Day 17 of 60 | Bonjour, Paris! 🇫🇷✨
Today was nothing short of a culinary marathon. We started class bright and early at 7:45 a.m. and didn’t wrap up until 5:00 pm with only one lonely 30-minute break around 11 am. That’s a lot of hours standing on your feet, and my lower back is starting to remind me that I’m no longer 25 (even though my overall health says otherwise!).
Our focus today: lobster and rack of lamb. 🦞🥩 And yes, that meant killing the lobster ourselves.
Not everyone was thrilled to become a lobster serial killer before their morning coffee, but I didn’t actually mind it, which frankly, should make all of you a little nervous. 😂 The first cut is right through the brain (quickly, not so humanely), followed by a slice between the eyes. There’s really no delicate way to describe that part of the process!
Thankfully, we didn’t have to handle the lamb in quite the same way. We were each given a beautiful rack to work with, and the goal was perfection - cleaning and cutting it so each bone looked like a little lollipop still attached to the base.
Sounds easy enough… until you’re elbow-deep in trimming fat, scraping bones, and praying your final presentation doesn’t look like something from a caveman’s feast. I suffered my first couple of finger cuts while scrapping fat off the tiny bones. A little extra juice for my lamb! 🙈
But here’s the thing: despite how long and intense the day was, it ended up being one of the most rewarding sessions yet. The final dishes looked (and tasted!) incredible. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing all that work and precision pay off in a plate that actually feels restaurant worthy.
Oh - and we have a new player in the kitchen! Chef Maximus, the second instructor, joins the mix tomorrow. He will bring a totally different teaching style. I can already tell he’s going to shake things up in interesting ways.
All in all, The French Way keeps serving up challenges, lessons, and a whole lot of inspiration. My feet & back may be sore, but my heart (and stomach) are full. 💪🇫🇷
