we can't deliver to you on Monday afternoon/evening it will only be in the morning (I have class then...)" I have class tomorrow all day too, so they said that they will try to deliver tomorrow am (stupid...) but that if I am not there to accept, I can call them tomorrow for a special evening delivery (no...I can't arrange this delivery today for tomorrow evening...it must be arranged same day.) Lets just say I'm going only mildly crazy without my own pc.

#2 Since we are on the subject of computers...2 of my friends computer chargers have failed while in France. Why? Because those thingies that change the plug from round pegs to rectangular pegs don't actually regulate the voltage. This means that your computer charger actually gets much more electricity than it is used to getting...and can fail... When I heard this, I rushed home to check my charger (for my then working computer) and thank goodness it actually accepted a higher voltage and therefore shouldn't fail. Nonetheless, if you plan on using your computer in Europe for any significant period of time, check the fine print on the charger to make sure it can handle the voltage (between 220-240 volts) and if it can't, splurge on a good converter and make sure it is also a regulator.

#3 Speaking of splurging...lets talk about cash. Most places here do not accept credit cards (it is actually amazing here, most people don't even have them!! they just use debit cards, but that is a subject for another post) so it is important always to have cash on you...something I never did in the US. But its not too frustrating since there are ATMs everywhere in Paris. But WATCH OUT! because most of them charge you a fee for using them and you don't even know how much you will be charged until you get your bank statement. (It is never written on the screen)I succumbed to the extra hidden charges last time I was abroad, so this time I asked Bank of America (my bank) if there were any banks I could go to where I wouldn't get charged. Indeed, BofA has a deal with BNP Paribas where they don't charge me any fees to take out $$. I thought I lucked out. Until I started using BNP Paribas....

In Europe, PIN codes are usually no longer than 5 digits. Mine is (secure) and over 5 digits long. Half of the BNP locations I have gone to do not accept my long PIN code. I get a message which states that my PIN is too long. One of my friends had her bank card eaten after this happened to her several times in a row. Since there are no BofA locations here, I can't actually change my PIN, but if you plan on coming to France and your pin is over 5 digits, shorten it to avoid yourself lots of pain.

The normal upbeat blog posts will continue when I get a computer...hopefully tomorrow.

Bissous!
Daria

Wascally Wabbits

My computer broke ... Host Family to the rescue!! My host mom let me borrow her computer for the night so I am psyched to be updating this blog :) What I am not psyched about is the French keyboard - It is close to the American style keyboard, but not quite. E.g: A and Q are switched and m, z, w as well as certain other characters are not in their correct spaces... so if you see a xord (word) like rqbbit (rabbit) you zill (will) have to excuse me.

So today we made rabbit. Cordon Bleu has made me question my attitude towards slaughtering animals...fish, chicken, beef have all been okay, but todays rabbit tested my limits. Here is a picture of what we started with:

Lets start with the fact that the eyeballs and heads are still there!!! This looks like some of my friends pet's minus their fur. So I winced all through demo. The practical was much better because its stressfull enough that I didn't have time to think of what I was doing to the poor rabbit... and ten minutes into practical, the rabbit turned into four legs and three pieces of unrecognizable torso.

The recipe turned out very well. And unlike the previous 3 or 4 times that I have cooked meat, it wasnt overdone!! In addition, this recipe did not use nearly as much butter as some of our others and can be easily replicated to be used with chicken rather than rabbit (the rabbit actually tastes a lot like chicken). I did not bring my recipe book home with me today (It is HEAVY!!!) But I promise to give a recap of it in a later post. (Secret Ingredients are mustard and rosemary) Here is my finished product:

( The rosemary skewer has the wabbit's liver and kidneys on it)

One of the reasons I like this recipe is because it uses much less butter than our previous recipes. In some previous recipes each student would use at least a stick of butter...if not more. (we usually make portions for 4, but in reality they are probably 2 or 3 "real" portions... so a quarter stick of butter in each serving!!) Some of the students have even started calling the school "Cordon Beurre" or Cordon Butter in French. As one New Yorker columnist wrote:

"Waverley Root once divided all Gaul into three fats -- lard, olive oil, and butter -- and said that they determined the shape of French cooking. That you might be able to cook without putting any fat in the pan at all was an unthinkable notion. The charcoal grill, the brick oven, and all the other nonfat ways of cooking now seem normal everywhere except in France..."

This attitude is very true in our kitchens. Even the vegetable soup, and vegetqble garnishes get butter. (Sometimes, if its "mediterranean" its only oil....) But in true french cooking, a meal is a two hour affair with many smallish dishes, starting with an apperatif, then an entree (this is the word for appetizer in French), maybe a second entree, then a plat (main course), then possibly cheese, then a sweet dessert, and then finally perhaps a cigar. In two hours, this leaves you feeling full but not stuffed...and since the portions are fairly small, the fat content is not as large as it would otherwise be in the US. After the meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) though, there is NO MORE eating.... no snacks, no chips, no candy... nothing. This has worked remarkably well for the French as most people are normal or a little overwheight, but I have yet to see someone French who is obese.

French attitudes towards food to be continued....

Bissous,

Daria

(And for people who like pictures, here are Patricio and Sarah looking particularly evil before practical today)

Death of my computer

My lifeline to the world, my computer has died.
I am currently on the family comp.... but generally my access will be very limited.

More Chocolate (!!??)

As if I couldn't get enough of chocolate last time....I had another chocolate filled day today. (If I come back 15lbs heavier, you'll know why)

I met up with a Wellesley Alum in Paris today and then our adventures started. First we went to Mora this is possibly the best kitchen store I have ever been to, and I plan on going back soon. It is full of the *real* kitchen stuff anyone could want, NOT as decorative nor as expensive as Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table. I've actually been doing quite a bit of research into kitchen-ware and will try to do another blog post on the subject soon. Anyways, my goal at Mora was to buy a chocolate mold...and out of probably over 100 choices I decided on a nice heart shape (though, there were at least 10 heart shapes, so that was a difficult decision) Now that I have my heart mold, I'm psyched to try my hand out at chocolate making. Godiva, I'm going to steal your business!

Little did I know, my chocolate adventure wasn't over yet. My friend and I went to Angelina's, Salon de thé, (Angelina's Salon of Tea) but it should be called Angelina's, salon of hot chocolate! The hot chocolate, their specialty, was *amazing*! One of my other Wellesley friends recommended that I pay a visit to this place before, but since I'm really not that much of a hot chocolate fan, I wasn't sure I was going to do it. Now I'm recommending that if any of you ever visit Paris, go to Angelina's!! The hot chocolate is excellent and the decor is very parisien and interesting. Granted...you should be willing to open your wallets. My hot chocolate and half a pastry (we split a tartlette aux fruits) cost 10 Euros. Nonetheless, the experience was worth it. (And it helped that we got into the Musee d'Orsay for free afterwards since its free on Thursday evenings for people under 25!)

More Cordon Bleu posts to come, as well as posts on:
Cookware
The Paris Diet
Possibly more restaurant reviews
and....what else? What else do you want to hear about? Leave a comment and I'll blog about it :)

Bissous!
Daria

P.S. For people who were worried about my post about burning my hand...I'm 100% fine. The burn actually went away the next day. Water, unlike oil or especially caramel, has a fairly low boiling point and it drips off so quickly that it rarely inflicts a very serious burn in the kitchen. Caramel and oil both have higher burning points, and caramel will stick on your skin, so even if its wiped off quickly, it still is on the skin for a longer time than water. Also...a caramel danger...never ever ever try to lick off the hot caramel because it will burn your tongue!

How Much Chocolate Can You Stand?

Valentines day is coming up and so instead of (....or in addition to) missing my significant other....I drown my sorrows by attending chocolate demonstrations.

So far, all of the "Cordon Bleu Invites" have been Chefs de Cuisine (though one brought a pastry chef with him). But today we had our first special presentation devoted to patisserie, or more specifically, to chocolat. First, let me swoon....voila is the picture of the chef.



Before I commit emotional infidelity, its not because he looks good. (He's married by the way) Its his COLLAR! His Collar? Most chefs have a simple white collar (see picture of me a while back). But Chef Bruno Lederf has a Blue White and Red collar...this unique collar signifies that he is L'un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MOFs). This is roughly translated as "One of the Best Workers in France."

But being an MOF carries a lot of respect. There aren't that many of them (though, its a pretty big society since there are MOFs in almost all trades, like woodworking, architecture, and culinary arts) and the "final contests" to be elected into the society are held only once every 3 years. Julia Child described the title MOF as being a PhD in a trade, but really more selective since very few people are inducted into the society every 3 years.

So, long story short...I was next to culinary genius today.

Now for the yummy stuff.

Chef Lederf made:

Yusu Flavored Entremets (A fancy way of saying a citrus type flavored dessert) ~ 8 servings
Chocolate Candies (Bonbons de chocolat): Tender Passion ~12 servings
Chocolate Verrine, Tropical Caramel, and Piedmont Hazelnut Crisp ~20 servings

Before I go into the good part of all of these recipes I calculated some statistics for the 40 servings of desert...

There are:

1lb (More accurately 12 grams* per serving) - Sugar (in all its forms, including powdered and "inverted")

2.4 lb (More accurately 28 grams per serving) - Cream (in all its forms, including whipped and heavy)

1.8 lb (More accurately 21 grams per serving) - Chocolate (in all its forms, including cocoa powder)

* I know I'm switching from metric to english weights, but 1/40th of a pound just doesn't make sense for most people, and I'm lazy to convert to ounces....I am also using the approximation that 1mL~1gram this is a very rough approximation, but it saves a lot of conversion time since some of the measurements in the recipe are listed by weight and others by volume

So hence the question - How much chocolate can you handle? This was what each of us had to eat after the demonstration:


I ate everything that was on ONE plate...but even I felt kind of sick after so much.

Funny about the demonstration, we started with the room about half full (for comparison, it was overfull when the *** michelin chef came to speak), but by the end of the demonstration aka tasting time, we nearly doubled in size!

Here are the pictures of the final products...enjoy the artwork, without the calories!

This is made entirely out of Chocolate....(he didn't make this during the demonstration, this was part of his entry in the MOF competition)

If you look closely, you'll see that each candy actually has a small tint of gold...

If you want to see some more edible artwork, check out This Site for pictures from the MOF chocolate competition last November. ...I suggest doing this before a meal and not after (otherwise you'll be digging for any remaining chocolate you have at home).

Bon Appetit!
Daria

The Ouch Factor

An inevitable part of working in a kitchen is injuring yourself. Minor injuries like cuts and burns are all part of the package. Nonetheless, 90% of injuries are caused by stupidity, and its disappointing that we still get hurt at the rate we do.

Cuts
Lesson # 1: Never let your mind wander when you are holding a knife

On one of the first days in practical, one of my friends was putting her chef's knife back into a cardboard protector at the end of class. We were all chatting and she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. The knife pierced the cardboard...and her hand.

Lesson # 2: Learn how to chop properly

Do not try to mimic TV chefs when they mirepoix, julienne, brunoise, and mince their ingredients almost without looking. What they're doing is correct, but the idea of moving a knife that fast as a beginner is a *bad* idea. Instead, go slowly and learn correct knife technique. Despite looking at several "knife skills" videos from the food network, the only good website that I've found describing this technique is this: Learn how to use a knife. If you don't have time to look at the entire page, scroll down about 1/4 of the way down and look how the chef is holding the knife and food- he holds the knife close to (even on) the start of the blade, and keeps the fingers on the hand that stabilizes the food bent inward (like a claw) using the area between his first and second knuckles to guide the blade. This guarantees that no fingers get chopped off, but does not guarantee that you won't chop your knuckle..(I'll fess up to doing this once)...so go slowly.

Also...a sharp knife is important. The cleaver is the least sharp of all knives, but its the scariest because you're using so much force with it. If you have a sharp knife, there is less reason to use force and less chance of cutting yourself.

Human blood is not a good ingredient in any recipe so at Cordon Bleu (and most restaurants), if you cut yourself, you first put on a band aid...and then a finger condom. They're not actually officially called condoms, but they really are miniature versions of a condom. You put it on the top of your finger and then roll the rubber down to the base of your finger. This keeps any blood or antiseptic inside the rubber, and protects the finger from raw ingredients that could possibly cause an infection and from water that could cause the band aid to slip.


Burns

Burns are scarier than cuts. They hurt for much longer and unlike cuts, which are fairly easy to avoid, burns can happen much easier.


Lesson #1 learned (I'm owning up to it): Never stick your hand in boiling water. Ever.

What part of my brain didn't comprehend that sticking my hand into the pan of boiling water to check if the veggies were done would be a bad idea I don't know. My reflex time wasn't too bad and I pulled my fingers out just after the water had reached midway between my first and second knuckle. (See picture) I was also (thankfully) still able to complete the rest of the practical without too much pain, but the pain for the rest of the day hopefully will serve as a reminder never to do it again.


Learning by mistake is not a particularly nice way to learn, but it is very effective.

Lesson #2 Learned: If a pan is hot, you tie a paper towel around the handle.

One of the things we often do at Cordon Bleu is take meat/chicken etc. brown it quickly on the stove and then move the pan directly into the oven. (Home Chefs: this only works if the pan does not have a plastic handle!!) When we take the pan out of the oven, the entire pan is hot and touching the handle is a bad idea. Brain not functioning #2: a few lessons ago I touched the handle. My burn was worse than what I had when I stuck my fingers into water, but because of the way I reached to grab the pan, my burn was localized to a small area on my middle finger. My friend in another class was not so lucky. She reached in with her entire hand and branded her palm. You could actually see the letters of the pan on her hand.

The reason burns can be unavoidable is that I might have pulled a pan out of the oven, so I know that its hot, but the other chef who may want to move my pan does not know that, and burns herself when reaching for my pan. The way to prevent this is by tying a small paper towel around the handle of the pan. This doesn't act as an oven mitt, but does alert everyone around that this pan is HOT. Since I burned myself, I've been pretty vigilant to do this always and it has reminded me several times to use my kitchen towel when reaching for the pan. NOTE: be *very* careful doing this if you have a gas range! We have electric ranges and so the paper doesn't catch on fire as easily. But if you do this on a gas range, make sure to tie the paper tightly and rip off the loose ends.


Be careful!!
Daria

P.S. Check out updates to "Little piggies went to the market" to see updated pictures from that day.

Truffles

A few quick facts:

Truffle: a word which describes a group of edible mycorrhizal (symbiotic relationship between fungus and plant) fungi (genus Tuber, class Ascomycetes, division Ascomycota). The ascoma (fruiting body) of truffles is highly prized as food. It has a smell similar to deep-fried sunflower seeds or walnuts, though not all people are able to catch the smell of this mushroom. (http://www.rawfoodunderground.com/glossary.html)

Tuber Melanosporum "Black Truffle": The only variety of truffle that is recognized as "truffle" for commercial purposes. (Other truffles, such as white truffles, exist, but are much less expensive and don't have the same culinary uses)

Found: Underground or near the roots of trees in France (south-west), Spain and Australia. No method of laboratory or other cultivation has been found.

Season: Some start in November, but the best truffles are found starting in January and February. Season ends in February, or sometimes in March.

Method of finding truffles: Pig (but you have to carry a stick to hit the pig with because the pig will eat the truffle!), Dog (Can be trained for the scent and does not eat it the truffle), or flies (on a very calm (non windy) day, flies will congregate over the truffle, but be careful because they sometimes lay their eggs in the truffle!!)

Quantity found: The quantity of truffles found in the world has greatly gone down...about a century ago, there were 1,000 tons of truffles extracted yearly, now only 15 tons. Now, given 1 hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land in 20 years you can find many 2 kilograms of truffle.

Price? - If you ask, you can't afford it.... about 1,000 Euros for a kilogram

But...(as with so many things nowadays)..there are Chinese knock-offs! The Chinese "black truffles" are similar, but they are not as "vein-y" (see picture below) and do not have the signature truffle aroma. Problem is that if you place fake truffles (or really many other things) next to a truffle, they will absorb the smell...so its becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish fake from real. (Chinese truffles go for 30 Euro per kilogram)

Voila. There went a short description of this crazy tuber. We had a "Truffle Conference and Demonstration" so in addition to an informative discussion about truffles with a distributer for Pebeyre (major truffle company), Pebeyre donated probably about 1/2 kilogram of truffle for the class from which Chef Roland Durand (chef at Restaurant le Passiflore * Michelin) made Scallops with truffle and Potato and leek curry with truffle. I think I probably ate about $2-5 in truffle today...

The dishes were good, but as I mentioned in another post, I don't think that truffles are worth their price. The consistency is very interesting (crumbles into pretty tough pieces in your mouth, maybe how it would be if you had lots of sesame seeds), the smell is fascinating (very earthy, but in a good way), but the taste is pretty "blah". The curry in the potato and leek curry completely overpowered any of the truffle flavor. And it is only because there was a pretty sizable shaving in the scallops with truffle could I really taste the truffle.

Here is a picture of me with truffle and different views of the truffle as well as the scallops which the Chef cooked:

(This size truffle probably costs ~120 Euros)

(Maximize this image to see the veins in the truffle)

(Maximize this image to see why its probably easy for people to confuse this very rare and expensive tuber with something that is much more common and something that people try to avoid when walking on the street!)

YUMMY.

In response to a comment from my last post, here is a good website that describes how to tell how well-done beef is by touch: Is My Steak Done Yet?

Cheers!

Daria

How to Cook Meat in France

First, apologies for not updating this blog recently - I've finally gotten into the swing of things in Paris and have had a bit less time at my computer.

My diet here has become very interesting...At the beginning of my time here, I ate lots of eggs, doughs, chicken, fish...and now, I think I have had enough beef to last me a good month. (That's probably a good thing, because our next beef dish may not come for another month!) We have made several meat dishes (the formal names I can't remember), but in practical its basically boiled down to roast beef (Day I) and beef bourgignon (Today). With both of these dishes, we made potatoes (mashed, and then turned "anglaise" style). Everything has been yummy, and I have been getting good results from the chefs. (Still far far from perfect, or how I would like it, but its better than how I started)

I have now used about half of the tools in the knife kit, however, one that I haven't used is the meat thermometer. During orientation, we were told that we wouldn't be using the thermometer until Intermediate cuisine when it would be important, in one dish, to know the precise temperature of a forcemeat. I didn't quite believe them, but its true - even though we have been cooking meat, we have not yet used the thermometer. Instead, to tell if the beef is done, we feel it. Yes...we touch the meat. Crazy if you ask me, but its a good skill to have since it doesn't require piercing the food.

But here comes the kicker. As I like to do, I prepared dinner for my host family on Sunday. My host-mom bought the ingredients this time, so it was even better :). I wanted practice trussing a chicken* so I prepared a citrus roasted chicken with some couscous and a tossed salad. A very easy meal. But unlike in practical where, since we were boiling the chicken, we could tell the "done-ness" by lifting it and seeing if any blood (or pinkish liquid) ran out, it was more difficult to tell if this bird was done just by visual inspection. So I used my meat thermometer.

The reaction from the son in the host family was precious. (He's 16 by the way). He turns to his mom and says, in French bien sur, "Wow! You should have seen it, she just stuck this metal thing into the chicken!" I showed them my thermometer (which is a fairly standard, but cool, electronic meat thermometer) and they were amazed! They had never even heard of a meat thermometer!!

Its amazing how different the two countries are in terms of cooking meat -- in the US, our "medium" steak, is like their "medium-well" and their "rare" is something that restaurants in the US wouldn't dare serve. Their fear of food-borne pathogens is minuscule (though perhaps it is somewhat warranted because their food tends to be fresher than what Americans find in their local grocery store). The rare-ness of meat is not the only manifestation of the French brazen view concerning food poisoning... Cleanliness is its second victim.

I am my mother's daughter, and when cooking meat, I try to take significant precaution that the table is wiped down with anti-bacterial spray before I start cooking something else in the same space. This is not the case with the French. We cook meat and veggies in the same general area and we just turn our cutting board over when we move onto the veggies. This leaves all of the juices from the meat onto the marble below. At the end of class, this marble gets a quick wipe (hopefully with soap, but no gaurantee....if it doesn't look "dirty" then it usually doesn't) with a wet paper towel. The next class might be rolling out pastry dough on that same marble. EEEK!

The cutting boards, which are seriously contaminated, get a wash from the dishwasher...but its not a machine with extra hot water...instead it is a person. I don't have a chance to see how well they clean the cutting boards, but I don't think that they get anything more than a fairly quick rinse. (I have taken to wiping my cutting board with paper towels before I start chopping on it...)

The Chefs in demonstration don't always wash their hands, and I'm embarrassed to say that even I have forgotten this important ritual before as well. Many of my classmates forget too... The food still tastes great (!) ...but I am a bit scared of what I cook. Therefore I have adopted a 24 hour rule (and this is why I share *all* of my food with my host family): I do not eat food that I have made over 24 hours ago. Within the first 24 hours, I (maybe foolishly) think that I have a lesser chance of getting sick since bacteria hasn't had a chance to grow too much...

Since I'm bringing 4-8 servings of food home after each practical, my diet in the 24 hours after practical is (in general) just that food. I'm back where I started this post...so I'll quit now :) But I'll do my best to update whenever I have something interesting to share.

Bissous!
Daria

* Even the second time around I still had very little idea about where exactly the twine goes....

Little Piggies Went to Market...and General Thoughts on French Culture

Today was market day for Cordon Bleu Basic Section D students. We met at the school at 8:30 and then walked to the market where we spent the next 3 hours shopping for food. The chef talked us through some of the interesting points of French markets (the places where each booth owner must display where the food was grown/raised, the symbol for organic food, how to tell the freshness of fish and some vegetables). We also ate some of the pre-made food (apple fritters and crepes!!) available at the market. But the best part of market day was that we purchased several different things, went back to the school, the chef cooked them for us, and we had a "picnic."

We had: 6 different types of cheese, 2 different breads, 1 rabbit pâté, a fish (don't remember which one), a skirt steak, oysters, a piece of cow's liver, red wine...and the the brains of 4 lambs. Thankfully, our class narrowly escaped eating testicles (not sure of which animal)... Even though the consistency of the brain really bothered me, and the oysters weren't really my thing either, the "picnic" was still very, very good.

The second "best" part about going to the marche with a chef is that we were lucky enough to go into a charcuterie kitchen and see what they were preparing. There were 3 men working and were making (simultaneously) some sort of meat dish, Coq au Vin, blood sausage, and a stuffed pig. It was amazing to see the kitchen (looked pretty similar to what we have at Cordon Bleu, but slightly more specialized) to see real blood being poured into the mixture for blood sausage, and then how the liquid was poured into its encasing. The stuffed pig was also pretty crazy (it was a piglet...probably only 2 months old) and it almost looked alive...there is no way to describe it but with a picture. It looked something like this:

But they hadn't yet "decorated" the pig with veggies or anything else like that. I did not bring my camera, but one of my group members did and I hope to get a picture of it from him.

When we were talking to the chef in the charcuterie, he noted that the employees in the kitchen were all ~50 years old and that there are very few "apprentices" because no one seems to want to go into charcuterie. We asked why and the chef replied that he thought that younger people don't want to work the hours necessary in a charcuterie (in at 6am, out at 5pm, 6 days a week). Officially, one is not allowed to work more than 40 hours a week....but11 hours x 6 days = 66 so the chefs lie and say that they are only there 40 hours a week. This is not a rant about how 66 hours is a lot...its more a rant that there is a LAW saying how much you can work!

Not only is there a law on maximum hours...but there is also a law that states that if you own a shop (and its not a special time of year, like right before xmas) you are not allowed to open it on Sundays! And there was an article a few days ago (today on Slashdot) about how the French law "forbids booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price" (See This Article). To an American...these laws seem outright crazy! But, to the French, they are a necessity to save their relaxed way of life. Which brings me to my next (and final) point (for today).

Mr. Michael Moore idolized French socialized medicine. But I know have proof that its not what its cracked up to be. The father-in-law of one of the girls in my basic cuisine class had a heart issue a few days ago. The doctors are treating him for what they think it is (a pulmonary embolism), but they can't say for certain since the wait for the CT scan is 4 months. 4 MONTHS for an EMERGENCY CT SCAN! This is a fairly basic scan and would be done within hours (worst case scenario, days) in an American hospital.

My experience in France, so far, has pushed my political opinions a bit to the right....

Voila!
Daria

P.S.
Here are some pictures my classmate took of the pig and the blood sausage:

Failure

It was bound to happen sometime.
Today's "Puff pastry stuffed with leek and poached egg with a sauce I can't pronounce and can't remember" was a failure.

First the good news. The puff pastry (made in last practical and used during this practical) was nice. The dish also looked good:
(Mine)


(Chefs) (We did both rectangular and circular shapes)


But the sauce had way too much lemon juice. The peppers were not uniformly mirapoix-ed. And the poached egg was overcooked. (I don't like my yolks runny, but thats what the recipe called for...) The leek was also too buttery (in my opinion).

Other than the lemon juice in the sauce, which was very evident, the chef miraculously said that it wasn't bad. But I knew better. Everything (3 eggs, about 3 stalks of leek, the veal stock reduction, and the chicken stock sauce) was thrown out. I originally intended to save my puff pastries from the destruction since they had actually come out quite nicely. But somehow I managed to forget the container in which I had put them, in the metro. Voila. Practical which resulted in no food taken home.

Basic is starting to annoy me. I understand the need to go through all of the basics (so far: Sauces and Doughs), and in fact thats why I chose to go to cooking school in the first place. But the choice of recipes has been horrid!! We could have done a nicer recipe with puff pastry...like pot pie...or mini hors d'heurves ...instead we make something with leek and poached egg? Everything has an explanation, of course, since the school used the recipe how to teach us to poach eggs today...but ARGH!! C'mon! We can find something yummier! It just means that I'm not planning on cooking almost any of the recipes I've learned at Cordon Bleu after I finish the school. Tant pis.

<3
D