Welcome back everybody we are in the Kitchen it is 2025 and would you believe It but it's been just over 10 years I've Been actually running that show running That channel and I can't believe how the Time has fly and it's just such an Amazing journey so I really wanted to Start the year just uh sharing very Briefly that little pie chart on the Screen here to show you a little bit of Uh what my journey looks like on paper It doesn't look like tons of f as you Can see that first part I really spent Quite a big Chun of that time of these 10 years uh you know at least three Years or more just mastering this Culinary basic and then I spent another 30 year to re practice all the things uh That I have learned in there and it is Only uh in recent time for the last two Or three years that I started to deep Into the more Advanced Techniques and Looking at Chef recipe and trying to Understand what's going on in the M of Chef and how they approach to layering Techniques and things like that with all The source course that I've made and Plenty of other stuff we tried on the Channel and uh when you look at it it's Actually not much and really the time is Really Spent learning the basics and I think This is so important this a message I Like to start the year with to everyone
Out there if you want to improve your Cooking skills uh and you want to Understand and you know make a good Progress on your culinary Journey then Really mastering the basics is something That is absolutely so important but as You can see on the diagram there's a Little pie that is left because I think That I've now finally reach another uh There's another step on my journey that I want to explore there's another thing That I have not done as you can see I've Done the basics I've done the advanc Stuff but the one thing I'm really Interested in at the moment it is all to Do with flavor and ingredient pairing And the reason for this is that uh until Recently you know I didn't have this but Nowadays when I'm going to a fine dining Restaurant a good restaurant or you know Even a one star you know star Michelin Kind of restaurant I look at the dishes And sometimes you have that dish that Really surprise you in terms of look Sometime but really the flavors the Flavor combination the ingredients and There's really that that wow factor There something that really takes you by Surprise like wow you know and the Question that comes in my mind all the Time now is like what what is It what is it on that plate that makes That that combination of flavor what Does it work so well you know what is
It's not a matter of technical stuff Because I've been there you can layer Techniques and think this is not going To bring a surprise element but what Does is actually all to do with the Types of ingredients that you use and Combine together because certain Ingredients are really made to enhance Each other and if you're in a Professional world uh you can learn These things by just working 10 or 20 Years in all kinds of highend restaurant But when you're at home or you're a home Cook like me you're a self-taught person You're not going to have that so the Best part of Co of course is to refer to Books and this is what I've been doing For during my break and even before for The past three month for four months I've been re exploring the world of Flavor using the book that you surely Know all already and this is the one That I recommend to everyone want to Explore this it is nothing else than of Course the flavor Bible and since I've Started to go through that book I've Really learned a lot of things and I Really got some of the answers I was Looking for there's plenty of little Things uh that are in that book and These are the things that I want to Start to dip my toe into and this year On the channel uh it's nothing like We're going to be doing this all the
Time but I want to kind of look how I Can integrate this into my cooking how I Can maybe add up little ingredients and Things like that because I'm really Curious about how you can create that Great experience now from all the Research that I've done because now it's Been three or four months there's more That comes into it than just the flavors And the ingredients you see having Experience when you go to a restaurant I've really noticed that yes you've got Uh the taste of the food the ingredients The quality but you also have the way The food is presented you also have the Setting how the table is set you know What kind of environment what kind of Music plays in the background what is The view in the restaurant all of these You know create an experience and I've Been totally fascinated about this so Much so that during the break and even Before I started to work on a brand new Course that is called the chef's plate I'll be posting a trailer for that Course more explanation tomorrow but for Now what I want to do is Start uh practicing this flavor matching And one of the thing that I've done in The course one of the recipe with beef I've been using a particular ingredient That really really got me curious which I've got in the back Here is this
Cloves cloves have the power to really Make your beef meat taste better so what I've decided to do is to grind some Cloves on here and add this to an herb Butter a classic herb butter and to Transform this into what I call the Clove butter very simple to make you can Keep it in your freezer and you will see If you've never experienced something a Little bit different well this is the Beginning let's go to begin with let me Show you exactly how this flavor Bible Works so you see you've got an Ingredients I'm going to Clove here and It's going to give you some information That you can read and then it's going to Give you a list of things that pair as Well anything in bold is like a great Great great pairing anything that is Listed is already uh a good match so you Can see beef clearly here so clove and Beef that's going to go well so perfect For my butter and if I go and continue Here I will have some other ingredients I want to use lemon for instance can Work really really well and at the Bottom of the list because I'm going to Be using salt and pepper you got sesan Pepper so instead of a normal pepper I'm Going to use sesan pepper because it's Got more length to it so all these Little things are going to help me to Build my butter so there we have it These are the ingredients I'm going to
Be using here now the first iteration of That butter I've made on the course is More simple but here I want to add a Little bit of excitement uh in the mix So these are the clove everything has to Be fresh so we're going to ground them In a pestel and mortar this is the Sichan pepper I've got here salt flakes Instead of table salt much better I've Got a little bit of garlic here some Parsley because parsley and garlic with Butter goes very well and this is the Lime that I'm going to use see it was Saying lemon with clove but I'm Replacing this with lime because it's Going to bring some acidity and maybe a Nice little freshness with the zest of The lime in here and it's just going to Be a very simple matter of mixing Everything together but have to be Careful with the measurement as I just Said to get the best out of all the Ingredients you want them fresh quality And also when you have to make a powder You want to use that pesel and mortar so Here is by sesan Pepper I'm not going to Buy something that is already pre Grinded or anything like this and I'm Just going to pound the whole thing and Make my mixture and I'm going to make This into a powder I'm going to do the Same after with the Cloves so there we have it we are using A recipe and just by using a Shard to
Tell me what what ingredients goes Together I've got all what I need to Make my special clove butter so let's do This we've got our special butter so I'm Starting with 200 Gams of butter on here And this is softened butter so that Means that when you get a spatula like This you need to be able to have your Butter and really really kind of make it And turn it into a paste now once your Butter is ready you can typically add The salt one of the little trick that I'm doing as of late when I'm making These kinds of preparation especially a Compound butter I'm using a butter that Is already slightly salted like this I'm Sure I'm not going to overdo it so this Is very very lightly salted so the salt Is already here and I'm just going to go Ahead with the rest of my things so We're going to start with the clove so The Volume of everything is is very Important so this is loud this is very It doesn't look like it has tons of it But it is very very pungent that's why You have to be careful but I still want Uh to have this to be look a little a Hard bit there to be my main element I Want to have a little clo in here next I'm going to add a little pinches maybe A quar teaspoon of sichan pepper so Further heat in here I'm going to add a Little
Bit of my garlic again and this is a qu Teaspoon put a bit more in case but it Is not a garlic Butter okay and then I'm going to keep On going with the rest of my Preparations I've got my parsley so Parsley is slight in volume so that's Just going to give some texture some Color it makes the whole thing a bit More interesting okay I've got my Ziness and that we had uh before with The the lime zest look at this starts to Be really interesting in here and uh to Finish with uh the lime juice that is Also very loud so you don't want to have Something too too Tangy so about Half uh teaspoon in here and then I'm Going to get my spatula and very slowly I'm just going to mix everything Together And that's what it is okay all done so Of course the last thing you're going to Have to do is to taste your butter uh Which I did and I didn't quite have half A teaspoon of clove so I think it was Laing a slight bit in here because at The end of the day it is a clove butter And I've adjusted this and now it's Perfect so what we're going to do here We're just going to roll it into a log And then it's going to have to be Resting in the fridge U I did it for a Few hours for the flavors develop so Once your butter is firm enough the best
Thing when you want to cut it is to Leave it in the plastic CU if you remove The plastic like this going to get dirt It's going to get contaminated and here You can stand control if you don't want To use the whole thing uh you don't have To so I can see really three basic ways Already to to use that the first one Would be uh to put a piece of butter in This and serve this with with fresh Bread Al I would first kind of cut the End here and I'm going to just you know Cut a little a little log there I'm Going to remove the the plastic and then Put it in that container here so Scenario number one clove butter with Freshly made bre I don't have any Freshly made but I just toasted some Pieces of sour on here but you got the Idea you know when you go in a Restaurant you get this more and more You know you get that little portion of Of special butter you don't know really How it tastes like and you know before Dinner you're going to you know grab Some butter and a Yum M first taste now for the steak the Classic beastro style the slices of Clove butter melting on top of the steak Served with fries you could do salad but I think a good bunch of skinny fries in There that would be absolutely lovely I Could also see uh the use of that butter As a basting butter so when you're
Cooking for inst with a skillet you know How they a lot of Chef finishes the the Whole steak by basting with butter and Thyme and stuff or just put a big chunk Of that butter and then base the whole Thing like that to have all the flavor Going through now for this other version This is something I've been seeing more And more the steak is uh you know this Left to rest and it's cut straight away And it serve like this with all kinds of Sauce but here I think with the um Melted butter which sits in a little jar On the side here you can actually serve It with your fries and everything and The person can decide do I want butter Or not because with the other version You know want it or not you've got these Slices of butter on top so here you can Have a go and really all the ingredients Already uh you know going through and You can you can judge for yourself like How much Of that clove butter do I want on there I'm going to put tons because I just Want to give you my Impressions again of What we've made but hey you see lemon Zest is on here you it's going to start To mingle with the juices of the meat on Here and then you can just dig in and Again it's kind of that element of Surprise you don't really know what what To expect so you got a good quality a Good quality beef and you're going to
Dip this in the in the sauce in the Butter imagine with some fries The first thing that I Like the first thing that I'm tasting in Here is the beef okay there's the butter On here and I can Feel that it tastes good there's a hint Of clove but Really not much now I've eaten the other Steak with the fresh butter melting on There I Think you do lose a little something Thing when you melt the butter Beforehand I think when it's nice and Cold and it's kind of melting in front Of the eyes there's maybe some kind of Um psychological effect you look at the Butter melting oh look at this beautiful Butter um but it works really well and I'm Happy that the butter is not too salty It's not overpowering and it really Really leave the Um the steak to express himself and what Happened with the the clove it uh makes The taste of the beef much Richer M it's almost like a enhancing Beef flavors wow that's bright and here We are the clove butter a bit of my own Making remember this is one element that Is used in one of the recipes from my New course the chef's plate we're Offering the course at the moment with a Heavy discounts all the way to
Valentine's Day is more than 20 is 25% Discount for the course and you will Find plenty of guides PDF on how to set Up your occasion and have a whole list Of recipe that clove butter is used in One of the recipes that is a grassfed Eye fet or beef fet served on a crouton Covered with freshly made mushroom cream Topped up with clove butter served with Skinny fries and Forest mushroom as well As a bit of spinach and that's just one Of the many recipe you'll find for your Special dinner okay if you have any Anything to comment on of course Regarding that new chapter I'm taking on If you know some variation of comination Flavor that really work if you really Like share this in the comment section And for me I will see you next time of Course on the French Cooking Academy for A brand new episode and I think I might Just enter the world of beatroot extren To see what we can get you [Music] There wind [Music] Whip up [Music] My Mex [Music] [Music]
Have you ever wondered why most of the Vinaigrettes in the grocery store are made with 10, 20, sometimes even almost 30 ingredients? I remember growing up in Provence watching my mother whipping vinaigrettes before every single dinner. She would mix in a giant bowl, delicious extra virgin olive oil, a robust aged vinegar (the flavor would depend on the main dish), sea salt and pepper and voila! I decided to do the same thing for my family and friends more than 20 years ago here in this beautiful country. And Provence Kitchen® was born. Stay tune for more articles and wonderful family recipes..
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