Episode 6 Food Detectives

Every day we face a huge number of choices

about food.

'Everything from what we buy...'

'..to whether it's good for us...'

'..and how to cook it.'

Beautiful.

'In this series we're going to use our expertise to help you make

'the best food choices.' Wow.

We want to improve your cooking...

-Well done, girl. High five that.

-Looks delicious.

..your health...

So even if I wash my hands, my forearms are still contaminated.

..and your bank balance.

So what are you getting when you spend extra money?

'I'm scientist Alice Roberts.'

I'll be looking at the latest research into nutrition

to find out what's good for us and what's not.

'I'm journalist Sean Fletcher.'

I'll investigate which everyday products are value for money,

and which are a rip-off.

'And I'm chef Tom Kerridge,'

and I'll be sharing my tricks of the trade

that I guarantee will fire up your taste buds.

Wow, that looks great.

'We're going to dish up the plain facts'

so we can all enjoy our food more.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

Coming up - can just changing your surroundings

alter how food and drink tastes?

Who thinks that they were eating a different meat

and a different wine in each of the different lights?

They seemed all different to me.

Tom shows how to give home-cooked food that restaurant-quality taste.

This is the important part.

Do not cook it too quickly, cos otherwise all of those spices

will burn before the piece of fish is cooked.

Sean investigates what's in the great British banger.

There is quite a difference in the fat content.

It is a huge difference, isn't it?

Will that make you change your mind when you're buying sausages?

And peanut butter. We're buying more of it than ever,

'but is it a junk food or a health food? I'll find out.'

About 50% by weight of the peanut is actually fat.

First up...

The way we taste food is incredibly complex.

It's not just about the flavour of the food,

it's about its colour and its texture,

and recent research suggests that the environment we're in

when we're eating it also affects the way the food tastes.

If you'd like to take a seat.

'We've invited some volunteers to take part in a unique

'dining experience.'

We want to test if it's possible to affect the way that food

and drink tastes, just by changing the atmosphere that you eat it in

and what you eat it on.

I'd like to introduce Professor Charles Spence, who is going

to be running this evening's proceedings.

We're going to give our diners three similar sweet dishes.

Over the course of the evening,

there will be three different desserts.

We're going to give them three glasses of wine.

What they don't know is that we'll be changing the lighting,

the music, and the colour and shape of the plates

that the dishes are served on.

The wine will also be disguised in black glasses,

so they won't even know if it's red or white.

Then they'll be asked to rate each meal for sweetness and sourness.

There are no right or wrong answers, just what you think.

Have an enjoyable dinner, and we'll see you in a bit.

For the first dish, Charles is creating an environment

that should enhance the sweetness of the food and wine.

-So Charles, you're starting off with red lighting.

-That's right.

We find that people associate different tastes with

different colours. The majority will say red is sweet.

And what else are you controlling at this point?

We're also playing sweet music.

Most people will think of, sort of, tinkling high-pitched pianos

or windchimes as being associated with sweet tastes.

THEY LAUGH AND CHAT

The next dish is eaten in a different environment,

blue lighting this time,

with lower pitched music, which is associated with bitterness.

We're going to serve this dessert on a square white plate.

-So the plate shapes are important as well?

-Mm-hm.

Most people will say sweet is round, whereas if they imagine

the taste of something bitter,

they'll pick an angular shape instead.

LAUGHTER

Our final environment is designed to enhance

the taste of sourness.

HIGH-PITCHED PIANO MUSIC I don't like this music.

I can't tell if this music's cheerful or not.

If you think about the association between red and sweet

and green and sour, as fruits ripen, they tend to systematically go

from sort of green and sour and unripe

through red and ripe and sweeter.

But I've also noticed that we're serving up

the food differently as well.

We have dessert served on a black, angular plate.

The idea is to see whether the shape and the colour of the plate

might bring something out in the taste.

It doesn't taste as fishy.

'The three dishes were very similar,

'but how did they taste to our diners?'

So who thinks that there was

something different going on between each of those situations?

Were you eating a different meat in each of the different lights?

I felt like everything was probably different.

It seemed all different to me.

So some of them been tricked into thinking

they were eating something different,

when they weren't. And what about the wine?

-So the wines, you thought they were different?

-They certainly tasted it.

That's true - the wines did change.

So it wasn't so easy to confuse their taste buds there.

But did the other changes to their dining experience have any effect?

Which of the plates would you say was sweetest?

I guess I'd go round, because I guess square is sharp,

-and I think that's sour.

-And what about the music?

Who preferred the music under the red light?

The first two pieces of music were quite daunting.

It was just all in minor chords as well, which is slightly unsettling

when you're eating food.

You want it to be relaxing, and it's like being, "Doon, doon, doon..."

So we changed your sense of taste by changing the music

and changing the lighting?

So it seems our diners' sense of taste WAS influenced

by their environment.

But what does this mean for the rest of us?

Are there any real-world applications?

Yeah, it's very exciting to see how we can change people's

perception of taste without having to change the food itself.

That seems to hold very important implications for, say,

the food industry,

where they might be able to reduce the less healthy ingredients

in foods by enhancing the design of the food itself

or the environment in which you're eating.

In larger-scale experiments, this research has revealed

some extraordinary results.

For instance, drinks can be made to taste 10% sweeter

simply by adding red food colouring.

And diners will pay nearly 50% more for a bottle of wine

when the room is lit with red lighting.

Well, the next time my children turn their nose up at their greens,

-I might think about putting...

-Psychological warfare.

Yeah, putting them in a red environment

and playing some sweet music and seeing if I can make a difference.

Cooking for friends and family can be such a pleasure,

but sometimes even the simplest dishes don't turn out right.

Tom is on a mission to share his expertise with us

so we can all improve our cooking skills.

I put a shout out on social media for your kitchen fails.

It's clear there's a lot of you struggling with dishes

that don't always go the way you want them to.

But don't despair, I can help.

Now, I've learnt over the years if you stick to a few simple rules

and techniques, you won't go far wrong.

'This time I'm on a mission to help Pete Griffiths

'with his kitchen fail, roast potatoes.'

Well, they don't really look very done at all.

More oil in the tray, most definitely.

They are quite hard. Really bland.

Just not something I would serve up to my family, to my friends.

A few little tweaks and twists, we'll get him

having perfect roast potatoes.

'Pete lives in the town of Addlestone in Surrey.

'He's an assistant head teacher but today it's going to be me

'giving the lesson.'

-How are you doing, Pete?

-All right, Tom?

-Nice to see you.

-Problem with your potatoes?

-Absolutely.

-Let's see if we can sort them.

-Come on in.

'Pete's going to show me how he normally cooks his roast potatoes

'so I can see where he's going wrong.'

-Just start peeling.

-OK. Everyone knows how to peel a potato.

I'm terrified you're going to lose a finger,

and you're losing quite a lot of potato there as well.

-It's quite thick, that, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

-No wonder I go through so many.

-Yeah!

So now I'm going to fill up the pan with water from the boiled kettle

-and then put them straight on the hob.

-And how long for?

About seven minutes normally.

Seven minutes boiling,

or seven minutes from now?

-Seven minutes from now.

-Right. OK.

And straight into the roasting tray.

A bit of olive oil over the top.

-A bit of salt.

-And that's the first time that you've seasoned them?

Yeah, first time.

Then I normally give them a bit of a shake, then straight into the oven.

-And then how long will they sit in there for?

-About 45 minutes.

All right.

There's not much colour on them.

They're just lacking seasoning and flavour.

-But I know how we can make these better.

-Great.

The secret to good roasties has a lot to do with

the kind of potato you use.

I've got a Maris Piper here the same as yours.

What you're looking for the perfect roast potato is that balance

between starch and sugar, and Maris Piper is right in the middle.

The sugar helps to give the potato colour,

while the starch delivers that lovely fluffiness on the inside.

Now peeling it with a peeler rather than a knife makes a big difference,

just for the fact that you're going to lose as much potato as you did,

and also that you manage to keep your fingers attached to your hand.

There you go, chief. You can do the next one. Brilliant.

Heat up a pan of water

and add a good tablespoon of salt to season the potatoes.

So now we're going to gently poach them, not boil them.

What's the difference between poaching and boiling?

Poaching means that you're cooking them a little bit slower,

and boiling means that there's a lot of movement going on

in the pan, and that's going to break the potatoes up too rapidly.

This is going to take about 20-25 minutes

until they're cooked all the way through.

At this point you're going to need a slotted spoon,

so that allows the water to drip out. Stick a skewer in.

You can tell that the potato's cooked all way through,

that's the important part.

And this is my top tip.

I'm going to leave it on a cake rack to dry.

All those cracks, those are the bits that are going to go crispy

and absorb the oil when we roast them.

You want to put a big glug of oil in there.

So this isn't duck fat or goose fat, or even really good olive oil.

-This is plain vegetable oil.

-Why do you use this oil?

Because it's very easy to get crispy. It's flavourless as well,

so straightaway it allows the potato to speak for itself

rather than adding another flavour to it.

'And here's another top tip. Get the oil really hot

'before adding the spuds.'

Straight away, look, you can see them cooking.

They're frying, they're crisping up.

But those potatoes won't absorb that oil,

they'll just fry in it and go nice and crispy.

OK, Peter, let's stick them in the oven. 200C.

They're going to cook for about 45 minutes.

We'll give them a little turn a couple of times halfway through,

nice and gently, just to make sure they get coated In oil.

Beautiful roast potatoes, they are going to be, my friend.

Let's give them a twist around, that's it.

-There we go. Look at those.

-Wow.

-Happy?

-Yeah, very.

-There's yours from earlier.

-Wow, look at the difference.

OK, then, Pete, do you want to have a little try of one?

Wow. That is amazing.

-Happy?

-Very happy.

Crispy on the outside, nice and soft in the middle?

Yeah, that's perfect.

You can get help from me

by sharing your kitchen fails on social media using:

Do cans of whipped cream contain laughing gas?

LAUGHTER

The answer is true -

cans of whipped cream contain nitrous oxide, otherwise known

as laughing gas, which stops the cream from going rancid.

Many of us have recently been moving away from traditional brands

towards the supermarkets' own-label alternatives.

They range from basic through to standard and premium varieties.

But what exactly is the difference between the ranges?

Is expensive always better?

Well, we've been teasing apart some of the ingredients

in everyday foods to find out.

'With the help of nutrition and food science experts at Queen Margaret

'University in Edinburgh,

'I'm going to dissect the great British banger.'

In some supermarkets a pack of budget sausages

can be £2.40 cheaper than premium.

So what's the difference?

To help me pull apart the ingredients is nutritionist

Dr Carrie Ruxton.

The budget sausages have got lots of ingredients,

but so have the standard, and also the premium.

So what are you getting when you spend extra money?

-Meat.

-Yeah, there's a lot more in there.

Exactly, there's a lot of meat.

So the range of meat here,

the budget category is round about 43-72%,

and with the premium you're getting more like 85-97% meat,

so a lot more meat.

To be called a pork sausage, legally it must contain more than 42% meat,

so some of the budget bangers only just scrape through.

Cheaper varieties contain fillers like wheat flour and rusk.

Although sausages might not be the healthiest things you can buy,

these added ingredients do make budget sausages low in fat,

but also low in other things, such as protein.

There is quite a difference in the fat content,

so that's round about 10g per 100g for fat.

Go up to the premium and you're talking about round about

20g per 100g,

-So you know, quite a difference.

-It is a huge difference, isn't it?

And some standard sausages can be as high as 22g of fat per 100g,

so it's always worth checking the label.

I don't know what this is.

Oh, maybe I'm getting a bit more of an idea.

-Yes, that's the casings.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

And here's another difference between the three price bands.

On the premium you've got natural casings made from intestine,

now that would be the traditional way to make sausages.

And over here we've got casings that are made from protein or collagen,

which is basically made by boiling down animal skins.

And they're cheaper for manufacturers to use

because they're easier to handle.

And those are the ones that are in the standard and budget sausages?

Yes, that's right.

Collagen casings are tougher than natural casings

and can be harder to bite through.

Natural casings are tender.

However, they do have a tendency to split more easily.

Now we know what's in them, it's time to put

our sausages to the test with the help of some volunteers.

Who eats budget sausages?

Mm... So who eats standard sausages here? OK.

Jane, do you eat premium sausages?

-Yes, I do, yes.

-So why would you choose a premium sausage?

I find premium sausages have other ingredients such as apple or chilli

and things like that.

I like a wee extra kick in my sausage.

Let's see if our volunteers change their minds

after they've tasted them.

They're going to try 12 different sausages

from a variety of supermarkets,

ranging from budget and standard to premium.

Dr Laura Withers makes sure they have no idea

which kind they're eating.

They'll score each sample on a scale of 1 to 9,

with one being extremely "dislike", and nine being extremely "like".

So, which sausages did our volunteers prefer?

The most preferred one was actually the premium sausage,

which scored 5.7 out of a possible nine.

Followed by the standard, which scored 5.3,

and then finally the budget, which was 4.4.

Premium was the clear winner,

followed by standard,

with budget lagging well behind.

It's not really surprising when you think there's

-so much more meat in the premium sausage.

-Exactly.

We like our sausages meaty.

The budget sausage is between 60p and 90p,

the standard sausage is between £1.20 and about £1.50,

and the premium sausage is between £2.50 and £3.

So that's around five times more you're paying

for the premium sausage than you are the budget sausage.

Will that make you change your mind when you're buying sausages?

Well, I initially would normally buy the premium,

but now that I know about the fat content and the high calories... LAUGHTER

-..I think I might change my mind.

-Stuart?

I would still go for the premium on the basis it has more meat.

OK, so while many of us are trying to save on our shopping bill,

we're not prepared to skimp on our sausages.

The nicest-tasting sausages are the ones with the most meat in them,

and those are premium ones. And we're prepared to pay the price.

While manufacturers struggle to sell their products

in a cut-throat market, there's one food we can't get enough of.

We spent over £60 million on the stuff in 2015,

with sales up a massive 12% on the previous year.

Peanut butter is one of those foods that you may be in two minds about.

After all, it's on the shelves in the supermarket

next to chocolate spread and jam, definite indulgences.

But it's not so clear when it comes to peanut butter,

so is it junk food or a health food?

'We've come to Bristol armed with a range of supermarket foods.

'We want to know where people think the peanut butter belongs,

'with the health foods,

'or the junk foods.'

Avocados going in the health food...

Blueberries going in the health food...

Chocolate bar, straight in the junk.

Peanut butter, junk...

Blueberries, superfood, right?

Peanut butter, junk food, chocolate and crisps.

-I've got that in my head as an insanely sugary thing.

-Yeah.

So you would have been trying to stick it in there? Yeah.

Why did you put that in the junk food?

-If it's just peanuts, yeah, health food.

-OK.

But that looks like quite a cheap one, so yeah, junk food.

'There seems to be a lot of confusion

'about peanut butter's health credentials.

'I've come to meet dietician and nutritionist Dr Sue Baic.

'The best way to find out what's in peanut butter is to make some.'

Oh, I've lost one.

'We start with peanuts,

'then all that's needed is oil and salt.'

-So literally smash it up?

-Yep.

It takes 10 minutes of constant mixing before our peanut butter

is finally ready.

Let's have a look.

How many calories do you think would be in that?

-Ooh, I don't know. 150?

-It's less than that.

It's about 100 for most peanut butters in a tablespoon.

And that's the equivalent to about four squares of chocolate.

'That still sounds like a lot of calories to me.

'So where are they coming from?'

Shall we have a look at a peanut under the microscope?

The dark black is oil, or the fat, inside the peanut.

So it's about 50% by weight of the peanut is actually oil or fat,

which translates when you have peanut butter,

to about 50% of peanut butter is fat.

But the type of fat in the peanut is the good type, the unsaturated fats.

So peanut butter may contain a lot of fat, but it's unsaturated.

And a small amount of unsaturated fat in your diet can help

to maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

The difference between peanut butter and chocolate is that peanut butter

is not what we would call empty calories.

It's got things like vitamin E, B vitamins, folic acid.

It's got some really useful minerals like zinc and magnesium and copper.

It's a real nutrient powerhouse, peanut butter.

'It turns out a little bit of peanut butter is good for us.

'It's packed with healthy fats and minerals.

'It seems we CAN think of peanut butter as a health food.'

And we can make it even healthier by adding

another breakfast favourite, toast.

The secret to it is that we often combine peanuts

or peanut butter with a different sort of plant protein,

and in this case, cereals.

-Ah, this looks like a marriage made in heaven.

-Yes.

It's called complementary proteins,

so they go to make a good-quality protein.

Peanut butter contains some of the essential building blocks

of proteins that our body needs.

And toast contains others.

They are complementary proteins.

Put them together and they're nutritionally very good for us.

All things in moderation, of course,

and best spread on a slice of toast for maximum benefit.

But peanut butter is full of good fats, minerals, vitamins, fibre.

This is one treat that we needn't feel quite so guilty about.

You don't have to be a fantastic cook with loads of experience

'to serve up food that has the wow factor.

'All it takes is a clever bit of know-how.'

In a professional kitchen, getting food consistently tasting great

relies on tips and techniques that never fail.

I'd like to share with you some of these trade secrets

that are easy to do but incredibly effective.

This trade secret is pretty hands-on.

Chefs call it a rub, and that's exactly what you do with it.

Now I have here a really lovely fillet of sea bass, and I'm going

to intensify the flavour of that fish with a simple rub,

a mix of everyday spices, seasonings and herbs

that can transform an ordinary piece of meat or fish

into something extra special.

'Rubs are a quick and easy way to add flavour

'without having to leave a dish marinating for a long time.'

And the secret to a restaurant-quality rub

lies in the ingredients.

And I reckon most of you will have these in your spice rack at home.

I'm going to start off with coriander seeds.

These have already been toasted.

I'm going to drop them into the pestle and mortar and grind them up.

'Then add salt and time, but use dried thyme, not fresh.'

Now, quite often I talk about herbs best being fresh.

That's always good when you're using it for cooking

and added right at the end.

But for a rub mix, use dried.

That way they're more intense in flavour.

'Next, dried oregano and ground white pepper.

'And another trade secret, garlic powder.'

You might think garlic powder is a bit of a cheat, but it's not.

'Fresh garlic can easily burn in the pan,

'becoming unpleasantly bitter-tasting.

'So garlic powder gives you all the flavour

'without the risk of burning.

'Pop in some cracked black pepper, cayenne pepper

'for extra heat and spice, onion powder and finally,

'my favourite spice, smoked paprika.'

You get this lovely kind of orangey, red-y,

gunpowdery kind of glow coming from it.

Ready for a piece of fish to take on that dry rub.

'Brush the fish with a bit of melted butter, which helps the dry rub

'stick to the skin.' Lift it out...

'Place the fish in some oil,

'skin side down.'

Now here's is a really important tip.

Gently hold your fingers on the top,

holding it in place

so that that skin doesn't curl up.

It's just beginning to go nice and crispy, instantly starts to cook.

Get a beautiful crust on it.

This is the other important part.

Do not cook it too quickly.

You don't want it too hot, cos otherwise all of those spices

will burn really quickly before the piece of fish is cooked.

'Cook it for a few minutes skin side down,

'then flip it over for a final basting.'

Out of the pan, just drain the bit of fish with some kitchen towel

and pop it on to the plate.

Serve it with a very simple fennel coleslaw that I knocked up earlier.

Then that, my friends, is a really easy way of turning

this simple piece of sea bass into something amazing

using this dry rub.

You can find this trade secret and more on the website.

Go to:

Well, that's it from us for this series.

We've been amazed by what we've found out,

and I hope that we've helped you to be a bit more thoughtful

and a bit wiser about how you shop, cook and eat.