SPARKY’S BLOG
2-4-2013
Lyon,
France III
Institut Paul Bocuse
The famous culinary school of Paul Bocuse is
next on our stop and one of the most anticipated not only by me but the rest of
the group as well. This man is
responsible for changing French cuisine which has only been done sparingly over
the centuries and by only the greatest of chefs and more importantly the
greatest of men!
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| I could hardly contain my joy of being on these hallowed grounds |
First we will start with a
gastronomic lunch at Restaurant Seasons,
the institute’s formal dining room. I’ve
been in some pretty fancy places in my time but this dining room is
unsurpassed. The crystal itself was a
bit intimidating and when champagne and wine started coming out; I felt uneasy
that there may be some breakage.
Surprisingly, our entire group displayed wonderful etiquette…well,
mostly.
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| Beautiful surroundings at the Institut Paul Bocuse |
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| Ryan sharing a laugh during lunch |
We started with a fish mousse
and two very flavorful (Parmesan and herb) puff pastry biscuits as our amuse
bouche. Next came a salad of marinated
artichoke hearts, frisee, arugula and Gruyere cheese balls that were breaded
and deep fried…tasty! Now on to our main
course which was another steak, remember earlier that I said the French don’t
do steak very well and I’d love to tell you that the Institut Paul Bocuse proved me wrong but they did not and we’ll
leave it at that.
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| I love artichokes! |
Pastry
demo
Our lunch was followed by a pastry demo in the amphitheater on the
school grounds. This was difficult for the whole group as we were served a
profuse amount of champagne and wine during lunch. I have only one criticism for this trip and
that is that the previous meal should have been sans alcohol altogether! We, collectively, could not keep our eyes
open during the pastry demonstration and I noticed a LOT of heads nodding and
struggling to stay erect. I myself
resorted to a “fake” rubbing of my eyes and temples to catch whatever minute
amounts of rest I could muster without being rude.
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| First rate instruction |
I would love to tell you that I learned a lot during our pastry demo
but as we were all struggling with wine-induced fatigue, I will tell you that
the instructor was as engaging as he could be and I remember him tempering egg
yolks for a custard and that there was a very comely assistant supporting his
endeavor. Unfortunately, that’s about
all I got out of this instructional display, kind of sad really but I’m being
brutally honest here. I wish I had known
to what extent our instruction would have been (maybe a heads up?) then I would
have abstained completely from the alcohol (not a problem for me as I’m
normally a teetotaler).
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| "Said" assistant |
Hands-on!
We have now finished with the pastry demo and have been allowed to
take a break outside in the student courtyard reinvigorating the whole
group. This somehow recharged our
batteries and we’ll need all the energy we can get due to our next task of
hands-on lessons. We break into groups
and start preparation for our own dinner, first and main course. The Institute
provided dessert, and it promises to be a fun day.
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| Our instructor was hilarious! |
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| Cooking up our dinner |
Our instructor was at first somewhat stoic and staid scolding us about
our knife cuts and how important uniformity should be when performing this
task. I’m really enjoying this as I’m in
one of the most revered culinary institutions in the world! I would expect that certain sternness is
likely because of the thorough teachings that are legendary at France’s culinary
schools.
We perform all sorts of things like mincing lime peelings, juicing
limes, chopping onions, trimming fish fillets peeling skin off fish fillets, julienning potatoes, etc. These,
supposedly, mundane things gave me great delight as I had performed them at
great length at school and during my externship at Cypress restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina and my comfort and
excitement stems from the fact that I’m doing the identically exact same things
that they are doing in France. I’m
assuring myself (in my mind) that Ivy Tech. is giving me a first-rate culinary
education because we’re doing the same things the French are doing. I knew this but coming to this country and
repeating the same steps is very reassuring and sometimes a person needs this
to justify their reasoning to enter into this profession.
Our chef instructor started to lighten up quite a bit searching for
whimsical weaknesses in our group and he immediately started in on Aaron who is
the portliest of us all. I will say this
for Aaron, he took this in stride as our instructor addled him a bit too
much. Regardless, there was dancing and
singing by our Bocuse chef and he started to sport a smile a mile long that
would not disappear not matter how much we screwed things up. I imagine the earlier scolding was all part
of the “effect” of our Bocuse experience.
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| Bailey and Jimmy having a blast! |
The skills competition (as I call it) is about to begin. Little did I know that my prowess as a
burgeoning cook/chef would be put to a test on this fine day. Our instructor showed us how to prepare a
potato gallete/pancake using little more than potatoes with salt and
pepper. He first would mound a fair
amount of these potatoes in a rather large pan with olive oil and brown on one
side then flip the entire gallete showing years of cooking skill and precision
as the product is properly shown to be golden and crisp when exposed to us
students. I was impressed with his
nonchalant attitude when performing this as I’m sure he’s done this move a
thousand times before.
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| Prepping my station |
What I didn't know is that he would be picking students out of our
group to do the exact same thing and since I was at arm’s length directly after
his lesson, I was tagged to follow suit.
I instantly became nervous because I was supposed to flip a very large
pan of expertly cooked potatoes that I was responsible for in front of everyone
at the Institut Paul Bocuse.
While thinking of my impending doom; I suddenly became very calm (not
sure why) and made the flip with ease and executed my task as if I’d been doing
it as long as my instructor and received a round of applause. My head swelled as my potato gallete was
perfectly browned while being successfully flipped without nary a drop finding
the floor. A hearty handshake and back-slap was heading my way with each step the instructor advanced towards
me….yes, I belong in the kitchen and I made the right choice to become a
chef. I’m now very happy.
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| My gallete landed in the pan perfectly .... whew! |
Next up, our instructor tagged Aaron – oh no! Suffice it to say my boy Aaron didn't fare
too well as his flip was disastrous as half of the potato gallete found its way
to the floor and the other half was folded over messily in the pan exposing a
very burnt underside. That’s all I’ll
say about it but I could see the expressions and smirks on the other team
members faces that told their story of utter satisfaction in his failure…I
sensed Aaron knew this all too well and I felt remorse in his collapse of
skills.
Aaron
strikes again
This guy seems to relish in
self-sabotage. I don’t understand why
folks do this to themselves but it’s almost as if he thrives on negative
attention. Some people need any type of
attention whether it is positive or negative and when there is a yearning to be accepted or even a need for approval or recognition is when
the trouble usually begins. I can’t help but write about this as he
provides some great fodder (albeit sad and frightful ones) for a log about a
trip abroad.
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| A great day at the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France with Kelly and Tiffany |
I will understand that Aaron was
tired as we all were after spending such a long period of time in a very hot
and humid kitchen getting instruction under confusing and strenuous
circumstances but…..when we retired out into a foyer area waiting for Michel
and our chaperon's we noticed some very elaborate antique furniture. The furniture was for “looks” only and it was
obvious except for one lame-brained individual, there were also signs
indicating that this furniture wasn't for sitting on.
Aaron paid no heed as his
morbidly-obese frame couldn't resist the first resting spot to park his
over-sized derriere. You could hear a
collective gasp of horror from the group as most of us pleaded with him to
remove his disrespectful posterior from “said” chair. He steadfastly ignored the group’s request
and resolutely turned his head away from us in defiant protest. I’ve not seen such disregard for manners in
many, many years but I, somehow, expected this from him and that’s why I didn't waste my breath in telling him to act appropriately.
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| Paul Bocuse |
One last student (Christine)
pleaded with him to politely stand and respect the sanctity of the Institut as well as Paul Bocuse’s legacy and representing our group and not being the
stereotypical “Ugly- American” which he had sadly had become many times
throughout this trip. He was resolute in
his position to remain seated and showing his disgust in Christine called her an extremely offensive name which was an abhorrence to everything that we stood for as a culinary
group coming to France from America showing reverence and respect to the good
folks of the Institut Paul Bocuse.
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| The Ivy Tech (Indianapolis) team |
Have a
great day and never give up!
Mark
(Sparky)
