Masterchef goes to France

BBC2’s final of MasterChef 2008 (Thursday 28 Feb 2008) takes the finalists to work in some of France’s best restaurants.

The other challenges for the 3 finalists have included cooking at the London Hilton for a group of Professional Chefs with 17 Michelin stars between them, and cooking for the Army in the heat and humidity of Belize with very basic army equipment. Working in a French Michelin-starred restaurant will be the final challenge!

The restaurants and chefs chosen are recognised as amongst the best in the world, with exacting standards and extraordinary quality food:-

• Troisgros in Roanne (42 Loire, Rhone-Alpes)
• Michel Bras in Laguiole (12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees) – (see the recipe for a Mischievious Cherry Dessert – malice des cerises)
• Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire (75 Paris, Ile de France)

Interesting that 2 of these top restaurants are not in Paris but deep in the French countryside – very provincial and some distance from major centres of population – the French will travel long distances for a good meal!

If you are interested in French cuisine, have a read of Michael Booth’s entertaining book Sacre Cordon Bleu

Booth shares with us the secrets of his training at Le Cordon Bleu and of French cooking itself, explaining how to make the perfect sauce; the secret of great stocks; how to win a fight with a lobster; and how to avoid maiming yourself while cleaning your knives. He explores how France rose to culinary pre-eminence and asks if Paris still deserves its reputation as the culinary capital of the world. Following both traumas and unexpected triumphs at school, Booth embarks on the ultimate chef’s challenge, he goes to work at the Michelin-starred Paris restaurant of the most famous chef in France, Joel Robuchon.

You’ll learn a lot about the French and their approach to food.