Red Meat, Cholesterol, and the French Paradox

Disclaimer: I am writing this on a french computer during a break at school.  Therefore any misspelled words or improper punctuation can and must be blamed on this bizarre keyboard.

Time for beef week.  For someone who hadn't eaten red meat for ten years before coming to Paris, a week of non-stop beef cooking seemed like a daunting prospect.  Surprisingly enough, it was way more enjoyable than fish.  I don't know if youve ever gutted a fish, but there are few things more disgusting.

My perfectly, if I may say so myself, cooked meat.

It all began with meat and potatoes.  What a winning combination!  The first day we made roast sirloin with pureed pomme de terre.  The chef informed us that the famed Joel Rubuchon has discovered the secret to the perfect pureed potatoe.  Equal parts butter and potato.  Absolutely revolting and sublimely delicious at the same time.  Im pretty sure we all used a little more restraint with our own recipes, but either way the dish was amazing.  I think I may have made a huge mistake avoiding red meat for all those years.

Sirloin with canelles of pureed potatoes.

While the dish was a success, our practical was not exactly smooth sailing.  Near the end of the session an intense war broke out between South Korea and China.  (Side note: our kitchen has a geography all its own.  The Chinese are at one end, then the Koreans in the middle, and Americans on the other side).  One of the Koreans is a man, probably in his 40s, who served in the Korean army and as a result has some serious issues.  He left his dishes in the sink, taking up a lot of space, and when a Chinese girl moved them, all hell broke loose.  A massive fight ensued.  They started yelling in a mix of chinese, korean and english, exhanging shoves and insults.  When he started dissing chinese people things got really crazy and the girl opened her knife kit to pull one out on him.  Luckily the chef stepped in, pulling her away and ending the fight.  Drama!  Needless to say we drank a few bottles of wine at lunch that day...

Day two: Beouf Bourginon.  I guess this is what people imagine to be the signature dish of Le Cordon Bleu after watching Julie and Julia.  I find this interesting because it doesnt have nearly enough butter or cream to be really truly french.  The dish takes two days to make and begins with beef shoulder marinated in an entire bottle of wine.  The next day we removed the now purple beef, browned it, and reduced the marinade to a sauce.  No french dish would be complete without turned potatoes or glazed onions, so of course we did a little of that.  It actually came out quite good and I brought it home to have for dinner with a glass of red wine on my red couch in my red apartment.

Day three: Filet de Boeuf and Pommes Pont Neuf.  For those of you who aren't as wonderfully fluent in french as I am, that translates to filet mignon and french fries.  Yum!  We grilled the filet- one "a point" (medium), one "segnon" (rare), and one "bleu" (still mooing).  For the potatoes, a quick blanche and then a stint in the deep fryer.  Oh, and bearnaise sauce!  How could I forget!?  Essentially a hollandaise with shallots reduced in vinegar, taragon, and chervil. Obviously this was a delicious meal, so Alex came over after school to dine with me.  We popped a bottle of red, warmed up our food, and sat down to a gourmet TV dinner in front of my computer with the newest episode of Glee.  Does life get any better than this?

All in all beef week was a success.  I've so far embodied the french paradox- eating totally unhealthily and maintaining my same weight.  Let's hope it lasts!