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Letter From Paris

By Harriet Welty-Rochefort

Paris Kiosque - June 2008 - Volume 15, Number 6
Copyright © 2008 Harriet Welty-Rochefort - Used with permission.

Chef Patrick Terrien, a tall, slender, white-haired Frenchman, has an engaging smile, a quiet sense of authority - and only two hands, although sometimes it looks like he's got many more.

He'll need all the hands he can get (he's got two others in the form of his Brazilian assistant, Celia Miranda) for the dish he's preparing and cooking at the prestigious Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris for a class of 15 students from the International Journalism Program at Sciences Po, a prestigious French university from which sprang several French presidents and a great majority of the country's top business and political leaders. The journalism students are from a class called « Reporting on France » that I teach ; their assignment is to attend and report on a Cordon Bleu demonstration for their local newspapers, whether in Canada, Hong Kong, or Brazil.

Chances are that some of the students may come from a country that has a Cordon Bleu. Founded in Paris in 1895, the prestigious cooking school, whose president is André Cointreau, a direct descendant of the owners of Cointreau liqueur and Rémy Martin Cognac, now has 30 schools in 15 countries with approximately 20,000 students representing more than 70 nationalities. Spreading the renown of French cuisine and transmitting French « savoir faire » in the culinary arts is one of the major missions of the Cordon Bleu. At a cost : a two years course at the Cordon Bleu in Paris for « Le Grand Diplôme » (cooking and pastry) comes with the hefty price tag of almost 35, 955 euros. The « Diplôme de Cuisine » without the pastry descends to 21, 900 euros. Armed with their diplomas, Cordon Bleu graduates become chefs, food journalists, or work in other food-related professions, where they are, of course, unofficial ambassadors of French cuisine.

For the demo dish, the Chef has opted to make « milk-fed veal simmered in a casserole with pearl onions and baby carrots ». Read the recipe title carefully : the veal is « milk-fed », the onions are « pearl » onions and the carrots are « baby ». The dish is not hard, he explains. It's one that home cooks (especially French home cooks !) can easily make.

The Chef is hardly going to apologize for selecting something basic and he doesn't need to. First of all, this is an international group of students whose idea of French cuisine is most probably limited to the sandwichs au jambon or fast food they eat on the run because they don't have a lot of money to spend on food and they're pressed for time. Secondly, they're at an age where Mom does the cooking so what would they know ? This is a unique opportunity for them to see all the myriad steps that go into the preparation of a typical French meal that could be served, as the Chef points out, either at home or in a restaurant. To pep up this traditional French dish, the Chef has added a « pistou » sauce made from basil, garlic cloves, and olive oil.

As he skillfully and effortlessly manipulates pots and pans, Chef Terrien, who worked as Sous-Chef de Cuisine in the Nikko Hotel restaurant under the direction of world famous French chef Joel Robuchon and owned a Michelin starred restaurant in Tours, gives the student audience a valuable piece of advice that food snobs, aching for sparks and fireworks and ostentation, too often ignore. « It's not the complexity of the dish that's important. It's the quality of the ingredients and the care you take as you make it. » For example, the Chef says he chose veal for the demonstration because it's tasty and not always readily available in other countries. « Veal », he points out, « should apply only to a calf nurtured in mother's milk. The skin should be pale. » That's for the product. As for the care in making it : « Bad cooking can spoil a perfectly fine piece of veal, » he affirms.

Amen, amen, I muse, thinking of the many times I've totally forgotten a hard-boiled egg or a wonderful stew-in-the-making as I chat on the phone in another room and am reminded of what's going on in the kitchen only when I smell a burned odor... Or the number of times I've wondered why it seems to be so hard to find something as simple as a perfectly delicious tomato salad. Yes, the Chef is right. If you've bought the best products and keep watch (surveiller) over them as you cook, you're already on your way. « No » to distraction » as you cook !

Illustrating his own advice, the Chef keeps a close watch over the two skillets holding the cutlets, a third pot containing the baby carrots, and a fourth with the perfect little pearl onions. All are getting different treatments at the same time lest the meat turn out overcooked and dry or undercooked and inedible, the carrots and the onions too cooked and mushy or undercooked and hard. That's for the cooking. Then there's the seasoning : a dash of rosemary, thyme, (how much ? not too much because it will drown out the other flavors), a bay leaf, salt and pepper (to taste). The students gasp as the Chef throws a nice hunk of butter (not too much, not too little) into the carrots which, he explains, is needed for flavor. « We're in France, » he smiles, « so we need to put some butter in the cooking. »

He delicately places the rosemary and garlic and onions directly in with the veal in the traditional French way and adds a bit of sugar to the onions to make a natural carmelized sauce. By now, the students are literally salivating and happy to see that the Chef has taken out 15 plates on which he's artistically arranging his creation. On each plate, he distributes a few small pieces of veal, surrounded by the baby carrots and the pearl onions. Contrasting with the white of the veal and the onions is the green of the rosemary in the carrots and the green of the pistou sauce he drizzles on to them. « The sauce, » says the Chef, should always be on the side of the dish, not directly on the meat. »

« Is this easy ? » a student asks, with a touch of skepticism in his voice. « It doesn't look like it ! »

« No, you just have to do it right, » the Chef laughs. « It's a question of being very careful... and of love. » He advises the students not to try things that are too complicated and to recognize that cooking is an art. « Cooking is not an exact science », he adds. « There are so many variables, the thickness of the meat, the temperature of the oven. It's dynamic. »

« Are there days when you don't feel like cooking ? » another student asks.

« Yes, » replies the Chef, again with a mischievous smile. « When I'm sick ».

And, what would you eat on your last day on Earth ? Chef Terrien pauses, then replies with a dreamy look : « Oysters... and coquilles Saint Jacques ». And then for dessert I'd have either a tarte aux fraises or chou à la crème or an éclair. »

« With that, » he concludes, « I could leave in peace. »


Harriet Welty Rochefort is the author of "French Toast: An American in Paris Celebrates the Maddening Mysteries of the French" and "French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris." French Toast was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "wise and devastatingly funny". For world-famous chef Alain Ducasse, her second book French Fried "in a lively and hilarious style ... gives an inside look at the world of French cuisine and wine." Both books are published by St. Martin's Press. She is currently working on her third book about the French.

Coming to Paris? Harriet gives tailormade wine and cheese tastings to individuals as well as to university groups. For more information, visit her webpages: www.frenchfolio.com and www.understandfrance.org .

If you've had some funny, startling, satisfying, or dismaying food experiences in France you'd like to share, you may contact Harriet directly at harriet.welty@hwelty.com.

Editor's Note: Dear Readers, while our writers are always delighted to hear and to receive comments, both about their columns in the The Paris Kiosque, as well as your experiences in Paris, they are unable to answer requests for travel information. Thank you for your understanding.

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Friday, 10 October 2008
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