Le Cordon Bleu so far

It has been a busy 10 days in London since my last post. I have now completed my second week at Le Cordon Bleu and loving it! We have progressed a long way from simple French cuts of vegetables to preparing and roast a full chicken with jus and broccoli.  I have also continued to explore London. I am now living in Kensal Green in a share house with 5 others 4 boys from Melbourne and an English Girl, House is great lots of fun and close to Kensal rise tube station. Each morning I rise at 5:45, to ensure I’m dressed and ready at in kitchen at Le Cordon Bleu by 7:30. Each day I need a fully ironed uniform, perfectly cleaned. There are 8 parts to the uniform, Pants, Chef Jacket, Neck Tire, Apron, Teas Towel, Heat Proof Cloth, Hairnet and Hat as well as black clog shoes, so you can imagine it not a quick process!! As well as uniform we received a full Wusthof Knife Set,  engraved with our initials which has every knife and utensil I could possibly need in the kitchen. 

 Compartment : Utility Knife, Chefs Knifes, Spatula and Craving Knife 

 Compartment 2: Cleaver, Meat Fork, Boning Knife and Steel Sharpening Rode

 Compartment 3: Teaspoon, Tablespoon, Fork, Melen Baller, Zester and Apple Corer

 Compartment 4: Serrated Knife, Needle, Scissors, Peeler, and Whisk 

 Compartment 5: Mixing Spoon, Pairing Knife, Filleting Knife and Pastry Brush. 

Zip Compartment has Piping Bag, Temperature Probe, Timer, Lifter and a few other things yet to be discovered!

Engraving 

Demo 2: Today we moved on from just cutting to using the cuts to make cold salads and vinaigrettes. I cant remember the proper French names (sorry!). This one was a vinaigrette of lambs lettuce, watercress, curly endive, oak and lollo rosso lettuce with Chives,Tarrigon, Chervi, and Parsley. 

Tomato and Basil salad. This included branching and peeling the tomatos and then slicing them thinly. Did you know that you can actually diegesis tomato skin, therefore we first core and score tomatos then place tomato in boiling water for 10-15 second until skin peels back then stock in iced water and peel off the skin. 

Carrot and Shallot salad with Parsley. Using a fine julienne cut, they were a bit more consistent this time, I'm getting the hang of it!   

Demo 3: Hot Salad

In this practical we were required the make an egg and potato salad, chopped pea,bean,turnip and carrot salad and tomato petals to be all dress with our own mayonnaise which we had to make by hand!!!  
This practical we had to make our own mayonnaise, it not an easy thing to do when whisking by hand! It took about 5-10 mins of solid whisking to incorporate the oil into the egg yolks, mustard and vinegar, but the final result was rewarding. We then used the mayonnaise as the dressing for the potato and egg salad and the pea salad with in the photo is topped with sardines and salami. 

 Demo 4:
Todays dishes were Duxelle Seche Classique (Mushroom Salad), Concasses De Tomatoes (Tomato Salad) with Turned Daikon and Glaces a Blanc (Coloured Onions) 

Demo 5: 
Chicken Stock 

Veal Stock 

Bechamel Sauce and Sause Tomate 

Cheese Lecture: On Wednesday night we had a cheese lecture. It was run by a man names Tom, (see below in background), i dont think you could meet a man more passionate and knowledgeable about cheese. He spent 3 hour with us, talking through all the different types of cheeses, processes, and off cause taste testing them all!!!  

 Demo 6: 

Poulet roti au jus (roast chicken) 

This would have to be my farovite practical so far, probably the only I have eaten and enjoyed! We were taught to truss the chicken, (still havent master that one!) and then cook and crave, serving it with glaces a brun (caramelised/browned baby onions), Broccoli and finished with a jus. 

Trussing Chicken 

Poulet roti au jus

A few photos from dining in London. 

Hawksmoor; Seven Dials 

Half Lobster with Hazelnut Butter 

 Dijon Mustard Jar

Birthday Lunch At Nopi: Strawberry mess, strawberry sorbet, meringue, sumac, rose syrup

 Breakfast at Granger & Co 

Day 1

With great excitement I began my first full of class at Le Cordon Bleu. The school is beautiful, and less than a year old. All kitchens are start of the art with induction stovetops and latest technology in the industry.

 From day one of walking in the door I knew this was the place I wanted to learn here. The philosophy and approach to learning is inspiring. The teacher/chefs are passionate and here to help and guide us to follow dream of become chefs!  The school is focused on creating beautiful food and teaching us a foundation of knowledge in French cuisine.  

The day began with dressing in full chefs whites ready to start cooking. 

 The demonstration was on Basic Vegetable Cuts, Knife Skill, and How to hold and Use knifes correctly. 

Me in my Uniform bit big alternations were needed.  

Photos of Vegetable Cuts from Demo. Down the the cm measurement  

Once the demo was finished, we then had to go into the prac kitchen and re create all cuts ourself. 

My first experience in the kitchen was intense and more stressful than I had imagine, have a lot to learn! 

After completing all cuts of vegetables we then had to present each of the cuts to our chef. On presentation we were examined for consistently, whether each cut meet the mm or cm measurement of a Julienne, Jardiniere, Macedoine Etc and if there was consistently within each cutting technique. 

We were also assessed on knife, cleanliness and general kitchen manner. 

Here are my notes so far from the Demo. 

Will post again soon. On some more exciting cooking experiences! 

Exploring the week that was!

It has been a busy past week in London, with moving, starting new course and exploring! 

Here is my week that was in photos 

Morning run in Hyde Park 

Best Coffee in London

Iced Latte 

Wholefood Fresh Food 

Damien Hirst Exhibition 

On thursday I went and checkout the Damien Hirst Exhibition and did a bit of shopping in the borough market. Apologise didn't take any picture from the exhibition, so all taken from the internet.
It was a really interesting and defiantly testing the bounds of modern art. His works are both unusual and confronting. The exhibition begins with a serious of works from his spot paints, which are his attempt "to find a structure where i could lay colour down, be in control of it rather than it controlling me". Amazing most optical illusion stuff. 

Some other feature works within the exhibition included "The Physical Impossibility of Death", where you see a range of animals including shark, cows, half segmented sheep, that have been preserved in a tank of formaldehyde.



Cow head with living flies eating off it

Real butterfly's dried and layer into a pattern  

  
More reading on the exhibition if interested. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9197711/Damien-Hirst-at-Tate-Modern-Seven-magazine-review.html

Borough Market 

Have now started my course and am loving it! Lots to learn! Will post tomorrow about my first few days at Le Cordon Bleu London.