It takes a Frenchman...

Raymond Blanc, superchef extraordinaire, lit up the studio today and made us all feel very hungry with his tales of food and how, when a much younger lad, his natural ebullience caused him to be belted unconscious by a furious Chef. He had dared to question the quality of a sauce - and as a result he felt he could never work in France again. That's what ultimately brought him to England, to a career that catapulted him to the star status he enjoys today.

And what about the new revelation that the French are now crumbling? Nothing to do with the Eurozone economy, thank goodness. But apparently, according to Raymond, we English created many wonderful desserts and puddings, including exclusively the crumble. Now he has taken it to France and accordingly all of the best chefs in France are crumbling away like mad!

He also hinted at a new recipe. You'll have to listen again to get it quite right. But it was something about the very best chocolate, smooth as silk and melt-in-your-mouth like snowflakes, over a bed of crumble.

Sounds fantastic!

Raymonds new programme is on BBC 2 this Thursday.