Episode 14 Country Show Cook Off

The nation's best-loved chefs are hitting the road...

This is not Italy!

..to compete in some traditional country shows.

And I'm hoping to win one of those rosettes.

On the way they'll meet some of Britain's best local food producers.

Why would you ever eat a cupcake when you have parkin?

Before competing head-to-head with each other...

-It's only a competition.

-It's only a show.

..and the great British public.

I thought the competition was big enough.

Our chefs are at the mercy of the harshest food critics in the land,

the beady-eyed country show judges.

We don't like odd ones.

It's a competition and I'm taking it very seriously.

Hold onto your aprons, it's Country Show Cook Off.

Today, gourmet chefs Rachel Allen and Theo Randall

jump in the van rouge and head off on the next leg

of their country show road trip,

from the west of Scotland to Shropshire, in England.

Today they travel from Keith, in Scotland,

to Kington, in Herefordshire.

How many gears has this van got?

It's got three and one doesn't work!

THEY LAUGH

So far our chefs have competed with each other,

and local cooks, with controversial results.

I'm sorry but that is not even a sponge.

Every time our professional chefs beat the local cooks,

we award them points.

And so far, after three dishes each, Theo's flagging with three points

and Rachel is flying high with five.

Oh, she's happy!

Today our duelling duo arrive in Kington,

a picturesque town on the border of England and Wales.

Kington is so borderline that up until the 8th century,

it was Welsh.

The western end of the village is dominated by a clock tower

that was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Nowadays Kington is an important market town and plays host to a right royal day out,

The Kington Horse And Agricultural Society Show.

This show was established in 1881

and boasts sheep shearing competitions,

dog shows,

horse and pony classes

and scurry driving.

And, if that wasn't enough, there's the horticulture tent with

competitions for the largest cabbages and, of course, the best baking.

Our professional chefs have entered the open fruit tart

with sweet pastry category.

Is this contest a sweet treat or could it turn into a honey trap?

Oh, ho-ho!

It's quite a hot day, it's going to be really good and hot.

-Rolling out pastry under the hot sun.

-It's going to be a challenge.

It's going to be quite tricky, yeah.

Their task is to beat local cooks like Kate Jones.

I unfortunately took two days off work to do this

because I'm that crazy about it.

I got up at half past five this morning in order to finish it all on time.

But the person to charm is judge, Christine Fletcher,

and that'll be no mean feat.

I'm WI trained.

Today I'm using common sense rules with WI training behind me.

It's textures and taste and the presentation that, you know, we look for.

Our chefs will need to pull out all the stops

to achieve fruit flan flawlessness.

Rachel Allen's the queen of baking, her reputation demands she wins,

but the local cooks are proving hard to beat, even for her.

Her chocolate cake didn't even place

and her baking prowess is on the line.

-I should have been able to handle the cake!

-I know.

Now she's ready to come back fighting.

We know you can do it, Rachel.

Theo Randall specialises in Italian cooking, although he's British.

Theo's a firm believer in simple rustic, seasonal fare.

I want it to be a kind of rustic and chunky, farmer's dish.

Despite his Michelin-star status,

Theo has only managed one country show prize so far.

He's got to turn up the heat to be in with a chance.

Today our chefs park up in Hergest Croft Gardens

in the heart of the Welsh Marches,

an area known to have shifted between being in Wales and England.

Nowadays, the gardens and Manor are firmly part of Herefordshire

and attract visitors to the grounds, planted to give stunning

colour all year round.

-Don't mind me, Theo.

-Do you want a hand?

Now, there's no rest for you two, you've got to devise a plan to make the best fruit tart

and beat the finest of the local cooks.

They feel they're getting a handle on these country shows after all.

It's been quite interesting, hasn't it?

We're really getting to know a little bit more maybe

about how they're judged and how we need to stick to the category title.

-Well, you just get disqualified.

-Yeah, chocolate cake!

You know sometimes how you see in shops how they sell flan bases,

-already made up?

-Yes, they are so spongy.

-They're more spongy.

-Yeah.

I think we're doing OK. Well, I'm making pastry.

I knew that. I mean...

-Oh, it did say actually, hold on, the open fruit flan using...

-Sweet pastry.

-OK.

Right.

OK, so now you've got the category right.

There's going to be a lot of competition in open fruit flan.

-Do you reckon?

-Yeah, because it's the raspberry season now

and I think there's, you know, wild blackberries.

It's all about seasonality

and I think they're going to be very switched onto local produce here.

Your raspberries will do good and do you know what's in mine? I've got a secret ingredient.

-No, I don't know what's in yours.

-Well, wait and find out.

Theo's keeping his cards close to his chest.

-Shall we go and taste some cider?

-Let's get some cider, yeah.

Herefordshire is renowned for cider making.

Rachel and Theo go to visit the Dunkerton Cider Company

in the heart of the Herefordshire countryside.

The heritage trees in this orchard yield

rare cider apples like Foxwhelp.

This independent orchard also grows perry pears

which are fermented to make perry.

Proprietor Ivor Dunkerton has produced organic cider and perry

for over 30 years and they're sold nationally and internationally.

Ivor is passionate about his produce.

Everything is organic here, so we don't... There's no additives.

We blend everything.

We ferment each variety separately and then blend afterwards.

It gives us immense power and the tasting of the ciders

is entirely my partner and I.

You know, nobody else comes to taste at all.

You two are the chief tasters, you and Susie?

We make the decision whether that cider is good or bad or indifferent.

So as well as apples for making cider,

-you also make perry cider?

-It's not perry cider,

this is a terrible industrial cider makers talk.

-Rachel!

-It means it's a mixture of cider and probably

imported Chinese pear juice. It's nothing to with perry.

Perry is made only from perry pears.

-So perry, you just call it perry? Not perry cider?

-Not perry cider at all.

-OK, I'm looking forward to having a taste.

-I can't wait to taste it.

We are going to try, first of all, the perry.

Oh, that's lovely.

So this is a blended cider,

your taste buds are going to be knocked at bit, I'm afraid.

Oh, that's lovely.

Well, I'm glad you like them.

My glass is the emptiest!

THEY LAUGH

Now tear yourself away from that cider and go and meet

Ivor's partner, Susie.

She's waiting to cook her signature cider and apple cake.

Hello! You've been a long time on the terrace!

We've been tasting lots of delicious cider.

Are our cheeks a bit rosy?

They are a little bit and I don't think it's just the sun.

So is cider cake, quite a traditional cake, I guess?

It's just a classic sponge, really,

with unsalted butter, if possible,

and the same amount of light soft brown sugar.

Do you want to scrape the bowl down?

-I'll do all your hard work, shall I?

-Yes, excellent idea.

Then the eggs, two eggs.

This is the mixture of the flour and the spices.

-What spices are in there?

-Um, just coriander.

-Coriander?

Oh, really?

Is coriander always in a traditional cider cake?

It is in a Hays Head traditional cider cake.

Rachel, I'm sorry, I haven't chopped this apple yet.

It's a dessert apple, no need to peel it. It looks pretty.

So then, we've got the rest of the flour mixed.

Self raising flour and I'll put a bit of plain spelt flour in.

Oh, really?

Just for a little bit more texture.

-What next?

-Yes, apples.

-These are the sultanas that have been soaking.

-In cider?

Yes, they've plumped up really nicely.

-And this is the rest of the cider as well.

-OK.

-That's lovely, thank you.

-Gorgeous!

So apples, cider-soaked raisins and extra cider and the coriander.

-May I have a little taste?

-Of course you can!

-It's always very important to taste the raw cake mix.

-Well, this is your cake!

Mmm.

So we'll just put that into the centre of the oven.

Erm, 20 minutes, we need to have a look.

And the last thing we need to do is the syrup.

More medium dry cider and granulated sugar this time

and I just dissolve it on the cooler hot plate

and stir it until it's dissolved and then cook it for maybe a minute.

If you're using a conventional oven, bake the cake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

-Just all around like this?

-Yes.

-OK, and then just pour it over?

-Yes.

-Drizzle it? Wonderful.

-OK, so shall I slice?

-I think you should.

I've got some plates here.

-Oh, it feels really moist.

-It should be nice and sticky.

-Look at that, it's perfect.

-That looks great.

Oh, it's really delicious.

With the syrup it's taken it to another level, it's really juicy.

-And you can taste the cider.

-You can taste the cider.

That is a really good cake.

Oh, I want a slice.

Full of inspiration, and Susie's lovely apple and cider cake,

Theo and Rachel head back to the van to get started

on their open fruit tart creations.

First to get going on her raspberry tart is Rachel.

And like her sweet short crust pastry, she's got to keep her cool.

This is really not an ideal day for making short crust pastry outside.

I need it to be really chilled, so I'm going to try and make it as quickly as possible

and get it into the fridge, as quickly as possible.

I've got 250 grams of plain flour,

I'm going to add in some caster sugar, 25 grams

and some icing sugar.

I love using a mixture of icing sugar and caster sugar in sweet short crust pastry.

I think you get a really lovely crumbly effect.

Short, crumbly, delicious, delicious bite.

Next thing, I'm going to rub in the butter.

If the butter's too warm when the pastry goes into the oven to cook,

the butter just melts and it leaks out of the pastry leaving

you with quite a tough pastry,

but if the pastry is lovely and cold when it goes into the oven to cook,

the butter creates a bit of steam as the pastry cooks

and it helps the pastry to rise and puff up a little bit

and give you just a really gorgeous short, crumbly pastry.

Rachel beats an egg and adds it to the mix.

So just enough egg to bring it all together.

Once it comes together, don't mix it any more.

Wrap the pastry up.

You might as well flatten it out quite a bit

because it is going to chill much faster.

Another good tip is to put it onto the tin in which you're going

to cook it because the tin, the metal,

is going to chill faster in the fridge.

Oh, good tip.

She leaves the pastry to chill while she starts her pastry cream.

This is quite a rich, delicious custard,

that's basically what pastry cream is.

I'm going to use five egg yolks and I'm going to whisk them

together with some sugar in a bowl.

Now just before I whisk the eggs and the sugar,

I can put the milk and a vanilla pod

into a saucepan to bring up to the boil.

If I split the vanilla pod, some of the seeds, and the flavour, will come out.

Now I'm going to mix together the sugar and the egg yolks.

This is a classic pastry cream that's used

for putting into profiteroles, in tarts like this.

Wow, it's hot out here!

Now I'm going to add in the flour. Just whisk the flour in,

make sure there are no floury lumps.

No, that's perfect.

Now at this stage, the milk is just coming up to the boil,

I'm going to pour the hot milk, with the vanilla,

whisking all the time. One last thing I need is,

a pinch of salt, it just helps to back up the flavour a little bit.

Saucepan on the heat, turn the heat down,

pour this mixture into the saucepan

with the vanilla pod too, that's fine.

You do need to be careful because this has got five egg yolks in it,

it can scramble quite easy and you can have a really milky,

sweet scrambled egg, if you're not careful.

It's starting to thicken a little bit, which is what I'm looking for.

Take it out now and it will continue to set,

this is exactly what I'm looking for.

So. What we have here is a thick, lovely custard that,

when I draw a line with my finger, it holds the line.

Oh, it's hot!

Oh, that's just divine.

As the pastry cream cools,

Rachel rolls the chilled pastry into the tin and blind bakes it

for around 15 minutes at 180 degrees till it's dry and firm to touch.

Great. This is exactly what I'm looking for.

It's golden brown in colour, cooked all the way through, lovely!

Rachel leaves everything to cool and settle,

giving Theo a chance to get creative with his

blackberry and raspberry tart.

Basically just put all the ingredients in.

His sweet short crust pastry is similar to Rachel's

but with three beaten egg yolks.

He's got a trick up his sleeve to make his pastry pack a punch.

OK, so we're going to grate the pastry into this tart shell,

so I need a rough edge grater and a little bit of flour

to put just inside the shell, so it doesn't really stick.

Then we're going to get our pastry, which has been in the fridge

for about 20 minutes and it's quite firm.

And, then, just grate it, like you're grating cheese.

This may seem a bit crazy

but actually once you start doing it, it makes a lot of sense.

So just using your thumbs going in, like that,

I'm just going to start pushing this pastry up.

Then we're just going to grate some more pastry in the middle.

And then we're just going to push it down, so you get a nice even crust.

This isn't scientific at all,

you just want to get the right thickness of the pastry you want.

That's kind of what we want.

Once the pastry tin is lined and popped into the fridge,

Theo makes a start on his filling.

Theo's also making pastry cream but he's got some personal touches.

Caster sugar.

Whisk and a strong arm, that's all you need.

He uses three egg yolks in his filling.

This is hard work.

And thickens with corn flour.

And then, let's get our milk,

a bit at a time, and just pour that back in the pan

and we're going to cook it until it's set.

Mmm. Delicious.

Now it's time for Theo's secret ingredient.

At this point, add a little bit of whisky.

It can sometime have a slightly eggy taste

and adding a little bit of whisky kind of gets rid of that flavour

so you end up with a much sweeter flavour.

While Theo's boozy cream filling cools,

his pastry case has chilled, so he can now blind bake it.

Giving him a chance to kick back and watch Rachel

assemble her open tart temptation.

Are you OK there, Theo?

I'm very well thank you, just watching your pastry.

It's completely cool at this stage so now I can prepare the filling.

I've got here some whipped cream, so I'm going to turn this into Chantilly cream by adding in

some vanilla extract and a little bit of sugar,

just fold that in.

Now, I can fold in my cooled pastry cream

and it's thickened nicely.

Mmm, that is delicious! OK.

So this can now go into the pastry base

and now it's time to add the raspberries.

Starting from around the edge, just popping raspberries in.

And the whole point of this is the contrast of all the different

textures and flavours here, absolutely gorgeous.

Sounds like food poetry.

RACHEL GIGGLES

Thank you, Theo!

Would you mind passing me some more raspberries, please?

You're using my stash of raspberries?

I hope there are enough. I won't even need all of those. Thank you.

-Do you think we have a chance tomorrow?

-I don't know,

I think we've got it right as far as the open fruit flan.

Maybe just one big raspberry in the centre?

And, then, I've got here, redcurrant jelly

that I've just added a tablespoon or so of boiling water into

just so it's a little bit softer. This is slightly time consuming,

but I just want to brush each raspberry with the redcurrant glaze.

Oh, a couple of bristles coming away from this brush,

I definitely don't want the judge to get a pastry brush bristle

in her mouth.

Another bristle...

The bristles are just coming off this brush.

Is there another pastry brush, please?

This one is seriously moulting.

Urgh, I don't want those.

Thank you.

Oh, that looks lovely, look at that.

-That's there really.

-Perfect.

And, hopefully, it's not hairy.

You know what, I'm happy with that, I really am, yeah!

OK, Theo, over to you.

Oh, thank you very much, when you're ready.

SHE LAUGHS

The pastry is nice and cool now,

so I'm just going to start off by just trimming that edge.

That should do it.

Right now, double cream goes into there,

a bit of icing sugar and then just whisk that.

Now the double cream is going to make the pastry cream

a little bit lighter, give it a really nice creamy texture.

Theo adds the finishing touch to his filling,

and checks out his secret ingredient.

Oh, that little touch of whisky's good.

OK, so we just pop that in to the tart shell.

I'm just going to make a nice little pattern with my blackberries.

And the good thing about this is, blackberries are free,

they grow everywhere around here.

-How's it going, Theo?

-Good.

I'm being very careful with my presentation.

-Be careful you don't drop it.

-Get out of it!

There's whisky in the pastry cream, there's a little bit there so you can taste.

-It is quite nice, actually.

-Actually...

It's quite nice, actually.

What are you, surprised?

-It is quite fancy.

-It is quite fancy.

-Yeah.

-Certainly for me, anyway.

Lastly he glazes the tart with apricot jam

and, with a bit of luck, no bristles.

-This is the most labour intensive bit really, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

-But it's worth it.

-Well, I hope it's worth it.

It'll be dark soon, Theo.

If you hadn't taken five hours making yours

then I wouldn't be in the dark!

Now I'm just going to put a few flaked almonds.

-That's it.

-Oh... That's gorgeous.

It's got the rustic look. I thought if I did that.

No, it's pretty. Pack up the van?

Pack up the van, pack up the tarts.

I'm actually going to sleep with this under my bed tonight.

-I'm terrified anything's going to happen to my tart.

-I hope your bed doesn't collapse.

SHE LAUGHS

Well, collapsing beds are the least of your problems.

You two have to beat the best local cooks to win,

so get some shut-eye, it's going to be an early start.

The Kington Horse and Agricultural Society Show

is a magnet for families wanting a great day out.

As the show name suggests, there's a lot of horse action.

But our top chefs are here for the horticultural tent,

home of the flower arranging, vegetables and baking contest.

They arrive early and get busy preening their entries,

but how have their flans fared overnight?

The fruit has sunk quite a bit.

I'm not going to take mine off the base. I just think it won't survive.

I need to take mine off the base, I think.

You're going to risk it?

Because, this plate has a little dimple in the middle.

Did you bring the palate knife?

-I didn't.

-I'll decorate mine with some mint.

Well, Theo, good luck. There's lots of mint leaves here to cover up.

I will just move mine out the way just in case.

-It's coming off easy, actually.

-Is it? Yes!

Oh.

It actually is sitting quite pretty.

Oh Theo, I really would like it off the base.

Why don't you take it off the base, then?

I am just too scared of pushing it.

No, I am just going to leave it on the base. Right.

OK. Here we go.

-Don't fall over.

-No.

-I'm terrified of slipping.

-Watch the bump.

Don't worry about the bumps, the person you need to bowl over

is Christine Fletcher and she has very high standards.

I think first shows perfection.

Sometimes, it's not right if there's only one entry in a class,

to automatically give it first

because it might not be of a good enough standard.

I do tend to be mean sometimes.

Oh, hopefully, not this time.

As Theo and Rachel enter the tent, they realise the competition

from the local cooks is very strong

and it's these amazing home grown bakers that they have

to beat to win.

Look at that one with the nectarine. Mm.

-Nice pastry with it.

-Nice pastry, yeah.

Don't know if we can move them? Can we?

Yeah.

Be good now, be good now, baby.

Oh, there's one with custard.

-This pastry is falling.

-I know.

-Shame.

-"Shame," he says! Shame!

Shame! Argh!

That broken tart belongs to local gal, Kate Jones

but she still sets her sights high.

I've baked ever since I was a little girl

and I have always wanted to succeed in this.

I've entered every competition that is here today, so 14,

and I really, really want to win the cup today.

Another local competitor is Nan Thomas

and she's poised for a prize.

I feel confident and I think that's why I like to do it.

Kate Morgan's another native that's pursuing an ambition.

I'm a prolific enterer, yes.

I don't do very well but I probably enter six or seven every year.

I have never won a trophy, no. I'm chasing the eternal trophy.

It's just about ten o'clock, ladies and gentlemen,

can we please empty the tents, we need to start with the judging.

Thank you very much.

The tent closes and Christine gets ready to make or break dreams.

Whilst Christine goes into action, our chefs take in the sheep shearing competition.

-There is a lot of sheep.

-That's a lot of sheep.

I hope they don't have goosebumps now.

Back in the horticulture tent, Christine advances towards

the open fruit tarts and things look good.

Now these are nice-looking, aren't they?

I'm looking for the pastry, primarily, because the skill

is in making the pastry and having it line the tin beautifully.

And then I am going to be looking for the filling.

See whether it's even.

First up to be assessed is Theo.

I've got to cut this section out

because I need to see whether the base is cooked.

The filling in this one is very soft.

It would be impossible to cut that into nice slices and serve it.

The pastry is very crisp, but it's very uneven.

The thickness varies all the way around.

Oh my, could his grated pastry trick have backfired?

You know, you're talking about the difference between what you would

eat at home for the family and what you would do for competition.

Next to get judged is local cook, Nan Thomas.

This is a much firmer filling.

It's glazed with jelly and that base is cooked there.

Not so much skill in the pastry making as there was in that one.

That pastry was delicious on that one there.

So what do you know!

Christine seems to be warming to Theo's pastry after all.

Now Rachel's tart is about to get the treatment.

The filling in this is very soft.

It's put onto a lovely dish

but it's actually got the base of the flan tin still underneath it.

Which is not correct, you shouldn't have that there.

Whoops there, Rachel, could that be an own goal?

Yes, it's very pleasant.

It would look better if it didn't have those bits of mint around it.

I think it spoils the look, it makes it look a little bit messy.

Oh, well, it's not looking good for Rachel.

Now Christine casts her critical eye on local entrant Kate Jones' tart.

This one, unfortunately, the pastry is broken on the side.

It's got a good mixture of fruit on there

but perhaps simple is probably better.

The pastry is very crisp, very light, very thin.

Again it would be quite difficult to serve.

That one was broken anyway and the glaze is missing.

Kate Morgan's open tart is next to get weighed up.

That one cuts nicely.

The pastry on that one is nice and even, it's an even thickness

all the way round and very neat

but it's actually quite hard.

Taste tests done, has Christine managed to make up

her mind on who gets placed?

It's very difficult, actually,

because there are so many elements to look for.

Oh...

Can I give two seconds?

No first.

Oh, Christine, no first place

and joint second will put the cat amongst the pigeons!

Having taken in the show, Rachel and Theo approach the bench.

Will Rachel's baking prowess be back at its peak?

Or will Theo's pastry have let him down?

-You got second.

-Oh!

-Well done, Theo.

-I came second, I came second.

-Who got first?

-Well, you got joint with hers.

So Theo got joint second.

It was Kate Morgan who he shared second place with.

Rachel discovers why she didn't place.

"A very hard class to judge."

"Always remove the base from the flan from the base

"of your tin before showing.

"Well done, everyone, particularly Theo Randall's,

"whose was extremely good and tasted delicious."

-Well done.

-Where's first prize?

-Oh, well done you.

-Thank you.

-That's great.

Shall we go home now?

Kate Jones had high hopes to win a cup.

Flan I didn't place in.

Unfortunately, there was quite a lot of competition.

But she's only got one second and two thirds in other classes,

so not enough to win a trophy. Better luck next year, Kate.

Third place went to Nan Thomas.

Yeah, very happy with that, yeah. Third prize, super.

So how do Theo and Rachel feel about their performance today?

You know, I'm a little bit gutted about the open fruit flan,

I really am.

I didn't think I would get so disappointed.

I'm delighted I came second.

It was a joint second so, you know, you could say I came joint first.

No, you can't, Theo! It's second place,

which gives you two points and a grand total for the week of five.

Rachel gets nothing today, leaving her total also at five.

So, crikey, the whole week rests on tomorrow's cook-off.

Next time on Country Show Cook Off,

the last chance for them to create an amazing prize-winning dish

if they want to win the week. But there's technical hitches.

Every time I turn this on, the lights go out.

And the competition turns nasty.

Good day's work.

Oh, sorry.

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