We are about to go
into my favorite restaurant on Earth, St. John.
This is the place
where I think meat cooking has reached a zenith.
I don't think my career would exist as it does
if it wasn't for this place
which really pioneered nose-to-tail dining.
So, let's go in there.
Let's meet the man himself, Fergus Henderson.
Let's eat a few of the dishes
and I will reveal to you why this is my favorite restaurant.
(groovy pop music)
Now, we are back in the kitchen of St. John.
This is Jonathan Woolway.
You are the chef at St. John.
We're gonna go through a couple of dishes.
Let's talk about the bone marrow, first.
- [Jonathan] Yeah, it's the middle-cut section
from a veal leg and-- Okay.
So it's not quite as big as the--
- [Jonathan] Not quite as big.
- [Nick] So, probably more tender marrow, right?
Yeah, and just slightly more delicate in flavor
and then we're just gonna roast those through the oven,
toast some of our homemade white bread on there,
classic salad for the bone marrow, never changes.
This is picked flat-leaf parsley.
It's not chopped; it's just what Fergus calls disciplined,
(Nick laughing) so we just give it
a couple of dinks with a knife
and then it just behaves itself on the plate.
Here we go, look at that.
- [Nick] So, you call that dancing, is that it?
- [Jonathan] Dancing on the top.
(rock guitar music)
- [Nick] The next dish we're doing is the,
is the lamb sweetbreads? Lamb, lamb sweetbreads,
peas, bacon, and mint.
Okay, let's explain to the audience what sweetbreads are
because people get pretty freaked out by them,
but they are actually one of the most delicious things
you can eat. Absolutely, yeah.
I mean, it's basically the thymus gland from a lamb.
Young lambs have larger sweetbreads
and then as the lamb matures,
the sweetbread becomes smaller and smaller
until it's reached its peak.
So, by the time it's mutton, there will be
Pretty much nonexistent none, just nothing.
or just like a little straggly
Right. gland in there.
- [Nick] These are beautiful plump milky-white looking--
Beautiful.
Then, we're just gonna fry these up in a pan
and then put a spoonful of these lovely braised peas,
shallots and bacon How?
and then I'm gonna finish it
with some fresh mint, like so.
Ox heart, so you've got some beetroot here
with a touch of red onion and some garlic.
We've just trimmed
the excess fat off Okay.
which we then use for dripping.
Now, I'm just gonna season this up.
It'll be delicious.
Ox heart straight on the plate.
Over the top, then, with the resting juices from the heart
and a touch of horseradish creme fraiche on the side.
(rock guitar music)
- [Nick] It's a good way to start the day.
Here you go, sir.
Thank you, much.
Any time you get to meet
one of the seminal meat masters on Earth,
you've got to celebrate the occasion.
So, thank you so much for appearing
on my humble show. Pleasure.
This man revolutionized British dining,
revolutionized the way that we eat meat,
but I think that the ramifications went worldwide.
(rock guitar music)
Okay, well, let's not beat around the bush.
Let's get right into the ox heart
with the beets and the horseradish.
There is a hint of pink in there.
It's, you know, just medium.
Really, it really smells like a steak frite,
like that classic searing
that you get on the outside of like a coulotte steak.
(upbeat guitar music)
It's certainly a lot chewier than a steak would be,
but no less flavorful.
I mean, it tastes like the animal.
This tastes like beef; it tastes like ox.
Because the heart's in constant use,
it doesn't really get a lot of fat.
It's constantly moving.
You know, the most tender things on the animal
are the things that the animal uses the least.
The heart, of course, is literally being used
and every moment that that animal is alive,
this thing is beating.
That's why it's not gonna have the striation of fat.
It's not gonna have the tenderness,
but it has all the flavor and all of the soul, too.
Let's go for the sweetbreads, next.
This, to me, is like (sighing),
it smells like spring in Britain.
And, look at that, just creamy, creamy delicious innards.
(upbeat guitar music)
If you've never had sweetbreads,
you're really missing out on something.
It's almost, in terms of texture,
it's gentle and delicate like a scallop,
but there's a creaminess to it
and then it these tangs,
like this earthy tang to it, but it's on the finish.
It's not gamey like mutton, but it's definitely,
there's definitely an earthiness to it.
I don't know anywhere on earth
that there's sweetbreads that are as compelling as this,
really sort of vibrant, delicious cooking.
So, here is the signature dish of this restaurant,
a dish that has been as influential, I think,
in the last 20 years as any restaurant dish
anywhere on Earth in that same time period:
house made bread, the roasted bone marrows,
the parsley salad, the salt.
What they've given us is actually a lobster scoop.
This is perfect for getting the marrow
out of the bones, just scoop it.
As you whip it around, you break it up
and then you just see these
sort of gelatinous lumps of marrow
just sort of rising up through the ooze.
Flip this guy around, (utensil scraping)
you've broken it up,
so the way that they, you do it is you smear it,
a little dabble of the parsley and then some of that salt.
(crunching)
Mm, it's such a remarkable dish
because it like it's almost like limitless
in its boundaries, yet everything is so constrained
and everything sort of balances itself out.
You get the crunch from the salt.
You get the crunch from the bread.
It's really just so balanced in every way.
Bone marrow is just really fatty, greasy, oily.
It coats your entire palate in, it's not really harsh,
it's not viscous, it's very gentle in its coating.
It's almost liquid
by the time it makes it in makes it into your mouth.
Can't say enough things about this bone marrow.
It really is one of my favorite dishes.
So, if you've been following my career
for any period of time,
you know why this would be my favorite restaurant.
I have eaten at St. John more times than I can count
because what they do here is
they give you the best flavor that each cut can get you
and there's no reason why one piece of the animal should be
any more delicious than the other.
It's just about how do you extract
the maximum flavor from it?
And I think that's what's great about this restaurant.
But stripping away all the fineries of fine dining,
by stripping away the music,
the sound of this restaurant is people dining.
It's the sound of glass and china
getting hit with knives and forks.
This represents what I think
meat cooking and eating should be,
so my advice to you is to not miss out on St. John.
Obviously you have to get the bone marrow,
but don't be afraid of anything else on the menu.
I guarantee you it's on there for a reason.
It's all delicious.
It'll open up new horizons for you.
And, let's face it, it's cheaper than eating prime steaks,
so, a good way to save money, too.
Thanks very much for watching.
For the next episode, click here now.
- [Chef] Put in there, not a huge amount,
a bit of lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil,
I mean, this is basically--
(rock guitar music)