Learning French by way of the Kitchen

I was off Friday and enjoyed a weekend with no homework and also celebrated Chris' birthday with Erin and friends. Monday, we were back to class.

We have Chef Brown again. He is always so excited about teaching us, his enthusiasm is great. We also have a second chef, Chef A. That's what she goes by but her name is Ashenbrenner. She is quiet so far. But Chef Brown makes up for it, the man loves to talk about cooking.

So some changes in how we do things in Foundations III. Less homework but we have to hand write all our recipes for the upcoming day. Plus, mega vocabulary words. Le Cordon Bleu is, after all, French. So we have new vocabulary words every night. Pronunciation, meanings and how the words are used in the kitchen. Linda Clerc, are you out there? And, we mize en place the day before we cook. Maybe even pre-cook some things and then put it all together the following day. Every day, two dishes, the five parts to each dish. That's a protein, starch, vegetable, sauce and garnish. Plus extensive time on plating our dishes. So it's getting exciting now.

The other cool thing will be learning during the next six weeks is how to fabricate our proteins. Huh? Cut up the meats.

My dad use to raise chickens and goats for meat. I got some funny stories about him and the goats. No, it's not what you think. Get your minds out of the gutter. A story for another time.

So be prepared to learn a french kitchen term each day.

French word of the day!

Lier - If you pronounced it like it reads, you're wrong. (lee ay) It means to thicken. Using a roux, starch, egg yoke or Beurre Manie to change the consistency of a liquid. Wait, that was three french words. Stay tuned to tomorrow and I'll tell you what beurre manie means.

Ciao