Blimey O’Reilly, the week is flying by and we are having a blast. A challenge was set before us on Wednesday, some workmen (not dissimilar from that Coke add a few years ago, not my word b.t.w!) had broken the power cable into the cookery school, oops!

We moved to the terrace to chop, slice and crush the ingredients for a ‘Soupe aux Deux Poivrons’ (Two-Pepper Soup) whilst David and Co. rigged a temporary light over our work space.It was not long before we were back in the kitchen, focusing on the mise en place, ready for the cooking later that day. So much has been learnt so far this week and today was to be no exception, boning a Chicken was our next challenge.

Getting to this point took about 30-40 minutes, as David showed us the various steps and tricks to ensure the Chicken skin remained intact, this was important as we had to remove the brown meat to lay across the centre and then stuff with a Pork ‘Farce’ stuffing, rich with Garlic, Parsley, Onions and Sage. If you want to learn how to do this, book the course and impress your friends with the finished result.

We have some amazing characters on the course, it’s truly international and makes for some interesting conversation. Breakfast usually consists of an array of fresh Pastries, Tea or Coffee, fresh Fruit, Granola……..and home made Jams, the Fig is awesome. During some amusing conversation we were introduced to ‘The Butterfingers’, an Australian and a song of theirs, fascinating stuff you can find HERE!

We made a couple of ‘Tarte Au Citron’ today, well, six in reality learning more pastry skills along the way, I have to say they were bloody good (oops expletive, sorry!). They don’t get wasted, all are used either by the class to east as a desert, or over at the Auberge so serve to Bernard’s customers, or traded with suppliers to the school, real ingenuity.

Dinner each evening is either served on the terrace or inside on the communal table, weather depending. Tonight we had a couple of guests, so there was extra pressure to get things right. Before sitting down for dinner aperitifs were served on the terrace, which included ‘Floc De Gascogne’ a local speciality from ‘Le Gers’, the region of France we are located at.

Another awesome day, chopping, banter, laughter and also a visit to the local Chateau, which was really interesting. Tomorrow is intensive, Creme Pat’, Creme Brulee, Creme everything, then a visit to an Armagnac distillery.

Till next time.

L8ers………………………………………..