Bouland

Ali-Bab's Gastronomie pratique. Etudes culinaires suivies du Traitement de l'obésité des gourmands is available now as a reprint if you want a thick tome to hold you over in the mean time.

I'd also check carefully the vacation schedules of the restaurant you want to go to — many are closed for a couple of weeks in August. Also, I'd check out Rouen. It's only about an hour from Paris. The SNCF train schedules are all accessible from the internet at their website. Also, tickets can be purchased from kiosks with a credit card. (Be sure your pin number is activated for your credit cards because it is often required in French vending machines.)

I have experience with tours run by a group called Les Liaisons Délicieuses out of Washington, DC. There trips spend a week at a single Michelin-starred restaurant. In my experience, I've been able to skip some of the siteseeing and instead have spent most of my time in the kitchen. The difference between these trips and those set up by Ecole des Chefs is you have lots of face time with the chef and you eat the same meals as the guests, not the staff. The price is also less than Ecole des Chefs with much more included in it. If you can't set up a stage on your own (which I've also done) and don't want to pay the prices of Ecole des Chefs, this is a good opportunity. BTW, I've done 1 to 4 week stages for no more expense than a cheap room nearby the restaurant. I've never been charged by the restaurants and I eat with the staff or the chef, depending on the situation.

Moving a bit farther West to Carantec, Patrick Jeffroy serves oysters in a coconut-curry gelée... Huîtres en Gelée de Coco et Curry 3 dozen oysters 400 ml coconut milk 2 tb curry powder 2-1/2 sheets gelatin, softened in cold water 1 tb butter 1 leek, cleaned and minced, white part only salt and pepper to taste cilantro leaves dried orange powder 1. Quickly steam (1 minute) the oysters open. Remove the meat from shell and drain the juices through a strainer into a bowl. Discard the flat side of the shells. Set the oysters out on the curve shells. 2. Warm the coconut milk slightly and combine with the curry. Mix with a hand blender. Add the oyster juice and gelatin. Keep warm (liquid) until needed. 3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Sweat the leeks, covered, until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside until needed. 4. Drain the oysters again. Spoon a little cooked leek over each oyster. Spoon the gelée over the oysters and set aside in a refrigerator to gel. 5. To serve, place the oysters on a plate. Decorate with a few cilantro leaves and some grated orange powder. Yield: 6 servings.

I think it is important to remember that she is not unknown to a restaurant when she dines there. From the time the reservation is made, the kitchen is fully aware of when she will dine. Does she get special treatment? I would think so. Does this effect her reviews? I would think so. Having done restaurant review, I know that it is very difficut to do for a long time without becoming a bit stale. Maybe she has been doing it too long? But I have heard quite a few negative comments about these programs because they are expensive and Ms. Wells sometimes only makes a short appearance while others do the teaching. [i've heard some good comments also.] It's truly amzing that the courses have a waiting list considering how expensive they are.

During the transition to euros, banks, stores, and other business gave away small disposable calculators for converting francs to euros and visa versa. No one had to calculate the exchange in their head. I don't think the complexity of the conversion caused the "eurocreep". Except hypermarchés, gas stations, and a few other outlets, most prices in the pre-euro days were in whole francs. I think stores have taken the opportunity to round the conversions up to the nearest whole euro with the excuse that it simplies the transaction. As your hard work shows, high end places have taken the opportunity to become even more high end. Being a reluctant believer in the free-market system, I think that some of these restaurants may in the end price themselves out of existance. Out in the countryside where there may be a smaller tourist trade, the locals are less likely to support massive price increases, especially if their income isn't increasing at the same rate.

No, restaurants complete a questionaire sent to them by Michelin in the Fall. Even though a restuarant may have 3 or 4 menus plus à la carte selections, they generally list their least expensive menu plus a couple of signature dishes. They also list the common range of prices for a full meal without wine. For example, a restaurant may have three menus, one for 30€, one for 40€, and one for 50€. Only the 30€ menu may be listed in the Guide. If you order the 50€ meal they are not going to give it to you for 30€. And this happens. Between October 31st of one year and when you dine at the restaurant 9 months later, the restaurant may have changed their menu enough to require a price change.

The chefs I work with (or have in the worked with in the past), save one, all have at least one Michelin star. They do hire cooking school graduates and in some cases those on work study, but the chefs have all expressed the opinion that the quality of the students they get is low. But, they say, it's getting harder and harder to find workers for the kitchen who are willing to spend the time and energy to learn the business. It's even rarer to find a 16-year-old who wants to apprentice in the traditional manner.

Suzanne F: I've used this method for years when making certain cold, Chinese chicken dishes. Since the surface of the meat being cooked is exposed to water in excess of 161°F for greater than 15 seconds, the bacteria present is dealt with. As long as the meat is protected from a new contamination, there shouldn't be any problem. Fat Guy: this is an efective way of reheating pre-cooked sausages, such as bockwurst, boudin blanc, etc., without heating the center past 160°F and without the sausage bursting. I place the sausages in water, bring to a near boil, and immediately remove the saucepan from the heat, After sitting for 10 minutes, the sausages are heated through without becoming dry.

As far as famous chefs who haven't been to cooking school, the first to come to mind is Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville, CA. All the chefs I've worked with in France learned on the job, and they have little good to say about cooking schools in France. There are basics, such as sanitation and knife skills, that can be learned in cooking schools, but learning how to cook requires lots of OJT. It's analogous to becoming a doctor, the book learning is a helpful preparatory to the actual apprenticeship.

I'd throw my vote towards an herb salad. It consumes a lot of herbs, but it sounds like you have a lot to consume. If you'd like to see one way making such a salad, click here. In this case the salad is an accessory to a terrine, but it can be used in other ways, too. My experience is that the salad has too strong a flavor to be eaten in large quantity like a regular green salad, but as a handful of bites, it's quite nice.

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