A Week in Chef Heaven

So I'm pretty sure that even though this is the least amount of sleep I've gotten in a week since my college days, it has hands down been the best week ever, solely because it has been packed to the brim with near encounters with almost all of the best chefs in the world. Tonight I volunteered with Chef Pascal at the James Beard Foundation Gala Dinner and Auction at the Four Seasons Restaurant and it was one of those experiences where I really had to pinch myself to be sure I was actually there. As previously posted, Chef Pascal and our class have been busy making a typical French Charcuterie course for the James Beard Gala, whose theme this year was classical French cooking. For the dinner, where guests paid up to $10,000 a table, some of the most famous French chefs each cooked a course. Here's the whole menu because I know you're all dying to know (prepare for truffle overload):

Joel Robuchon:
Shaved White Truffles and Potatoes with Foie Gras Carpaccio

Guy Savoy:
Artichoke Soup with Black Truffle and Layered Brioche with Mushrooms and Truffles

Pascal Beric (My chef!)
Saucisson Sec, Lonzo, Smoked Garlic Sausage, Fresh Ham, Country Paté, and Smoked Andouille de Campagne (the sausage we made from the pig rectum!) all served with house made pickled vegetables, mustard and French bread

Alain Ducasse:
Braised Caramelized Eggplant with Salvatore Brooklyn Smoked Ricotta and Porcini Fall Vegetable Gratin Boulangere

Jean-Georges Vongerichten:
Grilled Rack of Lamb with Smoked Chile Glaze, King Oyster Mushrooms and Broccoli Rabe

Francois Payard:
Brown-Butter Roasted Pear with Maple Syrup, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Salted Pecans

Hungry yet? If the food didn't make you excited, did the rock star list of chefs make you a teeny bit excited? Well it made me very excited. CNN cameras were in the huge kitchen at the Four Seasons doing interviews and taping as all the chefs chatted with each other in French, everyone else standing around awestruck that they were lucky enough to share the same air as a chef like Joel Roubochon. There were four students from my class, Jane, Jonathan, Shannon and myself who were all lucky enough to get to go to the event with Chef Pascal and Chef Lisa, as well as two other chefs, Chef Herve and Chef Annette. Another classmate, Emily, is an intern at the Four Seasons so she was there, but she was helping with the hors d'ouevres for the Four Seasons. Since all of our charcuterie had been prepared beforehand, all we really had to do was arrange the plates and get everything organized for our course, which wasn't until 8:30. But there was enough to do that we were kept busy and entertained from 4 until about 7:30. The VIP cocktail hour took place in the kitchen for some reason, so we had people staring and taking pictures as we were trying to plate the charcuterie, which was a little strange. And one by one the famous chefs started showing up with their gangs of chefs, everytime another one would walk in, we'd all to to point at him discreetly, and stare without being too obvious. I'll get some picture of the event tomorrow and try to put them up, but if you happen to be watching CNN and see any coverage of the event, look for me in the background!

Chefs Francois Payard, Guy Savoy, Alain Ducasse and Jean-George Vongerichten

Tomorrow maybe I'll have the chance to get in a decent night's sleep before my midterm on Friday! Can you believe on Friday I'll be halfway through the program?? Why does it have to go by so quickly!