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[font="Trebuchet MS"] Behind this battered frontage, in what used to be a small cinema and retail complex in the heart of Wellington city, something rather special is happening. We're getting a Cordon Bleu school! Le Cordon Bleu Academie d'Art Culinaire de Paris, to give it its full, grand title, dates back to 1895 - the first cooking demonstration on an electric stove was held to launch the school. Julia Child is among the well-known culinary figures to have passed through their doors, they now have over 35 schools in 16 countries ... and New Zealand is next. Cath Hopkin is the newly-appointed Institute Director for New Zealand, and she's generously allowed eGullet to share in the creation of what she wants to be the 'absolute gem in the portfolio' - the best Cordon Bleu school of them all. Cath has been involved from the very beginning of talks to get Le Cordon Bleu here. She has over ten years' experience in business management, primarily in the hospitality industry, and is a director of several wine and hospitality companies (I first met her nearly three years ago when she was helping out in the early days of the Wellington City Market). Originally it was planned to have the school in Martinborough, an hour or so's drive north of Wellington in the Wairarapa wine region but for various reasons that didn't happen, so Wellington is the winner (I say this as a totally disinterested party - yeah right!). Le Cordon Bleu has partnered with two local educational institutions, the Universal College of Learning (Ucol) and the Wellington Institute of Technology (Weltec) to build New Zealand's first Centre for Culinary and Hospitality Excellence; Weltec is moving its School of Hospitality for Petone, on the opposite side of Wellington Harbour, to share the new facilities with Le Cordon Bleu. Through these gaping holes will flow the raw materials for wonderful culinary creations. The plan is for the school to be very much a part of Wellington's food and wine community; local chefs will use the facilities both to showcase their own cooking and (naturally) as a talent pool, and the artisan foods and wines from the region will feature heavily in what the students have to cook with. Something I was interested to hear about Le Cordon Bleu: they don't live in the past with what we might call 'traditional French cooking'. The philosophy is around French culinary technique using local ingredients - Cath will shortly be visiting the Cordon Bleu school in Thailand to see how this works in practice; very successfully, by all accounts. And they don't shy away from modernism. Cath firmly believes French culinary techniques are firmly rooted in the science of cooking, and on a recent trip to New Zealand André Cointreau, the President and CEO of Le Cordon Bleu International, visited Massey University's Food Innovation Network to see what they're doing with advanced food science and product development. Demolition of the internal structure of the old cinema and shops began last month. The plan, over the next few months is to strip the building to its shell and bring it up to modern earthquake strengthening standards. By about September the internal fitout will begin, and the school should open around May 2012. As work progresses I'll be posting reports to this thread in eGullet. Don't expect an early flood of information - the really good stuff will come nearer opening day - but if there's anything you'd particularly like to know, just ask. I'm looking forward to this - can you tell?

In the past week meat glue has been raised as an 'issue' in New Zealand as well: article 1, article 2. As Chris H mentioned above, nobody's going to believe several bits of stewing steak stuck together is a Chateaubriand - certainly after they bite it. You're only going to get a decent reconstructed steak by starting with smaller pieces of decent meat, which would possibly otherwise be discarded. It's reasonable to expect the use of transaglutaminase to be noted on the labels of packaged meats, but I'd hate it to be banned before I've had a chance to play with it myself!

What Chris said. Anything else is going to have to be truly extraordinary to tempt me to buy it this year, now MC is here.

Todd - we must be synchronised! I christened my pressure cooker with the carrot soup this weekend too. Fabulous stuff - I'm amazed how much caramelisation I got from the pressure-cooked stage. I looked at the instructions to core the carrots, considered that the core is my favourite bit if I'm eating a raw carrot, and simply chopped up the whole carrot and put it in. No regrets; wouldn't do it any other way. I did omit the centrifuge step for the juice, though ...

Lamb spareribs would meet your criteria - with a bit of luck/skill they'll come out with delicious 'lamb crackling' and you can hit them with mint sauce for the traditional touch. I don't know about the tartare. I certainly like my lamb a bit pink, but not sure about raw - you can catch more from a sheep than from a cow (but not as much as from a pig).

I'll pretend not to be upset that you left New Zealand off your list. It's just possible I have the only copy in the country, but I know there's at least one other on the way (at least my man Brian hopes it's on the way ...). And everybody I show it to drools. Urban; somewhere between 'interested' and 'advanced amateur'.

Good question, Chris. Something I noticed very quickly is that the recipes often call for a particular brand of alginate or whatever. The appendix of the Khymos recipe collection has a table of what different manufacturers call the same chemical, but I don't remember seeing anything to suggest that (say) 1g of a Texturas product is equivalent to 0.9g or 1.1g of the same thing from somebody else. I'd be interested to see such a thing if it exists. Or perhaps Nathan will tell us there's no difference and we should stop worrying.

Now the book has finally got here from Canada I can switch my postings from the MC thread to the Cooking with MC thread ... My first experiment, as it seems with many here, was the Mac & Cheese (or macaroni cheese as we calls it 'round these parts). Those who got their hands on the book earlier than I observed that the flavour of the cheese really comes through (as opposed to the wallpaper paste flavour/texture of the traditional dish). I can totally confirm that. I had a nice piece of aged local gouda and some 24-month Cheddar-style; what was so impressive about the finished dish was the occasional burst of crunchy saltiness I get when eating old gouda normally. If you haven't tried making this yet, it justifies getting some of the best cheese you can find Nathan et al: many others have said it, but your work is a stunning achievement. Sincere thanks for all the time and effort you've clearly put into it.

Well well - whatever can this be, sitting by my back door? IT'S HERE!!! Excuse me, just had to post this before I opened it. Talk amongst yourselves; I may be some time.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]How about these things? They're a very simple El Bulli recipe; start with a peeled cherry tomato, add a small basil leaf and finish (on the bottom of the stick) with a melon ball. Top with a squirt of basil oil, salt and black pepper. The only cooking, which can be done earlier somewhere else, is a quick (10 seconds) blanch to get the tomato skins off. I make them a lot as a lead-in to dinner parties.

Looks like a wonderful meal, Steven. And the company must have helped, with insights from Nathan and Chris on 'how did they do that?'. Your comments on service and timing confirm the experience we had in 2009 was unusual - very cold with big gaps. It tainted the experience (30th wedding anniversary), but we still think fondly of the setting of the restaurant, the first few courses on the terrace and several standout dishes (one of which was Prawn Two Firings, which seems to have split into two courses - we had spoonsful of a prawn-head liquor as part of the dish). And unfondly of something called 'Water Lily' which tasted the way two-week-old water in a flower vase smells! It wasn't the best restaurant in the world that night, unfortunately. Somebody's misled you about the truffles - they were certainly there two years ago. Tasteless, but there in big slices on a pumpkin foam 'sandwich'. Welcome back - now get some sleep!

Nicely put, Mr Hennes. I was party to a conversation a few weeks ago in which the image of the Italian grandmother was invoked as knowing all she needs to know about how to make good pasta. And the only response is 'Yeahbut (yes, it should be a word) if she'd had the benefit of the time to experiment and the luxury of being able to throw away the failures, maybe she'd have hit on the MC recipe and be making better pasta. As it is, she's making the best she can given the time/money/handed-down recipe she has'. This of course is based on a belief that Modernist pasta is better. From my experience of making both it and 'traditional' pasta, it is (by 'better' I refer to its laudable properties of not sticking to itself while it's being rolled, and its mouthfeel/taste).

I want one! But I want my books first - they're still sitting in Auckland. Sigh.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Over here is a recipe for a ginger crème brûlée cooked in a SV waterbath. I can certainly vouch for the recipe (my rendition is down the bottom of this post - I recommend tempering the eggs rather than pouring all the hot cream into them as the recipe says), but I wasn't able to find anything suitable to use as a shelf in my rice cooker so I did them in a traditional way in a water-filled roasting dish in the oven. The same site uses the SV Supreme for parmesan custards. Based on these two recipes, Chris, I'm sure a man of your capabilities can figure out some rules.

Well, if Harold McGee thinks it's OK I'm prepared to believe him! I haven't used the leaves - I'd try it, but our tomato season is nearly over - but I did pick up a few years ago the trick of leaving the tomato stalks in the pot when making a sauce. It really does give an extra flavour punch.

Quinces Thanks, Chris and Jorach. I have approximately half the chemicals mentioned, dammit! OK, time to look for a plan B. Burger Chris - stunning! I'm doing that when my book arrives (the story so far - it's got to Auckland. Now it has to get down the island to me, which will probably be the slowest part of its trip).

Fantastic, Ruth. I want one!

When I said PeterB I of course meant blackp. That looks like a blacklight. So does that mean the stuff in the glass is ... no, surely not!

I agree with Anna; where's the fun in being calm? Although 25-odd kilos of book may well keep me quiet for quite some time. Mine has got as far as LA, according to the tracking information. Next step should be the big leap (back) across the Pacific - anybody want to run a sweepstake on whether I get a delivery on Monday/Tuesday/... ?

I've just been given some fresh quinces, and I see in the index that MC has a recipe for Hot Quince Gel. Given I'm not expecting my copy to arrive until next week and the quinces probably won't survive that long, can somebody help me out with the recipe and anything the MC team might say about serving suggestions? I promise photos ...

Um. The yellow looks like a wattle, and there's a bunch of gum trees. We've had Nick, so another Aussie. PeterB?

As with all you others up there, I was very excited to see the 'Shipping' status come up this morning. The next challenge will be seeing how long it takes to cross the Pacific. Nathan, you're going to be exhausted after all this. How about a few quiet days in New Zealand? I may have a book for you to sign soon ...

Oooo! Now it's showing 'Shipping soon'!! <heart rate rises>

OK - you've convinced me! What a meal ... I'll be in London for a few days in September. Looks like this will have to go on the list. Thanks for the report (and delicious photos).

Mine is still showing 'Not yet shipped', but the date has moved to today/tomorrow - this seems like a good sign! Got my iota carageenan, bought a pressure cooker last Saturday ... I couldn't be much more ready.