This morning we had our last demo of the course with Rory. All of the instructors here are fantastic but Rory is really very special. He is hilarious, knowledgable, observant, calm, glamorous… I could go on! He has a gaggle of fan girls on campus.

He demonstrated some classical recipes today. Beef carpaccio, poached salmon, oysters with champagne sauce, a haunch of venison and oeufs a la neige (floating islands). Rory is a true conoisseur of food fashions, and masterfully plates up retro dishes like these just as skilfully as he does hamburgers. He received a well deserved standing ovation at the end of class.

Things I’ve learned from Rory : 

• Don’t oil the pan / pot, oil the ingredient. You use less, so can buy something more expensive of higher quality. Here’s an example from a promo video for his book.

• Buy foods when they are in season. They are more affordable and taste better.
• Try a new flavour combination. Strive for ‘interesting’ flavours, like mango and bacon. Or double up – lemon and lemon is fab.
• Express yourself! Rory is in his element with food presentation. Such a joy to watch someone having fun playing with their food.

I learned : Salmon that weigh less than 6lbs are called peel.

Food of the day : Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad. One of the teachers Gary made this. Maddeningly, he did not have a recipe as he improvised it. Well done, Gary.

Line of the day : ‘Know when to stop.’ From Rory. Relevant in food and life.

Órfhlaith