Six cooks, six countries, six incredible journeys.
Agh!
Stepping outside their comfort zones...
It's not for the faint-hearted, for sure.
..our cooks will travel far and wide...
Route 7 all the way.
..to find some of the most exciting food on the planet.
If you're back in the UK,
you get Tandoori chicken - nothing like this.
It's beautiful. This is the best food I've had in Egypt.
It's pure, it's got heritage,
it's got love in it, you know?
They'll go off the beaten track...
Crocodile? Crocodile sausages?
..meeting extraordinary people...
..exploring ways of life unchanged for centuries.
No electric blenders in the jungle.
Have to do everything by hand.
Take your life into your own hands, you're on the road now.
As they travel,
they'll see how the language of food transcends cultural differences...
I've never huffed on a cheese before.
..and a world away from home.
This is why I love Australia.
There's no excuse for a bad pie in Australia. No.
This is the beginning, where do we end?
They'll learn lessons that could change the way we cook for ever.
I've been cooking a barbecue wrongly all my life.
Wow!
This programme contains some scenes some viewers may find upsetting.
This time, top chef Monica Galetti heads to France...
How's that for a view to arrive to, huh?
..in search of the origins of the world-class produce
she uses every day.
That's exactly what goes around the Mont d'Or
and gives it that unique flavour.
She'll learn to live off the land...
This is like a natural candy store.
..and from the romance to the reality...
It's running for its life.
..she'll discover the incredible way of life
at the heart of French cuisine.
I could do a bit more of this.
I think I need a bit more of this.
Andy, when you get a minute,
just get these on a tray and in the fridge, yeah?
'This is me in a nutshell -
'cooking haute cuisine in a high-end restaurant.
'I moved here from New Zealand 15 years ago,
'starting on the bottom rung
'and working my way up to become senior sous chef.
'This kitchen is my life and it's where I met my husband.'
How many wines are they having?
Six different wines. Six different? Yeah, two white...
'David is the head sommelier here.'
That's pretty much how much time we get together here.
I won't see him until tomorrow morning again,
because he's here most of the time, and I'll go,
pick up our daughter in the evenings.
That's the way it works.
As a chef, especially when you're in a high-end restaurant,
you're quite spoiled with the variety of amazing ingredients
that are available to us.
We get the best of the best here.
You've never tried a Mont d'Or?
All right. Today's your lucky day.
'Working flat out, I've never had the chance to spend
'time in the field
'finding out how all this incredible produce is made.
'But that's about to change.'
To get out there and then to really be a part of the producers
that are behind the scenes of these amazing ingredients
that we get, and getting my hands dirty,
I'm really looking forward to it and I'm really excited.
Everyone runs away from me.
'Backing me all the way is my friend and boss, Michel Roux Jr.'
You ready for your trip? I'm always ready.
We, here in the kitchen, are just looking at that very end product,
but you're going to see the passion and respect that goes into it.
'Although, he does seem to have an ulterior motive.'
Promise to bring me back a piece of Comte
and a bottle of wine to go with it.
That's asking a bit much.
'My journey to meet these world-class producers is taking me
'to one of the least explored regions of France,
'the Jura Mountains.
'The mountains run along the French-Swiss border,
'and the alpine way of life is influenced by both countries.
'The people have a reputation for being self-sufficient
'and fiercely independent.
'This is where some of my favourite produce comes from,
'particularly cheeses like Mont d'Or and the world-famous Comte.
'There's also another connection that brings me to the area.'
It's where my husband is from, he's grown up in this area,
so we spend a lot of time coming back here
but it's where we come back to recuperate,
to recharge the batteries, you know, getting away from London life,
so I'm really excited now
that I've got this opportunity to really get in there
and see what it's all about, finally.
But before I head for the hills, I have a stop to make.
I'd never be forgiven for not popping in
to see my mother-in-law Betty
at the lingerie shop she manages.
Coucou! Bonjour!
'Sitting around eating cake isn't going to make me more Jurassienne.
'Time to pull on my gumboots
'and head for the mountains.
'It's autumn, and everywhere is a hive of activity
'as communities hunker down for the harsh winter ahead.
'My route takes me through wine country.
'It's October, harvest time.'
This is what it's all about.
Ah, so lucky to be here, I've got to take a selfie
just so I can wind up my husband.
'The most famous wine in the Jura is called vin jaune
'or yellow wine,
'and it's beginning to make waves back in the UK.
'I've got strict instructions not to come home empty-handed
'so I'm stopping at my mother-in-law's favourite producer
'to stock up.'
'Vin jaune is made from the white Savagnin grape,
'a key component of its Appellation d'Origine Controlee, or AOC.
'As well as being a guarantee of quality,
'the AOC is linked to the place where something is made
'as it's believed that the terrain itself, or terroir,
'gives a product its unique qualities.
'Jean-Paul is kind enough to show me his cellar.'
Wow, look at this.
I've been to some cellars
but they've all been quite modern, you know?
They've all been kept up to date.
This is his own personal cellar.
You can look at how damp it is here,
you know, the mould along the barrels...
I feel quite honoured to be able to come in here.
C'est magnifique ici.
Ouais, il y a beaucoup d'araignees!
Beaucoup d'araignees.
Said, yeah, but there's a lot of spiders.
II faut le travail aussi.
And a lot of work.
'Jean Paul wants to show me what makes vin jaune special -
'a layer of yeast that forms naturally on the surface
'while in the barrel.
'This is what gives it its unique taste.'
'This veil of yeast also gives the wine its distinctive appearance.
Oui! Regardes les couleurs.
Look at the colour of that beautiful vin jaune.
That's where it gets its name from.
It's yellow, golden wine, and the older it is,
the more yellow in colour.
This barrel that Jean-Paul has just drawn the wine from is from 2005
so you can see the intensity and the beautiful golden colour in that.
Mais sante.
Sante.
On tasting it, it's very smooth, very similar to a sherry.
There's a strong earthiness that comes through the wine.
It is, for me, an acquired taste
because I am not from the region, but now that I'm used to
drinking this, personally, I'd happily take the barrel.
He'll let me take the barrel.
'Jean Paul's approach epitomises what I am hoping to find here -
'a care and attention in everything he does
'and a real connection to the land,
'the idea of "terroir" brought to life.'
'This peak is Mont d'Or.
'It defines both the landscape and the produce that comes from here.
'It's dairy country.
'There are cows everywhere and their milk is used,
'almost exclusively, to make cheese, including some of my favourites.
'It's mid-October.
'Freezing temperatures and snow are just around the corner,
'so the cattle are brought down from the mountain pastures
'to spend the winter in barns.'
'At this time of year, people from all over the area come together
'to celebrate their farming heritage at a festival called a "comice".
'There's one happening tomorrow
'and preparations appear to be in full swing.'
Lots of Christmas trees with decorations on them.
They're everywhere.
'Nearly half of the working population up here
'is employed in the dairy industry
'and most villages have their own specialist cheese shop.'
That is a big cheese.
Combien le kilo?
Trente-cinq a quarante. Trente-cinq a quarante.
This wheel that you can see here,
it's about 35 to 40 kilos of Comte.
I think Michel would have a hard time getting through that,
if I was to take him a piece.
Merci.
'Sylvie's pulling out the region's big guns for me to taste,
'starting with the world-famous Comte.
'Like some wines, Comte has Appellation d'Origine Controlee,
'or AOC, status, which requires
'the cheese to be aged in a cold cellar for up to two years.'
Ah. Voila!
Mmm.
Delicieux. C'est bien.
Anything less than 15 months is a sort of, to them, you know,
not a good quality.
It's still very good but you find the children like it more,
because it gets quite salty, the older the Comte becomes.
You get these salt crystals forming in there,
which, personally, I love.
In the UK, what I would find sort of quite similar in comparison to this
is an aged Cheddar.
'Next, is a Morbier, another AOC cheese.'
'The Morbier is a semi-hard cheese.
'Unlike the Comte, it's not as hard, it's much softer.'
But this one has got such a soft texture,
it's got a lot of flavour.
'Finally, a Bleu de Gex.'
It is quite strong. For some...
If some people are not used to blue cheese,
they might find this a strong one.
Personally, I love it. I would compare it to a good Stilton,
wonderful Stilton.
I'm quite offended that she doesn't know what Stilton is.
'Sylvie's told me that these three cheeses have one thing in common.
'They were all made from the milk of one type of cow.
'This is the Montbeliarde,
'a cow first bred in this area
'and perfectly equipped to live in the mountains.
'It's thanks to this animal that the community makes a living.
'Tomorrow's festival will pay homage to this breed.
'And it'll be the perfect way for me to explore the way of life up here.
'It's 5.30am on Julien Letoublon's dairy farm and it's freezing.'
Bonjour.
'All hands are on deck, with friends and family helping him
'prepare for today's comice.
'But Julien is up to elbows elsewhere.'
'He's a tenth-generation farmer
'who has lived and breathed Montbeliarde cows his entire life.'
That's so beautiful.
Oh, my gosh. I've never seen anything like that.
'Claire Guyon is a cow osteopath
'and knows the Montbeliarde breed well.'
In the winter here, we get one metre of snow, so they have to stay inside
and you give them hay.
Cheese made in winter or cheese made in summer is different,
definitely, You can taste it on the cheese. Yeah.
'Julien's herd is small enough for him to know
'each animal as an individual, as well as their family trees.
'There's nothing like milk straight from the farm.
'But this milk's not normally for drinking.
'It's used exclusively to make Comte.'
Oh, that's amazing.
So creamy, so delicious, yeah? Oh, my goodness.
'Julien is taking 14 of his best dairy cows down to the festival.
'The main event will be a beauty contest,
'a sort of Crufts for cows,
'where prizes are given for the best examples
'of the Montbeliarde breed.'
'Down at the festival site, some other farmers have the drop on us
'and have already started scrubbing up their cows.
'It's just another sign of the dedication these people have.'
Absolutely incredible, the amount of people
that have turned up before sunrise
to help their friends and family to get all the cows prepared.
'Julien has put Claire and I in charge
'of washing down his prize cow, Radine.'
So you go and you wash everything,
so you start in the front, you have to do the legs.
Well, it's one way to keep warm, at least. Yep.
He's very brave.
I wouldn't go up that close to the back end.
'The final touch is a good-luck charm.'
This particular bell is one Julien bought for his daughter's baptism.
We normally buy, like, a spoon or something,
his daughter gets a big, massive bell
and it's going on our cow for today's competition.
'So, what does it take to be crowned a cow beauty queen?'
Usually, they judge the back,
like they have to be strong and, like, flat back
and then you judge, as well, a lot about the pelvis.
It has to be really large.
You can see all of them are like really large pelvis.
Right, so it's very important having a big bootie? Yep.
Yeah.
Definitely bigger than that one. Yeah.
And then they judge the teats, as well.
Like, to be the four of them going down. Yeah.
Very natural-looking teats, not...not deformed.
This is a very awkward conversation.
Yeah, like, useful to put the milking machine...
Yeah, to attach the milking machine to it. That's really important.
'I can feel the excitement building across the showground
'and I've been told the preparations for the comice take eight months.'
The comice is, like, a really festive day and everyone is, like,
yes, we're going to go with all the farmers,
it's a free day for all of us,
showing our cows, having fun together.
'But this is France,
'so nothing can begin until everyone has had a sit-down meal.'
What a great way to start the morning, with a hot soup.
In here was chestnuts and bacon
and they've poured a hot creamy pumpkin soup on top.
It smells delicious.
Hmm, and my baguette of course.
My cheese.
And let's not forget...my wine.
Normal breakfast at this time.
Sante.
'With everyone filled for the day ahead,
'the serious business of judging can begin.
'Radine sails through to her group final,
'and Julien's father takes over to parade her around the ring.'
Because it was him who got Radine when she was first-born.
So you can see the excitement
they're so proud, that, you know, it's their animal.
So they've made the first selection
so it's really exciting for us
to have our cow inside this already.
OK. In that, they're going to make another selection
and put them all next to each other,
from the best to the worst.
They have to make rings and sometimes stop,
that they can see their teats.
So they're just looking at all of them as they walk
and still judging now? Yeah.
Well, we've made it down to the final three,
and Claire and I think it's all due to our hard work
of cleaning Radine up this morning.
'After much rumination,
'Radine gets third prize - not bad for a 15-year-old.
'This comice will be the last chance for villagers
'to come together before the winter
'and, of course, a local speciality is on the lunch menu.
'Much like tartiflette that you find in the Alps,
'local chef Michel is making Morbiflette,
'a dish made with Morbier cheese.'
'He's kicking off his third batch of the day,
'and we're already under pressure as front of house have run out.
'With 500 people to cook for,
'this is a world away from the haute cuisine I'm used to.'
Wow! Normally, everything is prepared in containers,
but we would not cook in one big batch in one go.
This is impressive.
'First, onions and bacon.'
So, we're just cooking it down,
sweating it down with the bacon, until the onions are translucent.
Now we're adding 16 kilos of potatoes.
'In goes some white wine and cream,
'and it's seasoned with nutmeg and herbes de Provence.'
And then, of course, the Morbier, where it gets its name from,
the cheese that he's adding in now.
'Michel seems to be feeling the pressure. I know what that's like!'
Excuse me. Pardon. Merci.
'The production line has ground to a halt
'and not a moment too soon, the Morbiflette is ready.'
It's pretty quick. 60 portions in, what,
under 20 minutes, cooking that much, it's not bad going.
OK. OK?
Merci. Et voila.
Place avec vous, madam?
Merci.
Isn't it a great thing to do in winter,
coming home from work, you know, knock that together
and sit down as a family and have it as a meal?
It is absolutely delicious.
The Morbier melted through, the bacon.
The two lovely ladies have said it's absolutely delicious,
but they said that the sausage, however, is too hard.
Luckily, I didn't cook that.
'Today, has given me a privileged glimpse inside a rural community,
'a world away from my life in London.
'The farmers here are totally dedicated to producing milk
'for a whole range of AOC cheeses.
'This isn't a job, it's a way of life.
'For Julien, there's one last tradition of the day -
'a fondue to thank everyone who's helped out.
'There are different recipes for this all over France
'but for Julien's family, it's simple -
'garlic, local wine and, of course, lots of Comte.
Non!
Knowing the French, there'll be a cheese course after this as well.
'This is a very special meal for everyone here
'and not just because of the comice.'
It's the end of summer, coming to autumn,
and it's very rare for them to then have the opportunity
to get together in the winter.
All the snow won't be very far away
and it's a hard time for them.
He doesn't want to think about that,
he wants to have everyone here together now,
while they can, to celebrate.
'The coming of winter is when most things around here shut down
'..but it's also when one of my favourite cheeses
'starts being produced - Mont d'Or.
'Unlike Comte, Mont d'Or is a seasonal cheese
'made when the cows are kept inside and fed on hay.
'It has an unmistakable taste of the alpine forest
'that comes from a thin strap of wood wrapped around the cheese.
'But the strap can't be made from any old wood,
'it HAS to be spruce.
'The straps are called sangles...'
Bonjour.
Bonjour. Bonjour.
'..and the people who make them are known as sangliers.'
Enchante. Je suis Monica. Enchante.
'I've eaten Mont d'Or for years
'without giving a second thought to the people
'who produce the wooden straps that make it so special.'
It can be minus seven
and he's out there stripping this tree down in the winter.
There can be snow and everything as well,
and he's doing it all year long.
That's some hard going.
On y va? On y va.
'Yvan is one of around 50 sangliers left in the region,
'and one of the few who will carry on through the coming winter.
'Yvan works alongside woodcutters like Guillaume,
'who lets him to cut straps from spruce trees he's felled.
'No money changes hands, but Yvan makes sure they are rewarded.
'While the fire burns down, Yvan gets to work,
'slicing off the bark.
'This reveals a layer of the trunk called phloem,
'the part of the tree that transports sap.
'A special tool called a spoon is used to cut the straps.
'Yvan can cut 300 perfect straps an hour.
'My turn now.'
Not bad?
And there we have it, that's exactly what goes around the Mont d'Or
and gives it that special, unique flavour to the cheese.
'Several things about Mont d'Or are regulated under its AOC,
'such as where the cheese can be produced.
'This protects the cheese-makers from outside competition,
'but the spruce straps can come from anywhere,
'leaving the local sangliers exposed.'
OK.
'Without the protection provided by AOC status,
'this ancient profession could die out here.'
We've got quite an impressive cook amongst us here, huh?
Before this, Yvan has marinaded the venison in herbes de Provence,
the olive oil and mustard.
I love this. I've never injected meat like the way he's doing it.
'This is exactly the kind of uncomplicated food
'I was hoping to find in the mountains here.'
Do you think they'd let me do this in Hyde Park?
Bon appetit. Bon app, merci. Oui, bon appetit.
That is just delicious.
You know, that cognac he's injected in there,
it's got such a fresh hit in there
and it's not like when you deglaze
or pour a sauce into a pan and then the alcohol evaporates.
It's actually in the meat, you can taste it,
and his marinade, you can taste the mustard on this
and it's really well seasoned, you know?
The salt that comes through this.
Absolutely delicious.
No better way to have this than, you know, on a barbecue
out in nowhere.
Actually, I'd like to insist that I only eat my meat like this.
Any young chef that needs to really get in touch with what they do,
this is where it begins.
To discover what the produce is about,
where it comes from,
I'm surrounded by it, you know?
What we're eating,
to meet the suppliers,
the artisans,
to see the craftsmen in their surroundings at their best.
They're very humbling people to be amongst.
As to the reality of being at the other end of cooking
these high-end products, serving it in high-end restaurants,
it is right here, this is it.
'After seeing the dedication of the sangliers
'and passion of the milk producers,
'I want to know how these elements come together
'to make the finished Mont d'Or.'
Looks like they won a few prizes, huh?
'This is Henri Mamet, who works on a family run dairy farm.'
'Every morning, his parents and sister milk the family cows.
'I've arrived just at the point when the milk has solidified
'and is being separated into the solid curds and liquid whey.
'He's a true artisan cheese-maker,
'which involves keeping a keen eye on the weather.'
D'accord. D'accord.
You know, there's no rush in his work here.
Everything is on sight -
he's touching and he's feeling the cheese.
You know, there's no carelessness here.
For me, I can relate exactly to how Henri feels, you know?
It's that drive to create something and then sell it on
or to give people the pleasure of what you've made.
'Henri's years of experience build up to one moment each day...'
'..knowing the exact point when the curds are ready to make Mont d'Or.'
Very soft, jelly like,
and it tastes like a very fragile, very light yoghurt.
It's now into the mould and it's draining off.
'The curds rest in the moulds for a couple of hours,
'allowing the whey to drain off and the cheese to compress,
'after which they're wrapped in the spruce straps.'
You know, the passion, the drive
that gets these people up in the morning,
for me, it...it's amazing. I'm in awe, in absolute awe,
and the chapeau, a hat off to them.
Merci.
Entrez, Monica.
'Tasting the first Mont d'Or of the year is always a special moment.
'Henri's mother has one of their first
'batches of the season for me to try.'
Bonjour. Ca va?
Papa. Papa? Je suis Monica.
Bonjour, Monica.
'Around here, wherever there's cheese,
'there's going to be wine.'
You can see the curves and the ruffles through the Mont d'Or,
and they say it's meant to symbolise or emulate the mountains around us.
It's very early in the season
and it's very clear because it's much lighter.
Yes, it's very creamy still,
but the taste is very light.
It hasn't got that sort of richness
and the strong woody taste coming through yet.
It's absolutely delicious,
but I think, come the Christmas period,
this is going to be at its best.
Sante! Sante.
Merci a toi. Sante.
'At the restaurant, I cook a lot of meat
'and always look forward to autumn when the game season kicks in
'but I think that if you eat meat,
'you've got to face up to where it comes from.
'Hunting is part of everyday life here
'and before I left, Chef Michel
'said that this is something I should experience,
'so I'm taking his advice and going on a boar hunt.'
I'm a bit anxious to see what happens when it's being caught
and that, I don't know what my reaction would be to that.
For me, I'd pretty much give anything a go
and then I decide whether I'd do it again.
Bonjour. Bonjour, Monica. Vous allez bien?
Oui, super.
'Francois Dole is master of the hunt.
'His family have been breeding hunting dogs for three generations
'and a key part of his enterprise here
'involves raising their own boars.
'These are released into a large but enclosed area
'so the dogs can be trained to pick up a scent and track the boar.
'This way, there's no impact on the wild population.'
'People from all walks of life bring their dogs here.
'Today, there's a butcher, some farmers and a builder.
'Francois' sister-in-law Marion also hunts regularly.'
I wasn't expecting to see any women here, just a lot of the men.
Obviously, majority are men here.
What's the ratio of women that do hunting now?
In this department there is 8,000 this year,
8,000 persons asking for the licence, and 600 are women.
Wow. So each year it's more and more.
The women they're hunting as well with dogs, like this,
with guns or they are doing the chasse a courre,
so with horses, bicycle - all depends.
Usually, there is a lot of women practising this
because they can come with kids and they can ride a horse
and there is no guns used.
The dogs have to catch the deer or the boar or the rabbit.
They're excited. They want to get out there.
'Like the hunters, the dogs come in different shapes and sizes.'
D'accord. On y va.
'Today, there are no guns,
'unlike most hunting or stalking in Britain.
'The dogs will bring the boar down
'and then a hunter will dispatch it quickly with a knife.
'After only ten minutes, the pack are onto something.'
'I haven't seen it yet,
'but the hunters have caught sight of the boar.
'Apparently it's a good size.'
So, they're just talking about the wild boar they've spotted.
They say it's a beautiful black one,
soixante-cinq - I think sort of 65...65 kilos, maybe.
And he's saying it's got a very big head on it.
The boar is trying to escape and he's doing different things.
Oh, racing? Yeah.
They're coming very close. Yes, you can hear... Here we go.
Here you can see the boar.
Oh, they've got it. Oh...
I am actually finding it quite emotional,
you know, to see an animal being chased down.
I'm a bit torn here, because being a part of this hunt is exciting
but I don't like watching an animal being chased down.
So, you know, for me, it is getting quite emotional
and I don't know how...
I really don't like that side of it.
It's running for its life, it's running for its life,
from us, from the dogs, I'm not prepared for that.
The harsh reality of hunting, isn't it?
'The boar is beginning to tire
'and the pack is getting close to bringing it down.
'As soon as this happens,
'one of the hunters will dispatch it with a knife.'
Allez!
'The boar has been caught in some woods.
'It's still alive when I get there.'
Non.
'Thankfully, it's over in seconds.'
You know, the chase and the adrenaline of the excitement,
you're caught up in the excitement of the dogs and the hunters,
until I get here, and he's down.
Wow. Yep.
It's...it's not for the faint-hearted, for sure, you know,
and to see someone, you know, kill an animal...
I'm just pleased that they had him down in such a way
that it only took one stab and it was gone.
'It's traditional for the hunters to pay their respects
'to the animal and the land that produced it.
'The boar is taken back to the lodge to be butchered.'
I've handled a dead wild boar before,
but never warm like this,
it's so warm and, you know, handling it like that is different,
you know? It just reminds you that it was alive just a moment ago.
This connection I never had is so real here,
almost to do this, I've got to, like, go into it quite cold,
you know, to try and get that emotion out the way.
I can't... I-I-I need to sort of block it.
It's a danger factor here, because the innards, the offal,
is the first part that's going to go off,
and it gets quite dangerous so we want to remove this offal now.
The only kind of hot meat I touch is when it's being cooked.
Stop. Stop.
And drop it?
Yes, this one. Voila.
'Each hunter will get part of the carcass to take home.
'Nothing is wasted.
'It's lunchtime.
'Back in my comfort zone,
'I'm helping Frank cook the liver.
'It'll be the highlight of the meal for a bunch of hungry hunters.'
Pig liver I find can be quite strong,
very intense and heavy,
and this is a boar, so you can imagine it's even stronger in taste.
I, personally, wouldn't want to eat this very pink,
I'd probably have it a little bit more cooked,
so more on the medium side,
but he's also going to do what's called a persillade here,
which is very classic French, garlic, shallot and parsley.
Bon?
Encore une. Encore une.
Voila.
C'est parti.
I don't think this is going to take very long
because you can see the liver's been cut quite thin.
'Then comes a healthy dose of wine, from the Jura, of course.'
Voila, c'est bien reduit? Oui. Oui.
So you let this reduce a little bit.
I'm not a fan of well-done liver, normally.
I would have it sort of pink, sort of medium,
so I hope I like this.
'The last things to add are some cream and mustard.
'This is simple rustic fare.'
Wow! You can see it as it's now incorporating
to make a beautiful creamy sauce there.
This, for me, is very classic ingredients and a way of cooking.
I love the flavours that Frank is using.
Merci, Frank.
Oh, wow.
C'est super, c'est super bon, ouais.
It's an amazing texture, fresh like that.
I've never had it so fresh.
So, completely agree with Frank,
it has to be well done,
because the texture is still quite tender
and I can imagine if it was cooked any less,
it wouldn't be pleasant to sort of chew on a liver like that.
And it's very important to cut it as thin as Frank prepared the liver,
with that creamy sauce, the garlic.
I don't mind big chunks of garlic I love garlic,
but I'm going to get into it and finish mine.
I get it now.
I completely get it.
I would absolutely tear into one of my lads
if I got this in my kitchen,
and they were to waste something or disrespect it in any way,
more so than I normally am,
and I can be quite harsh in the kitchen!
You know, would I come back again and do it again?
I can't answer that right now.
'Although I had my qualms,
'I can see how important hunting is to people here.
'It's a way for them to stay connected to their land
'and their culture.
'Plus, they know exactly where their meat comes from.
'I've been struck by how everyone I've met on this trip
'is passionate about producing and eating excellent local ingredients.
'But it seems that some people are taking this a step further,
'trying to be self-sufficient
'and to live a traditional, Jurassienne way of life.
'I've heard about a man who lives up Mont d'Or itself
'and who is trying to do just that.
'He spends the summers on the mountain
'but, like the cows, comes down when winter begins to bite.
'This is his last week up here.'
How's that for a view to arrive to, huh?
Hello, Norbert? Monica? Oui. C'est Monica.
'Norbert Bournez runs a hostel for hikers near the Swiss border.
'There's no running water or mains electricity
'but I hear there's no shortage of delicious things to eat.'
D'accord.
Allez...
Libellule? Come on, Libellule.
'He's planning to make a hearty soup for supper
'but we need to forage for the ingredients.
'This is such a treat!'
A chef to get the time out in the country like this
with someone like Norbert to show you where to go
and pick your own mushrooms, he picks his own nuts...
He picks his own nuts.
'It's not long before we find our first ingredient.'
What we have here is what is known as "pied bleu" -
wild mushrooms translates as "blue feet".
I love it. I love the fact that you know they've not come out of a box.
We're going to get them ourselves.
Pieds bleus, when they're in season, you know,
we also get them in the restaurant.
Can be very expensive, they're very fragile,
they've got to be treated with a lot of respect.
But I've never picked them out in the fresh like this. Wonderful.
I've never seen pieds bleus this big before.
This is like a chef's natural candy store.
Wow.
'Next on Norbert's list is nettles,
'something that's making a return to high-end restaurant menus.'
He says that, look, if you take it like this...
Oh, yeah. No...it doesn't sting as nettle would
and, um... Agh!
Liar.
Ah, shit!
Up here in the mountains,
there's not much choice for green vegetables
and this is a great source of protein and minerals.
Agh!
'Norbert has a small veg patch where we harvest some onions,
'chards and leeks for our soup.
'But this is France, and there's always dessert.
'Norbert's spotted what we need to make a fruit compote.'
What we have here is a very old wild pear tree. You see them?
They're minuscule,
absolutely adorable.
They're really quite solid little pears.
Out or curiosity, I can't help myself, I've got to try one.
Well...
..now we know why they're still on the tree.
Voila.
OK, I'm ready to ride back.
Only someone stupid from the city will come
and slap the back of a donkey so it runs off like that.
'Prep takes me back to my commis chef days -
'wash, chop and chuck in a pot.'
There's no actual meat going in this dish
but what we do have that's going to provide that protein
are our blue feet mushrooms, the pied bleu mushrooms.
'Despite my misgivings about the pears,
'we're chopping them up to make some compote
'along with some wild apples Norbert found a few days ago.
'And there's one final thing to enhance the flavour -
'juniper berries.'
Wow! It really is, you know...
It's going to be flavours of the mountains here.
'While Norbert tends to the nettle soup,
'I add the pied bleu mushrooms, or blewits,
'to some sweated onions and garlic.'
What we have here is some dried cumin,
which grows naturally around the land here.
I've always associated that with more, you know, Asian cooking.
I'm not hesitating to add it because it's actually
come from the same area, they've grown in the same woods here.
That will be delicious, look at that.
Look at that, vin jaune, into the mushrooms.
'While that's cooking, we turn our attention to the fruit compote.'
Norbert's got the apples and the pears
stewing down to this very thick compote.
Amazing, the smells coming from this stove top right now.
OK, so now it's ready.
Some brown sugar.
'Norbert doesn't do things conventionally.
'We're eating our dessert first, but there's one last touch -
'to flambe it.'
I'd really like to see him pour that into this.
I can imagine when you're on your tenth shot of this,
it gets a bit difficult to tip over.
Ah, come on catch it all. Voila.
Wah!
'The alcohol we're using is made from
'the macerated roots of wild gentian,
'a plant that grows all over the mountains here.'
I've never tasted anything quite like it.
You've got this very strong alcohol
which has a very strong spice note to it,
that's the first thing you taste,
and then comes the caramelisation that you get with apples,
as you would in a Tatin,
and then you get the very strong apple and pear compote underneath,
and finishing on even more notes of the juniper
that we added to it.
'The nettle soup with mushrooms is ready.'
This is a wonderful, wonderful-tasting soup,
it is absolutely delicious.
The perfect light dish,
yet still very filling for a winter's evening.
It's got all the flavours of the terroir.
You've got the nettle, wonderful nettle in there.
The addition of the mushrooms,
sort of very similar to a bouillon or consomme like,
or as you have in an Asian soups,
with that wonderful flavoursome stock,
it's what you have here but instead of the saltiness
that you would get in an Asian soup,
you have very earthy flavours coming through
and little hints of that cumin.
This is a delight to eat.
What I've learnt on this particular part of my journey
is that the amazing fact
that someone can still live and try and live sustainably out here,
and for me, here, now, in the mountains, tasting this,
everything comes together.
'I came here to meet the people who make the produce
'that the rest of us take for granted,
'but I feel I've done much more than that.
'My mother-in-law was right -
'I've started to feel like I belong in the Jura.
'My life in London couldn't be any more different
'to the day I've spent with Norbert here.
'You have everything you could wish for in the city
'in the kitchen that I work in but to be'
out in this natural world,
to be able to go and get what I want when I need it,
you know, it's just...
It's a sense of freedom, almost.
I tend to think we take too much for granted, you know,
what we have on our doorstop.
If you come out here and you look at the amazing life
that you can live here, the simplicity of it,
you appreciate so much more what nature has to offer.
Wow!
And you know, you could be a chef in a kitchen and cook
and experiment on adding this and adding that
and yet you come out here and actually realise the best things
that go together, you know, are the things that actually grow together.
Mais sante.
It's just amazing,
An absolutely humbling experience. Absolutely.
You know, I just need to pack my daughter and husband up
and move out this way,
but could I live like this day in and day out?
I don't know, so that'd be the test of time, I think.
It really would be.
But so far, from what I've seen and experienced,
I could do a bit more of this.
I think I need a bit more of this.
Rick Stein goes in search of
the ingredients revolutionising Australian food...
That's gorgeous. Wow. I'm in love with abalone.
This is in a class of its own.
"If you choose to steal my produce, I hope you choke."