Travis Francis Lorraine Pascale: How to Be a Better Cook

I'm Lorraine Pascale.

I'm always hearing from people who tell me

they would love to be better cooks, but they don't know where to start.

So, I want to help.

I've never cut up a chilli at all in my life before.

-Have you made a dressing for a salad before?

-No.

I didn't start cooking until my 30s,

so I wanted to prove that with some easy tips...

Lots of flavour, that's what it's all about.

..and a few simple recipes...

Mmm.

..even if you haven't cooked before, it's never too late to learn.

-That's really good!

-You sound surprised!

I'm going to teach six unconfident cooks

how to pull off a special meal for family and friends.

-Hello!

-Hello! Ah!

Hello!

-Lorraine's not cooking tonight. I am.

-No!

-No!

I'll be creating dishes that anyone can cook.

From simple family suppers to unbelievably easy party pieces.

All it takes is a bit of enthusiasm...

-Mmm, that is yummy.

-Mmm.

..and some confidence.

-Well done, Mummy.

-Thank you, darling.

-See? We're cooking.

-Yes.

-This is cooking.

I'm on my way to meet medical student Travis Francis,

who lives at home with his mum, dad and brother.

'Travis' problem is that he's always relied on his mum to cook for him

'and is a complete fish out of water in the kitchen.'

Dear Lorraine, I need your help.

I'm 21 years old and unfortunately, I can't cook.

'I'm meeting Travis in his home town of Dudley to see how I can help.'

Travis. I hear you want to learn how to cook.

I'm getting to that age now where I don't really know any recipes.

So I want to learn how to just cook for myself, I suppose,

but also my mum as well, as she's not been too well.

-OK.

-So I'd like to give her a hand in the kitchen.

-So, your mum does all the cooking?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Has she always done all the cooking?

-Yeah, from day one.

The main thing that Travis does really is his breakfast.

-Yeah, he does breakfast.

-He's never cooked me a meal.

And what kind of food would you like to cook?

Being from the West Indies, my parents,

that kind of cultural background in food would be quite nice to do.

When he come to my home,

Travis always want to know, Uncle Trevor, what you cooking?

-And he loves to be in the kitchen with me.

-He does.

And I show him everything what I'm doing.

I said, make sure you take a note

because when you're grown up to be a man and taking you a wife,

make sure you can cook.

Cooking for ladies is something

that any guy wants to do, I suppose, really...

-It's good, yeah.

-..to impress. The main reason is for Mum to,

to like, kind of like, say thank you for all the years you've cooked for me.

sounds kind of cliched but it would be nice to do something for Mum.

-All right, let's see what we can do.

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

To help Travis realise his dream,

I'm going to design a delicious three course Caribbean-inspired menu

and I've got just one day to teach him the skills he needs.

He'll then have three weeks to practise before the big day.

But first, I need to know where we're starting from.

'Back at Travis' family home, I've asked him to make me

'the one dish he can cook - spaghetti aioli.'

Is this the only thing in your cooking repertoire?

To say that I've done from scratch, yes.

'All Travis needs for this is that student staple, pasta,

'some garlic and parsley.'

We're missing parsley and garlic.

-You haven't got any garlic?

-No. That's a bit of a shame, really.

-Well, I'll just do some pasta for you.

-See what's in here.

There's no substitute for garlic unless, of course, it is garlic.

What?

TRAVIS LAUGHS

-You see...

-You just did a man look.

-I didn't know!

-That's a man look.

-So we're back on.

-Yeah.

So how many cloves are you going to use for this?

I think it's probably two or three cloves, chopped up very fine.

So now, so this has got to get a little bit brown. Not too brown.

-I think this pasta's getting there.

-Is it ready?

I'm going to taste it, you know.

If it's too rubbery in consistency, then I'll know it's not.

-It's meant to be more soft.

-Do you like it like al dente..?

No. It's got to be done - that means raw, doesn't it?

-It's all right.

-Good.

I'm losing it, I'm losing it here, losing it, oh gosh.

I'll just pour it in the frying pan.

Now usually, for this recipe, you've got to use Parmesan cheese,

but we don't have any of that at the moment,

so I'm going to just use this cheese here.

TRAVIS LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-Shall I put the whole thing on there?

-Yeah, go on.

Oh, look at that.

-Oh, forgetting one thing.

-What have you got?

-Forgetting one thing.

Finished look.

There we go, there we go.

Are you happy with it?

-As happy as I can be.

-Dig in.

TRAVIS LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-Mmm, mmm.

-I really like it.

-OK.

-I like the bit of oil.

-You do?

-I think the garlic maybe is a little bit overcooked.

-The cheese, you're right, it would be nice if it was a Parmesan.

-Parmesan, yeah.

You put pepper on,

-which was brilliant.

-I did remember, yeah.

The presentation isn't that great

and you could add more to make it more interesting, like you said, you didn't have parsley.

-So, hopefully I can teach you some other tricks and tips.

-Please.

And a couple of other dishes beyond pasta with garlic.

-TRAVIS LAUGHS

-All right?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

'So, Travis just cooked a very simple pasta dish.'

I think that that's the ONLY dish he can make,

so we do have a long way to go.

But, he's driven

and I'm hoping I can turn Travis into a pretty good chef.

Travis is certainly not the only young person

who's had all his meals made for him and never learnt to cook.

'I need a menu that will give even a complete beginner

'the basic skills they need to get started.'

So I've come up with three colourful, Caribbean-style courses,

to suit any level of cook.

A mouth-watering starter packed full of Jamaican flavours.

A tasty main course with a secret short cut to make life easy.

And a scrumptious dessert

that's a total treat for the taste buds.

My first task is to work on a skill

to help Travis impress the ladies - presentation.

So, here's a dazzling, colourful starter,

packed full of freshness. Caribbean toastie cups

with mango, lime and avocado.

'I want to show how sweet and sour ingredients

'can combine to build delicious layers of flavour.

'And share a simple way to make everyday ingredients stand out.'

'Whether you're a novice or a confident cook,

'this is the perfect recipe to get creative with.'

Mmm.

Beautiful.

So I just wanted to use some Caribbean flavours.

-Yes.

-Something that's tasty

and something that you could make for your mum,

that looks a little bit cool.

-All right?

-That's cool.

-It starts with these tortillas, if you just want to cut them in.

-Altogether?

-Yeah, cut them altogether.

All right, so we'll take one of these, just a normal tortilla

and just press it in there, just to give you, kind of like a cup.

-Just one?

-Yeah.

-And you spray those on.

-Yeah? Just in the middle?

-Yeah.

'Spray oil is a great way to coat the tortillas evenly

'and help to turn them deliciously crispy and golden brown

'in just eight minutes.

'Now for the salsa filling.

'I like to use kidney beans,

'which are a popular ingredient in Caribbean cuisine.'

Pop those in there.

'Chilli and spring onions will give the dish a bit of a kick,

'and balance perfectly with the sweetness of a juicy, ripe mango.

'And I'm showing Travis a neat way to chop them.'

You can do this one and it's called the hedgehog.

TRAVIS LAUGHS

-So this is about building flavours...

-Mm-hm.

-And...

kind of making recipes your own,

-so a recipe's obviously always a good start.

-Yeah.

-But you can come up with different flavours that match together.

-Yeah.

'And texture is important as well.

'I like to contrast the crunchiness of red pepper

'with the softness of avocado.'

Would you say that cooking

and food is a way that your family all come together?

Yeah, I was going to say, as you get older,

you do your own thing, you go here, you go there,

you haven't got time to sit down together, as much as you'd like to.

I think if I could have a meal I could cook myself

and call the family together and we all sit down and eat it,

-it's obviously a better way for us to get closer.

-Yeah.

I think, yeah, it'd be positive.

Let's try without any seasoning or anything on it.

That's really good.

-You sound surprised!

-Just tastes really good, really.

So I want you to see how seasoning really makes a dish come alive.

-Yeah.

-OK, season and taste.

-OK.

'And don't forget to take out the crispy tortilla cups.

'A minute too long and they can easily burn.'

Look at that. Now, who taught you how to do that?

Just watching Mum do it.

'Travis has picked up a useful tip.

'Rolling a lime like this warms it up

'and makes it easier to get the juice out.'

And another thing you can do,

-you can pop it in the microwave for, like, two seconds.

-OK.

And then just taste it and see.

-Yeah, it gives it like that little kick, yeah. Bit more pepper.

-Mm-hm.

'Travis is already taking on board two vital lessons,

'the importance of tasting as you go along

'and how seasoning can really transform a dish.'

We're also going to put some mint in.

'The coolness of the mint balances the acidity of the lime perfectly.'

Wow. LORRAINE LAUGHS

Really nice.

'For someone with so little cooking experience,

'Travis seems to have natural instincts.'

-What do you think?

-Great.

-Do you think you could make this on your own?

-I do...

-Simple.

It was great to see the way Travis works in the kitchen.

I love his enthusiasm, I really think he's got great, great potential.

For people like Travis, who have never learned to cook,

a three-course dinner can seem hard to achieve.

So I've chosen a main to prove that all you need are a few basic

techniques to make food that's sure to wow your guests -

prawn, mango and lime curry.

Using sweet, sour and spicy ingredients will get him

used to different flavour combinations.

And I'll teach Travis a super quick way to bake bread

that will make him feel like a pro.

This is traditional Jamaican fare.

With its freshness, full flavour and vibrant colours,

this Caribbean curry can't fail to impress.

Time to show Travis how to make it.

It's a take on West Indian curry.

-Yeah.

-But it's a bit different.

-OK.

'But before we get started on the curry,

'we're going to make the roti, which is basically a flatbread.

'For this you need plain flour, baking powder...'

Some chilli and if you put some black pepper in there, as well.

Yeah, OK. No problem.

And then we'll add some water. Here, you do it.

-Yeah, OK.

-Just add it gently and stirring all the time.

Not all of it, just add half.

-With a normal bread, of course, you'd use yeast...

-Yeah.

-..but we're using baking powder cos it's a quick bread.

-OK.

Baking powder will lighten the texture in the same way that

yeast would, but in much less time.

I always do bit by bit cos you can always add

but it's very hard to take away.

If you just scoop it all out and put it on a board

and make it into a ball here and we're just going to knead it.

Whilst you're kneading it, you're working the proteins and the

proteins become really stretchy, which is what you want for bread.

-You know you said that your mother wasn't very well for a while.

-Yeah.

Surgery took its toll on the body, really,

and she become just quite weak and she needed to relax more,

so I saw this as an opportunity to maybe step in

and say maybe, "What can I do?"

After kneading the dough, cover it and leave at room

temperature for 20 minutes.

-It just needs to relax for a little bit.

-Yeah, cool.

'Now for the curry.

'For this we need sweet potatoes chopped into bite size pieces.

'Ginger cut into long strips.'

Just keep them in sticks, as thin as you can.

'Finely sliced spring onions.

'And now to add fire and sweetness.

'The Scotch bonnet is a seriously hot Caribbean chilli.

'It can be 50 times the strength of jalapeno peppers.'

-I can smell it straightaway, yeah.

-What do you think?

Nice. It's a nice smell.

-It's a nice smell but it's lethal.

-It is lethal, yeah.

'Once the roti's had time to relax...'

You just roll this out on a floured surface into a nice, really flat,

big, flat circle.

So the trick with this is to keep it moving around, loads of flour.

Yeah, cos it's just sticking.

'Flatbreads, like roti, can be made from start to finish

'in as little as half an hour, perfect for novice cooks.'

-Travis, you've just made your own bread.

-Yeah.

I'm really surprised at how simple it is to make.

Bring it over now, pop it in?

The roti just needs to cook on a high heat

for a couple of minutes either side in a little bit of oil,

until it starts to bubble up and turn golden brown.

-And then just flip it over.

-Oh!

I never was good with that.

Then pop it in the oven to keep warm.

-Have you cooked with curry powder before?

-No, no, no, no.

So with curry powder you need to toast it first.

-OK.

-Otherwise it can be quite gritty.

About two tablespoons of curry powder in there.

That's a teaspoon.

-So you need...

-Wow, mistake!

So, two of those in there.

'When the sweet aroma of the curry powder starts to fill the room...'

Oh that is so... That's really nice, you know.

'..it's time to add the other ingredients.'

Stick everything in except the spring onions.

'It's best to save the spring onions till last,

'so they keep a nice, crunchy texture.'

-Coconut milk, please.

-Mm hmm. The whole tin or just...?

-The whole tin.

The whole tin, OK.

-Wow.

-You keep mixing.

-OK, yeah.

And I'm just going to add a little bit of stock.

A pinch of salt and pepper.

'Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes.'

-Let's taste it, spoon there.

-Yeah, OK.

-So at this stage...

-Just the sauce, yeah?

I reckon we could put a little bit more Scotch bonnet in there.

-Do you? To me, you know, that's quite peppery enough.

-Oh, is it?

-That's hot. I like it, yeah.

-All right, let's leave it at that. Let's leave it at that.

Caribbean cuisine might seem daunting to some novice cooks

but it's surprisingly easy, utterly delicious and worth having a go.

When the potatoes are tender,

it's time to add the rest of the ingredients.

-These are sugar snaps.

-Mm-hm.

-A bit of colour.

-Mm-hm, and add the prawns, yeah?

Add the prawns, yeah.

All right. I'm going to put the spring onions in, as well.

-Ah, nice, with the mango?

-With the mango.

So the prawns have gone from greeny-blue to pink

-and that means they're cooked, that's cooked.

-Yeah.

Dig in.

Mmm.

That'll melt hearts, that will. That will melt hearts.

That is beautiful. I can't believe I had a hand in making that.

Mm...

'I think it's safe to say, Travis is quite happy with that.'

It's so good.

'Travis has really set himself a challenge'

because most of his family are foodies.

But after watching him in the kitchen,

and the way he tastes the food, and the kind of authority that he has,

I really think his family are going to be pleasantly surprised.

'Travis has really impressed me with the way he's taken to cooking.

'He thinks about flavours and is already making the dishes his own.

'So I'm taking him to a place that will encourage him

'to just go with his instincts.'

I really believe you've got a very good palate, right.

If you say so, I must have one then, yeah, yeah.

And because of that, I'm taking you today to a place where

-they make rubs.

-Oh, like for seasoning, like?

-Yeah.

-So you can like blow your family away.

-That would be nice.

-Yeah.

'Gianluca runs a food stall in North London where he flavours

'his meat with traditional Caribbean marinades, delicious jerk spices.'

-So, Gianluca, meet Travis.

-Nice to meet you.

-Pleased to meet you.

I would love Travis to make his own rub, yeah.

-So could you talk me through the rub that you make for your food?

-Yeah, of course.

For a jerk seasoning, or a jerk rub, you want these spices.

I've got eight here and it's a combination of ginger,

black pepper, chilli, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder,

salt, and then the key ingredient is something called allspice,

known in the Caribbean as pimento and gives the signature taste for jerk.

I'm keen for Travis to see how concentrated dry ingredients

affect the flavour, compared to fresh ingredients

he's been cooking with so far.

Gianluca has got his signature jerk down to a fine art.

-Get a little taste of that combination.

-That's nice.

Yeah, you see, there you go.

-Altogether that's nice.

-The sum of its parts.

-I like that.

-A really good flavour.

Now for Travis to unleash his instinct

and create his own rub.

-Salt first, go for two of those.

-Yeah.

-I'm going to just have a taste now, is that OK?

-Yeah, taste as you go.

Tastes OK. I think it might need more spice.

I think you might be right, actually, yeah.

The salt's perfect, maybe the only thing to round it out,

and you haven't used it yet, is just a touch of onion powder.

Have another taste now.

Cos before it was quite sharp and...

-Mm, yeah.

-What do you think?

It doesn't kick you in the face as much.

-It kind of builds more.

-Does it?

Rather than before, it was just sharp. That's amazing.

That one spice has just transformed the whole thing.

'Once the meat has been rubbed in the spices, it's onto the griddle.'

-That's perfect. It's a little charred, but not burned.

-Yeah.

'Time to get the public's verdict.'

Excuse me, would you like to try some of this?

Try this one and this one and then tell us what you think.

-OK.

-Yeah, they're both chicken, seasoned.

-Spicy, and then there's that one.

-That one was quite spicy.

Quite spicy? Oh, you went for this one.

-I think I would prefer that one.

-Ooh!

-Hooray!

-Hooray!

-It's one-all.

We need a decider.

-Oh, yes.

-Put it there, put it there.

-That's all right, that's all right.

I've learned a lot today actually, with regards to balance.

You can't have too much of one thing.

Too much of one thing ruins it.

It was lovely to see Travis in that kitchen with Gianluca today.

Travis has obviously got a good palate

and just watching him with the seasonings

and just slowly building up his confidence is really great to see.

Any young lady I cook this for will be very, very impressed,

so, yeah, thumbs up.

Travis wants his cooking to wow the ladies

and the one sure-fire way to every woman's heart is through chocolate.

My mouth-watering rum truffles are just the ticket.

Start by melting whipping cream in a pan,

making sure it's not allowed to boil.

Break up a mix of milk and dark chocolate

and melt with the warmed-up cream.

Add a dollop of butter.

And a good splash of rum.

Then pop in the fridge for several hours to firm it up.

Scoop the truffle mixture into tempting bite size pieces.

Roll these into balls

and lightly coat with a delicate dust of cocoa powder.

And your tasty rum truffles are ready to serve.

Who could resist?

Travis wants to impress one lady in particular.

So I've designed his final course just for her.

After all the years she's cooked for him,

Travis wants to give something back to his mum

and he tells me that she has a bit of a penchant for apples.

So I've come up with a healthy dessert with a twist.

Spiced apple tarte tatin with frozen vanilla yoghurt.

Now this is the healthy-ish twist.

I'm making an ice cream,

but I'm making it instead with Greek yoghurt.

Simply mix Greek style yoghurt,

icing sugar.

So taste it as you go along to get the sweetness just right for you.

Mm.

And vanilla.

And that's it.

Super simple.

Then that's into the freezer for a few hours to get nice and firm.

But just remember to take it out about 20 minutes or so

before you need it so that you can, indeed, scoop it,

otherwise it's too hard.

Now for the tarte tatins or upside-down apple tart.

The apples need to be peeled and chopped in half, leaving out the core.

I wanted to give Travis something to make with a Caribbean twist

and the twist is the spice.

I'm going to be using some cinnamon

and some ground ginger to really spice things up.

I'm going to start by making a delicious caramel topping

to coat the apples.

Simply heat up some butter and sugar on a low to medium temperature.

I'm going to cook it until it goes from this blond, yellow colour

to a honeycomb.

You must keep stirring.

And I'm always super, super careful

when cooking with hot sugar

because it can burn really, really badly.

The smell is so beautiful, it's like fudge.

Delicious.

It's starting to separate and you're here thinking,

"Oh, no, it's gone all wrong,"

but this is the way it's supposed to look.

I get my apples...

..and pop them in really carefully.

Do not let your fingers touch the sugar

and just keep spooning

the fudgy caramel mixture

over the top.

Just five minutes in the pan is enough, so they don't get too soft.

And I'll get on with rolling out the puff pastry.

Off the heat.

So, roll it out to about the thickness

of a £1 coin.

Cut around the cake tart tins that you'll be using,

into six equal circles.

Now take one of your tins...

..and pop an apple half in it

with some of this sauce.

Because when you cook it, it's going to melt

and taste really good.

Then place the pastry circle on top and press down the edges.

And these go into the oven for about 25 minutes at 220 degrees.

Time to prepare the garnish.

For this you just toast a handful of chopped pecans

over a medium heat with no oil

and, as soon as that sweet, nutty aroma fills the air,

you know they're done.

And these are all puffed up and golden brown.

And there...

Now for the frozen yoghurt.

My tip is to heat a knife to help you slice through.

And it should just glide through.

Garnish with a sprinkle of roasted pecans and fresh mint.

Now who wouldn't like that?

Travis' big day has arrived.

When I met him he could just about cook spaghetti, but nothing else.

In a few hours he'll be serving up a three-course meal for his family,

for the first time in his life.

He's been practising the courses I've taught him

over the last three weeks.

This is such a big deal for Travis.

Since his mother's been ill,

he's really wanted to take the pressure off her and make her proud.

A meal? Oh, I'm thinking about it, no, he's never cooked a meal!

-He's never cooked a meal.

-No.

I'm your assistant for the day, just let me know what you want me to do.

OK, so I'm going to start with getting the dessert ready

-first, cos that's a bit tricky.

-All right.

Is there anyone who you're more nervous about cooking for?

Hmm...

I'm, oh...

It's a tough one because they're all important people to me in my life,

-so I'd like to always impress them in what I do.

-Yeah.

But, of course, Mum.

Your guests are coming soon and we haven't even done the toasted cups.

I've got to speed up, OK.

-Can I help chop anything, or...?

-Yeah.

Can you get the chilli flakes ready, please, the pepper

and the baking powder and then just get it in front of me

-and I'll carry on from there.

-OK, Chef.

The way you're kneading the bread, it's really come on,

it's really, really developed.

-It's obvious you've been practising.

-Ah, yeah.

-Yeah?

You've got confidence. OK, so we've forgotten the baking powder, Travis.

I thought you didn't see!

'Travis has practised hard but we all make mistakes.

'The key to being a good cook is finding ways to fix them.'

-We're sprinkling it on here, I'm just kneading it in.

-OK.

-I'm cooking it.

-I'm getting nervous now.

For this number of people?

Yeah, I'm getting nervous but it can be done.

-I'm just getting nervous, though, yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, we don't have much time.

We're on track, we're on track, we're on track.

This is the first time that Travis is cooking not only for his

immediate family, but for his cousin, aunt and foodie uncle, too.

-Hi, Travis.

-Hi, Auntie, are you all right?

-Mum, Dad, Adrian, Uncle.

-This looks really good.

-Good afternoon, Chef.

-Sorry, this is my good friend Lorraine Pascale.

-How are you?

-What's you cooking us?

The main course is prawn, sweet potato, mango, coconut

and lime curry and then for the dessert

it's a spiced apple tarte tatin with vanilla frozen yoghurt.

-Uncle Belly is ready for it.

-I'm looking forward to the meal.

-Yeah.

'Time for Travis to showcase his starter.

'Caribbean toastie cups with mango, lime and avocado.

'Full marks for presentation.'

-OK, Mum.

-Thank you very much.

-That one's for you.

-Very nice.

-There you go, Auntie Joy.

That looks really nice, Travis.

Very nice.

-You can taste the different flavours in it.

-That tastes good, Travis.

Lots of nice Caribbean colours in there, which I do like.

-I like this food.

-Very nice.

-I would like to see the main course.

-Yes, it's coming.

-I'm coming for it, you know.

'The starter has definitely met with the family's approval,

'let's hope the main will go down as well.'

'Time to serve up Travis' prawn, lime and mango curry.'

-That looks good, Travis.

-I think he's done amazingly.

He's come so far from the pasta days.

-It's very nice.

-Yeah.

-Very nice.

When I first cooked with Travis it was obvious that he had a natural flair in the kitchen

and it's wonderful to see how that's developed

and it's been great fun working with him.

-It tastes good.

-I hope one day, not only doing it here

but he's going to continue at home and I can stay in bed.

One day, he can say, "Mum, I'm cooking for you today."

And finally his dessert, designed specially for his mum.

There you go. TRAVIS CHUCKLES

-Nice.

-Wow. THEY APPLAUD

'Spiced apple tarte tatin with frozen vanilla yoghurt.'

-OK, Mum, last one.

-Thank you very much.

-All right.

Wow, wow.

-Very nice.

-Mmm.

-Travis.

-Mm-hm?

-Is this really you?

-It is.

Mmm.

-Nice?

-Nice, yes.

-That's it, three out of three.

-Nice.

I was really, really, really proud of him.

I can see that Travis, one day, will be a really amazing cook.

I've learned that if I do put my mind to something, no matter what it is, I can do it.

Nothing impossible, I don't think, any more.

If you put your mind to something, you can get it done.

I'm very proud of him. He's done exceptionally well.

I was really happy, she's really telling me she's proud of me

and everything like that, so that's all I wanted, really.

For the start of this process, I wanted my mum to be happy, you know,

and show that we still care about her.

I still care about her and I think I've done that.

Yeah, that's cool.

Since filming, Travis has started experimenting with recipes

and ingredients, even trying his hand at pastry lattices

and slow roast pork.