Thursday, October 20, 2016

Le Cordon Bleu

My first day at Le Cordon Bleu was definitely not what I was expecting. I arrived in the morning and waited in the front lobby to meet Madame Catherine Baschet, who would be my contact at the school. After a short while waiting I met Catherine who was lovely and was informed the South Australian Premier would be arriving shortly and I was to make up part of the welcoming delegation! This became a con-current tour for the both of us, as the Premier was shown around so was I so it worked out perfectly. I was introduced to a student of LCB, Ava Hancock who is a lawyer from Sydney, studying in Paris out of a passion for cookery. Once the course concludes in November though will return to being a lawyer back in Australia.
The school itself is amazing with incredible state of the art facilities, with a boulangerie, patisserie and even wine tasting room as well as the general cookery section. The highlight had to be the rooftop garden and bee hives.
After the delegation had left, I was put into a demonstration class with some students who were just starting their LCB course. It consisted of making a pomme charlotte and a basic french omelete. The classes are taught in French by the chef but translated by another assistant which was definitely a new experience for me.



The second day was very different to the first. I was invited to have lunch with the students who were finishing their LCB course in a month at the restaurant in Paris called Le Pre Catelan. It is a 3 Michelin star restaurant located in a giant park with a magnificent old manor house and was something that I will never forget. The meal was not their usual set menu but a function menu for the one hundred or so students that were there so it was very good but I'm sure not their most exceptional work.





The third day was finished with another demonstration this time with more senior students. Two dishes to be prepared were veal fillet with morels, potato puree, glazed vegetables and a salted caramel mousse with coffee Chantilly cream and caramel cognac sauce. The chef was very old school French and very entertaining I managed to get a quick picture with him after the class!



Overall the three days at LCB were a series of terrific experiences and memories which, with the friends I made there, I will hold dear to me for a long time!



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