Australians In Paris. Oui, Mate!

Right now I'm in my apartment with the windows open wide to usher in the warm summer air.  As I sit down to write this post, the gentle sounds of a street musician playing "A Kiss Is Just a Kiss" drift in.  Sometimes Paris is just too much for me.  You think all the movies and books about this city are cheesy and sentimental, but no!  Paris really is like this!

Anyway, back to the food.  Last weekend I volunteered to work at the Australian embassy.  To be honest, I didn't really know what I was signing up for, but it turned out to be incredible.

Tony Bilson, a celebrity chef from Australia, was visiting Paris to cater a dinner hosted by the Australian Ambassador to honor the Penfold's winery.  Penfold's, in their infant stage, had sent one of their partners to France to learn about winemaking.  The partner returned with newfound knowledge and a plan for how to make wine.  In spite of his french education and ideas, the winery decided to make wine their own way.  He however, made two barrels in secret, which turned out to be some of the best wine Penfold's every produced.  As of last saturday there were three bottles left of each of these wines, both from 1953.  Each bottle was valued at about $50,000 Australian dollars which, sadly, is more in US dollars.  Anyway, chef Bilson created a menu to honor these wines as well as 19 others from Penfold's cellars from 1953-2011.  We Cordon Bleu students were there to help execute this menu.

The wines, pre-dinner.

The view from the kitchen. 

The day began at noon and we immediately got to work preparing things.  I peeled, cut and boiled potatoes while some of my friends cleaned and cut other vegetables.  Then we moved onto seafood.  Ali and Alex got stuck removing the pin bones from sardines while I cooked and prepared snails.  I was pretty excited about this because I had never worked with snails before.  They were quite easy to make, although now I think I'm more grossed out by them than I was before. First they must be well cleaned- soaked and scrubbed.  Then blanched in boiling water with some thyme and bayleaf.  Once they have been cooked, you pull them from their shells using a toothpick or something of a similar shape.  Pull off the piece on top, and remove its stomach, and voila!  You have a ready-to-eat snail.  Ew.

Later, I helped the chef prepare the tartine: rounds of brioche topped with foie gras and sliced figs.  The tartine was quickly heated in the oven so that the foie cooked and began to melt.  Just before plating, the dish was covered with truffles tossed in an oil mix that I made! Two thirds olive oil, one third walnut oil with a clove a crushed garlic inside.  The truffles were in a sealed tupperware box, but the smell permeated the whole kitchen anyway.  They had been flown in from Australia, and according to the chef were worth $3,000.

Box of truffles. 

Tasting!

Me and my tartines. 

In addition to the tartines, my friends and I helped to prepare one of the beef garnishes: bones filled with ratatouille and topped with a marrow gratin.  We blanched the bones and cleaned them, filled them with ratatouille, and then topped them with slices of marrow and a sprinkle of bread crumbs and herbs.  They were cooked under a broiler and served as a light side dish on a heaping plate of beef.

 At around 6pm, we got a break for dinner.  My friends and I took our sandwiches up to the terrace and had a wonderful time sitting outside in the sun looking at the Eiffel Tower.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday evening.  Once break time was over, we started plating.

We started with canapes. We prepared silver platters filled with a variety of canapes we had helped prepare.  Pastry cups with salmon tartare and a poached quail egg, toasts topped with sardines, tomatoes, and basil, and white asparagus wrapped in prosciutto.

Then on to the first course: eel carpaccio topped with snails, mussels, razor clams, and caviar.  The dish was sprayed with salt water and garnished with chives and chervil.  Next came the tartines.  Followed by duck two ways; a sliced pan seared breast and a ballotine. Between the duck and the lamb we got a chance to tast some of the wine!  I got a sip of the 1953 cabernet which was amazing!  After that was lamb two ways: slow cooked shoulder and chops.  Then the beef plate: sliced sirloin with stuffed oxtail over pureed potatoes, and the bone marrow garnish we had prepared earlier.  These light, heart healthy dishes were followed by a cheese course and then a desert of almond tart, white peach sorbet, and chocolate souffled crepes.  Although the desert was unnecessarily large, the souffled crepes were very cool.  The chef filled a crepe with a spoonful of chocolate souffle and then baked it.  As the souffle baked the crepe rose but stayed sealed.  It looked pretty delicious. I of course, couldn't even imagine tasting it after having tasted all the other dishes after they were served.  I'm not sure how any of the guests were able to make it home.  I was sure they'd die of a food overdose mid meal.  

Eel carpaccio.

Foie gras, fig, and truffle tartines. 

Duck two ways. 

Lamb two ways. 

Beef a million ways. 

Dessert. 

By the time dinner was over and we had finished cleaning up it was 2am.  2am is the witching hour in Paris when the metro stops running and there are suddenly no taxis to be found.  After a 14 hour day on my feet I ended up walking home (almost 2 hours) with a friend from class.  It wasn't exactly the best end to the day, but I lived.  Overall the experience was incredible and I'm very glad I volunteered.  I got to taste incredible wine, eat delicious food, meet interesting people, and look at the Eiffel Tower all day. Not too shabby.

Oui, Chef! We chefs with the Australian Ambassador to France.