The Mind of a Chef (2012) s05e10 Episode Script
Instinct vs. Discipline
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Daniel, he is the crème de la crème.
I will always be grateful to Eric.
I just couldn't imagine not working with someone that could teach me.
Nobody else in England was cooking food like that.
He's great at what he does.
Mm-hmm.
He famously can bone out a chicken with his bare hands.
She's a master Italian.
- influential idol of mine.
- He's in an elite class.
a very passionate guy.
Very big part of me becoming a chef.
The whole snake head.
It cures any hangover, any time.
Whoo.
I'm here with my very dear friend, Fergus Henderson, in his home in Seven Dials, London.
We're going to make some rabbit pie, and you're the king of pies, I think, in London, right? You make the best pies.
Well, that's very nice of you to say.
So quite keen on a pie.
The whole sort of pie potential, what lurks below the crust.
This is a rabbit pie.
Mmm Nice fat, huh? Mmm Have bacon.
That looks like a wild rabbit.
Is that wild? It's wild.
These ones are shot then, - not - Yeah, blissfully in ignorance to what was about to happen.
Poor little bunny.
Vicious, you're fierce.
Don't mess with me.
There we go, rabbit, chopped up.
Let's make our pie.
- Shall I pop the bacon in there? Wait? - Um Like Motown, we'll build up our tune as we go along.
Okay.
Is that olive oil, Fergus? It's olive oil.
- Yeah.
- Good place to start.
Then a bit of bacon, fat rendered down.
Mmm Shallots, garlic.
How come you cut them in half like that? They're sweeter, they're happier.
Right.
Right, let's pop these beauties in.
Cook it on the bone, we'll pull it off the bone in a moment.
Now next step.
Pig's trotters? A trotter we've caught in its own natural jelly.
Here you go, Fergus.
Oh, very lovely prunes.
Yeah, aren't they nice and juicy? Amazing.
Gosh, they're good prunes.
Good measure of a bundle of thyme.
Essential ingredient, chicken stock.
Chicken stock, yeah.
So this is all happily doing its thing, getting to know each other.
Cook it in the pan, pop it in the oven for about an hour and a half to two hours, and it should by then be Perfect? Yes, good word, good word.
And we'll let it cool, peel off the bone, let it rest for a night in the fridge after it's had a notion of time in the oven.
I'll help you pick it when it's all chilled, Fergus.
Ah, they all say that.
He's great at what he does.
When he opened his restaurant, St.
John, nobody else in England was cooking food like that.
He definitely changed the way people think about offal.
He's a big fan of cooking them, eating them, and just being super respectful of the whole animal.
There we go.
Pie! Right, shall we delve in? Yeah, smells great.
Mmm mmm.
We're going to lift the lid.
It looks happy.
That looks so good.
Thank you.
There's something so pervy about pie.
Pervy? The sort of bondage nature, the containment of ingredients, sort of dungeon.
Well, only occasionally pervy thoughts come to me about pies.
I've never thought about pie as pervy before, but now I'm going to go away with that in my mind.
You make damn good pies, Fergus.
Don't be modest now.
But it's nice to be here with you.
It's a joy to share a pie with you.
Aw It's great to break pie, Fergus.
Cheers.
See, it already has a sort of connotation.
I know! When Manresa first started, we were struggling, and Eric came to the restaurant to eat.
He said he had a great experience, and it pained him that we weren't busy.
He called me and said, "I want you to come and do a lunch here in New York.
I'm going to introduce you to people.
" There's not a lot of people who would do something like that.
I will always be grateful to Eric for that.
I'm going to do a hot broth, and the sashimi will stay raw, obviously, but we'll have a little bit of heat, and that will bring the dish together.
A mackerel, it's a great fish that was overlooked for many years.
It was considered cat food for a long time.
- Yeah, but it's very rich.
- Good for you.
Great texture, and it tastes delicious.
I start with shallots.
Some white wine.
That's good for TV, I guess.
- Put the shallots in it.
- Okay.
Then a little bit of white pepper.
We are going to put a few Manila clams.
Some mussels.
Clam flavor is more briny.
It's just to cut the sweetness of the mussel juice.
That's fascinating.
And then we're just going to let it cook.
When they open I'm going to let them release their juice.
I don't really care about the meat for this dish.
In discussing the mackerel, it would be interesting to cook it, but soon as we do that, we lose 80% of the qualities we like, the delicate flavor of the fish itself.
So how can we have a dish where the mackerel is cooked and it's not cooked at the same time? For me, creativity, it's like a flash that comes to my head.
To me, that's a true definition of creativity.
Accumulation of all your experience, and perhaps you took a walk through a market or you smelled something new, and things just happen, and it happens real quick.
Yeah.
Now I'm going to warm up the sashimi.
The idea is to have the plate not to be too cold.
Because of the sauce with butter going on it.
Yes, and the fish to be a bit warmer than room temperature.
Okay.
And then we put it back on the fire.
And I'm generous with the butter, I don't care.
At the last minute, we put lemon juice.
Yeah, it's where I want to be.
A bit of spiciness.
If the white pepper wasn't there, you will miss it.
It's delicious.
And now I'm going to put the caviar.
This fish is very rich, fatty.
The caviar is going to bring a lot of brininess.
Mm-hmm.
A little bit of micro, micro, micro chives that brings a little bit of a rigor into it.
Mm-hmm.
Thoughtful.
So now the sauce is very hot.
Cover the fish with it.
- That's beautiful.
- But not the caviar.
It symbolizes everything that I love about your cooking.
There's a quiet confidence in the food, everything has a very natural presentation to it, but it's obvious that a lot of thought has gone behind every single step.
Yes, like your cooking.
Like your cooking.
Well Do you trust people that don't like caviar? No.
In general, I don't trust people who don't like food.
Hmm.
I have been making the pâte à choux cygne, the swans here, for 15 years every Valentine's Day.
No kidding.
Because I'm romantic at heart.
And for Valentine's Day, why not? The pâte à choux is something fascinating.
It's a mixture of milk, butter, then the flour.
And that's called the panade, before you put the egg.
Okay.
It will tighten like that - into a pretty thick paste.
- Mm-hmm.
You will fold it like an accordion there.
You want to press without moving, and then you pull out to get a tail.
Love it, teardrop.
I'm sure you probably do them better than I do.
I don't do it in like 20 years.
Mine are pretty good, I will say.
So do you want to start with a square, or a rectangle? A triangle this way.
You do a little bit of a round thing for the head of the swan.
And then with the tip of that, I push to do a neck if you want.
Huh.
Uh I have a different, way different - Show me the way you do it then.
- Okay.
Okay, wait.
Yeah, but I can do better.
Oh Oh! No, that's good, that's good.
It's more like a musical clef.
I'm always making the necks on a separate tray.
- They cook faster.
- You're right.
This will cook in, like, 10, 15 minutes, and the other one like 30 minutes.
Yeah.
And here I have a chocolate sauce, it's almost like a ganache.
I warm up the milk, it's hot, and I put the chocolate in it, and that's it.
We have some of our choux, they're now cooler.
A little bit of blackberry.
And a little bit of whipped cream on top.
Mmm Maybe a bit of chocolate sauce.
Maybe a little bit of snow.
It is Cheez Whiz over here, but works for me.
People are always happy with that.
Always.
I'm going to pass it on to the next generation, I swear.
Marcella Hazan is a prolific Italian cookbook writer.
I mean she practically changed the way Americans think about Italian food.
She taught herself how to cook because she wanted to feed her husband, Victor.
Keep turning, you see? To become a master at that and bring that to a mass of people, I mean, that's pretty special.
I'm super excited because I got an opportunity many years ago to come for lunch, and you cooked the most amazing, delicious veal shank, which was superb.
I'm very happy that you liked it.
I loved it.
So we're going to do that today.
You're going to just guide me through it.
Okay, use with a knife to divide this skin - Right.
- from the bone.
This shrinks here and becomes like a big lollipop.
The best thing about this is it's super savory.
You put anchovies and garlic Yes.
some onions.
And it becomes this unctuous, slightly salty lollipop.
And you have really to divide that from the bone, darling.
I'm not doing a good job.
You made me blush.
- Am I blushing? - Doesn't look like.
Oh, okay.
Slice.
- Okay, that is enough I think.
- That's good? So what's the next step? Do we need to add some oil - and then sear it a little bit? - Yes, okay.
So we're going to get more color? Do you want to keep turning it? - Yes, brown all around.
- Mm-hmm.
It was so nice to get invited to go to Marcella Hazan's house to cook with her.
It's like a dream come true.
- Okay.
You did a wonderful job.
- That looks pretty good, right? Thank you.
And the onions.
Yes, you can put that now.
Yes.
A bit of the garlic.
It smells so good.
And the butter.
I like Italian.
Now, you like to cook on the top, you don't like to put this in the oven.
No, because I don't like to keep opening the oven to see what is happening because I don't have patience, okay? I, I get it.
I mean, she's feisty, even at 90.
I think she probably taught a fair few people to cook through a firm hand.
So we're going to add some anchovy.
This is going to give the dish some depth, complexity.
You have to put salt, but go slowly.
Yeah, go slowly.
Yeah, these babies are salty.
Pour the wine now.
Yes, how much should we put in? Oh, keep going.
Yeah, you say when, okay? - Okay.
More or less.
- That's good? Oh, smells so good.
We're going to put a lid on this and cook it for about two hours maybe? When it's done, that is.
Do you want to taste this? No.
I never taste, I smell.
You smell? Open up.
- Need a little more salt.
- It does? - So all we need's some pepper.
- Smell it, smell it.
It does need salt.
Yes.
This is fancy, look at this.
I like because it put the light on.
I love this, this is good.
So, it's nice and rested.
Let me check it.
Yeah, you want to check it? Yes.
Ooh, okay.
What do you think about that, Marcella? That looks pretty amazing.
Want to have a little taste? No, no, you taste it.
Oh, I taste it? Oh yeah, that looks pretty sexy, if you don't mind me saying, Marcella.
- What you mean? - It's pretty amazing.
It's like It's good? It's spot on, that.
You want to try now? Mm-hmm.
I like that.
Mmm.
So good.
It's great, you can gnaw on the bone after.
Thank you.
For me, the most impressive dish is the one with the least ingredients.
- There is no other combination.
- Oh, the magic of the fewest ingredients that synergistically creates something on a whole new level.
Poulet a la crème.
It's a very humble recipe.
Chicken.
- Is this white pepper? - Yeah.
Black with red meat, - white with white meat.
- Uh-huh.
You can't mess around with peppers in the kitchen.
Okay.
Butter, you want the chicken to bathe and almost fry in the butter.
Onion, look how simple this is.
- And flour.
- A good deal.
Good deal of flour.
Now we put water, because after all this, nothing better than to cook with water.
It's the cheapest ingredient.
- It's available.
Mm-hmm.
- The cheapest, healthiest.
Crème fraîche, a little bit of egg yolk.
Mmm Do I stir? Yeah, go ahead.
We want a lot of cream.
May I? Mm-hmm, mmm You know, I make a lot of the French countryside food at the restaurant, and many times it's mistaken for Southern food, from the American South.
And I'm eating this thinking, chicken and gravy.
Completely, the fact that our chicken and gravy, we finish it with A little crème fraîche.
A batch of crème fraîche, it elevates the dish.
- That's exactly right.
- Uh-huh.
Voilà , Gabrielle, this is my poulet a la crème.
I wanted to cook a very humble dish, something rustic, homey and very French.
That was enough butter and crème fraîche to feed an army, but that's okay.
So here, we are just the beginning of Normandy, so one hour outside of Paris.
And this we are at Marta and Jean-Francois.
So friends of yours.
Yeah, it's a friend of mine.
What do you bring from the market this morning? Green peas.
- Ah, green peas - Yes.
The peas are so good now, they're so sweet.
So I'm going to just serve them raw.
And this I'm just going to cut down in, like, irregular pieces.
The turnips? Yup.
Excellent.
I remember when I started working at I'Astrance after having badgered you for a long time to give me a position.
That was a challenge.
That was the first challenge to actually get in there.
Yes, I remember in the morning you came every day for one week and you wait in the front of the restaurant.
"Who is this guy?" "You have a position for me?" "No.
Okay, sorry, the kitchen is too small.
I don't have a position for you, try next year.
" Then the day after, came back at the restaurant.
But you didn't actually really say no.
- You were kind of - Yeah Otherwise, I don't think I would have come.
I was there quite a few times.
That was fascinating.
It's a very big part of me becoming a chef, you know, the introduction to working with exceptionally good produce.
For sure, it's so important.
It's like if you want to be alive, you need to breathe.
I didn't understand it when I still worked there because then you only had the good produce.
- It's normal.
- It's normal.
And then I started working in the first restaurant in Stockholm, - it was horrible.
- Yes, you realize how difficult it is to find good produce.
- I stopped cooking.
- Yes.
That was when I trained to be a sommelier instead because it was so awful to work in the kitchen.
Realizing that all this time spent learning, I might never be able to use because I don't like working with the produce.
Mmm, smells so good.
How long are you going to cook them for? Not crispy, just deeply browned, very savory, and sweet, and a little bit chewy.
A little bit more bitter.
Just going to take a little bit of this.
And I don't want this butter to really brown, I just want it to sort of melt and glaze.
Oh, it smells nice.
Some of the turnips.
Monsieur Tibeau's peas, very sweet, very nice.
Very tart, stringent, green currants.
Then quite a bit of salt, but only in two or three spots, concentrated because that gives contrast when you eat with the very sweet peas.
And then a few drops of white vinegar that I like a lot because it gives dishes real sharpness.
I can imagine the texture, there is no puree so it's going to be very crispy, no? So natural spherification.
I would like it.
Exactly.
It's nice.
Just that line of control and chaos, that liminal space.
I've always been drawn to people who can navigate through life in that space.
Jim Harrison has lived to tell about it, to write about it in these beautiful words that just punch you in the chest.
It just kind of shakes you.
Wake up.
Live.
Be adventurous.
See the world.
Jim Harrison is an idol of mine.
I started reading his food writing first.
He's an incredible gourmand, but also a hilarious writer.
Someone who's not only written about life, but has lived it.
Gluttony without finesse is barbaric, and Jim Harrison is one of the most refined people.
This dish is dedicated to him.
It is very excessive, but it is not without finesse.
I have oxtail crepinettes, escargot, some sweetbreads, and foie gras.
I thought, you know, why not just put all of that into one plate? Jim Harrison, his life is a work of art.
The way he lives, the way he inspires others to live.
There are very few people that come along in any generation that live like that.
There's even fewer people that can live like that and write about it.
Please give to your PBS station.
Daniel, he is the crème de la crème.
I will always be grateful to Eric.
I just couldn't imagine not working with someone that could teach me.
Nobody else in England was cooking food like that.
He's great at what he does.
Mm-hmm.
He famously can bone out a chicken with his bare hands.
She's a master Italian.
- influential idol of mine.
- He's in an elite class.
a very passionate guy.
Very big part of me becoming a chef.
The whole snake head.
It cures any hangover, any time.
Whoo.
I'm here with my very dear friend, Fergus Henderson, in his home in Seven Dials, London.
We're going to make some rabbit pie, and you're the king of pies, I think, in London, right? You make the best pies.
Well, that's very nice of you to say.
So quite keen on a pie.
The whole sort of pie potential, what lurks below the crust.
This is a rabbit pie.
Mmm Nice fat, huh? Mmm Have bacon.
That looks like a wild rabbit.
Is that wild? It's wild.
These ones are shot then, - not - Yeah, blissfully in ignorance to what was about to happen.
Poor little bunny.
Vicious, you're fierce.
Don't mess with me.
There we go, rabbit, chopped up.
Let's make our pie.
- Shall I pop the bacon in there? Wait? - Um Like Motown, we'll build up our tune as we go along.
Okay.
Is that olive oil, Fergus? It's olive oil.
- Yeah.
- Good place to start.
Then a bit of bacon, fat rendered down.
Mmm Shallots, garlic.
How come you cut them in half like that? They're sweeter, they're happier.
Right.
Right, let's pop these beauties in.
Cook it on the bone, we'll pull it off the bone in a moment.
Now next step.
Pig's trotters? A trotter we've caught in its own natural jelly.
Here you go, Fergus.
Oh, very lovely prunes.
Yeah, aren't they nice and juicy? Amazing.
Gosh, they're good prunes.
Good measure of a bundle of thyme.
Essential ingredient, chicken stock.
Chicken stock, yeah.
So this is all happily doing its thing, getting to know each other.
Cook it in the pan, pop it in the oven for about an hour and a half to two hours, and it should by then be Perfect? Yes, good word, good word.
And we'll let it cool, peel off the bone, let it rest for a night in the fridge after it's had a notion of time in the oven.
I'll help you pick it when it's all chilled, Fergus.
Ah, they all say that.
He's great at what he does.
When he opened his restaurant, St.
John, nobody else in England was cooking food like that.
He definitely changed the way people think about offal.
He's a big fan of cooking them, eating them, and just being super respectful of the whole animal.
There we go.
Pie! Right, shall we delve in? Yeah, smells great.
Mmm mmm.
We're going to lift the lid.
It looks happy.
That looks so good.
Thank you.
There's something so pervy about pie.
Pervy? The sort of bondage nature, the containment of ingredients, sort of dungeon.
Well, only occasionally pervy thoughts come to me about pies.
I've never thought about pie as pervy before, but now I'm going to go away with that in my mind.
You make damn good pies, Fergus.
Don't be modest now.
But it's nice to be here with you.
It's a joy to share a pie with you.
Aw It's great to break pie, Fergus.
Cheers.
See, it already has a sort of connotation.
I know! When Manresa first started, we were struggling, and Eric came to the restaurant to eat.
He said he had a great experience, and it pained him that we weren't busy.
He called me and said, "I want you to come and do a lunch here in New York.
I'm going to introduce you to people.
" There's not a lot of people who would do something like that.
I will always be grateful to Eric for that.
I'm going to do a hot broth, and the sashimi will stay raw, obviously, but we'll have a little bit of heat, and that will bring the dish together.
A mackerel, it's a great fish that was overlooked for many years.
It was considered cat food for a long time.
- Yeah, but it's very rich.
- Good for you.
Great texture, and it tastes delicious.
I start with shallots.
Some white wine.
That's good for TV, I guess.
- Put the shallots in it.
- Okay.
Then a little bit of white pepper.
We are going to put a few Manila clams.
Some mussels.
Clam flavor is more briny.
It's just to cut the sweetness of the mussel juice.
That's fascinating.
And then we're just going to let it cook.
When they open I'm going to let them release their juice.
I don't really care about the meat for this dish.
In discussing the mackerel, it would be interesting to cook it, but soon as we do that, we lose 80% of the qualities we like, the delicate flavor of the fish itself.
So how can we have a dish where the mackerel is cooked and it's not cooked at the same time? For me, creativity, it's like a flash that comes to my head.
To me, that's a true definition of creativity.
Accumulation of all your experience, and perhaps you took a walk through a market or you smelled something new, and things just happen, and it happens real quick.
Yeah.
Now I'm going to warm up the sashimi.
The idea is to have the plate not to be too cold.
Because of the sauce with butter going on it.
Yes, and the fish to be a bit warmer than room temperature.
Okay.
And then we put it back on the fire.
And I'm generous with the butter, I don't care.
At the last minute, we put lemon juice.
Yeah, it's where I want to be.
A bit of spiciness.
If the white pepper wasn't there, you will miss it.
It's delicious.
And now I'm going to put the caviar.
This fish is very rich, fatty.
The caviar is going to bring a lot of brininess.
Mm-hmm.
A little bit of micro, micro, micro chives that brings a little bit of a rigor into it.
Mm-hmm.
Thoughtful.
So now the sauce is very hot.
Cover the fish with it.
- That's beautiful.
- But not the caviar.
It symbolizes everything that I love about your cooking.
There's a quiet confidence in the food, everything has a very natural presentation to it, but it's obvious that a lot of thought has gone behind every single step.
Yes, like your cooking.
Like your cooking.
Well Do you trust people that don't like caviar? No.
In general, I don't trust people who don't like food.
Hmm.
I have been making the pâte à choux cygne, the swans here, for 15 years every Valentine's Day.
No kidding.
Because I'm romantic at heart.
And for Valentine's Day, why not? The pâte à choux is something fascinating.
It's a mixture of milk, butter, then the flour.
And that's called the panade, before you put the egg.
Okay.
It will tighten like that - into a pretty thick paste.
- Mm-hmm.
You will fold it like an accordion there.
You want to press without moving, and then you pull out to get a tail.
Love it, teardrop.
I'm sure you probably do them better than I do.
I don't do it in like 20 years.
Mine are pretty good, I will say.
So do you want to start with a square, or a rectangle? A triangle this way.
You do a little bit of a round thing for the head of the swan.
And then with the tip of that, I push to do a neck if you want.
Huh.
Uh I have a different, way different - Show me the way you do it then.
- Okay.
Okay, wait.
Yeah, but I can do better.
Oh Oh! No, that's good, that's good.
It's more like a musical clef.
I'm always making the necks on a separate tray.
- They cook faster.
- You're right.
This will cook in, like, 10, 15 minutes, and the other one like 30 minutes.
Yeah.
And here I have a chocolate sauce, it's almost like a ganache.
I warm up the milk, it's hot, and I put the chocolate in it, and that's it.
We have some of our choux, they're now cooler.
A little bit of blackberry.
And a little bit of whipped cream on top.
Mmm Maybe a bit of chocolate sauce.
Maybe a little bit of snow.
It is Cheez Whiz over here, but works for me.
People are always happy with that.
Always.
I'm going to pass it on to the next generation, I swear.
Marcella Hazan is a prolific Italian cookbook writer.
I mean she practically changed the way Americans think about Italian food.
She taught herself how to cook because she wanted to feed her husband, Victor.
Keep turning, you see? To become a master at that and bring that to a mass of people, I mean, that's pretty special.
I'm super excited because I got an opportunity many years ago to come for lunch, and you cooked the most amazing, delicious veal shank, which was superb.
I'm very happy that you liked it.
I loved it.
So we're going to do that today.
You're going to just guide me through it.
Okay, use with a knife to divide this skin - Right.
- from the bone.
This shrinks here and becomes like a big lollipop.
The best thing about this is it's super savory.
You put anchovies and garlic Yes.
some onions.
And it becomes this unctuous, slightly salty lollipop.
And you have really to divide that from the bone, darling.
I'm not doing a good job.
You made me blush.
- Am I blushing? - Doesn't look like.
Oh, okay.
Slice.
- Okay, that is enough I think.
- That's good? So what's the next step? Do we need to add some oil - and then sear it a little bit? - Yes, okay.
So we're going to get more color? Do you want to keep turning it? - Yes, brown all around.
- Mm-hmm.
It was so nice to get invited to go to Marcella Hazan's house to cook with her.
It's like a dream come true.
- Okay.
You did a wonderful job.
- That looks pretty good, right? Thank you.
And the onions.
Yes, you can put that now.
Yes.
A bit of the garlic.
It smells so good.
And the butter.
I like Italian.
Now, you like to cook on the top, you don't like to put this in the oven.
No, because I don't like to keep opening the oven to see what is happening because I don't have patience, okay? I, I get it.
I mean, she's feisty, even at 90.
I think she probably taught a fair few people to cook through a firm hand.
So we're going to add some anchovy.
This is going to give the dish some depth, complexity.
You have to put salt, but go slowly.
Yeah, go slowly.
Yeah, these babies are salty.
Pour the wine now.
Yes, how much should we put in? Oh, keep going.
Yeah, you say when, okay? - Okay.
More or less.
- That's good? Oh, smells so good.
We're going to put a lid on this and cook it for about two hours maybe? When it's done, that is.
Do you want to taste this? No.
I never taste, I smell.
You smell? Open up.
- Need a little more salt.
- It does? - So all we need's some pepper.
- Smell it, smell it.
It does need salt.
Yes.
This is fancy, look at this.
I like because it put the light on.
I love this, this is good.
So, it's nice and rested.
Let me check it.
Yeah, you want to check it? Yes.
Ooh, okay.
What do you think about that, Marcella? That looks pretty amazing.
Want to have a little taste? No, no, you taste it.
Oh, I taste it? Oh yeah, that looks pretty sexy, if you don't mind me saying, Marcella.
- What you mean? - It's pretty amazing.
It's like It's good? It's spot on, that.
You want to try now? Mm-hmm.
I like that.
Mmm.
So good.
It's great, you can gnaw on the bone after.
Thank you.
For me, the most impressive dish is the one with the least ingredients.
- There is no other combination.
- Oh, the magic of the fewest ingredients that synergistically creates something on a whole new level.
Poulet a la crème.
It's a very humble recipe.
Chicken.
- Is this white pepper? - Yeah.
Black with red meat, - white with white meat.
- Uh-huh.
You can't mess around with peppers in the kitchen.
Okay.
Butter, you want the chicken to bathe and almost fry in the butter.
Onion, look how simple this is.
- And flour.
- A good deal.
Good deal of flour.
Now we put water, because after all this, nothing better than to cook with water.
It's the cheapest ingredient.
- It's available.
Mm-hmm.
- The cheapest, healthiest.
Crème fraîche, a little bit of egg yolk.
Mmm Do I stir? Yeah, go ahead.
We want a lot of cream.
May I? Mm-hmm, mmm You know, I make a lot of the French countryside food at the restaurant, and many times it's mistaken for Southern food, from the American South.
And I'm eating this thinking, chicken and gravy.
Completely, the fact that our chicken and gravy, we finish it with A little crème fraîche.
A batch of crème fraîche, it elevates the dish.
- That's exactly right.
- Uh-huh.
Voilà , Gabrielle, this is my poulet a la crème.
I wanted to cook a very humble dish, something rustic, homey and very French.
That was enough butter and crème fraîche to feed an army, but that's okay.
So here, we are just the beginning of Normandy, so one hour outside of Paris.
And this we are at Marta and Jean-Francois.
So friends of yours.
Yeah, it's a friend of mine.
What do you bring from the market this morning? Green peas.
- Ah, green peas - Yes.
The peas are so good now, they're so sweet.
So I'm going to just serve them raw.
And this I'm just going to cut down in, like, irregular pieces.
The turnips? Yup.
Excellent.
I remember when I started working at I'Astrance after having badgered you for a long time to give me a position.
That was a challenge.
That was the first challenge to actually get in there.
Yes, I remember in the morning you came every day for one week and you wait in the front of the restaurant.
"Who is this guy?" "You have a position for me?" "No.
Okay, sorry, the kitchen is too small.
I don't have a position for you, try next year.
" Then the day after, came back at the restaurant.
But you didn't actually really say no.
- You were kind of - Yeah Otherwise, I don't think I would have come.
I was there quite a few times.
That was fascinating.
It's a very big part of me becoming a chef, you know, the introduction to working with exceptionally good produce.
For sure, it's so important.
It's like if you want to be alive, you need to breathe.
I didn't understand it when I still worked there because then you only had the good produce.
- It's normal.
- It's normal.
And then I started working in the first restaurant in Stockholm, - it was horrible.
- Yes, you realize how difficult it is to find good produce.
- I stopped cooking.
- Yes.
That was when I trained to be a sommelier instead because it was so awful to work in the kitchen.
Realizing that all this time spent learning, I might never be able to use because I don't like working with the produce.
Mmm, smells so good.
How long are you going to cook them for? Not crispy, just deeply browned, very savory, and sweet, and a little bit chewy.
A little bit more bitter.
Just going to take a little bit of this.
And I don't want this butter to really brown, I just want it to sort of melt and glaze.
Oh, it smells nice.
Some of the turnips.
Monsieur Tibeau's peas, very sweet, very nice.
Very tart, stringent, green currants.
Then quite a bit of salt, but only in two or three spots, concentrated because that gives contrast when you eat with the very sweet peas.
And then a few drops of white vinegar that I like a lot because it gives dishes real sharpness.
I can imagine the texture, there is no puree so it's going to be very crispy, no? So natural spherification.
I would like it.
Exactly.
It's nice.
Just that line of control and chaos, that liminal space.
I've always been drawn to people who can navigate through life in that space.
Jim Harrison has lived to tell about it, to write about it in these beautiful words that just punch you in the chest.
It just kind of shakes you.
Wake up.
Live.
Be adventurous.
See the world.
Jim Harrison is an idol of mine.
I started reading his food writing first.
He's an incredible gourmand, but also a hilarious writer.
Someone who's not only written about life, but has lived it.
Gluttony without finesse is barbaric, and Jim Harrison is one of the most refined people.
This dish is dedicated to him.
It is very excessive, but it is not without finesse.
I have oxtail crepinettes, escargot, some sweetbreads, and foie gras.
I thought, you know, why not just put all of that into one plate? Jim Harrison, his life is a work of art.
The way he lives, the way he inspires others to live.
There are very few people that come along in any generation that live like that.
There's even fewer people that can live like that and write about it.