Bolton Incredible Edibles

I've had years of practice doing barmy food experiments,

but do not try anything you see on Incredible Edibles.

Especially if it involves knives, matches, raw meat, ovens,

unicorns or windmills.

If you don't like blood, guts, gore and entrails then close your eyes

and think about fluffy pink kittens instead.

I'm Stefan Gates and I'm a food adventurer.

I've been searching for the stickiest, the smelliest

and the messiest foods on the planet

and now I'm going to serve them to you.

Because this is Incredible Edibles. Are you ready for an adventure?!

-ALL:

-Yes!

Today I'm in Bolton, home to the legendary Lancashire Hotpot,

and we're cooking up some fabulous food and some gruesome grub.

Guys, are you hungry?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-It's a good job cos this is what's on today's menu.

Coming up, finding out more about fish

leaves our volunteers feeling gutted.

I need you to get your hand in there and scoop out all the insides.

-Can I get the scissors?

-No, you need to do it with your hands.

We get the scoop on a bug which eats poop.

You have been eating...

Dung beetles on crackers.

And two cars try to separate some plants fixed by food glue.

When I come somewhere new, I like to try out an unhinged experiment,

something that'll make you shout...

-ALL:

-That's incredible!

Oh, yeah. Now, today I want to look at some of the things

you can do with food apart from eating it.

A lot of cleaning products that we buy in the shops

were only invented pretty recently, so people used to use things

that they could easily find at home or in the garden.

To show you what I mean, meet the five grubbiest kids in town.

-Give 'em a big ground of applause!

-APPLAUSE

What on earth have you been doing?! You look absolutely filthy.

So first up, what do these guys need to get rid of all this dirt?

-ALL:

-Soap!

-Soap, yeah, exactly. What else?

-Towels!

-Water!

Towels, water. That will probably crack it.

Do you guys know what soap is made of?

-Cream?

-Cream.

-Yeah, cream, and what's in the cream?

-A type of milk?

-Butter!

Butter, that's quite a good idea.

A lot of modern soap is made of vegetable oil,

but in the past, they used something a little bit different.

Tanhayer, lift up that yellow lid for me.

Ha-ha!

-Is that cottage cheese?

-Is it cottage cheese?

It looks like it, doesn't it? Grab a handful of it.

Urgh!

This is called tallow.

That reveals everything doesn't it? Todd?

-It smells.

-Lift the green lid.

-What is it?

Urgh! What is that?

-Now, grab a piece of that, Jack.

-Oh, my hands are all slimy!

Todd, go on grab the big bit.

-It's hard.

-What does it look like?

-Pig!

-Not quite pig.

-Cow!

-Cow, well done! This is cow fat.

Tallow is basically boiled down cow's fat.

You can cook your chips in beef fat and it's great for making

crispy roast potatoes, but it was also used in the past to make soap.

Now, to do that you have to melt down the tallow,

add ashes from a fire and then you chill it.

And what's amazing, is that a lot of soap that you get today

is still made from beef fat. Did you know that?

That beef fat is in soap? So, to see how clean you can make yourselves

using beef fat soap.

Now, this stuff has been made to be used as a soap,

so don't rub your faces in a pack of butter or oil or any other fat,

because you won't get clean, you'll get exactly the opposite.

Right, go!

Go on, rub it, get a bit of lather going.

Oh, you've got a good technique.

Courtney's got it on the flannel.

Some face work going on over here with Simon.

OK, ten seconds now. Ten...

-ALL:

-Nine, eight, seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

Tools down. Put your tools down, let's have a look.

Stop. Courtney has got a massive moustache.

But I think that might be a soap moustache which is pretty good.

Todd's done pretty well, you've got a cross on your face there.

Tanhayer, it's off your face, but it's migrated down your arm,

which is quite a success, I like that.

Simon! Round of applause for Simon, look at that.

APPLAUSE

He's just got one big bogey on the side of his nose!

Keep it there, it looks great. How did it feel using a beef fat soap?

-Fascinating.

-Fascinating? Excellent!

You're just using it to wash your face, you're not wasting the cow.

So these bits that might have been thrown away, you're making use of.

I think you guys have done an absolutely brilliant job.

But there's one last product made from food that I want to explore.

It's also an ingredient that's in these, jelly babies and wine gums.

-Any idea what sort of food is in these?

-Gelatine.

-Exactly, do you know what gelatine is?

-Oh, yeah! It's pig's insides.

Pig's insides, that's pretty close. Jack, lift that lid for me.

Oh, yeah, have a little bit of that.

-Oh, look, they've taken the hoof!

-Give it a squeeze.

-That's cow's, that.

-No, it's not!

-What do you reckon it is, Jack?

-Cow's foot.

-A cow's foot? Well done. So Todd, what does that feel like?

-Slimy and hard.

-Slimy and hard, isn't it?

Tanhayer, you have a little handle of that.

-Would you tuck into that?

-No.

-And eat it? No?

-It smells disgusting.

-It smells.

-It smells a little bit, yeah, absolutely.

Now, chewy sweets like these wine gums and jelly babies

are made using gelatine and that comes from the tendons

and other connective bits and bobs in animals' bodies.

Now, this gets boiled up and ends up looking like this.

-ALL:

-Urgh!

Oh, yeah. So what does that look like, guys?

-Vomit.

-Looks like vomit!

-It looks like gelatine around it.

-It looks like jelly that's white.

-Yes.

Feels like jelly babies without that skin on.

THAT is what's used to make sweets.

Now grab another wine gum. Don't eat it.

Now, we all know that sweets can get a little bit sticky,

but let's have a look at how sticky they can get.

I want you to find the flat side and lick it a lot.

And then stick it on there like that.

OK, let's see how sticky these are.

Will it go up on the side?

-Oh, it goes up on the side.

-Yeah!

-Will it go upside down? Yeah!

APPLAUSE

Oh, yeah, that's how sticky a sweet can be

and that's because of all the gelatine inside it.

But if you keep boiling the gelatine it becomes a more concentrated,

stickier substance that works as a glue.

And this is how strong the glue can be.

Matt, can you pass me the glue?

OK, this...

..is a glue made from boiling up bones of animals.

We're going to test it to see how sticky it can be.

So, give you a little sludge of it there.

-It looks like a...

-A sludge of it there.

-That's a big sludge!

-That's a big old sludge so be careful with that.

And a sludge of it there.

So, let's put the other boards on top.

So, Simon, you get yours and put it off a bit like that.

Courtney, you do that one and give it a good old squeeze down.

OK, let's see how sticky it is.

So, guys, grab one side of it each.

Is it getting nice and sticky? Can you pull it up?

Can you pull it away? Oh, it's pretty good.

Yeah. We did it easily.

OK, now stick it back together again and, as it dries out,

can you get it to stick a bit more? Yeah!

OK, now that's pretty amazing,

but it's not quite enough to make you shout that's incredible!

So I want to know just how strong glue made from the same stuff

as chewy sweets can be.

Those two boards there have been glued together with animal glue.

Two teams will take part in a tug of war to try and prise them apart.

Will they stay stuck together or will the teams beat the bone glue?

We'll find out later.

So who loves fish and chips?

-ALL:

-Me!

That's kind of everyone!

-What sort of fish do you like eating?

-Cod.

-Cod, you like cod. Anyone else?

-Haddock.

-Haddock, yes.

-Tuna.

-Tuna! Well, these are all fantastic tasty fish,

but over the years things like cod have become so popular

that if we're not careful, they'll run out.

That doesn't mean that we have to give up fish and chips.

We just need to try something new. To help me out,

I've got Alice, Declan and Mellissa! Give 'em a big hand.

-APPLAUSE

-Oh, yeah!

-So, guys do you eat a lot of fish?

-Yeah.

-No.

-Not really.

No, yes, and not really.

A lot of people only eat cod in batter or breadcrumbs.

I want to show you that there's really no mystery to fish,

so we're gutting some of our own using a sharp pair of scissors.

So, if you do this at home you must have an adult to help you.

-Have any of you gutted a fish before?

-My dad has!

No, it's a bit of a first one for you.

Here we have some absolutely beautiful mackerel.

There we go, pass one down.

Grab one of those. First, you need to wash your mackerel,

so you need to grab it in one hand and put it in the water there

and give it a rub in the water.

-That's it. Guys, what does it feel like?

-Feels so smooth.

-It's very smooth, isn't it?

-Silky, so silky.

So now we need to gut the fish

so we're going to take out all of the insides.

Alice, hold it away from you with the head pointing away.

You need to put the end of the scissors

inside that little hole there. There you go.

Now you need to cut that all the way up to the top.

Oh, yeah! Keep going. Keep them inside there if you can.

-See if it's been digesting anything.

-Nearly there, nearly there.

Hey, brilliant! OK. get your hand in there and scoop out all the insides.

-Can I do it with scissors?

-No, you need to do it with your hands.

Over the board, that's it. That's it, oh, yeah!

-That's all the good stuff.

-ALL:

-Urgh!

Well done. What else have you got in there? That's some intestines.

Oh, it's a bit of stomach coming out there.

What's that?

That's really good. Keep going. Oh, you're so good at this.

That is beautifully done, look at that!

That needs a bit of a clean. Wash that in the water.

Declan, let's get to you.

So get your scissors and pop them in that little hole there.

Cut firmly all the way through the middle of those up to the end.

That's brilliant, OK, there you go.

-Scissors down, now dig out all the guts.

-Oh, God.

-Oh, yeah.

-I'm not used to gutting a fish, I'm a fisherman!

You're doing well. What's it like to have your hands inside a fish?

-Awesome.

-Pretty cool, isn't it?

-Go on, get in there, pull it out! There you go, brilliant.

-Yes!

Good, that is beautifully done. OK, give that a wash.

How are you feeling about this? Do you want me to do this bit?

Can I hold the fish but can you take the insides out?

Yeah, OK. If you've never done this before, it's a scary thing to do.

Be careful with your fingers. Pull that apart.

And it's hard at the end, you've got to give it a real snip.

-Urgh!

-That's it, you are such a star! Shall I pull them out for you?

-Big round of applause.

-APPLAUSE

-You are brilliant.

-I feel so much better watching you do this.

So there we are. That is all of the guts of the fish.

Now I'm going to fillet this one.

But you need to use a very, very sharp knife.

If you do this at home you must get an adult to do it.

I'm going to take off the head first.

So the head's off and now I'm going to take the two fillets out, as well.

Don't look if you are squeamish.

I am kind of squeamish.

So you take one whole fillet leaving the bone in the middle.

So that is a beautiful fillet, and wash it a little bit in there.

-Can you see that?

-I want to eat it!

-Yeah, I want to eat it, too.

Once you've got your fillets, you need to cook them.

You can grill it, bake it, rub it in oil,

but you can also wrap it in a little bit of batter and deep fry it

and that's what we'll try. First, we need to wash our hands.

The great thing about mackerel is that there are loads of them

left in the sea, they're good for us and I think they taste pretty good.

But let's see what you think.

There they are at the end, that's some mackerel that's been battered.

Everyone grab a little chunk of it. Dig in and tell me what you think.

It tastes kind of... It tastes like tuna.

Oh, but is that a good thing?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, do you like that?

-Would you prefer to have this rather than cod?

-Yes.

I thought it were all right, but I still don't like it.

Well done for trying it, that's fantastic.

Mackerel aren't the only fish that you can use.

I want to show you some other things that aren't used very much,

but I think they should be used more.

First of all, we've got this fellow, here. This is Gerald.

Gerald the gurnard, look at that.

In some ways it's quite ugly,

but you can also use it as a substitute for cod.

It's got really good firm flesh and that's why people seem to love cod.

So, Declan, underneath that green lid there, pass that to me.

There...you've got gurnard nuggets.

I'd like to find out what you think.

-Would you ever eat that instead of cod?

-Yes.

-Hey, fantastic.

If you didn't know it was gurnard, might you mistake it for cod?

-Probably.

-Oh, OK. Do you think this is better or worse than cod?

-Better.

-This is better than cod, yes! Is that a winner?

APPLAUSE

Well, I've got one more for you to try. This is an absolute stunner.

It's a beauty, this one. That...

Oh, it's so wicked.

..is a lemon sole. There are loads of these in the sea,

so it's another one that you can start eating a lot of

without harming stocks of it. A great alternative to cod.

Let's give it a try. Alice pick up that yellow cloche.

Everyone grab a little nugget of lemon sole.

What's that like in comparison to cod?

Sometimes cod can be hard and crispy and this one's just fine.

-Mellissa, which was your favourite fish?

-The gurnard.

-The ugly one down here. Declan, what was your favourite?

-The gurnard.

The gurnard wins the day.

-Do you think it's better than cod?

-ALL: Yes!

A big round of applause for the gurnard.

Fish is a great food to include in your diet,

but we should be careful not to eat too many of the same type like cod.

So why not try a new type of fish?

It's a bit of an adventure and you never know,

you might just prefer it.

Today we're in Bolton in Lancashire.

So far, we've tried scrubbing up with some beefy soap.

Round of applause for Simon, look at that!

Later on, we put our animal glue to the test in a tug of war.

Pull guys, get your heels in there!

First, some taste testers volunteer for a creepy crawly mystery meal.

Now I get a real buzz from food so I'll try absolutely anything.

The more incredible it is, the more edible it is to me.

I've eaten sea slugs in Korea, I've eaten eyeballs in South Africa

and flies' eggs in Mexico. Do you like the sound of that?

-ALL:

-No!

No! Well, now I'm going to share one of my favourite dishes with

three brave volunteers who also have an appetite for an adventure.

It's time for my mystery meal.

So, up on stage are Simon, Juliana and Alex and like me they'll try

absolutely anything to see if they can unearth a delicious new dish.

-Give 'em all a big hand, guys!

-APPLAUSE

-So, Simon, how are you feeling, up there?

-A bit nervous.

Juliana, what's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten?

Ketchup on ice cream.

Ketchup on ice cream. Do you know what? I used to have that!

Alex, what sort of food could I serve you that might freak you out?

-Spiders with ice cream.

-OK! Please put your blindfolds on.

Now that they are completely in the dark, it's time for us

to take a look at what they're going to be eating.

HE LAUGHS EVILY

They're going to be eating...this.

-ALL:

-Urgh!

What do you mean "Urgh!" You don't know what it is! OK, have a guess.

-Frogspawn.

-No, not frogspawn.

-What do you reckon that might be?

-Compost.

That's a great guess! What do you reckon that might be?

-Mint sauce.

-It does look exactly like mint sauce.

-Would you like to try this?

-Yeah.

-No!

Oh, it's fine, because you don't have to try it.

They do.

Blimey, that focuses the mind a bit! You're looking a bit stern up here.

Someone thought it may be frogspawn. Do you like the sound of that, Alex?

-No.

-No, OK. Somebody else, Juliana, thought it might be compost.

-Urgh!

-Urgh, quite right, too! What else did we have?

Somebody thought it might be pesto. Do you like the sound of that?

-I've had it on pizza.

-Well, that's a good thing.

OK, before you lot can tuck in, I'll reveal to everyone at home

what today's mystery meal is. They're going to be eating this...

Hm-mm.

Now, it's time to give each of you a little sample.

It's on a little cracker, OK?

So what you can feel on your hand is a little cheese cracker.

Urgh!

She's already said "Urgh", she doesn't even know what it is.

-I love it! What do you think it smells of?

-Cheese.

Cheese you reckon it might be cheese? Any other ideas, guys?

-Cracker with pickled jam on top.

-That sounds pretty good. Alex?

-Pesto.

-Alex reckons it might be pesto.

Can't tell you what it is yet, but they're very popular in countries

like Thailand and South Africa, and across Central and South America.

That doesn't make it seem any better at all, does it?

They're healthy because they're low in fat, got loads of protein,

and oodles of iron and calcium.

These have been thoroughly cleaned before they've been cooked.

Guys, chomp away.

Tastes like jam.

-Honey on cracker.

-Now, do you know what? You're not far off,

there is honey and a cracker, but there's something in between.

-Is it seeds?

-Is it seeds?

Ah, that's pretty close! That's really good, it's a great guess.

Honey with some kind of eggs in.

Honey with some kind of eggs in.

Now it's time for the moment of truth.

Take your blindfolds off. Take a look at what you've been eating.

Simon's got most of it down his trousers, but there you go.

-So, what do you think it might be?

-Honey chocolate.

-Honey chocolate. Oh, if only it was.

-Compost.

-Compost?

-Alex, any idea?

-Looks like wood.

Looks like wood! That's a good guess.

Well, you have been eating...

Oh, no!

Dung beetles on crackers. Oh, yeah!

Can you see any dung beetles there?

No, you can't and that is because they've all been chopped up.

Before they were chopped up they looked like these.

-Now I want to find out, are you brave enough to eat one?

-No.

There's a little one there, it's got a nice little bit of dressing.

-Urgh!

-Oh, that's fantastic, have a try.

-I will.

-ALL:

-Go on, Julie!

You can just grab one.

-ALL:

-Julie, Julie, Julie!

Have a try?

There you go, have a try.

-ALL:

-Simon, Simon, Simon!

APPLAUSE

Top man. What does it taste like?

Just tastes plain.

It's almost like... Well, what do you think, Juliana?

It's got a crispy outside.

It's like eating crisps, isn't it? Alex what do you think?

-It's like nuts.

-Like nuts. It's like a little sort of salty snack.

Insects are eaten as an everyday food in loads of countries,

but do you think that people in the UK should eat more insects?

-Would you try 'em again?

-Yes.

-Would you ever eat them as an alternative to a burger?

-No.

That's taking it a bit far!

You guys have been absolutely brilliant. Let's make some noise

-for the boldest eaters in Bolton!

-APPLAUSE

My food adventures are taking me across the English Channel

to see how soldiers ate in World War One.

Nearly 100 years ago, Germany invaded Belgium.

Soon afterwards, millions of British soldiers travelled over to fight

and live in dirty, filthy trenches.

I've come here to Belgium to find out more

about the life of the First World War soldier.

Local historian Dominiek is showing me around some wartime trenches.

-Dominick, hi.

-Hi.

-What was life in the trenches like?

-You couldn't go to the loo,

There would be a bucket in the corner and if there wasn't a bucket

they would use helmets or whatever they would find

that could serve as a toilet.

The trenches were completely infected by vermin, lice and bugs.

But also rats. The trenches were full of rats.

So were there a few sort of small pleasures?

I meant, the pleasures of eating and drinking as you were in the trench?

Well, the cooking happened miles away from the front line

where it was safer and by the time the food arrived here,

the breads would be stale and mouldy and the food would be cold.

Sounds gruesome.

Yeah, it wasn't a delight to have food in the trenches.

The life of a solider in the trenches was unbelievably tough

and they didn't even have the consolation of a decent meal.

These are some of the rations they received on a good day.

-Tins of jam.

-Jam in a tin.

-Yes.

-Why in a tin?

Because glass was too dangerous and ir could break.

And there was another use for the tin afterwards.

They made a very simple hand grenade out of the used jam tins.

The biscuits, soldiers' biscuits.

Very hard, hence they were often called dog biscuits.

Dog biscuits.

Yes, and what soldiers very often did is soak them

in water or soak them in tea and eat them.

So you'd have a cup of black tea.

-Yes.

-No milk around and get your biscuits

and they were so hard and tough that you'd you have to soak it in water.

SAnd black tea.

-It's not a nice way to eat, is it?

-Oh, it isn't.

They might have been unappetising, but basic rations were a lot better

than what the soldiers ate when food started running short.

The horses would be slaughtered behind the front line

and they would eat the horse meat or even in the trenches as there

were so many rats, sometimes if a rat was caught it could be grilled.

-And it would be eaten.

-Cos it's protein and if you're desperate,

I can completely understand why they would.

I've eaten some pretty grim things in my time,

but the idea of spending four years eating mainly hard biscuits

and filthy stew out of a tin makes me think that's disgusting.

If you don't like your school dinners, just think yourself lucky

you weren't a soldier living in a trench in World War One.

Earlier on, I showed you how the gelatine that's in these wine gums

comes from animal hooves and tendons.

But it's also used to make glue.

The big question is, how strong is that glue?

And that is what this lot is about to find out. Are you ready, guys?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-OK!

So as you can see here we've got two teams of ten people

on either end here and this is two pieces of wood glued together

using glue made from animal hooves and tendons.

Now, this is clearly a controlled experiment.

We've done this using proper safety gear and kit.

It's all been tested, so don't try this at home.

Are you ready for this, guys?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-Wow, they're sounding quite chirpy.

OK, very gently take the strain, pull very gently, lean back,

-pull a little bit harder.

-ALL:

-Pull it! Pull it! Pull it!

This team's doing a bit well, coming back on this side.

Come on team a little bit more, dig those heels in, start pulling!

Coming back this way a little bit, there we go!

Come on, pull! Pull, guys! Get your heels in there!

Come on, pull harder!

Oh, that's it. OK and everybody slow down, slow down and stop.

Drop the ropes a second.

I can't believe it.

That's 20 people and a few extra mates who joined in at the end.

We couldn't even pull that apart, look.

This seems to be as tight as it was before.

Well...

I think we need something a bit stronger.

But that's fine, cos I've got an idea.

SONG: "Rocky theme"

This should crack it.

OK, ready?

ENGINES START

Guys, come and take a look at this.

Come round here, come round here, come round here.

It's still stuck together! That is mad!

Even two cars couldn't pull it apart.

So, when you eat chewy sweets and they get stuck in your teeth,

just remember where that stickiness comes from.

-What do you think of that, guys?

-ALL:

-That's incredible!

Oh yeah! Well, that's all we've got time for today.

My thanks to everyone in Bolton and all my brilliant volunteers

and of course, to you guys at home for watching.

Join us next time for some more Incredible Edibles

where absolutely anything can be on the menu!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd