UNTIL now Prince Williams only culinary boast has been that he makes a mean shepherds pie. After 40 minutes in a Canadian cookery school however, it was herb and cranberry-crusted lamb and croustillant a leffiloche de canard confit and a distinctly competitive attitude to his lobster souffl. The Prince and the Duchess of Cambridge, dressed in personalised chef's whites, were taking part in a cookery demonstration at Montreals top chef school, the Institut de tourisme et dhotellerie du Quebec. Although they were greeted by a noisy demonstration by Quebec separatists, the Prince did not let that distract from the main task in hand proving that he was a better cook than his host, Quebec Premier Jean Charest. Mr Charest produced the first souffl of the lesson, which was brought forward for display with a flourish by the Duchess. Two minutes later the Prince brought his souffl up, removed the Premiers and said: 'Much better This one is mine.' It was, he said, 'a souffl-off'. And if that wasnt painful enough, he turned to Mr Charest and rubbed it in with one of those Windsor puns that his father used to love: 'If you could rise to the challenge that would be great.' A despondent Mr Charest took a sad look at his rejected souffl and said: 'Now I guess I will have to pack it up and bring it home.' For the Prince, the demonstration was an opportunity for some light-hearted clowning about, pretending to pinch the strawberries from a bowl and insisting on dipping a spoon into a vat of melted chocolate for a taste. Is there a time limit? Do we eat as we go? Im quite hungry.' DM