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".

First of Cuisine (Superieur)

In Superior Cuisine, we open up our horizon to take in international influences and modern restaurant menus, while keeping a very central French core.  A good example was on Thursday, we made some Tandoori spiced fish, but the sauce-making and side dishes are very French.  Parmesan cheese from Italy are grated to make crisps to go with asparagus.  The next starter dish, however, is typically French - frog's legs in herb sauce and garlic puree.  The main we made yesterday was a double chop of lamb, with truffle coating, green beans wrapped in bacon, and artichoke crisps.

The desserts are Blancmanger with kiwi coulis, and red fruits melba with chibouste (personally, I think the chef made too much chibouste).  

If you think that the mains are more complicated in Superior, you are right.  There are a lot more steps to get to the final product, and this is the term when we work in teams of 3 or 4.  

We distribute the work process.  E.g. instead of 3 person fileting 3 fishes, 1 person will filet 3 fishes, while the other one starts with the vegetables (quantity for 3 persons), and the other starts with the side dishes (also for 3 persons).  The actual cooking is done by that person, but however, you should just watch out (in case he makes some mistakes, and correct him gently).  Once all the products are done, the actual plating is done individually, according to your creativity.  The result is, the cooking and taste will prob be similiar for the 3, but what shines out will be your presentation.

I should remember to take photos of my plating next, before I rush off to present to chef!  But you know what a rush of adrenaline it is as the clock inches towards service time!