Lamb. In class, we got to watch découpe d’un agneau (butchery of a whole lamb, showing primary and secondary cuts) and then it was on to practical to make Carré d’agneau rôti et persillé and Ratatouille nicoise. Roast rack of lamb with a parsley crust and ratatouille from Nice.
Now here’s the problem. Chef Franck is from Nice. Chef Franck is tough. Chef Franck has a reputation for tearing apart every student’s ratatouille. Mine was no exception. I did get off pretty easily, though! My vegetables were a little undercooked and I could have used more seasoning. Not the end of the world.
The fun part was where we got to take apart a rack of lamb in order to make that beautiful rack of lamb with the bones showing on the end. My sharp, glinting boning knife is truly a work of art.
We had a lot to do in a short amount of time, so Chef Franck kept us going and going at full speed until the very end. The end of class, I mean. Fortunately, I finished on time!!! I was one of only two people to do so. When we were out of time, Chef yelled that no matter what people had done or what they hadn’t completed, everybody just had to plate what they had and show it to him for assessment. Thank goodness I completed my plate! Time really is a constraint in class, just like it is in the restaurant world. It’s amazing how much Le Cordon Bleu has been teaching us in only a few weeks!