Eggs and Cheese Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets

For the last 35 years, renowned chef Raymond Blanc has inspired the world with his cooking.

It's about celebrating that gorgeous, glorious food and sharing

a special moment with your loved one.

Now, he's opening his kitchen and sharing his secrets.

I've made all the mistakes which could be made so you don't have to make them yourself.

Showing, with a little effort...

Food is so, so beautiful.

..anyone can bring some joy to the dinner table.

Even the most complicated dish is not impossible to make.

On Kitchen Secrets, Raymond shares his favourite recipes using eggs and cheese.

They do some miraculous things.

From the humble omelette to the perfect cheese souffle...

-Simple.

-Two show-stopping dinner party desserts...

-That is OK?

-Floating islands and an iced coffee parfait.

-Great dessert.

To finish, a delicate greengage and meringue filled edible nougatine bowl.

I find eggs completely fascinating.

They create little miracles when they cook and I would like

to show you a few of those miracles.

Bon appetit.

In Raymond's Oxfordshire kitchen, three apprentices wait to be shown a simple egg dish.

Years ago, Monsieur Point, who was a very renowned French chef,

before choosing any of his staff, whether it is a chef

or a commis chef, he would make them do an omelette.

So let's see if I pass the test.

The first recipe, a smoked salmon omelette,

which any cook can whip up in just three minutes.

For Raymond, the key to a good omelette is the texture.

After seasoning your eggs, mix with a fork, not a whisk.

The whisk tends to mix it too much. I don't want to over-mix it.

It's about texture, but of course a bit more hard work.

And voila, tres bien. And let's start.

I've got eggs here, tres bien, so pour it in.

So don't try to jump on it and stir it.

To give texture to an omelette, you mustn't turn it too much.

I like my omelette quite rare, medium rare, OK?

Barely cooked, so I've got this here,

so now I'm adding my salmon.

Voila.

To make the perfect shape, a trick.

For you, I would like to show you a little technique.

And then you fold it up nicely here.

Voila.

And then you...

Tres bien. A bit of olive oil or butter.

Voila. That hardly takes an effort, it takes three minutes.

Three minutes of your life and if anyone doesn't have three minutes,

three little minutes in his life

to make an omelette, life is not worth living in my book.

Adam, can we have somebody always here, please?

Get me the walnuts, caramelised, OK, and the essence of coffee, the treacle and vanilla.

With the garnish on the plate. Voila.

Next, an iced coffee parfait made with a sabayon, something

Raymond believes should be in the repertoire of any aspiring cook.

I am going to enter the exciting world of sabayon, and simple as well,

you can do it so easily in your home.

Begin by adding sugar and sweet white wine to the magic ingredient in this recipe...

eight egg yolks.

The egg yolk is amazing.

As we whisk it, we create an emulsion but it will collapse in no time and

we'll see if you don't cook it.

Heat the mixture in a bain-marie.

The heat breaks down the egg yolk proteins, creating bubbles that make the mixture expand.

Now it truly starts to be very exciting here and already it's about a quarter of its volume up.

That's the miracle of egg yolk, it's quite amazing what they do for you, you know?

So, of course you could do that with a proper electric whisk, OK?

Adam, you sure that you've given me the best whisk, the biggest whisk?

Voila. You don't like me, do you?

And never stop, like I've just done here.

You are in great danger of scrambled eggs at the bottom, OK?

You know?

While whisking, bring the mixture to 80C.

For this, you'll need a thermometer.

Oh, my God, what's wrong with it?

Adam, this... Can you just... I'm not, I'm not a good technician, OK?

Can you...? Thank you.

And now we are at exactly 80C.

Voila.

So you've got that wonderful fluffy mousse here, look at that.

It just melts, completely melts. Ice.

I want to cool it down before I add the whipped cream, then I'm going to add whipped cream into it.

Of course, if you put your whipped cream into your hot sabayon,

you're in trouble and the whole thing would collapse, it would melt down.

-When cool, add a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

-Voila, and very little.

Although the sabayon is sweet, the pepper will provide a gentle kick.

Vive la difference.

Now whip some cream into soft peaks.

So there's 200g of cream here.

It's quite loose, it will go off the whisk, you know?

Plop. Tres bien.

Then add it to the base.

-The sabayon is now ready.

-That sabayon, I could use it in hundreds

of different desserts, but this time I'm doing iced coffee parfait.

Add a small cup of strong coffee and fold into the mixture.

Oh, lovely. And there's only 200g of cream in here.

Hardly a sin, is it? And even if it was, who cares?

-Then pour it into a mould and put it in the freezer for 12 hours.

-Voila.

Adam, thank you.

Now, decorate the dish.

Anything you have, just a bit of texture, some nougatine, you can buy

a biscuit, you can crumble, simple things.

Raymond's using caramelised walnuts, a drizzle of caramel and vanilla cream.

And so your parfait is ready.

A quick dip...

one, two, three, so warm up your blade.

Voila.

Voila.

Voila.

Just a few textures around, whatever textures you have, very simple.

Voila, c'est parfait.

No more, no less.

I find eggs fascinating.

They give colour, they give flavour, they lift, they coagulate,

they emulsify, they whip, they are cold,

they crisp, they give a lovely crisp.

They do some miraculous things.

For the next recipe, the miracle of egg whites.

Floating islands - a classic French dessert.

Poached meringues on vanilla cream, drizzled with caramel.

And I'm very well practised in that dish because I used to help my mum at home. In the small restaurant,

the bistros and even the three-star Michelin restaurant, the floating island is loved by everyone.

-Begin with the egg whites for your meringues.

-Six egg white is enough. Ok, there we are, fine.

Six egg whites, tres bien.

Nearly missed it.

In egg yolk, there's a lot of fat, so any bit of egg yolk in here will

prevent the rising of the egg white by a quarter or a fifth.

Come on, petit, voila.

A little bit of lemon juice. It heighten the flavour, OK?

It also prevents the graining of the egg white,

the separation of the protein of egg white with water.

You can see what's happening here.

That's a miracle of these amazing,

inexpensive eggs

and I'm trapping billions of bubbles of air, which I'm whipping at the moment.

Want to add a bit of sugar.

Yes.

What the sugar does, it helps to stabilise the meringue, and keep that lovely texture.

There, I've got it, nice peak.

That's as far as it can go.

Then, make the vanilla cream.

The vanilla cream, I could eat bowls of it, and I do.

It shows, look.

Add a litre of full fat milk to a saucepan with a teaspoon of good quality vanilla essence.

I'm going to simmer it, so to infuse the flavours. Tres bien.

So voila.

Using a spoon dipped in hot water,

scoop out the meringues and poach on the vanilla-flavoured milk.

I'm going to keep those meringues, poaching them very, very slowly,

just on the simmering point so the steam goes through them

and cooks them perfectly.

This will give them a soft and slightly chewy texture.

So that will take approximately seven to 10 minutes.

Ah, you know it's ready because when you touch it,

it'll be very firm. Have you got my scoop?

-The pooper scooper, where is it?

-Pooper scooper?

-Yes.

-It's there in the pot, chef.

-There.

-Having found a scooper, set the meringues aside to cool.

Then, finish your vanilla cream.

Combine ten egg yolks with 80g of sugar.

And I just mix them up.

That's it.

That's enough, nothing more.

Gradually, add the hot vanilla milk used to poach the meringues.

If you did add the egg yolk into the milk, you would have scrambled eggs.

-Voila.

-Put it back on the heat until it starts to thicken.

So I'm distributing the heat, on a medium heat.

I'm not trying to go too fast.

It's ready when it coats the back of the spoon.

Yes, now that's ready. That is ready, you can see it.

You can see it.

Place it over a bowl of ice to cool quickly.

Placing it into my serving bowl here.

Voila.

Put the meringues and vanilla cream into the fridge until ready to serve.

The cream, you want to eat really cold.

The final step, a caramel sauce.

Put some sugar in a saucepan.

We just put a bit of water.

Adding water allows you to heat the sugar quickly,

-reducing the risk of burning.

-Voila.

Takes a bit longer but it works.

Cook until a dark caramel forms.

You want to bring it, temperature wise, nearly at boiling point.

Voila. That's OK now. We have a nice caramel,

and I pour my caramel here.

Voila.

I think Old Maman Blanc does it better than I do, still today, so nothing is perfect.

For Raymond's next recipe, a special delivery.

He needs the right cheese to make a souffle.

-Hello, Patricia.

-Patricia Michaelson is a cheese connoisseur

and owner of two award-winning cheese shops in London.

-There you go.

-She's got three cheeses in mind for Raymond's souffle.

Serious amount of cheese.

-That's for you.

-Thank you.

-That's the...?

-Emmental.

-Emmental.

-Emmental Francais, also.

It's got a big hole, very dramatic.

Very delicate. In a souffle, that will be not strong enough,

-so I'll leave that one out.

-OK.

Wine, no? I mean...

eh, Thomas,

are you asleep?

Let's try the Beaufort.

Oh, it's got such a lovely smell.

Beautiful cheese. Wonderful.

Beaufort is also good for souffle because of its floral flavour.

It's not too heavy. Classic.

I understand that what you're trying to tell me...

-Trying to tell you how to cook.

-No...

but I want a strong souffle so therefore I prefer to put it on the side and let's taste the Comte.

Oh, so perfect.

I'm lucky, eh?

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-That's lovely.

-Voila.

-To you, thank you very much for coming.

-To you, and to you, and to our cheese.

-Oh, now the day is perfect.

Raymond has chosen a Comte from his native eastern France to make his classic cheese souffle.

The Comte cheese souffle, I really have a huge affection for it because it was given to me quite regularly.

People tell you, "Oh, souffle, oh, mon Dieu, c'est terrible,

"open the oven door, it'll collapse, if you breathe, they'll collapse."

Of course not. They're so simple to make when you know what's happening.

Start by preparing a dish.

So just butter your dish and the butter will help it to rise, OK?

The souffle.

Breadcrumbs, look how beautifully they're coating.

They're not too fine.

I want to have texture, I want to bite into them.

-Tres bien.

-Then begin the souffle base.

I'm going to simmer my milk here, voila.

The butter in here, we've got 50g.

I don't want to colour it, I just want to melt it down and

of course we have your friend here,

very close to you, which is just perfect.

The world is absolutely perfect.

I don't normally cook like that in my kitchen, you know, so it's a treat for me. It's a big treat.

When the butter has melted, add flour and whisk until smooth.

So I want to give it a bit of colour, little bit of nutty flavour to my souffle, OK?

And the flour will be nicely cooked and this is very digestible.

Gradually add warm milk, which has been simmering gently.

Look, that's it. You've got no lump whatsoever.

Then season with salt, pepper and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.

Oh, it works.

A nice lump of mustard here.

That's what you are looking for, you know, in terms of thickness, no?

Next, add three egg yolks.

That gives a richness to your base.

And 160g of Comte cheese.

Voila.

So let the cheese melt very nicely.

You can see how shiny it is.

I love to see that.

Now, put the lift into your souffle with six egg whites.

You know what? I feel absolutely exhausted. I cracked so many eggs.

Bit of lemon juice here.

Whisk until they form soft peaks.

I'm going to be muscle man.

-Again, I'm so fit.

-An electric mixer is always an option.

You can really beat them as long as you want to, so nothing can go wrong.

Add a third of the egg whites to the warm base mixture.

Mix very fast to lighten the base.

The base must be warm, otherwise the mixture will go lumpy.

Then, fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Go right from underneath.

My souffle base is ready.

Just a bit of Comte on the top.

Voila.

So 180C pre-heated oven and you cook your souffle for 20 minutes.

While the souffle cooks, prepare a sauce.

-Voila.

-Boil double cream...

Add some Comte...

So of course the more cheese you put in, the more it thickens, so be careful how much cheese you put in.

A pinch of cayenne pepper and a splash of kirsch liqueur.

That is cherry alcohol.

Interesting, how cherry goes so well with dessert, with cheese.

So now it is beautifully rich and lovely.

That's nice.

Tres bien.

Patricia! Whoa! You like your cheese but you like your wine too, eh?

-That's it. Sorry.

-Me too.

Oh, isn't that perfect?

So...

today there's no guilt, OK?

Fabulous. Mmm.

-Merci, Patricia.

-Thank you.

The French are famous for their cheese, but the British are catching up.

Now 884 different types are made in this country.

And all this cheese smells really good.

Today, Raymond's visiting his friend Eric Charriaux, owner of a specialist cheese shop in London.

Hey, hello, my favourite cheesy Frenchman!

Are you good? You good?

Raymond is a champion of English cheeses,

which sit alongside the French favourites on his cheeseboard.

So I try to split my loyalties. I'm in crisis at the moment.

Listen, I live 35 years here.

I love my French wine, I love my France, but I also love England very much. So what do you do?

-And there are delicious cheeses.

-Absolutely.

This one is a goat cheese.

Goat milk. Put a big one. Put the big one. I've got a big appetite.

I think some fantastic cheese is being made, by young craftsmen

who are connecting with their craft,

and that possibly must be the biggest triumph of a agriculture in Britain today.

What do you think, Raymond?

I think I'll take it.

Raymond's chosen three English cheeses -

Oxfordshire goat, a Yorkshire blue and a Berkswell sheep's cheese.

From France, a Comte and a ripe Chambertin.

Merci, Eric. When you have a selection of cheeses, you should try

to eat them according to their level of strength and acidity.

For this plateful, I will use the goat's cheese first and then the last the blue.

The blues are always the last because you find them mostly the most acidic,

but do whatever you want.

Just enjoy your cheese. So now, the first dilemma.

The second dilemma, should we have our cheese before the dessert,

after the dessert or during the dessert?

That is a real one.

Oh, God... Life is so complicated! My God, I don't know what to do.

Before the dessert.

Me, too. I cannot understand to have cheese after the dessert.

You go savoury, sweet, savoury - doesn't make any sense.

Maybe it's for the gentlemen to drink their port.

The great thing about tonight is what this table is all about -

we're sharing a special moment and the cheese, of course, is just right.

-Thank you.

-To you, Eric.

-Bottoms up!

-I've done a mistake.

-To finish, one of Raymond's signature desserts.

Desserts for me are fun. That's the only part in the whole meal

where you really as a chef, as a cook, you can have fun.

You cannot do that with a starter or main course. You've got to be very serious.

An edible bowl made from almond and caramel nougatine, filled

with greengage compote, poached meringues and a sabayon cream.

It is not the simplest dessert that I've ever done,

but it's worth the effort and you must try it at home.

First step within the recipe is to make your nougatine.

Add roasted almond flakes to caramelised sugar and spread on greaseproof paper to set.

Right, the next stage is to break it down in that machine into a powder.

Just break it in pieces here.

Oh, God, that's going to be very noisy - hugely noisy.

So I want to break it down to a fine powder, kind of sand, OK?

That's very, very fine.

Sieve onto a silicon baking mat, which you can buy in cookery shops.

So you want about a good millimetre of thickness.

So of course if you have a minion in your kitchen...!

It's a joke! It's a joke!

It's a very bad joke.

The French don't have any sense of humour.

You know that?

Put the ground nougatine in the oven for four minutes at 160C.

Thank you, Adam.

OK, chef.

Is it ready or not?

-Yes, I'd say so.

-No.

-No? Bit longer.

It is not ready. What you're looking for is completely shiny, so you know

that the caramel has melted down, and the best way is tiny little bubbles.

As I say, don't be impatient.

Wait! Wait!

To shape the nougatine, Raymond uses a metal ring, a bowl and a ladle.

So I want to cut the shape of nougatine and then punch it over these. Let's have a look here.

When the nougatine's blond in colour, leave it to cool until it's hard enough to cut.

If it's too hot, it can be sticky.

You're going to drag the caramel around.

If it's too dry, too cool, it's too brittle.

That means it's not supple, you cannot work it.

It makes a lovely little noise when it's ready, a lovely little noise of crunchy.

Actually I should wear my glasses.

I can't see.

Ah, that's better. Look at that, I was missing my round, my circle.

Doesn't matter.

Voila.

There's the handles, yes?

So you warm them up.

Heat the shapes in the oven for two minutes until they're soft enough to mould.

So now. You must work quite fast now.

Start with the base.

You can feel it already - it's cooling down already,

so if you're not fast enough you end up with something quite funny.

Voila.

Voila.

You can actually see through,

and that's the joy of this dessert.

Voila. So now the lid.

So you've got a stick of caramel here and we're going to stick the handles.

Melt a piece of caramel to weld the pieces together.

Voila.

You can use nougatine as well.

It's so fragile. It's so beautiful, OK?

That's one. So now all that we need to do is put something in it. Lovely.

For the filling, make a seasonal fruit compote.

Raymond's using greengages.

Have lots of wonderful sugar, wonderful flavour. 10g of sugar.

I'm going to put a bit of ascorbic acid, vitamin C,

and that's to prevent oxidation. Lemon juice.

My spoons which my lovely Adam has prepared for me.

He doesn't like sentiments.

In a pan, caramelise some sugar and add a knob of butter.

That much, no more.

Slowly now, slowly.

About 12, 15 minutes, slowly.

Top on, warm.

So it goes actually into the blender here.

Puree some of the compote to make a coulis to decorate the plate.

Voila.

And it has some little bits inside but that's OK between friends.

Place...

Just pour it in. They're just barely warm.

If they were too hot, they would go through the nougatine.

So it's a little poached meringue, the same as a floating island.

Voila. This morning's sabayon.

Pistachio. Crunchy almond. Voila. Simple.

Break it. Chew it.

Voila. That's the way to do it. You can see the gourmands here!

But first, is it enjoyable?

It's very good.

What do you mean, very good? Very, very good or very good?

-Yes.

-Rate, one out of 10.

10.

You're smart, you.

You're a smart guy.

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