Salut to everyone in the France Forum. Long time reader, infrequent poster to eGullet, I am currently enrolled as a culinary student at le Ferrandi in Paris. Officially known as Ecole Superieure de Cuisine Francaise - Ferrandi. Bux suggested I post about my experience as a student there. A quick summary. Le Ferrandi is a French Ecole, operated by the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The school itself is quite large and along with the culinary programs there are programs in patisserie, boulangerie, catering and hotel management. There are hundreds of French students attending the school and most of them are in their late teens or early twenties. They pay nominal fees, since like most education in France it is almost entirely subsidized by the government. In addition to the French programs there are a number of international programs. I am in a program that is designed for “english speakers.” There are a total of 20 of us, and we are divided into two groups of ten. Some classes are conducted in English, most in a combination of English and French. However in other situations, for example when we are working for the school restaurant, everything is in French. Some of the chefs speak English and the students in our group are meant to be learning French, if we don’t already speak it. Our program is almost identical to what the French culinary students are learning in the first year of their studies (after the first year, a small group of the best students are invited to attend a second year). The program is 1200 hours of classical french cuisine and includes sessions on regional variations, patisserie, boulangerie, charcuterie, and french language and culture. Our weeks generally alternate between pegagogie and production. My French dictionary defines pegagogie as “educational methods.” In pedagogie we tend to work individudally on a specific menu for that day. For example, two weeks ago we spent an entire week on various preparations for rack of lamb. The chef is there to give guidance and instruction, but each student has to prepare the dish alone and present the finished product for evaluation at the end of the session. During production weeks we work the lunch service (occasional dinners) for one of the schools public restaurants. For production we are paired up with one of the groups of French culinary students. Individuals are assigned to stations, garde-manger, viandes, etc. and we work with the French group as a team for service. We have one day of patisserie every week and every other Friday we prepare a special regional menu for ourselves. Last Friday the region was Savoie-Dauphine and there was a very hearty tripe en cocette on the menu. Interesting side note: I read somewhere during my research into culinary schools that the French Culinary Institute in NYC is modeled after le Ferrandi. We started in September and we finish in June, so I am about half-way through the year now. I will do my best to post regularly on what we are doing. a bientot, Lisa
