545775 Tue Aug 05 11:37:50 -0700 2008 5 33 Food Media and News 0 3931932 Last night I went to the Top Chef @ the CIA cooking class with Season 2 runner-up, Marcel Vigneron. This was fueled by that lovely little Government Stimulus check, and I can say I was pretty happy with how I spent my $200. It was the first professional cooking demonstration I ever attended. It was very laid-back and casual. The classroom had a nice set up with two long rows. The classes were restricted to 36 attendees, so it felt very intimate. Marcel cooked with his old buddy that he went up with at the CIA acting as sous chef, and they were very buddy-buddy and had good chemistry. He also had a smaller team of servers and sous chefs who had taken a very early morning train down to Manhattan from Hyde Park and was very grateful to them. The audience was a mix bag of young ladies/early-to mid twenties (like myself), older ladies,a couple of men, there was a food blogger in there, foodies and novices alike, fans of the show. There were also some Bravo staffers who attended as well as a couple of CIA staffers. Marcel's mom and girlfriend were also in attendance...as well as special guest star Hung! It was pretty neat! He hung out for a bit to support his buddy and then left more than half-way through the demo. Marcel was very laid-back and relaxed. He admitted that he was a bit disorganized, but it did not hinder his demonstration. He cracked lots of jokes and talked in detail about easy molecular gastronomy we can do at home (like adding xantham gum to sauces and emulsions) and also his philosophy on food. Each course (there were 3) were inspired by different ideals- course 1 was inspired by something he made in the season finale, 2 from the seasonality of produce and vegetables, and 3rd on his love of global cuisine. First course was a vanilla and Meyer lemon gelee, topped with fennel cream. In the gelee was a piece of sea urchin/umi and the cream was topped with caviar. It was quite an interesting flavor- the sweetness of the lemon and vanilla spiked with the saltiness of the umi. It was really a party in my mouth! hehe. Second course- seasonality- was a French melon gelee topped with crab meat and...wait for it...gazpacho FOAM. yes! the foam was out and about! Anyway, this also was very good, but maybe my least favorite out of the three. It was very summery and fresh, and he said he developed the recipe earlier that week. If you look in the Top Chef cookbook (we all got one with our registration) you'll see one of the dishes he made features a melon and tomato dish (the watermelon steak that Ilan got all nuts about because he called the wedge a 'steak'). Third course- global cuisine- was fresh hamachi poke, alongside a salad of sliced haricot verts, mango, carrots, lemongrass, cilantro, mint, red onion and a peanut-flavored bisotcha (spelling is most likely incorrect), which was a small angel-food like cake in texture made in a plastic cup in the microwave. he learned this technique he said while visiting El Bulli in Spain during Radical Sabatical Part Deux. The hamachi was amazing, and the salad was doused in a vinagrette made of lemongrass, vinegar, and something else (forgive me, my notes are at home and I am at work! )- the texture was really great, and Ken (sous chef) pointed out that by just using different knife cuts in cutting vegetables- like making some fruits and vegetables paper thing, then dicing some other ones, and then julianne others, it creates a nice visual affect that you also enjoy while eating it, since they are different textures. It was a useful tip and Marcel had many asides with other tips in the kitchen, his favorite tools, what all those crazy words used in molecular gastro. mean/are. During the demo, people were asking questions, there wasn't a formal Q&A- which was nice, cos he would perk up and answer and continue cooking. People asked what he did during his sabatical (he went on quite a bit about the commercial fishing he did in Alaska, and other than traveling, has been doing guest dinners at various hotels and restaurants, as well as cooking competitions with Ken). There were also questions about Top Chef, but he didn't go into it so much about all the drama that happened. He notes that Top Chef has helped him with his career, and given him opportunities to cook with certain people and at certain places, but for some things like the commercial fishing, it was something he would have done regardless. He also made us two cocktails-an extra- dirty martini with 'olives' that were actually drops of olive juice dropped into a sodium malgate bath & a hibiscus and vodka cocktails. All in all, it was an excellent time! Marcel was quite endearing, and charmingly dorky and very humble. He signed our copies of the Top Chef cookbook and took pictures with everyone. I was able to talk to him about Seattle (I had just gotten home from visiting the Northwest the day before) as well as some of his old CIA buddies that I was friends with. Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share! :) Tue Aug 05 11:37:51 -0700 2008 122570 teamuse 1 3932330 Sounds like a fun time, teamuse - and I and a friend made that watermelon/tomato salad from the TC cookbook for a gathering of friends the day after Independence Day. We had one person allergic to raw tomatoes, so we ended up going with halved yellow cherry tomatoes and melon balls of honeydew and cantaloupe - so it didn't have quite the same effect as what was in the cookbook, but it was very good! Tue Aug 05 13:35:50 -0700 2008 3931932 10532 LindaWhit 1 4588639 I'm sorry, but do mine ears deceive me? Did I hear the words "Marcel" and "girlfriend" used together in the same paragraph?! I think I need an extra-dirty martini, stat. Maybe a shot of tequila. Depression's setting in. Sat Apr 11 23:34:34 -0700 2009 3931932 282069 sasha cachaca 2 4589022 Just a bit of info. Marcel is the sous chef of The Bazaar by Jose Andres in L.A. Bazaar has a big open kitchen so you get to see him running around all night. Always fun to see. Sun Apr 12 07:45:52 -0700 2009 4588639 253863 SDGourmand 3 4589597 This is something I would pay vast sums of money to see, if I had vast sums of money. Unfortunately, I live in the midwest, so that's a slight issue! He's been a huge inspiration to me ever since I first saw him, and I was 16 or 17 then. For someone to have such a great impact on me like that is pretty phenomenal. Not many people can do that. If I could have the chance to work with him in the kitchen, I'd probably pass out. Most girls my age like Rob Pattinson and Jonas Brothers... nope! Not me! This is why I'm promptly moving to California. Sun Apr 12 12:58:28 -0700 2009 4589022 282069 sasha cachaca 4 4589751 You should check out my review of Bazaar to see the food he's now doing. He's going to have a great background Robuchon and Andres. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/611359?tag=boards;topic-611359 Sun Apr 12 14:28:59 -0700 2009 4589597 253863 SDGourmand