Bleu Flame Cooking

The Cordon Bleu experience comes to Jamaica




He’s only been here a few days, but chef Franck Jeandon of Le Cordon Bleu,
the gold (or shall we say blue) standard for culinary arts training worldwide,
has already tasted a modicum of “cusiine Jamaicenne”.

“I have had the jerk chicken, escoveitch fish and also mango,” he says
in his heavily accented but fluent English (the French native, from the
legendary Mediterranean seaport of Nice, is presently based in London).
He is quick to point out, however, that he has not had sufficient exposure
so as to make a deifinitive comment.

One thing he can speak to without reservation is the experience of conducting
training in the summer Caribbean heat. Thus far, he points out, a “no problem”
attitude has been very much required, given the challenges of grafting French
cuisine in the tropical setting.

As we chatted over lunch, the thermometer inside the classroom/kitchen at the
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at UTech registered a grill-like
34 degrees. “With all the stoves on,” he points out,” its even hotter than that,
which is really not good for doing most French meals — the textures and the
freshness are affected.”

Nevertheless, the chef and his enthusiastic band of students have pressed
on, also substituting Jamaican ingredients where necessary and applicable.

So does that mean his charges will be able to head out and start their own
little bistros and brasseries on completion of the five-day workshop? Obviously
not, but, as he points out, “they will have an understanding some techniques and
a basic approach to cuisine.”

Cooking goes way beyond simply preparing meals, as the participants, all of
them chefs, caterers and restarateurs, already understand.

For Chef Jeandon’s part, his understanding was honed by five years of culinary
school, followed by stints with uber-restaurateur Alain Ducasse and in London
with Bruno Loubet (with a stop in Istanbul, Turkey for good measure).

He joined le Cordon Bleu some two years ago with the intent of getting some
more travelling under his belt but also spreading the gospel of French cuisine
while interacting with other cultures, as he’s doing now.

And thus far the “acolytes” have been similarly impressed. “its a very fgood experience,” says one. “We need to have an institution like this formalized
and running permanently here.”

Who knows, a few more helpings of jerk (washed down alternately with Appleton
rum and Blue Mountain coffee) and Le Cordon Bleu may have a permanent outpost
here — or at least a qualified representative.