Original subtitles

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

that has remained close to my heart.

I 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.

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.

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

Yes!

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

There's one essential here in France that simply can't be ignored.

It's cheap as chips, eaten daily with every meal

and in almost every household.

But to a visitor like me, it feels like an absolute treat.

Bonjour. Bonjour.

Une baguette, s'il vous plait? Bien sur.

Very good, the French. You speak English!

Thank you. 90.

The baguette is world famous. Is it still incredibly popular?

Yes. Do people still eat a lot? Yes. Really?

The French people love bread, especially baguettes.

They eat twice...

Do they? And do they buy it twice a day?

Yes.

That's... Just for lunch and another one for dinner.

The old people, they take ten per week

and they make in the freezer.

They put them in the freezer? It's a really good idea.

You have just half an hour later you have very good bread.

In the freezer, take it out, 30 minutes. Perfect.

Well, an half an hour, it's OK. It's ready to eat. You have new bread. That's a good tip.

I didn't know you could do that with baguettes. Why is it so popular?

I think it's because it's the oldest and perfect for sandwiches.

Funny she should mention sandwiches,

because that's definitely one thing we have gifted the French.

We invented them.

What's really interesting is this is so cheap.

This is great. Merci. Merci beaucoup. You're welcome. Thank you.

So can a baguette make the ultimate sandwich?

Better than my favourite - an egg and cress on sliced white?

Come on, surely not!

But I think it's my duty to find out.

So, I'm hitting the market for filling-spiration,

and it's not long before I come across what is possibly

the most French thing of all time.

It's essentially a hot cupboard full of rotisserie chickens.

And bathing in their juices below, sliced potatoes.

Wow.

Mm. Wow.

That smells incredible.

Potatoes, very... C'est parfait.

I love the fat - drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. Can I taste one?

Yes.

No, no salt, no sel, no poivre. So, natural? Natural. C'est pas sel.

Just ail, ail, et herbes de Provence.

Herbes de Provence, garlic.

What the lovely lady just said is that the chickens are all natural,

naturally fed, no preservatives.

The chicken goes on to the grill,

you let the fat of the chicken just drip down through.

We've got sliced potatoes, we've got garlic and herbes de Provence.

The two beautiful flavours of Provence.

It actually smells incredible.

I'm fascinated that she just doesn't want to put any salt and pepper on

because she wants to let these ingredients speak for themselves, and I just think that's superb.

Parfait. Voila. Merci beaucoup. Merci beaucoup.

Merci. Bonne journee. Merci. Au revoir.

I think I've found my sand-winspiration

from this simple French classic.

And I'm going to share it with my new pal and restaurateur Jerome.

Hey, Jerome. Hi. Nice to see you.

I am determined to prove the French might make the best bread,

but we Brits know how to build a proper sarnie.

I'm going to make you lunch, OK? Perfect.

I want to give this baguette a fair shot

at becoming an epic sandwich, so I'm not pulling any punches.

A generous amount of butter and wholegrain mustard

form a tasty bed for the bird.

That's lovely. Look how fresh it is.

First time having a look at a chef cooking a chicken sandwich for me!

A little twist of pepper.

Fleur de sel? Always.

Get that mayo on there!

A lettuce layer, more mayo and seasoning.

I've got my mustard. Oh, it's going to taste good, Jerome.

People do what you just did there, laugh when chefs...

When we make food,

we always look like we put so much more than is necessary,

but actually that's what cooking is all about.

It's the surprise. But at the end of the day...

..the heart of this is just...

It is still a lovely sandwich.

There we go. Excuse my fingers. There we are. Thank you very much.

It must be quite unusual, someone making you lunch in your own restaurant.

Yes, and especially sandwiches.

So maybe we can keep it on the menu. Why not?

Here's to the great British sandwich with French ingredients.

I'm going to try!

Very simple. Very delicious.

The chicken's warm, the bread's warm, just made.

It couldn't get any fresher. Mm.

Ingredients that we see in marketplaces, in supermarkets all over. Yeah.

But I just love the fact that that rotisserie chicken

just has a flavour, just that little bit of something different,

that just makes the sandwich even better. Yes.

It's way better. Yeah, the chicken is excellent.

The bread is good. Yeah, of course.

As good as it is, I just can't forgive the baguette

for going stale so quickly, literally after a couple of hours.

So my search for the best French sandwich continues,

and that means I need to find a longer-lasting loaf.

But first, I'm here to revel in the joy of simple cooking.

I am going to share a French twist

on one of my favourite super simple quick cooks

that you can whip up any time you have an old bit of bread.

Baguette or otherwise!

Leftover bread. What do you do with it?

Well, back home, the first thing that comes to mind

is a bread and butter pudding.

But over here in France it's pain perdu.

Eggy bread, as they call it in the States.

The first thing you do, just crack open your eggs.

You can imagine if you're going to do this from a savoury point of view, you don't put your sugar in.

You could put some spice mix in, you could put herbes de Provence in,

you can pretty much put whatever you like, chilli flakes.

Because you've got the egg, you've got seasoning,

you've got spices and your bread and it's a great snack, great meal.

So whisk up your eggs.

Little splash of milk.

Beat the two together until mixed

and then in with a sprinkling of sugar and spice.

I love a little bit of cinnamon inside my eggy bread.

Slice up your bread.

You can do this with any stale bread.

Definitely don't be throwing it in the bin!

One more.

In it goes.

And all we're doing now is just rehydrating it...

..by allowing...

..the egg, the milk, sugar and cinnamon just to soak back into the bread.

This smells great. There we go.

So let that soak up. All we have to do now is just cook a bit off.

Good chunk of butter. Right, let's get that going.

And in we go.

It really couldn't be any easier, this recipe.

Couple of ingredients, stale bread

and just a few minutes to cook on each side.

It's quite versatile.

Smells great.

Gently turn them over.

How good do they look?

A touch of cinnamon for a bit more spice.

Just keep the pan moving. Not too hot.

Just nice and gentle, and as you're shaking it you're aerating the butter

and that's where you get that lovely foamy butter there.

Gently toasting away.

Once you've got your colour, turn your pan off...

..and just gently put them on to a cloth...

..or a little touch of kitchen paper to soak up the extra butter.

And then put them on to my plate.

I think this is an absolute fantastic example

of how simple cooking can be, but also how delicious it can be,

just by adding a little bit of sugar, a little bit of spice,

just a little bit of something that just lifts it.

It's just brilliant.

Pain perdu translates as lost bread.

Well, with this simple recipe,

there's no need for old loaves to be lost again.

Mm! Well, that's good.

I want to know if French bread can elevate the simple sandwich

and make the ultimate cost-saving meal, that we Brits invented,

even more delicious.

Now that I've said au revoir to the baguette,

it's clear I need to find a new loaf.

One thing that all bread needs,

whether French or otherwise, is flour.

And there's a man in town who not only makes his own,

but he also has a bakery.

Sounds like my kind of guy.

Henri grows five varieties of ancient wheat

which he processes here in his mill.

Henri.

Oh, hello, Marcus. I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you. Bonjour, I should say. Bonjour.

Bonjour. Bonjour. This is... This is the wheat I've come to see.

This is one of the wheats we have.

This variety is called Saissette de Provence.

Saissette de Tarascon.

When's it planted and when is it farmed?

We seed mid-October. Really? Oh, so soon. OK. Yeah.

Very soon now, because of the rainy season when it happens.

To germinate. And, yes, and then we harvest beginning of July.

OK. I didn't think it would be in the ground before the winter.

I thought it'd be after.

Yes. The wheat can live at

20 degrees minus... down zero.

Oh, really? OK. Yeah. OK.

As well as being hardy,

these once-forgotten grains give his flour a unique flavour,

and being low in gluten makes them easy to digest too.

Henri wants to show me how he gets the wheat into the mill,

and it's surprisingly low-tech.

We use a hoover. It's a very simple thing.

MARCUS LAUGHS

A hoover. Really?!

Yes, yes.

I like that.

Can I have a go? Yes, please.

I just love watching it go down.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oui.

This is actually quite soothing.

I could do this all day.

But the point of the hoover is to take the wheat upstairs

so it can then be dropped into the mill and ground into flour.

After that, it comes out of the pipe, into the bags,

ready to be used in the bakery.

I think we all recognise that in supermarkets all over the world,

flour, it's universally affordable, its versatility...

it's quite extraordinary what you can do with flour.

Making it into bread is top of the list, but I'm a total snob,

so I think it has to be done the right way, which means by hand.

One of my family members, they love bread machines.

It makes it, it sort of turns it, it proves it and it bakes it.

They love it.

They just think it's the best thing ever.

Yes, but, Marcus, I would say I started like that.

Your passion just got bigger.

I'm going to confess something here.

My wife had a bread machine

and I accidentally threw it away cos I hated the bread it was making.

And do you know, and she still asks, "Have you seen the bread machine?

"Have you seen the bread machine?" And I actually threw it away.

That's going to get me in a lot of trouble.

That's true, that! I mean, it's true. Hated it.

Sorry, Jane.

I should say I'll buy you a new one,

but I can't quite bring myself to do that!

What's the reputation of British bread?

I mean, have you been to the UK? Yes, I've been to the UK.

And when the French think of the British and bread,

what do you think? Well, I would say I don't think about bread.

MARCUS LAUGHS

Fish and chips, maybe?

Probably, yes. Seriously?

I don't have any memory of a good bread in England.

I've very good memories of all the very good products, but...

Yeah. ..not about bread.

Henri has invited me to work with his team at the bakery,

and after his comments about British breadmaking,

I feel like the gauntlet has been thrown down.

Can I cut it in the boulangerie?

But also, can Henri convince me

that his bread will make the best sandwich?

Today's dough was made earlier this morning with flour,

water and sourdough starter.

My first job is to get it out of the giant mixer

and into the boxes to prove.

I'm suddenly transported back to my days training in

the bread section of a Paris kitchen.

It feels incredible.

Really, really does.

That's perfect.

Getting better at this!

It's all coming back to me.

This one, much better.

Feels good.

A lot of memories.

A lot of memories? A lot of memories.

Yeah, it does, cos I remember these machines.

I remember that smell and that feel as well.

We meet a lot of chefs coming here and they want to stop cooking

and they want to bake bread.

Really? It's such a beautiful thing.

It's been made since the beginning of time,

and I think we'll always make bread.

Yeah. And around the world, there will always be bread.

But I've spotted something very...

..peculiar.

I noticed on the way in,

I didn't see any French baguettes in your shop. No. Why?

We don't make it because we don't like it.

Well there you go! That's from a Frenchman.

No, it's a bit of a... I've never heard that before!

No, some people come sometimes in the bakery,

they don't see any baguettes, and they go out immediately. OK.

Henri reckons he's making bread that tastes better and lasts longer.

But it's a time-consuming process.

This bread has already been mixed and has risen.

You knock it back, you put it into these trays, you wait... Yes.

..till it rises, you knock it back

and then we make it into the baskets.

And in the baskets it will last until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow?

So we will put the fire in the oven at 4 o'clock in the morning

and the bread will be baked, will be cooked at 5.30.

So that's almost a 24-hour proving.

So in the fridge... so it's slightly dormant.

It's slow, slow, slow, slow, slow proving? Yes. Ah, OK.

ALARM SOUNDS

And that timer going off means the bread that was made yesterday

and went in the oven at 5 o'clock this morning

is ready to come out after a couple of hours in this gargantuan oven.

Can I have a go? Can I try and use this? Please.

I've never cooked, I've never taken anything

out of one of these ovens before. So it's your first time.

This is my first time. Your first time.

I've got to say, though, that is one of the biggest ovens

I've ever been...

HE LAUGHS

That's a long paddle you've got there!

Slightly intimidating, to be honest!

That's a lot in there.

Oh, this is great fun.

This feels like proper baking.

Really does.

The traditional way.

Jane, this is the type of breadmaking I'm talking about.

Adrien, what do you think of British bread?

What? Well, what is British bread? So uh it's, it's white... Yeah.

and it's sliced and we make bacon sandwiches with it.

And you call it bread?

We call it...

HE LAUGHS

The dough I was helping with earlier is ready to shape,

and it's all hands on deck to get the job done.

I could really do this all day.

What I love about doing this is that you're working with

professional people who actually really just love what they're doing

and I could stand here all day and do this with these guys.

We're on the second point of the shaping of the bread.

So we've done the first stage. Now we're into the second stage,

where we're going to put it into these baskets,

where they'll stay until tomorrow morning.

One of the things that is really interesting is that

there's hardly any kneading.

You always think that when we're making bread back home,

we're always kneading it to stretch the gluten,

and to a certain extent, it's that type of bread,

but with the sourdough bread, it's a little bit like short pastry.

The less you handle it, the better it is, the lighter it is.

It's crunchy on the outside, but delicious and light in the centre.

It's all a bit serious here!

I'm going to see if I can shake things up a bit.

When I was young, in a bakery with some French chefs,

we used to have a race, and I always lost, cos I was the Englishman.

So I think, Great Britain on this side

versus France over there. OK?

So the challenge is which team can shape four loaves,

get them in the baskets and on the shelves first.

So you're going to be British for a while, OK?

OK. Just, just for a... Just for five minutes, please!

That's a bit harsh!

No, I'm joking!

She's right.

Right, are you guys competitive?

A lot. A lot. I can tell, yeah.

I can tell. Look at him!

UK versus France.

Ready? Who can get it all into the baskets and on there.

Let's go. Come on, let's go. Come on.

Well, Adrien, I'm not lucky. We started quick.

It has to be done properly.

Reputations are on the line.

National pride is at stake.

It's between you and Henri now!

Oh, no. Bags of time!

Ahh!

Aw-haw. Yeah, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

Hands up. Aw. He won!

That was close, that was close. That was close.

That was close. Nearly equal, probably.

France won, but only just.

Only just!

Henri has assured me that his bread is the way to go

when it comes to making sandwiches.

But what do these guys like in theirs?

Stilton is amazing.

I'm not a blue cheese... Don't like that?

Nah, but I should do because it's the British.

I love stilton. Do you? I think, I think... I don't.

Major English contribution to the world gastronomy.

I don't know what it is, to be honest. You don't know? No.

Blue cheese. Oh, OK. In fact, it's smelly blue cheese.

Yeah, we know what blue cheese is, yes.

Yeah, you've got plenty of those here.

Yeah, we've got plenty in France. Yeah, we have.

We have been seeing shokupan,

which is the white... the Japanese bread.

OK. And we give, we have done some club sandwiches. Ah, yeah.

Absolutely incredible. Yeah. Because the bread is incredible.

Yes. So if you start off with the base... Yeah, exactly.

..it would be absolutely delicious.

No point complicating it, is there? Yeah, less is more.

SHE LAUGHS

Less is more.

I've been on a mission to find out

if French bread can make the ultimate sandwich,

and I've decided to use the bread that I helped bake

to make my version of France's most famous one.

Perfect for a simple supper, lunch or brunch -

the croque monsieur.

A budget-friendly dressed-up cheese and ham toastie.

They couldn't be easier to make.

There's the one thing about the croque monsieur

that is different. In fact, it's the sauce,

it's the roux sauce. You don't normally have a hot cheese sauce

inside a sandwich, but the French do,

and it's absolutely delicious.

The first thing I need to do is infuse some milk with thyme leaves.

What I love about roux sauce, we've all got milk,

got a bit of cheese, we've all got flour,

butter, very simple, very versatile.

Bring that up to the boil.

So, a roux.

A roux is a mixture of butter, flour, equal quantities.

So melt your butter first.

Add the flour and mix together.

And you can see it becomes nice and dry.

Now, one of the most important things about a roux

is you've got to cook out the flour.

If I just started adding milk onto this now,

yes, it would thicken, and your sauce would come together,

but what would happen is your sauce

would just taste of flour in the background.

The key point of this at this particular stage

is to stand over it, just keep the roux base,

just mixing along, and that's just gently cooking it out.

Do not leave it, keep stirring it, cos if you leave it, it will burn.

It's quite interesting, this sauce was one of the first

sauces that we made at cookery school.

Our exams were all based on these fabulous basic sauces

and basic recipes that were very much the foundation of

French cuisine, which is pretty much why I'm here.

So you get really ingrained into it.

But there is one sandwich that my nan used to make for me

when I was hanging around the warehouse with my dad

back in the early days, and it sounds a little bit different

and a little bit odd - a cracker sandwich.

White bread...

..quite a good helping of butter...

..lemon curd...

..cracker.

Try it.

It's delicious.

You know what, I've not had one of those for a long time.

With the flour cooked out, I can start to add the milk.

See, it goes thick straight away.

Now, it may look a little bit odd, but just stick with it.

If you follow a recipe, it will work.

There we go. Add a little bit more milk.

This sauce forms the basis of so many family favourites -

lasagne, mac and cheese and moussaka.

Once you've nailed a great roux sauce, you're laughing.

Little pinch of salt now.

Don't need to go to the gym when you're doing this.

Ah!

Rest of the milk.

Look at that.

Simple.

Just put my whisk in, not a lump in sight, look.

So now I'm going to add my cheese and some mustard.

Touch of Dijon.

Mix those in.

That'll just give it a little bit of heat in the background.

Cheese.

And when you're adding the cheese, just pull the pan to one side.

You don't want vigorous heat. The heat is now down to 1.

And just gently melt your cheese into it.

Delicious. Right, that's now done. Cheese is melted.

I'm just going to transfer that into this beautiful little bowl

and then just put a cover on it until I need it.

Again, another one of my exam questions at college,

what's a cartouche?

Well, it's a greaseproof piece of paper that's cut into a circle

that goes on top of a sauce and prevents it from forming a skin.

There you go.

Right, now it's time to start building my sandwich.

My sauce is ready.

I have got some beautiful ham here from the market.

Look at that. Lovely.

Bit of Gruyere cheese, which is going to go inside.

And, of course, if I'm going to make a sandwich,

got to use the bread that I made. Look at that!

Beautiful sourdough.

I'm just going to get a couple of slices onto the grill

to very lightly toast them.

Then it's time to assemble, starting with a generous layer of sauce.

Top that with some sliced ham.

Any ham will do.

A bit more sauce to act as a glue for my grated Gruyere.

You can use whatever type of hard cheese you have to hand.

And I always like a touch of mustard in my croque monsieur.

Then it's time to fry.

I've got my butter in my pan, bring that up to the foam.

I'm not going to put this in the oven.

I'm just going to cook it here in tons of butter.

A bit like a naughty cheese toastie.

There we go.

Bring that up.

In it goes.

Aft a few minutes on each side to get deliciously golden brown,

it's ready to serve.

Crunchy bread, soaked in butter.

Aw, doesn't that look good.

Ham, cheese melting, nice and warm, crispy on the outside.

What a fabulous sandwich.

It's got no airs or graces, it's just a deliciously simple,

hearty meal made with everyday humble ingredients.

Mmm.

Look at that.

Mm-hm!

In fact, I think it tastes so good,

I'm going to put my version of this French classic to the ultimate test.

I can't believe I'm bringing in a French sandwich to the French!

Parfait. That's perfect. Very good.

But I've got some cracking bread from a baker I know really well.

HE LAUGHS

It's you!

OK. So here we are.

They have gone cold,

so can we drop them in your oven for a few seconds? Yes, of course.

Cos I want you to eat them at the very, very best.

Oui, oui. Quite large.

That's magnificent. There we go. It is. Voila.

Just give it a little bit of warming up just to bring it back to life.

Yeah.

Henri, do you think an Englishman can match the French

when it comes to croque monsieur?

I'm extremely confident and curious.

Are they OK in there?

I think so.

They are perfect.

I brought three, one for Adrien. Where is he?

Do we say the truth?

Adrien? No. Adrien, I assume went... He went to the seaside.

Of course you do. After baking.

Right! Well, where else would you go when you're in Provence?!

Because Adrien is not only a baker, he's also a surfer.

Is he? He is. So he's gone surfing?

Yeah. Lucky him!

Lucky! Lucky him, leaving you two to clear up.

Anyway. I will bring one home to him.

No, we'll eat it!

Wow. Wow.

There we have it.

There's a lot there. Mm, that looks yummy.

Tell me what you think. Tuck in. OK. Come here.

OK. In fact, do you know...

Mm. ..I might join you.

Ah, It smells butter. Mm. We like smelling the bread.

MARCUS CHUCKLES

I love the way you two talk about the bread first.

Mm. I love that. Of course.

The bread is your first opinion... Yeah.

..before you've eaten any of it. Mm. No, but we can taste the mustard.

That's very nice. It brings something a bit kind of spicy

with, like, the creamy of the cheese.

It's very nice. Cheese is good too.

You can taste all the ingredients. Mm. Mm.

And it is crispy, and so you have the textures and the...

No, it's... All the flavour. It's really good. It is delicious.

I think I got away with that. I pulled it off. I'm very happy.

I think the question I've got to ask myself is,

have the French taken the great British sandwich

to a whole new level by inventing the croque monsieur?

Well, with my experience of sandwiches around France,

the croque monsieur, they've not always been great.

But when you make a fresh one and with bread as good as that,

then the sandwich goes up to a whole new level.

It's an absolute delight, a delicious idea,

a great invention, and we invented that at home,

and I'm very proud of that.