Cooking Experience

The Relais Gué de Selle is is a hotel about 40 minutes drive from us, that has a good restaurant. The chef there gives practical cooking workshops, and the wife and I went along to suss the place out.

The theme for the morning was volaille (poultry), which to my surprise included rabbit. So the 7 of us on the workshop learned cooking techniques and stuffing methods for chicken, guinea fowl, rabbit and duck. All good fun, and it was interesting to try some new techniques.

The hard part was eating it all at lunch. Yep, starter, 4 main courses, and dessert. Bang goes my weight-reduction programme, at least for a few days while I reset.







































The hotel's lakeside location is an asset, and that and the gardens form a pleasant backdrop to any meal. The treehouse is guest accommodation too, and has been finished for over a year but not used. Why not? It's 0.6 square metres too large in area to avoid the need for planning permission, and this has not been granted. Moral? Stay the right side of the mayor.

Introductions

It's time to introduce you two local characters: Marie who runs the restaurant just down the road, and Noël, her chef there. Between them they prepare lunches and evening meals for the tourists who visit the caves and the river valley, and they also cater for the numerous private parties who book the restaurant for family events, birthdays, etc.

We shall be running some week-long cookery classes with them later this year, designed to introduce English family cooks to some of the traditional French delicacies of the region. We plan to be tasting wines, cooking complete meals using ingredients like local creams, cheeses, cider and stronger apple-based drinks, and visiting local food producers such as the chocolate factory and wild boar farm.

Should be a fun week. We are working out some adverts for the UK press at the moment. Watch this space!





Marie runs the restaurant














Noël is her chef














The restaurant