I thought we were off to a riveting start with french contemporary cuisine until everything came to a screeching halt aujourd’hui in my superior cuisine class at Le Cordon Bleu. As soon as the demonstration began I was transported back to the 70’s for Petit Bar en Croûte Façon Coulibiac (Sea Bass in a Crust Coulibiac Style).
In truth, even our chef had the spirit of ’76 twinkling in his bright green eyes, perhaps recalling the Bee Gee’s world tour or maybe a rendez-vous avec un petit ami for a ABBA gig. Paranoid, I turned around from my front seat in the demo room half expecting the rest of the class to be decked in bell bottoms, feathered hair, and thick mustaches – just day dreaming – luckily.
Now, I’m a child of the early ’70’s and I can’t pinpoint why exactly this recipe just screamed disco to me, but I’m telling you there was something about it. Perhaps it was the head and tail of the fish that were re-attached to the sea bass fillets. Or maybe it was the whole hard-boiled eggs added to the salmon/mushroom/rice stuffing. Or maybe I’m just recalling the fabulous buffet parties my mom used to throw including whole huge fish fillets cooked to perfection and people dancing to Stayin’ Alive in living room. No seriously, I remember these things.
The seabass didn’t taste bad in all honesty. It wasn’t easy to make either, it took about two hours to conjure. Would I serve it at a three star restaurant? Mmmm, don’t think so. But, If I was throwing a fancy disco soirée I might just bust out this type of novelty. Bon Appetit!
Technorati Tags: Cooking School, Cuisine, Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, paris cooking school
Thanks for stopping by! If you’d like me to bring you anything from SF, let me know. Unfortunately, I don’t think Taqueria Cancun burritos would travel well, though 🙂
Hey babe!
I have to say my favorite part of the demo was the chef’s assistant mouthing “I don’t know what he is doing” to his friend in the class. That made me laugh the most. Watching him fitting the tail and the head into the whole mix of things made me wonder…..If I were served this in a restaurant would I want to cut it open and see the interior of the head? Definitely not….in fact I think it may quite upset me.
It didn’t taste bad, but I am not looking forward to making it on Monday…..
Chaio Bella
Hello, Michael here from Group E. Jamie ordered me to come and look at your blog and it’s fantastic. We made the ‘fish in an overcoat’ on Friday. The chef refused to taste it, I didn’t really want to taste it either, but I just couldn’t bare to bin it so brought it home, looked at it a bit, showed it to the kids (who looked at Dad like he’d finally flipped), thought about serving it to friends last night, but then decided that, if I couldn’t even bring myself to taste the chef’s version in the demo (the first time that has happened in eight months), or mine after the practical, then I could hardly expect friends who’d travelled thousands of miles to see us to eat it either. I tipped the whole thing in the rubbish bin last night and felt terribly guilty.
nice site amy…..hope you had a great week after we left portugal…hope college/school is going good …and if you are ever in englan/bournemouth drop me and andy an email.
anna and andy.
This makes me think of some old French cookbooks I come across, with recipes that just make you go “Why? Mon dieu, Why?!” Even at a disco dinner…I just don’t know. Maybe for display purposes? Loving the updates.
Thanks Jamie for ordering everyone to come and look at my site I appreciate it!!! (gros bisous)
Michael– thanks for stopping by! We made the “fish in an overcoat”‘ today and it was pretty frightening. Mine got dumped in the trash too while the chef wasn’t looking and I also had guilt pangs about wasting food. However, it was either throw it away or let it rot in my refrigerator for the next few weeks. What a waste of a beautiful huge fish.
Buzzgirl–just bring yourself! I got my latest shipment of hotsauce and mexican spices from home so I’m good to go for now. A Bientot!?!
Jillian– You’re such an eloquent writer, I’m addicted. Great pics too.
Hi Anna– thanks for tunning in. We enjoyed some sun and surf in Portugal until the last few days when it rained. Glad to be back in an apartment with modern facilities 😉
Amy:
I brought the fish in a blanket home for dinner and my family loved it. I guess not having the head and tail attached made a difference, as well as, cutting the boiled egg in fourths so it didn’t look quite so obvious. Or maybe they were starving when I finally got home. I had fun making this dish. Even though I butchered the filets, the end result was presentable. The sauce was the best part. I love sea bass, but I never imagined they would use it in this way. It was strange, but groovy. I will miss making the sirloin, but I have no way of getting to the city from here today. Please post the photo and your thoughts for me. Merci, see you later this week.
Oh My God! I just woke up from a dream of being wrapped in a puff pastry casket! Or was it spaghetti?? I must admit, this was really one of the smost bizzare meals I have made at CB…But Fun