On the menu today: flying rats and foie gras! lots of foie gras...

Today's demo at 8.30 (after coffee in the cafe, drunk guy, 2 beers, etc - well you get it, the usual), we started off with a meringue based dessert, a starter I can't remember and finally - a flying rat ! A what? Yes, the pest of our lives, the thing that shits everywhere, that spreads uncontrollable diseases and that lives all over the planet! Even next to my bedroom window in Paris. What, what, what is it? It's a ^&;?;a;%^$# pigeon!

It's also one of those things that is quite bloody when you have to prepare it. There's not much meat, just two breasts and the two legs. The rest is for the jusor sauce . And they are expensive; Around 10 euros a piece. And that for a flying rat!

Chef Franck P. in the lead today. A bit chaotic again, so we predicted a late finish, and how right we were. We are all paying attention today; the beast is used in our 'atelier', or workshop next week. More about that later.
I'll tell you more tomorrow about how to prepare these buggers, I'm tired and will go to bed soon. No pictures yet, I forgot my camera today, so I'll ask others for a few snapshots.
Before I forget, we used a lot of foie gras in the stuffing and on the plate today. And truffles. And guess only once where the leftover foie gras, truffles and 5 chicken breasts went..... yes, into my fridge! Thank you chef P.
I'll make something really nice with it. Any ideas from my blog readers?
(terrine, or....)
I'll be back tomorrow,
have a good night, Sjoerd

Fish, risotto and a stuffed squid, evening class, shopping for kitchen stuff

Today, Wednesday, is another day off, shopping time!

We'll be paying a visit to Dehillerin cookery shop..... that's so dangerous, euro,euro,euro... and we just come here too often, despite the 10% discount.

Big pans, small pans... everything!

I got home at 17.30, with my newly bought gadgets; a terrine mould, drum sieve (tamis) and quite a few mini  'cocottes' and glassware for plating purposes. All in all, it wasn't that expensive. Lucky me...

Right, let me tell you about yesterday. (Monday we had the day off as it was Easter Monday.) Chef Terrien was in charge and Yuka was assisting.

Part 1 was the 'degustation' (say this out loud in French, that sounds a lot better!) of the fois gras terrine chef Poupard made last week. Part 2 was a main course of sea bream/ langoustines and squid stuffed with risotto.

Part 3, le dessert, was a lemon grass cream with

citrus jelly and a rhubarb crisp.

This was made with agar agar, to make a gelly.

Chef gave us some background info on the foie gras dish - plating and garnish tips, and that was nice. The taste of the fois terrine was great! I might make that again at home, although Jayne can't eat it...

We also used Lota or Yota, a gelatine replacement. It's one of those E-numbers... probably very very chemical.


The main course was a bit too simple I thought. 'Just' a piece of seabass fillet with risotto. The nicest bit was the stuffed mini squid. And I liked the reduced vegetable stock with herbs and butter as a sauce. I made quite a nice sauce, I think. I'm sure I'll make the squid thing at home.

Between our demo and the practical lesson, we had a few hours off and Raffaele and  I went to the Jardin Luxembourg for a walk and some coffee. Nice. And the weather was super!


Then our evening practical. Not everybody showed up (again). For various reasons: allergy or religion (langoustines). We finished this easy practical by 21.00 hrs and went straight to the pub to have a few beers and watch football.
What a terrible day it was: demo, stroll in the park, practical, beer and football - and all of that in Paris....

until tomorrow,
Sjoerd