Original subtitles

There is one special place where I worked as a young chef

that has remained close to my heart...

Didn't think I'd come to France and find a Barnsley chop.

..and one region in particular that is full of passionate producers

and incredible ingredients.

This is Provence.

We are going to be discovering the secrets

of the very best and simplest French cooking.

That is a discovery.

LAURENE LAUGHS

Nice and easy, simple dinner for one.

I'll be sharing tips, tricks and techniques...

We've got flavours of Provence.

There's sunshine for you.

..and enjoying a bit of friendly rivalry along the way...

That was close!

I'm a little nervous.

THEY LAUGH

I knew I wouldn't be able to fool them.

Yes.

ALL LAUGH

..all in the name of bringing you a simple taste of Provence.

We have many things in common with our French neighbours -

a passion for rugby,

the colour of our flags

and a love of dogs bordering on obsession.

But it's fair to say we don't always see eye to eye

when it comes to cuisine.

Cela, voila.

Snails, I'm looking at you.

However, there is one meat that we both love equally.

It's the epitome of comfort,

and it shows up in an astonishing number of delicious dishes...

ROOSTER CROWS

..chicken.

I want to give the French a run for their money

with a new take on a Sunday dinner we British all love -

roast chicken.

But first, I need the perfect poulet.

Hey, Alex. Hi, Marcus. How are you?

BOTH: Very nice to meet you.

Good to see you. Thank you for letting me come and see you.

I hear you're one of the best chicken farmers in the region.

I like to think about it, yeah.

I'm probably one of the best around here.

Being French chickens,

these guys expect gourmet food.

Where do you get this from? My grain, it's my grain.

Oh, you grow it? Yeah, I grow it... Ah!

..on my 17 hectares, so...

I mix it with corn and sunflower seeds

and I use the chicken manure

for adding some nutrients to the soil.

Nutrients, yeah. And I just wait for the rain.

And it does it itself? Yeah, it does it itself.

I remember we had chickens when I was growing up.

My brother had four bantam chickens

and we used to let the chickens out into a little garden. Yeah.

But the colour of the grass, when the chicken... They would...

The manure would go all over the chicken and they'd scrape it all in.

Was the greenest grass. I'll never forget it.

It does great for the soil. Yeah, it's fantastic.

And everyone is looking to buy my manure.

BOTH LAUGH

Really?

That's probably enough manure talk for now.

So, to find out which bird is going to be best for my dish,

let's get in amongst them.

Look at this!

HE LAUGHS

It's great.

What's the difference between the two different varieties?

The black ones with white head are called guinea fowls.

Is it a guinea fowl? Yeah!

And they are coming from Africa.

The brown chickens are called cou nu.

In Latin it's called Gallus.

Why do they have no...

No feather on their neck? ..feather on their neck?

It is because of the breed.

It's a pretty usual breed for someone

who's raising chicken in the outside.

They have a pretty thick skin on the neck. Yeah?

Not as thick on the breast.

I think this is why this is the best breed for this kind of weather,

because it is quite hot weather.

This chicken has a very big quantity of meat.

There's not so much grease as well. OK.

There's a bit of grease under the skin,

so when you cook it, actually,

you can get this crispy skin and the moisture stays inside.

So, you've got the skin, this little fat, the breast.

Exactly. And as the chicken is cooking,

the fat starts to melt and baste.

It's like a... It's like a basting... Exactly.

..of the meat itself. Exactly.

Back home, we have our roast chicken

with all the little trimmings, vegetables, potatoes,

good gravy and a beautifully roast chicken.

What do you have in France? Almost the same thing.

We don't do the gravy thing. OK.

We like to keep it...plain. Plain.

Just salt, a bit of olive oil and roasted potatoes.

It's so nice to hear that we almost have something in common.

BOTH LAUGH

The foundation of simple French food isn't just great produce,

it's also great technique.

As a student, I was taught the simple art

of how to portion a chicken,

and so, before I taste this,

I want to share the secrets of breaking down a chicken with you.

Let me tell you, this is an absolute game-changer.

When we buy our chickens in the supermarkets,

they're all portioned up.

They can be quite expensive.

But if you want to save some money, buy it whole, break it down yourself

and just use it in many different ways.

And I'm just going to show you how that's done.

And it is very simple.

You've got two wings, two legs,

two thighs and two breasts and the carcass.

Wings first.

Break the skin. Pop it open.

There's the knuckle. Slip your knife through.

There we have it. That's one chicken wing.

Next up, legs and thighs.

And the key here is as you lift it up,

you want to protect the breast, and by doing that,

you want as much of this skin

to stay next to the breast as possible.

So, cut close to the leg like so.

Pop open the joint.

You're not cutting through any bone at all.

All you're doing is just cutting the skin.

That's your chicken leg, that's your chicken thigh.

Now to separate the two.

You just put the leg skin side down

and just feel for the knuckle.

Again, just break the meat...like so

and just find that joint.

OK, breasts.

There's the breastbone, right down the middle.

I'm just going to cut gently to one side.

And just follow the bone.

What you've got to do is keep your knife close to the carcass itself,

it'll come off nicely.

And that's the shape that we're all familiar with

that we buy in our supermarkets, and I think in supermarkets now,

we're buying more chicken without the skin on.

And I think that the skin is the flavour, that's the best bit,

and that's why I've started buying my chickens whole

and breaking them down.

And of course, what you're left with, you're left with this.

Do not throw this away.

This is the bit that you don't get

when you're buying your chicken pieces.

This is where the real value is. This is flavour.

Chuck it in the freezer

until next time you want to make that all-important gravy

for your Sunday roast.

Right, class dismissed.

Now, I'm going to taste the meat.

So, got my pan, just gentle heat.

Bit of oil in the pan.

Chicken in.

CHICKEN SIZZLES

So, what's your favourite chicken dish?

My grandmother used to make the chicken wings

inside a hot pan like you're doing,

just with olive oil and salt. OK.

And she was adding,

just at the end of the cooking, a bit of vinegar.

That's it? That's it.

I actually quite like chicken wings. They're great, aren't they? Yeah!

I worked in America in Upstate New York

and chicken wings in the bar with a beer watching the game...

ALEX LAUGHS

Yeah. Oh! It was great fun.

That's it, just gently turn them over.

Just a little bit of colour, not much.

My second best is the thigh. Yeah.

Slightly darker meat.

Great in a little stew,

great in sort of a Provencal-style sauce. Mm-hm.

Fantastic roast dinner. So many things that the thigh really works.

You can do pretty much everything. Yeah, you can.

How many times do you eat chicken a week? Probably seven.

LAUGHING: No way!

Like...every day? Yeah, every day.

That's all I have in the fridge, so...

ALEX CHUCKLES

So, beautiful. You nervous? Yeah!

MARCUS LAUGHS

Go on, then. Bit hot.

But that...

..it's beautiful and moist. Yeah.

It's so good.

What I'm tasting here is a really good flavour chicken.

It's got a structure, but it's also got flavour,

and that's what I was here for, that's what I came for.

I've been very successful in finding Alex.

He thinks and believes his chicken

is as good as any other chicken in this country,

and that is some saying.

And now that I've tasted it, yeah, he's not far wrong.

Alongside their meat,

chickens provide us with another staple ingredient

as well as the age-old question, which came first?

Of course, I'm talking about the humble egg,

and it really doesn't take much time or effort

to turn them into one of the simplest dishes I know -

a perfect French omelette.

For me, there are four things that are really important -

good eggs, fresh eggs,

butter, non-stick pan

and, actually, one of these - spatula.

And the spatula more than a fork, because with a fork,

you'll start to scrape the non-stick pan.

And trust me, I've made my fair share of omelettes.

One of my experiences of seeing a breakfast chef

was when I moved down to a five-star hotel in London when I was 18.

That's a serious job.

It's a fast service and it's a complex service

cos everybody wants their omelettes done a completely different way.

The worst one, I have to say, was the,

"Can I have egg white omelette, please?"

Then you'd find yourself splitting the eggs

and, I mean, it's hard enough just getting the omelette right.

Put your butter in and it just gently starts to melt

and then bubble gently without colouring.

That's the perfect temperature.

Eggs going in.

So, you just gently start to move them around.

Got to say this, the best omelettes made in my house...

..I'm going to have to give that one to my wife, Jane.

Archie may have something to say about that, too,

cos he's pretty good.

A perfect omelette has a soft, gooey centre,

and if it's got any colour on the outside -

well, by French standards, that's overcooked.

And if you've got any other ingredients,

a little bit of onion, a bit of mushroom,

now's your time to add it before you fold.

And you want your omelette to have a beautiful little cigar shape.

A little bit of colour on there.

I think I need to practise a little bit more.

And that means my wife and my son are still the best omelette makers

in my house, and I have to say, that's slightly frustrating.

HE CHUCKLES

But it's nice and soft in the middle.

And one thing I do know...

Mm! It may have a bit of colour but it doesn't half taste good.

Now I've found the perfect chicken thanks to Alex,

I'll need something to go with it if I'm to succeed in my mission

to give the French a new take on our great British Sunday roast.

I've been told about an organic farmer just outside of town

who has really gone back to basics.

In fact, he's taken simplicity to the next level.

Bastien? Hey, how are you, Marcus?

Bonjour. Ca va? Enchante.

I've arrived just in time to help load the day's pick of apples

onto his...

..erm...

..tractor?

Et voila!

MARCUS LAUGHS

We can carry.

Ah! Extraordinary.

I've never seen anything like that before.

That will do.

HORN TOOTS

Let's go!

In a world of his own.

Bastien is so committed to sustainability

that he doesn't use any machinery.

It actually looks quite fun.

There's lots of holes in this.

Yeah, yeah. No worries, it's...

Where's the steering wheel? No, it's...right side. OK.

And that's it. And if you want to go more, if you want to go fast...

Ah.

And how do I brake? No brake.

HE LAUGHS, HORN TOOTS

And that's to get anyone out of the way.

I feel like that geezer out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

HE LAUGHS

Delivery complete. But chicken and apples?

Feels like a French classic from Normandy.

So, as we're in Provence,

it's Bastien's traditionally produced organic wine

that I'm interested in.

Wow! It's very old-fashioned, it's very traditional.

Yes. If I don't have any more electricity,

I can make my wines. You can survive. Yeah.

What wine are we making today?

We do a maceration wine.

White wine, maceration wine.

OK. Perhaps we call that orange wine. OK.

So, macerating is where crushed grapes are left

to ferment in their own juices and start to turn into wine.

These ones have been in this vat for 21 days.

Et voila.

But it's not quite what I was expecting to see.

It has a look of olives.

Er, yes, it can look like olives. It looks like olives.

I show you just to...to see how is, is like the grape float,

are in, floating on the top. Ah.

And what do you add to the grapes? Nothing?

No. Just because of the fermentation,

every day during 21 days

I...I press by my hand the... the grapes.

In here. Inside.

No liquid, no sugar.

Nada. Nothing. Niente. Natural.

So this juice goes into this tank. Yes.

And then what happens to the grape?

We're going to put it inside to press. And get more?

I take the back. Oops!

I've never seen wine made like this before.

I suppose the modern way is exactly the same.

But you don't normally see it done on pallets

and outside and gravity.

And by hand. By hand especially.

Ah, voila.

Bonjour, le vin! There we go.

It certainly smells good.

It smells delicious.

But I'll be honest...

..I am a little sceptical.

It's not the best-looking wine I've ever seen, I've got to say.

But I'll give it a go.

I've got to say, I've never poured wine out of a bucket before.

I think we should do more of this in restaurants.

What? That's how we should... that's how we should serve wine.

Is this alcohol at the moment? Yeah, yes. It's 11.5.

Dry. Yes, it's dry.

Very dry. Yeah, of course.

It's quite hard to believe that this is going to become

a delicious, drinkable wine.

Yes, hup!

But I'm going to trust the process.

So now we're going to start the press.

You listen. One click on the left,

one click on the right.

I mean, you'd think that was a workout, but look.

No, no pressure at all cos of the way the mechanism is fantastic.

That's engineering, I suppose.

Not my forte.

Do you know what I feel like now?

I feel like I'm rowing a boat.

I had no idea winemaking could be as simple as this

and it's amazing to think that in just one year,

it will look like this.

Thank you. You're welcome. Merci.

So it's from 2022.

The same wine we do at the moment.

I didn't expect that.

I did not expect that.

From this... Yes. ..to this in one year.

This is the process that most people don't see.

Can I let you into a secret?

Yes.

I have never really liked organic wine until now.

HE LAUGHS

I'm lucky.

I like the colour. It's like the sunshine.

And it has got that lovely dry taste just at the back,

but that's expected. That's what you...that's what...

..that's the flavour you want. Yeah.

Thank you. Sante.

It's not clinical. It's not spotlessly clean.

It's not a sterile environment, but he's making a good product

and what it's doing is, it's opening my mind up to believing

that rustic and natural and allowing Mother Nature in

is probably the best way

if you're going to get one of the best products.

So, wine with chicken. Come on, surely that's a winning combo.

But what colour?

I have to confess that my favourite is a rose.

Although I've never considered cooking with one.

Wow.

I think some more research is in order.

Ralph? Yes. Nice to meet you.

Marcus Wareing. Marcus. Very nice to see you.

What a beautiful shop.

We may be turning into a nation of rose lovers,

but there's no doubting the French got in on the action long before us.

The majority of rose wines in the world come from France,

like, one third, I think, and, of course,

the big majority of French rose comes from the Cote d'Azur,

from the back parts of... of the Provence,

like where we are here. OK.

Rose is made from red grapes,

and its final colour depends on how long the grape skins

are in contact with the grape juice.

The longer the time, the darker the rose.

Now, I really do not like rose that looks like Ribena.

Pale is definitely getting more and more trendy.

And with high fashion often comes high price tags,

but if you want to bag a bargain,

get yourself online and do a bit of research.

There are loads of wine writers out there who do all the hard work

of hunting down the best buys

and more affordable alternatives in our supermarkets.

That pale rose is jumping out at me. Of course it is. Yes.

But are you going to try, are you going to convince me

that there is a better, better flavour in the darker ones?

It's all a question of personal taste.

No surprise here. I'm loving this.

You can't beat the flavour of a pale rose.

The colour does not mean it's thin in taste... No.

..or...or light in taste. It's pretty intense.

I've got to try that dark one.

RALPH LAUGHS

Oh, my goodness me!

If this was given to me... Yes.

..I think I'd ask for it to be changed.

RALPH CHUCKLES

So I'm going to do this with my eyes closed.

That's...that's more than a rose, for me.

In fact, I don't actually, I don't...

It's very good. It is very, very nice.

It's a very special rose. Yeah.

I think...I think I'd, actually, personally,

I...I'm going to throw this out there. Don't get upset.

Yep. I actually don't think it is a rose.

It is.

I hate to be proved wrong, but the truth is, it's really nice.

Try this with Asian food, Indian food.

Crazy good. OK.

Yeah. That's a good tip. That's a good tip.

Even lamb. Yeah. This can fit with many, many meat dishes.

And worth keeping an eye out for the darker roses in the supermarket

because they're often cheaper than the trendier pale ones.

How does someone choose wine that knows nothing about it?

What, what do we look for?

I think what you can say is, the lighter the colour,

the more the flavours are on the lighter side,

like citrus and all that. Mm.

And the darker the rose gets, the more the...

..the flavours go towards a red wine, which is more red berries.

Now back to the question in hand.

Did you ever think of cooking your sauce maybe with a rose wine?

I don't know. Ah! Ha-ha!

We've always made sauces with white wine.

A red wine sauce works well.

But there's just something about a pink sauce

doesn't quite work for me.

My daughter... Yeah. ..and bless her,

she has this pink sauce that she serves with pasta

and it's pink because she puts the tomato base into

a creme fraiche sauce. Yes.

And I'm looking at it and thinking, "Jess, really?"

She says, "Dad, it's pink pasta. Eat it." But you see...

Do you know what's really interesting about that pink pasta?

It tastes delicious.

Do you know why? Cos my daughter made it.

After my extensive research, I'm settling on a chicken dish

that I'm sure will give the French a run for their money.

It's comforting, delicious and, above all, simple.

It's a cheat's chicken bourguignon with red wine.

I think I'll leave the pink sauces to Jess.

So, chicken first, and I'm adding flavour with thyme, garlic...

Good glug of oil.

And get it straight onto the barbie.

Get some colourisation on the chicken.

Don't be afraid.

My top tip for avoiding the classic British burnt chicken on the barbie

is to get lots of caramelisation on the outside,

then move it to a cooler spot, away from the direct heat,

to finish cooking through.

Alternatively, put the chicken pieces on a roasting tray

and into the oven for 40 to 50 minutes at 180 degrees.

Now for that all-important sauce,

and keep your eyes out for some culinary cheating.

There's some really great sauces out there.

Coq au vin, beef bourguignon, red wine sauces.

There are many other recipes in French cookery and back home

but the base of this sauce is about using a little bit of streaky bacon.

I've got some shallots, I've got some button mushrooms,

and a little bit of Bastien's red wine,

just to give it a little bit of flavour.

First, cut up the bacon.

Any bit of bacon that you've got in your fridge.

Just bring in that little bit of salty, rich bacon flavour

in the background of the sauce.

Up next, our roughly chopped shallots.

And garlic,

followed by mushrooms.

I'm using button because I think they're great,

and they just happen to be about the cheapest ones

you can get your hands on.

Pinch of salt.

Good twist of pepper.

Turn up the heat.

Don't be afraid to get a little bit of colour into the pan.

Now, what we're looking for is the caramelisation,

cos this is a brown sauce, and so there's no problem

in getting a little bit of crunchy, crispy bits

on your shallots and your mushrooms.

Don't let the pan go cold cos what will happen is,

the mushrooms will start to release their water,

then everything in that pan will start poaching.

And always a top tip when you're making anything

and you want to retain heat - a good, sturdy, thick pan.

Cheat alert!

Right, how do you get a big flavour into your sauce?

I'm going to put in a couple of these - beef stock cubes.

Now, I'm not going to make stock with this,

I'm going to use these as a seasoning.

This is where I should confess that I use these all the time.

They're cheap and cheerful instant flavour bombs

that we all have at home.

I say get them out of the cupboard and into your sauces!

Even though this is a chicken dish,

I just think that the beef stock cube and the red wine

work together really, really well.

Now for some of Bastien's beautiful red wine.

You definitely don't need to be using expensive wine to cook with.

In fact, if you ever find yourself with a corked bottle,

keep it for cooking.

You might not want to drink it,

but once the alcohol has burnt off, it gives great colour

and flavour to a sauce like this.

In with some chicken stock, and another cheat.

Cornflour.

I know all the chefs out there are going to be going, "What?!"

Listen, I know full well that anybody at home,

especially a chef, who wants to get a meal cooked

and get it served

and you're standing there waiting for your sauce to reduce

and reduce and reduce for hours and hours and hours.

Nah. It's my thickening agent.

Who doesn't love a short cut?

Automatically, that has transformed from a very, very loose sauce

with some garnishes in it into something that's really thick

and delicious that's going to coat that lovely chicken.

That's the sauce pretty much ready.

It just needs a few finishing touches -

a splash of red wine vinegar, a couple more mushrooms for texture...

Mind your fingers.

..and a pop of green from some chopped parsley.

Now, we can start putting our dish together.

Don't leave anything behind.

All the little nuggets. Slices of garlic.

Put those in, too.

There we have it - a comforting classic,

packed with flavour and cheats,

starring the humble chicken and a splash of red wine.

My Provencal take on a great British Sunday roast.

Alex, Bastien and his wife Emilie have come to see

what I've made with their produce.

Hello. Bonsoir! Bonsoir!

Have I found the ultimate French twist

on one of our favourite dishes?

Let's see, shall we?

Yeah, sorry, Alex, it's chicken.

Chicken again. Yeah, it's just the second time of the day, it's OK.

No worry. I have the same problem with the wine.

Chicken for lunch. Wine for lunch.

Wine for lunch. Wine every day.

Wine every day.

So, let's try this.

Delicious.

And the chicken is really good, eh?

It goes really well with the wine.

This works. Mm. Cos this is big and this is big.

The French have their own version of a roast dinner.

It's not quite like ours.

There's a few little points of difference.

But there's one point of difference that I do find quite extraordinary.

They don't serve gravy.

You can't have a roast dinner without gravy.

I don't care what part of the world you live in.

Back home, our Sunday roast, our chicken, roast potatoes,

vegetables, that's what we do.

I think this is more familiar with France and the region.

Easy-going. Yeah. Yeah. I like, you know, I...

That's the best way also, eh?

And I like the fact that you're doing it with your bread.

Oh, yeah. Cos this is just the best way as well. Mm.

OK, I'm going to have to let it go

because whilst they might not do gravy over here,

they do do incredible-yet-simple sauces

and that's what makes this chicken dish so special.

Will it ever take over from the fabulous roast dinner,

the roast chicken dinner that we all love at home?

I'm not so sure.

Sante. Sante, Marcus.

Sante. Sante.

But one thing I do know - it involves a lot less washing-up.

Tell you what, why don't you give it a go next Sunday?

See what you think.