The anticipation of the students waiting before the first demo was tangible. A little nervous chatter here and there, but mostly silence.

At last, we were invited into the elegant yellow and white room with high-tech flat panel screens on either side. Everyone tried to score a front row seat.

The chef explained many things including the kitchen brigade, all the different knives and tools in the kit (worth about $1000 Canadian but is included in the tuition), safety and hygiene tips, and French terms for all the pots, pans and tools.

Then he launched into vegetable cuts, including émincer, ciseler, hasher, julienne, brunoise, paysanne and chiffonade. Finally, he made Potage cultivateur (Cut vegetable soup).

In the kitchen, we had a chance to practice our precision cuts with carrots, turnips, potatoes, onions, leeks and cabbage. Lot of practice is required for the precision required at Le Cordon Bleu. I have a long way to go (and wondering if I'm on the right path)!


Chef's Potage cultivateur

A jardinière (zhar-de-nyayr) and a macédoine (mah-say-dooan) are both garnishes of various vegetables. You can use carrots, peas, turnips, green beans, potatoes, onions, cauliflower, fennel, and son. However, it is essential that the selected vegetables go well together. This is good practice for improving your knife skills since you can cut the vegetables into sticks and cubes.

Recipe: Jardinière et macédoine de legumes (Vegetables cut into sticks and cubes)

 adapted from Link

1 cup onions, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup turnips, diced
butter
about 4 cups water or stock
salt and pepper
bouquet garni: thyme, bay, parsley, and celery wrapped in the dark green part of a leek tied with string
1 cup potatoes, diced
1 cup peas
1 cup green beans, trimmed

Sauté the onions in butter. Add the carrots and turnips. Cover with water or stock. Season with salt and pepper. Add bouquet garni. Simmer for ½ hour.

Meanwhile, peel, wash and cut the potatoes. In a separate pan, cook the potatoes in water.

5 minutes before the end of cooking, add the peas and green beans. Heat gently. Check seasoning. Drain all vegetables and serve hot.

Tasting Notes

The vegetables were tender, but overall the dish was on the dull side. Great variety of vegetables.

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Running total: $69.10 + $6.77 = $75.87

Butter used so far: 22 tablespoons

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A bouquetière (boke-a-tare) is a garnish of mixed fresh vegetables, in season. You can use carrots, turnips, pearl onions, zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, peas, or whatever suits your fancy. The mix of vegetables you choose should blend well together.

Recipe: Bouquetière (Vegetables served in a bunch)

adapted from Link

20 pieces carrots, tournéed, medium size
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
20 pieces turnips, tournéed, medium size
4 tablespoons curly parsley, finely chopped
1 handful sea salt
12 tablespoons green beans, trimmed
1 teaspoon shallots, finely chopped
20 pieces potatoes, tournéed, medium size (cover completely with water if cutting ahead of time) 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
3tablespoons clarified butter, freshly made

To clarify butter, use unsalted butter. Slowly warm butter over low heat (but don't boil). As the butter melts, the milk solids rise and the water sinks. When the butter is completely melted, skim the milk solids. Ladle the butter (leaving the water behind) into a separate bowl. You can keep clarified butter in the freezer or refrigerator. To cook the carrots, put them in one sauté pan. Add water up to the top of the carrots, and add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat until liquid is completely evaporated and vegetables are tender. If the vegetables are tender before the liquid is evaporated, remove the vegetables and continue reducing the liquid until it caramelizes.

To cook the turnips in the other pan, add water up to the top of the turnips, and add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat until liquid is completely evaporated and vegetables are tender. If the vegetables are tender before the liquid is evaporated, remove the vegetables and continue reducing the liquid until it caramelizes. When the caramel is a light brown, return the carrots and turnips to the respective pans until each vegetable gets the brightness and light brown color. Season the carrots and turnips individually. Divide 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley among the sauté pans. Remove from heat and set aside.

To cook the green beans, bring a small pan full of water to boil. Add a large handful of sea salt. When the water is boiling, add the green beans and let them cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the green beans are soft, al dente. Plunge them in ice water. To reheat the green beans, melt some butter in a sauté pan, add the green beans, and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chopped shallots and the remaining chopped parsley and sauté for about 1 to 2 more minutes. Season, to taste.

To cook the potatoes, put the potatoes in a small pan. Add water up to the top of the potatoes. Add the sunflower oil and boil the potatoes and oil for about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the potatoes. In a skillet or a sauté pan, heat the clarified butter over high heat until very hot. Add potatoes and cook until golden brown. Season with salt, to taste. Drain the clarified butter from the pan. Add 2 tablespoons butter (not clarified) and cook again for 3 to 4 more minutes. Set aside and keep warm.

Tasting Notes

This was my favourite vegetable side dish. The sweetness of the carrots and turnips from the caramelization was so tasty. When I started cooking the vegetables, I mixed up the turnips and the potatoes, so the turnips were finished as if they were potatoes in disguise. My mistake! The searing of the potatoes (or in my case the turnips!) is something I'll have to try again since the crunch on the outside and the softness inside were a nice combination. The shallots on the green beans were tasty too. The hardest part was getting all the vegetables served while they were all still hot.

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Running total: $62.21 + $6.89 = $69.10

Ah, potatoes. Did you know that The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato! I didn't always love potatoes. When I was growing up, it seemed like potatoes were only boiled and served with butter. I thought they were horrible. Little did I know they could be roasted with garlic, mashed with cream, scalloped with cheddar, twice-baked with cheese and bacon, and best of all twice-fried until they're crispy but tender inside. Now, when I'm out for dinner, I will often order my main dish based on what potato it comes with!

There are many different ways to cut potatoes. I had to dust off the mandolin stored in the back of my pantry and give them a whirl. However, I found out I need to upgrade to a fancier mandolin to get a waffle cut, which is now on my wish list. So, after dusting it off, and figuring out how to put it together (and after slicing part of my thumb), I was able to get some of the following cuts out of my basic mandolin:

Pommes Allumettes: Potatoes cut into thin ‘matchsticks’ and fried, also known as straw potatoes. Don't cut them too thin or they'll burn.

Pommes Neuf: Thick-cut fries

Pommes Frites: Chipped potatoes

Pommes Gaufrettes: Waffle-cut potatoes

Pommes Souffles: Sliced, oval-shaped potatoes (3/16-inch thickness). The age of the potatoes is important. New potatoes have too much moisture and will not puff, and neither will old potatoes that are soft.

Tip for oil: Save a cup of old oil to add to the fresh batch of oil. The science behind this is well explained in the book How to Read a French Fry (affiliate link) by Russ Parsons. Fresh oil doesn't allow foods to completely brown because oil and water don't mix. And since most foods are comprised of water, this water becomes a barrier between the oil and the food. During the frying process, the oil breaks down and creates a chemical compound that can penetrate through the water to get to the food. Fresh oil is not broken in, per se!

Another tip I learned the hard way: Don't fill your pot too full with oil. I thought half-way up a nice-sized stock pot would do the trick. Not so. After preparing the potatoes, and drying them off with a paper towel (sufficiently I thought), I dropped about a cup of potatoes using my dollar store spider spoon in the hot oil. "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble." Shakespeare had it right! It overflowed onto the stove (a flat-top thankfully). I turned off the heat, found the lid, moved it off the heat and was lucky all I had to do was clean up the spilled oil. Hard lesson learned. I don't need that much oil in the pot OR I need a bigger pot OR I give up doing it on my own and buy a safe deep fryer. But this cooking experiment is already adding up, so I'll save my money. I've learned my lesson (I think).

Recipe: Pommes de terre pour frire (Different cuts for deep-fried potatoes)

1 pound (2½ to 3 cups) baking or russet potatoes
peanut oil for frying

Peel the potatoes, and cut them into all the same size. Drop them into cold water as you cut them to prevent discoloration. This also removes some of the starch and helps to make them crisp. Drain the shapes and dry them thoroughly before immersing in hot oil.

Heat the oil to 350°F. Ensure the oil is hot or the potatoes will absorb the flavour of the oil. Immerse the potatoes in the oil for 5-6 minutes. Remove and cool for about 10 minutes or up to 2 hours. The potatoes are almost cooked but they are still pale.

Heat the oil temperature to 375°F this time. Deep-fry the potatoes until crisp and golden, 1-2 minutes. This French way of deep-frying potatoes by twice-frying gives them an extra crisp result. Do not overcrowd the fryer since the oil will cool down too much, and then you will have soggy fries.

Lift the fries out of the oil and let as much oil as possible drain away on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt before serving.

Tasting Notes

This has become a favourite in our home (now that I've promised I'll do my best not to burn the house down)! Who can resist fries, in any shape or size?

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Running total: $61.10 + $1.11 = $62.21

Butter used so far: 9 tablespoons

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I couldn't get this recipe right. It tasted oily the first time I made it, and bland the next time. After re-heating it to serve alongside a steak, I crisped it up in a skillet. This helped.

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Running total: $51.90 + $9.20 = $61.10

Butter used so far: 9 tablespoons

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A duxelle (dook-SEHL) is a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms and shallots or onions cooked to bring out all the moisture from the mushrooms. It is used as a garnish, a stuffing, or to flavour sauces and soups. According to Mastering the Art of French Cooking, duxelle is said to have been created by La Varenne, chef of the Marquis d’Uxelles.

Since mushrooms shrink when cooked, for 1 cup of duxelle you need about 3 cups mushrooms.

Tip for cleaning mushrooms: Don't wash mushrooms. Trim off the woody parts of the stalks and save them for stocks and soups. Wipe gently with a damp paper towel to remove any dirt.

Tip for chopping mushrooms: Use two chef’s knives held together in one hand. Secure the tips of the blades with your other hand and then chop. Use a rocking motion. This limits the time the mushrooms are exposed to air and helps prevent discoloration. For a whiter duxelles, don't use the stems, only the caps.

Tip for keeping mushrooms: Use lemon juice to avoid discoloring. You can freeze duxelles be frozen for 1 to 2 months.

Recipe: Duxelle sêche de champignons (Mushroom, chopped and cooked with shallots)

Makes: about 1 cup

½ pound (about 2 cups) mushrooms, whole or just stems, finely minced
2 tablespoons shallots or green onions, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup Madeira and ¼ cup brown stock or beef stock (optional)

Tasting Notes

This was one my favourite garnishes. A rich, complex flavour.

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Running total: $49.22 + $2.68 = $51.90

Butter used so far: 5½ tablespoons

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Portugaise is a classic sauce of onions cooked in fat (such as butter or oil) with tomato concassées, tomato sauce, garlic, and chopped parsley) 

I used the tomato sauce recipe in the Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques (affiliate link) cookbook. The tomato concassée was my starting point. Then, I sweated some garlic, onions, and carrots. A dash of sugar, salt, and pepper, and a quick purée in the food processor and voilà — Portugaise sauce.

Recipe: Portugaise (Tomatoes, crushed and cooked)

A concassée (con-cass-eh) is a coarsely chopped or ground mix. Tomatoes concassées means tomatoes that have been peeled, deseeded, and chopped.


Use firm, ripe, red tomato. Core the tomato. Score an “x” in the bottom of the tomato. Blanch in boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds. Drain, then immerse in iced water. Remove tomatoes from the water and peel off the loosened skins, using the tip of a small knife. If the tomato is difficult to peel, blanch in boiling water again.

Cut tomato in half crosswise, not through the stem. Taking each half, squeeze out the bitter seeds over a bowl with a sieve to catch the seeds. Remove any core.

Put each tomato half cut-side down and cut into strips, then cut across the strips to dice the flesh. If you're going to let the tomatoes sit for a bit, cover with a little olive oil to prevent them from drying out.
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Running total: $44.80 + $3.50 = $48.30

Butter used so far: 3½ tablespoons

Braising is both a wet and dry cooking method. It means to brown food in fat, then cook in a covered dish with a small amount of liquid. It takes up to an hour and a half or more to draw out the flavours. My first attempt at this was not something I could publish. The lettuce was brown, overdone, and very limp. But if done properly, the lettuces cook slowly and take on the flavour of the bacon.

Braising breaks down the cellulose in the vegetable and expands its starches. The fibres soften, giving the vegetable a delicious texture and flavour.

As for the lettuce, the recipe calls for Boston or Bibb lettuce, chicory, or escarole. Any soft-leaved lettuce works. My husband thought I was off my rockers to cook lettuce! It seems ridiculous to cook something that is perfectly good raw. But once I tasted the sauce with the braised lettuce, I convinced him another try would be worthwhile.

Braised lettuce is a delicious garnish for poultry, white meats such as veal or pork, or steamed white fish.

The only bacon rind I could find was a twice-smoked chunk of bacon, so I used the blanching method to remove the smokiness from the bacon.

Many braises taste even better the next day.

Recipe: Laitues braises (Braised lettuce)

2 heads lettuce (Boston or Bibb lettuce, chicory, or escarole), 6-8 inches in diameter
2 thick slices of bacon
1-inch square of bacon rind
⅛ cup onions, diced
⅛ cup carrots, diced
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup beef stock
⅛ cup white wine or dry white vermouth
bouquet garni: 1 parsley sprig, pinch of thyme, ½ bay leaf tied to a cheesecloth
A round of buttered paper
½ tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon parsley

You can find the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link).

For more information about braising, check out this book All About Braising (affiliate link) by Molly Stevens. It won two awards: Winner of 2005 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Single Subject Cookbook and Winner of 2005 International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award for Best Single Subject Cookbook.

Tasting Notes

The salty, smokiness from the bacon gives the sauce a robust flavour. The tenderness of the lettuce almost melts in your mouth. Although not one of my favourite garnishes, it's tasty.

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Running total: $35.57 + $9.23 = $44.80

Butter used so far: 3½ tablespoons

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