Poultry 101 basics

Fish 101 basics training week is now over. We have learned to cook many traditional French fish dishes such as poached, grilled, smoked, and raw (tartar).

We are now moving to the next learning theme: poultry 101 basics :)

Chicken fricasse cooked in class 

If you have never cleaned a chicken from scratch (ok, not the killing part), it can be a quite "disgusting" experience. When I was a child, we had a tiny "farm" with some free range hens and pigs in Vietnam. When it was slaughtering day (on very rare occasions), my job was to catch the hen so that my mum could gut and then pluck the feathers. I witnessed this only once. Nowadays we buy ready cut filets, or whole chicken, but then it's ready emptied inside. However it's part of any chef's job to know how to do things from scratch, so here we go.

Chicken lesson

Bad parts in the garbage

Inside parts

We always end up with 2 legs and 2 breasts, and the carcasse, which is used for making stock. Chicken stock is an important base for many tasty sauces, such as the sauce in this chicken fricasse dish, a very traditional French dish.

Techniques learned and applied:
Glacer a blanc - cooking vegetables in butter, water, sugar and salt over low heat covered with parchment paper) 

Roux - chicken sautéed with butter and flour, and stock added, which thickened the sauce

It's been a tiring week, and I am so ready for Spring break which starts now - yay :) 

Happy Easter,

Maison Emil Paris :)

3rd Lunch and Dinner service @Le Premier

A very exhausting week is behind me. It's been very hectic with long days in the kitchen, but the more restaurant training, the more we learn. Personally I learn the most from these live cooking sessions. Why? Because I get involved in the whole process, from recipe review, planning, preparation, technique application and pre-cooking, to final cooking as the client's order comes in.

Lunch service on Tuesday (April 8) and dinner service on Wednesday (April 9) with the following menu:

• Amuse bouche: Sweet onion tart, blood pudding filling, onion ice cream
• Starter: Marbre de foie gras, confit de canard aux artichauts, salade jeune pousses
• Fish: Seabass tartar, opaline Yuzu (citrus crystal candy), coconut sorbet
• Meat: Free range chicken, cooked sous-vide (low temperature), shallot puree, spring vegetables

I was assigned to the meat station where I learned about cooking meat at low temperature (sous-vide technique), then roast the meat with butter for colour and flavour just before serving.

Amuse bouche - finalised dish

Amuse bouche - caramelised onion tart

Starter - foie gras slices to be baked just before serving

Starer - dish in preparation

Fish dish - tartar full of freshness

Meat dish - chicken sous-vide and then pan roasted in butter

Meat dish - tender and juicy chicken meat

Meat dish - garnish with attention to details

Some of my friends came for tasting and they liked everything but praised the foie gras dish. For recipe, contact me.

Happy reading,
Maison Emil Paris :)

Caneles from Bordeaux

A local speciality from Bordeaux, these little tea or coffee bites are crispy outside and soft inside are gaining popularity. Originally baked in the cobber moulds with bee wax, I am not sure how many people are still following this old method. These days most people including me use silicon caneles mould, which comes in small (coffee bites), medium (my preferred size), large and extra large sizes. The batter is best made the day in advance.

Caneles recipe (about 40 medium size)

1 Liter milk
100 gr butter
1 - vanilla pod seeds
450 gr sugar
200 gr all-purpose flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon salt
3 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
Rhum - optional (day 2)

Tools:
Caneles mould

Caneles mould, batter, butter

Day 1 - The batter
1. Bring the milk, butter and vanilla seeds to a boil. Set aside until luke warm (38-40 degrees C).
2. Stir manually sugar, salt, and flour.
3. Make a fountain and add the eggs. Stir gently. We don't want air in the batter, so do not use electric whisk.
4. Add half of the milk in the flour and stir.
5. Add the remaining milk and stir until the solution dissolved. You should now have a batter that is a bit similar to the crepe batter.
6. Cover with foil and rest overnight in room temp.

Day 2 
1. Stir gently as the solid has fallen at the bottom overnight.
2. Add rhum and stir
3. Grease the caneles silicon mould with melted butter
4. Put on the oven to 225 C degrees
5. Fill the mould 3/4 as the batter will puff
5. Bake the caneles at high temperature for 10 min
6. Reduce the temperature to 180 C degrees and bake another 50 min until dark brown.
7. Unmold and keep uncovered in room temperature. Don't put in the fridge as humidity will make it less crispy.

Happy baking,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Regional Cuisine - Alsace

Alsace has an interesting food history as this region was under German rule, then French, then taken back to Germany and now it's French. Strasbourg is its capital and is seat of many international organisations and bodies. It's where France and Germany collide, and obviously Alsatian cuisine has flavours from both France and Germany.

Strasbourg - capital of Alsace

You may have tasted Riesling white wine, eaten tarte flambee or sauerkraut (or choucroute in French?) Well, we have just cooked all these Alsatian specialities :)

Alsace regional menu:
Amuse bouche - tarte flambee (fromage blanc, onion, bacon), aka Flammkuchen
Starter - foie gras, apple puree in honey truffle oil, green apple, feta
Fish - sauerkraut with pike, dill beurre blanc sauce
Meat - roasted pigeon
Dessert - chocolate fondant, fromage blanc sorbet, kugelhopf

Tarte flambee - Flammkuchen 

Foie gras, apple puree with truffle and honey

Fois gras preparation - seared and pressed

Choucroute (sauerkraut) with fish (pike-perche), dill sauce, pumpkin puree

Pigeon, rosti potatoes, almond cream, pigeon jus

Chocolate fondant, fromage blanc sorbet (yogurt) 

Really fondant :)

Kogelhopf - hybrid brioche-marble cake from Alsace

The dishes were of course paired with wonderful Alsace white and red (both served chilled).

If you don't like Alsace wine, no worries. Alsace beer is nice, label "1664" by Kronenbourg, is probably the most consumed beer in France. A personal favourite is the white 1664 :)

My tummy is so happy after this tasting.

Happy weekend,

Maison Emil :)

East meets West and Art meets Food :)

Oh la la, it's getting busier as we move closer to the end of our programme - only 10 weeks left. Another lunch service at a fully booked restaurant. 57 guests have arrived to taste our two different lunch menus :)

Amuse bouche - East meet West

Starter - Tuna in Mondrian style

Fish - Red snapper, spring vegetables and mediterranean sauce

Meat - Roasted veal, vegetable millefeuille, spicy miso sauce

One of our chefs is inspired by the artworks of Piet Mondrian and M.C. Escher, which is of course reflected in some of the dishes above. The lunch menu offered by our chef and our group is a combination of East meets West, and Art meets Food :) Spring has fully arrived in Paris, so our dishes also contain elements of Spring vegetables such as fresh asparagus.

• Amuse bouche - ginger carotte shrimp, green apple wasabi biscuit, fish bird style MC Escher 
• Starter - Red tuna in Mondrian style
• Fish - Red snapper, spring vegetables in mediterranean sauce
• Meat - Roasted veal, roasted vegetable millefeuille, morel mushroom, spicy miso sauce

Happy reading,

Maison Emil Paris :)