I was stalling on this post, wanting it to perfectly capture everything about that evening, but that’s going to be impossible. I’ll have to be satisfied with it the way that it is and remember my blogging mantra: “Just Do It.” (Otherwise known as, “Something is better than nothing.”)
When my friend Amber talked about going to Paris with friends, at the heart of her dream was a cooking class. She envisioned us sharing a cooking experience that would bind us together long after we left Paris.
I wasn’t sure how I would like “cooking school.” I like cooking, and I love watching chefs cook, but I don’t usually follow a recipe myself and French cuisine seems like it would be rigid and inflexible with not much room to improvise. The classes are expensive (about $250), but after looking at the costs of various restaurants in Paris, we decided that it wasn’t much more than a nice dinner out and would be worth the cost.
We met Chef Patrick at a Metro stop right by the school and a few blocks from a beautiful local market. Part of the class was grocery shopping with the chef and deciding on a menu based on the best products to be had that day. We were on the way to shop when the chef asked where we were from and mentioned he had lived in Louisiana for a while. Funny enough, Amber is from Shreveport, Louisiana. Hey! Chef Patrick owned a restaurant in Shreveport. When he said the name of his restaurant, Amber froze on the sidewalk, threw her hands over her mouth and tears came to her eyes. It was the restaurant that she and her husband had eaten at on their first anniversary and she had saved her entire paycheck to pay for that special dinner. Then we all got teary-eyed (yes, even me).
She still remembered what they ate, what they had for dessert, that Chef Patrick had come out to talk to them, and that they ate ramen for the rest of the month to afford it. (and that it was worth it!) It was like a scene out of a movie and couldn’t have been more God-ordained. Her dream, her trip, and now her chef.
At the market, we started with seafood. Chef Patrick told us about the different shrimp and shellfish for sale, pointed out the local ones, the freshest ones, and various other indicators we should be looking for when choosing.
I’ve learned a ton from Alton Brown and other Food Network chefs about how fish shouldn’t smell “fishy” and how the eyes should be clear, but CP was the first to explain that the best fish are covered in mucus. Seriously, thick snot-like goo. He said you only see it in the freshest fish that haven’t been washed yet. This fish seller had some huge slimy fish. He also said that you can’t always tell by looking for clear eyes, since fish that are caught in deep water will have their eyes burst by the change in pressure as they are pulled to the surface. Already I felt like I had gotten my money’s worth.
These are beautiful scallops with their reproductive organs intact (each one has both male and female). Scallops usually aren’t for sale this way because the reproductive sacs don’t travel well and are prone to bursting. These had just been taken out of their shells and we decided to have scallops as our appetizer.
Say cheese! We next headed across the street to the fromagerie (cheese shop) and CP told us all about French cheese: the hundreds of varieties, the 5 major types, the difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk cheeses, and then he selected a few different ones for us to try later that evening during the cheese course. We also sampled an aged parmesan and he pointed out that the best ones have crystals in them which are the aged milk proteins. It takes at least 18 months for the crystals to form and is the sign of a well aged cheese.
It is possible that I caught Belinda at the wrong moment, but it is also very possible that she is covering her nose to block the smell of the cheese. If I could eat some of them without smelling them, I’d be a lot happier.
Next we headed over to the butcher. I can’t remember if this is a quail or cornish hen or some other specialty small chicken, but I thought it was kind of crazy that it still had its feathered head intact. CP said that some of the specialty animals for sale will display those parts that identify them, such as a black footed chicken will be sold with it’s feet on, so you can be sure of what you’re getting.
I don’t have a photo because someone bought them, but I also learned that rabbits look super fierce without their skin. They have scary, snarling faces beneath that soft puffy fur.
We ended up with veal as our main course. I don’t eat veal because I am opposed to how they are usually raised, but CP seemed puzzled by my question of how French calves are raised for veal. This veal is raised on its mother’s milk and not separated from her and not confined to a box. As long as it was a happy baby cow, I can eat it.
At the vegetable market choosing accompaniments to our main course. Jerian asking, “What can you do with celeriac?” (A big, round, gray rock-like thing that is related to celery in some way.) CP said he would show us and bought some along with spinach, zucchini, parsley, and some other stuff that I can’t remember at the moment.
Beautiful fennel — bigger than the palm of my hand.
Our last stop was the boulangerie (bread bakery). The line was out the door because CP said this is one of the best bakeries in all of Paris. I know he bought bread of some kind, but I wasn’t paying attention because I was too busy gazing at all the pastries behind the glass. Mmmm.
Then we walked a few blocks to the school and were introduced to this beautiful kitchen.
I liked how he conducted the class because it was very informal. He would cook and talk and after demonstrating, pass off tasks to each of us. Here I’m whisking eggs for a zucchini flan.
Shelling fresh peas and deveining spinach
Using a food mill to puree the celeriac. He prepared it like a potato — boiled then mashed with butter and cream. It was as good or better than potatoes.
The wine is a French chardonnay which are all aged in stainless steel barrels rather than oak. It makes for a very crisp and clean taste. I’m not a big wine person, but I liked this one.
Browning the veal after stuffing it with spinach and roasted walnuts. He taught us how to roll and tie it up using cooking twine and toothpicks (the toothpicks hold it all in place until the string is secure).
Caramelized onions in red wine vinegar and red wine. For some, this was their favorite dish of the night. It’s not much to look at, but the flavor is tart and sweet with strong acidity. The onions cook for about 40 minutes until they completely soften.
I’m pretty sure this is the same glass as before, I’m not a big drinker.
Plating the appetizer
Lightly sauteed scallops, caramelized onions, tomato butter sauce, and zucchini flan. It was all good, but I adored the flan (Grated zucchini, beaten eggs, and cream baked in a ramekin)
Main course: veal with spinach and walnuts, mashed celeriac, and fresh peas. The celeriac was my favorite part. It completely surprised me. It tasted like creamy, buttery celery. It combined the freshness of celery with the richness of potatoes. Brilliant.
Then the cheese course comes before dessert. At some point we also ate rabbit pate, which I didn’t think I would like since it’s cooked meat and fat blended together (I always thought it was liver, but it doesn’t have to be). Anyway, it tasted kind of like ham with the texture of liverwurst and that makes it sound gross, but it wasn’t.
Back to the cheese. Above are the 5 categories of cheese made in France: hard (orange one), goat, soft (like brie), washed rind, and blue. They are arranged in order of mildest to strongest with the orange one being mild. It’s similar to a gouda. The goat cheese was also mild. I love brie, but this brie was very strong to me — not my favorite. I think strong brie tastes like ammonia.
Now for the 2 strongest cheeses — from the smell, I knew I wouldn’t like them. The washed rind one made my eyes water and I was scared to try it. The blue one (he chose a roquefort for us) was less fearsome because I like blue cheese dressing and it smelled similar to that. The verdict? My favorite two were actually the strongest two. Surprise! The one that smelled like death tasted smooth and tangy without any of the ammonia that I got from the brie. And the roquefort was nutty and sharp and kept changing on your tongue. It was funny to see how widely our opinions varied on the different cheeses and what tasted mild to me tasted really strong to someone else and vice versa.
Finally, dessert!
At this point it was almost 11pm and after the long day of sightseeing and then 6 hours of shopping and cooking, we were all feeling tired. Thankfully we had done all the prep work for the creme brûlée earlier in the evening and all that was left before we could eat it was to brown the top. CP had us to sprinkle sugar and then melt it with the torch. It was nice to actually try doing it myself in his kitchen because it’s something I would have been intimidated by otherwise. It looks a lot more difficult than it actually is.
I think I’ve only had creme brûlée one other time, but after tonight it might be my new favorite dessert (after dark chocolate anything). CP showed us how to make candied ginger and the ginger is baked in with the eggs, cream and sugar to give it a sweet and spicy bite. The crunchy sugar top tasted like toasted marshmallows, especially the blackened bits.
If I could, I would go back and take a week of classes. Maybe the knife skills course, the chocolate class, another market class for sure, maybe even a baguette class. I don’t think I have the patience and preciseness required to make great bread, but who knows? I didn’t think I’d like the stinky cheese either.
