Cooking in Gascony - France Culinary Vacation

Join us in the beautiful southwest of France for our French culinary tours, and discover the wonders of French cuisine during hands-on cooking classes. Please note class menus are subject to change. 

Day One

• After settling into your room and acquainting yourself with the village and your fellow cookery school guests, your host David and French chef Bernard will be waiting to welcome you on the terrace. Greeting you with local aperitifs and hors-d’oeuvres they will provide an overview of the week ahead before serving an exquisite four-course supper. This dining experience will be repeated every night of your stay and is inclusive in the overall price.
• Following dinner, relax on one of the three terraces, where you can admire the beautiful sunset.
• Overnight.

Day Two

• After beginning the day with a traditional breakfast of croissants, fresh bread, cold meats, cheese, home-made jams and local honey, you will start with a tour of the kitchen and a lesson in basic knife skills. Following this, learn to prepare a simple French dressing, sauce suzette, and an ornate puff pastry dessert, gâteau pithiviers.
• Next, use your new knife skills by making David’s famous pizza gersois: a homemade pizza with onions, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, duck breast, and olives. Your class continues with some pâtisserie, such as a sweet pastry like pâte sucrée, that will be used as a base for a pastry you will make the following day.
• After a typical long French lunch — based on your culinary efforts — learn the art of foie gras, including mi-cuit, traditional, cru, and pain d’épices, as well as how to make cassoulet, Chef Bernard’s most popular dish.
• Next, it’s time to make crepes and use the sauce suzette you prepared earlier as the finishing ingredient. You’ll also make two more traditional pastries, perhaps a pâte sablée and a pâte sucrée.
• Dinner to follow.
• Overnight.

Day Three

• An early breakfast at 9:00 a.m.
• Today you will attend the local markets and select ingredients for this afternoon’s class. The markets are sure to whet your appetite, as you learn about the region’s seasonal produce. You will then lunch in a traditional local café in the Roman town of Lectoure before returning to the school to begin your afternoon classes.
• In this session you will fillet a fish, prepare a velouté sauce, and practice your knife and pastry skills to create a delectable tarte aux pommes.
• Prior to starting dinner, there will also be a quick lesson, led by David, on plating and presentation skills. Each dish you prepared today will be part of your dinner.
• Overnight.

Day Four

• Breakfast.
• David will show you how to employ your newly acquired knife skills to bone a chicken in order to make ballotine de poulet and a rich, mushroom sauce to accompany it.
• After this main course you will set about preparing a tarte au citron as well as an entree of soupe aux deux poivrons (two-pepper soup). Lunch to follow based on your efforts.
• In the afternoon, visit Gramont’s 17th-century chateau, which is a well-preserved Renaissance castle.
• You will then be invited back into the kitchen to practice your presentation skills and to serve and sample the dishes that you prepared earlier with your hosts.
• Overnight.

Day Five

• Breakfast.
• Return to the kitchen to prepare six dishes over the course of three hours, your most intensive time in the kitchen. This cooking class will focus on French desserts, and you’ll make such delectable treats as une crème patisserie, une crème caramel, and une crème brulee. Then you’ll switch from the sweet to the savory and make the iconic French sauce, béchamel. Lastly, you’ll work on sugar spinning and make a reduction sauce, jus de vin rouge.
• Lunch.
• In the afternoon your hosts will take you on a tour of the Chateau de Cassaigne, an Armagnac distillery in Condom where you can study the history of Armagnac and perhaps enjoy a dégustation of the locally produced spirit.
• Time permitting, a visit to the ancient fortified village of Larrissingle, a beautiful Roman relic, will follow.
• Dinner this evening will include the dishes you worked on in class, including the cassoulet you prepared earlier in the week, and the desserts you made today.
• Overnight.

Day Six

• After a final hearty breakfast, departure. Au revoir!