Category Archives: Paris

Day two at Cordon Bleu – how to fillet a fish

Today started again with an early start of getting out of the apartment at 7am to get to class. Today’s class at Cordon Bleu consisted of a 1 day course called “Cooking for Friends”. It consisted of a 3 hour demonstration of three different recipes (an appetizer, main and dessert) followed by the practical component where you would learn how to cook the main course that was demonstrated in the morning in the Cordon Bleu kitchens.

The morning demonstration was interesting and entertaining led by a dashing chef by the name of Chef Patrick Caals whose theatrical flair and dry sense of humour was quite an interesting way to bring in the day. His interpreter, however, looked like she had experienced quite a late evening the night before and at one point even left the classroom momentarily at which point, the chef started speaking in English since he was ‘sans translator’.

So today in the practical part of the “Cooking for Friends” course we got to actually cook in the kitchens at Cordon Bleu! The building and classrooms/kitchens are surprisingly small for such a famous institution. There were 10 of us in the cooking lab, all sharing a common work bench that ran along the length of the room with burners and ovens along the walls. My first observation: They use electric burners and not gas (ironic for Cordon Bleu, isn’t it?). Apparently the building is either too old or can’t be set up for gas.

My second observation: This really is a ‘fun class’ because there are two chef’s assistants who are handing us equipment as we need it, cleaning up after us and making sure our sauteed vegetables and potatoes don’t burn while we’re intently trying to gut and fillet a fish. That’s right – I learned how to take a whole fish today and fillet it! It’s actually something that I have never done nor have ever had any inclination to do. I think the chef translator noticed my face (as well as the other students around me) because she said “You signed up for this class!” One of the chef’s assistants was kind enough to offer to take pictures of me during the class. Thank goodness, because the last thing I want are fish guts on my camera.

After class I talked with one of the full-time students and learned that the program (for either culinary or pastry) consists of 3 semesters which are 3 months each. Which means, students graduate from Cordon Bleu in 9 months. Wow – that seems fast considering that tuition for Cordon Bleu is around 24,000 or 18,000 euro (for either the culinary or pastry diploma respectively) or 40,600 euro for the grand diploma (both culinary and pastry). From being in the school for the past two days I notice that the students are from all around the world (I’ve seen Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, French, British, Australian, American) and they can all speak French for the most part (or French and English). It is truly amazing.

However, after today’s cooking classes, I realize that the new George Brown culinary campus in Toronto really has state of the art facilities including gas and induction burners (except George Brown doesn’t have designated dishwashers – too bad).

I also made another Cordon Bleu friend today. Sitting in the stands next to me this morning was an American woman from Houston, Texas who came to Paris for a month for the sole purpose of attending workshops at Cordon Bleu (similar to me, attending Cordon Bleu was on her bucket list). It turns out that she also did the market tour and demonstration class with me yesterday (but was in a different group) and was taking an afternoon workshop on “The Secrets of Macarons“. We agreed to meet up after our respective classes and trade each other’s items so we would both have an entrée (sea bream) and dessert (macarons) for dinner tonight. It pays to make friends at Cordon Bleu. She was also telling me how her chef mentioned that she could get a list of  stores that carry specific ingredients (ie. gold shimmer powder) that they used in their macaron class. Turns out this ‘list’ is actually a printed booklet that Cordon Bleu gives to all its students and lists kitchen equipment and supply stores, restaurants, chocolateries, bakeries and markets around the city (so their students know where to find specific ingredients or food items). We both requested copies from the front desk as we left. Sweet!

My first dinner out in Paris

Red rocket salad with smoked salmon

I must say, I was very full after the demonstration at Cordon Bleu and wasn’t planning on eating anymore that day. But a friend of mine happens to be in Paris this weekend so we met up for dinner. I consulted my “Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris” guidebook and found a place nearby called – Le Trumilou. It boasted traditional french cuisine at very reasonable prices and a casual atmosphere. It did not disappoint and at 16,50 euro for a 2 course dinner (red rocket salad with smoked salmon and guinnea fowl as a main) that is a steal!

Very nice, unpretentious and friendly atmosphere. In fact, the fellow I sat next to made small talk when I had to squeeze into the seat next to him – table was family style. All it took was a “Bonjour” (him) and a “Hello. Bonjour.” (me) from which he said “Ah, you speak English” (in a UK accent). Turns out him and his two buddies were from the UK, all own apartments in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd arrondissements and come by for a visit every 6 weeks or so. How lovely! Not sure if the Brits get more vacation or if they just happened to be retired (although I doubt it) but they can speak french really well. I guess that’s what frequent visits to Paris will do if you make a little bit of effort.

Okay, off to sleep so I can be alert for day 2 of Cordon Bleu where I will actually be cooking in the Cordon Bleu kitchen!

Cordon Bleu – Day 1

Today was the day of my first workshop at Cordon Bleu – The Market Tour and Demonstration. Students gathered at 8:30am at the Cordon Bleu building and then went to the nearby St. Charles market to pick up local ingredients to try during lunch after the tour. The people taking the tour were mostly Americans visiting Paris or passing through Paris on their way to the south of France. However, I did manage to find a fellow Canadian in the group (and from Toronto no less). Having just arrived in Paris, he hasn’t been impressed with the food at all compared to what he’s had in Montreal.

I pointed him in the direction of two very well known food blogs that I’ve been using as my main food resources/virtual tour guides (David Lebovits and Chocolate and Zucchini) and told him if he followed them, he would not experience another disappointing meal à Paris. There was a group of 25 of us that went to the market and saw all the different items for sale. Fresh produce, eggs, meat (including horse, pig’s feet (trotters), all sorts of organ meats, rabbit, seafood, fish, goat cheese and a fromagerie (cheese shop) where we bought several types of cheeses to try (brie, fresh, mild and aged goat cheese, blue and compté – a hard cheese that tastes very much like Emmental).

Our tour guide – Kay – was excellent. She is a trained chef and used the visit the market to buy her ingredients for the week when she was working as a chef. I saw one of the butchers de-bone a leg of lamb for a customer and fish mongers clean and fillet fish for customers. Talk about full service! Kay was extremely knowledgeable about food and answered my questions about the different types of baguettes – traditional (regular), Parisienne (fatter) and bio (organic), demi-baguette (half a baguette) and how you could even specify how well cooked you would like it (for softer baguettes ask for one that is “pas trop cuit” (not too baked)). She was also kind enough to act as a translator for me while I was trying to decide between what kind of butter to buy for my baguettes in the morning. I finally settled on a small bar of fresh butter, made with raw milk with sea salt crystals in it so it would offer a nice bit of crunch to my morning baguette. If only I could have a translator whenever I went to the market in Paris! How great would that be?!

Having her solve my butter and baguette conundrum practically made the tour for me! I even managed to buy a small container of fresh eggs from the egg guy and after seeing such wonderful products, I have vowed not to make a repeat trip to the supermarché down the street from my apartment (especially for the produce).

After the market tour, the group headed back to le Cordon Bleu for a lunch that the chefs prepared including a sampling of the foods that were picked up at the market (four types of terrines, blood sausage, cheese, grey shrimp, salami, prosciutto, field strawberries and turnips). Lunch was followed by a cooking demonstration by Chef Marc Vaca (who also led the other half of the tour) who prepared a three course meal while we asked questions, learned how to make and tasted mushroom risotto, sea bream with endive and an apple tart with home-made caramel ice cream – yum! Chef spoke in French for the demonstration (even though I spoke with him earlier and knew that he speaks perfect English –  I guess they want to keep it authentic) while one of the Cordon Bleu students translated while he cooked – just like what they do with the full-time students!

Speaking of the full-time students, classes were starting at the same time that our market tour was beginning so I managed to catch a glimpse of the students gathering in their uniforms. It’s a very multicultural group (but I did notice lots of Japanese and Chinese and have heard a few British accents).

Cordon Bleu students preparing for a day of classes

Oh yes, on my way home from Cordon Bleu I decided to get off at the Palais Royal – Musée de Louvre metro stop and stumbled upon the Carrousel du Louvre Shopping Center which is connected to the Louvre. Went up a level and saw the Jardine Tuileries (it’s huge), the glass pyramid and the Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel. Ah, this is the Paris that everyone knows! And how nice it was to be in an area where the sales associates openly speak English to you. Haha! I know it’s only my second day but I really could use a break from using my tourist french. But alas, I could not stay long. I had fresh eggs and butter in my possession and had to B-line it to my apartment. But I will go back as that’s the moment that I realized I was in Paris. Everything up until that point felt a bit like Montreal with nicer architecture or a french version of New York City.

Getting oriented in Paris

So today was mostly administrative things. Get some basic groceries so I don’t starve, pick up a pay as you go cell phone so I can make local phone calls and find out where Cordon Bleu is (it’s a good 30 minute subway ride from the apartment). Going to the grocery store was rather interesting in that things aren’t familiar (which is to be expected).

But I actually had a hard time choosing butter. There is soft butter, regular butter, partly salted butter, butter sold in bricks, butter sold in small flat squares, butter sold in tubs…I have no idea what the difference is between them all.  I’m sure that any would be just fine for my morning baguette. Oh ya, and there are different types of baguettes too – parisienne, traditional and bio to name a few. A couple other observations – they sell wine (no surprise) and lardons (cube cut strips of bacon) in the grocery stores and finding coffee cream was a bit challenging for me. After much searching I finally had to ask “Avez-vous la crème?” and which point the store clerk pointed out the crème fraiche. Is that what Parisiens use for cream in their coffee?

And then there’s my dilemma of starting my day off with a good cup of coffee each morning (yes, I know I’m a coffee snob). There happens to be two Starbucks located on the street that I’m living on but I refuse to drink Starbucks coffee while I’m in Paris. But finding good coffee in any city can be a little a tricky, especially one that you aren’t familiar with. So after walking around the neighbourhood, I happened to walk into a store in my neighbourhood called Pozzetto (an Italian gelato and coffee shop) thinking it looked pretty authentic. I later came back to the apartment and realized that David Lebovitz (well know Paris food blogger) listed it as one of the best coffee places in Paris! What luck!

And finally, Cordon Blue. When I got there at 9pm the doors were still open. Some pastry students were just wrapping up their class on macarons. They had a gift shop so I quickly perused it but we’ll see if I feel like buying anything after my two cooking workshops. My sister did request a Cordon Bleu apron if it had a nice Frenchie feel to it. Somehow, I think the one they have looks a little too professional.

Cordon Bleu apron

I have arrived in Paris

Hello folks. Just sending a quick note that after a smooth flight and a lovely conversation with the person sitting next to me, I am in my Paris apartment. Phew! The person who greeted me was from Brazil – has been living in Paris for ten years and so helpful. I am now off to grab some food. There is a pretty good bakery down the street apparently. I also heard there is a new Poilâne bakery in the neighbourhood but it’s towards the northern end of the neighbourhood. Will have to save that for another day.

Will be going out to explore.  And will need to find out how to get to Cordon Bleu tomorrow morning. Weather in Paris is foggy and damp – brrr! Will report more later.

Cordon Bleu cooking classes – go big or stay home

eiffel towerSeveral months ago, the vacation I had planned with my fellow salsa chicas (going to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival) fell through. So I had to decide, what else did I have on my bucket list? Years ago, when I first started taking my cooking classes at George Brown College a colleague in the office said to me “George Brown? Why don’t you just go to Cordon Blue in Paris?” I find it so funny that she would mention that because the thought had actually crossed my mind in the past. But then I was reminded of a minor thing called ‘financial obligations’ which made me put the idea on the back burner.

However, when I discovered that I had all this vacation time saved up and nowhere to go, I started thinking…Cordon Bleu might not be a bad idea (but not the for the full program since that would involve me having to quit my job and move away – neither of which I’m prepared to do at the moment). But if Cordon Bleu did short term workshops then that might be something to consider. I figured it would be a nice compromise. Then came the other decision – do I go to the local campus in Ottawa or do I go to the original campus in Paris? After much coercing from my colleague (who literally sits at the desk next to me and was nudging me to sign up online) I took the plunge and signed up for a course at Cordon Bleu in Paris. Now it was just a matter of  getting there.

Soon after that, I booked my flight and reserved an apartment in Paris (in a neighbourhood called the Marais). I am now 4 days away from taking the Paris Market Tour class at Cordon Bleu. This class involves going to one of the Paris food markets and learning how to choose fresh produce and ingredients. Afterwards, the teacher/chef gives a demonstration using the ingredients that were purchased that morning. How nice. It’s kinda like a market tour/cooking demonstration which includes lunch. Except lunch and the tour costs 135 euro.

I also decided to sign up for an actual cooking course just so I could cook in the Cordon Bleu kitchens. I will be taking the “Cooking for Friends” class the following day. So now that I have 2 cooking classes booked, I just have to get on the plane and head out to Paris.  Of course I won’t just be cooking while I’m in Paris, I’ll be checking out the shopping, fashion and culture as well.