Jessica's Dinner Party

by jessica yoon

le cordon bleu

Superior: Restaurant Desserts

For the past two weeks classes have focused on cocktail and restaurant desserts.  We’ve been making petits fours, verrines, and plated desserts, all of which I find really exciting and different to what we’ve learned thus far.  There’s a bit more creativity and artistic freedom than before, which I find to be a fun challenge.  Verrines and plated desserts are especially open to interpretation that during planning I’ve let my ideas run wild.  However, 99.9999% of the time my ideas have stayed in abstract form.  Time constraint and above all my lack of experience and skill are harsh road blocks to my fantasy presentations.  I’m not discouraged (yet) though; I have years of practice ahead of me.

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Superior: Cakes

The theme of this week’s lessons was composed cakes.  The recipes consisted of elements that we had learned before like coulis, mousseline cream, and chocolate mousse, however, were showcased with different ingredients and techniques. We’re at a point where all the basics have been covered, so details, layers, and surprises are what these cakes are all about.

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School in Session

After nearly two months off, I was excited to be back at Le Cordon Bleu and start Superior.  I felt good and a little bit rusty being back in the kitchen, but luckily the first two lessons were an overview of what we learned from Basic and Intermediate.  Thus far, the hardest part about Superior has been working with new practical groups.  During the first two terms, our practical groups more or less stayed the same.  For six months we worked with and next to the same people which allowed each group to find its own dynamic and rhythm.  The shuffling kind of threw me into a loop, but I’m sure it’ll just be a temporary challenge.

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Intermediate Over and Out

I graduated from Intermediate!  I still can’t believe that I’m two thirds done with the program.  These past couple of months have flown by in a blink of an eye.  There are still so many things I need to learn, but I do feel like I’ve learned a wealth of knowledge since last June.

For our final demo the chef made millefeuille with a praline mousseline cream and crispy chocolate surprise.  It’s a very nostalgic dessert for me as I grew up eating it at my grandparents’ house.  The version we ate consisted of alternating layers of pastry cream and puff pastry with a white, striped fondant glazed top.  As kids, my cousin and I used to fight over who got to eat the top, but I think now I much prefer it without the extra sugar.

A week after the final demo we had our practical exam.  Although I was comforted by the fact that I already knew the format and process of the exam, I think I was even more nervous this time around.  The recipes are harder and trickier. A lot of the recipes use similar components (ie. mousse), but are executed or finished in different ways.  However, all in all I felt much better during and after the exam.  It was a combination of knowing what to expect and working next to the three friends I always stand next to.  In theory, chips are supposed to be chosen randomly, but our supervising chef didn’t care if we looked at which one we chose, so my friends and I picked the same color.

There was much speculation about which cakes would be featured on the test.  In past semesters, the tarte passion framboise was a favorite along with the bavarois aux trois chocolats.  But there were also rumors that the fraisier was a strong contender.  In the end, the three cakes on the exam were: tresor vanille fraises des bois, plaisir, and bavarois aux trois chocolats.  I made the plaisir, which would not have been my first choice but I much preferred over the bavarois.  There were a couple of things I could have done better, a couple I did do better during the practical (ie. caramelizing the top), but overall I was pleased with my results.

It was a really good semester and I can’t wait to start superior in January.