Bienvenue en France.

That's "welcome to France" to you and me.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I'm traveling throughout this beautiful country to explore the very best in French cuisine.

Bon appetit.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): It's a personal journey.

It's where I learned to cook.

Magical times.

Magical times.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And it was the home and inspiration for one of my biggest food heroes, Keith Floyd.

And what's more, I've bought his motor.

This was Keith Floyd's very own car for 16 years, and it's now mine.

Gives me goosebumps.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): So join me as I rediscover the food destination that has it all.

This is really, really delicious.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [gentle music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): Today, my French adventure has lured me to a city of culinary contradictions, home to an array of Michelin-starred restaurants, world-famous chefs, and grand markets.

It's also profoundly passionate about hearty, rustic fare.

Welcome to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France.

Now, out there is some of the most interesting food you'll find anywhere on the planet.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): France's third largest city, Lyon, stands proudly in the east towards the Swiss border.

Its landscape is dominated by two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, whilst its culture is indelibly marked by its historical role in the spice and silk trades.

Founded in 43 BC, Lyon became a vital city in the Roman Empire.

And it's remained one of France's most treasured cities ever since.

This city has so much to offer, the most famous of which has to be this place.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): The mighty Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere was built in the late 1800s as a kind of vanity project for the Roman Catholic Church.

But it's a food lover's city.

"The Pope of Lyon" is what they call Paul Bocuse, their most famous chef.

And the temple for foodies has to be this, Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse.

Home to around 60 magnificent food stalls, it's a foodie's paradise.

And it's where keen cooks and top chefs come for their inspiration and their ingredients.

Now, if food like this doesn't get you excited, then nothing will.

Because this market has got the best hand-picked produce I've ever seen.

Brilliant patisserie, fantastic tarts.

This is interesting.

This is a local tartlet here, praline sable.

And all this is like a-- like a shortbread biscuit base.

And then what they do is pour on the hot caramel with almonds.

It's a really, really classic sort of pastry dish over here.

And it's sold not just in this form, but also the glazing on top of some cakes as well.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): This place has everything.

Almost 200 miles from the coast and yet you've still got the most amazing selection of fresh seafood.

These are just fabulous.

Some of the finest red mullet I've ever seen.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Fancy something sweeter?

Here, they take candied foods to another level.

I've never seen this before in my life.

Look at that.

Pumpkin, candied pumpkin.

And then I have to stop at these because this really is the king of all candied fruit in my mind.

Generally, around Christmas time, you would get these particularly in the UK.

But this is marron glacé.

So this is a candied chestnut.

These are just fantastic.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Now, here's a real local food hero, charcutier extraordinaire, Colette Sibilia, known as "The Mother of Lyon."

Her business has been going here for decades.

Bonjour, Colette.

Bonjour, Monsieur.

Bonjour.

Now, I've been told that this is the place to come to try the local meats here, all manner of different charcuterie.

And this lady has been supplying a certain gentleman called Paul Bocuse, which is pretty much one of the most famous chefs in France, with salamis for years.

[speaking french] [chuckle] One thing that's great about this, so often with sausage on, it's very dry.

But this is nice and moist still.

The ham.

[french] Very, very thin ham.

[french] JAMES (VOICEOVER): Colette tells me that this ham is from Savoie.

This market really is the hub for food from all over France.

C'est bon.

And this one is pork?

[french] So this is pate en croute.

[speaking french] What I love about Lyon and suppliers in Lyon, they don't want you to like it.

They don't care whether you like it or not.

It doesn't matter.

They just know that it's brilliant.

This is brilliant.

Now, I did tell you that this place had it all.

Homemade pork scratchings.

We just need a beer and darts.

COLETTE SIBILIA: [french] She doesn't understand darts.

Now you can tell there's a serious influence by a serious chef all over these stores and market.

Because look at the butchery of this.

That's rabbit and it's like a whole roasted joint.

You've got some whole duck there, lovely quail, a little bit of pigeon, a little bit of baby chicken.

And then, really-- I wanted to stop at these.

If you're asking me what is the best chicken in the world, it is this, poularde or poulet de Bresse.

Really, this is the ultimate chicken, which is white-feathered chicken generally found by the black legs that you get on it as well.

This is not like a roast chicken at home where you just chuck it all in the oven for an hour, hour and 20 minutes.

You have to treat this one very, very differently.

[speaking french] I'm just going to show you the difference between this and a conventional chicken.

So a conventional chicken at home, what, 5, 7, 10 quid?

50 euros for a chicken.

It is the best chicken in the world.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Browsing around a market does tend to make a TV crew a little peckish, but I found a great spot in a nearby square to rustle them up a spot of lunch.

Now, there are so many famous dishes that come from these parts, many of which I could do, some of which I won't do.

Because you won't want to see them on TV because they contain all manner of insides of animals.

But one of the dishes that's really famous here, and there are several to choose from.

But I thought I'd do a wonderful salad because the weather is superb, is Lyonnaise-- very, very simple salad.

And all it is is just bread, bacon, the salad itself, and poached eggs with a particular type of dressing, a really simple dressing as well.

So the first thing I'm going to do is then get on our bacon.

And we've got this big chunk of bacon.

This has got the bone in it.

It's smoked bacon.

Dry-cured bacon is the key to this.

So if you're doing anything with bacon at home, particularly for salads, always buy dry-cured bacon.

Because the wet cure means that it's been soaked in water to cure, salted water.

And that water is basically just going to leak out of it and it's not going to fry nicely.

It's basically just going to froth up in the pan.

So really with the bacon, cut this up into decent sort of slices like that.

You can leave the rind on because they'd been smoked and cured.

So the rind will stay nice and soft as well.

This is such a rustic salad, this Lyonnaise-- really, really simple.

And it's served in so many places around here and there's so many different variants of it.

But classically, it's poached eggs, bacon, and warm bread.

Simple as that.

A little bit of oil in a frying pan and we're going to fry off our big chunky lardons.

Now, so often when you're serving bacon in salads, people cut it far too small and you've got to find stuff.

It's like hide and seek.

It wants to be chunky.

What people call me first time they see me-- chunky.

Then we've got some bread, proper French bread.

Same thing applies with this.

When you're making this salad, big chunks.

Now, while that bacon's frying, we'll get on and do our poached eggs.

Our poached eggs, boiling water, touch of vinegar, and a little bit of salt.

That's the key to a poached egg.

But also the key to a really good poached egg is fresh eggs.

So make a little vortex in the middle, a little whirlpool, grab your egg, and put it right in the center.

Now the idea is as the water spins around, it seals in the egg which is happening in there.

And we just keep it lightly simmering.

Now, the vinegar is quite crucial for this in a way that it actually seals in the egg white itself.

But importantly, it doesn't really taste of vinegar, the water.

So it's a good idea not to use balsamic vinegar, which changes the color.

But also it's a good idea not to use malt vinegar, which is too strong in flavor.

So something like a white wine vinegar is perfect for this.

Now, the key to this is doing them one at a time.

You don't need to rush it.

It's like these guys having lunch.

Just relax.

Concentrate on the egg.

The whole world is passing you by.

You've just got the egg and the bacon and the dressing.

Just relax.

As soon as the egg is done, lift it out, cold water.

Then bring the water to the boil and start again.

Now, once you get to this stage, you can actually take these eggs in the water and pop these in the fridge.

They'll last about 24 hours and then they're so quick and easy to reheat.

Meanwhile, we can prepare our dressing.

Our dressing for this is really simple.

It's done with a bit of tarragon.

We haven't got that.

What we have got, though, is a little bit of chervil.

I think this was more luck than judgment from our producer because this, funnily enough, tastes a little bit like tarragon.

It's got a nice anise-seedy sort of flavor, which could be really good for our salad.

Chop everything.

Again, not too finely diced, just lightly chopped.

You've got the herbs.

We've got the bacon, which is starting to crisp up now.

Now, in the pan with the bacon, you pop the bread in.

We're going to crisp up the croutons in the fat from the bacon.

There you go, Rob.

Look at that.

The dressing contains a usual French-style dressing really, using white wine vinegar, about 1 part vinegar, 3 parts oil.

A bit of salt, bit of pepper.

Some mustard, French mustard, of course.

And mix this together.

All the while you're keeping your eye on the croutons and the bacon.

It's really essential that the croutons and bacon are served warm for this salad.

Now, what I like to do, really-- and I was taught this by a very, very famous French chef cooking in the UK.

I was taught whenever you're making a French-style dressing like this is to always add a bit of water.

Just a touch of water.

It just makes it less harsh, really.

A few herbs.

And then finally a tiny bit of garlic and a finely diced shallot.

That can go into our dressing.

Look at that.

The bacon is nice and crispy.

The croutons are nice and crunchy and crispy.

And then finally, all we've got to do is incorporate our salad.

Now, the same producer that I sent out to get me the herbs from the market-- also that one there-- I said, get me some frisée lettuce, that classic frisée lettuce that they use in Lyonnaise salad.

What we have got is this.

So I asked him what it is No idea.

And we've got our nice salad leaves.

I always pick the center of the salad, really, particularly with something like this.

But the center is generally the lighter colored part of the leaves.

It's much more tender and more sweeter.

Often when you get salad like this, the greener parts, the outside leaves, particularly these, are quite bitter.

So just leave those to one side.

Take our croutons and our bacon.

I love this salad.

It's just so simple, so pure in terms of its flavor.

But it's just perfect.

And then take the fat of the bacon.

[jaunty music] Pop that in the dressing as well.

So finally, all we've got to do is dress the salad, a little bit of dressing.

Mix this all together.

Grabbing your plate.

Pop this on the plate.

And then all you need to do now is reheat the eggs.

And this is the trick.

Have the same pan of water, and all you do with the eggs is just lift them out of the ice cold water.

You can see that.

Look at that, Rob.

See how it's basically formed a nice shape around the yolk?

Take the entire lot into the water.

Turn the heat off and relax for 20 seconds.

♪ ♪ You can lift these out.

Drain off a little bit of the excess water.

Place the eggs over the salad.

♪ ♪ Finally, a little drizzle of the dressing.

And a few optional herbs.

And he did get it right this time.

A little bit of chives over the top.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And there you have a classic Lyonnaise salad.

Warm crispy bacon, croutons, poached eggs, and whatever lettuce you can find.

My adventure in the gastronomic capital of the world, that's Lyon, has shown me a place where quality ingredients are held in the highest esteem.

But where do you go to eat them?

Now in France, of course, you don't have to travel far to find amazing cafes and bars for something to eat.

But here in Lyon, there's a small group of them that celebrate something slightly different.

I'm talking about bouchons, little bistros that have evolved from inns, that Lyon's silk workers used to visit back in the 1700s, serving up homespun family recipes, rich, meaty meals with plenty of offal.

These places embody a sense of thriftiness, and you don't find them anywhere else but Lyon.

This popular bouchon is Le Comptoir du Loup Pendu.

It's got a classic car theme, which already makes it my kind of place.

And this happy chap is Thomas.

He runs it.

The boss is drinking.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Steady now, Thomas.

You've got guests to serve.

I love the tradition of cooking in Lyon.

So we made everything in my restaurant.

We made traditional food from Lyon and France, too, like, cow udder, like brain, lamb brain.

We make all the paté, terrine.

And we smoke beef too.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Well, it's a good job I'm not afraid of a meat-heavy menu.

But today is a special day because Thomas is going to be serving up a machon for his friends.

Another slice of Lyonnaise history, machons were the filling late-morning meals that famished silk workers used to eat on their way back from the night shift.

It's like a brunch but from Lyon.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): That's right.

And the bouchons keep this tradition alive thanks to people like Thomas.

We're going to serve some cow tongue with a spicy sauce and white rice.

OK?

It's like-- I'll show you that.

Slices of cow tongue.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Yep, that's what you call a heavy brunch, but I bet it tastes good.

And this morning, Thomas has got some special guests like Olivier-- Cheese.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): --head judge of La Confrérie des Francs-Machon, a group set up to ensure Macron's standards are kept high in every bouchon.

The tradition of the machon is very, very simple, in fact.

The silk workers used to have lunch at 8:00, 9:00 AM because they work since 4 o'clock in the morning.

They were very poor and they need to eat to continue to work, et cetera, et cetera, OK.

Then a few-- a few friends decided to have an association, a brotherhood, in 1964, that is to say, 50 years ago in Lyon, in France, in Lyon.

We promote that tradition of the machon.

And this is an institution in Lyon.

And we give a diploma to the person in charge of the restaurant.

The purpose of today, today, if you have a machon, to give Thomas Peyre the confirmation of his diploma.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Well, I hope there's room for one more to celebrate.

Because it's not just silk workers that get peckish at 9:00 in the morning.

It's TV chefs too.

I have to admit, my usual brunch might be a slice of toast, poached egg.

I don't know, something a little lighter than cow's tongue.

But I'm willing to give it a go.

[jaunty music] - Spicy, yeah.

- Very spicy.

Very spicy.

As we say in French, [french].

JAMES (VOICEOVER): When you think about the silk workers tired and hungry after a hard night shift, you get why this honest, frugal food was so important.

And it looks like I'm walking away with a little bit more than a full belly.

[speaking french] I've been made an honorary member of La Confrérie des Francs-Machons.

And in these parts, it's a big deal, let me tell THOMAS PEYRE: [speaking french] Bon appetit.

So this is a first for me.

All this before 9 o'clock.

Glass of wine and a free apron.

We're sorted.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Thanks, boys.

It certainly beats breakfast in a roadside greasy spoon.

And with Thomas's style of rustic cooking in mind, here's a meaty treat great for your next dinner party.

And what a beautiful place those bouchons are, and what a variety of food that they have on offer.

I'm not too sure whether the cow's tongue for breakfast is going to catch on, but this is one of the things that I had in the bouchon while I was there.

It was a game terrine, and this is just a simple recipe.

First of all, we've got the bacon.

It's key to it is using bacon or lard to keep the moisture in the terrine.

So often with a terrine, if people have a go at them, they become too dry.

And that's a combination of whether you overcook it, but also not lining it properly.

And to line it properly means that you've got to use full fat bacon, proper bacon.

Now, one word of advice when you're doing a terrine is just take the bacon and lay it onto cling film first of all.

So what I'm going to do is flatten it out and it's a chef-y trick, this.

It's all in a little bit of the preparation because it's using leftovers.

So it takes a little bit of imagination to make it taste even better.

And really, a terrine or a paté can be served not just in a bouchon, but in a three-star Michelin restaurant, if it's done properly and really well.

Now all we do now is just grab our cling film, take this off, and you can see the bacon is slightly bigger, which is exactly what we want.

And then we can line our terrine because this is where the word terrine comes from.

It's the pot that you cook it in.

So you take your bacon, and we can just lay the bacon just inside the little terrine like this.

[jaunty music] Now, I did this when I was at college.

We used to do a thing called en croute, which was I think it was my 7063, which was my end-of-year exam at college.

Mine worked.

So did everybody else's.

The only person whose didn't work, she went on to be a morgue technician.

She wasn't very good with pastry, but she was always very good with a knife.

♪ ♪ And the great thing about this for a dinner party, or if you've got your own bouchon, this is perfect because you've got at least enough for 20 portions in there.

And it doesn't take very long to do at all.

But now it's all about the filling.

I'm going to use this.

This is a selection of game.

I've got a bit of hare, a bit of rabbit, a of venison.

You can use partridge, pheasant, you can use chicken.

But that's the great thing about doing something like this.

And then we can incorporate flavor into this just a little bit by chopping up a touch of garlic, but you can incorporate anything you want.

Dried apricots, some pistachio nuts, almonds, it's entirely up to you.

Veg, whatever you want, can be thrown into a terrine.

That's one of the simple things with it.

So the garlic goes in.

Now for the breadcrumbs.

The breadcrumbs are going to hold it all together, almost like a-- like a bonding agent, like a glue really.

And the other part of the glue is an egg.

So just crack the egg in there.

Some parsley, decent amount of chopped parsley, plenty of salt and pepper.

Remember, there's quite a bit of meat that's going to be in there.

And now for the alcohol.

It's entirely up to you what you want to put in here.

If you've got some port left over from when granny came round at Christmas, stick some of this in.

Just a little bit.

Nice glug.

But I use a combination of port and brandy.

Just a nice glug of that as well.

Don't be frightened with it.

Get plenty in.

A few sprigs of thyme.

And then we mix this all together.

So all we do now is throw it in the pot and then compress it.

It's a good idea to make sure there's plenty of moisture in there.

So that's why it's important to use meat that's not too tender, if that makes sense.

Don't use things like pork fillet, which has got enough fat on it.

Next, you can flip this over.

And this is where you don't have to be too uniformed.

It can be just simple like that.

A little bit of greaseproof paper just cut to size like that.

Sit that on there.

It stops the bit of bacon on top from catching in the oven.

And then get yourself a tray.

Now, the terrine itself needs to sit in a tray.

And roughly, you want enough water to cover about halfway up the terrine.

Now, the French have a lovely word for this.

It's called a bain-marie.

I call it a tray of hot water, but it stops the meat from burning.

Otherwise, you just end up with a bacon sandwich on the outside and a meat filling.

Now all we do is just pop the lid on like that so it's nice and tight.

And then set the oven.

The oven is on about sort of 160, something like that.

And this wants to cook now in the oven just gently for about an hour.

[gentle music] Now, after an hour allow it to cool.

And what you end up with is this terrine in here.

Now, all you do is just take off the lid, lift off the greaseproof, and there you have it.

And it will shrink slightly.

Don't worry about that.

If we tip it out, you can see the jelly, all that moisture that we wanted in the tree and is still there.

And then we've come to serve it.

I just love stuff like this.

It just says home cooking, which is exactly what you want.

You know, you just serve it on the board like that in slices.

Doesn't have to be too fancy.

It's just pieces.

This is the type of stuff that bouchons would sell.

It's food, you know.

And I would always serve it with some gherkins.

That and a big piece of crusty bread.

What more do you want?

♪ ♪ [jaunty music] JAMES (VOICEOVER): My quest to discover the essence of Lyonnaise cooking has given me a taste of the city's affection for simple, honest, home-cooked food.

But with Lyon, there's a definite flip side.

Mr.

Paul Bocuse, the name has inspired so many over the years.

This guy is still alive.

He's in his late 80s as well, still inspiring people to this day.

And if you're a chef, you'll know who I'm talking about.

If you're into cooking, this man's a living legend.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I'm lucky enough to be meeting one of his star proteges.

Christian Tetedoie founder and culinary mastermind behind the Michelin-starred Tetedoie Restaurant.

Yes, it's stylish and pretty unique, kind of like the man himself.

Christian set up Tetedoie back in 1986, breaking free from his classical training in search of a modern, dramatic approach.

And the dish he's cooking me, lobster with braised calf's head, is the perfect example of this adventurous style.

So this-- this is braised calf's head.

And this is a big difference with the lobster and-- and the calf's head that makes his signature dish for, like, 30 years.

And now it's kind of famous.

So this is just a simple cuisine here.

But all what we're looking for is concentrate all the flavors.

And at the beginning this is kind of a peasant dish with the potatoes and the braised calf's head.

But with the lobster, we just mix it together to make it like something unusual.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): This is a world away from the thrifty, homespun cooking of the bouchon.

This is well fancy, and then some.

[gentle music] Hello.

Ah.

[speaking french] I see.

Bon appetit.

That's impressive.

Well, it certainly looks spectacular.

It's quite interesting as a chef.

You can see what looks so simple is actually taking quite a lot of work, particularly this braised head.

[jaunty music] It tastes really good.

Really, really good.

♪ ♪ What it does say is everything about Lyon and how diverse the food is.

You've got such an array of brasseries, bistros, small cafes to go and eat at, and then you have the opposite scale as well, the fine dining.

It's really everything that France says and talks about food all in one city.

This is why I love this place.

[silverware scraping] The view is not bad either.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): [sigh] This is the life.

The crew can flounce about getting pretty shots the view.

I'll just relax and soak up a little inspiration for my next dish.

And after that exquisite masterpiece, it's most definitely dessert time.

Feast your eyes on that.

So, from France's most famous chefs to France's most famous dessert, it has to be creme brulée.

The Spanish have an equivalent, which is called Catalan creme, flavored with lemon, orange, or cinnamon.

And then the UK have a version which is basically Trinity creme.

But in my mind, creme brulée is purely French and contains always vanilla.

That's the main flavor, and it's just a simple recipe.

And that's one of the great things about it.

But what we need to do is infuse the vanilla, first of all.

And for that, we use a combination of milk and cream.

Take these vanilla pods and just break them open.

And we basically just get the vanilla out of the pods and pop that in here.

You're not rapidly boiling it.

All you're doing is just warming it through, that's all.

You can reuse the pods as well.

If you wanted to, and put them in a little bit of sugar in a little jar, give them away as a present if you're tight.

But this has been around for hundreds of years, and it was actually not really made famous until recently, about the 1980s, where creme brulée used to be on the menu of all restaurants, including my own.

The recipe can vary.

You can either add all milk, you can add all cream.

It's entirely up to you.

The same can be said about the eggs.

You can either use whole eggs, egg yolks, or a combination of both.

And that's what I'm going to use now.

So for this about 4 whole eggs.

I'm going to use 4 egg yolks because I think it's the egg yolks that really enrich this.

So you just take the egg yolks like that, pop them in.

And then we can whisk up the eggs with the sugar.

Now, it's important not to add too much sugar because remember the topping, the brulée part of it, is pure sugar.

So just mix this up and then we pour the milk and the cream and the vanilla onto the egg yolks.

It gets a bit controversial because there are two different ways to cook this.

Most chefs will cook it the way I would do, which would be just pop it in the oven, nice and low temperature, and it sets.

However, there are a group of chefs that say, oh, nay, no, nay, nay, nay!

They're from the North.

They would then put it back in the pan and cook it on the stove, and then pour it into the mold and set it in the fridge.

The problem is with that is you don't end up with a nice creamy texture in my mind.

But do it whichever way you want to do it.

And we pass this through a sieve.

So then you've got your creme brulée mixture.

Now you can add so many different flavors to this.

It doesn't have to be vanilla.

You can put fruit in the base.

I've even done this when I first went to London as a trio of creme brulée, with pears and one with saffron as a dessert as well.

But I think it's just much better if you just leave it classically vanilla.

And I like using the different-sized pots for this.

I just think they're great.

Every single antique market I went to on the road trip around France, I collected these lovely little pots.

So you fill them up.

Now this is a good tip.

You can actually cook it as it is.

However, to cook these simply and cleanly, put a bit of kitchen paper on the base that stops the brulée from cooking on the base and curdling.

But also what will stop that is water.

And you put the water in about halfway up one of the dishes.

That's fine.

And then set the oven quite low.

This is about 140 degrees centigrade.

[jaunty music] Lift the entire lot off, and then pop it in the oven.

45 minutes, that'll be ready.

♪ ♪ Now, these have been cooled.

You can serve these cold from the fridge, but for me, they're better just served at room temperature.

Just wipe them off like that.

And then the sugar that I'm going to use is this, demerara sugar.

And just put a little bit on it.

Don't put too much.

Now, so often you would just use caster sugar over the top.

It's fine.

But if you brulée them too early, what happens is the caster sugar absorbs the moisture from the air and goes liquid.

And you find that when you get creme brulée and it's not crisp on the top.

It's basically dissolved.

And then this is where you brulée it.

Now traditionally this would be done with a brulée iron, which is a solid piece of metal with a wooden handle on that's basically heated in the hot coals, that kind of stuff.

And then brand it, basically like you do with a pig's backside or a cow's backside, that kind of stuff.

So we're going to do it with a blowtorch, proper blowtorch.

This comes free with a mask.

Look at that.

And we blowtorch the top.

[rhythmic music] And this is where the word "brulée" translates to "burnt cream."

And it's not burned.

It's caramelized.

All right?

♪ ♪ So it's much easier.

And then it's all about the taste.

Let this cool though first.

Because trust me, taking that to your gran when it's still hot, you won't be on the Christmas list, trust me.

But what you do is you just break.

So you get this beautiful, crisp topping.

But most importantly, this creamy center.

Look at that.

♪ ♪ It is a great dessert, this, whether it's in a cafe, a Michelin star restaurant.

There's a reason why this has been around for so, so long.

It's just delicious.

♪ ♪ It's good though.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): I'm coming to the end of my stay in Lyon, a city of stunning cuisine that constantly surprises.

But it's the passion for food that really stands out here.

And before I cook up my final dish, there's a particular bouchon, one of those historic little bistros that epitomizes that Lyonnaise spirit but in a very different way.

This is Café de la Gare 2, a bouchon with an eccentric style to match its charismatic owner, Chef Claude Barbet.

He's a chap with cooking a la bouchon, in his blood.

I became a chef because my grandfathers and my grandmothers was the cooking chef in Lyon in '37.

My grandmother and my grandfather, they had one bouchon, the fabulous bouchon in the city.

My speciality is made of typical of city of Lyon with a lot of tripe.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Sounds like a typical bouchon so far, but the difference here is that Cafe de la Gare 2 is made entirely out of shipping containers because Café de la Gare 1 looks like this, a burnt out shell, literally just around the back.

The name of the restaurant is Cafe 2 Train Station because the first has burning.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Your restaurant's burnt down, so you build another one out of shipping containers.

It's the great bouchon spirit of making the best of what you've got.

CLAUDE BARGET: I am very positive attitude.

It's very important.

In French, we say [french].

In English, the fat is life.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Simply put, that's life.

Get on with it.

And it's time to get on with my final dish, which I'm cooking back at Thomas's place.

See what an amazing bouchon this is.

I love places like this.

And I thought I'd create a wonderful little dish that uses potatoes at its heart.

Now, that's the key to many places like this, inexpensive food.

And they use potatoes to bulk it out.

And there are so many different French dishes that you can do with them, and particularly one from this area, Lyonnaise, really, really simple.

Sliced potatoes with onions.

The option of putting a little bit of stock in there as well if you want, with some butter and some parsley.

I'm going to serve this with a nice piece of pork as well.

So the first thing we need to get on is the onions because basically this is just potatoes and onions.

So thinly sliced onions first.

And then what I'm going to use is a mixture of oil and butter for this.

So oil first of all and get the onions frying.

Now at the same time because it doesn't take very long to cook this I can add my pre-cooked potatoes.

You can cook this from raw.

It just takes forever to be honest, a good 20 minutes.

By boiling the potatoes beforehand, these have had about 10, 15 minutes allowed to cool, we can then slice them.

And it's the perfect dish for a restaurant like this because it's quick, easy to prepare, but tastes delicious.

And they can go into the pan as well.

Move the onions around a bit.

We don't want these to burn.

I often think about having a place like this kind of when I retire at some point in my life to possibly come over here and have a little bouchon on my own.

But it would be kind of interesting to see what the French would think of a Yorkshireman cooking in a kitchen.

But I said, I liked the idea.

Whether or not I go ahead with it, I don't know.

But it's quite cool, isn't it?

Now, just to get a little bit of color on here, we're going to help this along with some butter.

Just a few knobs of butter in the pan.

So while that's frying, a bit of salt and pepper.

And now we can get on and do the other part of this dish with pork.

And I'm going to use pork fillet for this.

Some people call it tenderloin.

I don't know why because the loin is actually the bit on the top.

This is the fillet that sits underneath.

It's equivalent to fillet of beef really.

It's the tender part of the pork, requires very, very quick cooking and simple cooking.

But the easiest way to speed it up is to bat it out a little bit.

So first of all, take the pork, cut it into chunks like that.

Grab yourself some cling film.

Take a touch of oil.

Take the pork and put the pork, the cut side up on the cling film like that.

Then take another piece of cling film over the top.

Now the oil just makes the pork stick to the cling film just a touch.

Otherwise, when you bat it out slightly, it tends to pull off the cling film as well.

You end up with a bit of a mess going on.

Nice and flat like this.

They were thinking they were coming out for a peaceful lunch, weren't they?

Take off the cling film like that, and you've got your nice little scallops.

Grab the egg and mix this together.

It's what the French call to pané.

So flour first seasoning, in the egg, and then in the crumbs.

Now with our potatoes, they start to color.

Just flip them over.

Now to cook our nicer scallops.

The key to this is plenty of butter not oil.

You've got to cook it in butter for this one.

Because not only do you have to cook it in butter for flavor, but also you can tell when it's cooking in butter.

Now, with our scallops, we can just lay these in.

Now, this is a good tip I think with the potatoes, just a tiny little bit of beef stock or chicken stock.

It just not only creates a nice little dish but a nice little sauce to go with it as the reduce down.

Now, classically, you wouldn't have this.

It would just have a little bit of parsley to finish it.

But I think it really benefits from this.

So just a tiny bit of parsley at the end, which is a good job because our producer clearly says that I'm on a budget.

Here we go with our parsley.

Now, the thing about butter, and particularly with breadcrumbs like this, when the butter colors, it colors the crumb.

Now the potatoes are ready just when that stock starts to reduce almost to nothing.

It starts to thicken up in the pan, which creates a nice little sauce to go with it, rather than you having dry potatoes with it.

[jaunty music] It's quite a simple dish to prepare and cook, but one that tastes really well and goes with so many different things.

So you got a nice little bit of pork.

I can turn that off.

And then all we do with this is we serve some of these lovely Lyonnaise-style potatoes and you've got the breadcrumbed pork fillet to go with it.

♪ ♪ I'm quite happy with that, Rob.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): How about that?

My succulent pork scallops with sliced potatoes, onions, and parsley.

Simple yet delicious.

And that's it for my gastronomic trip to the mighty Lyon, a place that offers the very best in French cuisine.

I've never seen this before in my life.

Look at that pumpkin, candied pumpkin-- JAMES (VOICEOVER): --where absolute artistry-- It tastes really good.

Really, really good.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): --sits side by side with traditional frugal fare.

And I don't know if it was the classic food or the classic motors, but I've loved it here.

But what a fantastic day in Lyon.

Amazing food, beautiful weather, and fantastic car.

And I know what you're thinking.

This isn't quite as collectible as the 3.8 liter flat floor model with the outside bonnet catch.

It's still nice, though, isn't it?

[frenetic music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JAMES (VOICEOVER): Poached eggs and whatever lettuce you can find.

Coming up on my French adventure in Lyon, I get a taste of an authentic 18th century Lyonnaise brunch.

All this before 9 o'clock?

Glass of wine and a free apron.

We're sorted.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I cook up my own take on the local cuisine back in my home kitchen.

[music stinger] [music stinger] My adventure in the gastronomic capital of the world, that's Lyon.

What more do you want?

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Coming up on my foodie adventure in Lyon, I sample the swankiest side of Lyonnaise cuisine.

That's impressive.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): And I make a dessert while brandishing my secret weapon.

Proper blowtorch.

This comes free with a mask.

[music stinger] [music stinger] JAMES (VOICEOVER): My quest to discover the essence of Lyonnaise cooking-- [jaunty music] It's good though.

JAMES (VOICEOVER): Still to come on my French adventure in Lyon, we visit a bouchon with a surprising secret.

And I cook up my own homage to the gastronomic capital of France.

I'm quite happy with that, Rob.

[music stinger] [music stinger] I'm coming to the end of my stay in Lyon, a city of--