Quay Po Cooks: Vol Au Vent

Showing posts with label Vol Au Vent. Show all posts

Thursday, October 25, 2012

What an eye opening

Finally, Le Cordon Bleu courses are here in Malaysia.

There is a network of educational institutions dedicated to providing the highest level of culinary and hospitality instruction through world class programs in gastronomy. Le Cordon Bleu is considered to be the guardian of French culinary technique through its culinary programs that continue to preserve and pass on the mastery and appreciation of the culinary arts that have been the cornerstone of French gastronomy for over 500 years.

Anyone who would like to pursue a degree in either pastry or cuisine with Le Cordon Bleu, you can now do it right here in Malaysia. Programmes offered are Certificate programmes, Diploma in cuisine and Diploma in patiserrie. If you are interested to find out more about all the courses, you might want to contact these two friendly and nice ladies to arrange a tour of the institute and meet the instructors. I believe after that, you will be convinced that this is the institute you would like to pursue your career as a chef.

Here are the contacts:
Sherlyn Lee at +6012 366 1378 or Ming at +6012 2423522. Ming is the General Manager.

From left: Evelyn of Missyblurkit, Quay Po,
and Ming, GM of Sunway Le Cordon Bleu

I was so happy to be invited to attend The Duo Chefs Cooking demo on Vol Au Vent A La Parisienne by the head Pastry Chef, Chef Tierry Lerallu

and the Technical Director and Cuisine Chef, Chef Frank Bruwier.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by the Student Recruitment and Marketing Executive, Sherlyn Lee and guess what? We were given a goody bag and served with platters of delicious pastries prepared by Chef Tierry. What a warm welcome!

On the way to the cooking demo room, we were brief how classes were conducted and we were shown how the kitchen was set up in the classes. According to Sherlyn, each student will have their own station and kitchen tools and there will be no sharing.

Shortly after we arrived at the demo room, we were introduced to the two chefs. Chef Frank is a humorous guy and so is Chef Tierry. It is obvious that the both of them truly enjoys what they do.

Chef Frank said that pastry and cuisine always work hand in hand, just like the dish, Vol Au Vent A La Parisienne.

The demo class was fun, interesting and easy to understand. Most of all was the unforgettable gastronomy experience. The dish was out of this world delicious.

Ready to see how the Vol Au Vent A La Parisienne take shape? There you go.

Chef Frank preparing the chicken mousse

Chef Tierry making the pastry

Chef Frank preparing the fillings for the pastry
Preparing the smoke duck and bacon

Preparing the butter glazed mushroom

It was interesting to see how Chef Frank clean up the mushrooms.
I tried doing that but all my mushrooms were broken! LOL!

Preparing the gravy

Assembling the dish

Drum roll!! - The final product

I will definitely try to replicate this dish, maybe a fusion version, then, I shall share the recipe with all of you.

Once again, I would like to thank Sherlyn and Ming of Sunway Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts for the invitation. A big hug to Eveyln Ang Loo of Missyblurkit and Kevin of Ah Tee Kitchen for taking the photos for me and with me. Kevin, it was so nice of you to come over to say hello. It was a pleasure to meet you in person.

Quay Po with Kevin of Ah Tee Kitchen

It has been a long time since I last seen my friend, Cheng Yi of Fat Boy Bakes, a famous blogger whom I am sure you all know. I am glad to meet him at this event and we managed to have a little chat over tea and pastry before the demo started. We missed taking a photo with him because he left immediately after the demo. By the way, if you guys want to buy some unique yummy cakes for special occasion, you might want to check out his bakes for sale at his website. My Quay Lo's favorite is his OOZY chocolate caramel cake with sea salt. Cheng Yi has inspired me to make the pavlova and now it is a dessert I make for my friends and family very often and they all love it.

You may click on the pic to get the recipe I used

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.