Aloha Cruiser, I have copied the Cordon Bleu portion of the Mariner review I wrote on Cruise Critic. Here it is:
Le Cordon Bleu cooking classes
My aunt and I enrolled in the onboard Le Cordon Bleu classes offered on the Tenerife – Ft. Lauderdale segment. With many sea days at my disposal, it seemed like a nice opportunity. There were 48 of us, broken down into groups of 16 each, under the supervision of Gerard Beyer, who was assisted by the Mariner’s executive chef, Phillipe Logerais. The course consisted of three classes (appetizer, main course, and dessert), a dinner for our group, a galley tour, and a gala ‘graduation’ dinner just for us in Signatures restaurant.
The actual teaching sessions took place in Latitudes restaurant, where there are cooking stations in the dining area. Gerard prepared each dish, explaining as he went, and then we students prepared the same dish. We made a warmed foie gras with grapes, veal tenderloin, and a sabayon with poached fruit. For each class, we students arrived to find 16 cooking settings already prepared for us. At each setting there was a large cutting board, all the ingredients we needed, often peeled/sliced/diced/whatever for us, demi-glace, when needed, measured into silver sauce boats, pots and pans and utensils at the ready. As we cooked, anything we were finished with was whisked away by the kitchen staff, Gerard, and even Phillipe! When finished, we ate our creations. In view of how difficult this kind of hard labor is, and how inhumane the conditions were, we were provided with ample wine (or in the case of our dessert day, champagne) to drink. Thus fortified, we generally waddled out of each class, drunk as skunks. It was marvelous good fun, and the group I was with was very social and we enjoyed getting to know one another.
I don’t know if it was the wine, or the fact that I was in the presence of thousands of dollars worth of foie gras, or what, but my college French came flooding back to me as if by magic and I spoke French, without shyness, to Gerard and Phillipe. Either they were being extremely polite, or else I was at least somewhat coherent, because they responded kindly in French, sometimes even using colloquialisms.
Normally, this class includes a visit with the chef to an onshore market, but our class began and ended without a port stop. So there was no official market visit, but several of us persuaded Gerard, who is easily persuadable, to take us someplace in Hamiliton, Bermuda. We found a couple of markets and he talked to us about selecting produce, meats, and fish. It was very interesting and by far the most enjoyable port tour I’ve ever taken.
Our class ended with a dinner on Thanksgiving in Signatures. Each student was invited to bring his/her spouse or significant other, so I invited Paul59, who accepted and attended as my guest. It was another fabulous meal, with a turkey course thrown in. The ‘dressing’ was a veal and mushroom combination, quite delicious. It was a festive evening and a fun finale to a great experience.
Surprisingly, the ‘take-away’ from the class was not a new technique, the perfect recipe, or anything clinical like that. Instead, it was an affair of the heart. The point was made when one of my fellow students admitted that she was intimidated about cooking in front of Gerard, who teaches the teachers at Le Cordon Bleu and whose credentials are beyond merely considerable. In his kind, soft manner, he quietly asserted that, “This is not what this is about. Food is about filling your house with the people you love, and sharing good bread and a glass of wine with them. You cannot ask more of life than this.” We sighed a collective sigh and went about our play, asking no more of life than that.
MarnaLou
