Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

Made in France, English subtitled. In-depth portraits of internationally acclaimed chefs featuring exclusive interviews. Michel Bras is one of France's greatest cooks, obtaining his third star in 2000 and rated #7 on the 2008 World's 50 Best Restaurants chart. We will taste four dishes, cinematographically describe what we feel, then work through each dish's culinary fabrication to the true subject of the series: investigating the ways that one invents cuisine by revisiting their space and time.

Every great cook secretly believes in the power of food. Alice Waters just believes this more than anybody else. She is certain that we are what we eat, and she has made it her mission in life to make sure that people eat beautifully. Waters is creating a food revolution, even if she has to do it one meal at a time.

A dash of youth, a pinch of age, and an unrecorded recipe: Mudder's Hands is a charming documentary conversation about arthritis, centered around the tradition of baking Newfoundland raisin bread.

A succulent account of the life of French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) who made the simple act of cooking food a true art by creating the modern concept of haute cuisine, and who also became the main reference point for many generations of future chefs.

Bravo Chef: French Cuisine (2009) September 29th, 2009. Belmondo Entertainment. 60 Minutes. See the top chefs right at work! Working side-by-side with a top chef is a shortcut to mastering special tricks and techniques. A straightforward and hands-on approach renders lengthy and boring explanations unnecessary. A modern approach to the most sacred national dishes lets you master them without fear. The chefs don't hesitate to show you their treasured techniques, they understand that sharing a secret with a kindred spirit is a joy! Recipes included: 1 - Grilled Pike-Perch with Slices of Salmon. 2 - Pan-Seared Duck Foie Gras. 3 - Capon Bourguinon. 4 - Grilled Quail with Mushrooms and Spinach. 5 - Tian with Whipped Goat's Cheese. 6 - Escargots Bourguignon Au Gratin. 7 - Creme Brulee.

From glorious wagyu beef to luscious lobster, this special takes viewers to the world's most decadent buffets for heaping plates of luxurious food.

The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.

All food can be adulterated. More discreet than a drug cartel, more elusive than arms dealers, criminals have taken over food. Olive oil, fish, meat, spices, no department escapes their juicy traffic. A jackpot estimated in Europe at 30 billion euros enriches a new kind of mafia every year. Organized crime is selling altered products in restaurants, supermarkets and all food shops in the European Union. Their secret is to replace an ingredient with a cheaper one. Who are these new traffickers? What are their methods of operation?

Food writer and critic William Sitwell investigates the passions, pressures and obsessions behind that apparently all-important description, ‘Michelin-starred chef’. ‘It elevates your average stove monkey to superior cheffy status; it puts you in a completely new culinary class. But how relevant is Michelin? Do we want poncey food? Or can you get a Michelin star for a good steak and chips? Is the Michelin Guide harmful in its influence? And does the path to Michelin-starred perfection lead to dangerous obsession?’

Danish culinary entrepreneur and Noma co-founder Claus Meyer has kickstarted a gastronomic revolution in Bolivia’s capital of La Paz with the opening of Gustu, a fine-dining restaurant and cooking school for the country’s impoverished youth. Kenzo, a hunter raised in the Bolivian Amazon, and Maria Claudia, a native of the Andean altiplano, have resettled in La Paz in order to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Under the tutelage of Meyer, these young Bolivians are working towards a better future as they attempt to establish their country as the world’s next great culinary destination.

A committed, passionate teacher tries to make all the difference in the lives of disadvantaged students.

Chef André Chiang is returning his Michelin stars, and has publicly declared that he is returning to his roots after 30 years. What would make him do so? How does the perfectionist define success? What haunts him at night? Following Chef André weeks before he officially closes his restaurant, we chart his emotional journey, and dive into nostalgic elements of his life. From how he first fell in love with cooking as a result of his mother’s influence, to the challenges that he faced when he first learnt cooking in France, we tell the story of a passionate and determined individual, now ready for the next season of his life.

Culinary artist Nomi Shannon prepares luscious entrées and explains how to expand her recipes to feed a crowd. Nomi prepares raw lasagna, an all-raw pasta (with pesto, pomadoro, or marinara sauce), and a spinach mouse—the raw food answer to quiche!

Culinary artist Nomi Shannon shows us how to use nuts and seeds to make hearty entrees and protein-rich meals. Nomi demonstrates how to make nori rolls, stuffed peppers, 'neat-balls' and gravy, Asian pate, chiles rellenos, pâté, loaves and the sun garden burger.

The collar awarded to the winners of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession. The 3-day competition includes everything from delicate chocolates to precarious six foot sugar sculptures and requires that the chefs have extraordinary skill, nerves of steel and luck. The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, as he returns to France to compete against 15 of France's leading pastry chefs. The filmmakers were given first time/exclusive access to this high-stakes drama of passion, sacrifice, disappointment and joy in the quest to have President Sarkozy declare them one of the best in France.

In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! With the flair of a seasoned raconteur, Leacock recounts key moments in his seventy years as a filmmaker and the innovations that he, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and others invented that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, and explores the mystery of creativity. With the passing of both Blank and Leacock, the documentary is a moving insight into the lives of two seminal figures in the history of film.

Réjean Vigneau, a butcher in the Magdalen Islands, has been working to promote seal meat for nearly 30 years. This film explores the challenges of a resource that is abundant in the Gulf waters and remains untapped. It also delves into the possibilities that this meat presents in terms of consumption, industry, and the potential to bring the riverbank residents closer to the river they inhabit.

For six months of the year, renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria closes his restaurant El Bulli -- repeatedly voted the world's best -- and works with his culinary team to prepare the menu for the next season. An elegant, detailed study of food as avant-garde art, EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS is a rare inside look at some of the world's most innovative and exciting cooking; as Adria himself puts it, "the more bewilderment, the better!"

Through revealing interviews with experts and victims' families, this gripping documentary examines the problem of deadly foodborne illness in the US.

Food in the 21st century has become much more than “meat and potatoes” and canned soup casseroles.” Chefs have gained celebrity status; recipes and exotic ingredients, once impossible to find, are now just a mouse click away; and the country's major cities are better known for their gastronomy than their art galleries. This food movement can be traced back to one man: James Beard. His name graces the highest culinary honor in the American food world today—the James Beard Foundation Awards. And while chefs all around the country aspire to win a James Beard Award, often referred to as the “culinary Oscars,” many of those same chefs know very little about the man behind the medal. Respected restaurateur Drew Nieporent summed it up when he said, “Everybody knows the name James Beard. They may not know who he is, but they know the name.”