France Hairy Bikers - Chicken & Egg

FANFARE

CLUCKING

DREAMY FRENCH SONG PLAYS

-But, mon ami...

-Oui.

-..what is France today?

-Oof.

-What is it that

-we cherish most?

-Oof.

-Is it liberty?

-Oh, oui.

-Egality?

-Mais oui!

-Fraternity?

-Absolument!

-But most of all...

-Oui!

-..ze poultry!

-Ah!

-Ah, vive la poultry!

-Vive la poultry!

COUGHING

OK, OK. An oeuf...is an oeuf.

-TOGETHER: We're back!

-Shabu!

'And we're on our biggest adventure ever.'

Let's go!

'We're taking our bikes to four continents.'

Where's Dave?

'To find out how chicken

'has taken over the culinary world.'

-Absolutely superb.

-This is almost a religious experience.

'And why it's about to become the planet's most popular meat.'

We are going to cross France just to find a chicken.

'We'll uncover the world's most fascinating and delicious...'

-TOGETHER: Curry!

-'..chicken and egg dishes.'

Chicken!

'From the great British roast to exotic spices in Morocco...

'And the best ways of cooking them.

TOGETHER: Oh, yes!

'We're exploring the history

'and cultural impact of the humble chicken.'

It's the Holy Land.

'And the egg, dude.

'From the home of lip-smacking fast-food...

Thank you!

'..to French cordon bleu...'

Oh!

-Paris!

-Ooh-la-la!

'..it's our most finger-lickin' chickeny adventure ever.'

ALL: Hurrah!

I don't know how you top this.

CLUCKING

'This time, we're in France, the place I've made home.'

-Enchante, madame.

-Enchante.

'In a country where they will happily pay

'40 euros for a quality bird.'

It's nice, huh?

'We'll grasp...traditions which launched the humble chicken

'to gastronomic heights.'

That's the skill of this cuisine.

'We'll track down truly legendary birds...

'Learn the secrets of France's greatest chefs.'

That's the way I'm cooking my chicken from now on.

'And have our first-ever triple Michelin star moment.'

-That was one of the most magical moments ever.

-Amazing.

Amazing.

-I'm in heaven! We're in France.

-Yes, home to some of the best food

in the world, dude, some of the finest chickens.

-And you.

-Mais oui!

I'm a resident of France now, cos I've moved over the Channel.

'That's right, our Tour de France is the perfect chance

'for me to show you my adopted country, Si. We could even go

-to my place later.

-Oh, what a treat, mate.

But we're starting off here

in France's capital of gastronomy, Lyon,

which is about 300 miles south of Paris.

Because it's here that the foundations

of France's culinary greatness were laid.

But can you remind us why we're on pushbikes?

Because it's part of being French - the joie de vivre,

the tres jolie, the nouvelle vague.

Lyon. It's a wonderful city, isn't it, mate?

It is, but these cobbled streets aren't just pretty.

As us French know, they hold the key

to a treasure trove full of chicken.

They do say, Si, "Cherchez la femme."

-I'm none the wiser, dude.

-Women, Kingy.

-Oh.

-Les Meres Lyonnaises.

-Ah!

-Mums!

-Well, I wish you'd said that before,

cos, as you always know, mums know best.

Les Meres Lyonnaises are the legendary ladies

whose cooking became a benchmark for fancy chefs.

To find one, you need to find one of Lyon's traditional eateries

called "Bouchon".

At Chez Hugon, the resident mere is Arlette Hugon.

Arlette has been cooking in Lyon's kitchens for 50 years.

She must have known we were coming, she's baked a cake!

Oh, very funny. Anyway. This is a chicken liver cake.

-A Lyonnais classic.

-Parsley and garlic are combined,

liver and eggs are added and blended.

Then the mix is poured into a bowl of bread and milk

before heading for the oven.

Hunks of the cake are then heated in a rich, creamy sauce.

-Ah, merci, Arlette.

-Merci.

'And while we tuck in, Arlette's going to tell us

'how the Meres Lyonnaises came to rule the roost.'

'Arlette tells us that women used to cook in the houses

'of the rich silk traders,

'but when the industry went into decline,

'lots of factories closed down.

'The women, or meres, were out of a job, so they started to cook

'in small restaurants like this one.

'Les meres became famous for cooking old dishes

'taught by their mothers and grandmothers.'

You see, the mothers that learn from the grandmothers,

it's proper French home cooking. Now it's a great tradition.

The most famous mere was Mere Brazier, who's been called

the mother of a modern French cooking.

In the 1930s, her restaurant was frequented

by presidents and Hollywood superstars.

Local boy Paul Bocuse, so-called chef of the century,

was her apprentice.

He pioneered nouvelle cuisine

which revolutionised French cookery in the 1970s.

So the meres' art of perfectly blending quality ingredients

here in Lyon helped shape one of the world's great cuisines.

The chicken liver gateau, the texture's superb.

It's like a cross between a mousse

and a souffle, but it's rich, it's savoury.

The chicken livers, I think they give it

-a kind of almost earthly flavour.

-What's interesting as well,

they're not as gamey I would think. It's there, but it's absolutely

perfectly balanced and that's the skill of this cuisine.

And none of these ladies are trained, are they?

No. It's a bit like us, isn't it?

-Maybe we could be the papas of the north?

-Yes, cos we're not trained.

-No, but we cook.

-We do.

-We do beautiful food.

-We do.

Les Papas De Le Nord.

So, what would be our signature dish, dude?

Le hotpot.

Le hotpot, you idiot!

-Wasn't Arlette lovely?

-Oh, she was.

And guess what, Kingy, there was a renowned mayor

-not far from here who specialised...

-In chicken?

Yes. So it's a no-brainer where we go next. Better get pedalling.

Just north of Lyon is the village of Vonnas,

home to the great guru of French cuisine,

triple Michelin star chef, Georges Blanc.

-Hello.

-Georges.

-How are you?

-David.

But Georges learned everything he knows from the family mere, his mum!

Mere Blanc and her mother before her, Grandmere Blanc,

ran the Hotel Blanc, famed for its signature chicken dishes

using the local speciality, poulet de Bresse.

Grandmere's cooking was so good,

it won the hotel two Michelin stars.

Georges was the first male in the family to run the kitchen

and he'd learnt well. He added a third Michelin star in 1985

and he's held three stars ever since.

Georges, we've looked up to you for very, very, very many years,

so it's a big day for us and thank you very much for having us, Georges.

Thank you so much for coming.

'Today, he's going to do a new take on a dish

'that Grandmere Blanc made famous.'

Present a very old recipe and traditional for this country.

-Uh-huh.

-It's the poulet de Bresse with a cream sauce and the morels.

-Oh, beautiful!

-But we changed the recipe

-to improve the quality of the cooking.

-Yes.

So we decide to cook less time, the breast,

in the oven and to use the legs and the carcass to make the sauce.

It's a little bit like when we cook duck.

We take the breast and we cook that very quickly,

but the legs, they do take longer.

That's interesting, cos we never seem to bother with the chicken.

-What do we start with first, George?

-We start with the cooking

of the leg, to get the right sauce with a deep taste.

Yes, fantastic.

Just a big old pot with lots of butter.

The French way, just great.

In this pan, we have the wings, we have the thighs,

-we have the drumsticks...

-And the neck.

-..and the neck, yeah.

-White pepper. It's just so instinctive.

-It is.

-Yeah.

-More you have the best ingredients,

less you need the sophisticated recipe.

It's in the heart, absolutely.

'Sauce under way, our breast is prepped for the oven.'

Very important to cook the meat on the bone.

-Well, the flavour is better.

-You put it in the oven,

about 280 degrees.

'Our Mere Blanc sauce now gets flavoured

'with garlic, bouquet garni, onions and mushrooms.'

That's a nice way of holding your bouquet garni together,

just with a piece of leek and the herbs are wrapped in that.

-Wipe the mushroom.

-To you, Georges, is the

poulet Bresse the best chicken that you can get?

I am the president of the association.

I can't say. I think it's true.

What would you say was special about poulet de Bresse?

It is fat. Because, you know, in all of the meat, the fat

-gives it taste. The taste is in the fat. We need flour now.

-Uh-huh.

GEORGES SPEAKS FRENCH

Si, I feel like we're the two dogs in the kitchen.

I'm sure, 100 years ago, there was two dogs in the kitchen

looking up expectantly at the pan.

The cream.

-I put a little drop of vinegar.

-Mm-hm.

-Voila!

-The morels have been cleaned,

they've been cooked, they've been left to go cold

and now they are being refried in butter

with a shallot, very simply.

GEORGES SPEAKS FRENCH

The truth is that we've cooked for many years.

We've never eaten three-star Michelin food.

Georges is absolute royalty to us.

It's like meeting the Queen. It's just amazing.

'The poulet de Bresse is treated with the utmost respect

'and I for one can't wait to get my rotten chops round it.'

-It's a very simple recipe, but we need the best ingredients.

-Yeah.

But we also need evolution

-that has come from your grandmother to you, George.

-Yes.

'George now strains his sauce.'

It's all about recycling flavour and if you continue to recycle flavour,

it builds a depth.

'Time to plate up succulently tender roasted breast,

'accompanied by that rich, flavoursome sauce.'

-Do you want to taste?

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

-Yes, please. Yes.

GEORGES SPEAKS FRENCH

-Georges Blanc's food.

-Yeah? It's chicken, Jim, but not as we know it.

-Absolutely.

-You are welcome.

-Oh.

-Oh?

-The texture is superb!

-It's just perfection.

-It's absolutely superb.

I know it's really simple, but good grief.

That chicken breast is so, so juicy.

That's the way I'm cooking my chicken from now on.

And the sauce!

-It's straightforward.

-I'm speechless, it's so good.

-Yeah.

-It's unbelievable.

-I'm having a chicken-gasm.

-Mmm. We should save some for the crew.

-Are you having a laugh?

'Hey, dude! I didn't know we'd booked Rick Wakeman.

'No, we ain't, it's Thor.'

-It's OK for you?

-Georges.

-Georges.

-No, no.

It was my pleasure to do it in English.

-Georges.

-And it's a wonderful, wonderful morning for us.

Really, really. Is there any more, is there any seconds?

Not that I'm greedy, of course, you know.

I think it's safe to say that that was

the culinary experience of a lifetime.

It was just amazing, wasn't it?

The perfect marriage of technique and heritage.

But, Si, now we've eaten it, we can't leave this part of the world

without checking out that most special ingredient

Georges was using - the famed local chicken itself.

Well, the poulet de Bresse is the Holy Grail of poultry,

isn't it? So it would be a crime not to see them,

you know, fully dressed in the feather.

I've gone a step further.

So we can find out how these chickens are grown,

I've arranged for us to meet a farmer called Cyril.

Oh, nice one, dude.

Cyril!

Now, Cyril Degluaire is no ordinary poultry farmer,

because not only does Cyril farm one of the best chicken breeds

in the world, but he's the current Bresse chicken champion, which,

in my book, makes his chickens one of the best on the planet.

Oh, Cyril. They look so incredibly healthy.

I mean, this is what we would call free-range.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

It's the most free-range chicken I think I've ever seen.

And so, what are we feeding them, Cyril?

Uh-huh.

CYRIL CONTINUES SPEAKING FRENCH

'Cyril says that, like the birds themselves,

'their food can only be grown within a 100 square kilometre area -

'their "terroir".'

'With such devotion to detail,

'no wonder the poulet de Bresse is the only chicken in the world to

'receive the coveted appellation dans d'origine protegees.'

How long does it take to raise poulet Bresse from egg to table?

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

'For the last two weeks of their lives, the Bresse chickens

'are confined inside to develop the desired amount of fat.'

'This finishing period is crucial to delivering

'that unique Bresse flavour.'

They've got accommodation. They've got great food.

They've got a great man looking after them.

It's just like our life, Kingy.

It is, dude, it is. You know, it's similar.

We can draw parallels. We can.

I just hope somebody doesn't...

at the end of ours.

I think it's highly likely, to be fair.

CHICKEN CLUCKS

'You know, my friend,

'I've got an idea how we can celebrate the poulet de Bresse

'in true style.'

'Oh, no, here we go.'

'I want to pay homage to the great peasant tradition of France.'

'Do we really, really have to?'

'A tradition which has given rise to

'a cuisine unparalleled in ze world!'

'I knew something like this was going to happen.'

# We are cooking poulet Bresse

# Guaranteed not to be a mess

# We've got chicken for our tea.

# Me and my best mate, Kingy. #

I'm wearing these flaming clogs!

And we do have poulet Bresse breasts,

-instead of ducks' breasts...

-Duck's breasts.

..because it's chicken.

So it's... THEY CLUCK

as opposed to...

What better place to pay tribute to ye olde breast country

and its chicken than a 15th-century ye olde breast farm?

Arr! And what better dish than one which uses only the tenderest cut,

the succulent breast, not roasted,

but pan-fried and served with lemony artichokes.

Our chicken is getting special treatment, too.

-Kingy.

-Yes, Dave?

-Show me your bag.

I will. Here it is.

Now, it may look like something that should be in a path lab.

We are brining the chicken in salt and sugar.

Now, it's grey,

because that's the natural sea salt from around here.

So we mix, say, half a cup of salt and half a cup of caster sugar

with six cups of water,

bung the chicken breasts in a bag,

and leave it there for between two and four hours.

'Also destined for our ye olde peasant pot are artichokes -

'much more popular over here than in Britain.'

'So, I hear you ask, where do you start with an artichoke?'

Nurse, silver knife.

Thank you.

Take it there, about a centimetre from the end.

-Dispose.

-Oui.

These outer leaves, rip them off.

Discard.

And for this dish, we need four artichokes.

The thing is, as well, when you're buying artichokes,

try and pick the ones that are quite closed up, like these.

When they get petally,

that means they're older and they're not quite so fresh.

Take the knife and cut it about there, two thirds of the way down.

Nurse, melon baller.

Now, the melon baller is the best for this.

So, scrape out the fluff, the choke, and that must all come out.

And as we get there, we can reach the flesh.

This will turn black very, very quickly.

It's going already, so I want some lemon juice on here.

So, keep the lemon juice coming.

And it's great, all those little cuts on your hand -

it really hurts.

More.

Nurse, paring knife.

And just cut all this off.

Now, you don't see many people doing this on telly, do you?

No, you don't, dude, and there's a reason for that.

Aye, it's better than the test card.

Right, that is the edible matter.

That is one formidable artichoke heart.

We've got water in there, and again, so it doesn't go brown, I've got to

put lemon juice in the water, and this I cut it into nice slices.

One, two, three, four...

And I'll put that in the water cos I want to boil them in a minute.

So, what we're going to do,

we're going to take our poulet Bresse breasts

and we're just going to dry them off.

What the brining's actually done -

it's been in here for about two hours now -

and what it's done is it's just kept the integrity of the meat,

and it's also just slightly tightened up the grain of the meat

so it keeps all that moisture in.

And this is, obviously, something that you could do with

your supermarket chicken from home.

Put clingfilm over your chopping board

and then clingfilm over the top.

Now, we're not hammering these out and flattening them out.

We're flattening them out so we want them to cook evenly,

not for any other reason.

-So we're not going for a schnitzel vibe here...

-No.

..and braining the living daylights out of them

until they're about a centimetre thin.

That's not what we're doing.

That's enough.

That's it.

Then what we do, in a preheated pan,

a good glug of olive oil and some butter.

Now, the olive oil will prevent the butter from burning.

So, while I do that...

Well, the nice thing about cooking with butter is you get

a lovely colour, don't you?

You do, it's a beautiful colour.

I'm stripping artichokes,

I've cut my fingers, and we're dressed as two Smurfs.

-I know.

-I've never been happier.

No, no, it's good, man.

This is my homeland now, Kingy.

-I know, dude, I know.

-I know, I know.

Skin-side-down first,

because we want some really nice colour on there.

A couple of minutes and no more.

Come on, lads, you're going for a swim.

-There we go.

-Five minutes, it will be ready.

That's the sort of colour we're talking about.

And then what we do is we turn the heat down,

and then we just continue to saute them off for another ten minutes.

MUSIC: Strictly Come Dancing Theme

Oh, one day I should be on Strictly.

Oh, I forget - I've already been.

Week seven. Hoo!

Is it me or is he an exhibitionist?

-IN FRENCH ACCENT:

-Moi? I am a little shy baby!

-Yes.

-I was a wallflower at ze party when I was a student.

I would sit there with my alopecia in a corner, crying,

ignored by women, and now look at me.

-Look at you now! You're dressed as...

-Hee-hee!

Don't do that, I'll get Radio Caroline.

Right, anyway, listen, I'll chop these shallots.

'Ye olde chicken's cooked - time to rest it.

'But taking a tip from our new best friend, Georges Blanc,

'we're not going to waste the flavours in the pan - oh, no.

'In goes more butter, unsurprisingly.

'Then, we start to saute ye olde shallots.'

'Meanwhile, set aside ye olde artichoke hearties.

'Oh, shall we stop saying "ye olde"?'

'I think so, it's probably best.'

I'm just going to reduce the heat on this a little bit,

and then we'll need to crush some garlic as well, mate.

-Because we haven't got a crusher, why don't we use the plane?

-Yeah.

We don't want to burn the garlic.

Remember, all the flavours have to complement one another.

'Once the garlic and the shallots have softened,

'add the artichoke hearts, mushrooms and a good glug of dry white wine,

'which helps deglaze the pan, recycling even more flavour.'

And, you know, much as George... He used that vinegar of the wine

from the Jura to put some acid into the dish.

We're going to put lemon juice,

so just about the juice of half a lemon.

You can see that the sauce is now starting to reduce

because the bubbles on the periphery of the pan

are starting to get slightly smaller.

'Lemon zest, parsley,

'basil and some of the chicken resting juices complete the sauce.'

And now the final flourish, as George did.

You could see his face as the sauce climbs down that chicken.

And that is our tribute to the people of Bresse,

the poulet de Bresse, and I'd say one of our best.

-Well, it's generally flipping marvellous, isn't it?

-Yes.

I must hide my thumb.

Here, dude, have you noticed that the Bresse chickens

have a red crest, a white body and blue legs,

which is exactly the same as the French Tricolore?

Oh, so it does.

Therein lies a tale.

Back in Roman times,

the Latin word "gallus" meant both rooster and inhabitant of Gaul,

so, to the Romans, the French were chickens.

Bonjour!

Later, French royals adopted the chicken image.

Ze chicken is so sublime.

And come the Revolution, the rooster cropped up on coins.

Ka-chink!

And on Fraternity's staff.

Napoleon wasn't so keen, mind.

France is no farmyard chickens! I replace you with seagull!

BIRD SCREECHES

But the plucky little rooster made a comeback.

Liberty steered her boat with a rooster-embossed tiller...

I feel free.

..the Elysee Palace got a rooster on its gates,

and in the First World War, France rallied to the image of

the French rooster facing down the Prussian eagle!

Eagle, you are toast!

-It's proud, it's independent, it's free...

-Yeah.

Vive la France. Vive le poulet de Bresse!

Yes.

CHICKEN CLUCKS

BIKE BELL RINGS

'Guess what though, Kingy? There's another chicken I've heard about -

'a rival to the poulet de Bresse - the coucou de Rennes.

'Some say it's even tastier.'

'That's a big claim, dude.'

It's from way up north, near where I live!

We've got to go and check it out.

We can base ourselves at my place.

I'll show you around.

And we can get our hands on the new chicken of yours, dude.

Just one problem.

In case you haven't noticed,

we've only got two old pedally bikes.

Ha-ha! I've got it covered!

Are you seriously suggesting that we are going to cross half of France

in this just to find a chicken?!

It'll take us weeks!

Crossing France on the back roads is what this vehicle was made for.

To me, this is more of a pilgrimage than a journey.

-These cars...

-Ooh!

..built France.

When they were designed, you see, it was so they could ride across...

BOTH: ..plant and field without breaking a basket of eggs in the back...

..and also you could wear a top hat to church on a Sunday.

Is that horse muck or is it you?

No, it's horse muck.

# Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken... #

-Shut up!

-# Lay a little egg for me... #

Let us out! Let us out!

# I haven't had an egg since breakfast

# Oh, it's half past three, so... #

-Help me, drop me off at this...

-Bonjour!

Bonjour, I've been kidnapped, help!

-Je ne sais pas le touriste. J'habite ici.

-Help!

-I can do it in French, you know?

-Will you shut up?!

# Poulet, poulet, poulet, poulet

# Fabriquer le oeuf pour moi

# Poulet, poulet

# Fabriquer le oeuf pour moi. #

Oh.

ENGINE RUMBLES AND POPS

ENGINE STOPS

It's fine. I'm working on it, right.

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

-DAVE LAUGHS Right, that's it!

-Kingy!

-No!

I'm not going halfway across France in that!

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

COCKEREL CROWS

Combien de cuckoo?

Oh, merci. Tres bon, Paul. Tres bon.

A tout a l'heure. A demain.

Hey!

Kingy, we've done it.

The fabled coucou de Rennes -

well, we've found a breeder, Monsieur Renault.

He's going to bring some coucou de Rennes here, ici,

live ones, in the feather,

so we can actually see what this fabled creature looks like,

and he's coming tonight.

Oh, brilliant.

Fancy a game?

Whoa!

'Now I have sorted delivery of the coucou de Rennes, in the meantime,

'let's crack on with our egg recipe - the souffle.'

APPLAUSE

'How exactly is playing petanque going to help us make a souffle?'

'Because for the souffle,

'you need fresh eggs, and I'm after some local ones.'

PEOPLE SPEAK FRENCH

'Ah, I see, we need some local knowledge, do we?

'Go on, then.

'Let's hear some French.'

-Madame?

-Oui?

DAVE SPEAKS FRENCH

OK.

SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

Oui, oui, j'ai compris, je pense... I think.

Um, the thing is, you see...

SHE GASPS

-Really?

-Yes!

-She makes chicken and cider local.

-Does she?

-Yeah!

I think we've got company, all of a sudden.

-She looks like a lady that won't take no for an answer, dude.

-Uh?

-Right, looking for these eggs involves a journey...

-Yeah, well...

And I am NOT getting back in that 2CV.

I'm not doing it, dude. I'm not doing it.

And the only bikes that I'm riding are ones with engines.

I've got it covered.

Look at me in the eye and tell me that truthfully.

'Is THIS your idea of a plan, Myers?'

This is a crucial stage in the evolution of motorcycling

and it's French!

I hate it!

I'm sure she said "a droite"! Or was it "a gauche"?

'We're flaming lost, aren't we?

'Regardez - a peloton of cyclists! I think they're from my village.'

Yey!

'Later? What's all that about?

'Listen, never mind! Back to the point - these eggs.

'Can we not just go to the local corner shop?

'Philistine!

'In the fullness of time, we find our fresh local eggs.

'Now to put them to good use.

'The souffle is another great French tradition,

'but famously, it's devilishly difficult to get one to rise.

'But in my own kitchen, I'd say we're odds-on favourites.'

Today, we will wrestle with the unpredictable, the insurmountable,

-ze fabulous, ze French, le souffle!

-Souffle!

FRENCH ACCENT: Ah, but not any old souffle, no.

What souffle are we doing?

We are going to do a "chocolat orange" souffle.

We have a Grand Marnier syrup to pour in ze top,

so it is like ze lava oozing from ze volcano.

It is like ze boil that has just been lanced!

It go poop all over with flavour!

-"The boil that's just been lanced that goes poop all over..."?

-Yeah!

-It's too far.

-Yeah, too far.

-Right...

-Mr King!

-Yeah!

-The milk goes in ze big pan.

-Merci!

I will put the cream in the little toaty pan.

So, take your ramekin, dip your brush in the butter

and...circles at the bottom, but then, to facilitate the rise,

we're going to brush up. OK?

-Then, sugar in...

-Mmm.

'..and gently turn the ramekin round and round,

'so the sugar sticks to its buttery interior.

'Meanwhile, your liquids should be warming on the hob.'

So watch your milk. We don't want it boiling over.

Just to "a point".

The cream, a little steam is what we want. We don't want that too hot.

-Blood temperature, mate, isn't it?

-Right, that's fine.

Now, I'm going to put in le chocolat.

And this is good quality dark chocolate.

Now, what I'm doing effectively here

is called a cream and chocolate ganache,

which is kind of like cream and chocolate sauce put together.

And this is really the engine room of the set souffle.

But I've just got to melt the chocolate in that warm...

Look at it, it's going down now. It's luxurious!

Now, I'm going to put in the zest of an orange.

-This orange zest is wonderful.

-It's beautiful.

Right, I'm going to put these in the freezer.

'Chilling the ramekins sets the butter and sugar mix,

'which gives our souffle something to grip onto.'

Now, it's time to make the creme patissiere,

which is basically a custard.

-I need bowls.

-Bowls!

Thank you.

-Egg whites.

-Whoo!

Bowls. Meanwhile, I'm doing the powders.

So...

I want 15g of cornflour.

Basically, this is a trick,

so your custard will never split.

And 15g of plain flour

and now 10g of cocoa powder.

So what I'm doing is, I'm separating the white from the yolk and what's

very, very important is, in these egg whites, you get no yolk at all.

-Oh!

-Because, if you put yolk in the egg white,

-you're never going to get that stiff peak.

-No, he's not "yolking"!

I'm not yolking. Now, we add 50g of sugar.

I'm just going to blend my powders and stand here and think

in enigmatic French thoughts, of Voltaire, of Rabelais...

Toulouse-Lautrec!

Yes, he was a rich man. He had "two loos". Ha-ha!

Wouldn't it be fabulous, being in France then?

In the Belle Epoque, you know, to be an Impressionist

and sit there riddled with absinthe, syphilis and bonhomie!

That was a man's life then.

-That was brilliant.

-It would've been brilliant, yes.

-That's changed colour!

-That's what we're after - a nice, light colour.

Now, I'm going to sieve my powders into that.

-Look.

-Yeah.

-Gorgeous!

That's what we want. That's the consistency, mate.

'Our creme patissiere now gets the addition of the milk.'

You don't want this milk too hot,

because you don't want to... basically scramble your eggs.

'My colleague will now pour the mixture back into the pan

'and stir on a low heat until it starts to thicken.

'While my Geordie mixing machine can start on the egg whites.'

-So that's what we're talking about when we come to soft peaks.

-Yes!

So what I'll start to do now, gradually - and do it gradually -

is just add the remaining sugar, which is about 25g.

I'm just going to put my cocoa kind of custard into a bowl,

which will help cool it. Look at that.

-'In goes my ganache.

-And my stiff peaks are standing by.'

Oh, I think we're there. Now we can wait a bit now.

-Shall we just let this stand for a bit and make the sauce?

-Good idea.

Into the pan, 300ml of freshly-squeezed orange juice.

The juice of half a lemon.

-Shall I do it Jamie Oliver style?

-Oh, yes.

-COCKNEY ACCENT:

-Get stuck in like that, right?

Give it a good old squeeze. Moosh it all up, yeah!

Get all the juice out of that that you can manage.

Pukka lemon! Pukka, pukka, pukka!

-NORMAL VOICE:

-Right, so we're just going to heat this up

and make an orange and lemon...

Oh...

-COCKNEY ACCENT:

-Yeah, the lemon goes in with the oranges, right?

It's all lovely, innit? All we need now is the sugar.

Without the sugar, it ain't a syrup.

-Is that how Jamie Oliver speaks?!

-He does in my head!

There's 100g of sugar

goes into the lemon juice and the orange juice.

'Once the sugar's dissolved,

'turn up the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier.'

Now, you always fold the egg whites in with a metal object

and it's a slicing motion. You do not want to compress the egg whites.

The egg whites are what gives a souffle a "huff"!

If you use fresh eggs, it really does help.

The whites go stiffer and the yolks are nicer.

'And I believe you have a tip, Mr King.'

We want the top to rise, so you just put your thumb

right around the side of the souffle

-and that will give you the top hat effect.

-Mm-hm.

'Good tip, Mr King! And now, they go into a preheated oven,

'approximately 190 degrees Celsius, for 12 to 15 minutes.'

And try and go in the middle of the oven,

so the heat is as even as we can possibly get it.

'What now?'

En garde.

-I'm on guard.

-Right?

-Yeah.

And it was lance, parry, thrust!

Lance, pa... You're dead!

-Got you.

-No, you didn't, I got you.

-No, no! I actually got you.

-Ow!

-Oh! Ow.

-LAUGHTER

Ah! Ow!

BARKING

'Let's call a truce, because we can now add our names

'to another great French tradition - our souffles have risen.

'Hot Grand Marnier sauce in. Time to enjoy the moment.'

Well, here we go, mate.

Chocolate and orange souffles.

Absolutely great!

DOORBELL RINGS

What the flaming Nora's that now?

-Ah!

-Ah!

-Juliette!

-Ca va?

-Tres bien! Tres bien!

-Entrez!

-Merci!

'Our self-invited petanque queen, Juliette,

'is here to rustle up a rustic dish made with local cider

'and creme fraiche, served with potatoes and flambed apples.

'It's old school "grand-mere" cookery, dude.

'One large chicken and one even larger pot.'

-Juliette, en France, c'est la femme, the boss?

-Yes, the cook.

-Oh, really?

-In the family. In the family.

-The family, oui.

-Yes.

-In Angleterre, l'homme, the master dans le cuisine.

-Ah!

Ooh! JULIETTE LAUGHS

-I'll tell you what, I'm glad me mam's not...

-Ha-ha!

-I'm glad me mam's not alive, dude, I tell ya!

-No, no!

Oh, oui, oui! Dougie!

-Whoa-ah!

-Whoa!

Er, that's my dog Dougie.

Qu'est-ce que c'est en France?

Ne pas grosse? Non?

In Angleterre, moi et him que grosse.

En France...

Here, what do you mean - "Him est grosse"?

-Who are you talking about?!

-No, no, no - "moi et him"!

-Ah!

-Et voila!

-OK. Tres bien, tres bien. C'est bien!

Yeah, you're cooking it!

Crack on!

SI AND DAVE GASP

I'll tell you what - this is not in the diet book.

-No, no, no!

-OK, OK! I were just asking!

-All right, OK!

-OK.

-OK.

-Uh-huh.

-'So far, we've had the chicken with sauces, Dave.

'Yup! This one's looking like

'it might be a bit more of an old-fashioned stew.'

OIL SIZZLES

Sit, sit, sit!

Juliette, um... tu es le cuisine avec la maman?

Ah, oui!

-Well, that's what we did, Dave - we learned it from our mums.

-Yeah.

Oui!

I think there's going to be a flambe thing going on.

-Ah!

-It's OK. Ah, yes.

-Agh!

OK...

-C'est bon?

-C'est bon.

-Oui!

-Yey!

-Bravo!

-Merci!

'Cider...

'creme fraiche...

'and a stock cube go in.

'And the lid goes on.

'Which gives us 30 precious minutes together.'

Aw!

-SHE HUMS A LULLABY

-Get your coat, I think I've pulled!

-Oh, this is such a treat! Oh, look at that.

-Look at that.

Superb!

DOORBELL RINGS

-Here, I'll hold that, mate.

-I'd better see who that is.

Oh, ho-ho! Ooh!

-Oh, bonjour, monsieur!

-Bonjour.

-Madame, enchante!

-Oh!

-C'est bon?

-Tres, tres, tres bon.

-Bon! Parfait! Parfait!

'It's the whole petanque team, Si!

'Well, it's a good job Juliette's chicken's a big 'un.'

Where's my chicken? Oh!

Er, er, er... Juliette ate it.

DAVE SIGHS, DOORBELL RINGS

It's good, this, innit? SHE LAUGHS

Bonjour, monsieur! Bonjour!

Mmm, bon!

-'Yeah, party's warming up, dude.

-Aye, but how's that chicken?'

-Do you know what, Dave?

-Yeah?

It's beautiful. There's an acidity to it,

through the cider and the apple,

-and the top notes of that Calvados is amazing!

-Oh!

-Yeah!

-C'est la calva!

-Oh, la calva!

-C'est la calva...

-La calva c'est la cle de la mystery!

-Exactement!

-"The key to the mystery".

-Bravo!

What I'm finding fascinating about eating Juliette's food is

-that there is echoes in Juliette's food...of Georges Blanc.

-Mm-hm.

-Aw!

-The DNA...

-Yeah!

-..for both dishes, it's the...

it's the mothers, it's the "terroir",

it's food from the earth - the apples, the potatoes.

It's simple, but it's such good, honest cooking.

-And, as you can see, it's going down a storm, isn't it?

-It is!

'Right, I've finally got myself some chicken.

'Let's get stuck into that souffle, Kingy.'

ALL GASP

DOORBELL RINGS

-Excusez-moi.

-SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

-Ah, oui! It's like Piccadilly Circus!

-Yeah.

Oh, la belle coucou!

Wahey!

Mon dieu!

It's Paul Renault, Kingy, the chicken farmer.

He's brought us over some of the fabled coucou de Rennes.

Oh, yeah? I tell you what, with all this hubbub,

I've forgotten what we came here for in the first place.

-C'est beautiful.

-They are beautiful.

HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

In 1900, a doctor from Rennes...

Oh, you look like ze cuckoo.

..established a local bird as a breed.

He called it the coucou de Rennes.

The new breed thrived,

but with the introduction of American broilers in the 1950s...

I say howdy, partners.

..their numbers began to decline.

Well, have a nice day, y'all.

By the 1980s, the coucou had almost died out.

Your time has come.

In step the Rennes Ecomuseum.

We must act! Save the coucou. Save it!

The last ten birds were rounded up and secured as breeding stock.

Oh, merci. You are heroes. Merci! We are saved.

Phwoar, thank goodness for that!

Paul was one of the first people

to produce pure coucou de Rennes for meat.

Like our old friend the poulet de Bresse,

the coucou lives a free-range life -

but, unlike the Bresse, it doesn't get confined indoors

to fatten up at the end.

PAUL SPEAKS IN FRENCH

In 1992, Paul arranged a blind taste test

with some big name chefs.

What could it be? The blind taste test will tell.

The coucou was a hit.

One of these chefs was ...

It tastes like my grandma's chicken!

..who went on to win three Michelin stars

at his Paris restaurant,

where the coucou de Rennes is on the menu today.

Vive la coucou!

Here, dude...

are you thinking what I am thinking?

If they're cooking this chicken

in one of the best restaurants in Paris, then Paris it is.

Tomorrow, we leave at dawn for Paris.

Oui.

Right.

Excellent.

Monsieur, merci beaucoup.

Au revoir, au revoir.

Right.

Where is he?

You know we're going to Paris,

and we're going to the best restaurant,

to eat the best chicken, cooked by the best chef?

Well, I'm not flaming going in the transport that he's organised.

So, what I've done is a little surprise for Dave.

BELL TOLLS

ROOSTER CROWS

Ha-ha!

Oh, Kingy!

Yippee!

Dude, I told you, we couldn't go to Paris in that flaming 2CV

or one of those funny pedally bike things.

Well, I mean, we've got to arrive in style.

-Paris, here we come!

-Yeah!

HE CHUCKLES

I didn't know our journey to France would bring us to Paris,

but I am sure glad it has!

Two three-Michelin-starred restaurants in a week.

Oh, dude, honestly, it's a trip of a lifetime.

When I get off this bike, I'm never going to walk the same.

I'm going to swagger.

I will have that joie de vivre, the je ne c'est quoi.

I'm going to walk like I'm kind of...I'm in a film,

like I'm what's his name - Serge Ginsberg.

# Oh, la, la... Je t'aime. #

-Do you ever stop for breath?!

-What?

That's remarkable!

This bike has the spirit, I've got the spirit,

and I'm full of chuffing chicken!

-Dave, something has just occurred to me.

-Aye.

What is the plural for Mecca?

Because by my reckoning, this is the second one of the trip.

First, Georges Blanc's, and now this place.

Oh, whatever. I'm just going to get ready with all my Hail Marys.

The man whose restaurant we have the honour at eating at

is one of France's most innovative and celebrated chefs.

HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Triple-Michelin-star Pierre Gagnaire

started his culinary journey, like us, in Lyon,

where he learned his trade

amongst the meres Lyonnaise and the bouchons.

To prepare our three-starred dish,

Pierre seems to be giving the coucou a rustic treatment - thyme...

rosemary...

With a twist, though, Si - blueberry leaves.

Well, that's a new one on me.

Garlic...

lemon zest...

and the lemon...

butter...

blueberries...

and "that's shallot".

But I've got a feeling, you know, mate,

it won't look so rustic when it comes out.

-There's a lot of anticipation, isn't there, Si?

-Very much.

-We've never tasted a coucou de Rennes.

-No.

But some say that it is better than the poulet de Bresse.

Pierre Gagnaire is cooking for us personally.

-The elusive coucou de Rennes.

-Yeah.

THEY GASP Oh, wow.

-Coucou de Rennes.

-Oui.

It's got thin slices of apple, garlic, little girolle mushrooms.

I tell you what is interesting, he's served it with corn.

It's so modern. It's so precise, it's so wonderful.

From the farmer's table to this,

it's worlds away, but it is still the same.

Based in that cookery which is the heart of France.

-Come on!

-Oh, I know!

Ohh!

It's absolutely amazing.

Texturally and flavourally, completely different

to the poulet de Bresse.

The poulet de Bresse, because it has been fattened up, is softer.

This is more gamey.

It's almost more like a guinea fowl or a partridge.

It tastes extraordinary.

At Georges Blanc's we were at the rustic auberge

where we wanted to recreate the food of his mother, which he did -

but that food wasn't gastronomic. This is.

This is really precise, really modern.

It's different.

It's two different men, at the same level of their profession.

-Gentlemen.

-Very nice to meet you.

-This is wonderful.

-The coucou de Rennes, it is nice, huh?

-Oh, yeah!

THEY LAUGH

It has a real character. It's not fat. It's not dry.

-You have a real taste.

-Which is the best chicken -

poulet de Bresse or coucou de Rennes?

You are like that in England. We are not like that in France.

"What is the best - number one, number two?" No.

It is good, it is not good.

The French chicken, this emblem of France,

it represents the character of the French.

-It's proud, it's independent, it's free.

-Yes.

But a little bit arrogant.

Of course!

The poor chicken, it is nothing.

It is not an elephant. It is not a tiger.

-It's a chicken!

-It is just a chicken.

But the French... Like that. "I am French!"

Fantastic, thank you.

Oh, that was one of the most magical moments ever.

It was just the most... It was.

Amazing. Amazing. What a man.

'How do you follow that, dude?'

By taking to the streets of Paris, of course!

To buy that special something...

take those obligatory selfies...

consume connoisseurs' croissants...

..and, crucially, to reflect deeply on our French foray.

Oh, France! What an odyssey it's been -

From Lyon to Macon with Georges Blanc.

Today, the coucou de Rennes, three Michelin stars.

We're six stars in a week!

I know, it's hard to do that, dude.

And here we are, at the climax of the climaxicness-ness.

I truly believe we have tasted the best chicken

we ever have, ever, ever, ever!

-He's been excited about it.

-Oh, I am. I'm over t' moon.

-He is.

-Oh, I'm fit to burst.

-Right.

-Oh!

What are we cooking, Si?

Well, we're cooking chicken, unsurprisingly, David.

Our climactic dish, like the souffle before it,

is as French as la Tour Eiffel.

It's the ultimate classic coq au vin -

but with a major twist.

Our wine is going to be blanc instead of rouge.

Which means we can indulge ourselves with - guess what -

the addition of cream.

You put cream in a red wine chicken dish, it goes purple!

-It's wrong. That's what it is.

-It is.

-Wrong.

It looks more like an illness than a meal to my eyes.

You can't do it.

Right, mate. I'm going to take the tips off these.

But we're not going to brine this chicken,

we are going to marinate it.

It's yet another way of working on the flavour

and making sure the chicken is juicy.

'And the flavour of our marinade is courtesy of Georges Blanc -

'a leek-enclosed bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaves and parsley.'

Another thing we learned from Monsieur Blanc

was that it is always best to cook your meat on the bone,

for added chickeny-ness.

And we're going to salt it and pepper it quite liberally...

-..by popping the bouquet garni.

-Oui, oui.

-Pop.

And now...

the wine goes into the chicken.

A whole bottle.

This needs to be covered, go into the fridge overnight -

or at least 12 hours.

So, just you sit there, bathing in all that flavour, mon petit poulet.

One, two, three, four...

-BOTH:

-# Alouette, gentille alouette

# Alouette, je te plumerai

# Je te plumerai la tete

# Je te plumerai la tete

-# Et la tete!

-Alouette!

-# Et la tete!

-Alouette!

-# A-a-a-ah... # Looks like 12 hours to me.

-Yeah.

-Kingy...

-What?

What is this programme about?

-Chicken. And eggs.

-Right.

Why on earth have you come back with a pot with a fish on?!

Well, it's beautiful, innit?

I mean, it is. Look.

-I know.

-It is a beautiful thing.

It's French, innit?

You have a problem. Dans la tete.

-Dans la tete. Alouette.

-You have known me for 25 years.

-I know. So you put the bacon in the fishy pot...

-Thank you.

..for the chicken.

-Put some heat under your...

-Fish themed!

..ahem, fish themed chicken pot, then add pancetta and onion.

Once the onion's started to brown,

add your button mushrooms and butter.

Let the mixture sweat down,

and then remove.

Meanwhile, release the chicken from the marinade.

Pat it dry and add it to the, um...

-Fish themed!

-..fish themed pan,

skin side down, on a medium heat.

It'll take around 15 minutes to cook each side.

What we need to do is just to pop in three chopped cloves of garlic.

After all, it wouldn't be French without garlic.

My friend will just stir it in with the delicacy of Nijinsky -

and we're talking ballet, not racehorse.

Now we have got the pancetta, the onion and the mushrooms.

That goes in.

That marinade, the bottle of Pouilly-Fume, Pouilly-Fuisse

or white wine of choice - but don't use rubbish -

with a bouquet garni, we just pour that in.

Cover and simmer for 45 minutes,

until the chicken is practically falling off the bone.

You see, the thing is, it's romantic on the rooftops,

overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

Agh, I'm not sure I can control me urges!

Si!

Such is the romance.

-Not like that. That's like...

-No, no...

-Man romance.

'Oh, for... Back to the chicken.'

-Oh, look at that!

-Yes!

Dave is going to tell you how to thicken this sauce

the old-fashioned way.

Georges Blanc said his mother used to thicken the sauce

with cream and egg yolk.

Take an oeuf - one egg is "an oeuf"...

and separate.

And about 100ml of cream. Don't be too pedantic.

The ways of old were simple.

Mix the egg and the cream and then add to the pot.

Cook gently for a few minutes, edge your marinated chicken...

and serve with lashings of parsley.

And, of course, a view of the Eiffel Tower, if you can get it.

They do models.

-Mm!

-Mm.

Well, it doesn't get much better than this, mate, does it?

No, it doesn't, it really doesn't.

It's funny, since I've been living here,

I've really embraced the culture, and I've embraced the food.

-And do you know what? I get it.

-Oh, yeah, I know. Absolutely.

I get that depth of food culture.

And chicken, I don't think gets much better than this.

Well, I just think it's such an elemental part of French cuisine.

-Yes.

-And it's held in such high esteem.

-Yeah.

And you know, mate, I can guarantee for us, for France,

and French chicken, it is going to be au revoir,

-and not goodbye. Cheers!

-Cheers. Salut.

-Salut.

Next time, we are in magical North Africa.

Dude, we're in Morocco!

Hey-hey!

Where we get to grips with tribal traditions.

Can you imagine 8,000 of those charging at you?

It'd be terrifying.

Discover the chickeny secrets of Moroccan home cooking.

-I was not expecting that.

-No!

And find out why chicken works so well with exotic spices.

-The balance is absolutely superb.

-Yeah.

MUSIC: The Birdie Song by The Tweets