Wednesday, 15 October 2008
6.30pm

This week on The Cook and The Chef Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant are thinking about wine. When it comes to cooking with wine, they both agree on the golden rule - 'if you wouldn't drink it, don't put it in your food!'

Simon uses a great red as the basis of a French classic, Coq au Vin, while Maggie uses a delightful sparkling white to give excitement to her chicken pie. As they both whip up their delicious wine-based dishes, Simon also takes us behind the scenes of a busy hotel kitchen and talks to the hotel's maître d' Atef Yousseff. Simon and Atef are looking at some changes in the menu and deciding on a corresponding change in the recommended wine match. As Simon tells us, wine recommendations can make or break a dining experience, so it's crucial that a wine either balances the flavours of a dish or contrasts with them in a playful way. As any home cook knows, it can be stressful trying to co-ordinate all the elements of a meal to be ready, hot and on the table at the right time - so imagine how Simon feels trying to co-ordinate all the elements of a busy hotel kitchen!

This week on the show he takes us behind the scenes and reveals that his hotel employs a military-style brigade system to ensure everything goes according to plan. Back in the kitchen Maggie shares her secret to getting a dinner party organised without stress - prepare a big pot which you can put in the middle of the table. This week it's rabbit and Maggie tackles a classic recipe using mustard and prunes - but of course with a signature Maggie twist. Simon prepares an unusual wine-based dessert, sangria with burnt meringue.

The Cook And The Chef will be repeated on ABC2 - Thursday, October 16 at 5:00pm