Boudeaux's best Cooking School -The Gastronome

I’m a foodie at heart and love nothing more than creating delicious food for friends and family. So when I travel, I’m keen to pick up new ideas and try some of the traditional dishes of the countries I visit, from the maestros themselves.

So I do did my research and found The Gastronome in the vibrant, neighbourhood of Saint Michel in Bordeaux.

It’s a relatively new cooking school run by Dan and Erica, originally from the USA. There Dan was a professional chef and restaurateur. Having loved their many visits to France, they made a conscious decision to move some years ago and simplify their lives. Boudeaux is very much home, where they love the trafficless pedestrian streets, their short walk to their cooking school and above everything else, the food.

The Gastronome kitchen.

The cooking school has been lovingly restored by Dan and Erica. It’s a narrow, stone building, with several ajoining rooms including the reception, dining room and kitchen at the back. It’s naturally cool from the tunnelling and stone.

The class size was small, maximum of six people. There was no predetermined menu, we all just chatted with Dan and came up with a menu plan, then headed to the market to buy the ingredients.

Dan, from The Gastronome, shopping for ingredients with us in the market.

I was pleased Madeleines and Caneles were on the baking list (as our grandchildren are addicted to these expensive sweet treats) from the best pâtisserie in Auckland, Vaniye.

Dan had prepared these delicious Madeleines for us on our arrival.

So for the menu we agreed on a avocado and cucumber chilled soup, a sensible idea as it was 41 degrees. It was accompanied by a tomato tart. Then a seared duck breast, with duck fat potatoes and beans, followed by a peach based desert, a cheese course, all paired with wines and an espresso to finish…it sounded good.

Preparing the tomato tarts.

I’m a duck lover and whenever I get the opportunity to eat duck at a restaurant, I’ll dive right in. Tim doesn’t like it, so I rarely cook it at home. I discussed with Dan, how disappointed I was with the three duck meals I had eaten in Bordeaux. The meat was dark, gamey and quite tough like an over cooked steak.

His answer surprised me. He explained there are two types of duck breast you can buy in France, Filet de canard or Magret de canard.

Filet de Canard are great for searing, unlike, the Magret de Canard.

The ducks with the filet breast are NEVER force fed to create a fatty liver, for foie gras.

The duck with the magret filet are force feed twice a day, via a tube, filling the ducks belly with grain, to fatten their liver.

The two duck breasts could not be more different. In New Zealand we do not force feed ducks so all the breast fillets should be lighter in colour, more tender and not gamey.

Cooking tips for the perfect seared duck breast:

Wash and pat dry the duck breast at room temperature
Skin down, trim the extra skin protruding beyond the breast meat
Scour the skin creating a diamond pattern
Season well with salt and pepper and place skin down in a COLD sauté pan
Cook at a medium/low temperature for approximately 10 minutes to render the fat and caramelise skin
Flip the breast and cook for a further three minutes. Leave to rest and slice thinly.
Our light, refreshing cumumber and avocado chilled soup, accompanied by a tomato tart.

Canard perfectly seared, with a little fig and red wine reduction. (a little beef on the side from Tim’s non-duck meal)

A great day learning how to cook duck to perfection, a well as the Madeleines and Caneles.

With the food prepared, and the table set, Tim arrived for a delicious lunch! The experience as 10/10 and I would highly recommend the cooking school if you are in or around the Bordeaux region.