Taste of London

This month and for the first time ever, Le Cordon Bleu London participated in one of London’s top food festivals – Taste of London, which returned to Regents Park this summer. From Wednesday 14^th to Sunday 18^th June 2017, food loving festival revelers explored over forty exciting restaurants, saw some of the best chefs in the world in action, and of course they enjoyed plenty of delicious food and drink in what was the ultimate gastronomic experience!

This year, Le Cordon Bleu partnered with AEG Take Taste Further to deliver an amazing Masterclass, aptly named ‘Perfecting the Classics,’ which displayed the expertise of our chefs and taught the participants key culinary techniques that they could take away with them and use to recreate some classic dishes at home.

Our 30-minute hands-on cook-a-long demonstrations proved to be very popular as each session hit the maximum capacity. The classes alternated between cuisine, which was led by our teaching Chef Eric Bediat, and pâtisserie, which was led by our teaching Chef Nicolas Houchet. Participants were also provided with extra help with the recipes throughout the day by Chef Anthony Boyd who coordinated an amazing team of Le Cordon Bleu student assistants.

Working in pairs, participants had the opportunity to make (and eat!) some delicious summery dishes, and add some new culinary skills to their repertoires. Chef Eric showed guests how to make steamed haddock, poached egg and watercress with a grain mustard vinaigrette, which was absolutely delicious, and Chef Nicolas demonstrated a beautiful basil and lemon pot à la crème with a lavender and strawberry compote.

On the Friday, Le Cordon Bleu was also offered the opportunity to host a demonstration on the main stage area in the food festival, where our Academic Director Chef Loic Malfait showed a packed audience how to make Cornish mackerel fillet, white radish fondant, broad beans and green peas ragout with a sea plankton beurre blanc.

Similar to what our students would learn during the Diplôme de Cuisine, there were many different techniques that were demonstrated to the audience throughout the exclusive session, which included:

• Filleting fish
• Curing mackerel using a vacuum pack and sous vide
• Preparing and braising radish fondant
• Steaming vegetables
• Reinterpreting a classic beurre blanc using plankton paste, adding a unique flavour

Overall the event was a huge success and guests really enjoyed the unique opportunity of having a taster of life at Le Cordon Bleu London, and being taught by teaching chefs from a world-leading culinary, wine and management school. We hope that participants were able to take away all of the recipes, techniques and new skills that they learnt and put these to good use in the kitchen.

Thank you to Taste of London for having us and we eagerly await the return of the fabulous foodie festival next year!