Louisa Chu

Sorry - it's just my manner.

I guess I was - but then again I have a great deal of fondness for all things Glaswegian. I still challenge this as urban legend. An original variation but it smack of urban legend nonetheless.

Good story. But here's the problem with it. You mean to tell me that some cheap, greasy chopstick Chinese joint rolled an egg roll with a mouse in it? Or that somehow it burrowed in and got deep fried with no one noticing? My problem with this story is being too intimately familiar with cheap Chinese takeout joints is that they would have filled those suckers with cheap veggies, miserly portioning out any meat - mice included. But still a great visual.

Ooooh, the real one! I am going to one of the satellites: Chicago. I was wondering if you were at the Paris school . . . Yes, as real as a heart attack. Where in Chicago - that's where I grew up. And I've heard that culinary schools in the US don't allow students to bring home food. Crazy Americans. What happens to your food? And vanilla beans?

There are generally two very traditional French preparations for the jambonettes - little hams as that's what the stuffed legs look like - one is the roasted/crispy skinned and the other the poached. In the latter the skin is removed for service - sliced it is a very nice presentation. For the former, start by sauteeing the jambonettes to colour well and then finish the cooking in the oven. For the latter, do as you did by wrapping it in foil and just poach to cook, remove the skin, slice and serve. I have two classic recipes for stuffing - one very creamy and the other with quatre-epices which is served with sauteed apples. I will post either/both if anyone's interested. Two ways to secure them without foil - the caul fat or kitchen twine. Tie it as you would a roast - or any way that just holds it all together. The caul fat's easy - just wrap it around and it mostly melts in the cooking.

What defines a brasserie? And cafes, bistros, restaurants, etc.

Thanks Lizziee. Fascinating. Familiarity and assessments of the chefs' menus? Just wondering if you've had any of the same dishes - or even any of the same menus - and what you thought about them if applicable. Merci!

Not only are we allowed to bring home food but we're issued official "hermetically sealed boxes" - big and small, the latter for sauces. Today I brought home about 2 kilos of chocolates - mostly mine but some of the chef's from demo too.

Cordon Bleu where? I'm at CB Paris.

Exactement. My sister suffered la crise de foie. And I suspect our dog the same. The chef had given her a bowl which I thought at first was water but then saw was something like pot au feu. Though our dog eats real food - not dog food - it was not good as she'd had a whole dinner already. And she was not quite at our feet as she's a bit big - shepherd/lab mix - but wonderful nonetheless.

Thanks Lizzie. Going there for lunch soon and hope to talk to him about that experience and the contrast. Another attempt after a disastrous dinner there - too much rich food for my sister and our dog. The chef never offered to speak English to us - I guess because we spoke Doglish as he has two as well.

Thanks loufood! I can't wait to start doing that kind of thing at school. What other wealth have you found laying about? This is how I intend to feed myself for the next couple years, so share, share! From pastry alone, I have not only the coveted vanilla beans but of course a staggering supply of leftover doughs in my freezer - standard short, puff, almond, etc. - occasionally ganache, almond cream, mousses, etc. I tend not to take my classmates extras because I quite frankly I don't trust it but if I took theirs as well I could run my own patisserie on the side. We just made the fillings for assorted chocolates yesterday - dipping tomorrow - and I had cups of leftover almond paste/pistachio paste, praline, muscadine. From a demo today I brought home four cups of an incredibly deep, dark rich caramel creme sauce. Had that tonight with ice cream and praline bits. And cuisine leftovers will need their own thread! Where are you going to school?

Cabrales is correct - of course - in that it's one month in advance and - not 30 days per se - and starting at 9:30 Paris time - not 15:30. But they do tend to have lunch reservations fairly available at short notice. And just in case you were wondering one cannot use the automatic callback feature that France Telecom offers for busy lines because it's not available on their line.

Market's on Boulevard de Grenelle - not rue de Grenelle. Under the Metro tracks.

Centre G. Pompidou? Yes, almost across the street from the Hotel de Ville - directly across from the Monoprix, another landmark. Benoit 20 RUE SAINT MARTIN 75004 PARIS 01 42 72 25 76

Vraiment? The chef/owner - a bit older, taller and gruffer? He used to work at L'Orangerie? I never ate there but it doesn't seem his style.

Very nice. Thanks Steve. There's the big hotel/restaurant show in Lyon at the end of the month. This was the clincher to go.

I must say that I am almost embarassed by my riches of vanilla beans. I just brought home another 3 whole pods today - to add to the dozen or so I have already - and that's not even counting the scraped out beans. I scavenge them at school - where most people can't be bothered to put away the ones they haven't used - much less reuse the pods they've scraped out. Savages. I learned this very good technique from one the chefs the other day. When you split a bean in half, you typically scrape out the seeds with the back of your knife. To get out even more, place the split bean in sugar and use the sugar like a sanding agent and rub it in and get even more of the seeds out. You can then either place these pods into sugar to flavour the sugar - which again should keep indefinitely in a cool dark place and used as you would regular sugar. You can then later take the pods and dry them in a low oven and blend/food process them and use as dried vanilla. And I don't know specifically about the Penzey's vanilla but I can't see why you couldn't use that bean as above as well. Enjoy your beans. They are one of my favourite things in the world.

But it was Nazi General von Cholitz - entrusted by Hitler to destroy Paris - who defied final orders reduce it to rubble, some historians say because of his love for the culture. I agree to a degree that being well-dined, etc. does not necessarily make one more compassionate but it certainly can - especially if we expand the parameters to include the common food of the common people - which has often evolved to haute cuisine. It's interesting to me to have dish such as escargots in a grande palace restaurant, but more so with the vineyard workers who picked snails for sustenance and transformed them with soul. I think the latter kind of experience is much more important in the pursuit of becoming well-dined - and to a better understanding of the resilient people who create iconic cultural cuisine.

In l'aligot the cheese should actually be a fresh tomme from Laguiole. I just had this dish tonight made by one of my chefs at Cordon Bleu who's an Auvergne native, using his grandmother's recipe. It was the finale to a cheese lecture and he served it with the pork sausages - which he started searing on the stovetop and finished colouring well in the oven - and a simple reduction sauce made by deglazing the defatted sausage pan with white wine. It was as expected absolutely delicious but also not surprisingly quite filling - as was the original intent, to feed very poor hungry people well. I had a very small serving and that easily sufficed for dinner. I now have about a half a kilo of leftover aligot in the fridge. I asked the chef where one could try an authentic aligot in Paris and he confirmed Ambassade d'Auvergne. When he's not so busy tomorrow, I can ask him for a restaurant in the Auvergne. I might also generally recommend L'Auvergne Gourmande - the little sister restaurant to La Fontaine de Mars. I have not eaten there yet but walk by there just about every day and the food looks very good. They have one daily plat du jour, one long communal table and another smaller round table by the bar. Small space but quite stylish, very reasonable prices, exceptionally nice staff. Here's the recipe for l'aligot L'ALIGOT serves 4 1 kg large potatoes 500 ml milk 400 g fresh tomme cheese from Laguiole 500 ml creme fraiche 1 garlic clove salt, pepper Peel the potatoes and quarter. Start in cold salted water and boil until knife tender. Slice up cheese. Drain potatoes and dry in oven. Boil milk with garlic then hold warm. Mill potatoes and garlic while hot into large bowl. Add creme fraiche and mix well with wooden spoon. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add hot milk gradually and continue mixing. Taste again and season. Add cheese gradually and continue mixing until smooth. Taste and season. Hold warm over a bain marie.

Yesterday, dinner was leftover stuffed veal. Dessert a cake called a JAMAÏQUE/JAMAICA - very thin layers of chocolate biscuit sponge cake sprinkled with coconut, almonds and pistachios layered with a coconut mousse at the bottom, some slivers of pineapple soaked in coconut liqueur and rum, a layer of mango-passion fruit mousse and topped with a passion fruit seeded glaze. Tonight's dinner, CUISSES DE LAPIN MIJOTÉES AUX CARROTTES FONDANTES/RABBIT LEGS SIMMERED WITH TENDER CARROTS with FLAN DE POMMES DE TERRE/POTATO FLAN. Dessert, leftover cake.

Bux, you're precisely right. And as if there aren't enough things to covet here in Paris. The fèves and crowns at Pierre Herme are designed by tse & tse and quite fabulous. Tonight I helped make about 50 galettes at school where we used very traditional figurines that looked like tiny little Louis XiV's etc. We had a whole assorted box of them and I just wanted them all for myself. And then there are those tiny teapots and teacups at Laduree. Too much!

Oh Americans. At Cordon Bleu Paris if you complete either Superior Cuisine or Superior Pastry you can do one three month stage immediately after. Or if you do both you can do two three month stages. Halfway through Superior you can take an optional stagiere orientation course and then it's off to the races as the first one to request a specific stage gets the chef who makes the calls to make your call. I believe this session every three star and major patisserie has at least one CB stagiere. But you can request any stage and the chef will make the call. It's not a guarantee they will take you but almost. And you pretty much sign your life away but we've already done that for school. They're more concerned that your immigration status is secured with a Carte de Sejour and to obtain it you must have your own medical insurance. I hope to do my cuisine stage first and then pastry. Steve, I can't remember if I'd told you but I have just recently visited all the pastry grandes maisons and tasted every signature and seasonal item. My soul wavers between Pierre Herme and Peltier. I remember you telling me that Chef Conticini is an especially generous man to work for so that weighs the scales. But I've recently been corresponding with Dorie Greenspan and my heart just races when we discuss Herme. I have not yet tried the grande maison restaurants and their plated desserts. This is a whole other area that I'm just starting to work with this session in Intermediate. I cannot wait to work with the element of temperature. But again I don't really know much yet about this area at that level. I would appreciate thoughts from you all. Thanks.

I make dinner almost every night at school - Cordon Bleu Paris. I do cuisine 3 days a week and pastry 2. It's my sister and me - and our dog - and each dish serves at least 4 so we have more than enough to cover those pastry days - though a big slab of chocolate something could do quite nicely for me. I've heard that some cooking schools don't allow students to bring home food for fear of liability? How sad. Also at home we like to have just about everything with rice - it's a Chinese thing. If anyone's interested in any recipes just let me know and I'll post. Tonight it was POITRINE DE VEAU FARCIE MÉNAGÉRE/HOME-STYLE STUFFED VEAL BREAST - sorry it's all caps as I just copy it from my notes - with Endives meunière and basmati rice. Dessert, some leftover TARTE CHOCOLAT-PRALINE/CHOCOLATE-PRALINE TART and STRIÉS CAFÉ/COFFEE FILLED PETITS FOURS.

Lesley, could you please share the menus when you get a chance?