"Oui Chef!"

This past week I completed my exams for the basic pastry course at Le Cordon Bleu.  I can hardly believe that I have been in school for over a month.  During this time I learned a lot more about the chefs that help make LCB the wonderful school that it is.  Here is a little more about them: 

Chef Xavier Cotte.  Chef Cotte is my favorite.  He does most of the demonstrations for basic pastry and if he wasn’t a chef I imagine he would be a stand-up comedian or circus clown.  He is always twirling his knives and rolling pin around like batons and cracking jokes.  I consider him similar to a French, pastry-making version of Emeril Lagasse.  He recently left for a two week vacation and on the day of his last demonstration he stood in the doorway saying goodbye to the students, even shaking my hand and giving me a bisou, bisou!

Chef Jean-Francois Deguignet.  Chef Deguignet is the “mad scientist” amongst the chefs.  He grew up in a family of pastry chefs and that has contributed to his vast knowledge of patisserie.  During one demonstration he told us that when sugar is between 107 and 108 degrees Celsius you can blow bubbles.  He stood there in silence for a few moments looking at a boiling pot of sugar before dipping a slotted spoon in the liquid and blowing a cloud of sugar bubbles across the stove.  No thermometer needed—this man can tell the temperature of sugar just by looking at it!

Chef Jean-Jacques Tranchant.  Chef Tranchant is rather quiet and I don’t know much about him.  During practical classes he will come up to students, show them how to do something correctly, and then walk away all without saying a word.  One thing I do know about him is that he used to work with chocolatier Jean-Paul Hevin who makes chocolate covered cheese (don’t turn your nose up!  The cheese is very mild) that I had to seek out when I arrived here in Paris.  As the classes get harder, I’m interested to see what this chef has to offer. 

Chef Daniel.  I always forget Chef Daniel’s last name, but I don’t think he would mind being called by his first.  He is a very easy-going old man.  I hope he has grandchildren because he seems like the perfect grandfatherly figure.  He doesn’t know much English, but he does know the phrase, “no problem.”

Chef Nicolas Bernarde.  Amongst friends I like to refer to Chef Bernarde as “Hot Chef.”  Tall, dark, handsome, topped off with a French accent and numerous accolades including the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2004.  What does this mean?  In 2004 Nicolas was named the best pastry chef in France and considering patisseries in France are as common as Starbucks in the U.S. this is a pretty big deal.  Bernarde runs things in the pastry department here at LCB and as he informed us, he doesn’t do demonstration classes.  Understandable I suppose, polishing trophies takes time.  When I first had Chef Bernarde for a practical class he patrolled the kitchen like a lieutenant in the army.  Our class soon learned that he did have a sense of humor though.  One day he took a small whisk from a student and announced to the class “Dis is bahbie gurl!” What? “For egg whites you use this!”  He held up a large whisk.  No one wants to be a Barbie girl in the kitchen. 

Me with visiting Chef Christian Faure and a signed copy of the Meilleur Ouvrier cookbook

Most of the chefs at school speak some English, but words sometimes get lost in translation--my name for example.  During the first week of class the chefs continuously pronounced my name “Magie,” just like my name is usually pronounced, but with a soft “g.”  I didn’t think much of this until I started seeing the word “magie” on posters around Paris.  So like anyone from the 21^st century, I turned to Google translate and learned that “magie” means “magic” in French.  I should also take this time to tell you about my chef clogs.  They’re leopard print and amongst a sea of solid black and solid white clogs they stand out.  People are constantly taking note of my shoes, even the chefs.  Hot Chef came up to me one day and said, “Grrrrrr Tigger!”  Tiger...and this is technically a leopard print, but I’m not about to correct Hot Chef.  So, between the name Magic and my leopard print shoes I came to the conclusion that the chefs must of course think I am the daughter of a stripper. 

Eventually all the chefs asked me how to pronounce my name and now they say it correctly.  However, my friends still like to call me Magie.  The chefs must still think there is a little magie in my pastry skills because I am officially a graduate of Basic Pastry and will be moving onto Intermediate Pastry in the New Year!  Woohoo!

Bisou, bisou,

Magie

“A great chef is an artist that I truly respect.”

-Robert Stack