Taste le Tour 2010 with Gabriel Gaté

French chef, Gabriel Gaté, is back this year presenting his delicious serves of Taste Le Tour 2010, a gastronomic journey that follows the route of the famous Tour de France bicycle race held this year from Saturday 3 July to Sunday 25 July. As in previous years, Gabriel has called upon his friend, Philippe Mouchel, the wonderfully talented French chef, to prepare some of the great classic dishes of French cuisine.

This year Le Tour starts in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, and Gabriel visits this historic city and discovers its specialities.

Gabriel will also present five segments from France, commencing on 7 July in Rheims, the capital city of the Champagne region. Then on Bastille Day, 14 July he will be in the alpine town of Chambéry. Later in the Tour on Saturday 17 July Gabriel will be in Rodez in the heart of France, looking at the local rustic food. Then it’s on to the glorious vineyards of the Bordeaux region on Friday 23 July. On the very last day, Sunday 25 July, the Tour will close in Paris.

Many of the stylish four-minute segments are presented from the terrace of ‘The Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel’, a Melbourne French restaurant where Gabriel and his team, which includes an accordion player and one or two gendarmes, have created a great French atmosphere. Each segment begins with Gabriel discussing the specialities of the region through which the riders pass that day. Then a famous dish of the region is prepared, either by Philippe Mouchel, young modern chef, Nicolas Poelaert, Gabriel Gaté or an eccentric French gendarme called François.

France is famous for its refined sweets and three of the segments feature Pierrick Boyer, a talented French pâtissier who prepares some superb regional desserts. François, the gendarme, visits a French gourmet store, or ‘charcuterie’, where charcutier, Stéphane Langlois, makes a Burgundian speciality of Ham and Herb Terrine.

Christian Maier, award-winning sommelier and native of Alsace, recommends the best wines of each region, while Will Studd, guru of French cheeses, introduces the viewers to a selection of outstanding cheeses from Holland, Burgundy and the Pyrenees.