Rick Stein's India (2013): Season 1, Episode 1 - Kolkata and Chennai - full transcript

Bon appetit, monsieur.

I guess it's no secret

that France is one of my favourite
places in the whole world.

I know I'm not alone in that,

especially if, like me,
you've been going to France

ever since you were little.

You can't help but have that
sort of frisson of excitement

at the thought of all that great
food and wine you're going

to have ahead of you.

For the French,
food isn't part of life,

it is life itself,
it's that important to them.



So, what's slightly worrying
is I keep hearing these stories

about things not
being what they used

to be with cooking in France.

But the point is, I
really don't believe that if

I go off the beaten track to what I
would call secret France,

that I still won't find those
lovely restaurants and bistros.

It's always better to
travel hopefully.

I feel I should explain
my journey somewhat.

I do have a plan and the plan
is to end up in the Mediterranean.

But how I get there is not
totally certain.

Basically, what I'm doing
is just meandering and I'm looking

for those parts of France which
maybe people don't know so well,

places where you might
find, I don't know,

some rabbit grilled over apple wood,
served with some lentils.



And one of those local red wines,
that are sort of fresh and lively,

the expression the French use is a
wine that dances in the glass.

So, I start my journey in Normandy,
and then make my way

up to Picardie, with the hope
of discovering some great seafood.

Then down through the
vineyards of Champagne,

but off the well-trodden path,

and across to Alsace in search
of those lovely, crisp,

fragrant white wines and
hearty mountain food.

Then down to the timeless
landscape of Jura,

before zigzagging into Burgundy

and the anticipation of those
romantic, famous wines

that make the heart skip.

Then the gorgeous Auvergne

and across to Perigord, such
a great place to get lost in.

Then it's down to the
coast at Languedoc

before finally ending
up in golden Provence.

And that's about it.

I did say it
was going to

be a bit of
a meander.

Like many visitors who
cross the Channel,

I'm starting my journey in Dieppe.

But unlike many of those visitors,

I suspect, I'm actually going to
stick around for a bit.

I really like Dieppe and there's
plenty to uncover here

for those prepared to get
under its skin.

I love the fact Dieppe's
a working town,

that it's got a
healthy fishing industry,

and I think actually the best whelks
in the world come from here.

They're small, sweet and tender.

And I'm very proud to say
that I'm a whelk fanatic.

One of the joys of
France is it's great fun

when you just follow your nose.

I've just arrived and already my
thoughts have turned to food.

Well, why wouldn't they?

And places like Dieppe offer plenty
of opportunity to chance

upon a hidden gem of a restaurant
along unassuming backstreets.

I love these type of menus,

the dominant chalk lines offering
up today's fresh ingredients,

but you can still see the faint
outline

of the dishes of days gone by.

It's a form of living history,
time passing meal by meal.

Oh, merci.

Bon appetit, monsieur.

This is such a treat for me,

to be able to walk in and order fish
landed almost at the front door.

I'm having turbot covered and then
cooked in sea salt to retain

all that wonderful flavour.

And here's how you know
you're in France -

it comes with just one side dish,

cep's fried in butter, with
shallots, parsley and garlic.

Less is definitely more.

Gosh, that's good.

It's such a good way of
cooking fish, in salt.

I think a lot of people
don't put enough salt

in in cooking their fish.

It needs salt, fish.

So, doing it like this is
quite special.

My favourite fish, bar none,
turbot.

And really very nicely cooked.

One of the things I was really
looking forward to coming

to Normandy was the cider.

It's just so special.

This is actually from Pays de Bray,

which is where Neufchatel,
a famous cheese, comes from.

But I mean, it's just got so much
flavour and it just goes very well

with a lovely piece of
turbot like this.

It's probably worth pointing out,
if you're coming to a place like
Dieppe -

sort of veer off the main
restaurants in the tourist part

of the town and just head for the
port, because it's a fishing port.

And quite often, you'll find
a restaurant like this just

overlooking where the boats come in.

And generally, it's the sort of
place where the locals will go

and eat too, and they know
those sort of things.

I think I'm right in saying that
Dieppe, back in the 19th century,

was France's first big-time
seaside holiday resort.

Sea bathing was quite
the fashion of the time.

But I can see and feel just why
this has fallen so out of favour.

Bracing barely does it justice.

It's close to Paris, so that made
it popular with the French

in Edwardian times.

But Dieppe also held quite the
allure for the British too...

..at least to the
more well-to-do ones,

who could afford the ferry crossing.

Many were attracted to its
rather bohemian atmosphere,

as the resort was a second home
for artists, actors and writers.

And if you take the time to explore,

you can still see some
of their inspirations.

I don't know if, like me, you love
coming to some part of the world

made famous by an
artist or a writer.

But to me, it adds immeasurably
to the atmosphere of where I am.

And in this case, it's
Walter Sickert and Dieppe.

And this, St Jacques, is probably
his most famous painting of Dieppe.

And it's just the way that he sort
of imbues a beautiful view

like this with a certain
sort of atmosphere,

in this case, slightly
melancholic, slightly dark.

And looking at all his paintings of
the city, they're sort of similar.

There's a sort of... It
doesn't actually sell it

as being a sunny, wonderful
place, but it sure as hell sells

it as a place with
serious atmosphere.

Sickert's time in Dieppe helped
cement his reputation

as one of the most influential
figures in 20th-century British art.

But not all of our artists
who crossed the Channel

could count on such a warm welcome.

WAITER SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Cafe au lait, s'il vous plait.
Un cafe au lait. Merci.

This means quite a lot to me
because I know Oscar Wilde used

to come to this cafe.

He... Perhaps he sat
in this very seat.

And he came to Dieppe as soon as he
was released from Reading Gaol.

And he knew quite a few people
here because it was very popular

with the English set in
the 1890s, Dieppe,

with various artists
like Walter Sickert, and writers.

And I think he thought that
he'd sort of be able to carry

on his life after prison.

And in his alter ego in Dieppe,

he called himself
Sebastian Melmoth.

And he wrote as Sebastian Melmoth
coming into this cafe,

and normally bustling with
conversation, everybody went quiet.

And that sense of rejection, he was,
after all, a celebrity...

And everybody at one
stage loved him.

And everybody then turned
against him because of his "crime".

No wonder he wrote something like,

"Each man kills the thing he loves."

Before I leave Dieppe, I want to
tell you about a little seafood

restaurant I've discovered, that
sits away from the main restaurant
hub,

on top of the hill
overlooking the harbour.

It's not that prepossessing
from the outside,

so maybe you wouldn't give it a
second glance in passing.

But you'd be missing out.

The food is sensational.

It's owned and run by Tristan Arhan.

Both his father and grandfather
were chefs,

so his mum said to him,

"Well, if that's what you want to
do, then you'd better be the best."

His Michelin star would suggest
he did indeed make his mother proud.

And he's cooking my lunch,

John Dory fillets with asparagus,
both cultivated and wild.

I love the wild stuff.

It's top seasonal food.

Oh, merci. Bon appetit.

Well...

..this dish is la peche du jour,

just the fish of the day.

Oh, gosh, that's a good bit of

John Dory, I have to say.

Tristan's got a Michelin star.

And I think about
the Michelin guide...

..that actually one-star
Michelin places are

generally well worth looking out.

It's just when they get into two
and three stars, it all gets a bit

too fussy, it all gets
too complicated,

and it sort of sort of disappears
up itself in some sort of way.

Whereas this is just a delight.

This is what really good
cooking is all about.

It's just a lovely piece of
John Dory and just a little emulsion

of langoustine shell,
some great asparagus.

And these potatoes... they're Rose
potatoes, they're called Lily Rose.

Such a great name for a potato.

Only the French, they just
have such great names for food.

They come from the Somme.

And everything is seasonal,
everything is delicious,

including the wine...

..which is
Pouilly-Fuisse, a Chardonnay.

And wines like this are just
made to go with food like that.

I think this is so
important in France.

It's the way the food and
the wines match.

I mean, honestly, this
is really posh food.

It just goes to show what treasures
you can find off the beaten track.

And it proves that great French

food can still be found,

if you know where to look.

And I can't pass up an opportunity
to learn more about Tristan's love
of food,

especially as he's offered me a
small glass of eau-de-vie de cidre.

Ah, that is Normandy.

Oui!

So, you love to cook.

Oui, j'adore. Pourquoi?

TRISTAN SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Basically, what he's saying
is that he just remembers

the smells and the
flavours of when he was a child.

And it was his grandmother
that cooked for him

rather than his mother.

But it's the same for me.
All the time when I'm cooking,

I'm trying to remember,
when I was a child,

the taste and the flavours
of when I was a child.

So, I totally understand.

Tell me what what's so
special about Normandy fish?

TRISTAN KNOCKS ON THE TABLE

TRISTAN SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Yeah, we call it "stiff fresh",

it's so fresh. So fresh, yes.

This is very nice. Ah, oui. Sante.

Well, that seems to be an
appropriate moment to wave

goodbye to Dieppe and all
its charms,

and a good opportunity to say hello

to my new home a little
further south.

Welcome to my country
house in Provence.

I'm going to use this wonderful
location surrounded by olive groves

and the aroma of fresh herbs
as a base to create some

of the amazing dishes
I've discovered along my

journey through France...

..dishes that speak of the regions
from where they belong.

Like poached skate with warm tomato
vinaigrette,

chicken legs stuffed with
mushrooms and Comte cheese,

salad with peppers, anchovies
and hard-boiled eggs,

to dishes that are,
well, just too good

to ignore, like
delicious blueberry tart.

Dieppe has put me in the
mood for seafood.

So, the choice of my first
dish is an easy one.

It's unashamedly full
of creme fraiche, butter, eggs

and that very fine, refreshing
staple of the Normandy region,

lovely, crisp cider.

Well, this is a lovely mussel
dish from Normandy.

And what I'm doing here now,
while I explain what the dish is,

is taking the beards out
of these mussels.

And you can tell how the
mussels have been grown

cos if they've got these
thick beards,

or byssus, is what the
technical name is,

you know they've been
growing on rocks.

And if there's hardly any beard,
they've been grown on ropes.

I think what's also really
nice about this dish

is that it's very easy to make.

I mean, a lot of mussel dishes
are really made in the same way,

which is basically, you steam open
your mussels and whatever liquid...

it is getting all over my
shirt, of course...

..whatever sort of liquid you fancy.

And then just make a sauce
out of the mussel juice.

It's very important, particularly
with these mussels, to... to check

the seasoning before you add
any salt, because I suspect

these are from Normandy and
they'll be grown out at sea.

So, they will have quite
a lot of sea water in them.

So, now put a bit of butter,

actually, quite a lot of Normandy
butter into the pan and chop up some

shallots and then add the
shallots and some lardons.

They're very nice in a mussel dish
like this - surf and turf, of
course.

Terrible, terrible expression.

OK. That's frying very nicely.

Now, just to add some
cider, about 200mls,

a couple of wine glasses,

then let that reduce down a little
bit.

Now some thyme, just a
little sprig of thyme.

I do really like Normandy cider.

And dry, I like it when
it's bone dry.

One of the great drinks, I think.

There we go. That's come
down very nicely.

And now I'm going to add
some chicken stock.

It's really quite
well-reduced chicken stock.

So, it's got a lovely flavour
and it's time to put in the mussels,

a kilo and a bit, I would say.

Just let that come
right back to the boil.

And now I'm going to
put a lid on there.

And that'll take now about
three to four minutes.

But I'm going to check halfway
through and turn the mussels over.

The trick here is just to get them
to pop open and not let them go much

further, because the more you cook
them, the tougher they become.

Put the lid on for about
another half a minute.

There we go. Now, I'm just going to
take the mussels out and put them

in this dish.

Most of the lardons
will go out there too.

Reduce that down by about a half.

While I'm doing that, I'm going to
make up what we call a liaison,

not a dangerous one,

it's just creme fraiche,

plenty of it, you'll
notice, and an egg yolk.

Just whisk that together.

Now, I'm just going to add a little
bit of hot stock there just to make

it easy to pour back into
the reduced stock here.

But also, creme fraiche is
bit apt to split.

So, the more liquid I can
get it, the better.

So, right back here now, and I've
got the temperature now turned

down a little bit.

So, I'm going to whisk
in my liaison,

turn up the heat a little bit.

But I don't want it to boil because
I don't want the eggs to cook out

and the sauce split.

Good. That's looking very lovely.

So, I'm just going to
add some parsley now,

and a little bit of lemon juice.

And that's ready to go.

Now back with the mussels.

They're still nice and warm.

And some of the juice that
came out of the mussels.

And another sprinkle of parsley.

And there we go.

So, that's just about ready to
serve.

But I just want to taste now

whether I need to add
any extra seasoning.

And that definitely is
quite salty enough.

But I'm just going to add
a bit of pepper.

Now, that is delicious.

A little bit of grumpiness -

hope you don't mind.

But it is what it is.

The salt in there came
from the mussels.

And I keep getting people
complaining, in the restaurants,

that it's too salty.
Hello?!

And I think you'll agree
it looks rather nice.

The director wanted me to drive
through France in an MGB,

an old MGB or a Morris Minor,
or even a Citron 2CV,

and I said, "No, Dave, that is not
what I think I should be driving.

"I'll just drive in my own car."

I said, "I'm over 70, you know."
It's... it's 12 years old, this car,

it's not exactly flash.

And actually, if I want a
turn of speed, I've got it.

I'm leaving Normandy and
driving north to Picardie.

I'd heard of the town of
Le Crotoy, but never been here,

right at the mouth
of the river Somme.

It's between Calais and Dieppe.

And although I doubt it
counts as a secret,

I'm betting many of us might tend
to look south after arriving

in France, rather than looking
sideways from those two ports.

Which means you miss this
absolute seafood gem.

To my mind, it's
everything I love about

formal French seaside resorts.

It's the sort of place
you think about

long after the summer
holidays are over.

ALL CHEER

Any time I come past a
nice-looking fish shop,

I always sort of think,
well, what would I buy?

And here what I'd buy is these
mussels, these moules de bouchot.

We just don't get mussels
as little as this.

And there's a very, very lovely dish
from La Rochelle, called mouclade,

which really has to have
the tiny mussels.

I'd also go to this lieu noir,
which is pollock.

It's a nice cut of fish
that, it's come from a big fish

and it's a nice chunky piece.

Over here, this is what I would
really go for, is the vives,

that's weever.

You just can't buy it in the UK,
I suspect cos it's poisonous.

If you get your hands
on the back spine,

you get really a bad sting.

But it's lovely. It's
as good as Dover sole.

Some people can be a bit
squeamish about seafood.

Personally, nothing looks
more exciting to me.

But I guess it can be daunting.

Actually, I know someone who nearly
divorced over their love of oysters.

He loved them and she didn't.

She would rather go sightseeing
and he'd rather eat lovely native

oysters by the sea.

It wasn't me, by the way.

It was a friend of mine.

I love a plateau de fruits de mer.

I love the langoustines, they've
got these lovely little prawns,

oysters, which they've very kindly
taken the shell off, to make

it easier for me to eat.

We have fantastic mayonnaise,
made with lots of mustard.

Absolute delight.

But one of the reasons I'm here
in Le Crotoy is that Jules Verne

used to come here as a child.

I was a great fan of Jules Verne's
books as a child, myself.

Around The World In 80 Days,
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth,

but above all,
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

That was a special one.

But I was just thinking,
eating this fruits de mer,

you sort of think that Jules Verne,

who was born and brought
up in Nantes,

and came here for his holidays,
he probably would have looked

at all this and it would have sort
of inspired his imagination

for all these underworld creatures.

And I've read the book,
but I saw the film in the '50s,

with James Mason,
the big beard, as Captain Nemo

and Kirk Douglas as the sailor, Ned.

The best bit for me was
when they're on the Nautilus,

Captain Nemo's submarine,
and they have this dinner,

and he serves up sea snake,
which he says is very like veal.

Then Peter Lorre
picks something up and says,

"I suppose you'll say this is lamb."

He says, "No, no, this is braised
blowfish basted in barnacles."

Barnacles are a bit gritty.

And finally, the thing that made
Kirk throw up was when

Captain Nemo said,
"This is a special recipe of mine.

"It's saute of unborn octopus."

On this journey, I'm determined
to travel off the beaten track,

to ignore the well-thumbed brochure,
to find the places where French food

still has the power to take
the breath away.

And I have to say, tracks don't come
much less beaten than this one.

Difficult.

SHE LAUGHS

I've always enjoyed foraging for
plants that live close by the sea.

Sea kale, samphire, and things I
still don't know the name of.

I'm joining Rene.

She gathers sea
vegetables for a living,

selling them to the local
restaurants.

She's going to be my guide
in finding those strange,

wild ingredients that have now
become such a staple

on local restaurant menus.

But you need a keen eye
and a steady foot.

Very good.

We call it sea aster.

Aster maritime, oui. Aster maritime.

SHE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Pigs' ears. Yes.
They look like pigs' ears. Delish.

Good.
Rene, combien en euros pour kilo?

RENE RESPONDS IN FRENCH

It's eight euros.
That's quite good money.

I know she's just saying that this
year, they're only in little clumps,

not in big sort of bushes of
them, but eight euros is all right

for a bit of foraging, I must say.

RENE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Uh-huh.

Fantastic.

Merci.

This is samphire, but she's not
picking it now, cos it's too young.

So, I've never actually
tasted it as young as this.

It's delicious. It's very salty,
samphire, it's beautifully crisp.

But there's just a faint underlying
sweetness about it because it's so

young and tender,
which makes it sensational.

It's such a brilliant vegetable
to go with fish.

Right, we've got to go now because
the tide is going to start to come
in.

And I do not want to be caught
in the mud because it's really...

..she was just saying earlier
on, it's really dangerous.

So, can we get going, please?

It's fine over here.

RENE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

RICK LAUGHS

Excuse my delight at
others' misfortune.

It's not funny.

It's just that the crew have waited
almost 20 years for me to fall flat

on my backside.

Me and Rene are hand in hand.

I wonder if the French have
a word for schadenfreude.

Rene's preparing a
little lunch for me,

straight from the Bay of the Somme.

Well, not the potatoes, but
the sea purslane

and the succulent green pigs' ears,
a trickle of French dressing,

and there we have it,
a taste of the sea.

Well, this seems appropriate,

eating the salad right from where
the majority of the ingredients came

from, those foraged leaves.

Simplicity is everything.

I just love salads like this.

Of course, these are
new season... new potato,

little bit of red onion...

..and Bob's your uncle.

I have to say, despite
the stories I've heard

about the death of French cuisine,

my experiences have been
pretty good so far.

Francois Bergez has been our
guide here and he's also

the head of tourism.

So, I'm curious if he's
heard any complaints.

Francois, I love French cuisine.

It's what... I was brought up on it
and I'm still really fond of it.

But some of my friends,
when they come to Europe now,

they say the restaurants
aren't what they were.

In the last 30 years, the
French cuisine is really...

..either it's very, very
high standard or poor standard,

you know, like fast food.

But there's still some
good places, for sure.

But you need to have friends
that recommend you a place.

The thing is, rhythm of life
doesn't match with the cooking

in France any more.

Especially, for instance, when
I was a kid, my mum took hours

to fix dinner or fix lunch,
and we came and sat down and stayed

for an hour, an hour and a half.

If you look at the city where I
live, it's, people only have 30, 45

minutes to eat.

So, they just go quick,

come back to work and that's it.

But they have good places

you can have lunch, and will
take you two hours,

two hours and a half.

But people don't want to take
time to have good food.

Maybe it probably is more
like everywhere in the world now.

You know. Hmm.

It's always a pleasure to share
time with another foodie...

Cheers.

...but I suppose
it's a little worrying

to hear that French food
might be in danger

of becoming like everywhere
else in the world,

when the whole ethos
of French cuisine

is that it's nothing like
the rest of the world.

I always think the anticipation
of a lunch in France is wonderful,

in some ways as exciting
as the meal itself.

However, when you're on the road,
it can sometimes mean a dash

for something to eat.

You can't be too fussy
when you're working.

Usually, that means
chips with something.

And it's got to be quick.

Well, I've just had a crew lunch.

It wasn't very good,

to be honest, it was frightful.

I had a bowl of mussels
that were so overcooked

and were not very fresh,

and the sauce was really grainy.

I think they used creme fraiche
and they hadn't mixed it up.

People say to me, "You know, you
seem to like everything that you
eat."

Well, I don't.
Most of the time, I do,

but I find it very difficult to sort
of call for the camera and point

at the dish and say, "This was
terrible" in the restaurant.

It would be outrageous.

I'm pleased to say that the meals
I've had so far on my journey,

have been remarkably good,

remarkably good.

But when the French let
you down, they do so big time.

It's funny how a poor meal
can often stay with you longer

than a good one.

And how, to paraphrase the
late, great Eric Morecambe,

a restaurant can use all
the right ingredients,

but just not necessarily
in the right order.

Back at my Provence country house,

yes, it's going to be a while before
I tire of saying that,

I want to try and
banish the sour taste

with something a little special,

to prove that something home-cooked
with good, simple

quality ingredients and a little
care and attention can all combine

to hit all the right notes.

So, this is a simple gratin of
seafood, which I got from Dieppe.

You can put what you like
into it, really,

but you need a bit of variety.

For me, I'm just going
to use prawns, scallops

and a nice piece of cod.

So, the first thing I
want to do is just cut

it up into scallop-sized
pieces, really.

It is a lovely piece of cod.

In French markets, the
fish looks so great.

OK. Now, just going to poach that.

I've got some stock already
going, fish stock that is.

Just let that cook a little bit

because that will take
longer than anything else.

A little bit of salt.

Not a lot because this is
going to reduce down,

so I don't want to over-season it.

And a little bit of pepper.

And now for the scallops.

Now, I don't want to cook
these at all long

because they're going to carry on
cooking when I've finished the
gratin.

And now the prawns.

But I do want to cook them now
because a lot of the juice

in the seafood will leach out.

If I don't do that now, it'll
make the sauce in the final

gratin really runny.

So, those are done.

You can see they're only just
cooked, particularly the prawns,

they've just turned pink.

There we go.

I'm just going to add
some white wine.

But I do want to reduce the sauce

a little bit with the wine in
it because the cream and the milk

might split, sort of
separate if it's very acid.

Some milk and then the cream.

That I can leave to simmer
away gently, just to reduce.

And now for the bechamel sauce.

First of all, I'm going to
put some butter in here

and this is, for me, important.

I've got some chopped leeks.

I just find leeks and seafood
in a sort of northern, like,

Normandy-Brittany way,
just taste very good.

So, cook those leeks down till
they're really, really soft.

I'm going to add the flour.

So, it's like a sort of
bechamel sauce with leeks.

Cook that a little bit.

That's starting to smell
nutty in a leek sort of way.

And now to add the milky stock.

I mean, this would
actually be called

a veloute sauce rather than
a bechamel, if it's got stock in it.

So, just one ladle to
get things going.

That's thickening up really
quickly because it's really hot.

That's very nice.

I'm just going to tip
the whole pan in there.

Just leave that to
simmer away gently.

The fish will have leached
out some more juice.

So, I'm just going to add
that to the sauce.

There we go.
And now to finish the sauce,

I'm just going to add a
little bit of chopped parsley.

I'm ready to assemble a gratin.

It's looking rather nice.

Give it a good shake.

And now for the topping.

I've got Emmental cheese.
Very important.

I love the taste and smell of
Emmental in a gratin.

I'm just adding some panko
breadcrumbs to that.

Those are Japanese breadcrumbs -
essential, I think, in anything

that you want a crisp finish.

So, we just put those right over the
top and straight under a grill.

Now, you can make this beforehand,

in which case, you want to put
it in the oven and actually

bake the gratin.

But in this case,
because everything's warm,

I'm just going to put it
under the grill.

Well, I must say, this is
smelling absolutely delicious.

I do think that Emmental is a
must-have cheese in this.

I suppose you could use cheddar,

and I love cheddar, don't get me
wrong.

But Emmental has this
wonderful, wonderful scent.

And I've got here some apples,
sauteed in salted butter,

and I've added some sugar. They're,

they're Normandy
apples, of course.

But you could use any
dessert apples, really.

It might seem odd,
but the two together,

and I did have this in Dieppe,

were just wonderful.

I just thought apples,
sweet apples with a gratin?

But no, it was fab.

So, to serve up.

I just love the sound
of that crunch,

a sure sign of a satisfying meal.

And a gratin is such
a versatile dish.

Here in France, it was very popular
as a Sunday lunch as it

could be left to cook in the oven
to be enjoyed when the family

returned from church.

But I say you don't have
to wait for the weekend,

it's delicious any day of the week.

While on my travels, I'm interested
in how French food today compares

to how I remember it.

But I do want my eyes to be
firmly on the road in front.

I want to taste the
France of the present

because it's all too easy for it to
become a trip down memory lane.

But here in Picardie,

it's impossible not to feel
the past tugging at your sleeve.

# Roses are shining in Picardy

# In the hush of the silver dew... #

I'm on my way to the
Beaumont-Hamel Memorial,

where you can see the actual British
trenches of the Battle of the Somme.

And I'm listening to
Roses Are Shining In Picardy,

which is making me quite emotional.

It was an incredibly popular song
during the First World War.

And of course, we are in Picardie.

I was just reading
that the casualties,

the British casualties, on the first
day of the Battle of the Somme

were 60,000.

That's the sort of a number you
can't even sort of imagine,

how many people that was.

Except, I was just thinking
about my school photo,

you know, one of those long
black-and-white photos of your
school.

And there were 600
people in my school,

I probably would have known
about a quarter of them.

In the first day at
the Battle of the Somme,

a hundred times that number of
people were casualties.

It's overwhelming.

Having said that, many of those
that died on July the 1st 1916,

incidentally, a beautiful
day just like today,

were just out of school,

their hearts full of optimism.

After all, they were told, after
the heavy British bombardment,

the Germans on the other side of
no-man's land were either dead

or completely demoralised.

"You could go over there just
carrying a walking stick,"

said one British officer.

MUSIC ENDS

Sylvestre Bresson is an expert
on these battlegrounds,

and he's kindly agreed
to be my guide.

We're on the British front line, the
German front line was over there.

Over there. Just behind the
cemeteries,

where the trees are.
As close as that.

Are they as deep now, as they were
then, or...? The trenches were
deeper.

You could walk through them
without bullets hitting you?

Yes, cos if any part of the body
was exposed... Yeah.

..I mean, above the ground, the head
or the hand or anything,

then you'd get shot.

Most of the soldiers
couldn't see anything.

So, the only way to watch was to go
to an observation post,

or to use a periscope. They were
quite close,

so they could hear each
other.

Now, this might seem a bit mundane,
Sylvestre, but I'm a cook,

and what I've always
wondered, you know,

Napoleon said an army
marches on its stomach,

what did they eat in the trenches?

What was the sort of...?

Well, for the British, the main
meals, if I can call that a meal,

was bully beef, biscuits and bread.

The battalions had two vats,

each battalion, and all the food
was cooked in these two vats.

Any sort of food, tea, soup,
any sort of food.

So, this big vat of...
Yeah. Big vats.

So, the soldiers often complained
the taste of the food

tasted of something else.

So, that was it? Yes.

And bread, it took the
bread sometimes eight days

to reach the front line.

But I read somewhere that a lot
of the soldiers had a lot of stomach

complaints because they weren't used
to eating so much bully beef.

So, having all this protein actually
didn't do them a lot of good.

Yes. It wasn't really healthy food.

It seems a bit unfair,
when they're giving their lives

for their country.

And what about for the Germans,
were conditions any better for them?

I wouldn't say better,
but very different.

The German trenches were slightly
different because the Germans

were defending their
fortified positions.

They used a lot of concrete,
underground shelters,

and bunkers and fortifications.

So, in a way, yes, the living
conditions were slightly better,

but it was still trench
warfare on both sides.

And did they get better food?

No, no, no.

Especially in 1918, after
the blockade in Germany,

the Germans were starting to
run out of everything.

Any sort of food supplies.

And so they were starving,
in other words. Yes. Gosh.

I feel the memorial, rather than
just commemorating the fallen,

succeeds rather well in shockingly
reminding us about the fragility

of life, too.

A good lesson for every
generation, I would have thought.

One thing that stood out for me
that morning was this tree,

now a petrified piece of wood.

But on that July day, it
seemed to mark the halfway point

between the
British and German lines.

Our infantry were ordered
to walk to it

before attacking the German lines.

Out of 800 troops that set off on
that beautiful summer morning,

only 68 made it to the tree.

The rest, like ripe grass,

were mown down by
machine-gun bullets.

So much for carrying
just a walking stick.

I'm now leaving the rich
history of Picardie,

and heading south down towards
the Champagne region.

There can't be too many places
in the world that are so famous

because of a local product.

But apart from the
wine-producing areas,

it's not a particularly
busy tourist destination.

But that suits me fine, as I
want to bypass the vineyards

that produce
France's greatest export,

and head down to the little
town of Essoyes.

It's where the artist Pierre-Auguste
Renoir spent his family holidays.

To me, he captured the very spirit
of the joy of food and wine.

Well, I must say,
Essoyes is beautiful.

To come to where Renoir spent so
many happy family holidays,

is quite special for me.

I love Renoir's paintings.

I particularly like the sort
of groups that he does.

And I think, particularly here,
there's one famous painting,

The Washerwomen, Les Laveuses.

And I think someone like Renoir,
who was bit of a celebrity in Paris,

to come somewhere like Essoyes
with his family would have meant

so much to him.

Of course, with someone who captured
the essence of conviviality,

there has to be a great dish
here associated with Renoir.

And there is.

Auguste Renoir's wife was called
Aline and she was a very good cook.

And this chicken saute recipe
was described by her family

as "Aline's Triumph".

So, first of all, she browned
chicken in a hot pan in olive oil.

Not too much.

When she'd browned them, she
took them out of the pan

and put them on a plate,
and discarded the olive oil.

She put the chicken back,

but this time with a
little bit of butter.

Now, she added two peeled tomatoes

and two small-to-medium
onions, finely sliced.

Then she added a little bouquet
of parsley, thyme and garlic.

Next, just a little bit of hot water
just to loosen everything and some

salt and pepper.

Then she stirred it all round
as it was cooking, to stop

the sauce sticking.

Cook on a low heat for about half
an hour, to cook the chicken.

Then she added a few
mushrooms and some olives.

Sometimes she's used Provencal,
sometimes green, sometimes black.

Then a little glass of cognac
and just let that bubble up.

And finally, right at the end,

and this is a very French touch,

she added chopped
parsley and garlic,

persillade.

To me, that's a perfect
French saute of chicken.

No wonder the Renoir
family loved it.

I find myself drawn to the
city of Troyes,

the ancient capital of Champagne.

It's the birthplace
of the Knights Templar.

They've always held a certain
fascination for me,

long before Dan Brown gave
them a Hollywood makeover.

And I'm glad I did,

as the architecture and atmosphere
of this ancient city helps add

a certain mystery to the
legend, even though the Knights

weren't a secret society at all.

Most historians will tell
you they were disbanded

more than 700 years ago.

But why let that spoil a
good blockbuster?

Apparently, the Knights lived
to a ripe old age in medieval times,

and that was a rare thing.

I mean, most people
didn't get past 40.

And it's because they'd only eat
meat a couple of times a week.

Mostly, it was
vegetables and pulses,

but more importantly,
they ate together,

which they say stopped
them from being too greedy.

Of course, my trek is all
about investigating the state

of today's French cuisine.

One of the joys of France is
that the modern and historic

do sit so comfortably together.

If you're feeling a bit glum,
I always say to myself,

the best thing you can do is go
for a swim, or go to a market.

And go to a market like this.

I mean, look at those asparagus.

They're from Brittany, the first
of the season, fresh peas there.

I mean, camera crews -
also, this is another tip -

they like to film markets
in the middle of the day

when it's really busy,

but actually, if you get
here in the early morning,

it's much better, because you
can see everything,

you can buy everything.

Oh, look at those melons. They'd be
the first melons of the season.

This is a fabulous market.

I've just been over to
look at a fish counter

and they're so good at
displaying everything, the French.

There's a little hake
biting its own tail.

And the French call that "en
colere", it means "in anger".

It's so angry, it's
biting its own tail.

Ah, this is interesting.

Got a guinea fowl here,
I love guinea fowl

and over here, a poulet
fermier, a farm chicken.

I mean, it's quite a lot of money
for what we're used to paying for
chicken.

It's, like, about ten quid.

But it just looks so appetising.

And the other thing that's great
about these chickens is they make

a superb stock.

You'll never get a better
chicken soup than you make

with the bones of that.

And over here, we've got rabbits,
and I guess they're always

farmed rabbits in French markets,
because wild rabbit,

though they've got a flavour,
can be a little bit tough.

I love rabbit.

I've got to find some great
rabbit dishes on my journey.

There's rabbit and prunes,
well, that's obvious.

And I love that.

There's rabbit with chanterelle
mushrooms and white wine.

Or rabbit cooked with cider
and artichoke hearts and thyme.

Or good old-fashioned rabbit pie.

That's what's good about markets,

it makes you think about
what to do with things.

It's also a reminder of the
importance the French place

on the quality of their produce.

After all, a meal is only as
good as the sum of its parts.

And I did discover a really
wonderful rabbit recipe

that I want to share back
at my country hideaway

in Haute Provence.

Well, this is lapin a la moutarde.

Rabbit with mustard, obviously.

To joint a rabbit is
really quite easy.

I must say, I've always liked
rabbit.

We used to have it quite a lot
as a child and my first trips

to France, I remember rabbit dishes.

You don't see it on the menu
very much in the UK,

which is a sort of shame.

I think people have a bit
of an aversion to it.

I'm just cutting the ribcage
away from the saddle.

There's not much meat on it,
so I'm just going to put

it into my chicken stock pot here.

I've got this really nice lid,
which I haven't seen before.

I got this in the supermarket.

I don't know how it would look
on a little tiny pot,

but it's got nice little vents at
the top where the steam comes out.

So, now we're just cutting these
flaps off, which are this bit,

and cutting the saddle, which is
this bit, into three pieces.

And there we have it, seven pieces.

This would feed four
people, I think.

Now, coat the rabbit with
two tablespoons,

generous tablespoons,
of Dijon mustard.

The fingers are fine, they're
the best way of doing that.

Just put them in the fridge for
about two or three hours,

just to marinate,
pick up some of the flavours

of the mustard and
tenderise the rabbit a little.

My plan for an alfresco
dining experience

has been temporarily
scuppered by the rain.

But in Provence, even
the rain looks beautiful.

That rabbit's marinated nicely.

So, to fry it a little bit,
colour it up. Just a...

..generous tablespoon

of... Which animal is it?

Goose fat... duck fat.

Sorry. Don't know my French.

So, just getting some nice colour
on those pieces of rabbit.

And notice, I've only put
half the rabbit in there.

Because if you put too much in,
you lower the temperature

and you don't get this lovely
caramelising effect on the outside,

which makes so much
difference to the sauce.

Just a minute or so on one side
and then turn them over.

There we go. Now to add some
onions, garlic and lardons,

and a bit more fat, I think.

It is a very simple dish, this.

Rabbit, like chicken,
is a very light meat,

but it's very nice to have a
deep brown sauce with it.

So, we're getting all that colour
not only from the rabbit itself,

but from the onions,
garlic and lardons.

Now I'm going to add some wine,
about 200ml, quite a lot,
white wine.

And I'll just let that cook
right down because if there's

too much liquid there,

it tends to go a bit lumpy.

OK, in goes the flour,
instant thickening.

And now I need some really
good chicken stock.

Cos remember, it's got the
rabbit in it as well.

Now I'm going to season that
using sea salt for a change.

Don't use sea salt on everything,
it's just a complete waste of time.

But I do like the grains.
Rock salt is just as good.

And then, plenty of black pepper,
I always like that.

And now add the rabbit
pieces back in.

I just love this casserole.

I'm sorry, but I'm a nut
for nice-looking dishes.

Right, there we go.

Lid on and into the oven.

And it even looks like things
are clearing up a little outside,

which means I might get
a chance to use that pool.

Oh, what a wonderful aroma.

So, that's been cooking
for well over an hour.

So, what I'm going to do now is
just take the pieces of rabbit out

and add tarragon, cos
rabbit and tarragon

is like chicken and tarragon.

They go together so well.

Now I'm going to add some creme
fraiche and then mustard.

Just to taste this now,
before I season it.

Oh, that's gorgeous,
that is gorgeous.

Just the tarragon, that
little aniseed note in there

and the friendliness of the creme
fraiche, the little bit of acid in
there.

Just going to put a tiny
bit more salt in.

You always remember about sauces
they need to be a bit exaggerated,

bearing in mind that's going to go
with a lot of rabbit.

Just a point, and we keep having to
cut when I'm saying all this,

because I keep saying chicken.

It does look like chicken,
but I must say, if like my wife,

you have a bit of a aversion
to cooking little bunnies,

make it chicken instead.

The intention of this
very personal journey,

this wandering trek through the
heart of French cuisine,

is to metaphorically check

the temperature of the food here.

Is it still as good as I remember?

My final stop in Troyes is going
to present a perfect opportunity

to see if it still holds
such a magical appeal.

Very nice to meet you, Patrick.

Gosh, what a lovely shop.

This is Patrick Maury.

He's a champion sausage maker.

But not just any sausage,
his are andouillettes.

And they're famous
all over the world.

Andouillettes are made with
offal, that's stomach, intestines,

with some champagne and onions.

They can be a bit whiffy,
if you catch my drift.

But the taste. Well,
it's something else.

And I feel privileged that
Patrick's going to reveal the secret

of creating the
perfect andouillette.

And it all starts like this.

Basically, he's using two thirds

intestine, pig's intestine,

one third pig stomach.

And then the seasonings are
onion, sel,

that's coarse salt, white
pepper, four spice, very French -

a lot of French charcuterie has
that flavour of four spice - nutmeg.

And not forgetting, of
course, the champagne.

Now that lot is stuffed into the
best part of the intestines.

Everything he does is done by hand.

He makes about 900 of these a week.

I just think, watching Patrick work
here, he's a bit like a hummingbird.

It's so fast, you'd need to put
it into slow motion to actually see

what he was doing.

But it's sensational.

Now he's just pricking
the andouillettes

to let the steam out.

And then he's going to

poach them in bouillon.

Once they've been cooked in the
bouillon, that's a rich stock

he prepared earlier,

Patrick's favourite way
of serving them

is to simply fry them in butter,
and it has to be butter.

Now a sauce, and it's
made with lots more butter,

that's the base for it, actually,
with shallots, Dijon mustard, creme
fraiche...

..and then a local liquor called
ratafia, particularly popular

here in Champagne and Burgundy.

I've been waiting for this all
morning.

Oh.

My first thought is the champagne
really matters in that, you can

really taste it.

My second thought is it's
a fabulous andouillette.

A lot of people don't
like andouillettes

because they smell too much of
the insides of pigs.

But this one is very subtle,
so it's actually gorgeous.

I remember the first time
I ever had an andouillette

was with my friend Johnny.

We were in a bistro in Paris.

We ordered it and the waiter said,
"No, no, not for tourists,

"not for tourists, this
is just for the locals."

And of course, we insisted on it.

I must say, we were a bit... a bit
put off by the aroma and the taste.

But I then started an affection for
andouillettes which has culminated

here in Troyes with the best
andouillette in the world.

Well, that's my opinion, at least.

But it's extremely satisfying,
and I have to say very reassuring

to find something so
extraordinarily good.

But that's the whole point
of my journey, really, to prove

that French cuisine is alive
and well, and continues to impress

in some of the most
unexpected ways and places.

I'll be continuing my trek, moving
east to Alsace, hoping to find

the same sort of quality and a
favourite wine of mine, Pinot blanc.

And wild boar and choucroute,
which I absolutely love.

And then I'll be heading south
through the lush landscapes

of Jura, where the delights of
poulet de Bresse and

Comte cheese lie in wait,

before journeying across to
beautiful Burgundy,

home to some of the most
sought-after wines in the world,

a joy to share with a plate
of snails and new friends.