Israel Hairy Bikers - Chicken & Egg

# Tradition!

# Tradition, tradition! #

# If I was a chick man

# La-da dee-dee-dee-dee dee-dee-dee-dee-dum

# All day long, so biddy-biddy-bum

# If I was a poultry man

# Hoiii! #

ALL: We're back!

Sha-boom!

And we're on our biggest adventure, ever.

Let's go.

We're taking our bikes to four continents.

Where's Dave?

To find out how chicken

has taken over the culinary world.

Absolutely superb.

This is almost a religious experience.

And why it's about to become

the planet's most popular meat.

We are going to cross France...

just to find a chicken.

We'll uncover the world's most fascinating

and delicious...

-Curry.

-..chicken and egg dishes.

Chicken!

From the great British roast...

to exotic spices in Morocco.

And...the best ways of cooking them.

Mwah-hah-hah!

Oh, yes!

We're exploring the history and cultural impact

of the humble chicken.

It's the Holy Land.

And the egg, dude.

From the home of lip-smacking fast food...

Thank you!

..to French cordon bleu.

Oh...!

Paris!

Ooh, la-la.

It's our most finger licking,

chickeny adventure ever.

THEY CHEER

I don't know how you top this.

Yeaaagh!

This week, we're visiting a country

where chicken farming began.

And where scientists are breeding the chicken of the future.

BOTH: Israel!

These days the Israelis

practically eat more chicken per capita

than any other country in the world -

80% of the meat they eat being chicken!

That's because chicken crosses the cultural divide

between Israelis and Palestinians.

This is not so much a recipe as a Sermon on the Mount.

Chickens have been raised and eaten here

for over 2,000 years.

Oh, wow. That's amazing.

What we're saying is, they would joint the chicken the same as we do.

Add in spicy Arabic influences,

and the result is some seriously good chicken.

-How perfect are they?

-That is instant shawarma.

And then there's the hearty kosher chicken dishes

brought here from Europe by the Jews.

This is food for people who work hard, isn't it?

You couldn't eat this and sit at a desk.

So, when you factor in food from all over

coming together in one place...

Ooh, THEY'VE got fire. Ooh, matron!

Ooh, they're not your supermarket specials, are they?

..what you get is some of the most surprising

chickeny...

..and eggy...

..dishes on the planet!

Do you know, Israel is one big food fight,

where only the tastiest can survive.

So get ready for our great big Israeli adventure.

Mazel tov! Hey-hey!

Hey, dude, check this out.

Tel Aviv, a bright, new sparkly city by the Mediterranean Sea.

It's incredible. You think of Israel as ancient,

but actually, loads of it is really modern.

Well, the country's only a bit older than you, dude.

Ha. Thanks, mate(!)

Since the State of Israel was established in 1948,

Jews have been coming here from all over the world

and bringing their food with them.

But you know, it's not just the land of milk and honey.

I'm glad about that, dude, because if it was,

it would make a really boring cookery programme, you know.

But the best thing about this being the promised land...

Is...?

There's traditional food from over 120 countries

across six continents, all in one place.

-120, dude?!

-Yep.

And it's in trendy Tel Aviv

that it all comes together

to produce some of the most exciting food on the planet.

This place really is foodie heaven.

Burika, burika, burika!

We've always said, Kingy, the best way to get to understand

the culture of the country

is to have a nose around its markets.

That's right. And the one we're heading to

is stuffed full of amazing food from all over the world -

but especially the Middle East.

-Look at this, dude.

-Yeah. I mean this market's

-an absolute stunner, isn't it?

-Absolutely gorgeous.

You know, Kingy, this is a dream come true.

I've always wanted to come to Israel.

You know, it's such a foodie melting pot.

You get some of these ancient Jewish dishes

that you can't get anywhere else in the world, man.

That's very true, dude, but don't forget the Arab ones

that they found when everybody got here.

Absolutely. But they came together, created new recipes,

using the most brilliant Mediterranean ingredients.

Including chicken and eggs.

Do you know that the use of pitta bread

as a pocket to contain food

was invented in the Middle East,

not the Marmaris Kebab House, Barrow-in-Furness,

as I used to think.

Well, we're not in Barrow-in-Furness now, mate, that's for sure.

Hello. What are you making?

-Falafel.

-Falafels?

-Yes.

I love falafel.

Where are you from originally?

-Yemeni.

-The Yemen.

-Yemeni.

-Ah!

-Yemeni chickpea falafel.

-Get in!

Burika, burika, burika!

-This looks interesting.

-Ooh, doesn't it?

Hello...

-What are these?

-It's traditional food

from Tripoli, Libya.

So, burika from Libya.

I fill inside. Your choice.

-Oh, this looks good, Si.

-Oh, doesn't it?

This is clever.

Wow! This is skill, dude.

It's good. It's not just like, come and have your breakfast, is it?

-It's brilliant.

-It's just so much food

we're discovering for the first time.

-Yeah, I know.

-You know, and it's all in one place.

So what are you making?

These are veggie balls.

-Veggie balls?

-Yes.

-And where are the veggie balls from?

-From Iraq.

-From Iraq?

-Yeah, I'm from Iraq.

We need some meat, Kingy... What is it?

Kebab from Bulgaria.

-From Bulgaria?

-Yeah.

This is looking good. Hello, sir.

How are you? What are you making here?

This is food from Venezuela.

We've had it in South America before.

I never thought we'd find it in Tel Aviv.

No, neither did I, dude, neither did I,

but this is the truly eclectic mix

of international cuisine that we have here.

The food here's so interesting,

you can't help but be inspired to experiment.

And the perfect dish for flavour free-styling is shakshouka.

The eggy brekkie of Tel Aviv.

Now, Israelis argue about the origin of shakshouka.

It's thought to have come over with North African Jews in the 1950s.

But these days, it's Israeli through and through.

Shakshouka means "a mix-up".

It does, and chefs throw everything at shakshouka,

so this is our version. We're going to give you the basics,

and then we're going to embellish that basic sauce

into a plethora of wonderful Tel Aviv-ness.

Think of it like pizza - with eggs as the essential ingredient.

Beyond that, you can go wild.

I'm starting ours

by sauteing onions and peppers.

But you want them

not to cook too much,

because you still want a little bite with them.

"Al dente" as the Italians would say.

Al Dente, the great centre forward for Newcastle United!

He's just been bought from Milan.

-Al Dente.

-Al Dente.

-There's your peppers, pet.

-Thank you, you Cumbrian.

Add the garlic, and then it's tomato o'clock.

If you're a lazy devil,

use a couple of cans,

but our tomatoes are so good here, it would be wrong really.

Honestly, what is the produce like here, mate? It's amazing.

It's a Mediterranean country.

It's a foodie's paradise, as well. It's absolutely superb.

How's it looking, Kingy? It's hard to see from this side of the fence.

It's looking great. So colourful.

'But our morning mashup needs a bit of pep.'

'I reckon caraway, cumin and cayenne pepper

'should do the trick.'

We want OUR shakshouka to have a bit of bite.

-That's a good half, Kingy.

-Isn't it?

-Mucho righto.

-Oh, mate, it's starting to smell amazing.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

'But it'll smell even lovelier

'with some tomato puree

'and some barbecued bangers in the mix.'

In the words of the late, great Freddie Mercury,

"Spare me my life for your one sausages."

'Watch out, mate, they're a bit on the hot side.'

Ooh, they've got fire. Ooh, yes. Ooh, matron!

Ooh, they're not your supermarket specials, are they?

Oh, tell you what, mate - slap a bit of water on that.

Let's go and have a drink cos these sausages -

they're burning right down.

'Oh, go on, twist me arm.'

This one is...soft...

-This one a bit rough.

-This looks like a nice bar...

-Oh, this isn't bad. Dunnit, yeah?

-Oh, yes.

Hold on, hold on. What's going on here? It's a ZZ Top convention.

-I don't know.

-What's happening?

Hiya, fellas.

-Hello.

-How are you?

What's going on here?

We're doing a beard contest.

'As the hipster capital of the country,

'of course young and happening Tel Aviv

'has a competition to find the chap

'with the fanciest facial hair.'

Well, I thought beards were big in Israel -

you know, like...obviously the Hasidic side -

but this is really proper kind of Hoxton, Shoreditch.

What, in your opinion, makes a good beard?

Big, and also soft.

What do you think of beards?

I think it's nice.

Especially this one.

SI AND DAVE: Ah!

Do you know what my wife says? She loves a beard.

She says that kissing a man without a beard

is like eating an egg without salt and pepper.

Do you agree?

Yes. I...

Dude, you are so in! Yeah!

'Come on, we are keeping the shakshouka waiting.'

What's the verdict?

Do you know what, dude? A little bit more salt,

definitely a bit of sugar, and some pepper.

I've got a bunch of parsley, a bunch of coriander.

Here we are, bud.

Oh, look at that.

Well, they said you can put anything into it.

That's the thing! Anything goes.

'Now the vegetables have simmered down into the stew,

'it's ready for the eggs.

'We need to get eight of the little blighters

'to nestle in little wells in the sauce.'

Crack on, dude.

Ha-ha-ha! See?

Egg number one!

Well number two.

Oh, it's bust one. Never mind.

-Oh, no...!

-Ah!

-You've got there, dude.

Now, what we are going to do is keep all the heat,

keep it on the surface of the dish.

And...

cook those eggs.

'For me, feta, plus runny yolks,

'plus tomatoey sauce

'equals taste sensation.

Yeah - I reckon this spicy herby and eggy dish

is fit for a Persian prince.

Here, Kingy, I've made some toast.

You can't have an egg without a dipper.

-I'm with you, dude. I'm with you.

-Look at this. Hee-hee-hee!

Shakshouka, Hairy Biker style.

Cor...

Do you know, what strikes you first up, quite apart from the texture,

is the warmth of the aromatics, the cumin and the caraway. So good.

You've got the dippy eggs, it's a bit like your mum, you know?

-Yeah, it is.

-But then you've got the spicy sausage.

It just a very warm and very comforting.

Shakshouka.

It's interesting, cos it reflects Israel perfectly well, doesn't it?

'It's a multicultural taste sensation.'

'40 miles South East of Tel Aviv is Jerusalem,

'a site of religious conflict for over 3,000 years.'

-This is Jerusalem. Can you believe it? We're in Jerusalem!

-I can't.

Hey, look, Kingy, beyond there. That's the Mount of Olives.

'It was home to the Jews

'until the Romans evicted them in the first century,

'and it became a Christian city.'

'Then, when the Islamic faith emerged 600 years later,

'Jerusalem became predominantly Muslim

'for almost a millennium.'

It's one of the most important historic sites

for three world religions.

And that is pretty special. And for cooks like us,

it's where food and religion

meet face-to-face on the world stage.

It's going to be amazing.

'Jerusalem was then part of

'British-ruled Palestine for 30 years until 1948,

'when the city was divided in half

'and split between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Dude, look!

Over to the right there is the West Bank. There's the wall.

-All of these places you hear about on the news and...

-Yeah.

It's this bizarre mix-up

of the most important historical sites in the world,

with possibly some of the most traumatic new sites in the world.

These days, it's two-thirds Jewish and a third Arab.

And the reason we've come to Jerusalem

is because its hybrid cuisine

perfectly reflects the cultural make-up of the city.

We've made it. We've breached the city walls.

Dude, the gates were open. We're in.

I tell you what, I'm starving. I don't know about you.

Despite the lack of interaction between the two communities,

food is one thing that brings these diverse groups together.

Like shawarma, a Middle Eastern kebab,

which is the locals' answer to fast food.

It's street food that both Israelis and Palestinians

can't get enough of.

HE SINGS

Will you...! Oi, oi!

Shurrup, will you?

-Jerusalem is at our feet, Kingy.

-It is, mate. Look at it.

-Oh, wow.

-The Promised Land, dude.

Come on then, Melvyn Bragg.

Give us the guided tour for all that lies before us.

So, to our right-hand side, that is the Wailing Wall.

-See the grey domes?

-Yes.

-The two grey domes?

That is the Holy Sepulchre.

When Jesus was crucified, he was brought there,

laid out, and his wounds were dressed with olive oil.

Wow. It is amazing.

The most remarkably beautiful place I think we've ever filmed.

And over there is Ike's shawarma shop,

which has inspired our dish.

It's true an' all - it is.

Now, shawarma just means spiced meat cooked over coals.

But we're using chicken thighs,

as they won't dry out like breast meat during cooking.

And the combination of warm spices in our marinade

acts as a turbo flavour booster for our rooster.

And, to cool down your palate,

we're doing a yoghurty dip called labneh,

and a herby couscous to go with it.

It's going to be one super shawarma.

It's been adopted and loved by basically everybody -

by the Arabic community and the Jewish community alike.

And by us, really.

-It is SHAWARMA here, isn't it? It's getting SHAWARMA all the time.

-Aye.

It's proper hot!

'As Israeli food is influenced by so many flavours,

'our marinade's going to go global.'

'In go spices from the East - coriander and cumin.

'From the West, cayenne pepper and paprika.

'And bay leaves from the Med, which is kind of in the middle.'

The quality of the spice here is remarkable.

Ooh-hoo-hoo. Oh, carry on regardless.

-That'd give you a resurrection, that.

-It would.

It'd raise Lazarus, that. Right...

Plastic bag, chicken thighs, six of.

Fantastic herbs and spices.

Great olive oil into the bag.

Then what you do, you massage it.

It's a great way to do this, I think.

# Shawarma, shawarma, shawarma shawarma, shawarma chameleon. #

This needs to marinate for at least two hours,

or preferably overnight. If you marinate it in the fridge,

make sure, before you cook it, you bring it out

and you bring it back to room temperature.

There's a reason for that,

because we are going to be cooking it over charcoal.

And you want it to cook all the way through.

But what you'll be pleased to know is...

here's one we prepared earlier!

-Yes, would you mind getting it, Dave?

-Not at all.

So I can take this to the... Yeah, that place, the fridge.

That's it.

-Now, Simon...

-Yes?

-I've threaded one already.

-Oh, nice one, dude.

-Look, the double-skewer thigh technique.

Ah! Perfect, Mr Myers, perfect.

I'll let you into our little secret.

If you've got big chicken thighs, use two skewers.

That way, the chicken cooks evenly

and they're easier to turn on the grill.

Cos it's important that these cook quite slowly.

It is not a fast barbecue. We want these to cook for 15, 20 minutes.

Turn them quite often.

Perfectly perfect. Right, look, everybody at home,

is that not the best backdrop you've ever seen for a barbecue?

I mean...it's the Holy Land.

This is not so much a recipe as a sermon on the Mount.

Yes, aye. And very, very, very privileged, aren't we?

-To be here?

-Very, very privileged.

-Very privileged to be here.

Come on. Right, couscous.

Right, now we're going to serve this with our Israeli couscous recipe.

This is jumbo couscous, or pearl couscous.

I'll show you it. Looks a bit like tapioca, really. Look at that.

'In fact, what they call Israeli couscous

'isn't really couscous at all.

'It is a type of toasted pasta, shaped like little balls.

'It was first eaten in Israel in the 1950s, when rice was scarce.'

You know, there's a lot of flavour in the shawarma.

So I want the side dish not to be some shrinking violet.

'So it's getting red onions, a squeeze of lemon

'and lots of lovely local herbs.'

It's a combination of mint, flat leaf parsley and coriander.

And I'm going to put the lot in.

You know, I want as much herbage, really, as my carbohydrate.

It's fresh and it's lively.

It excites all your senses.

Now, on top of this,

some sumac, which is like a spicy, tangy, peppery seasoning.

It's almost like tabbouleh on steroids.

Now, let's have a look at your handiwork.

-Come and come here.

-OMG.

-Look at that.

-Sorry.

-How perfect are they?

-That is instant shawarma.

And we've already strained

some yoghurt to make labneh, a Middle Eastern soft cheese.

Oh!

-It's rested.

-Oh, it's rested

-so much it's nearly a chicken korma.

-Heh-hey!

I love this dish so much.

It's perfect.

If you like chicken, please do this at home.

-Please, please, please.

-Trust us, it's worth it.

-Oh, aye.

-Oh!

Well, this, Mr King, is a supper of

biblical proportions. Oh, yes. The food might

be all right, but what I say is it's the ambience

and the surroundings that do help. And it doesn't get

much more ambient like this for this kind of food.

Shall I tear you off a bit of bread?

Aye, go on. Lush.

See, you just dibble-dabble,

-can't we?

-Yeah.

-Put us a bit of labneh on.

-There.

-Beautiful.

-Oh, onion.

Oh, that's good.

-Oh, man!

-This is good. This is delicious. But if you

were a Jew who only ate kosher food, you would

-have problems with this dish.

-Why?

-Well, under

kosher rules, you can't mix meat and dairy.

What have I got here? I've got chicken and yoghurt. Nuh-huh.

Oh, flipping Nora! Do you know,

I think we are going to have to brush up on our

kosher knowledge. Because, if we don't,

we are going to end up in all sorts of trouble in Jerusalem.

Israel's two main religions each have

their own dietary rules. Halal for Muslims and

-kosher for Jews.

-And there is some crossover

between the two. Both faiths can't eat pork,

but they are allowed to eat chicken, which might

explain why it's so popular here.

But we're shopping for a kosher meal. To guide us, we've

asked top Israeli kosher chef Noam Deckers for some help.

So, what is with the kosher thing that

you can't mix meat and dairy? At home in the UK,

we are building Jewish houses where there's two kitchens.

Yes. You can't mix it,

because there's one place in the Bible that

says you cannot cook a kid in its mother's milk.

-In the goat's milk.

-Uh-huh.

And from that derives that you cannot cook dairy and

-meat together.

-So, my cheesy-topped chicken

-breast is, like...

-Yeah.

-It's not going to happen.

If you want to eat kosher, you can't do it.

I mean, you're a chef.

Do you find this a huge hindrance and an obstruction?

If you think it is a hindrance,

I believe that your food will not be tasty and

not look good. But if you take it as a challenge

and you say to yourself, "OK, this is my

"playground, this is what I have to play with.

"I'm going to do the best with this." So, it

-opens a very nice creative challenge.

-Yes.

What is it about kosher when you slaughter the bird?

So, with a kosher bird, you have to cut

the throat and drain all the blood out. It has to

be the sharpest knife you've ever seen.

And the idea behind it is that the bird doesn't

need to suffer. And also with the offal,

-they've got a lot of blood inside.

-Yes.

-So, you

have to cook it on an open fire, so no blood,

no suffering. Very clean. You cannot cook

-with blood.

-Right.

-Because blood becomes

-rancid and spoils very, very fast.

-So, there'll

-be no black pudding, obviously?

-No, no. No black pudding.

There were no fridges

thousands of years ago when these kosher rules

were written. And many of them were a necessity

to stop people getting food poisoning.

So, eggs. What's the craic with the eggs?

-Yeah, what makes a kosher egg?

-So, it is very simple.

Two basic things. It has to come from a kosher bird.

-Yes.

-And no blood inside. If we think,

2,000 years ago, there were no chickens only

-for eggs. There were farmed chickens.

-Yes.

If there is blood inside, it is the beginning of a

baby chicken. So, no blood inside.

So, really, you can't tell whether the egg is

-kosher or not until you crack it.

-Exactly, but

today there are very hi-tech automated machines.

-Like an X-ray?

-It's not an X-ray, it's optical.

-OK.

-But then it can tell

you if there are blood spots inside or not.

The kosher world is amazing. It is very elaborate,

very deep. And also quite logical in a way.

I don't know about you, but this market, kosher

or not, it just makes me want to cook, Kingy.

Well, kosher cooks here must be pretty

inventive, despite those rules because they're

-getting through a lot of chicken.

-And one of the

reasons Israelis consume so much of it is because

the government's backed the chicken business for

decades. When the state of Israel was formed

nearly 70 years ago, it only had a population of

800,000, which then doubled in five years.

-And the government had to feed them.

-Now, I bet

this is where the chicken came in.

Correct. After a long period of rationing,

protein was scarce. And, as the chicken and

-egg were off the menu for most...

-Oi, hands off!

..the government started to subsidise the

poultry industry. Cheep, cheep!

Because chickens grew faster than cows, they became the most speedy

solution to feeding millions of hungry

-people for less cash.

-Ker-ching.

And, as the population expanded, so did the chicken business.

And these days Israelis eat almost

twice as much chicken than we Brits.

Well, who'd have thought it, eh?

The majority of Jews emigrating to Israel after the

Second World War were from Russia and Eastern Europe.

Many were poor and their

traditional food still survives in Israel today.

-Hey, Kingy?

-Uh-huh?

-This is it.

Chef and kosher food writer Shmil Holland lives in Jerusalem's

old Katamon neighbourhood.

His family fled here from Poland in the 1940s.

All my eastern Jewish cooking came from my grandmother.

When my grandfather died, she was very afraid

because, you know, the stories of the Holocaust

and everything comes back.

So, when I was 16,

she came to sleep with me in the same room.

-So...

-Oh!

You know...

as a youth, everybody goes out...

-and I have my grandmother with me in the room.

-No!

So, we begin to talk and she told me about the

stories before the war.

About the place that she came from and the cooking.

About the ovens, about the chickens.

And, in those nights, I learned all my recipes.

And, when it comes to cooking with chicken,

Shmil's carrying on his granny's thrifty tradition

and making humble dishes.

He is going to use as much of the bird as possible,

so nothing goes to waste.

That includes the offal, so we are getting a

classic Jewish chicken liver dish.

Plus, chicken soup, made from a chicken's bones.

It's thought to be so good for you

it's known as Jewish penicillin.

And he is putting meat from

the chicken wings into the dumplings, called

kreplach, that go into the soup.

This is the way that we grew up cooking chicken.

With respect for the whole bird.

When we did buy meat, it was expensive,

so we made sure that we got every last bit out of it.

I always say, for a family of three,

it was a three-day meal.

And then, if you want pudding, you've got the eggs.

Yes. Exactly. It is perfect.

Well, if you are a canny cook like Shmil here,

who is making his chopped liver,

you can make one bird go an OFFALLY long way, can't you?

You can indeed.

The Israelis love offal.

Spleen and heart are popular here too.

It is a great ingredient, chicken liver, isn't it?

-It is.

-And it is often overlooked, you know?

Absolutely love it.

-I already grilled the livers on fire.

-On fire.

And that is a kosher tradition, isn't it? Yes?

It is a kosher tradition, yes.

And now we will fry the onions in a lot of goose fat.

A lot?

Ah, that will be why some people call this dish

a heart attack on a plate.

This is food for people who work hard, isn't it?

You couldn't eat this and sit at a desk.

Fry that a little bit higher,

just to get it warm.

In the meantime, we can chop the eggs

and we use just the egg yolks.

'This eggy liver dish was a staple

'at Jewish celebrations in Eastern Europe.'

Mr King, I salute your sense of self restraint.

You haven't taken one little bit

from that chopping board to your mouth.

-I haven't, have I?

-No, you haven't. I'm proud of you.

-Thank you.

Shmil is adding the goose fat fried onions to the chicken liver.

And, of course, the green onions.

-Oh, yeah.

-That's it. Maybe a little more...

Maybe a little bit more black pepper?

-That's fantastic.

-That is fantastic.

-It's creamy, it's savoury. It's tasty.

-Onion...

It is perfect.

And that's not all, dude,

Shmil has got to make the kreplach -

the little dumplings that go into the chicken soup.

It is really quite simple.

You just have to bind the chopped cooked meat

from the chicken wings with an egg yolk.

We will cook it here.

And then it is ready to stuff in the pasta dough.

Is there a particular technique that you like to use?

Yes, I will show you.

This is it. This is the Blue Peter moment.

Again, it is like...

from a humble ball of flour and a few chicken wings,

we're going to get the most amazing dumplings.

And I'll put the stuffing and close it, nice.

And then...I'm closing it.

Oh, look at that.

-Wow.

-That's the way.

Right, then.

Did you get that, Kingy?

I'll have a crack.

You just fill your pasta circles with the meat,

fold it in half, curl it, then stick the ends together.

Thanks, mate. Now, you can eat kreplach on its own,

grilled or fried.

But Shmil is going to boil them in water first

before adding them to the chicken broth.

So, you don't boil them in the soup?

No, I don't boil them in the soup,

because I don't want them to make...

I want... It will be clear, the soup.

Shmil has already made the broth

by boiling up the chicken carcass for six hours

with root vegetables before straining.

You see, all the eyes of the fat.

I tried to take most of them out,

because we want it clear and not so fat.

But, in the old times,

it was the best part of the soup.

And it goes in Yiddish, gold coins.

-Gold coins.

-Yes.

-In the soup.

'I can see why.

'If you we're feeling a bit under the weather,

'this soup would be just the ticket.'

We will put dill inside to infuse.

That's a lot of dill.

It is, isn't it? It's going to be amazing.

After the dumplings have been boiled for a few minutes,

on goes the hot carroty chicken broth.

You know what my mother said? She said...

I asked her if it is really the real penicillin.

She said, "You know, if you make

"the soup as you should do it,

"and you cook it very carefully, and then you take the medicine

"that the doctor gives you, then it will help."

THEY LAUGH

So, let's try.

-Sublime.

-It is sublime.

Eat that. You'll live forever.

-Wow.

-You're quite good at this, aren't you?

It's amazing to think that Shmil's Jewish chicken dishes

come from just one of countless food traditions here, isn't it?

I know, mate, yes.

And this land's history with chicken goes back centuries,

well before the state of Israel was born.

An hour outside of Jerusalem are the ruins of Maresha,

a city that had its heyday well before the Romans arrived.

This is it. We are simply passing through history.

You know, there's the possibility of seeing shepherds

with their flocks on the way to Bethlehem.

It is a landscape of biblical proportions!

Yes, all those Old Testament stories we learnt as kids,

well, they're all set around here.

And it was in this very desert that the

chickens made history

some 400 years before Jesus was just a glint in God's eye.

Our mission - to find the first chicken farm on the planet.

Our destination - the rubbish dumps of a historic city,

where a massive haul of ancient chicken bones has been unearthed.

Our informant - Ian Stern,

doctor of archaeology and obtainer of rare antiquities.

A man who has dedicated his life

to solving the mystery of these historic relics.

-So, what happens here, Ian?

-Actually, you are

-in the ancient city of Maresha here.

-Right.

This is a site that was mentioned in the Bible four times.

It was probably one of the main cities between...

let's say 200, 300 years BCE.

What we've found here indicates that we had a cosmopolitan society.

One of the unique aspects of the city of Maresha

was the fact that you have thousands upon thousands

of subterranean caverns, caves, underneath where we are standing.

-Wow.

-And the reason for that is actually very practical.

So, what they would do is make a shaft and then build out

and carved brick-shaped stones,

like you see right here behind me.

-Wow.

-They then took those bricks from the caverns underneath

that they were creating, built their homes with it.

And, as a result of building their homes on the surface,

-they ended up having a hollow space underneath.

-Right.

And these what were initially quarries ended up being

areas that had a function,

meaning water cisterns, olive presses, dovecotes,

and also as dumps.

And that is really the secret to why we are finding so much here.

One of the most phenomenal things that we've been finding

-is the amount of chicken bones.

-Right.

Which doesn't sound terribly exciting when you talk about it.

It does to us.

Actually, I have to say, Ian, it does to us.

But here, what we are seeing is, for the first time,

commercial raising of chickens on a massive scale.

It's fantastic to be stood here, isn't it?

Hearing you talk, Ian. It's like one man's

rubbish tip is your archaeological gold mine.

-And in that we can unravel the story of history.

-So much. Absolutely, so much.

Right down here.

I would never have dreamt that this

was below the desert floor.

-You see quarry marks all around the walls.

-Yes.

-These were

done by the people when they were quarrying away

the bricks to make their buildings. The garbage

that was dumped in here almost reached the ceiling,

and, in some places, actually went beyond the openings

that you see in different areas around this cave.

These 2,000-year-old rubbish dumps

are now the workplace of Lee Perry-Gal,

who is a zoo archaeologist.

This is really abnormal, to find that amount of bones in such

an early period. So, we are talking here about

over 1,000 chicken bones.

This is a lot.

This is a huge quantity. Something unique happened here.

There is a story here. It may be the story of the chicken.

For thousands of years, actually,

chicken were used for different purposes.

-Rituals and burial ceremonies.

-Yes.

-And mostly for cockfighting.

-Yes.

-So, sport and sacrifice then?

-Exactly.

And eating chicken is quite a new thing.

Not like other species that were eaten for thousands

and thousands of years. Chicken is something else.

And this question was, where and when

chicken started to be part of the human diet.

For many years, the research didn't have the answer for that.

Now, we know that Maresha is actually the earliest

and the first place in the Western world

that people started to eat it and grow chicken

for economic purposes.

How did they cook them? Can you tell that from the bones?

Yes. Well, I can tell you how they didn't cook them.

We don't have any burnt bones,

so we know that they were not exposed to direct fire.

Another important piece of evidence we have

on the chicken bones is the butchery marks,

-like the ones you see here.

-Wow, That's amazing.

It is exactly on the joint

-where the different portions...

-Just like we would do.

-Exactly.

-So, drumsticks, thighs. Wings, breasts.

-Schnitzels, everything that we would eat.

-Wow.

So, the thinking is that when Maresha was a bustling metropolis,

its citizens were the first in the world to be raising chickens

-for mass consumption.

-Then, when the Romans invaded

the Holy Land a few hundred years later,

they got a taste for chicken too,

and it spread throughout the rest of their empire,

and, eventually, the entire world.

Cor blimey, Si!

Absolutely, absolutely fascinating.

We also have the eggs industry here. We have almost 70% female.

-Gosh!

-OK. This is really, really fantastic.

You can just cut the bone and see if it has something inside.

It's called medullary bone.

It is something that the chicken during the laying cycle has.

-Uh-huh.

-And this is the best proof that this chicken was

during her time of laying.

I do feel a bit like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Chicken.

-It's true.

-It is.

-There is one question, however...

Yes.

-Lee...

-Yeah?

In your expert opinion...

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Good question. Good question. I think the chicken.

Not the egg, somebody had to bring the egg.

-No, it had to be the egg.

-No! You know why?

Because I still want to find an egg here. I didn't find any egg.

I wanted to find egg. I find only chickens.

This is why the chicken came first.

-Get in!

-One small battle does not a war win, Kingy.

Well, if you are so clever, then tell me what you think

made those Mareshan citizens think about eating the funny-looking fowl,

or their fragile eggs, in the first place, dude?

What if it happened like this?

Once upon a time, two and a half thousand years ago,

a chicken was standing on a rock,

and dropped one by mistake, which cracked when it landed.

Oops! Go on.

Disappointed, she walks off,

-and leaves the egg cooking slowly on the rock.

-I'm with you.

Along comes a shepherd, who sits on the rock to mind his sheep,

and puts his hand in a broken egg by mistake.

But when he licks it, he realises just how delicious it is.

Ooh, yum!

And, if the egg was so tasty, what about the chicken that laid it?

I don't know.

And that was the moment he diversified

from herding sheep to farming chickens,

becoming a rich and well-respected character

on the ancient streets of Maresha.

'In theory, that is.'

Do you know what, dude? I think you might have cracked it!

But what I'm still wondering is,

what meals those ancient Mareshans would have made with their chickens.

It's pretty certain that they would have made use of

the seven ingredients listed in the Old Testament

as coming from the land of Israel.

Ah, yes. The biblical seven.

Two grains and five fruits.

And who better to cook for us Bible-style

than Israeli chef Noam, who showed us around the kosher market?

-Well, what a kitchen.

-It is an amazing place.

He's going to do us a hotpot using ingredients

that would have been round here before the Romans.

It's great to see you using barley and wheat in the dishes.

I mean, I love it. It's better for you,

you've got some bite in it.

-Like, barley risottos, spelt risottos...

-Yes.

Anything you can do with rice, you can do with barley.

Here, we're not just doing chicken. I have a few chicken hearts.

-Right.

-And a few chicken spleens.

-I don't know if you've ever tasted it.

-Never the spleens, no.

But they become very soft and creamy and it's amazing.

Well, the Mareshans would have had to make the most of their chicken.

But, luckily, they weren't short of herbs or spices.

I'm adding quite a few ingredients that we found just around here.

We picked a bit of wild hyssop

-and we picked up a bit of wild fennel.

-The aroma is...

Wow! Very intense.

You know, I'm getting an idea now of the Israeli food -

not frightened of flavours.

-The hyssop is like a cross between thyme and lavender.

-Yeah.

And there's a pepper note to the back of it, as well, isn't there?

Oh, yeah, that fennel is so strong!

All the essential oils are exploding inside.

It's amazing, isn't it? Because, when you look at

an arid landscape like this,

-you kind of think, well, there's nothing grows here.

-No.

It's a desert. But it so isn't.

Noam is also using pomegranate molasses and date honey

-to boost the Biblical flavours.

-It is very easy to make,

but the flavour of mixtures and the flavour of game in the dish

-is quite amazing.

-It's alchemy, isn't it?

I can't wait to taste this.

You know, Kingy, using foraged ingredients like this

shows how creative the ancient people of Maresha must have been

when it came to cooking.

And Noam's not doing badly either, is he?

Is Israel an exciting place for a chef at the moment?

It's very exciting,

because you can get ingredients now from all over the world.

I think that the Israeli cook or chef is not afraid to use

whatever he wants to use and make new combinations

and new taste combinations.

With soaked grains, fruit and veg in the pot,

Noam is adding water to poach the chicken.

And that's it. I'm going to cover it with the fig leaves.

I'm going to try and make an inner cover.

And they're going to give...

-A cartouche of fig leaves?

-Yes.

Exactly. Fig leaves.

I bet Adam and Eve didn't call them a cartouche of fig leaves,

-though, did they?

-And that's it.

Now, we just have to wait.

The chicken needs to cook for an hour under its fig leaf cover,

which acts as an inner lid to keep the meat moist.

Oh, I'm really... It's killing us, this.

-It smells amazing, doesn't it?

-It does. It absolutely does.

Yeah, yeah, very aromatic.

So, I'm going to take the fig leaves off.

Oh, look at that chicken, dude.

It's that barley I can't wait to try!

And we can see the meat is very tender.

It just peels off the bones.

Oh, look at that!

-You want to taste it?

-Not half!

Oh, man. The flavours are awesome. Sweet and savoury, earthy.

-Yeah.

-It is warm and comforting.

It is informal. It's so good, man.

-But I love the barley, because it makes it robust as well.

-Mm!

-Robust and generous.

-It has a nice texture.

-Oh, yeah! I love it.

-Has a really nice texture.

That was delicious.

The only real difference between this dish and the 400 BC version

would have been the meat.

Back then, the chickens would have been tough and scrawny.

Chicken breeding's come a long way since then.

Now, there are hundreds of different breeds.

Birds bred just for their eggs and others called broilers

just for their meat,

with some bred to suit local conditions and even tastes.

You mean, like how the French say, "Je t'aime"

to the rich flavoursome plump meat of the free-range poulet de bresse.

Yeah, and how chicken-obsessed Americans have found ways

to breed their broiler chickens with extra big wings

to satisfy the stateside appetite for barbecue.

As the world's population grows and chicken is on the brink of

becoming the most eaten meat on the planet,

the evolution of this ubiquitous bird continues.

But it's a controversial business, and it's easy to see why

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's

avian development lab.

Ah!

Avigdor Cahaner is an avian geneticist

and a world leader in this field of science.

In extreme heat, we can strip off.

But chickens get stressed in hot climates and can even die.

The professor has been breeding chickens with fewer feathers

to help them cope better with the heat.

These fancy feathers, they look nice,

but it's like having a fancy coat in the summertime.

It's terrible. They don't like it.

That's why I was looking for genes

-that reduced the feather coverage.

-Right.

To make their feather coverage more similar to what you're wearing now.

-You see, this man...

-Oh, he's got a bald neck!

-Flipping heck!

-Half bald neck.

Why is that, then? That's just to keep them cool?

Yes. That helps them to keep cool. And we have this lady.

It's all the same gene, but in double dose.

-Oh, look.

-And as you see, it's not just the neck that is naked.

It has very little feathers on the breast

and no feathers at all on the legs and some parts of the body.

But it's GM, though. It's genetically modified?

No, it's not GM. It's a natural mutation.

You can find chickens like this everywhere in the back-yards

-in hot climate countries.

-Really?

It's very... This is very common.

Naked-neck chickens is very common. It's a common gene. Quite common.

But it only provides the chickens with partial alleviation.

-Right.

-So, partial alleviation to heat stress?

-That's what we're talking about.

-That's why I was interested in

checking the maximum effect of having no chickens...

No feathers at all.

So, I decided then to use another mutation

which eliminates further development on the entire body.

-No feathers at all. So...

-Bald chickens?

-Bald chickens.

It's a bit "whoa!" to the eye.

Because you don't expect to see a chicken like that.

I'm not entirely sure I like it, Professor.

Wait until you see the others.

The professor is an internationally respected scientist

who works to a strict code of ethics.

There's no doubt this particular field of science is cutting edge.

It raises a lot of issues and, for most of us, it's a bit of a shock.

Oh, crumbs!

-They look quite prehistoric.

-Oh, my God.

And this is a natural mutation

that was found in California in the '50s.

And then I brought them to Israel and I bred this gene

-into the modern broilers. These big chickens.

-Yeah.

They are those who suffer the most from the heat.

I mean, it looks a bit freaky.

Freaky, dude? It's wrong!

It's supposed to be a chicken with feathers!

'The truth is, if you eat meat,

'you need to feel comfortable about where your food comes from.

'For me, if bald chickens are the future,

'I'm sticking to lentil burgers.

'Yeah, me too, Kingy.'

Do you know, mate? Those chickens totally freaked me out.

Too right. They were weird.

I've never seen anything like them before.

The future's a strange place, isn't it?

Especially for chickens!

But if you look at what lies ahead for the different cultures here,

there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In Israel, contact between Israelis and Palestinians is limited.

But there's a project in Jerusalem that's committed to bringing

young people from both sides of the divide together

to build a better future.

They practice several times a week under coach Hinny

and compete in the National League.

I think the basketball makes them really get to know each other.

-It's a very equal place.

-Yes.

They are coming to the court and both sides are equal.

And also, doing the games and everything,

they need to work in teamwork and they need to work together.

-OK, let's go, guys.

-We're off.

Good luck, Kingy!

And you, dude. All right.

-You go there.

-Yeah!

OK, guys, what we're going to do,

we're going to be in couples.

This will be a laugh, dude!

They've invited us to join the team for the day.

And we're going to learn how playing together

can help you work together in life.

'Teamwork, dude. Teamwork.

'It'll teach us trust and tolerance.'

Oh, no!

'That'll be helpful(!)'

Well, I've tolerated you for years.

I think you'll find that I'm the tolerant one.

Anyway, basketball doesn't half give you an appetite,

so let's get the kids off the court and cook them some lunch.

You're on, dude. But we need to make something

that won't just tickle these teenagers' palates.

It will also be OK for all of them to eat.

One of Israel's favourite fast foods is chicken schnitzel.

It's a local delight. But we'll do it with chicken

that both Muslims and Jews can eat.

You're on, me little schnitzel!

And we'll serve it with pitta bread and a colourful, crunchy coleslaw.

By heck, look at the size of those chicken breasts.

You should have seen the size of the legs!

This is all we're going to do.

Just with the heel of your hand.

Because you don't want to break the fibres down.

It's not like making an escalope.

-Do you know what, Si?

-Yeah, mate.

When I was a kid, I always dreamed of being a Harlem Globetrotter.

-Did you?

-HE HUMS

Boom! Slam dunk. Ooh...

Oh, flip!

But you know, cos... I'm good with ball sports.

I've got that coordination.

You know, practically that basketball

was like a magnet on my finger.

Look at that. It's like as though it's attached to my hand

with elastic.

There is a fundamental problem

with you being a Harlem Globetrotter, dude.

-What?

-First of all, you're what? Six foot.

And you've got to be seven foot two.

Well, I know. But I thought I could grow into it.

-Hey.

-What?

I'll give you £100 if you can...

-Shoot that hoop?

-Do a shoot that hoop.

Take it off me. Take it off me.

No, no, no, no, look.

You can't restrain, dude.

BOTH: Ohhh!

-Rubbish.

-Oh, come on. We're meant to be making schnitzel.

Yeah, that's true. I got into it there, dude. Sorry.

-Never mind.

-I'm not as fit as I was.

I think we'd better stick to our day jobs, mate.

And breadcrumb those schnitzels.

And, as we're in Israel, we're using matzo meal instead,

which is like cracker crumbs.

And we're adding sesame seeds for a bit of Middle Eastern texture.

When I was a kid, my mother used to use those orange crumbs.

You could see them for miles and, oh, how I loved them on a fishcake.

And now, to get our crumby coating to stick to the chick,

we need to dip it in beaten egg first.

You take the schnitzel.

You dust it in that wonderful seasoned flour

with the smoked paprika and the mustard.

Swathe it in egg and then I'll do this one in our lovely mix.

And don't be shy. Everybody loves crunch.

Of course they do.

And that's why we're making a crunch-tastic

kohlrabi, cabbage and carrot coleslaw too.

-Bang in season, kohlrabi, at the minute.

-Oh, it's bang in.

Now, if you're wondering where to get it,

most Asian supermarkets around the peripheries

of major cities in the UK sell it.

Most supermarkets sell it now!

-Do they?

-Well, aye. Where are you living?

Consett.

Since the steelworks closed, we haven't had much.

And we certainly didn't have kohlrabi, that's for sure!

Kohlrabi's massive here in Israel, but, if you happen to live near Si,

I can tell you it's got an almost sweet flavour

like water chestnut.

So a squeeze of lemon should sharpen it up lovely.

This lemon. It's beautiful, isn't it?

At last, they've given me a seedless lemon.

Now I just go up like any of the others and go,

"And just squeeze the lemon onto the coleslaw."

There's a pip.

SI LAUGHS

You see, that's the thing.

If you didn't have pips, then how can you have another lemon?

The next element is caraway seeds,

which gives our coleslaw a slightly aniseed twist.

About a tablespoon in each bowl.

Nice. It's like rainbow coleslaw, this.

They look great, Kingy.

That's the first batch.

-Yeah, another five to go.

-Aye.

Now, what we need to do now is...

It wouldn't be coleslaw without mayonnaise.

-First off...

-I suppose I'll be whisking, will I?

-Oh, yes. There you go, love.

-I knew it!

And the perfect accompaniment for the schnitzel

is a garlic mayo with a little mustard kick.

And next, two egg yolks.

Would you like to emulsify that for me, Mr King?

Now, you beat it until the egg yolks change colour.

So, you see how they're dark now?

You want it a lighter colour.

A light canary colour.

-That's there, isn't it?

-That's it, mate, yeah.

Now, the secret is that it must be one endless, clean stream of oil.

-Are you happy with the rate of flow, Si?

-Yes. It's great.

Of course, you can do this with a food processor.

-You can. But we haven't got one of them either!

-Keep whisking!

-Do you know, you're doing an excellent job.

-Shut up, Myers.

You've gone all weak and whoppy, have you?

You gone all girly? Come on, let me have a go.

-Come on. Come on.

-You... I tell you what. You can get lost!

Because you always do that, you. Go on, then. Go on.

-I think the heat's got to him.

-It is.

The thing is, mayonnaise, it needn't be 'hell, man'!

That is the best mayonnaise I've ever made.

Come on, gang. Who's hungry?

-ALL:

-Me!

-Come on!

THEY CHEER

Help yourselves. Go on, dive in. It's brill.

Oh, man. I love this.

Two conflicted communities coming together.

United over one meal.

Scrumptious chicken schnitzel.

What do you think? All good?

-Really good.

-Is it good?

-Legendary.

-Legendary!

-Nice, that.

-Come on, eat some more.

-Come and have another.

-There's plenty.

-Have some more.

Well, coach, how did we do on the basketball field?

I think you're much better in schnitzels than...

-Basketball.

-Basketball!

What a fantastic bunch of young people you've got here.

It really is a credit to the work you're doing.

Well, here's to hope and happiness and new generations of peace.

-Thank you so much for having us.

-Thank you, thank you.

Thank you for letting us into your lives.

We were so happy to have you.

You know, for me, it's been the people as well as the food

that's made our visit to the Promised Land so special.

And I've loved discovering how all the different cultures

have had such an impact on Israeli cuisine.

So, thank you, Israel.

You've been Biblical.

Next time...

Howzat?!

We're back on UK soil...

-ALL:

-Gambe!

..celebrating the British love affair with a wealth of chicken dishes

that make Britain an epicentre for global cuisine.

So, we can visit all the chicken-loving nations

we didn't get to on our chicken world tour right here in Blighty.

I need more chicken!

We'll be tracking down dishes from Jamaica,

India,

Korea,

Portugal

and Bangladesh.

And meeting some of the inventive and inspiring cooks

who've introduced us to a world of flavours on our doorstep.

Forget going on your fancy cruises!

I've seen the light!