Rick Stein's French Odyssey

Rick Stein doesn't waste any time getting into the gourmet swing of things for his gastronomic tour of southern France. No sooner has he waved goodbye to Padstow, than he's seen tucking into steak and frites and a glass of red on the ferry to Brittany, which he announces to be remarkably good.

Rick Stein explores the banks of the River Garonne on board a 100-year-old converted barge and savours some French provincial cooking including magret de canard and petit sale. Other dishes included in the programme are clams in white garlic sauce, eels in parsley and garlic butter and steak tartare.

Rick Stein journeys along the Canal Lateral a la Garonne and is invited to a BBQ lunch after a morning on the river fishing for shad. He also visits a local market at Nerac and joins the villagers of Bruch for an escargolade.

Rick Stein arrives in the city of Agen and continues his barge excursion through South-West France. He tastes the first melon of the season in Quercy, and then cooks the famous Gascon dish poule au pot.

Rick Stein joins a local fisherman to go pike fishing on the River Tarn, cooks the popular confit of goose with braised red cabbage and meets a fellow chef in Moissac.

Rick continues his journey through south-west France on his way to the Mediterranean. At Toulouse he samples the sausages and further downstream he creates France's most popular ready meal, the cassoulet.

Rick continues his journey and fulfils a boyhood dream by visiting the canteen of The French Foreign Legion at Castelnaudary. It inspires him to cook a spicy tagine with couscous and write a postcard home to Chalky to let him know what he's missing.

Rick Stein's epic barge journey continues and he starts to smell the salty Mediterranean Sea on the warm breeze. At Narbonne he serves freshly grilled sardines with salad and cold rose wine for the boat crew and Louis, the chef onboard Anjodi, cooks seafood with squid ink pasta.

Rick arrives at Lake Thau and enjoys seafood dishes, and is inspired to make his own. He navigates through Sète on Bastille Day, with celebrations in full swing.

Rick Stein's epic barge journey comes to an end in Marseilles with the most famous seafood dish of all, bouillabaisse.