Béarn Market Morning and a Lunch of the Southwest

The day begins early at the covered market in Orthez, walking the stalls for the day's cooking: garbure vegetables, river trout, sheep's cheese from the valleys and whatever the growers have brought in. Ducasse talks through how he chooses, what he turns down and why the vegetable, not the protein, usually sets the menu. The group then moves to a farmhouse kitchen outside town, where the cooking is divided across three courses and each guest takes a station. Technique is covered as it arises: stock, the handling of fish, a sauce brought together without shortcuts. Lunch is served at a long table in the garden and runs through the afternoon. The day ends with a conversation about cooking from the region and the group's own notes on the menu.