Last week was "fish week." While I'm usually a fan of fish, those were not my favorite lessons. First came the hake. I don't know if you've ever seen hake, but it's a seriously scary looking fish. When Ali and I took it out of the bin, two very distinct images came to mind. 1- the evil eels from the little mermaid. 2- the scary sea creatures from The Princess Bride. Neither is the kind of thing you want to be touching, descaling, defining, degilling, chopping into steaks, and cooking for 3 hours.
We cut the hake into steaks (that rhymes!) and poached in a court bouillon. Court bouillon is an infusion of vegetables in water with herbs, salt and vinegar (if you're making fish-- vinegar helps with the proteins and the color). Now let's remember, this is France. So it would be unreasonable to think that one would simply poach fish and leave it alone. Obviously it needs some butter or cream or bacon related element. Enter hollandaise sauce.
This was our first time making hollandaise and it was the biggest upper body work out I had since arriving in Paris. We started with egg yolks and water - half an eggshell of water for each yolk- put them over a bain marie, and stirred in a figure 8 motion. Apparently the figure 8 is the key to evenly whisking the eggs. It sounds pretty simple, but I've never felt more uncoordinated than when trying to do this. Chef Stril came over to observe me, took over for a moment, and with ease began figure 8-ing with the rhythm of a salsa dancer. "Comme ca!" "Oui, chef..." I replied.
After one failed attempt- my bain marie was too hot and my yolks cooked- I properly executed a hollandaise. It was rather good, although after spending so long working on it I lost any desire to eat it. I have to say, I have new appreciation for the chefs at Pastis who make my all time favorite Eggs Norwegian. I always ask for the hollandaise on the side and usually don't eat more than a dab or two. Now I will definitely think twice before wasting such hard work!
Tuesday night- mid fish week- was our student dinner. After a long day of hake and hollandaise we were all ready to let loose. Ali, Alex and I met at the boy's apartment for a pre dinner drink. Totally unnecessary! We arrived at L'Atelier Maitre Albert in the 5e, where our dinner was hosted, a little late. Champagne, and an empty table with charcuterie and wine was waiting for us. We promptly got to work doing what we do best- drinking and eating. As the night progressed through our four courses - rabbit wrapped in puff pastry, scallop in a celery veloute, roast veal with pommes dauphine, and a pinapple desert (pictures below)- several events transpired. First of all, Lee and Dani gave us a wine tasting lesson. Then, the 17 year old colombian red head's rat tail was cut off! Yes. That happened. Later on in the evening we met "Alexandra." Alexandra is Alex's drunk alter ego who is pretty hilarious and entertaining. She's definitely become my third girl friend here.
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| A 17 year old innocent ginger having his rat tail cut off by the head pastry chef. |
Finally fish week concluded with brill. Brill is basically sole only a little bigger. My experience breaking it down and filleting it was definitely easier than last time, and I actually enjoyed the final product. As with every dish made here, if I ever were to recreate it at home it'd be with 1/79th of the butter. Despite the penetrating odor, I survived fish week - and our class dinner! - and lived to blog about it. I can't say I'll be making hake again any time soon, but maybe there's a little brill in my future.
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| Rabbit appetizer |
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Scallop with celery veloute
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Veal
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Pommes Dauphine (i.e. potato donuts!)
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| Dessert |
Last week was "fish week." While I'm usually a fan of fish, those were not my favorite lessons. First came the hake. I don't know if you've ever seen hake, but it's a seriously scary looking fish. When Ali and I took it out of the bin, two very distinct images came to mind. 1- the evil eels from the little mermaid. 2- the scary sea creatures from The Princess Bride. Neither is the kind of thing you want to be touching, descaling, defining, degilling, chopping into steaks, and cooking for 3 hours. 
Tuesday night- mid fish week- was our student dinner. After a long day of hake and hollandaise we were all ready to let loose. Ali, Alex and I met at the boy's apartment for a pre dinner drink. Totally unnecessary! We arrived at L'Atelier Maitre Albert in the 5e, where our dinner was hosted, a little late. Champagne, and an empty table with charcuterie and wine was waiting for us. We promptly got to work doing what we do best- drinking and eating. As the night progressed through our four courses - rabbit wrapped in puff pastry, scallop in a celery veloute, roast veal with pommes dauphine, and a pinapple desert (pictures below)- several events transpired. First of all, Lee and Dani gave us a wine tasting lesson. Then, the 17 year old colombian red head's rat tail was cut off! Yes. That happened. Later on in the evening we met "Alexandra." Alexandra is Alex's drunk alter ego who is pretty hilarious and entertaining. She's definitely become my third girl friend here. 
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