Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S6 Ep 4: Raymond Blanc

Episode Date: May 15, 2019

Salut! This week mum shows off her best French with chef extraordinaire, Raymond Blanc. As well as answering our demands of bringing pud, the Michelin starred chef couldn’t resist taking over mum’s kitchen to show us how it's done; from corkscrews and emulsions to apricot trees and gardens, we learnt it all! Raymond tells us all about his journey into becoming a chef, frog hunting as a child, why he’ll never eat strawberries in winter & the brilliance of using water in his iconic recipes. Bon appetit! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

and for anybody who didn't understand that hello and welcome to table manners i'm jesse ware and i'm here with my mom oh is that how we're doing it? Okay, fine. It's the Lenny show now. Yeah. I like it. Mum, I'm going to rely on you today because we have a Frenchman in the house

and this is the perfect time for you to practice your French. My booze cruise French. Your booze cruise French which you so love to bring out whenever we cross the channel. Who have we got on today's show? Today, we have the fantastic boss of Manoir aux Quatre Saisons,

Monsieur Raymond Blanc. Raymond Blanc, everybody. We are really excited to have him. However, Mum, it's been quite stressful, as per usual, the menu, because this guy is haute cuisine. Oh, he's higher than that. He's more haute. I mean, I was reading that the amount of Michelin-starred chefs that have trained under him.

Yeah. I think Heston Blumenthal has. Zillions. 35, I think. It's mental. mental a lot of men i don't see lots of women so that'd be interesting to see but i was interested his whole beginnings he just started as a waiter in oxford and then developed a small little restaurant in oxford and then the fantastic man where oh cat says oh which I've never been to a view no maybe he'll invite and tell us what's on the menu today I've had no

involvement apart from suggestions Sula menu Jesus right today mad mad oh should we we have halibibut your favorite my very favorite cooked with morels and wild garlic but they're not morels mom because you couldn't find morels so they're exotic mushrooms but they look like morels i don't think they do they do morels a little like they're little yeah and then okay so they're like you got shiitakes no there's no i won't cut the shiitake. Okay. Why are you always so critical when you've done fuck all?

Okay, sorry. Yeah. All right, exotic mushrooms, because I couldn't find morels, with wild garlic, because I know he's a bit of a forager. Yeah, his gardens are a massive. So he's probably got wild garlic growing out of his ears. We've had to get ours from Atura. I said, why don't we do something seasonal? Because Raymond loves, from what I've read, to cook seasonally.

And I think that's been a thing for him forever. I mean, I know every chef likes to do that. Save your carbon footprint. Yes. Of course, my mushrooms came from Korea. Oh. South Korea. I wonder how long they've taken to get here.

Okay, so they're definitely not morels mom no they're exotic mushrooms let's hope it works yeah do you think i shouldn't do that i don't know have you got any chestnuts in there no i hate those anyway they're chestnut mushrooms they're good tasteless well yeah so i thought why don't we do wild garlic and you and i i sent the message to mom mom said well you made me laugh. What did you say? You have to go out foraging. Where do you want me to forage? Well, you foraged to Ocado. Yeah. You're doing a foam. If you may. Oh, Jesus Christ. Do you think maybe this is silly and we should have just given him chicken soup? Yeah. Never mind. I'm sure it'll

be delicious. Let's hope it works. and then we've asked him to bring the pud yeah because it felt only right what do you mean it felt only right to ask a michelin star chef to bring something to eat so at least we don't have to do the pudding at least i'm really excited to hear all about roman blanc because he's had such kind of a journey to where he is now and he's one of the most renowned successful chefs. And watch mum speak French to him for a lot of it and we're just going to have to cut all this stuff out. My friend Tessa texted me this morning and she said, don't wear your striped jumper and take the onions off

from around your neck and your beret and try not to speak French too much. You're such a Francophile. Yeah, I love French. What did you used to do? I used to smoke Gauloise, wear a mini-poule, a little jumper, in Shetland,

and sit on the steps of the Tate, which is now the Tate Britain, and try and meet French boys. Trying to pick up French boys. When I came to London from Manchester. Living the dream. Raymond Blanc coming up on Table Moms. Bienvenue, Raymond.

Raymond's come in. He's opened the wine. He's brought gifts for my daughters, my daughter and son. Massive boxes of patisseries. Bon Santé. Bon Santé, merci. for my daughters and my daughter and son and massive boxes of patisseries and bon santé and that's actually you chose one which doesn't come far from my region oh my gosh Shably okay and I live about 50 miles from this region oh this is very nice I want to know so you grew up in France and food I've kind of I've read a bit about you

about like how was it kind of growing up who was cooking the meals always the mothers okay always the mothers the fathers were doing the garden and worked and worked my father was a working-class person not a rich working-class person worked in a factory okay as though he could have been a great jeweler, because he could craft gold or bronze or iron so beautifully. He had this skill, but he never tried. He was coming from a working class family, so he never dared to have his own business.

What a shame, is it? He wasn't confident. And I said one day, I will never be like him. I will make my dream happen. So I lived in a very part uh between the jura and burgundy to one region not sophisticated places very earthy peasant okay my village had about 15 peasants farmers, with each of them 15 or 20 cows. And, of course, we would do the garden.

From the age of six, we would work hard to help my papa to do the garden, to grow the food, to remove the grass from the garden, to remove the stone, because it was difficult. My friends were playing football. We were working very hard in the garden, growing this food from It was my friends were playing football. We were working very hard in the garden, growing this food from seed, from these brown little seeds. And the magic, of course, is in that seed. I learned so much. That's where I learned everything about my philosophy about food, seasonality, the purity, the nobility of ingredients, the organic at all

time. Okay, no chemicals within the food, we would grow. So we'd grow all these foods and when you saw it was all over, you had to harvest it, put it, top and tail it, and give tons of beans to my mom, would apply a simple craft, okay, and would cook, pickle it, bottle it, preserve it, dry it, you know, and I remember the cellar was a wonderful place to go because the cellar was full of vegetables which could

feed the family all year round we bought very little from outside, it was a proper way I'm a post-war boy I come from a family where my papa tells me the story when it was post-war, when General de Gaulle said, France needs children.

So my papa said, yes, yes, mon general, I will give you seven. I will give you seven. So there's seven of you. No, no, no, it didn't work out like that. Okay, I will give seven to France and to you, mon general. So he came to my mom very happy with himself and he said uh annie uh i'm going to i am going to give the the the france and the general de gaulle seven children and my mom looked at him and say no maurice i will give you i will give you five okay of course of course and then so we had

so a big family this time so my mom was an extraordinary cook and i know it sounds a bit of a cliche but she was an extraordinary cook and obviously i was a minion because the girls were destined to cook right yeah it was a boss and myself i was uh i said no uh peeling some potatoes chopping things, I was a minion so to speak, but always observing the skill I could kill my rabbit from the edge of a seven and peel it

and remove the heart and remove the lungs. But did you feel sad about killing the rabbit or did you just kind of no, no, no, I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it but it was part of a culture food culture we want to go fetch everything wild in the forest whether there were birds there was escargot where there were frogs actually where do you find your escargot though oh so the

escargot would grow everywhere they would stay buried during the winter and and around may where they would stay buried during the winter and and around may april you know they would come out okay and and you could smell them there were hundreds and hundreds big fat birds what do you smell this well not slimy no but you could smell a very powerful scent of escargot and they would go around the edges at the edges of forest and would go with a huge bargain and fill up that bag in about two hours okay and then then after you don't want to know too much i'm feeling faint but i still love escargot boys i must say i don't love so much frogs although the frogs hunting was really very romantic. Why? Tell us about it. Because my papa would know when,

and it would be full moon, it would be a soft evening, no wind whatsoever. And he knew. He would tell me, Raymond, take a big bag, okay? We're going to fetch the frogs. And we would go through that full moon

all across the fields, okay? To go through that full moon uh all across the fields okay um to go to that lake and and you as you arrived close to the lake you could smell the frogs what should the frog smell like oh it's like frogs okay okay i don't know if i've smelled it i don't think i've smelled it no because most frog hunting you can think of a you think of a bit of red chiffon at the end of a hook. No, no, no. We meant business. My father meant business. And we'd go close to that lake.

And then around that lake, there would be millions of frogs, all clumped together into a mega orgy. Okay? It was there by reproducing. It was reproduction season. So which time of the year is this i think it was i don't must be there they're tadpoles now aren't they end of may june yeah end of my daughter's just got tadpoles in the nursery okay they've just got little tails

at the moment with that lump and they were all still just enjoying themselves i would clump would in big and how would you kill them would you ah that's maybe would you put them in a bag of frogs that is a romantic part of it okay maybe i should pass on the romantic part of it because i was also as a frenchman it was part of my culture yeah no we really uh uh we killed killed to eat it was not But you only eat the legs? Yes. So what do you do the rest of it? Well, maybe... Don't eat the rest.

Okay. Put it back in the ground? For the soil? Could it make it good soil? That's a bit embarrassing. Yes, it does. It goes into manure eventually.

There you go. All in manure. And it was always done on the manure. Have you got frogs near you at Le Manoir? Yes, they are. They everywhere but we so somehow you know you know you change no life change you change you soften up and also I'm a chef okay I know to kill an

animal now it would be very difficult I remember we did a BBC series and I had to kill a rabbit. It was very hard because I'm not used to it anymore. Whereas in the past, it was normal. It was, you know, you would have a pig that you would feed all year round and then you would kill it. There was no, the French don't have any hypocrisy

about food, okay? Or neither the Italian, nor the Spanish or the indian or chinese uh you know because they are very powerful strong culture and you the killing was not really it was for nourishing the whole family there was something very normal very real was to me what is less real is that we buy food from millions of miles away, creating pollution and often raised into terrible conditions. I'm the president of the Sustainable Restaurant Association in Everton, so we look at 7,500 restaurants which embrace very powerful okay of where the food comes from okay what's in it okay about as well while you manage waste management you manage energy you manage water no you

work with your community okay so there's chefs are now changing there's a big change as a one option. So are you. So are the consumers. The consumer is much more knowledgeable, much more aware. Ignorance is being replaced by knowledge. And that's exciting. Because when you are knowledgeable, while you are empowered, you make better choices. So is most of your stuff at Le Manoir locally sourced or you grow it yourself or

you farm it i was the first chef to grow a huge garden that my papa helped me on television doing it and it's got about 150 varieties of vegetables we have 12 gardens at le manoir 12. so you're like a gardener and a chef well i would know i've got too much respect for gardeners to tell them about but you're interested in culture totally completely and we have done just the first we've just finished the first gardening school in the world in any restaurant or hotel and it is supported by the IHS okay by amazing so by the support of the Royal Horticultural Society. And very, very soon, next year, we'll have about 50 very great gardeners, okay,

which are seed propagators, which are herbologists, which are, we have all different skills, we have nursery people, we have scientists, and we will come do the courses. But how do you feel so because because people are like you were saying they're getting more conscious about where they're they're more aware of where they're getting their produce you know there's veganuary and people are trying to be a bit more plant-based you can see lots of kind of restaurants and what was it did i see

is it mcdonald's doing a plant-based like they're doing a vegan burger or so it was burger king was it burger king and but would you eat a lot of meat as i come i told you i made a point i come from working class family meat is expensive okay right okay so specifically we would eat meat three times a week okay and it was a treat and fish once uh once or twice a week. Okay. Okay. The fish was usually the fish who caught from the river. Okay. What kind of fish was it? Or it would be either the little gudgeons, okay. It depends on the season. Or it could be pike.

Or it could be bream. It could be tange. It could be according to what it is. Whatever the season would offer. Again, all is driven by season. Because if it's seasonal, it's close to home. If it's close to home, it's got better taste, better texture, better flavors, better colors, better nutrients.

Then if it's close to home, you help your gardener, your farm to keep his farm, to keep his craft, the village to keep his post office, to keep his little local pub, to keep the community together. Then you don't have to import from billions of miles away food, okay, lots of food. And of course, this food will create pollution,

and you double whammy, you'll have to clean up the pollution. You avoid that completely by buying locally. And then most of all, the most fascinating part of local food is that basically it's local and says in seasonal sources plentiful now of asparagus so yes my guess instead of costing 10 quid a bunch are going to cost ones in full season they will cost half of the price okay like peas like broad beans like and so so there's it makes sense but yet are we embracing these values no

because we want it all we still want it all and we come from we want to eat strawberries january exactly and they are the worst you know so imagine the consequences of so please don't eat strawberries i'm guilty so well we ask everyone what their guilty pleasure is but would yours be something out of season that you could be would that be your guilty pleasure well first all my pleasures will be done without guilt oh yes you did yes to start with okay i had the idea of feeling guilt when especially when you are eating so that is one part of it that means if i have a two glass of wine today instead of one I won't feel guilty at all if I have but I would feel very aware and very if I was eating a strawberry during the winter I will

never and I don't like to use that word but very rarely eat something which is out of season because it's my culture it it's my terroir, that's what my parents gave me, and that's what I teach my young people. So I very rarely eat something out of season. But having said that, I love my... I've got a number of chocolat. Oh, come on then, yeah.

But the chocolat is 100% cocoa. Okay. So there's no sugar. So I've got a very low salt palate. And actually, I remember, I tell you a lovely story. What do you mean a low salt palate? Well, I tell you, because the British had a very high salt palate. Oh, you mean we like salt?

The fight that we are fighting against sugar was fought against salt many years ago. And I remember when I opened my first restaurant, when I was totally self-taught. I never cooked one minute before. But I received so much knowledge from my parents and from my terroir, from my home, that I knew how to cook instinctively. And I cooked, and I remember my first dishes, which I still remember how beautiful they were.

And sorry, it's not being presumptuous. They were beautiful. There was so much it's not being presumptuous. They were beautiful because there was so much love into it, so much care. It was a Jerusalem artichoke, which the French gave to the pig and the English didn't eat at all. Way back in 77.

Right. And I did a beautiful, it was a beautiful Jerusalem artichoke, Cherville jus, okay, and the first asparagus. The last Jerusalem artichoke was thebil jus okay and the first asparagus the last Jerusalem artichoke

the first asparagus bring them down bring them down puree them and cook them down then puree them and remove

as much moisture as possible to get as much flavor as possible so that you sharpen with lemon juice a couple of eggs a milk

and a bit of cream you know and and and and then a know the hammer can that you batters you can you can lift this mold onto a plate and you've got this trembling beautiful gorgeous looking mousse that you put a serving jus around she's just an emulsion of water butter tiny bit of butter you don't need much just 10 grams that's all okay with the water

that you emulsify a bit of chervil a little bit of tomato on the very very very top and you have a most beautiful dish and i did the other dish was a salad of duck oh yeah with all the skin of the duck smoked duck no no plain plain breast of duck yeah okay Slowly cook on the skin side so to remove all the fat. It takes 20 minutes at low temperature, 40, 50 degrees. That means you don't cook the duck. Get rid of the fat,

which you can use because duck fat has got at least 60% of monounsaturated fat. Yeah. It's a good fat. It's good, almost as good as olive oil.

Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Or rapeseed oil. Okay. as good almost as good as as a as a olive oil okay or rapes it all okay so then you cut you then you cook it you brown it beautifully in the oven for seven minutes and i just keep the skin off you cut it thinly under the grill and i did a beautiful walnut dressing with a liver of the duck okay uh it was really beautiful this was like one of my first two dishes and then it was a tiny kitchen my kitchen was half of yours okay and i was doing 45 guests and it had red cheap red and white tablecloths okay six or seven hand cheap prince of paris on the wall i'd cut my cocoa oil and I painted the feathers bleu, blanc, rouge. So you knew it was a French restaurant. You came in.

I had a 1956 oven with no bottom. And a Kenwood 1962. And that's why we won a two-star Michelin. And then I wanted to see my first two guests eating my first two dishes. Ah, it was so important to me. And I was

expecting a lovely couple in love you're such a romantic exactly too much too much and I was really disappointed because it's two stripes you would okay because a businessman at that time had to wear a stripes you would to show he was a businessman or an accountant or a banker so and they started to business and I was there opening the. I was two meters away from them because I was a waiter to put them just here so I could see them. So I was really disappointed.

So my two dishes went. And these two businessmen who were talking business, suddenly when they saw the food and smelled the food, stopped talking about business. And for maybe 10 blissful seconds, these two businessmen looked at the food, and in a hole, there was something lovely happening, and they stopped talking business.

But then, they jumped on the salt and the pepper, and murdered my food in front of me. And I wanted to kill them, but I couldn't kill my first two customers. Oh God, it was a terrible moment. Marco Pierre White used to not allow you to have salt. And he would tell you to leave the restaurant. I would never do that. Yeah, he'd say, go.

I would never do that. I've never done that in my life. I will never do that in my life. I think it's what for? What for? Let the guests choose what they want. But it didn't prevent me. You broke your heart.

Should I put some food on? Yes, please. I see your mum are cooking. Yes. I see her cooking. Is she in trouble? And I already know that's perfect. Oh. I my tell you why

I've not seen what's in it not yet not yet just okay now because I hear the perfect sound of the simmering another I do not simmering the the gentle frying it's not aggressive that means you will have the juices will come out beautifully caramelized at the bottom beautifully give so much taste if you go fast of course i could hear it from here it would be it would be aggressive and violent and you get a lot of color but no flavor whereas here i can smell it now beautiful i can see it's a mama who cooks a lot she is great absolutely but last time we did fish we got otterlenghi to cook it because we had him on and we just like you know what can you just do the turban and he went in so um i think mom's trying to uh impress you by not demanding that you go

over there but you are welcome to go and help her with the fish if you want absolutely more ddim yn gofyn i chi fynd yno ond rydych chi'n bosib i fynd i'w helpu gyda'r ffysg os ydych chi eisiau. Yn sicr. Rwy'n hoffi. Rwy'n ddim yn meddwl... A ydych chi eisiau cwplio ychydig? Nid, nid y mae'n gallu helpu ei hun. Rwy'n ei hoffi. Nid yw hi'n meddwl ei bod yn helpu. Rwy'n meddwl ei fod yn iawn. Mae'n gwych. Yn sicr. Mae'n gwych. Mae'n gwych. Mae'n gwych iawn. Yn ddynol iawn. Iawn. Mae'n ddynol iawn. Rwy'n meddwl y bydd hwnnw'n cael ei bwyllgu. Nid. Ychydig mwy. Ychydig mwy. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysg. Cofi'r ffysaw. Cofi'r ffrin, yn enwedig pan gallwch chi ei chroeso, cofiwch yma. Ac un munud arall. Iawn, rwy'n meddwl un munud mwy. Iawn, iawn. Mam. Ac yna beth am y ffom? Rhaid i chi... O, s**t! Mae'r ffom wedi'i ffwrdd. Ff**k. O, s**t!

Beth y gallwch chi ei wneud, i gael jw, hyfryd. Iawn. Edrychwch. Mae hynny'n beth rwy'n ei fodloni. it's all right we've got enough what you can do to have a lovely jus yeah look this is what i want to know because my mom never used stocks ever yeah she would just use water because all the flavors in here should i put some lemon on could i have just a little bit more butter yeah butter there yeah we're going to put 10 grams only that's all 10 grams 10 grams i don't know what 10 grams are okay just two little nuggets two little nuggets yeah voila on food now we're going to brown it so it goes as a nut yeah and then just water and you're going to create an emulsion and all the sacks of the of the fish which will have been brown the batter and the water are going to create an emulsion. And you have lemon juice and you have a lovely simple jus

without having made the sauce. We can produce a dish in five minutes. This is what I needed to know last night for dinner. A mushroom. I don't want to... Don't, no, you don't want to know where the mushrooms came from roman we're not going to tell you so you can south korea we are ready it was a lovely hazelnut flavor in here oh yeah yeah yeah

okay just a little bit yeah okay just a little bit yeah mom you actually look like a professional like kitchen now it's lovely by the way madam mom this looks really really impressive and the fish is not overcooked it's lovely there is some more of this sauce i I love this sauce. Shall we put our glasses together? Is French cuisine still, in your view, the best in the world? Or do you like... I mean, we... No, I'm only teasing you a bit. But I have a house in Greece, which we love. And Greek food always had a very bad reputation.

But not now. It's fantastic. Look at that little Greek lady on Masterchef the little Greek lady she was tiny Irene but she made the most beautiful food she was really good

they're all dishes we recognise like the octopus with father you know how we have that and she made all the things that we recognise stuffed courgette things like that and now Greek food's got a much better reputation She made all the things that we recognize, stuffed courgette, things like that. And now Greek food's got a much better reputation.

I think it's true that French food had a huge impact on the whole cuisine. It has been exported across the world, especially in countries where there was no true culture of food. You see very little french food in india maybe in pondicherry because pondicherry was a former colony of france you see little in england you can see a lot of french food in england because there was not a food there was not a food culture here or not very much food culture so so french food was exported across the world not very much food culture. So French food was exported across the world. Now, definitely there's still an enormous savoir-faire and skill level at all levels,

whether it's winemaking, whether it's butchery, whether it is food. But we've lost a lot. We've lost a lot, and I believe that we lost a lot. We lost the plot when we created the 35 hours a week. And I think it damaged our culture very very much because how can you do, to make bread

take 6 or 7 hours just to make bread and suddenly 35 hours a week damage our food culture but I believe there is enough and it's true, no, France is not the best food in the world, it's one of the best food of the world, yes but now there's so no France is not the best food in the world it's one of the best food of the world

yes but now there's so many look at the British culture Raymond do you think we've got a bit better in Britain it's exciting

no no I think it's London is great well even Oxford but it's exciting first food the revolution

on food was very much London centric not anymore now these young chefs who cannot afford to establish their own business in London go in the north, go in the south. And there's some exciting chefs, okay? Like Moore Hall, Mark Berkshaw.

Yeah, watch them all on the great British menu. I mean, there's some amazing people. You know, take L'Enclume, okay? I mean, there's so many restaurants now who have exported their knowledge beyond London. And that is exciting. We ask everybody, your desert island meal. So if you were going away and you had to eat one meal and you had a starter, a main, and a pudding, and a drink.

There could be lots of dishes. A starter, main course dessert. Yeah. A starter would go for crudités. Crudités is a beautiful French, national French dish. Of course. Which is eaten in every home in France every Sunday lunch. A vegetable.

And it is grated carrots. Like remoulade. Grated celeriac. Remoulade. Yeah. eaten in every home in France every Sunday vegetables is great either carrots with the orange and a beautiful French dressing actually one of my great dish come out of that actually a sense of tomato I wanted to capture the heart of the tomato and I noticed when my mom did a tomato salad, she would season it and the salt would extract some of the juices. Some of the juices and then you could mop it up. So I recreated a whole dish called Essence of Tomato. And you must do it.

And you must either buy, no, I will give you my book. You must give me your book. And you must do that book. And it's very simple. You just very, sherry tomatoes, ripe. give you my book you must give me you must do that book and it's very simple because you just very straight tomatoes ripe chop them up macerate them just a dash of vinegar a tiny bit of some basil a handful of basilic a bit of salt tiny bit of salt because they put enough flavor a bit of black pepper, okay, and that's and macerate them for about 12 hours. Then you take a Robocoop and you press just to break them down. Yeah. But don't puree them otherwise

they'll be red and the flavour. Just a bit of a chop, yeah. And then you pass them through a mousseline cloth and hang them. Okay. And just collect the heart of your tomato. I can do that, I've got the cloth done. So the juice of the tomato. It is a bit frozen, very fresh, cool, and it's absolutely amazing. It's one of the great dishes of the world, which is now so given. So what do you call it? The Americans call it now water tomato.

I call it essence of tomato. Okay. And you'd have really good bread to dip. Yeah, proper sourdough. Soak it up. That's your starter? It's a starter. As a main course it might be a lovely big cheese soufflé. I nearly made that! Jessie told me nothing! I was going to make a soufflé and Jessie said don't do that for Raymond Blanc. No no no no. And she would do that. And I can do that. Souffles are supposed to be really hard no? Darling. No that's not. It's not hard. You need to demystify souffle and I will give you that recipe. Okay. And you serve that with leek okay. No cook leek okay. Separately spinach and so on. And then as desserts oh my god is it the floating island is it the pêche au verre blanc

is it the tarte aux pommes maman blanc is it the apple tart maman blanc oh my god I would have the three if I could that's ok

you could have three minis ok three minis and then chocolate afterwards with your coffee of course yes and what would you have to drink one lots of water because we

are in Ireland okay as one I would again go to my region okay I would go for Savagnin. Savagnin is unknown grape apart from Vin Jaune. Let it down, darling. Okay, and it's grown in the Jura one. Jura, in the mountains. So it's flinty. Flinty, voilà, voilà. A bit like cherry-like. It's beautiful.

So where do you sleep at night, in London or in the mountains? I have a flat in London because it's easy because a lot of a lot of meetings are in London yeah and it's very close to Marybond it's only five minutes oh it's fantastic so good yeah where's some of your favorite spots to eat around there do you eat fishes do you go for schnitzel no no no no, no, no. You never go there? No, no, no, no. I go to the Thai, I go for monkey meat. It's a lovely little Thai restaurant, really with a whole family of Thai people. And they are beautiful, beautiful.

Sorry, I'm not very good with my memory of Italian name. The Kazabeki, which is just after York Street. It's just, again, family. They own the restaurant for the last 50 years or more. Oh, gosh, I love it. So you love a family restaurant. Oh, yes.

Let me tell you why. I am at the opera every day. Every day, you know, I taste very beautiful food. So you want that simplicity yeah you want that that simple yeah whether it is thai uh whether it is indian or chinese or you like all different all right all the food have you been to jaconi yes it's so good she's so lovely i don't know which road it's on but it's just in Marylebone and she is so charming

the woman there and it's delicious Asian food it's kind of very interesting it's really exciting and I also go La Petite Maison

I go places which are better known as a lovely tiny little local Marylebone restaurant

okay Hill Branford's Branford's again tiny tiny family family family and there you know i've got my best aubergine parmigiani is the killer that one is just so delicious

but the thing is you want to not have it as a main course but it's so filling that you almost have to but it's so delicious I take just one course I'm not good just take one and have a glass of wine Raymond you have kindly well we kind of demanded that you did, you've brought pud

but you haven't just bought one pudding. You've bought like a beautiful selection of patisseries. So can you just explain to us what we've got here? Because it's just like you've got wild strawberries on something which looks delicious. Well, obviously you've got the classical scone. Yeah. Okay. Oh, so that's why you brought the jam. Yes, absolutely. Your lovely jam classical scone. Yeah. Okay. Oh, so that's why you bought the jam?

Yes, absolutely. Your lovely jam, strawberry jam. Gorgeous. Did you bring the crème fraîche? Oh, that's okay. Okay. Have we got crème fraîche? No.

I've got, no, I've got cream. I've got my bath. Of course you've got the classical lemon drizzle cake. Which my husband has just stolen in the car. And he's very, very emotional. We just added a bit more lemon at the moment. Gorgeous. Okay, we've got a beautiful crunchy choux okay with the strawberries inside. We've got a lemon, a beautiful lemon macarons here okay and I think that is melting,

a beautiful crunchy bit outside and a complete melting inside. I mean I go to Ladurée for, well I don't go to Laduréeée I mean when I go past the Royal Academy I'll pop in and just pop one in my mouth because they I feel like macaroons they're such a perfect little it's like a little delight in your mouth that kind of you can eat loads I think the macaroni is still one of the great favorite are you do you feel like you're a sweet or a salt person? Sweet or savoury? Me, I love both. I really love both but now somehow I'm more savoury. I'm more savoury. Less meat as well. I eat much less meat and that is a... We didn't talk about it. Yes, conscious. I think it's abnormal to eat 10 times more meat a week.

And I think this movement of veganism is a great movement. Why? Because, for example, to produce, let's say, a kilogram of beef, you need 16,000 liters of water. Right, yeah. Water will soon be a real problem. Equally, the mission, okay, the pollution,

agriculture represents about 35 to 40% of the pollution in the whole green gas ethics. So I think it's quite important that we eat differently. Equally, I think it's unhealthy just to eat twice a day meat. And a bad balance.

So I love to have a balance of vegetables. And at evening, I will very easily eat a big casserole of broad beans with a bit of olive oil and parmesan. And I'm very happy. But I think today's world, veganism is not a trend. It's not a fashion item. It is real. We need to eat differently.

And it's exciting for chefs to be able to reconnect with creativity and look at vegetables differently, not as a garnish, but an exciting dish of its own. I'm hopeless. When we have vegans on, I want to hide under the table

because I don't know what to do. I saw that you were at your friend Sabrina. Yeah, yeah. She's got the, she did your pageana. Oh, wow. And now she's got a new book out called Bazaar, which is plant based. Lovely. She's a great cook.

Sabrina is a wonderful cook. So I'm so, I want to open it. Yeah. Because she's brilliant. She's a kind person. a great cook and Sabrina is a wonderful cook so I'm so I wish yeah okay I went to her opening yeah because she's brilliant she's a kind person she's a great chef great cook yeah flavors okay and she understands vegetables yeah well I feel like that's going to be a good book it's a plant based recipe book absolutely yes right yeah actually I've got two books coming up oh yeah

one of them is one of them one one of them is a I wanted to write a book about orchids and how everyone should have a tree a beautiful tree on their house I think this is such a good idea and this is a manual or chad is just divine because you've got two and a half thousand trees of all the old heritage varieties of british that we have lost and we could reinvent if we as consumer we start to eat more local local local food okay sorry you're pressing down sorry the pause is because you're helping mum push the coffee down. Okay. So, and that we could reinvent all these orchards so they colour again all of our communities

from south to north because we've lost them and we need to reinvent them. So, I've got about 250 varieties of different heritage varieties which used to belong to every community across Great Britain. So, it's lovely. And then I'm with the French orchard okay with my peaches and my mirabelle and my Neffler and my cherries and I'm mom this is making me think I

should have done I say well you need to move mom no but okay so so maybe this is too much information for you but I have my baby at home, and we kept the placenta. Sorry, we're about to have pudding. And I said, oh, what do... And they were like, do you want to keep it? And I was like, I don't know, really. And they were like... I said, oh, what am I going to do with it?

Because people make them into pills that you can... Because it's all these kind of good hormones, whatever. This is what they say. And my midwife said, oh, I planted mine in my garden it's really good for the soil and I put planted an apple tree and it's grown and it's been a beautiful apple tree so romantic we didn't do an app I should that we couldn't do an apple tree because where we have the space we it would have facing all our our house over but i'm feeling like maybe i should have planted an apricot tree yes but that that little

book will tell you with your placenta to grow not just an apple tree but a best tree for baking best apple for baking best apple for stewing okay and so this is best apple for tart mamo blanc best apple for tatata and they all have different qualities you know which creates different eating qualities and cooking qualities as well so it's a lovely little book which is lovely and it will also invite you to plant a tree on the south and wall okay of your house. Or your flat as well. I love this. Thank you so much for being on Table Manners and teaching us so much.

Yeah, I've learned so much. Emulsion. I should have done that last night with my bloody soap. And remember, water. Water with butter. So can you make cacio e pepe? That's my next, you know, cacio e pepe? That's my next, you know cacio e pepe? No. The Italian, just parmesan and pepper.

And you have to put water in to make the emulsion. It's a pasta dish. Yeah. It's a pasta dish. You use the olive oil. You put olive oil. You use the pasta water I think. You use the pasta water and you use olive oil and you make an emulsion. And then you grate the cheese in and the water is crucial it was the parmesan as well yeah the parmesan yeah yeah there's the whole thing but to make the emulsion yeah oh i thought you'd know how to make it no no no but yeah but he must have eaten ketchup i'm sorry i think you do i do i do not know everything. You make Lenny sound so exotic.

Yeah. Lenny. But no, thank you so much. You've been, I mean, this has just been such a pleasure to listen to your stories. Jessie in French. Merci beaucoup. Thank you for your welcome. Thank you so much. You're lovely cooking, Lenny.

You're a great cook. I know, but I know it instinctively. A great cook at home. I instinctively a great cook at home I didn't say a great cook at Le Manoir that would take a few more steps

and I don't know if you are flexible enough to take too much teaching through a simple interview

process so basically you will not be his new apprentice you are more likely the master than the apprentice

Well, Raymond You are very good very intelligent absolutely I feel I can speak in French now always isn't that offensive doing that ok I won't

well I started the day really well with a bloody protein shake and I finished it terribly with 10,000 different desserts that may look little but little pickers wear bigger knickers but um yeah I mean anyway that was really delicious that dessert I loved it and your fish was great was it good he said he could tell

I was a good cook then he said he could tell that I wouldn't take any instruction he also said that yeah you're not allowed in his kitchen but I'm very glad that I now this is the second chef that's talked about the brilliance of water remember yeah Tom Kerrish it's emulsifying I'm going to stop putting water in everything thank you so much Raymond Blanc for coming over and bringing such treats and uh gonna i'm gonna forgive you raymond for being half an hour late because i believe that you were going past your um patisserie to pick up the treats for us i think he was and the little teddy i know sweet little teddy with little chef's hats on merci raymond chairman raymond blanc chef patron de marois aux quatre saisons

you said that in the intro though darling I'm saying it again shelf my French you can say other shit if you're enjoying Table Manners and you've reached

the end of this podcast please give us a rating on bigger than your Uber rating darling your Uber rating your Uber rating yeah bigger than my uber rating darling your uber rating your uber rating um yeah bigger than my uber rating we want five stars and it would be lovely if you can spread the word and oh actually

i'd love to say thank you so much to the webbies the webbies are a american digital broadcasting awards it's pretty prestigious and we are very lucky to have got on the honorees list for best podcast. So we didn't make it to the nominations, but we were kind of like the runners up, which apparently is really big deal. Good. You know, the people that are in the nominations are podcasts like Serial. So we feel really touched to have even been considered amongst podcasts like that. Do you think they're listening to us in America? Yes.

They're listening to my voice in America? Yes, Mum. Wow. It reverberates around the world. the music you've listened to on Table Manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser and Table Manners is edited by the wonderful Alice Williams.