Butchery, Bunnies, and Bubblegum

If you’ve been reading for a while now, you know that I occasionally like to reference stories in my past that have some relevance to study at Le Cordon Bleu.

On Friday while Chef 3 was signing my Student Evaluation Form at the end of class, I teasingly asked him how many dishes I needed to make for him before I got some gum.  With a shy little smile, he said he would bring me some next week. 

At the beginning of class tonight, I dropped my recipe and my knives at my station and sprinted off to gather plates, bowls, cutting boards, etc.  When I got back, there were three pieces of gum.

Awww.. how sweet!  My sense of humour isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it is nice when someone gets an inside joke.

So what was the dish tonight?  Lièvre navarrais (Hare Stew Navarrais).  Sorry Mr. Fluffy, I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice…

This is the last dish on the list that could end up on the exam, and it’s the only one in our book this term with a list of ingredients that goes on to a third page.  Nearly a page of that is stuff that goes in the marinade, but on first glance this is a scary dish.  Butchering a hare, and about a million other things to do.   

But, as I said last week, what would have scared the shit out of me a few weeks ago is now actually manageable.  It turned out okay too – a few flaws, but no mistakes that I wouldn’t have fixed next time, or that wouldn’t have been better if I had a few more minutes.  My plating was “a little conservative”, according to Chef 3, and he had some useful suggestions to fix it. Expectations are certainly getting higher now.

And Chef?  Thanks for the gum!