Today’s demo was about “dry little pastries”. These are the kind of little things that you sell by the kg because they are so small. Chef told us that 1kg of them can go for 80€. 80! That’s a lot. He showed us how to make:

*Madeleines
*Cigarettes
*Palets de Dames
Almond Tuiles
Batons de Maréchaux

Here’s a picture of Chef’s finished products

My demo is tomorrow morning at 8:15, and I need to wash my aprons since they are covered in chocolate somehow…

Anyways! The lesson was really fun, Chef Christian is funny and he isn’t boring to watch/listen to. But then again, neither are any of the other chefs. It’s interesting to see how differently the chefs all do things. The difference in the way they organize things, and how one of them may be more strict about exact measurements and one of them is a bit more slack. And just seeing how they go through the process with their different personalities. I feel really lucky to have different chefs and not be stuck with just one of them for the entire term. It allows us to grow individually with our different styles and personalities even though that is focused on more in superior pastry.

After Chef Christian was done showing us everything for the lesson he had a little chat with us. A very inspiring chat that made me really happy. He was talking to us about some of his experiences, and how with being a pastry chef you can go anywhere you want. Literally. It’s not like other jobs where after you go to school for many many years and you are kind of limited to keeping your job in the same area. You are free to move around the world, develop your skills and live wherever you want. And that excites me! Because I hate to stay in the same place for a long time. I like to move around and get out and experience new things/places in life. He told us why he took the teaching job at Le Cordon Bleu, and I don’t quite know how to word it. But he essentially said that he is passing a bit of himself and his passion for pastry down to each and every one of us, and because of that he will always be around. It was such a good class!

I think practical shouldn’t be too hard tomorrow. I like how they followed up a pretty difficult lesson with a lesson that is much easier. Takes a bit of the pressure off I think.

Oh, and by the way, the “lemon pee” is optional in the madeleines 😉