 Dwi'n gweld, ei clwg, y cwsir Llywodraeth Llywodraeth, c адwngog yn fawr i chi i gweith wnaeth. Mi'r gwasanaeth anhyllganter. Felly, mae'r gweithiau yn y gallu cyfryd amdano o'r gyfrifi cyfwyniad yw yw Polly Russell i'r gweithio yw'r cwsir Cymru four ym 4. Ac mae'r cyrataeth. Y cyfrifi gyfrifi sy'n hefyd o'r cyfrifi fod y gweithio raddorod yma, Gyllid o'r hawd ordi, gwybodaeth iddyn nhw'n cyfrifi'r honno chi'n gweithio i ddyfnod Felicity Cloak o fod yn hyn yn gyhoeddfath â y fil, og yn y boll yn y drafod i. Doeddwn ni'n gweithio'n ddiddordeb gyda'n ei ddweud o'r cyhoedd border a'r ddiad Gwiydd Gyllidol. Felly mae ar hyn yn gweithio'n gweithio'n ddiddordeb, mae'n ganlygu'n gweithio'n ffedebwych a'r ddim yn gweithio'n gweithio'n ddiddordeb, mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio ysguio i ddinodol a'r byw, You could head on social media to carry on the conversation or indeed below this video you can find where you can put in a question to join in and ask something of Raymond yourself. You might also want to leave a donation to support the work of The Richard Library. Now to today's event. Raymond Blanc talking to award-winning food writer Flisity Gloke. I'll let Flisity introduce Raymond but a few words about Flisity who many of you will know from her how to make the perfect column in the garden. mae'n dweud sydd ymddangos cymryd yma yma, mae'r wrthsfyniadau yma yma, yma'r ymddangos cymryd yma, a'r cymryd yma i'r ffordd yma, a'r ffordd yma i mi yn ymddangos yma ymddangos i'r Rhain-Mon-Blanc, ac mae'r ffordd yma'r ffordd yma. Hi mwy ffair ac yn fwyfyr yw y ffordd yma'r ffordd ymddangos, y Ffordd ymgyrch Llyfr, ymdyn Gaeled, ymdyn Gaeled, i'w chyfnodd, a'r amlion, Raymond Blanc. Mae'n gweithio gweithio gweithio. Raymond haf ydy'r gweithio yng Nghaerhau'r Ffraenchau. Rwy'n credu y gallu bod hefyd yn ymgyrchol, ond, o'r gweithio, ychydig o'r llwyffydd, ac mae'n gweithio i'r gweithio. Raymond wedi'i gweithio'r gweithio yn y gweithio yma, yn y gweithio'r llwyffydd yn y gweithio'r llwyffydd. Yn gweithio, yn y gweithio, Yn ymddangos, mae'n mylliannau. Rydyn ni'n ffordd gwybod y maen nhw'r hanes ystyried gyda'r Manoor Cacésan. Mae'r hanes ystod i'r mylliannau ar bobl yn 30 ymlaen. Mae'r meffinion yn ffordd. Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio. Mae'n bwysig, mae'n gweithio'n gweld yn ddod. Yn gymryd yw'r institute a nes ar y celf, rhaid amser Rhaidne будут dros eich ddech chi, ond mae'r cymryd yn dod o'r amhaernau. Dwi oedd eich gyrddur hwn yn ei eich fibange ac yn rhaid i chi, ac mae'n gofyn i fath am y sefyddon oedd eich ddech chi'n ymgyrch yn y manor o'r rhaid. Rhaid i chi'n ceisio. Rhaid i chi, Feliswty, ac yn haith i'w Llemanor. Thank you. First of all, just because you, as I said, you have held Michelin stars for decades, so you cook at a very, very high level, sort of known as a face of very classic French cooking. But also, certainly in your books and your TV, you're a face of sort of accessible French home cooking as well. Y Llywydd. And you're not from Paris, you're not from Lyon. Can you tell us a little bit about the area of France you're from and how that shaped your cooking? I'm delighted, of course. This is my own interest, basically. One's cradle, one belongs to. And my little village was between the Jura Montaide, the very rugged Jura Montaide and the Hilly Burgundy, two big one regions where the pig is a goat. And we give the pig more days than the Virgin Mary. So that means food is that important. It's a beautiful, quiet village, very rural life. Hard life as well, but also very beautiful and huge forest. We have here the biggest forest of Europe. So imagine for hunting and gathering, the wild asparagus, the berries, the wild mushrooms, et cetera. It was a child, it was the best place to grow, the best. And did you get involved with that as a child? That was part of the things that you did as a family? Very much so. Not just as a family. The family, it was about garden because we were poor. My papa, we were five children and the garden would provide all of the food for all year round to the family. And that means instead of playing football, my job, from the age of six, we were involved in the garden. Okay, whether it is hawing, between the rose, whether it is removing the stone, which seems to grow from that earth, removing the grass, watering the plants, seedling. So I've learned so much about seasonality, so much about varietals, so much about the magic of the little seed, all brown and crinkly, and which can grow a beautiful plant, a beautiful carot or a beautiful spinach. It's amazing. So I've learned all these things, of course. And the forest, the forest offered the adventures. And my papa actually had done a lovely magical map that's his best present. He ever gave me of where to get these specific wild mushrooms, where to get the wild asparagus, where to get those special berries, wild berries and so on. So I was lucky to have a childhood which was pure, clean, hard work as well, because the garden, and the garden was half of the size of Le Manoir, so it was really a big garden because, as I said, it had to feed a family of seven, seven of us. So I know about hard work, I understand all these values that my parents gave me, and especially, of course, Mamon Blanc. And I'm sure you will want to catch up with her in a moment. But really, that sees my childhood as created, and Mamon has created the foundation of my simple philosophy about people, about food, about joie de vivre, about that magnificent table, which is a centre, the very heart of the table. And I mean that, okay? Not the bedroom, sorry. Ever since I said that. I mean, we're dealing with a Frenchman here, sir. Good to set the tone. But the table is much bigger than that, okay? Proper table, where every Sunday we would welcome 15, 16, 20 friends, family, cousins, uncles, and it was special. And so that presumably was the roots of why you wanted to have Le Manoir, because, you know, you probably could have gone and opened a restaurant in London or whatever, but you wanted to have a sort of country house with a garden and a sort of portrait type. I was not even thinking about it, and I should have, because my mum, before she became mum and raised a family, she was a farmer, a farmer's daughter, so working the soul, there was none of this machinery that you had before. You had two, really my grandfather. I saw him because I went with him, with these two big pershawn horses. One would rest, one would walk the soul, and I remember my father still, you know, just plowing, okay, the field. And actually that was my first ride, which I went on the back of this big, enormous horse. And I kicked him, and he was like an earthquake. And when I met my first wife, she asked me, do you know how to ride him? I said, of course. Oh God, I wish I didn't say that. Oh my God. But it was a very pleasant life, very hard. You know, the house didn't have any water, my grandparents' house didn't have any water, but it was beautiful to go in the well and get the water out of this well. Okay, there was no heating, but there was chimneys full of lovely fire and the smell of the fire. So it was really an extraordinary adventure, but the foundation of who I am, what I provide here, or at Barcelona as well, because we have a beautiful restaurant in Barcelona, and I'm very proud of it. And is there one... because I feel like this is, it's not a region of France that a lot of British people certainly are that familiar with. You know, you tend to stick to our little parts that you know, and you know, and you know where to go, the zoo or the Alps or whatever, and you're not far from the Alps, but it's not quite there. Is there, if there's one speciality of your home region that you'd like people to try, what would it be? Oh my God, from my mum or from the region? From the region. Sos is de morto. Okay, I'm hoping you're going to say that because there's a recipe in that book. It tells you the whole of the gastronomy of my region. Imagine that region full of mountains, pine trees, le sapins, all over billions of sapins. Of course we would provide basically the smoking for the pig. The cows would eat this extraordinary grass. I remember doing a TV programme and with my hands the grass was cut. And it was so beautiful. There were so many flowers, so many different flowers, herbs as well. And I took it in my hand. And there was at least 50 different grass and flowers in my hand. So the biodiversity is there. Because the air is pure, it goes quite high altitude. So imagine these cows, the mumbelli arnaeth. Oh my God, they love it, so they munch his grass. And they give his milk, which is the best, which creates the content, which is the great cheese. And then, of course, they give the cheese. So the way is given to the pigs, to flatten the pigs. The forest is there to smoke the beautiful jambon. And to smoke also in the tué, which were special chimneys. And every house 30 or 40 years ago had a tué which was in the house and would smoke all the belly of the pork or the rump. So households would have their own pig in that way. And of course we do one of the great specialities in my region, is sausage the motto. And that is truly the world best sausage. There's no other. So please find it. And to cook it is so simple. It is really just as it is. You smell it, it's smoky, it's beautiful, not too much fat either. It's proper. But by, of course, appela siungo trole is a proper sausage the motto. It's fat, it's big, it's gorgeous to look at. And then you just simply put it in two liters of water. That's it. You don't need salt because it's cured. So you don't need salt. And you simmer it for about 20 minutes, turn it off, and you have a beautiful sausage the motto that you can serve with your potato salad, or just on its own in big fat sausages. Oh my goodness, I feel for me. I can't believe you haven't cooked one for me to try. I am very disappointed. And then, of course, my mum told me, Raymond, you shall waste not. So that's what we're doing here. There's no waste, zero waste. And I mean zero waste, no landfill. There's a huge respect for food. But that is possible around here. There's an amazing motto. That's where food starts. Okay. And then after with that water where you cook that beautiful sausage that you have carved in front of your guests. Oh, good. Then you use the water which becomes a wonderful soup. And you put a bit of cabbage, turnips, carrots. No, and just a potato sliced. And cook it and serve the day after, the day after. This is wonderful soup. So the sausage the motto, you must unfortunately, and I don't understand why, it's incomprehensible because the flavor is quite incredible. That sausage the motto is not in all the retailers, all of a great bit of retail in the world. Cos it is the best and it's my home. I'm going to seek it out. That is the next thing I'm going to buy when I get back to London. I'm going to find it. You already mentioned your mother who the book is dedicated to and has been an enormous influence on your life. Can you tell us a little bit more about her and how she shaped you? Okay. First my mum. My sons give you a little bit of flavor, my mum. She was one meter fifty, a very tiny little woman, and she kept shrinking as she got older. She died at 97 years of age, not too long ago. And my sons call her mother, Tessa, on speed. Okay, so does that give you a little bit of an idea? It's a perfect picture. A heart like that. My mum would have kept, for 27 years, she looked after a very young person with serious disabilities for 27 years. Amazing. So that's the kind of woman she loves to give. If she invites you in her home, you have to eat that dish at least three times because once she starts crying. She loved to give, she saw food as a medium, a table to provide joy, celebration, to bring people together. And these values are holding them so nearly. And I apply them every day. So she was a great cook because she learns from her mother, a German, oh my God. Quite a character. I feel that's a story there. But I thought it was so attractive. But the greatest cook, the prefect or the ministers would call her to cook the food. OK, so in Besançon. So an amazing extraordinary where I understand my grandfather lost everything. His farm, 40 hours. There was no insurance. So he became the keeper of a castle. And in that castle, so Meson Bourgeois, there was a forest. There was 800 trees growing. Everything would grow. The microclimate, peaches, apricots. Oh wow. Absurdly, yes. Apricots, one. And my grandfather would grow everything, distillate everything. I got drunk at the age of five. Not because I wanted to. I was distillating. Anybody distillates a bit of alcohol. I saw this monstrous thing which was called the alambic. They would boil the fermented fruit and collect the raw alcohol at 70 degrees. I came up and down the most steps of the cellar, and I opened the big doors which were creaking and entered the shadowy world when I could see the men doing something else. Big barrels of fermented, bubbling fruit. And then I forgot. I was just breathing the alcohol. And I remember my grandmother and she saw me. She thought I had drunk one. She gave me the biggest meeting that I've ever had. I've done nothing but breathe. But what I want to say, food was really the heart of the house. The connection was around the table. There would be celebrations, there would be joy, arguments, but the table was really a simple way to meet, to connect us, to communicate, to be happy. You've never trained formally as a chef. You came here with what your mother had taught you and what you'd learned watching her. You got a Michelin star very quickly. I didn't even think of being a chef. I don't know why being steeped in this world I should have been a chef from the age of seven. I said, I want to be a chef. But it never came to me. Because girls were taught how to cook, not men. The men were the minions. I was shopping vegetables, I was feeding the rabbits. It's a lovely story, please ask me. I was doing all these labour where the girls were taught how to cook because the wives would have a family and cook for the home for the girls. What a destiny. You think about it. Thank God it's a show. Suddenly by the age of 17 when I was destined to be an architect or a draftsman and I hated squares, rectangular, any form of geometric shape and I loved anything which was asymmetric and fluent and arabesque, so I decided to stop. I became a nurse but it didn't work out either because in a year I saw 12 young people when leukemia would die and I couldn't deal with it. Neither could I deal with a Catholic matron which was a sister's frightening side. Then I fell in love with food much later, at the age of 18, when I saw that restaurant in my hometown, Place Grandville, where Victor Hugo would sit, our great writer would sit in this enormous statue. In that day it was a beautiful summer day and the guests were holding hands saying I love you too, forever. Waiters were moving around just with their red Bordeaux jacket with their silver epaulettes. The Metro Hotel were flambéing, carving. I said, oh my God, oh my God. There was this revelation. I want to be the man who creates this food, not serve it, create it. But it never happened that way. It never seemed like it was so. My Natalia has got a wonderful way to say it. If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. So my plans to become a great chef, the world best chef, and I told the boss, Monsieur, please do take me in your house. I will be the best, the best chef you ever had. So he looked at me, he listened to me and then I got a job as a cleaner. So hey, I became the best cleaner in no time. Best, everything was shining, the mirrors. I would take my paper and my vinegar and I would shine since it was the 18th century house. So a beautiful big mirrors and they were shining. The ladies lose when I immaculate. It was like Versailles. Everything was shiny and they loved me because it was clean. Then I became a washer-up. Then I became a glass washer-up. My glasses were all hand-blown, beautiful. And I bought my own clothes so they didn't leave any fluff onto the glass. I would taste every glass of wine we came just not to get drunk, to taste. In six months, I knew every single van. That is, Syrah, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Cabernet, Franc. Whether it is Dame. I knew all my grapes in six months. Meanwhile, I was cooking every night for my friends until 3, 4 o'clock in the morning. I was dreaming about food and then I became... My glasses were beautiful and I cut down the breakage by half. So the boss loved me, the sommelier loved me, and then I became a waiter. That was a big moment in my life because I could at last come closer to the kitchen. And that one actually is interesting. This was my demise. At the same time, it was my... I realized that actually a great restaurant is an ensemble of individuals who are totally in love with what they're doing and they're good at it and an ensemble of gifted, passionate individuals can create magic and a memory which will last in your heart and your mind forever. I mean that. I was starting to cook flambéin, crepes suset, and so on. I was talking to the chef to tell him and I was tasting his food. It was a bit too rich, a bit too heavy. I was telling him, the chef, what about a bit of sabayon to let it? More emulsion, less butter. He was a giant. One day I saw him. His eyes got darker. He was a big man. His hands were about three times round. His moustache bristled. Something was about to happen. He took a copper frying pan and smashed it into my face. Then after, I don't remember because I was in a hospital with a broken jaw. I had a few teeth out as well. Then the boss actually told me off. I could hardly argue to the monologue and at the end of it he said to me, I know you are going to be succeed, but not here. And he found me a place in England. That's how I came in England. He fled. Exiled from France. But you see, in all bad things there's always a way to find a good and of course, England has given me a home. My children have been educated here. I'm going to see my rivier tonight. We're going to eat together. I discovered another culture, a new language. It took me some time. Nobody could understand what I was talking about. Even when I came with my car and I was asking, where is Oxford? And they were looking at me and saying, what do you mean? It was a language full of subtleties. I was good at German. I was always first German. I had done eight years of German first language. But English was difficult. But I love the culture. I must say, I love the culture. You have extraordinary qualities. You can laugh about yourself, not the French. They cannot laugh about themselves. You can congratulate someone who says, just thrash you at tennis or rugby or football. It's an amazing quality. You really have... You can listen to what other people speak. Of course now I speak, because I'm the interviewee and you are the interviewer. That's normal. But in France, everyone speaks at the same time. As they listen, how can you do that? Around my table in France, even now, it's too much. How can you... If you try to speak together and listen, it cannot work. I think my British friends are quite as well, reflective. I love my France, of course. But England has brought me so much. It's an open nation as well, which has brought me so much. I think you've been here almost 50 years. Don't egg it up, okay? 46, okay? Come on, Tiffany. It's just extraordinary. It's amazing. This book, there's a lot of your mother in the book. But the book itself, I think, is quite a different book from the one that you set out, you thought that you would write at the beginning. Is that true? Very much so. Very much so. It's a Covid-led book, so to speak. It's not a depressing book. There's a lot of joy. There's a lot of fun. There's a lot of generosity, energy in this book, I can assure you. And it's got the virtues to be unfassy, simple, and you don't need 20 chefs in your kitchens. There's no sous vide machines. It's just a couple of frying pans, a few sauce pans, and you start to cook your heart out, okay, in a simplistic way, and extracting the beauty, the authenticity of that vegetable or that meat, which has got to be free-range, organic. That's the only part where, basically, the ingredients are the basics. That's what I was told. Anyway, so to come back to our... This book was meant to be very different. It was meant to have a different title as well. It was meant to be cooking in 10 minutes. Because I had fallen in love with a wonderful man. He called Edward the Pomein, who lived between the late 80s, early 20th century. An amazing man, an amazing writer, whose book is still today one of the best sellers. He lived through his destinies, and he had dropped him a star, he had no TIs, no wishwash. Amazing man, okay, and I loved him. I loved his writing, a beautiful writing, exquisite writing, and generosity. And he already saw way back in 1920 that the French, that life was different. People were spending less time, or her. People were spending less time at the table. What's going on? So he wrote a book, please don't stop cooking. Cooking in 10 minutes. Jamie Oliver, nothing new under the sun. Absolutely. So I wanted to write a book, not to compete with Jamie, because he did 30, 20, and suddenly Raymond Brandard said it was not about, it was certainly not about, you know, articles. Copying, it was an idea which was very profound about this man, this gentleman who was a microbiologist at the Sorbonne, a very educated professor. And he wrote that book a hundred years ago about, you know, cooking in 10 minutes. And of course now when you think of what the supermarkets can provide between old salad washed off, cut washed and so on, between spinach and all the vegetables shopped and diced and so on, all the presauces being done, there's so many possibilities which before was a hard work to work in the kitchen. Okay, and whereas now there's so many more possibilities to help the cook to have things not done for him. Okay, and so but I stopped cooking 10 minutes because suddenly that pandemic completely broke a cycle. A cycle where every British, more than the French, remember we invented the 35 hours a week, 30 years too early, which murdered our profession, which murdered the spirit of creativity, of entrepreneurship and really created big problem for us. So I'm just getting a bit lost at the moment because I'm a bit all over the place. So suddenly the book I wanted to write didn't fit anymore, the time, because I knew it would change enormously. Beyond this pandemic, the whole world, globalization would change. I think I believe strongly that we're going to make much more things outside, we're going to reinvent our agriculture instead of importing 70% of food. We are going to grow at least 60% or 70% of it. We're going to reconnect with lost skills either making a chef's racket or your beautiful deep purple pink top here. We are going to make it here. But there's going to be a food revolution. Obviously environment is at the heart of this revolution. Okay, and I really, so I mean there's going to be a rethinking, a reinventing of our lifestyle, much more knowledge as well. Ignorance will be replaced by knowledge and knowledge is empowering. And this little book is just telling you these simple, gorgeous little recipes which are unfassy, fun and delicious and don't take too much time. But also it's a tiny statement of a big change in our lifestyles in every part of our lives. And I find it exciting. It's a new adventure. Yeah, it's very... There's a lot of focus on... I mean there's some really indulgent recipes in there and you know there's the sausage de motte, there's the tartiflette, there's some lovely things in there. But also there's a lot of very light healthy dishes. There's some sort of... There's the ceviche, there's some curries. There's lots of different... Yeah, exactly. There's hundreds of recipes... Well, not hundreds, but at least 60% of these recipes are extremely light and simple. For example, if you take, again, goes back to my childhood, every Sunday we would have crudite. What is crudite? It's an assemblage of different vegetables which are finely grated and it's very important. Not grated into large, chunky things. That's for animals. When you grate finely a carrot, you extract the juice. So when you just put a bit of olive oil and vinegar, so what you did, a bit of French dressing with mustard, you balance these juicy carrots, which have wonderful texture, creating an amazing dish. And then you add celeriac, you add celeriac, you add tomatoes because you had the cucumber beet roots and you had this area of colours and health and deliciousness. And you can just take one out and you've got a dish. And crudite was really a traditional French dish. It is what the roast beef is to England. No less. And that is every Sunday. And every Sunday, still today, crudite are very much offered in every French family. So yes, it's healthy food. Not trying... And we all know that veganism is not a fashion. It's not something which is going to disappear. It's about a lifestyle. It's about eating better. When we know that we have about 20, I don't know how much money, billions of pounds spent on obesity, on cardiovascular disease, on all sorts of things, and 20 million pounds of misery. So we have to eat better. And it's joyful. And I really believe that nutrition is the best nourishment and it doesn't fight with good food. Good food and good nourishment and good nutrition can be achieved. And that's wonderful that we can rediscover at last the beauty, the magic of pulses, of herbs, of spices, of seeds, of end vegetables and salads. Because they can create amazing dishes. And I hate to call it vegan or vegetarian or pescatarian, because it's just good food. But we are going to reinvent a great deal, the way we eat, understand it better. And I think that modern consumers today, and all the guests who read this beautiful little book here, will also, this consumer is much more knowledgeable, much more aware, much more inquisitive. They want to know what is in that food, how much chemicals, which chemicals, where does it come from. At each time, for example, what makes me happy, very happy. There is a business called Apples and Pear, which has created a movement, which is a national movement. And instead of eating apples coming from New Zealand, from South Africa, millions of miles away, America, et cetera, a few from France as well, but it's not too far. No, it's almost local. So effectively, seeds, imagine what it means if you translate that. That means this food is grown thousands of miles away, lots of chemicals into it. Then they put into chamber, deprive them of oxygen and shift them here, travel them. So pollution in growing it, pollution through travel. And then what is the benefit for us? Why don't we grow our own food? And this year, and that makes me very happy, Apples and Pear, in Gelbwitain, have gathered all the great growth of the best regions of France. Kent, I'm sure, and so on, all over. And all this growth, British growth, are providing now all the many, at least more than half of the foods grown by artisans in England, in Gelbwitain. And that's exciting. I find that exciting. And that's the kind of change. Because pollution is really... For me, my mum taught me seasonality. And for me, seasonality is very simple. It's so much more than that. Seasonality means close to home. Your home, my supplies. So if it's seasonal, it's close to home. Better taste, better textures, better colours, better nutrients. Then you don't... You help your farmer to keep his farm. You help your little village to keep its post office, its own local pub. Then seasonality means you don't import food from millions of miles away, creating pollution by growing it, and then by cleaning up the pollution. And then, of course, the best part, when you just said it, when it's seasonal, you have the first strawberries, the first asparagus, then when you've passed this first, when they get... There's plenty of food, there's an extraordinary amount, so there's a glut, and then it's half of the price. And the taste is absolutely at its best. So I've got maybe a little... I would love to... people to apply these values because they make sense. They really make a great deal of sense to wait for your strawberry. Your French strawberry comes first, the garaget, and then the English strawberry comes a little bit after. I wish you could all apply these values because it makes sense. It really makes sense. And I really see British agriculture importing less and growing more around. And not just food, but I think about everything else. And that globalization is going to be a different... it's going to be a game changer because we realize that keeping our environment cleaner is crucial. It's really... it's a nuclear system. It's a very hard-of-change political. And you can see luxury is going to change dramatically as well. Before luxury was careless, it was just... didn't have any rules. It would be just about the outside. Now we are thinking about inside. Big difference. Do you think that these changes have been accelerated by the last 12 months? And that's making people think more about that? Because you yourself, I think, had COVID quite badly and that has maybe changed your outlook as well as that made you change the way you eat? Yes, it was a very severe COVID where actually I was in hospital for a month at the... in the local hospital. At least, again, I'm local. I had the John Ratcliffe, okay, led by... I was at the high dependency unit. And it was very... and there I completely admired the excellence of the service, the care of these amazing professionals, these nurses, these doctors. And that, yes. And then when you really don't know the outcome, okay, you realise how fragile life is. And, yes, it will have an impact on my life. There's no doubt about it. In so much, I will do a bit less because I'm still running at 200 miles an hour. And I will start to delegate a bit more because I have amazing field marshals, generals, great chefs, great managers. So I don't have to do everything. And that means it's a great lesson of humility and also a great lesson where hopefully we'll learn a great deal about managing my life better and to do just as well and selecting a bit more where you want to be. I forgot to say that we're going to have questions in about five minutes. Please submit your questions to Raymond. I've got a few more which I'm going to monopolise him with, but please do send them in and I'll ask as many as possible in about five minutes. So get going with the questions, please. Did you, when you had Covid, did you lose your sense of taste? Because that, as a chef, I just cannot imagine it. I mean, as a normal person, that sounds like torture, but was that affected? It was amazing. I had 41 degrees fever. 90% of my lungs were burned, infected. I could breathe only from here. It was really pretty nasty. But I never lost my taste. I never lost my smell. And for that, I'm grateful, although when you are eating hospital food, sometimes I wish it, but they were brilliant because I understand, you know, when you cook food at Le Manoir, or possible for that matter, I understand the hard it is to cook for 100 guests or 70 guests. There, see, chefs are cooking for 25,000 people, including the staff. They say, you're just beautiful. So, little budgets. So I was grateful. And I was enjoying my food because food, whenever a hybrid came, it was really about nourishment, about calories, about proteins, all the building blocks for you to live, to smile again, and start walking and breathing, et cetera. So I was very grateful to them. Actually, the best was casted. You've got the best casted with frozen plums. That is delicious. And Sago was excellent. So there was some very good dishes. You're almost making it sound better. I don't talk about the pork. Because the pork said, you know, pork shop, oh my God! I was imagining a pork shop, beautifully rissole in forming butter and beautifully gold and you would deglaze with a bit of water because in Ceasebook it doesn't use stocks. My mum would never use stocks. She would extract the best flavours and textures from, with water, extracting it from the vegetables, the meat or the fish. Okay? And I was dreaming of that pork shop, you know, all gold and camellas. And it came, it came, it was mesh. It was minced meat of some sort. Oh God! It was one of the great despairing moments in my hospital life. Bring on the custard. But I still ate it because you still want to eat because it's about sale. And I understand the nightmare that these chefs have to cook for so many people with so little money. And that's why basically many people who have tried not to challenge hospital food has failed because simply the cost, the cheer cost. And that's a great shame. Here I'm going to invite all the team of the high dependency unit of Oxford to say just thank you. All the nurses, all the caterer and it's all going to happen now just because I was, I work in the world of excellence. When you see in another craft that is filming or interviewing or being a nurse or consultant or doctor and you see excellence oh my God, it's so touching it is so beautiful. Are you going to put pork chops on the menu? Yes, my pork chops. Pork chops are a little bit of a there's plenty of good vegetable dishes here. It's a lot about the vegetables. I've got so much to ask you but I feel like I need to give other people a chance to ask. But before I'm going to change what may be my final question is that you asked me to ask you about the rabbit and I love rabbits both running around and eating so please tell me your story which I suspect involved both. That's a story which is going to be sanctioned with a I do call that one a forbidden story. Oh, okay. I will say it because it's forbidden. Okay. What's happening is my mum you know, we would eat meat only twice a week. All the rest would be vegetables, policies, et cetera. And part of once a month we would have rabbit and the rabbit I went to get the food in the forest all the beautiful herbs they liked and my mum would talk to a rabbit she loved the rabbits and every month or every two weeks she would kill rabbits so I would kill the rabbit because there's no hypocrisy in France I fed you for a whole two or three months now you feed the table and so I would kill the rabbit peel the fur remove the heart remove the kidney put it on the side chop the rabbit in pieces and give it on a beautiful dish for my mum to apply art heart just in case if it was going on okay and then she would mustard it season it, lightly flour it and a bit of all to start with then butter she would golden every piece and then put it in the oven with targon, with onions, with garlic with thyme, bay leaf and then after half an hour she would deglaze it a bit of water for acidity and then water to finish to create a jus to die for so then when it came to eating so imagine the five kids and the two parents and my mum being there and I would always be a cosma papa and my mum mum mum and she was eating the rabbit at the same time she was she was smiling at the same time she was crying and that's called a French paradox I will always remember those moments oh dear bless I'm a beautiful mum but you know he's so incredible isn't he she loves the flesh of rabbit but she also loves the rabbit so it's very cruel that's why I didn't put rabbit that's why I didn't put rabbit because I know you look rabbit but it's a pet I like eating them as well we don't so in here is it with chicken is there some chicken done on the same day because they want to make you cry what do you think okay let's go for some audience questions Sarah would like to know what your favourite meal is which I imagine is quite a hard one yes because whether you in South East Asia or wherever or at my home or in the south of France it will be different if I'm in the south of France probably it will be a beautiful bouillabaisse full of sun or wonderful ratatouille which I should give a very fast recipe here very fast and of course in the ratatouille it's a building block to bring spices cumin, caraway or beautiful curry there's so many flavours or you can pour for a piece of fish on it so imagine a single recipe can bring so many ideas so according to where you are but if I had to choose really Swedish it's very difficult because of course there's the seasons which also comes in but so it's a difficult one difficult I'm not very good at saying one thing but I know all have been taught to eat to all food and enjoy all food because I've travelled the world and I've eaten some extraordinary things so but what I would prefer probably is the first of everything of anything like the first asparagus coming from Wales, the Yw Wai Wale all the simple dressing or a bit of Hollanda sauce if you feel rich or grilled if you want you blend gems and grill them or the first piece that you barely cook you just put a bit of water to cook your vegetables please don't murder them in boiling water so all your vegetables you can prepare them in advance and you put your spinach leaves or your peas with a pea shoots whatever it is with the rind of the peas please don't throw them away do a lovely soup pour them and puree them and you've got an extraordinary soup and with water and no stalks please so yes the first thing of everything is the first baby lamb now which is now which is coming from from right in the south which is not Wales Dorset now Dorset lamb is on but it's better to eat lamb it's got more maturity it has more flavour, it has more texture usually the most the first Jersey new potatoes for me it's a feast it's an extraordinary celebration of a particular moment when it's his first proper Jersey potatoes oh my god the flavour it's amazing so the first of anything that's a good answer Rachel would like to know I think maybe we already touched on this but she said that you grow so many beautiful herbs and vegetables what's your favourite herb she says her guess is peas and lemon verbena I love both yes but it's about vegetables and herbs my favourite herb actually my favourite herb is more likely to be basilic because I really love and basil you can grow it anywhere think of a window see it inside your home you don't have a garden it's delicious, it's beautiful wonderful perfume as well and if you want to make your pesto so if you cannot grow it yourself go to supermarkets a big bunch of basilic blanch it in full boiling water for 3 seconds maybe 1 no no 1 second only to fixate the chlorophyll so you remove some of the flavour but because the flavour is so rich you don't need all that flavour so blanch it and that fixates the chlorophyll that means your pesto will remain against a big war between Italy and France the French say they created pisto and the Italians say they created pesto and we are still fighting for it we never know who created it but probably the French ok so you have your so boil it once again put it in cold water squeeze it in the liquid rather with olive oil a bit of parmigiano if you want to and olive oil and pure it and you have something you can keep for a whole 10 days in your fridge and add to a soup or add to a sauce it's amazing and that's about simplicity this distillation remove all the mess and the complication of food and try to go at the heart of simplicity as much as possible so what was the question basil and your favourite vegetable my favourite vegetable I love celeriac and I've done 3 recipes one remoulade of celery which is just celeriac with a bit of mayonnaise and now remember you can do your mayonnaise with chickpeas or moving the eggs so it can be completely vegan because in the chickpea water you have a natural protein which will bounce it's amazing it's magic of these discoveries so yes I never thought I'd hear a French chef recommending aquafaba mayonnaise it's delicious it's very good it has less richness but it has a beautiful flavour and clean and of course it will be of charm inside so celeriac for me is a beautiful grated or pan fried any vegetable with sugar like fennel a big chunk of fennel next time you cut it by half and then blanch it in a little bit of water that's all then remove the water and pan fry it in olive oil or a little bit of butter the sugar helps perfect caramelisation and you have a vegetable which is just to die for celeriac is the same I've done tartatan celeriac a pie celeriac a big chunk of celeriac the problem is peeling it and that's what I would like to make upon that basically cooking there is an element of work ok most of the recipe is about 10-15 minutes preparation 20 minutes well 10 minutes preparation really roughly 10-15 minutes so the way is relatively it's not 10 minutes anymore because we knew we were moving to a different world so celeriac definitely is a grated please you must put a bit of lemon juice because it will oxidise it will also be a catalyst of flavour and will keep your celeriac as well nice and white and then a bit of mayonnaise and a bit of chicory around whatever you wish, a rocket whatever a bit of colour and then you have a dish and to pan fry it slowly from raw you cut it across and pan fry it in big chunks ok pan fry it in forming batter olive oil as you wish and it is a few walnuts at the end and that's it those like sweet potatoes they are so delicious they cook so fast as well and there is a higher level of sugar as well so be gentle, not fast that's what you are going to hate me and sorry it's not my fault because if you go a high temperature sure you got a faster browning but you also want a slow browning to extract all the juices and come after you've finished ok Nicolae says is it possible to have a sustainably sourced organic diet on a low income it's more difficult but it's possible and of course you've got to think of your health that means your proteins a mix of vegetables you need to have in order to have the maximum protein that's crucial and important and pulses, vegetables herbs, spices, really great beautiful meal but for me I'm not a doctor I'm not a nutritionist but I'm interested very strongly interested in nutrition and my partner has got a doctor and she's got a master in nutrition and she's a remont blanc cook with school nutritionist ok so what was the question is it possible to have a sustainable organic diet on a low income but it's going to be a bit more because we all know if you buy organic it's 20% or 30% more but you have to to organise your weak eating where you have it's preparing yourself to have more vegetables, more pulses for god's sake lentils are delicious I've got a dial soup which comes from Asia so easy to prepare and you've got wonderful flavours from it as well and your pulses will provide these kind of proteins that you need when my Natalia cooks me a beautiful broad beans with some of these cheesy broad beans no I say it is a delicious dish water you bring it to a bowl a bit of garlic always garlic is always a bowl of nutrition a bit of salt you can always add you cannot take away cover full on and you put a few leaves and a tiny bit of parmesan or cottage cheese at the end and you have a dish which can cook in 5 or 6 minutes and it is nutritious and it is lovely and at the end of the day is what you want when you add the opera here every day and you taste layered food which has got a richness in terms of taste and textures when you come home you want total simplicity and sometimes a very simple meal can be absolutely delicious but you need to also get to know about so organic maybe by your yes is always a cost element attached to organic but I would recommend it because it doesn't use special fertilisers it's clean growing and I think that for me is the biggest value you can possibly get okay I think it would be our last question and I'm really sorry because Raymond is such a great chatter and because I'm so nosy we didn't get to all of your questions and I'm really sorry sorry or fault Felicity but someone I'd like to know regarding reopening for business and I'm guessing both here and at the Brasseries I don't know if the Brasseries are already open what are you most looking forward to? Well it's life into a place which is at the moment dead so to bring back life we're training already our teams at the moment so there's already this excitement of reopening your place hear the laughter of your friends of your guests in your house or anywhere in the world it's exciting it's wonderful to have that joie de vivre back and hear the chatter and the wonderful food created by these fantastic chefs and to be delivered by there's something magical and that's what we miss the most besides travelling eating out because when you eat every day not everyone but 90% of the recipes is during the pandemic and I was cooking my heart out and sometimes filming myself was a bit more complicated but I think yes to hear that laughter to hear that joie de vivre back again and for the friends we have not seen for a long time to be able to reconnect with themself with each other I think this is something which is so special so magical that's why I'm a chef it's providing magic in the garden in the food, in the service in the generosity of the service not to create a French nose bag which nobody wants but a place of joie of total celebration and I think we're going to get that very very soon it's exciting I feel so excited about it that I remember that there is one question on the broad beans and the cheese that sometimes you have after the service and you said that your partner often serves it to you with a joke served on the side would you be able to tell us all a joke to finish with well she will measure immediately when I come back she will look look at me and say oh my god he's not in a good mood he has a problem and she would immediately come out she's got an amazing sense of humour and of course yes and she will crack a joke I cannot tell you one now I told you one just want to go about you know if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans he's kind of a little snippet which is one of a favourite but I'm sorry I cannot respond to you but I will send you to you okay the next book it's going to be the Ramon Blod, Jacob she has humour she has she will always find a way to make you smile to make you relax she's a great commercialist as well so I'm a very lucky man very lucky man thank you so much Ramon that's been brilliant sorry and she cooks for me as well and I will never tell her food is bad never I've been in big trouble I should think not yes indeed thank you so much to Ramon that's been a brilliant chat I'm sorry we didn't have longer sorry to everyone who's questions we didn't get around to that was brilliant please this book is such a lovely lovely book genuinely go out and buy it thank you so much Ramon thank you to everyone thank you, have a good day see you soon in Manoa not so white whatever I'm completely incredible what a treat to hear you both talking together thank you so much and thank you so much to KitchenAid you might like to enter a competition for KitchenAid to win a sector they call as KIT place on the virtual cooking class or also Call of Franklin's cookbook at the pyrooom loads more to come from the food season we're here right through into the end of May if eminent chefs are your thing you should be able to enjoy the films we've made with Claudia Rhoda Elizabeth Luard, Olya Hercules Friday Afternoons it's all there on the British Library website take a look but for now thank you very much for joining us at the British Library food season