Demo and Practical

In “My First Day,” I explained how our orientation turned into a day of orientation AND our first class, without us knowing in advance.  The class I described there, a “Seminar” isn’t typical. We usually have two different class formats: Demo and Practical.

My time so far at Cordon Bleu has given me a new-found respect for science students at ISU.  Having never been in a class that had any type of “lab practical” myself, I only imagined what it was actually like.  I can say now that I am pretty sure I understand exactly what a practical is like, and the nerves that go into a practical exam.  But, first things first:

Demo

Chef Jocelyn finishing off the Demo with some Chantilly
cream garnish

A demo always comes before a practical, though they usually are not back-to-back.  For example: Today I had the demo for rising doughs, and my practical is at 8:15 tomorrow morning.  About a third of my class is in their demo right now.  The order of classes rotates so that no one has an advantage (always having practical right after demo when it is fresh in our minds).

For Demo, all us Basic Pastry students, in uniform, sit in a large room that has a little test kitchen in the front, with a counter dividing us and the kitchen.

It opens with our chef taking roll call, giving us the agenda for the class, and explaining our Terms, usually new French vocabulary that is relevant to the lesson.  He then goes on to demonstrate five dishes (or so) while we frantically take notes on the procedure.  We are provided with the list of ingredients and title of the dish in advance, but that is all.  He explains why the recipe works, the chemistry that happens during the process, and different production scenarios. 

Chef Jocelyn Bouzenard without
his glasses

I really enjoy the body of the Demos.  So far we have only had Chef Jocelyn Bouzenard, and he is great.  He is lighthearted and funny, typically making little jokes while he is mixing, playing with his grasp of the English language.  Today, for example, we taught him the word “Smush”  (he was smushing the dough through his fingers to incorporate some cold butter), and he made jokes about it for the rest of the class.

There are so many of us in the room (almost 40) that it would be difficult for everyone to see.  Because of this, there are mirrors mounted above the counter where Chef Jocelyn works, and two monitors mounted on the walls, each with its own independent webcam.  These are surprisingly effective, but I still prefer to sit in the front row, and have for all but two Demos.

Once the Chef is finished and the 3-hour class is over, he invites us to the front of the room to take photos of the finished products for our reference.  We also take photos of certain steps during the processes, though these aren’t as synchronized.  Once everyone has taking a photo, then we all taste the final product.  I haven’t tried anything short of amazing in two and a half weeks, so we’re off to a great start!

Practical

Of the five recipes that the chef demonstrates, we are expected to do two or three of them in our Practical.  We are told which ones they will be during the Demo, so we have a little bit of an opportunity to study.  I like to take really really thorough notes on every recipe, but I know a few of my friends take more extensive notes on the Practical recipes.

Our class is split into three sections: A, B, and C, consisting of about 12 students each.  I am a member of Group A, so I have Practical with the same people every week.  I know most of them now, which has been great.  The groups are definitely a good friend-making tool.

Chef Hervé

The school has a few “lab kitchens” where we report for our Practical.  They are long, skinny rooms with a marble counter in the center and six stations on each side.  Each station is equipped with a fridge, Kitchen Aid (which we won’t use), tray rack, and one oven and range per two stations.  Sinks, ingredients, and things like bowls and baking sheets and parchment paper are at the ends of the room for everyone to share.  In here, we recreate the designated recipes.

There is one chef in the room while we do the Practical.  We have had three different pastry chefs: Chef Jocelyn (who does our Demos), Chef Hervé Chabert, and Chef Eric Jaouan.  While we all start to prepare our recipe, the chef circles the room, watching us, and walking on.  If we have questions, they come answer and help, but their main function is to evaluate. 

Practical can be intimidating!  The intimidation factor changes with the presiding chef.  For example, Chef Eric is really intense and negative, and kind of scary.  In his kitchen, I usually refrain from questions unless I definitely need his help.  Chef Hervé is my favorite: he is fun and vibrant in the kitchen.  He is supportive, but firm, and seems to really genuinely care about our success.  We’ve only had Practical with Chef Jocelyn once, but he was nice, too.  He wasn’t as supportive as Chef Hervé, but he was helpful; giving comments as he walked by instead of just staring and continuing on.

Our Practicals are also three hours long: 2.5 hours for cooking and 30 minutes for cleaning and evaluations.  It sounds like a lot of time, but so far we have all been pretty crunched toward the end.  When time is up, the chef walks around and we present our work to him, along with a written self-evaluation for things like our organization, hygiene, and process.  He then gives us comments on the work, and adds his own thoughts to our evaluation sheet.  My most common comments are, “This comes with time” and “Be Confident!”

When everything is finished and clean, we change out of our uniforms and take our baked goods home.  A Practical is exhausting, so I usually let my hair down and chill for the rest of the day while Chad tests the pastries.