A Duck-Load of Foie Gras

It does appear that you can have too much of a good thing – and if that good thing is foie gras, leave it to the Chefs of LCB to take it WAY too far.

This afternoon we had our first demo class of the new term.  Nothing terribly difficult on the menu, which is a nice way to ease back into the kitchen, but there is a new emphasis on plating.

Below are some pictures from class.  For the record, these are the Chef’s dishes, not mine.

Some various canapés

Carpaccio de Boeuf

Tartare de Saumon

Cremeux chocolate with cardamom

And, oh yeah…. We can’t forget the foie gras.

As I have mentioned before, Chef 2 is one of the most talented chefs I’ve ever met.  He’s stunningly fast in the kitchen and could probably make dinner for six with two eggs, a pound of butter, and a rock.  And while he is most definitely a serious dude, he’s got the most charming and gleefully child-like sense of humour.  He flirts with the girls, makes fun of the other Chefs, and giggles at his own jokes.

So his delight at carving up a torchon of foie gras to give us a little snack was obvious.  I suppose if you’re cutting into it you might as well use the whole thing, right?  Well, the torchon was as big around as my arm and the slices as thick as my finger, so that’s a duck-load of foie gras.  And this wasn’t the dish mind you, just a snack. Knowing the price I’ve seen for torchon of foie gras in the stores recently (I think about $40 CDN for 150 grams), I can’t even contemplate what each of these bites would cost.

 

The dish – foie gras burgers.  Not burgers with a little foie gras inside or on top - that's for sissies.  Essentially, we had foie gras sliders on brioche.  The decadent last days of the Roman Empire had nothing on these...

Most of the students were already in foie gras coma from the “snack” and avoided tasting them.  However, the other Chefs seem to have a foie gras radar and most of them dropped by the class to scavenge the leftovers.

So a few hours of break to go home and shake off the foie gras brain fog, then back to the kitchen for the practical. 

 

A great day to start the term.