Yesterday we learned how to make 3 more soups. (My friends and I are kind of “souped-out”) We were taught in our Demo class how to prepare a Fish Stew by making the stock from scratch, straining it after it has cooked for several hours, then adding pieces of several varieties of fish to the stew at the end.

Here is the Fish Stew:

The second soup we learned was the French classic- French Onion Soup. This was so exciting to me and made my week because French Onion Soup is one of my all time favorites. It made it even more fun that one of the top Chefs at school who is “so French” would be preparing this traditional soup for us to taste. By the time he had finished, the room was filled with the aromas of caramelized onions, toasted baguettes, and melted/oozing Gruyere cheese. The French Onion Soup was perfection!

Here is the amazing French Onion Soup:

We also were taught how to prepare a Vegetable Consumme with a Brunoise Garnish. Basically this is a beef and chicken stock combined and then adding a “clarification mixture” of ground beef and egg whites which basically forms a crust on top of the stock and clarifies the liquid from a milky and foggy color to a perfectly clear color of stock.  A Brunoise Garnish is when you cut the vegetables into perfect squares that are as small as you can get them. Cutting carrots, celery, daikon and green beans into these perfect and minute squares is a very intense chopping session.

Here is the Chef’s Vegetable Consumme Soup with a Vegetable Brunoise. You can also see the 3 glasses showing how each step in making this Consumme creates a more clarified version of the soup:

In our Practical that directly followed the 3-hour Demo, we had to take Homemade Chicken & Beef stock and do the whole “clarification process” to the Vegetable Consumme soup. This is much more intense than it seems and you MUST keep an eye on the pot of simmering liquid at all times to make sure that the “clarification crust” stays intact. We also made a Brunoise with carrots, celery, daikon and green beans which took much longer to cut up with my Chef’s Knife than I figured it would…So please try to appreciate my beautiful little squares used as garnish in my Vegetable Consumme Soup that is shown below:

The last item we made in our Practical to accompany the Vegetable Consumme was Puff Pastry Cheese sticks. We had to finish making our batch of Puff Pastry, roll it out, cut into matchsticks, brush in an egg wash, and top with different items like toasted sesame seeds, toasted poppy seeds, curry powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and Gruyere cheese. They were amazing!

Here are my Puff Pastry Cheese Straws:

Here is a picture of my girlfriends and I in between classes yesterday. This is not all of our group but at least you can see a few of them!

On the far left, you have Laura. She is newly engaged, 25 and is from London. She is so sweet and has a heart of gold but also has great British humor. Her accent is so fun to listen to. To the right of me is “Magic”. She is from Thailand and is 18. She just graduated from a private high school in Thailand and pursued this field immediately. She is so laid back and is always fun to be around. To the right of Magic is Aleesa. She is my age and is from Athens, Georgia. She attended a big college in Washington D.C. You can tell she is very smart but she is a great friend and lots of fun to be around at all times. She also has that slight “southern” touch that makes me feel like a bit of home is near me. Lastly, you have Katherine. She is 21 and has been living in Paris for 2 years. She just finished the entire 9-month Pastry program at Le Cordon Bleu and decided to do the 9-month Cuisine program after. She is very worldly and has helped me get adjusted in many ways.  She speaks English, French, and her native language in Indonesia. She is surprisingly into fashion and always shows up at school in some wedge boots and cool outfit.

Lastly, here is a picture of my beautiful school, Le Cordon Bleu:

Off to run errands and then have a Demonstration at 3:30! Enjoy your Wednesday!

Love Always,

Britt xoxo

Enjoying a beautiful Macaron after class last night that was made by the Pastry students: