Last of Superior Cuisine

In this week, we had the same 3 demonstrations, but only 1 practical. The other 2 practicals were taken up to prepare for, and the final practical exams itself.

Starters:

1) Green asparagus and crab charlotte, verjus sauce. Verjus is actually the juice made from unripe grapes and lends a tangy taste, thus an alternative to citrus or vinegar.

2) Lobster salad with citrus fruits

3) 'Greek style' artichokes with saffroned mussels

Mains:

1) Stuffed guinea fowl breaks cooked 'en cocotte'

2) Crisp wrapped lamb fillet with provencal vegetables

3) Roast rabbit legs tandoori-style with herb salad. The green juice in the shotglass is cucumber juice to reduce the heat of tandoori. Tandoori is normally served as a whole, but this was sliced to for the photo.

Desserts:

1) Warm mascarpone souffle

2) Raspberry souffle, tropical fruit salad with spices

3) Orange and lime sorbet, sweet wine jelly balsamic vinegar dressing

Thus ends our journey with Le Cordon Bleu Dusit, Bangkok, Thailand. I hope you enjoyed the sensory delights of these dishes, desserts, pastries and cakes as much as I did.

Looking back, it was quite a dive into the deep end, but the best part of all is the satisfaction of knowing your level skills have improved by a couple of notches.

Still a long road ahead in this absolutely fantastic journey! Stay tuned for more updates as I take up an internship and September in Paris for Cert IV "Professional Perfecting of Skills".

Countdown for last Cuisine entries

Yes, it's all coming to an end soon, and this is my last week for Cuisine lessons. Next week are all exams, both Pastry (Sugar work and your own cake creation), and Cuisine (mise en place as well as the actual exam), not to mention written exams for both. On top of it, I was chosen to give a speech for the graduation. So I have to prepare a draft for chef. Busy busy busy.

I will update this entry with more dishes along the week.

Starters:

1) Tatin of endives with goat cheese, sweet sour jus

2) Crispy tart with tomato, langoustines and pistou

3) Taboule with fresh shrimp and vanilla oil

Main:

1) Beef Wellington with turned vegetables. Bouquetier-style means to fan out the turned vegetables in ordered alternatives for presentation. The beef is roasted, brought down to colder temperature, stuffed with foie gras mousse in the centre, wrapped in mushroom and crepe, and again in puff pastry, and baked till crispy. Note: the beef should still be à point, and not overcooked! Served with truffle sauce.

Over several dishes in Superior, they want to test how you can perceive the doneness of your food, when it is covered, in crust, in cabbage, etc. It's simple to roast or to pan-fry and know when to take them out. But when you have to cook the crust and yet not overcook (or undercook) your meat, is a different challenge!

This was what I served to Mel, Kev, Soogee and Kenneth who were visiting from SG.

2) Noisettes of venison with "grand veneur" sauce

3) Red mullet fillets with crispy potato scales

Desserts:

1) Figs roasted in rosemary, cinnamon mascarpone. You can also see some edible crystallised rose petals and borage flowers.

2) Caramelised coconut cake with roasted mini bananas

3) Soft macaroon, candied fennel ice cream, wild berry coulis. The flame-like toppings are fennel chips. Fennel sliced thinly and dried in oven to a crisp.