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The latest episode of CNN International’s Culinary Journeys show has now aired with the French chef Hélène Darroze taking a surprising visit to Edinburgh in Scotland to investigate the traditional dish of Haggis.
Doroz runs the Hélène Darroze restaurant in Paris and the Hélène Darroze restaurant inside the Connaught Hotel in London. She told us that the idea to have her Culinary Journey in Scotland came about because of all the times she has heard about haggis since opening in London.
Meet the chef.
Why did you choose this Culinary Journey?
It was a really nice experience, it was the opportunity for me to discover a little more of Edinburgh and Scotland and this dish that I’ve heard a lot about since I arrived in London.
I didn’t really choose Edinburgh but to learn a little bit more than the haggis - I’ve met people who say it’s marvellous and on the other side that when we spoke about haggis they said “oh my god” - I wanted to know more about this dish and because of that we chose Edinburgh, the city of the haggis.
I was really interested to see how it’s cooked, it’s a log preparation with lots of tradition attached. It was also really interesting to learn about all the spirit and culture of Scotland that is around this dish.
If we gave you a blank check what Culinary Joruney would you love to take?
Probably Japan, I’ve never been to Japan and I would love to go there. Probably Tokyo first because there are so many things to see there but after also the countryside - if you gave me a lot of time I would do the most I could do.
Why Haggis?
There are so many interesting things in Japan that I would discover.
What’s the Culinary Journey you look forward to taking the most?
Probably to come back to Vietnamn and have the real street food - it’s something I appreciated so much when I was there for many reasons, professional and personal. So probably if I could go back that would be it.
What’s been one of the highlights of your own career journey?
I would think probably about this afternoon when I had just arrived at Ducasse’s restaurant and I had been there for just a few days. One of his chefs who was my mentor there taught me how to cook the Lièvre à la royale - for me it was something very important, it was at the begging of my career and it was something great to share in this dish that is very difficult with a lot of technique. I learned so many things from this dish and it was the begging of this strong relationship that I had with this chef.
Traditions reinvented.
