pardon my french

Days one and two are over…with a lot to take in and precious little time to report!

Yesterday, jour un, was the orientation complete with tours, introductions, rules and more rules. Things began at 9:30a, and I arrived about 9:20a, so there were quite a number of people already there. I was met by a French-speaking administrator of the school—well they’re all French—who asked me, “Parlez-vous français?”

“No” I replied, smiling apologetically, “not yet.”
“Un petit peu?” she persisted.
“Um, no…” I confessed.
She raised her eyebrow, directed me where to sit and walked away to greet another student. At this point I started to get a little nervous...

We received our uniforms and "kits" consisting of a lovely set of Wüsthof knives, spatulas, whisk…even a LCB logo wine bottle opener (love those cheeky French!). Perhaps if I am feeling adventurous I will post a photo of me in my uniform…though there's sure to be no flattering angle! They ask you to try them on to find the proper size, so a bunch of us girls went to the locker room to change. All of us remarked how small the jackets were around the hips…and indeed, the chefs jackets are still cut for men. All of the chefs du cuisine and pâtisserie, our professors, are men. Photos of Julia Child everywhere, but not a female chef on staff…at least not this session. But, c'est la vie.

The first day at anything is always the same it seems: eager to sink your teeth in, and you get in return is a bunch of paperwork and talking heads. But, I must say, it has been fun to get acquainted with my fellow students. At the beginning of the two hour rules/schedule review, the head of academic affairs greeted us by saying welcome in at least 10 different languages. There are about 80 students in the basic program this session. The "Basic" group is comprised of pâtisserie only students, cuisine only and those doing both, or Grand Diplôme. We represent 24 different countries, including Korea, Japan, Brazil, Portugal, Israel, U.S., Ireland, Canada, Indonesia, Turkey…and the list goes on. Most everyone speaks English, so it has been fun to hear about everyone's background: from the pharmacist from Madrid who has a brother living in Libya, to the Taiwanese bride-to-be describing her wedding ceremony plans (very different tradition from ours), everything is an education.

But ahh, you want to hear about the food, oui??

Today was our first day with actual classes. There are two kinds of classes, demonstration and practical. Demonstration is where the chef, well I'm sure you guessed it, demonstrates a recipe(s) and related techniques. He instructs in French, and after each few sentences (or sometimes a short paragraph) an English-speaking translator chimes in with the gist of what he said. Practical classes are where you then mimic the chef's technique and method for certain recipes. Today I had three demos, so tomorrow I will let you know how the corresponding practicals go.

A couple of things I learned today + one ah-ha moment:

For cuisine, we made Rustic Vegetable Soup and learned the names of different ways to cut vegetables/fruits and make a bouquet garnis. The soup wasn't anything exciting…plain and more about demonstrating your skill with your couteau, or knife.  One helpful tip chef gave us was that when mincing garlic, you should always cut the clove in half (longitudinally from root to tip), open and remove the green part in the middle. The translator called this a "germ"…which I think it's British for growth? (That part is bitter, especially when the garlic is not cooked for a long time.) Then you smash the clove with the flat side of your cleaver and mince with your chef's knife. Chef says using a press loses too much garlic.

The school aims to use every usable part of each ingredient. Every piece of food you discard in a restaurant is a waste of money, and, well a waste period. Tomorrow for our shortbread "diamond" cookie practical, each student needs the zest of 1/4 of an orange so four students will share one orange. Simple, but très important.

My ah-ha moment may not be as exciting to some, but if you bake cookies, or any kind of pastry, you may appreciate this… So, the second chef of the day is the pastry chef that taught us how to make shortbreads. During his basic instructions, he said that you should never put anything directly onto a baking sheet, to always use parchment paper for pastry. Now, if you've baked on parchment before, you know it can slide if the pan leaves a level plane for any reason. The simple, genius solution is to use four small magnets on each corner of the paper to keep it firmly attached. The snap of the magnets hit the metal and, voila, my life changed. Not so much for you? Sorry, it was only my first day ;-)

The schedule of a Grand Diplôme student is full, often 12-hour days, 6 days a week. The thought of travel while I'm here is fading…but nonetheless, it's focused me on the task at hand: to learn everything Le Cordon Bleu has to offer and parler du français. As for the French part, the school offers classes that focus on culinary terminology and are organized during Friday nights and Saturdays so as to not conflict with the program. I signed up for that in a hurry! It begins on the 23rd…so it's Rosetta Stone and pesky questions to other fluent speakers until then.

As for soaking up the culinary knowledge, it's probably the most interested I've ever been in a classroom. And that's for a cookie I don't even like that much ;-) I can't wait to begin making food that is exciting. Not that julienne-ing (if that's a word) a carrot or making a shortbread cookie isn't a worthwhile pursuit and something I must master…but I am waiting for that amazing dish that I will cook for you the next time I see you :-)

Sorry for the rambling…but I walk to school in the dark, and return in the dark. Time is short and I must go study now for tomorrow's practicals! I will report back and tell more about the apartment search, other interesting tidbits and exciting characters.

Oh, and it snowed today.
xoxo