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Learn to Cook Provenรงal

Learn to Cook Mediterranean with a French Pro

Picture of Deborah Bine
Deborah Bine

The Barefoot Blogger

Before moving to France, I dreamed about attending a cooking class in Paris. Little did I know that my wish would come true โ€”ย  without leaving the little town of Uzรจs. Chef Eric Fraudeau of Cook’n with Class Parisย has a cooking school right down the road — Cook’n with Class Uzรจs. Now I can learn to cook in the Mediterranean, too!

Learn to Cookย Mediterraneanย 

Knowing you’re learning to cook with one of the best is exciting. With over 20 years of experience as a chef in acclaimed hotels and restaurants such as the five-star Hotel de Parisย Monaco,ย Chef Eric Fraudeau has a background few chefs can claim. His early career includes working in the kitchen with bothย Robuchonย andย Ducasse.

Chef Fraudeauโ€™s school,ย Cookโ€™n with Class Uzรจs, specializes in Provenรงal & Mediterranean Cuisine โ€” the foods people in the south of France love to eat and often serve in their homes. Classes offered include โ€œFrench Market Classโ€ and โ€œCookโ€™n with Fish โ€“ Fish and Seafood Class.โ€ On market days, the Chef and students shop in two neighboring towns, Uzรจs (Wednesday) and San Quentin de la Poterie (Tuesday and Friday). They return to the class kitchen to create and enjoy a meal from the dayโ€™s best finds.

โ€œCookโ€™n with Fishโ€ sounded the best choice, especially since fish is one of my favorite foods. What better way to learn how to prepare seafood Mediterranean-style than from an expert?

โ€œFish Dayโ€ Menu

Apรฉro

Garlic and basil spread, olives,ย pรขtรฉ,ย brandade

Entrรฉe

Pissaladiรจreย (a classic Niรงoise specialty thatโ€™s like a pizza)

Plat

Poulpeย (octopus) salad with basil, olives, and capers

Sea bream with fennel, mussels, and saffron sauce

Cheeses

Dessert

Paris-Deauville

Learn to Cook Mediterranean

Prepping the food

For our Provenรงal & Mediterranean dinner on โ€œfish day,โ€ some ingredients were more intimidating than others. Squid? Octopus? Theyโ€™re great to eat, but how to cook them? I was in the right place.

Everything was laid out before us when we entered the chefโ€™s kitchen. One by one, the ingredients morphed into a pissaladiรจre, a sauce, a salad, a lovely fish dish, a dessert. Chef Eric and his guest, Chef Patrick, from the Paris school, stood by to guide and instruct us.

Learn to Cook Mediterranean

Here are just a few of the tips from the dayโ€™s lesson:

Tip #1: Anchovies melt! Who knew? The steps for the pissaladiรจre called for us to slice and brown onions, then add anchovies. Did you know that anchovies melt? They actually disappear when they are heated and stirred into a recipe.

Tip #2: Boil oranges? Chef Eric surprised us when he popped two oranges off the counter into a saucepan of water โ€ฆ to boil. โ€œOrganic oranges only,โ€ he said. โ€œWeโ€™re going to use the rind and all,โ€ he added. After they were soft enough from boiling, the oranges, the oranges were put into a blender and then into the batter for the cake we were preparing for dessert.

Tip #3:ย  How to clean mushrooms. Chanterelles, known as โ€œgirollesโ€ in France, were spread out on the kitchen counter in all their yellow splendor. Never having โ€œproperlyโ€ cleaned a mushroom, I was anxious to hear what the Chef would suggest. He recommended that we use our fingers to brush off the dirt, followed by a quick wipe with a paper towel. He said he finds this way of cleaning mushrooms easier than using a brush. It means one less utensil in the kitchen drawer, too.

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Tip #4: How to fillet a fish

During a gourmet tour of Sรจte, Nancy McGee from โ€œAbsolutely Southern Franceโ€ taught me how to filet a cooked whole fish served at the table. To filet a fish to cook, do it the same way.

Tip #5: How do youย โ€œfixโ€ a cooking mistake?

Every chef has his secrets, and for this cooking class, Chef Eric and Chef Patrick were willing to share everything, including how to recover from making a mistake. According to Chef Eric, almost every cooking error can be resolved.

We watched one โ€œmistakeโ€ happen when the โ€œmayonnaiseโ€ for the rouille separated.

โ€œRouilleโ€ is a creamy, garlicky sauce thatโ€™s commonly found in the south of France. You can prepare and serve it in many ways, including as a main course. For our meal, rouille was a side dish.

While preparing theย rouille, someone (not me, thank goodness) combined the ingredients too quickly. The sauce curdled. Chef Patrick โ€œfixed itโ€ by simultaneously working with tiny bits of the mixture. He pushed a little of the rouille to one side of the bowl, then dropped in an eggโ€”yolk and all. The chef whipped the egg and rouille by hand. Little by little, he incorporated the โ€œbadโ€ mix into the โ€œgoodโ€ until it all was a perfect consistency.

Chef Patrick says you can do the same with chocolate if it โ€œgoes to seed.โ€

Tip #6: French etiquette

You should know about French etiquette for cooking with โ€œclassโ€ in France. There are โ€œrulesโ€ on serving, eating, toast, and drinking. For example, before a toast, with drinks in hand, you must look at each person straight in the eyes. It may take a little longer to take that first sip, but doing it right will make a lasting impression.

Learn to Cook Mediterranean

Dรฉjeuner/Diner is served.

Dรฉjeuner, or โ€œlunch,โ€ is served mid-day in France. Until the 1960s, dรฉjeunerย was the big meal of the day. Families would gather at home for a two-hour break from work or school and sit down for a multi-course meal prepared by the mother. With changing times, many mothers work today. Everyone still takes a two-hour break, but the mid-day meal is abbreviated to something much lighter, and not everyone comes home to eat.

โ€œDรฎner,โ€ or dinner, is seldom served before 7:30pm. If it is the main meal, especially on weekends and holidays, dรฎner can last three to four hours. Starting with the apรฉro, each course is served with complimentary wines, spirits, apรฉritifs, and digestifs.

Theย Cookโ€™nย With Class menu was designedย for aย typical main meal. Call it โ€œdejeunerโ€ or โ€œdiner.โ€

When all the cooking and the lessons were done, Chef Eric invited us to gather around the side table for our apรฉro course. We toasted each other with tall flutes of champagne. Moving over to a large, beautifully appointed dining table where we sat, we were served the entrรฉe course, or starter โ€” theย pissaladiรจre. The main course (โ€œplatโ€) with โ€œaccompanimentโ€ (side dishes) followed.

Just when we thought we had eaten enough to explode, a wooden platter with an assortment of soft and hard cheeses was passed around โ€” a custom in French dining. Next, dessert โ€” the heavenly โ€œboiled orangeโ€ cake with chocolate ganache flowing on top.

Now that a bit of the Provenรงal & Mediterranean cooking mystery has been revealed, I feel a little friendlier toward raw octopus and squid. Perhaps visiting Cookโ€™n with Class Paris will take the fear out of wine and cheese pairings โ€ฆ or unveil the magic of macaroons. Today Uzรจs, next time in Paris.ย Oh, be still my heart!

 

 

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