Blogs Posts on "Le Cordon Bleu"

Time for Champagne! by Whisk: a food blog on Nov 19, 2009I passed! Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net Whisk: a food blog This is just a summary. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

Exams are Over by Whisk: a food blog on Nov 18, 2009Today, exams are over. I feel raw, going over every detail of what I could have done differently. My shaking hands at the end telling me this is tough. Taking a deep breath. Remembering the charms and good wishes in my pocket from my children...the w...

Week 5 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine) by Whisk: a food blog on Oct 22, 2009Time is flying by so fast here at Le Cordon Bleu. Week 5 seems long ago and was all about soups and compound butters. Well, "soup" is not the right term; "potage" is more accurate. Soup, a type of potage, is derived from the word souper, which means...

Week 4 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine) by Whisk: a food blog on Oct 8, 2009Taste, turning, trussing, and tears. Last week, we had a seminar on taste! Spending a morning talking about taste was pretty cool! In many little white tubs, lined up in rows, were a variety of different colored liquids. In groups, we were given a c...

Whisk Wednesdays—Beignets aux Pommes, Sauce Abricot (Apple Fritters with Apricot Sauce) by Whisk: a food blog on Oct 7, 2009This recipe completes my goal of working through the Basic Cuisine curriculum on my own, in my own kitchen. I started my blog as a way of documenting my progress working through this Le Cordon Bleu curriculum, not knowing that I'd actually be attendi...

Whisk Wednesdays—Carre d'Agneau (Rack of Lamb) by Whisk: a food blog on Sep 30, 2009This rack of lamb is the second-last recipe as part of the Basic Cuisine curriculum that I've been following. The hardest part is preparing the rack. Watch this video to see how to "French" a rack of lamb. Then, it's just a matter of searing the meat...

Week 1 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine) by Whisk: a food blog on Sep 29, 2009Lesson three was all about garnitures (not garnishes!), which are side dishes. It was fun to see the master chef work on so many dishes (six of them) at once without breaking a sweat while we kept flipping pages to keep up with which recipe he was wo...

Week 3 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine) by Whisk: a food blog on Sep 29, 2009After last week, I was glad to leave the white pepper on the shelf for a bit. During week 3 at Le Cordon Bleu, we turned our attention to desserts. Crème anglaise and charlotte were the first tests of our dessert skills. These desserts are light, ca...

Whisk Wednesdays—Pets de Nonnes (Choux Pastry Fritters with Apricot Sauce) by Whisk: a food blog on Sep 23, 2009This recipe, literally translated, means "nun's farts"! Choux pastry is deep-fried and sprinkled with confectioners' sugar much like a doughnut. The story is that a nun accidentally dropped a ball of choux paste into a kettle of hot oil. Instead of t...

Week 2 at Le Cordon Bleu (Basic Cuisine) by Whisk: a food blog on Sep 22, 2009Clockwise from top: Chef’s Flamiche aux maroilles et poireaux (Leek tart from northern France), Pâté Pantin (Pork pie without use of mould), Getting Ready to Taste Week 2 at Le Cordon Bleu was full of flour, fraisage, and finger injuries. I’m...