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 the 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.

SHE 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!

THEY ALL LAUGH

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

This is Lourmarin,

where every Tuesday, this unassuming car park is taken over

by the farmers' market.

Bonjour. Bonjour, bonjour.

Drawing people from all over the region,

there's a real sense of occasion -

and each week, a local French chef impresses the crowd

with a live cooking demo.

Fun!

However, I've been told a British chef is cooking tonight,

and that chef...

..is me.

I've been properly stitched up,

but I do love a challenge,

so I'm going to seek out the best ingredients I can find

to wow the masses -

but first I've got to work out what to cook.

I grow these in my own garden, so these I do love.

Beautiful figs.

These are really plump and fat.

Delicious.

What's just really great is,

it's so fresh, so deliciously local.

The produce is so good,

you don't really need to do a great deal to it.

Sounds easy - but for a British chef looking to impress the French,

I've got a lot to prove.

Hi. Enchante. Marcus.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Pauline is a local who loves all things food and works at the market,

so I'm hoping for some insider tips.

Looking for food in Provence,

this is the picture that I was expecting... OK. ..to see.

You've got meat, you've got bread, you've got fruit. And cheese.

And cheese, of course, of course. You've got to have some cheese.

It's beautiful. So what do you think the locals will think

of an English chef cooking?

I think in France, the English food is not very, erm...

Reputation's not good? Yeah, yeah. Yes!

SHE LAUGHS

Here we go.

She's not exactly filling me with confidence,

but she's obviously taken pity on me because she's given me a tip-off

for an ingredient that could be the secret

to winning over the locals later...

Bonjour. Hello.

..Porc du Ventoux.

Look at this, little buffet. Is this for me?

Yes. That's right!

L'echine de porc sechee. Ca c'est de l'echine de porc sechee.

What cut is this? The shin of pork, the shin. Ah, yes.

Wow. It's tasty, no? Oh, wow. Yeah.

Mm-hm. That is good.

I'm definitely thinking pork is the way to go

when I cook en masse for these discerning locals.

A love of this delicious economic meat

is something us Brits have in common with our French neighbours.

So I've got the main ingredient for my dish -

but I'm keen to find out what makes the French think

they rear the best pork.

Parfait.

Almost 40% of French meat consumption

comes from the humble pig.

These look like ordinary porkers to me, but they're not.

Only hardy hogs, bred to roam and forage here on the Albion Plateau

can earn the name Porc du Ventoux.

PIG GRUNTS

Bonjour. Bonjour, bonjour.

And my local food guide, Pascale, has brought me to meet the farmer

whose products are sold at the market, Eric Aubert.

Aha, bonjour. Bonjour. Eric, Marcus.

They look very happy. C'est joli.

Tres heureux.

They're coming to say hello. Hello.

PIGS GRUNT

Now, I've had experience looking after pigs,

with up to 11 at one stage, so I feel quite at home here.

This certainly brings back a few memories.

There's always summat to do on the farm. I love it.

I love getting involved with the pigs.

Sans stress.

No stress. Happy.

Plenty of food. Sunshine.

Soleil, pluie... Oui, oui.

Can you ask Eric how he got into pig farming for me, please? I'm curious.

Comment vous etes arrive a elever des cochons dans cette region?

J'ai parti d'un...de la cuisine.

He was a cook. Ah.

A chef. Chef? I like chefs.

Good man.

I can see that he's had the sort of midlife crisis that I was having,

or I am having - because I've got some pigs of my own.

Oh, bah, voila.

Would Eric say that this is the best pork in France?

In the UK, affordability is really important.

Is that the same here?

It's the same in France. Is it? Yes, it is.

Le boeuf, surtout aujourd'hui quoi, le boeuf il a augmente...

Yeah, beef would be, and veal and all this

would be a lot more expensive - and in France we say,

"Dans le cochon tout est bon."

Meaning? Which means, in the pig, you can eat everything.

We eat the nose, ears.

Everything is good.

Dans le cochon tout est bon.

C'est bien, Chef.

THEY LAUGH

With that in mind, I want to put Eric and Pascale to the test.

I'd like to play a little game. Un petit jeu pour vous, Eric.

I'm going name the most popular cuts of pork from Great Britain

and I'd like you and Eric to name the popular cuts from France.

So it's France versus Great Britain.

We're on!

It's two against one.

I haven't got a chance.

Personally, I think this is going to be a tough one for me.

So I want to go first - sausages.

Bacon.

Pork belly.

I'm going to go with pork loin.

Shoulder. Shoulder. Yes, yes, yes.

Popular, popular, popular. Bacon.

I'm struggling. Ham!

We use ham. Ham sandwiches. Of course.

We're very good at ham sandwiches.

Ham toasties. Ah!

Croque monsieur. Croque monsieur.

Oh! He's good. He's good.

But there's one thing in the UK that you do not make here in France,

I don't think, and that's a sausage sandwich for breakfast

with brown sauce. Oui?

We have this, but not the brown sauce.

No, it's... We couldn't cope with that.

THEY LAUGH

OK, now we're naming sandwiches.

Hopefully, that's distracted them from my defeat.

I have to hand it to the French,

they are pretty good in a competition...

I'm getting hungry. Oh, oui.

SHE LAUGHS

..and they certainly know how to rear happy pigs.

Just check out this terrain.

Prized from nose to curly tail.

Here they are. Yes.

It's not just breeding that makes Provence's Porc du Ventoux

so special.

Come on. We've got a few candidates.

Oui.

This is great territory. This is a really good area for the shade.

Ils sont bien dans l'ombre ici. Oui, oui, oui.

With all those acorns waiting to drop from these oak trees,

no wonder they sleep under it.

They're probably hoping it's all going to drop off.

Hello. Hello.

And will Eric stop feeding them when the acorns drop?

Will he need to continue this?

Yeah, always a bit, yes.

Always a bit more? Yes.

Sheep, they graze the land, they eat the grass. Yes.

Pigs, you've got to feed them.

And I'd imagine that that's the reason that you eat

nose to tail eating, you eat all of it

because it's cost you so much to feed.

Yeah. No waste. No waste. It totally makes sense.

The pigs have got a great fat content because they're being fed,

they're getting fatter,

but they're also working to make their muscles get strong. Yes.

They get exercise. Exercise, and that's what this territory,

this terroir, gives them that. Exactly. Makes sense.

Yeah. Yeah.

Time for a nose to tail tasting platter.

Now that's what I've been waiting for.

Ah, voila.

Il attendait ca avec impatience.

This is Provence.

Voila. Et un peu de nos produits qu'on fait.

These are the products that he... Wow. Jambon, caillette.

Jambon. Jambon. Oui.

Caillette. Made with liver, kidney and spinach.

And throat also. So the offal. Yes.

Fromage de tete. Et saucisse...

Head cheese. You can guess which part of nose to tail

this pate came from.

It looks good. Can I taste now?

Whatever you want. Jambon? Jambon. Come on.

Mm. Mm-hm-hm!

Where I come from, when we do a little pork board for friends,

we have little sausages on sticks.

Ah, ils ont des petites saucisses sur des cure-dents.

THEY ALL LAUGH

That's it. And maybe some ham and a little brown sauce.

Un peu de jambon et la brown sauce.

Pas de sauce. We're getting better.

What really stands out for me is the quality,

the diversity of what is produced.

They've got so many beautiful delicacies

that's made from the pig itself,

it's just absolutely outstanding.

But I think we've still got a little bit more work to do

if we're going to convince the British public

to eat pig's head or pig's trotters in volume.

This has probably been the most beautiful pig farm

I've ever been to.

The view is stunning.

C'est mon bureau. Voila. This is beautiful. It's his office.

MARCUS LAUGHS

Chin-chin.

Cheers. Cheers! Cheers.

If I'm going to wow the crowds at the market later,

I'd better practise cooking with this pork.

So I'm going to show you how to make a cracking dish

with all the flavours of Provence.

Griddled pork chop with a simple fennel salad

and charred orange vinaigrette.

This steak was from the shoulder,

and I have to say, when you're looking for the quality of pork

it's this lovely fat content -

and of course you've got marbling just running through it,

pretty much like you'd find in beef.

You don't normally see that in pork

but then this is pork at its very, very best.

So I'm going to be serving this with a simple fennel salad.

But first of all, I want to do an orange dressing

because I just think fruit and pork go together really, really well.

I'm going to put the skin in it, I'm going to put the flesh in it

and the juices in but I want that charring,

I want that burnt flavour going through my dressing.

Simply chop into rounds,

drizzle with oil, salt and pepper,

then get them on the grill.

Nothing else needed. There we go.

And I think the charring will just give a slightly different dimension

to the flavour of the dressing. Fabulous.

I'll just leave those to look after themselves.

Now for the pork.

I'm just going to just nick off the rind there.

That's your crackling, but there's no point in cooking that

when you're cooking a chop

because it's not going to have enough time to cook.

So you can put that into your freezer,

collect a few of them up and then put it in the oven,

roast it and you've got yourself a little bit of crackling.

Put that to one side.

All the steak needs is some fresh thyme.

Check my oranges.

So just turn those over.

Apart from getting the charring on the oranges,

what I'm also doing at the same time is I'm cooking the skin,

because it's also the skin that I want to put into my dressing.

So once the oranges have been beautifully caramelised,

I've just put a little bit of oil into the tray,

I'm just going to put a pinch of seasoning on top,

a little twist of pepper.

A little splash of olive oil just on top,

a little splash of white wine vinegar,

and they're just going to go back onto the top of the grill

while I prep the rest of my dish.

Right, on to my salad. Bit of fennel.

So just nick off the top.

Mm. Aniseed.

Fennel, got quite a unique flavour.

This goes so well with pork.

So nice thin slices.

If you keep the root on, it just holds it all together like that.

Looks fantastic.

That's delicious. It's almost like an explosion of liquorice.

I actually think fennel tastes better when it's in a salad

than when it's actually braised or cooked.

Chop a bit more up.

And one bulb when thinly sliced goes a really long way.

Now on to the vinaigrette,

beginning with some extra virgin olive oil.

Touch of white wine vinegar.

Pinch of salt.

Pepper.

A little bit of grain mustard.

Little drizzle of honey.

Mix it all up.

BLENDER WHIRS

Got a lovely sweet and sour going on there.

Absolutely fabulous.

Now for the oranges.

Look at that.

Just going to cut them up into pieces...

..just to help it through.

How good does that look?

A little bit of charring around the outside.

The sugar's become concentrated.

The skin has started to soften up and you get a beautiful flavour

once it goes into your vinaigrette. Fabulous.

Add the orange pieces a few at a time

and make sure they're well blended.

WHIRRING

Wow.

You get a bit messy, but it's... it's worth it.

And there we have it -

the perfect vinaigrette for pork.

Simple, economic, delicious.

A true taste of Provence.

Right, now I can start cooking my pork steak.

Pinch of salt on the first side,

on the side that I'm going to cook first.

Pepper.

And it's over to the grill.

There we go.

Pork on the grill - absolutely fantastic.

Don't need to move it around. Just leave it.

Get a good charring onto it.

The fat will start to drip through.

One of my favourite dishes my mum used to make was pork chops

with onion and sage. And she just used to fill a dish full of onions.

She just used to sit the pork chop on top,

little knobs of butter, loads of dry sage,

put it into the oven and just cooked it really slowly

until it was braised. Those fabulous memories.

Talk about simple.

And all this steak needs is a pinch more salt and a flip.

It just takes four to five minutes on each side to cook.

Just a nice simple char.

I think we're as good as done there.

Just one final blast.

There we go. Now we're getting there.

And we're good to go. There we have it.

Look at that. How good does that look?

Beautiful.

So when you're cooking on the grill, just give it a good seal

and then just leave it there just to sit and rest

before you start eating it.

I think we can start putting this dish together.

Got my fennel, nice and simple.

Drizzle the orange vinaigrette over the fennel and toss together.

Then another touch of that fresh thyme.

One of the lovely things about this type of dressing

is you don't need too much, it's got so much flavour.

To keep things a la Provencal,

some chopped green olives...

..and for a fresh taste of aniseed,

a final sprinkling of fennel fronds.

Waste not want not.

So that's pretty much my salad done.

It's time to put it all on a plate.

It's simple, it's fresh,

it's delicious.

And there we have it.

Fennel salad with a delicious burnt orange dressing...

..and a beautiful grilled pork chop.

Oh, wow!

The marbling of the fat is what's giving it this stunning flavour,

and then the salty olive with the fennel

is just a beautiful marriage.

But what I really, really love about this dish

is not just the humble ingredients that I've used to make it,

it's the simplicity of it that I think is so clever.

And the little twist with the grilled orange,

well, that's just something special and it works a treat.

Mm. In fact... I could eat that all day long.

Here's hoping that this pork will put me in good stead

when I cook for the locals at the market later.

Speaking of humble simplicity,

there's a delicacy here that gives those words new meaning.

In France, it's an ingredient

elevated to grace even a king's table -

but back in the UK, it's something many of us consider a garden pest.

It is, of course...

..the snail.

Always on the hunt for simple, economic and delicious produce,

I've been invited by Livain, a local chef who's an expert in escargot,

to meet his supplier, Alphonse,

who's been rearing snails since he was a boy.

Ha. Enchante. Enchante.

Wow.

This is the farm here?

I've never been to a snail farm.

I thought it was going to be inside, like an incubator. Yes.

This is wild, this is natural. Yes.

I would never go into my garden and look at a snail and think,

"I want to eat it." Yeah.

So are there different varieties of snails here in the region?

Yes. Yes. Can you show me?

La-bas. Oui.

Along these narrow corridors of brush and herbs,

Alphonse can rear over 250 snails in just one square metre.

Whoa, whoa.

Fattening up for autumn on the fresh herbs

are the traditional petit gris, sold and eaten in their shell.

And the gros gris, loved by restaurateurs.

How many snails does he produce then, in a year?

Combien d'escargots vous faites?

400,000? Yes. Per year? Per year, yes. Wow.

This may be a stupid question,

do you have male and female snails?

Non, les deux sexes. Il y a deux. Hermaphrodite.

Male and female together as one? Yeah.

Hermaphrodite, but they need a partner

to make little ones.

MARCUS LAUGHS

Yeah, complicated.

Complicated. I need to see this for myself,

but I've got no idea what or where the bits on a snail are.

Chef, Chef, I need your help.

Ca c'est le beau gris. I need your help here cos I...

It's, it's new for me too. Er...

MARCUS LAUGHS

The, the escargot...

I'm so pleased he's with me.

They do it like this.

OK. To reproduce.

Really? I never knew that.

I never, ever knew that.

Alphonse has certainly opened my eyes

to the hidden world of snail husbandry.

Thankfully, when it comes to eating them

I'm on more familiar ground,

and Livain is showing us how he prepares them in his restaurant.

Alphonse's snails are already pre-cooked,

so they just need warming through.

So underneath we put a prune puree,

we put a green pesto,

and then with the cooking juice from the snails we make a cream.

We're way off simple Provencal cuisine now.

This entree is turning into a Michelin-starred masterclass.

Finally, the piece de resistance.

Alphonse's fabulous gros gris

join the garden salad and flower petals,

followed by yet another flavoured cream - and, voila.

Livain has elevated Alphonse's simple escargot

into a fine dining experience.

Wow.

Normally it's me that's doing this.

OK. Doing it nice and fancy.

This looks beautiful. This is like the Garden of Provence.

I love that.

He only goes for the snail, look.

Bon, amazing.

Wow, so tender.

Wow! C'est beau et tendre, l'escargot.

Good snails.

And so soft. Yeah.

My memory of snails are chewy.

OK, no. This is not chewy at all.

No. When it's good cooked, er, it's like butter in the mouth.

Cos it's Alphonse that does the cooking.

They're cooked twice, first in stock, then brine.

So Alphonse's snails are already full of flavour.

OK.

OK. My turn.

Yes, your turn.

This is my chance to show the French what we Brits are made of.

That's restaurant style.

Thank you. Yes. Which is beautiful.

I'm just going to keep it simple.

Same snails.

And I've got a secret weapon,

supercharged with local ingredients.

This is pretty much a take on a classic

garlic and parsley butter,

but with the flavours of Provence.

Let's hope this does the trick!

A touch of olive oil into a hot pan

and it's straight in with those drained snails.

Just a little bit of saute on the outside.

This is fast food French style,

letting simple ingredients speak for themselves.

What I just want is just a little bit of crispiness,

just a little, not too much.

Little bit of lemon.

What do you think?

OK? C'est bon? Bon.

Pas mal, oui.

And then we're just going to put in some of this

beautiful butter de Provence.

As that melts, the snails will get a super boost of flavour.

It's been a long time since I cooked snails like this.

But I have to say, knowing that they taste this good,

this is easy, this is fantastic.

All I'm doing now is just aerating the butter,

turning the butter into just a little bit of beurre noisette.

There we go.

Take them off the heat.

Just let them absorb that butter.

OK, c'est fini.

Break some bread.

Dip it into the pan.

Nothing could be easier.

Oh!

But have I convinced Monsieur Snail?

Ah-ha.

That's my dish. Dish rustic.

Here you are. Thank you.

Bon, c'est bon. C'est bon, huh?

Voila.

Look at that.

Very good. Beautiful.

Wow!

Two completely different things

but yet the snail is the king of both dishes.

That's the reason why the French, they love it. Yeah.

The chef de anglais, c'est bon?

Est-ce que le chef anglais il a bien travaille?

Is that not good? Oui, oui, bon, surtout pour un anglais...

It's OK? Anglais? ..que n'aime pas les escargots.

He said especially for an English guy who don't like snails.

No, it's true, yeah, yeah.

Really good. Ah, c'est tres bon, tres bon, tres, tres bon. Merci.

He's the boss.

He... This is why our dishes taste so good

because the snails...

Il ne faut pas dire... These are happy snails.

They were delicious.

I think I have just met an absolute master

in the art of snail nurturing.

And I've had a lesson in the birds and the bees of snails.

How cool is that?

That's something I didn't expect today.

I never thought I'd ever say that on a snail farm!

Back in Lourmarin, the market kitchen cook-off

is fast approaching,

and with the Porc de Ventoux already in hand,

will I be in with a chance of impressing the locals?

I'm really going to have to pull out all the stops,

and need a few surprises up my sleeve.

Deux euros quarante.

Voila. Merci. Merci, merci, au revoir. Bonne soiree.

And with only a few minutes until I'm due onstage,

I need to make some decisions.

Right, here we go.

What I'm thinking, for my pork, I've got some bread

and then I'm thinking of just like a salsa.

So I'm going to get some peppers, some tomatoes, just an onion

and I've got these lovely herbs just to finish it off.

I've missed my spot in the queue now.

Ah. Voila.

I've got to get cooking!

I just need to let my imagination just run wild,

because there seems to be a bit of an audience gathered.

I need to get a bit of a move on.

So I'm just going to get on with my salsa first.

So here we go.

Nous sommes ici avec le chef Marcus Wareing d'Angleterre.

Nous sommes tres heureux de, d'avoir...

Chopped onion.

Even though the expectations are really quite high,

what makes this really simple for me

is that I just need to let their produce

do the talking for me

and all I've got to do is just gently bring it all together

and hopefully my guests enjoy it.

Hello. Bonjour.

As if I wasn't already sweating,

I've got a live running commentary too!

Il fallait qu'il pratique.

MARCUS LAUGHS

Je sais pas parler Francais, uh.

Which is testing all my French skills, as well as my cooking.

Chives. Ciboulette. Ciboulette.

Ciboulette. No pressure then!

Le beaucoup.

Oui, il va bien, le poivre.

Looks like my salsa is going viral.

Excellent. Merci.

Voila. C'est fini.

Actually I think I'm holding my own a little bit

with the French at the moment.

I'm feeling good, I'm feeling good.

Now I know pork loves fruit,

but there's no time for charred oranges.

So a simple fig and basil salad will do nicely.

Il melange le basilic.

Trust me.

Now for the local hero -

Provence's celebrated Porc de Ventoux...

..and I'm counting on the steak's marbling

to deliver the flavour

and wow the crowd,

just like it did me the first time I tried it.

I just need to add in a bit of theatre!

Oh! C'est magnifique.

Flambeed, and with a perfect crust, the pork's done.

Oui, oui, oui.

I feel like I've got my head chef watching me.

The chef de cuisine. Merci beaucoup.

Here's hoping the host is happy!

And with the pork steaks sliced

and dressed in my delicious fresh salsa, I'm done.

C'est fini. Excellent.

Merci.

J'ai pas les mots.

Merci.

Time to find out what the French crowd think of my British cooking.

C'est le top de top.

Merci.

And first in line to see what I've made with his pork...

..is Eric's son, Loris.

Good?

That is good. Merci.

I'm happy now.

Right, I'd like, Paul, I'd like know

whether I've managed to change your mind about the British chefs?

OK. So you've got to come and try.

Well, the smell is very nice.

Voila.

I'm waiting for the reaction.

I'm actually a little bit nervous, if I'm really honest with you.

We've got the boss, who didn't really give me

a huge amount of encouragement but I'm waiting for the verdict.

I change my opinion.

Yay! Fantastic.

Thank you. Lovely. Thank you for inviting me.

I know exactly how the contestants on MasterChef feel now!

But let's be honest, cooking simply, with ingredients this fresh,

is always a winner.

Yay!