Day 3 and 4 of International Influence

Update: Yay, I took the leftovers from school to bring to friends for dinner that night, and they took a photo! It's the next best thing.

Going clockwise from the top, the first dish is partly covered by the wine, it's the fish wrapped in crispy crepe, it's not longer crispy by nowfor sure.

Next to is it the pigeon with kumquats confits, below it the langoustines with mango salsa, on its right is another dish from earlier, lamb parcels, and the last is the beef tataki (like a carparccio). And a little apricot mango chutney from earlier as well. Served with 1999 (or is it 98?) Chinon red, from the cellar (yes, below the very apartment) of my friend!!

Day 3

a) Tuna and Mango, Wasabi Vinaigrette, Ice Plant Salad (extra: coriander and shiso leaf 'pesto')

Nothing really exceptional, except the ice plant is very unique, I've never seen it before. It's like a juicier watercress, with little bubbles of water/juice surrounding the stems and leaves, looks like someone spritzed it with water. It's soft to the bite, slightly 'sweet' and a little sour aftertaste. Very refreshing. The Asian 'pesto' was very good too!

b) Boiled White Fleshed Fish with Green Curry and Galangal

In french, they called it a Tom Kha Gai, but it's not at all! It's like a mix of that and Green Curry.

When I made it, I made it taste more Tom Kha soup, and I made the green come out of blendered herb greens and not so much from the green curry paste. Chef took extra spoonfuls of it!

c) North African Lamb Parcels, Quinoa Risotto, Apricol Chutney

Taste of well seasoned cumin, mint marinated lamb, very soft to the bite. My quinoa risotto was good too, except could do with a little more salt.

d) Fresh Fruit Minestrone with Pearls Tapioca, Tomato Cappuccino and Basil

Very refreshing, nice! You will not be able to achieve the tomato cappuccino without a whipped cream dispenser! Actually this device is getting very popular in modern cuisine with many ideas of foam. While it's very fancy sounding, I think it plays well with its light airy texture vs more denser items on your plate. And the mixture of air gives it an immediate 'lift' of flavors to your olfactory senses.
Ok, now it comes to the highlight of this week!

Day 4 is a workshop, where we have free play to create 4 dishes out of a 'mystery' basket of ingredients. Well, it's not so much a mystery, cos' it was given to us in the folder, but I didn't notice until Day 3, I thought it was a mystery basket till the very morning!

Well, we have to create 1 fish, 1 beef, 1 pigeon (squab), 1 langoustine dish. Use of foie gras is a must, either with the langoustine or in any of the above dishes.

My creation:

a) Beef Tataki with Shiso Leaves, blend of Ginger Sesame sauce.

I seared the sirloin and cut strips of 2mm slices, arranged in a radial pattern, alternating with Jpn seaweed and shiso leaves. Good!

b) Pan Fried Langoustines with Mango Salsa

Juicy mango with shallots, chilli, lime juice and zest. And a small side of salad green. Was good too, until I forgot about the mango salsa! I hurriedly sent it up!

c) Sea Bream Fillets with Mediterrenean Vegetables, wrapped in Crispy Warka (like spring roll skin), served with Light Mango and Curry sauce. Was good!

d) Roasted Squab stuffed with Nashi pears and Foie Gras, side of candied kumquats. Very similar to the quail dish we did in Superior class. Problem is, I served it still a little on the rare side! Booboo. I liked my candied kumquats, but I think I could have done a more alternative jus, maybe a bit more galangal, and could have added a small potato or rice side. Like yeah... do I have time!

Where are the photos, I'm sorry!!! Try to imagine the dishes!!! I didn't have time to take any photos as once the dishes were ready, I sent it up right away!! I wasn't late, but the Spanish girl was so quick! I couldn't lag behind! She doesn't take photos of her dishes at all! When I was chatting with chefs while keeping my tools, she was out of the classroom already! Actually, quite rude...!

Best of all, we had a bottle of champagne at the end of Day 4! Yay!! I didn't realise it was a test! Well done!

Day 2 of International Influence

a) Quails 'Yakitori' marinated with Lemongrass, Port Wine Glaze, Lime Sauce - served with potato fondant on a bed of baby spinach.

The quails are marinated and grilled yakitori style, and there's a dollop of miso/cream in the hole of the potato.

Chef liked it, but warned that because of the sugar in the mirin, it could burn easily, mine was still ok, but not more than that.

b) Shortbread with Crab, Lime and Lemon Balm, Green Mango and Lemongrass Sauce.

The white rounds you see are Japanese yam. Topped with some crisp serrano ham.

This is an extra, since we were using foie gras in a later dish, Chef showed us another way of using it - Pan Fried Foie Gras with Balsamic and Cocoa Sauce, and some warm apples.

c) Scorpion Fish with Foie Gras, Bouillabaisse-style Vermicelli, Turmeric and Chorizo.

The vermicelli isn't the kind we get in SG, it's actually a pasta, angel hair, broken in smaller strands.

The fish and foie gras are lightly pan-fried, sandwiched, and steamed. Personally, I didn't like too much turmeric, so I added less in mine.

Chef liked it too, though my cut of the fish was a little thick, so the middle was still a liiiiiitttlllleeeee raw.

d) Sweet 'sushi'!! It's actually Thailands' mango sticky rice, but fashioned to look like sushi! Served with some pineapple/coconut sauce, and a ball of red pepper sorbet!! It was good, Chef approved. My sauce was nicely thick, cut of the fruits were good too.

First Lesson in LCB Paris

Some of you may have waited for this post with bated breath. Well, it's here, I officially had the first day at the LCB school in Paris.

To start off, we have 4 days of "International Influences".

Day One

1) Guinea Fowl "Ban Ban Ti" (poached and cold cut) with Sesame and Green Papaya

2) Tangy Jumbo Shrimp and Crunchy Seasonal Vegetable Soup (sorta like a French version of Tom Yum - er, I like Thai version better! Sorry!)

3) Sea Bream Fillet with Black Spices, Wok Fried Vegetables, Creamy sauce with Spicy Chorizo

(er, this is really a mix of everything... am not too fond of it)

4) Bitter Cocoa and Matcha Green Tea Cappuccino and Crisp

Ok, back in LCB Bangkok, Chef usually demo 1 starter, 1 main (which we do for our practical class) and 1 dessert. Here, in the same frame of time, Chef did 2 starters, a main and a dessert. Fair. And for our practical class...... it is compulsory to do 2 dishes, and the 3rd one when we have time!! 3 dishes in 2.5hrs!!! My hands, pots, tools were all over the place!! You're seriously juggling!!

I seriously lack practice after my last class in Superior, and what a way to start!!

In the end, Chef liked my Tangy Shrimp soup very much (hey, I've been drinking Tom Yam like water in BKK!), the cold cut Guinea Fowl was very good too, but for my Fish, I forgot to strain the sauce, so it had some bits of chorizo in it, and it had to reduce a bit more.

Ok, first steps, baby steps!!

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".

Superior Cuisine Exams

This photo was taken just as I was about to finish plating. Afterwhich, I drizzled some basil oil around the tomato confit and caramelised onion tart, I moved the millefeuille (bottom left of plate) around to point the tip in another direction, and put some chopped herbs around the grilled veg terrine (bottom right).Unfortunately, the eggplant 'frites' started to turn a little soft (damn the humidity of tropical Asian weather!). I also forgot to put some fleur de sel, and grind of pepper on top of terrine.

Ok, the verdict!

1) Individually, the taste of each sides are very good, but when put together, some chefs found it had too much taste, overwhelming (!! I never knew it could be a problem!)

2) The lamb is cooked well, rosé, but it could have remained in the oven just a min or two more.

3) Too much aioli, it's a strong sauce, just a drizzle will do. I agree, actually, I wanted to put into a sauce bottle and drizzle some designs on the plate under the lamb, but as I said, last minute jitters made me forget everything!

4) The crust of the tart was a little tough around the rim, most likely pressed too hard when putting into the ring.

5) Chef liked the eggplant 'frites' and fig.

6) Millefeuille was good, but maybe the fig compote was a little too sweet. (I didn't add any sugar, it must have come from the dried figs and the port wine. I'll use just plain red wine in future, and maybe blanch the dried figs.)

7) Sauce (lamb jus, etc) was good!

I was supposed to serve at 11.05 a.m., so I tried to delay a bit to make sure everything ended up warm and crispy/crunch on the plate (re: humidity), but in the end, small little hiccups happened that needed some quick fix, plus the anxiety of the final exams just got a little too much. Hands were trembling. By then the workstation was messy, and my plate started to get cold. I'm sure those cost me a few marks.

What I learnt: Start plating already. It's prob going to get a little soft anyway, chef will understand, but of course it should be as soft as a wet towel. That I should use a hot potato to make aioli. Mine split halfway, and chef suggested a quick fix. And that a good assistant is absolutely vital!

I couldn't come down from the adrenaline after I submitted and took a photo with chef! A good 2hr Thai massage was soooo good after that!

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Finished, it's over!!

Oh gee! What a relief!! Man, I'm so tired now, and I've a headache, I can't write a lot, but will just say it went well. I was a little late for my presentation, a little last minute panic at the last moment when everything had to be ready and warm.

I forgot to take a picture of the serving plate (to the judges), but the school admin took one, I'm gonna get from them. But meanwhile this was the large silver platter for 3 that we have to piece together as well.

I stayed back voluntarily to help the other students in the exams in the time slots after mine, so, I've been on my feet since 8am. I need a good rest!!! I'll write more in a few days time.

Superior Pastry Exams Practical - My creation: La Dolce Vita

I'm all smiles! I finished ahead of time, it turned out well.... Chef liked the taste. I changed the format of presentation a bit from my trial at PG's apartment. I think we all did very well. Well, this is formally the end of my Pastry training. When I continue with Cert IV in LCB Paris in Sept09, I plan to do so for Cuisine only. As much as I've learnt, and enjoyed, a lot in Pastry, within me, I still feel more for Cuisine.

The interior of the cake is very similar to the one below. However, I totally left out the cherries in the middle layer, and chose to put them on top as deco instead.

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For our final pastry exams, we are given free reign on creating our very own cake. Only limitations are that it has to be an entremet of 18cm diameter and 4.5cm height.

We are given a list of common cake ingredients, including various fruit purees, nuts, chocs.. and we are also allowed to bring whatever (local) ingredients not listed. Last term, someone made something with gula melaka, someone with ginger.

I thought hard about it, tempted by orange or apricot and choc, or banana caramel something, and decided to come up with a gelato-inspired cake: cassata encased in chocolate joconde sponge with a pecan dacquoise, amarena cherry mousse on top, with a red glaze.

In case you're wondering after all my descriptions, here're some photos of the trial I made this weekend. Enjoy! I call it, La Dolce Vita.

What I'll do differently on the actual day, I will have to include more decorations on top, maybe a simple sugar work, a marzipan modelling, and I'll cut the cherries in halves and place them facing down, in a more even layer. The choc joconde sponge was too thick, I didn't have the right baking tray as we have in school, it should be thinner. Another thing, I'll replace the sprig of chervil (lol) with actual mint leaves which I didn't have when I made it this weekend. My glaze wasn't completely set when I removed the cake ring so it sorta drooped down the sides a bit, not very nice... I'll be more patient next time.

2 written exams and Cuisine preparation day

Nothing can prepare you for 2 1/2 hours of preparation for the Cuisine exams.

This is when we start to prepare the preliminary ingredients for our final 2 1/2 hours practical exam the following day. I had planned out a list, but in the end, I kept switching back and forth between tasks. You're nervous, excited, a bit lost, disorientated by the noises of others with different preparations from yours. I did all, except to 'french' the rack of lamb, which anyway, I won't cook until the actual day, so it's ok in the end.

They're very strict with their timing. When they say, pack all into your box (that goes into the chiller room until your D-day), they really mean it, otherwise they will not accept any more.

I made my tomato confits, my caramelised onions, my shortcrust dough, grilled my veg and made my terrine, made my fig compote, blanchi my garlic and infused olive oil with saffron.

On the exam day, I have to make my aioli, french the lamb rack, make my goat cheese mousse, fry my eggplants, make crispy my warka dough, bake my tomato-onion tart, and serve! Yes.. there's still a lot to do, oh my god, I think maybe I challenged myself too hard.

Ok, for the written exams, I knew I wasn't sufficiently prepared for pastry. I got 80, but for my cuisine, I'm happy with my score of 96!!!

I got a Pastry practical exams tmw, 5 hrs, make my own cake and decorate it. Man, I need a massage.

Here's a backdate of my posts:

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Chef accepted my submission:

Main dish:

Carré d’Agneau “du Pré” à l’Alioli

Roasted Rack of Lamb "From the Meadow" (well basically, after roasting, I apply a layer of mustard and press on it some freshly chopped herbs) on a bed of saffron Aioli. Most are using almond or breadcrumb crust, brown's a bit dull, so I'm livening mine up with fresh green instead.

I'm roasting the rack with some dried fennel stems, pinch of lavendar, garlic, thyme, and half a lemon. After roasting, I will deglaze and add the pan jus to the ....

Sauce will be based on mirepoix and shallots with lamb trimmings, Madeira wine, veal stock, and pan jus from roasting the lamb.

Side dishes:

1) Millefeuille de Crottins aux Herbes Fines, Compote de Figue

Millefeuille of Goat Cheese with Herbs and Port wine Fig Jam

2) Compressé aux Légumes Grillés

Terrine of Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables

3) Croustillant d’Aubergines et Figues au Miel

Eggplant "Frites" with Figs in Honey

4) Tartelette aux Tomates et Oignons

Oven dried Tomato and Caramelised Onion tartlet

I'm making the mise en place on Wednesday 1 Jul 4-7pm, and my slot for exam is on Fri 3 Jul 8.30-11.30am. During exam, a pair of students will be placed in the Demonstration (aka lecture room) kitchen, and the chef will attend (like a role reversal, except you don't have to explain every step). Each student is given a specific time to present his dish in a room upstairs, where external judges will grade behind closed doors. Back in the kitchen, you prepare a large silver platter for 3, take a photo, and come back to the judging room altogether (4 students, 2 demo room) to receive feedback.

Wish me luck!

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Ok, after much coffee and sleepless nights thinking of my submission for Cuisine exams, here are what I have in mind:

Main dish:

Roasted rack of lamb with Light Lavender Crust and Aioli

Side dishes:

1) Millefeuille of Goat Cheese with Herbs and Fig Compote

2) Terrine of Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables

3) Eggplant "Frites" with Figs in Honey

Of course, I will have to use the lamb trimmings to make a thick sauce from mirepoix, Madeira wine and veal stock.

Ok, any other suggestions or comments if I should make some alterations, please tell it to me before Friday!!!

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Cuisine:

We just received our list of ingredients for exams:

Compulsory items:

1 lamb rack

4 eggplants: 2 big, and 2 long

8 pcs of fresh figs

2 pcs of goat cheese (crottin)

150g whole almond

1 pack of brick sheet (something like spring roll skins)

The following items can be opted out, but the more you make use of your basket, the more points you will receive:

2 zucchinis

2 red bell pepper

2 yellow bell pepper

8 pcs of dried figs

1 kg of potatoes

8pcs of tomatoes

Fresh herbs

Basil (*compulsory)

Tarragon (*compulsory)

Coriander

Flat Leaf Parsley

Chive

Chervil

Dill

Rosemary

Besides these, you have the whole wealth of LCBD store such as wines and alcohol, dairy products, stocks, some aromatic elements (carrots, onions, garlic, etc), and flour, starch, seasonings, etc.

You are allowed to bring non-perishable items not in the list above, but to consult the chef beforehand. Of course, no pre-made (commercial or otherwise) foodstuff allowed!

Wasn't it some blogs ago when I mentioned that a style of cooking I enjoy a lot is the Mediterranean use of tomatoes and fresh herbs and zucchinis, eggplants, bell peppers?? Is this not a prayer come true? But to be fair, what I have done back in SG with friends are rather simple country-style Mediterranean fare. Now....

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The idea is to present 1 main dish, and at least 2 side dishes (more is encouraged). You have 2.5hrs of preparation (mise en place), and on the actual day of exam, another 2.5hrs of cooking and presentation. We have to cook for 4: Prepare a plate for 1, and a large silver platter for 3.

We are free to use our creativity to put together this menu, but it has to include a kind of dough (shortcrust, puff pastry, etc), and a sauce. (2 basic elements that typefies French cuisine.)

Alright, time to put my mind to it. I have to submit my (original!) recipes by 19 June!

Certainly, there is still the written exams to do.

I will talk about Pastry exams in a different entry.