Episode 3 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.

This week, it's top-notch chefs Valentine Warner and Ed Baines

competing at some of the nation's favourite

country shows and food festivals.

You can't be complacent. There's a lot of people who have been

entering these categories year after year.

Their demanding competition schedule takes them en-route all the way from

the north to the south of England and back again.

Today, they're heading from Lambeth to Brighton.

It's all to play for, as Val's ahead by just one point to nil

in this five-day culinary cook off, after Val swiped

a sneaky third place for his roulade at the Otley Country Show.

Well done. Congratulations.

Both our boys lost out on the Garden Cake crown at the Lambeth Show,

so Ed's now suffered two defeats.

Oh, what?!

Today's cook-off rolls into the popular

south coast seaside resort of Brighton.

This vibrant city attracts 8 million tourists a year to see its stunning

sights, from the Grade II listed pier to its beautiful beaches.

Well, it's very nice to be beside the sea.

Are you happy to be beside the seaside, Val?

I do like to be beside the seaside.

But they're not here to be beside the seaside.

Their cook-off is at the Fiery Foods UK Chilli Festival.

Just eight years old, combining food, music, competition

and, of course, chillies,

from gentle pimentos to mind-blowing nagas.

The festival lures in crowds of over 7,000 chilli-holics!

Three, two, one, chew!

It's totally different to the country shows the boys are now

used to and if they thought they were tough,

it's about to get even tougher.

The festival plays host to the National Chilli Awards.

Our chefs are entering the Amateur Hot Sauce Category,

which could be the hottest contest of their careers,

up against the fieriest of competitors.

I'm expecting some serious competition today.

This is the king of chilli contests.

It's taken incredibly seriously, but isn't the WI.

They're not facing one...

not two...

not three...

but four judges.

They are professional chilli eaters Ted "The Fire-Breathing Idiot"

all the way from the USA, and Tony "Darth Naga" Ainsworth,

and local chilli heads Carl Anderson and Steve Sewell.

So, what are the fiery foursome looking for?

A basic, sort of, nice all-rounder that has flavour, heat, texture,

and comes in a really nice-looking bottle as well.

In the Amateur Hot Sauce Category, Ed and Val will be

judged on taste, texture, use of chilli, presentation and name.

There are a few simple rules - it must be home-made

and not already sold professionally. It can be any kind of sauce,

chutney or jam, but it has to contain chilli - obviously!

The heat is on, so our chefs are facing one hot, hot cook off!

This is a festival of pain. ED CHUCKLES

Hunter, gatherer, fisherman and chef extraordinaire,

Valentine Warner is a man of many talents,

but competitions are a whole other ball game.

It's hot. Neek! Neek! Neek!

Ed Baines has cheffed his way through some of London's most

successful restaurants and now runs one of his very own in trendy Soho,

so failure is not usually an option.

I'm not particularly competitive, I just hate losing.

Our lads need to create a chilli sauce that

will set the judges' world on fire.

This time it's not just about the prestige of picking up a prize card,

but the winner will get their chilli sauce reproduced to go on sale.

So, Val, are you feeling all hottened up and ready to go?

Yeah, I'm spiced up and ready to go.

It's very interesting with this festival though.

The winner of the category gets an opportunity to

go into production and sell their sauces commercially.

I just can see the people involved in the whole world of chilli,

and there are a lot of them, are all going to be here.

-Yeah.

-Showing off their sauces.

With over 400 cafes and restaurants,

there are eateries everywhere you look in Brighton,

whether it's the freshest seafood or the finest artisans.

Before our lads turn up the heat with their chillies,

they're opting for sweet with chocolate maker Galia Orme.

Galia's Choc Chick kits are sold across the UK,

enabling you to make chocolate from home.

We're going to go and see Galia. She grew up in Argentina

and she's going to guide us through the very traditional

and simple ways of making chocolate.

Galia sources ethical ingredients from South American farmers,

including cocoa pods containing cocoa beans.

The beans are then shelled to release their nibs inside,

which are the edible part used to make chocolate.

Galia's invited Val and Ed to her home to show them

how easy it can be, using a simple chocolate recipe.

That's the cocoa pod. I picked this in Ecuador.

So, they don't look like this on the tree at all?

No, this is dried and when I brought it back, it dried

and it's completely natural. It's considered a superfood.

It's got 300 nutritional properties, cocoa, so it's got so many benefits.

And it's fun.

Galia specialises in raw chocolate, which is free of bad fats,

E numbers and refined sugars, making it a healthier option.

To make enough for both the lads,

they're melting 100 grams of cocoa butter.

Could you explain to me how the butter is made?

The cocoa nib it's like a nut, isn't it?

So it's essentially the fat from the cocoa nib.

Which is just after it's been fermented for a few days?

Yes, fermented and dried, the nib is compressed into the cocoa mass,

or the paste, and from that all the fat comes out

and then everything else is ground up into the powder.

It's not surprising Galia went into this line of work.

My mum used to make chocolate as well and, you know,

my grandfather was always making hot cocoa for us to drink.

So your house smelt of chocolate?

Always, yeah, yeah. There was always chocolate everywhere.

Heaven! Ho-ho!

Then it's six tablespoons of cocoa powder,

which comes from what's left of the nib once the fat's been removed.

Look at that. Look at the sheen on that.

This is a natural sweetener made from fruit.

You can use agave honey or maple syrup.

Start with four or five tablespoons and then we'll taste it,

and see if it needs more.

Base done, onto the fun bit - adding the flavours.

Val's going for an unusual savoury petit four,

whilst Ed's sticking with sweet.

What I want to do is use some fruit, so fruit and nut,

but I also want to put some cereal in it.

Then you can pour it into a plastic tub

and you'll have your own chocolate bar.

I'd like to make a bar of chocolate rather than

a little petit four.

Bit of strawberries. It's going to be good, isn't it?

-So your all-day breakfast bar?

-Yeah.

This is really inspiring me.

Pop these in the freezer.

Yum!

Can't resist a spoon lick.

Pop it in the freezer for half an hour.

So, do you want to try a little raw cocoa bean, black pepper

and sea salt chocolate?

Salt and pepper?! It's chocolate, not crisps, Val!

Can you taste the pepper?

-Not really.

-No.

That's gorgeous.

-Mmm!

-Full of little surprises.

Little treat snack.

That is delicious.

Galia could have some competition on her hands. Speaking of which,

it's time to turn up the heat as Ed and Val

must get into competition mode and channel chillies!

It has become very fashionable, chilli, hasn't it?

I mean, you find it now, there's chilli in everything.

Chilli in chocolate, chilli in cheese.

Let's make some beer with chilli in it. No, don't.

They're having a right old moan, aren't they?

But now it's all about the Amateur Hot Sauce Category where the

judges will be marking for taste, texture, use of chilli,

presentation and name.

I'm using lots of things from Central America in mine.

I've got tomatoes, coriander, the chillies, of course.

Despite Ed's first chutney for his roulade at Otley Show

being ignored, he's decided to have another go.

I'm actually going to be making a chilli chutney,

because I love chutney.

It's going to have a slightly sort of Indian flavour. I'm going

to put curry leaves in there to give it a little bit of a curry kick.

Our culinary buddies are cooking up their entries within the

six stunning acres of Sussex Prairie Gardens.

Beautiful spot.

Designed by two landscape gardeners, these gorgeous grounds

with around 30,000 plants

provide the perfect inspiration for cooking outdoors,

with the aid of the bespoke kitchen in the back of their van.

-Perfect!

-What a lovely spot.

-Beautiful spot.

But there's no time to relax.

Our lads must now prepare their sauces ready for judging

at the chilli festival,

so Ed's up first with his Silk Road Chilli Chutney.

I'm starting off with this wonderful ingredient, an onion.

Most sauces seem to start off with an onion

and this one does indeed start with an onion.

But, of course, the battle here, with making a chilli sauce,

is to give it that little back-hit of heat without it blowing you away.

I'm not trying to make to make some sort of vindaloo-type sauce.

I know some people seem to like those things,

but for me it's too intense.

That'll do, into that oil.

The feel of this chutney has Indian origins

with a sort of Silk Road collection of ingredients

and maybe a little taste of South America.

And it is a chutney really. You can have it with cheese,

you could use it as a sauce, you could have it with cured meat,

you could have it on bread,

you could have it on toast, with cooked meat...

All right, Ed! You're clearly a big fan of chutney!

..with game pie, you could have it with ham, egg and chips.

Fish and chips?

You couldn't have it with fish and chips, that would be a huge no-no.

Why not? Moving on.

I've really got to make a winner.

Really the most important part of this process is to try

and beat Val.

That it's better than Val's one, that's what matters.

These are starting to soften down.

Garlic - you want to be careful not to use too much,

but at the same time not too little that you won't be able to taste it.

It's absolutely such a gift to be able to stand here in this

beautiful garden on a sunny day cooking.

Going to add the garlic into the onions.

Picking up some tips there, Val?

OK. Moving on. Got some ginger.

It's sort of known as a hand of ginger. When you break a piece off

it becomes a thumb of ginger..

The best way of peeling ginger is with a teaspoon

and you just scratch off all the skin. Little thin slices.

I'm spending quite a while chopping these down,

because again, I want really nice little pieces,

so when the judge dips his spoon in, what he's going to taste

is the fusion of flavours we've created here,

rather than one dominant flavour.

So that's that in there.

I've got this fellow. It's a little smoked jalapeno.

It was dried. It's been rehydrated in a pot of water.

It's got a bit of a kick to it as well.

And that goes in along with chopped green chillies,

then for sweetness, Ed flings in corn and chopped tomatoes.

In this saucepan, I'm going to make a mixture of vinegar,

a couple of chunks of sugar,

and just gently melt that down.

Which takes about five minutes.

I'm also going to add just that touch of tomato juice,

so I want this to be quite light.

Give them a good old squeeze.

If you put a pinch of salt into anything tomato-based,

it really brings out the sweetness in what you've got.

You see this wonderful combination of the vinegar,

the tomato juice and the rock sugar is melted down.

I'm going to add that now, and pour that over there.

Now for the aromatics.

I've got some mustard seeds and some little cumin seeds here.

The reason for doing that is it releases the aromas

and I'm then going to finish it with this wonderful mixture

of spices, called ras el hanout, which is traditionally Moroccan and

it's just a wonderful combination of different spices.

You've got little fennel seeds in there, got some rose petals, all sorts going on.

Ooh, you can smell 'em from here!

Once the spices are toasted, they're ground up,

then Ed throws in a touch of smoked paprika

and some lightly fried curry leaves to really spice it up.

Fantastic. Just let this bubble away.

Half of this is going to have body, and half of it is going to be smooth.

Mmm!

Oh, that's quite good, actually. Yeah.

As it's a hot sauce competition,

does it have that all-important kick?

No, the only thing it hasn't got is a kick. It's extremely mild.

Ah!

You know what I'm going to do is, I'm going to bring this back up

to the heat with a couple of those dried chillies, and remove them.

And Val's not one to miss out on a taste of the competition.

It's quite sweet. It needs a little bit more salt.

That's intriguing. It slightly reminds... Looks-wise,

it slightly reminds me of a pavement on a Friday night.

Oh, how rude! Lovely.

To finish, Ed stirs in chopped coriander, before jarring up and

popping it into boiling water for half an hour to infuse the flavours.

I think I could have a winner on my hands.

That there's fighting talk,

but Val's still got to make his Edge Of Reason Chilli Sauce.

I'm going to call this sauce, I've decided, Edge Of Reason Sauce

because my wife gave birth two days ago and I'm feeling pretty demented.

I think there's a lot of chemical weapons grade,

uneatable chilli things on offer these days

so I'm going for something a little more gentle, slightly violent,

but not overly.

So tomatoes -

just cut the cores out, criss-cross their bums

and soak them in some hot water for a minute or so.

My onion, I want to get it kind of burnt.

I want it charred so there's a very hot pan there.

Some garlic - I'm going to do the same. Right, chillies.

They use many chillies to cook with in Mexico.

Mainly cook with them dried.

This is the guajillo.

This has got a kind of rather fruity, tea-like smell and it is the

most vivid red when it's hydrated

and these are going to be the main chilli in my sauce.

This is the pasilla chilli.

It translates as little raisin or something like that

and if you scrumple it up and smell it, it smells very,

very strongly of a box of raisins.

There's wonderful kind of nutty, fruity, tobacco,

kind of chocolaty, wonderful smells coming off these.

Yum. Val then toasts a teaspoon of cumin and peels the tomatoes.

Caramel and chillies goes very well together so the chillies can go

back in the pan and I'm going to rehydrate them with Coca Cola.

And now, the chopped onions

and garlic need to sizzle away in the other pan.

Mexican oregano - like dried oregano that we're used to

but even more floral and flowery.

It's very, very powerful so about half a teaspoon.

And some black pepper.

And not forgetting the tomatoes,

ground cloves,

tomato juice and salt.

If you need to put a bit more in, put a bit more in.

It's not the devil's dandruff.

Right. Now, these chillies also need orange juice.

The chillies go in.

I want something quite gentle, so cider vinegar.

I've got to be really easy.

It's hot.

It's kind of on the edge of, "Whooo."

But still not too hot.

Ah-ha-ha, nyick, nyick, nyick.

And just to make sure of maximum flavour, Val adds extra cola,

spices, sugar and seasoning to taste.

Ed, will you come and have a taste?

I think I might like a tiny bit more tomato in there,

I'm not quite sure yet.

It's quite hot, isn't it? Too hot?

No. No. Ah.

Val has picked up one last special ingredient

from chocolate maker Galia.

In goes about a quarter of a cocoa nib.

And there is Valentine Warner's Edge Of Reason Sauce.

All it needs now is a label.

The judges are not only looking at the way it tastes

but there are also points for presentation.

So Val and Ed are turning their attention to labelling

and, surprise, surprise, they're doing it from the pub.

With an extra prize on offer for design,

Ed's doing everything he can to get the look he wants.

Former art student Val is using felt tips.

I just want it to look like it's travelled

all the way along the Silk Road through India and finally

it's ended up in sunny old Brighton.

I've come up with no better idea than an eye with flames

coming out of it. There you go.

Val's Edge Of Reason Chilli Sauce and Ed's Silk Road Chilli Chutney

are all set for judging at the Chilli Festival tomorrow.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, Val. Good work, mate.

It's the day of Brighton's Chilli Festival.

Here you can sample the delights of the most

potent of peppers in anything and everything from ice cream

and candy floss to the spiciest of sauces.

We take no responsibility for anyone trying that sauce.

This weekend-long celebration of all things chilli has been

running since 2004 and attracts the most devoted chilli-heads

for the craziest of contests.

We started with very mild ones. Each round, the heat increases.

-Three...

-CROWD: Two, one, chew!

It's a world away from country shows

but the Amateur Hot Sauce category is serious stuff.

First place gets their sauce reproduced professionally

to go on sale.

It's a huge opportunity, calling for world-class judges.

Ed and Val have four to contend with -

Tony 'Darth Naga' Ainsworth, Carl Anderson, Steve Sewell

and Ted The Fire-Breathing Idiot and they are very thorough.

You need to know the difference between a habanero, a fatali,

a ghost chilli, a naga, a scorpion, a 7-pot.

You tell 'em, Ted.

Big prizes could mean big business, so there are 26 different amateur

sauces, chutneys and jams vying for that exclusive first prize.

It's pretty fierce competition. A lot of hot chilli peppers around.

Rob's maximising his chances by making two sauces.

I've been building up for the last six to seven months,

trying to perfect the recipes.

And after missing out last year,

Karen AKA Mrs Chutney has brought along three entries.

Sunrise and sunset are made with different coloured mixed peppers

and a fatali, scotch bonnet and aji lemon.

Three sauces? Ed and Val have just one chance each.

After two defeats, Ed's desperate for a prize card

but everywhere they turn it's all about the hottest chillies and the

fieriest sauces so he's beginning to wonder if he's actually blown it.

I'm feeling a bit worried now. My very mild sauce.

This is a festival of pain.

Our chefs have less than 15 minutes to hand in their

sauces before judging begins.

Let's get our entries in because we're running out of time.

Event organiser Miranda runs specialist chilli shop,

Chilli Pepper Pete.

It was Miranda and her husband, who has sadly since passed away,

that first set up the festival.

Today she's overseeing judging and gathering all 26 entries.

Let's see what you've got.

OK, I'll unveil it for you there. This is called Silk Road Chutney.

Oh, nice. Excellent. Thank you so much.

And this is my Edge Of Reason Chilli Sauce.

Oh, very nice. I like the bottle as well.

It looks like there's quite a few entries already.

Yeah, we have got quite a lot.

Our lads have put tons of effort into their entries

but so have their opponents.

There's lots of entries coming in, even more scope for me

and Ed to yet again leave empty-handed.

Val's Edge Of Reason Sauce

and Ed's Silk Road Chutney must tick all the judges' boxes.

Their reputations are at stake

but now they must leave the tent as it's closing for judging.

One thing us chefs love is trying out other people's cooking.

Can I have a little chutney? Yeah. These are different, these chutneys?

This is a mango and quince.

Chutney, Ed, you're obsessed! Chutney, chutney, chutney!

That would have been a really good use for my pumpkin loaf that

didn't do very well in the competition.

-I could have hollowed it out.

-And put something in it.

-You could have hollowed out your roulade.

-Or the roulade.

You wouldn't need to line it.

Too late now! 12.30 and judging begins.

Sitting just behind the music stage, our ferocious foursome

have 26 entries to taste and just three prizes to give plus an extra

award for design so they need to separate the wheat from the chaff.

-That's horrible.

-Yeah, that's not good.

-Sorry.

-A simple sauce.

-Zero.

Sauces are grouped according to heat so the judges' mouths

aren't impaired from the start.

Milk on standby, being one of the best remedies for curing spiciness.

As Ed's chutney is mild, it's one of the first things in the firing line.

Silk Road Chutney.

Yes, that looks cool. It looks nice and weathered.

That is postapocalyptic Women's Institute.

It's really good.

Oh, yeah, I could eat a whole bottle of this. Not much heat,

but it's really, really good.

This is my favourite so far.

I found it really, really bland, personally. No chilli in it at all.

It doesn't taste like there is, anyway.

Yeah, that was really tasty.

It's a mixed bag for Ed's chutney,

but could Karen AKA Mrs Chutney's first sauce sneak in front?

Naga More. I like the name. I like the label too.

I don't even like sweet stuff and that's really good.

-I'm not getting any heat.

-Could I...?

Next in the hot seat is Val's sauce.

Needs more of everything.

There's no heat. It's very bland. It's like brown water.

Boy, they're not holding back.

It's watery, it's bland and there's almost no spice.

It's not good. Label's good.

Well, there's always the special prize for design.

Next up, it's the mildest of Rob's two hot sauces.

Phlogiston. Interesting.

I like the packaging.

I like that.

But will Karen's third entry Sunrise, combining fatali,

scotch bonnet and aji lemon chillies have the saleability

the judges are after?

This is Sunrise.

My first attempt to taste. That is the best one yet, easily.

Yeah, that's good.

That is amazing.

Over two hours after judging began, results are in.

Some say Ed's was tasty and his presentation top-notch,

but it lacked heat.

They thought Val's was bland and watery yet they loved the label.

This time there are no prize cards.

The winners are announced in front of everyone.

Third place goes to Kiss Hot Pepper Sauce.

Third place is nowhere to be seen.

With just two chances left, pressure's on.

Second place - Organ Grinder's Twisted Seven.

Oh, no, that's second prize gone too. Only first place left.

At least one of the fellows is going home empty-handed

but can the other scoop that exclusive win?

OK, we're now down to the winner.

Sunrise by Mrs Chutney.

Oh, no.

Sorry, lads, another loss, making it Ed's third defeat of the week.

Congratulations, Mrs Chutney.

Thank you very much.

How are you feeling? Are you looking forward to producing it?

Definitely. Yes. Thank you very much, guys.

Val and Ed are crushed.

But there's still the special prize for design up for grabs.

There was one product here that got a special mention,

because of the presentation.

Silk Road Chutney.

Ed's finally bagged himself an award.

Well, he gets his sauce back anyway.

There we go. How do you feel about that?

Fantastic. Thank you. And I'm delighted to take this home with me.

Excellent. Big round of applause.

It's just a pity the prize wasn't for cooking!

They liked the styling and I really enjoyed styling it, simple as.

I might have a... I never really had a good old taste of it.

Oh, that's delicious. The curry leaves have really come out.

Yeah.

There's no chilli in there whatsoever, is there?

No. It's flat as a pancake.

None whatsoever. Any chilli?

No.

No, just how I like it actually.

Can see where the problem was then.

But the winning sauce was also one of the mildest, of course.

Mr Chutney himself can't resist tasting Mrs Chutney's winner.

Wow.

Oh, wowee!

-It's like pineapple jam with a kick of chilli.

-Yes.

-This is very good.

-Can we see your trophy?

My lovely trophy.

I really, really, really, really wanted to win that.

Did you? I'm really sorry, Ed.

Not that sorry!

Our chefs pick up points if they win a country show prize.

Three for first, two for second and one for third.

Val's earned one for his roulade

and to help Ed off the starting block,

he's getting a special point for his design award.

So it's one all at the end of Day Three,

which isn't going down well with everyone.

I'm slightly miffed that

Ed won the best graphics cos I think I should have got that.

Meow!

I wasn't expecting that and I know it went third prize, second prize,

Val and I were looking at each other thinking,

"Have we really pulled this off?"

And sure enough, we didn't.

No, you didn't.

Next time on Country Show Cook Off,

our gastronomic duo head to the more traditional

Stokesley Show in North Yorkshire,

where they're entering a packed lunch for two competition.

-I'm going to make a little chutney.

-Is it Silk Road Chutney?

No, it's not, actually. It's a piccalilli.

So, Ed's third chutney of the week! Hoorah!

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