At EHL, we come together to enjoy the rich opportunities to explore the hospitality industry with students and professors from all around the world. A central part of hospitality and tourism lies in the food industry. Tourists and locals alike appreciate local dining experiences that allow them to enjoy expertly prepared food as a means of exploring the culture, the people and the times.
This part of hospitality also extends to the home. One of the best ways to demonstrate hospitality and welcome a person into your home is to create a special dining experience. For more formal occasions, EHL suggests how to create an impressive five-course menu. This size menu allows for a variety of different courses: hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, salad, main course and a dessert.
These different dishes should incorporate a variety of textures and create a complete meal that satisfies the guests (without filling them up by the second course so that they cannot enjoy the rest of the meal!) Each course offers something unique to the meal as a whole, working together to create a genuinely exciting overall experience.
At EHL, our chefs come to us with a wealth of professional expertise used to create incredibly original menus. With time spent working in restaurants abroad and expertise gained in renowned international kitchens, their menu ideas are unmatched in imagination, quality and taste.
Using recipes from our EHL Practical Arts lecturer and Head Chef at the Berceau Des Sens, Cédric Bourassin, we have put together a sample five-course dinner menu that works perfectly for any formal dinner. This menu consists of a salad, soup, foie gras, roasted lamb and a light lemon and basil pie. Explore these recipe ideas and see how a menu of this calibre can help you pull off the perfect dining experience for your lucky future guests.
Le jardin des sens salad
This delightful salad is the perfect way to start off a meal. The recipe includes a wide variety of vegetables: cherry tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, cabbage, beetroot, sucrine salad, leeks and cucumber. These light tastes are then combined with a wealth of rich flavors from seasonings like Thai basil, dill, chive flowers, lemon basil and sweet basil. By cooking the vegetables ‘à l'anglaise’, which means in boiling salted water, you can bring out the flavors without them being too overpowering. Meanwhile, by blanching the courgette slices and cooling them in ice water, you fix the chlorophyll and create a dish that looks as amazing as it tastes. With the variety of tastes found in this opening recipe, you awaken the senses and whet the appetite for the rest for what's to come.
Confit parsnip soup
This soup brings together the richness of parsnip and cream combined with a chestnut puree. You need a lot of different ingredients: parsnip and cream for the soup, chestnuts, cream, and vanilla powder for the puree, and parsley root, beetroot, red onion, parsnip pearls, mustard sprouts, red currant, Brussel sprouts leaves, melanosporum truffle and mini baguettes for the finishing touch of garnish and decoration. A formidable course that is both eye-catching and delicious.
Pan-fried foie gras and butternut squash
This foie gras and butternut squash recipe continues the exciting journey of the senses, combining traditional flavors with a twist. This dish is made from Mitteault foie gras, butternut squash, hazelnut oil, large Iranian raisins, whole Agrimontana hazelnuts, Mizuma shoots, quince vinegar and spice powder. The butternut is vacuum cooked with hazelnut oil and salt. The foie gras is colored on both sides and cooked at 115 degrees celsius for 12 minutes. The different tastes beautifully complement each other.
Roast lamb
This roast lamb combines different tastes and textures that work well together to create a hugely satisfying meal. The recipe needs 2 1/2 racks of suckling lamb. The meat is accompanied by crispy sweetbreads made of sweetbread, lambs tongue cooked in broth, aubergine caviar and basil. The herb salad is made with coriander, dill, chives, chervil, parsley, marigold flower petals and a lemon vinaigrette creates a light and tasty complementary part of the course. The recipe includes additional ingredients: breadcrumbs, parsley, poached beef marrow and melted butter for a herb crust; courgette strips, blood sorrel leaves and lamb jus for the finishing elements, and a sprinkling of fennel seeds, Agrimontana hazelnuts and green anise. Truly a dish fit for a king!
Berceau des Sens Lemon and Basil pie
This dessert, both sweet and sharp, is based on a vanilla shortbread combined with a lemon cream and a basil and lemon sorbet. The shortbread is made from butter, icing sugar, eggs, hazelnut powder, flour and baking powder that all go in the oven for about 12 minutes. The lemon cream is a precise balance of lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest, sugar, egg yolks, whole eggs and whipped cream all brought to a boil and combined into a rich cream. The lemon cream is added to the shortbread to create a wonderfully sweet and tangy pie, which is then complemented by a basil and lemon sorbet made from water, glucose, sugar, lime juice and basil. This desert of many contrasting flavors makes for a wonderful finishing touch to your formal dining experience.
Meet the chef
All these recipes have been created by EHL’s own Cédric Bourassin, Head Chef at the award-winning Berceau des Sens restaurant. His culinary career has taken him around the world where he has held a variety of positions, including many years working at a 3-star Michelin restaurant in Japan. Here at EHL, he lectures in the Practical Arts, teaching our students how to better appreciate and understand the artistry involved in the creation and enjoyment of high-end cuisine.
Fine dining and EHL
At EHL, we understand that food plays a critical role in the hospitality industry. High-quality foods help to delight the senses and create an experience unlike any other. It reflects people’s cultures and history, as well as personal tastes and experiences.
EHL brings together highly trained and reputable chefs with a wealth of valuable information about the culinary world. Our students not only get to experience the unparalleled food prepared by world-class chefs, but they also learn the art of culinary management and theory behind various high-end food theories. The students learn about the importance of wine, food sourcing, presentation and the experiences that good food can create. When graduates embark upon their careers, they are competent at creating exciting culinary experiences for guests and customers across the hospitality industry.
Should you be interested in pursuing formal studies in the hospitality field and want to learn more about the importance of fine dining, please reach out to us at EHL. Come and discover all the fascinating industry aspects you can learn about while studying at the world's premier hospitality school.
