Ecole Lenôtre-Paris / Entremets (Cakes) Part I

Have you ever dreamt of making cakes like these? 

Well, I have !!! I always  wondered how these famous entremets were made...well, I had an idea...but there was always a little detail that set me thinking...how...how do you do that ?

To decipher this mystery, I decided to enroll in L'Ecole Lenôtre for the course: Entremets:  Saveurs, Textures et Techniques Nouvelles. Not only did I learn a lot, but I enjoyed my time there.... 

L'Ecole Lenôtre has two sites: one for courses for amateurs, in the Pavillion Elysée, on   the  Champs Elysées, one incredible place for its arquitecture, atmosphere, it is a must to go there, at least for a coffee, during your next visit to Paris....

L'Ecole for professionals is 30 km away from Paris, in the ville of Plaisir. It took me 30 minutes to get there by car, considering I left home at 6.45 am (so not a lot of traffic..), to get there at 7.30am to have breakfast with my classmates.

I love professional kitchens. When you arrive there, early in the morning, and everything is impeccable...There is a place for everything, and everything has its place, its precise place !!!

... and everybody is responsible for this obsession bordering "dementia" (LOL), everything spotless, brilliant, stuck up in geometrical perfection....

Even the macarons are waiting for their turn in order, quiet, neatly lined up like soldiers before a parade.....

It's military discipline...you worked? have you finished? you leave your place exactly as you found it in the morning...are you in a rush? sorry...!!!! First you clean, then you leave....
And cleanliness includes YOU !! No way you are going to show up in a dirty jacket....YOU also have to be spick and span! (does this expression still exist?)

Oh, gosh ! Where is my "toque"(tall white hat of chefs)? If the chef sees me like that, bad start....

Oh, there they are...all in line, perfectly arranged, which is mine? the third one to the right, like that, every evening...to find it exactly there, the following morning.....

During this past week, we prepared 16 cakes for the final presentation, we worked from 8am to 5pm, every day, to make 16 different cakes...you can imagine the degree of complexity: each cake had one "biscuit", one dacquoise, different "mousses", or marmalades, or "coulis", and then, the "glaçage", and then the macarons for decoration, or the chocolate figures, or the crystalized basil leaf, or "ganache", or .....

Endless list of ingredients, details, hours of work...tiring !!! but rewarding, because everything is possible thanks to a team, thanks to a group of people, that work together, for the pleasure of surprising others, making them discover new textures, new flavours....

The team was made up of "pâtissiers" that came from different cities in France to freshen up their long trained skills, students from Master Class (young people from all over the world, incredibly talented and hardworking, and me)

Oh, my goodness !! Do I look concentrated on my work .....

That's the chef, working with a hand mixer in a bowl of "ganache": you do this not only to improve its texture (make it smoother), but most important, to make it shine like a mirror!

The work of the chef is being "surveyed" by another chef...Chefs are very supportive among themselves, but also very critical...

The folder on the table does not contain the recipes, it has the different elements of "assemblage"...ticking what had already been done, what was still pending...

A cake made entirely with macarons.....!

Well, I hope you had enjoyed this "virtual" visit to Ecole Lenôtre...In my next post, I will show you the cakes in more detail, but I won't be able to give you the recipes...the school has strictly warned me no to publish their recipes, and I gave my word, so I won't betray them.

This is common practice in the professional world of cuisine. Very seldom will a renowned chef give you a recipe, a complete recipe, maybe he gives you an idea, but the ultimate details is something he/she will keep zealously, only to be shared with a chosen few....