Ecole Ritz Escoffier cooking classes, Christmas logs and festive dishes 2024

People often talk about the Ritz Paris, but less about theEcole Ritz Escoffier, located in the heart of the grand hotel's kitchens. For 36 years now, it has been training amateurs and professionals alike through cooking and pastry courses aimed at beginners as well as seasoned professionals.

For this Christmas 2024, we're off to discover the school nestled in the very heart of the hotel. We're impressed by the enchanting Christmas decorations, before descending the stairs to join our teacher for the day: Martin Millouet. Ex, Compagnon du Devoir, where he learned rigor and passed through the kitchens of Jeffrey Cagnes, among others.

With a recipe booklet in one hand, a coffee and croissant in the other, and a nice apron, we set off to complete all the steps of theRitz Escoffier School's Toasted Vanilla and Caramel Yule Log. To make this recipe, we need a total of 4 hours preparation time. And honestly, there's no downtime. After 4 hours of hard work, you'll look at the chefs and artisan patissiers who delight us throughout the year and at Christmas with respect.

All the steps are explained, and we let ourselves be guided and helped in our preparations: making the insert with its vanilla cookie, its crunchy and creamy caramel, the Bavarian mousse and the white mirror icing.

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A few missteps (they're bound to happen), but they were well taken care of with the help of the chef, a few drips on the mirrored topping (Paris wasn't built in a day), a touch of personalized decoration, we ended up doing not too badly in the end, and the pride of the beautiful finished log is there for all to see. And as a journalist, the whole editorial team enjoyed it afterwards.

Let's face it, this exceptional course comes at a price. The course is based on exceptional products, and is taught by chefs with genuine expertise to pass on. Expect to pay €320 for a 4-hour course, including a log to take home, a gourmet welcome and an apron bearing the name of the Ritz (so you can show off while cooking), not forgetting the diploma certifying your achievement.

There are many other cooking and pastry courses to choose from, ranging from 270€ to 1500€ for 3 full days of training. Learn how to make Foie gras or even your own festive dish! In any case, we didn't see the time go by and really enjoyed ourselves in the end.