Espangnole ... Leading sauce made by combining Brown Stock with a Brown Roux & a bit more Mirepoix browned in clarified butter. Yummm!! Of the three mother sauces and two secondary sauces tried today... this was my favorite!!
Things are indeed heating up (oh the pun!) in class these days. The Chefs mean business regarding dress and timeliness for class. We are to be pressed, spit shined and in line up by 6:55am each morning. Yesterday, about nine (9) students were sent to the lounge to iron aprons and such. Today about the same.... I am overwhelmed by the seemingly difficult task this is for some people. Be on time, be dressed and pressed, be ready to learn. Now, keep in mind that the average cost of an Associate of Occupational Science degree at Le Cordon Bleu is about $40K (not including housing). This intense 15 month program is costly. It is meant to be for those ready for the rigors of learning. There seems to be something lacking in the 20-somethings I am encountering here. The young man next to me (who's mother is my age) also does not understand what it means to stand up and push in his chair!! Between the fella on the end of the row who never leaves enough room to pass behind him and this kid, I may just lose my cool... :)
We did have a nice treat at the end of class this morning. The Gard Manger class prepared a buffet breakfast. They had french toast with blueberry sauce, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, omelets to order, bacon, sausage, biscuits & sausage bechamel (can no longer call it gravy!), shrimp & grits, sliced beef tenderloin & fruit. A few of these same 20-somethings loaded up plates as if they have never eaten!! A 12" plate piled high with food that will likely not be consumed ... I was appalled at the ridiculousness of it!! What began as a nice gesture ended with people making gluttons of themselves. What is wrong with people?
We complete our review of sauces tomorrow with a few more demonstrations. These days spent on Stocks and Sauces do solidify the importance of these techniques. Knowing them and perfecting them is the foundation (the fond) of true French cooking. And honestly... ask yourself , who doesn't like something smothered in sauce?
Hey C, I'm so happy for you and your new beginning. you are one courageous girl, and I'm so envious of that kind of courage! even when you left WHR and opened shop in SB, I thought that was courage, but I"m super impressed now! I can't wait to read all your updates, it's great reading, but you've always had a way with words and making me feel like I'm there! do you live on campus (I hope so if you have to be shined and pressed by 6:30, good lord). Tell them you don't want to be a breakfast cook, and then maybe you can come in later?? :)
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