Food Safari

A French kitchen during service is like an army in battle.

Each person has their role, led by the chef,

and they work with military precision

to get the timing and food just perfect.

Welcome to the highly developed world of French Food Safari.

In this safari,

French Master Guy Savoy and his exquisite creations.

Australia's master Tony Bilson with some of the top French sauces.

The father of modern French cooking, Paul Bocuse.

Sensational wood-fired bread,

duck a l'orange, French open-air markets

and the best ratatouille,

plus the sheer deliciousness of a perfect creme brulee.

The French appreciation for exquisite food and attentive service

is never to be underestimated.

When a chef gets it right, they have devotees for decades,

visits to the temples of great food savoured and remembered.

One of France's favourites is world-renowned Guy Savoy.

Whether he's at his three-Michelin-starred restaurant

in the centre of Paris

or his restaurants in Las Vegas and Singapore,

each day starts in the morning

alongside the team in his busy kitchens.

And he works a full day till midnight,

creating exceptional food from some of the best ingredients on offer.

The way food is appreciated in France

and the manner in which meals are served and savoured

has now been officially recognised

by the United Nations Cultural Organisation,

which has added the French meal to the World Intangible List

as one of the great treasures of modern life.

Guy Savoy was a key member of the lobby group

that sought recognition from UNESCO.

For Guy Savoy, it's important that each dish has a story.

His artichoke and truffle soup

is a story about the French past and future.

I love that! So it's a philosophy and it's also delicious.

There's also a practical approach to food

that comes from appreciating and thinking about every mouthful.

Mmm.

I love it. What a combination.

In Guy Savoy's kitchen, there's always a sense of theatre

and a piece de resistance.

Oh, my gosh!

It's the sea mist.

I must ask Mr Savoy having a laugh about the smoke.

It's wonderful. I love it. (LAUGHS)

You can see you love what you do.

Yes, of course. Of course.

I stay 15 hour of every day in this place.

If I don't love that, it's impossible to do.

I love my team and I love my guest.

Wow, that's a happy restaurant. And I love life!

Amongst the cuisines on earth,

none has a greater reliance on sauces than French.

They're a quintessential part of the food equation in France

and have been used since the Middle Ages

to add flavour, moisture and visual appeal to a dish.

Mastering sauces is one of the earliest lessons for a cook

and one of the most crucial roles in the commercial kitchen.

Tony, it's been said that sauces

are the splendour and the glory of the French kitchen.

Would you agree? Yeah, absolutely.

I think that they're the bridge between the main ingredient

and the palate, if you like.

They provide the sense of finesse, uh, they provide the seasoning,

uh, but they also provide links to the wines and things

that you're drinking with the food at the same time.

So is the saucier's job the hardest in the kitchen?

It's certainly, I think, it's the most critical.

Whether it's the hardest, well, you have to ask the dishwasher.

Chef Tony Bilson has had a long love affair with French food

and has been one of the pioneers of technique and flavour in Australia

since he started cooking over 40 years ago,

dedicating his life to the pursuit of excellence in gastronomy.

His restaurant, Bilson's, opened in 2003,

and is an elegant addition to both Sydney's financial district

and the Australian dining scene.

What we're going to do, we'll make a base of the beurre blanc.

What we're going to do, we'll make a base of the beurre blanc.

White wine.

Oh, should it be that hot, Tony?

Yep, absolutely.

White wine vinegar. Eschalot, chopped eschalot.

Black pepper.

And some thyme. Mm-hm.

And we'll put that back over here.

So what we're doing now is just reducing that down

to assimilate the flavours of the thyme and the pepper.

So we'll just add some cream into that.

So we'll just add some cream into that.

OK, what we want to do is just to reduce that down

to the same texture that we want the sauce to be.

Explain exactly what a reduction is, though.

A reduction is simply boiling down the volume of the liquid,

therefore intensifying the flavours.

I'm going to whisk the butter into that cream base.

Exactly the same as a mayonnaise. Ah!

This is like a hot mayonnaise, if you like.

So you want that just pure velvet...

That's right. So now, that is the finished sauce.

That's right. So now, that is the finished sauce.

We're going to make a sauce bordelaise.

Bordelaise comes from Bordeaux.

So we're just going to melt some butter.

We have some shallot, a little bit of ginger,

some star anise, some juniper berry,

some garlic, some thyme, some bay leaf.

OK, so the butter's bubbling.

We put all those ingredients in there...and then...

Okay now, this is a brown sauce

so the vegetables can actually brown slightly.

OK.

Add in some red wine. Shiraz, actually, this one.

Just let that bubble away.

I'm waiting until that reduces down

so that it's at about a third of its original volume.

so that it's at about a third of its original volume.

Quite syrupy almost, by that time. Yeah.

But that's getting nice... a nice deep sort of purple colour.

But that's getting nice... a nice deep sort of purple colour.

This is veal stock, and we'll reduce that down

by about 30%...30% to 40% again

to get to the consistency of our sauce.

OK? If you smell that... I can smell the star anise.

..you can smell the spices and that sort of thing.

That's beautiful. Yep.

To finish that off now, what we're gonna do

is we're going to take a little bit of the butter

which will coat that sort of flavour of any raw acid

which will coat that sort of flavour of any raw acid

but also add to the rich texture of the sauce.

So the French call this 'monter au beurre' -

'mounting the sauce with butter'.

And what are you going to serve this beautiful bordelaise sauce with?

We're going to serve this with a piece of fillet steak.

Ooh, goodie!

You actually see this as an artwork.

Yes.

So you don't want to cover that meat. No, that's right.

Now, barramundi... This is beurre blanc.

Now I'll just do...put a little bordelaise over there.

Nice? Mmm.

Mmm, mm-hm.

That is sensational.

So shall we try this one? Let's do.

OK, so this one's a very different...sort of flavours.

Mmm!

Mmm!

It's fresh and... Mmm.

Then I want you to try this one, the barramundi with the meat sauce.

Mmm!

Mmm!

They taste completely different. Mmm.

Similarly wonderful, but...

Barramundi's got a...got a slightly earthy flavour to it.

Mmm.

And, uh, it picks up on the... those red wine flavours

pick up on, if you like, the earthy flavours in the red wines...

..and form that sort of flavour bridge.

That is really, really good.

Terrific. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

In a country passionate about the quality of its food,

bread holds a special place.

One mark of respect the French have for their bread

is a law that ensures any shop calling itself a boulangerie

must make, knead and cook its bread

entirely from scratch on the premises.

One of Paris's true boulangeries is called Poilane,

a bakery that relies on the old ways and a huge wood-fired oven

to make its signature sourdough loaves.

In fact, some Parisians refer to buying a 'poilane'

rather than a loaf of bread.

Apollonia Poilane is the third generation

to be at the helm of this wonderful institution.

We make the traditional French sourdough loaves,

so they're...it's a country loaf

which used to be made in the countryside.

And they are big loaves

that were meant to keep fresh for several days.

And so, because there's a big chunk of dough and a thick crust,

sort of keep it moist for several days.

Wow!

The warm, fragrant bakery below the shop

is like walking into a different century.

Apollonia, this is the way it's been

since your parents had the bakery, as well, and before that?

Yes, since my grandparents, actually.

Wow!

My grandfather started the business in 1932.

The place is pretty much the same way it was back then. Um...

And the bread, as well? And the bread, as well, yeah.

Amazingly, the wood-fired oven has not cooled down

since it was first lit in the 1930s,

the fire crucial to cooking the bread to perfection.

The inferno created in the wood-fired oven

heats up the stones the bread cooks on,

giving it its marvellously crusty exterior adored by patrons.

Wow!

That with a little bit of butter...