Wells Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip

You know the old myth, a swan would break your arm, a man's arm,

with one swipe of its wing?

Yes.

Nobody has ever met anybody who's had their arm broken

by a swan's wing.

I know a fellow who fell over after he stepped on one!

It's taken 50 years in broadcasting, but I've finally cracked it.

A chance to meander around the country, see the sights,

meet the people and yes, eat and drink.

Is melted in the mouth A suitable phrase?

I've hailed a cab with one of London's finest cabbies,

Mason McQueen, to steer me around Britain's highways and byways.

I am looking forward to a decent meal. Are you?

I'm starving. I can't wait.

Our route has been mapped out by an adventurous gourmand,

Samuel Chamberlain, in his book 'British Bouquet'.

Almost 60 years later, we are following in his footsteps...

I'll do all the work, Tel.

..to seek out weird and wonderful regional British cuisine

and discover how our tastes have changed over the years.

Do it right, son.

-This one?

-And then pinch.

-Pinch?

-Yes, and twist.

-It's all about size, Tel.

-Size has never mattered to me!

Wells, the lovely little city in Somerset, beckons us.

A tiny mediaeval gem with a population of just 11,000 people,

but who knows how many gastronomic delights

just waiting to be discovered?

So we are coming into the smallest city in the country, Mason.

-It's a city?

-Yes. It's a city because it has got a cathedral.

-Oh, right.

And this cathedral, according to our Mr Chamberlain,

was a bit of a disappointment to him

because he thought it was a bit stubby.

He was expecting a spire and he didn't get it.

Chamberlain may have spotted a couple of shortcomings

in this magnificent building but he did concede that the facade

was simply unique in the Gothic world.

Who am I to argue?

A little early in the day for sightseeing. Breakfast beckons.

Rumour has it we'll find a good one next door

in the 13th century Bishop's Palace.

-Now this is what you call mediaeval, isn't it?

-Yes. Look at this.

I am getting, this is like your house in south-west France. Is it?

-Is this like the driveway?

-It could be a bit bigger, maybe.

What with the crenulations and the battlements and all the rest

where I hurl things down upon the unfortunate natives.

-Your croissants!

-Yes!

So bypassing the noble buildings of this wonderfully preserved

mediaeval complex, we make a beeline for the modern cafe,

named after a famous bishop of Wells who has become a sort of

patron saint of good food and good company in this city.

-A cow creamer.

-There you are.

You don't see many of those outside a PG Wodehouse novel!

So we're privileged to be sharing the bishop's table with you.

That's right. It is named after a very kindly bishop

who was here in the late 17th century

called Bishop Ken, Bishop Thomas Ken.

They decided to name the cafe after him because he used to, on a Sunday,

invite 12 of the local poor men to come and share his lunch with him.

And I think rumour has it they ended up with the 17th century

equivalent of a doggy bag as well to take home to their families.

Bishops of course, being Catholic, would be celibate...

-Well, officially, yes.

-Yes, all right.

We won't go into that. Have some more jam!

-I think we should drink a toast to the good Bishop Ken.

-Yes.

-Who gave foods to the poor.

-To Bishop Ken.

What do you think of Wells, of the little bit we've seen so far?

Yes, really nice. Very quaint, very quiet.

I'm going to keep an eye out for cider

because, of course, Somerset cider.

Oh, yes.

And then cheddar because we are not one million miles from Cheddar Gorge.

Stand at ease, can't beat a bit of cheese!

One thing this series has taught me is that if you want to track down the best local produce,

you head straight to the marketplace,

which luckily is where I find myself now.

-Hello.

-Look at this. Do you make these yourself?

-Yes.

In 2014, Wells was crowned best market

in the whole of the south-west.

Not hard to see why.

There's butchers, bakers.

I haven't found a candlestick maker yet but we'll keep searching.

Are you all right for a bag?

If it's handmade sausages you are after, Wells doesn't disappoint.

-Morning to you.

-Good morning.

That's the Six Nations special. Beef and Guinness.

-I have to have that then. Up Ireland!

-That's right.

-Good man. Where are you from?

-County Down.

See? Northern Irishman. Put it there.

-Nice to see you.

-And yourself.

I am just taking a chance here

but I think this might be the cheese counter!

It is, indeed. This is our traditional farmhouse cheddar cheese.

So what makes cheddar so special then?

The milk has got to come from the four counties.

Either Somerset, Dorset, Devon or Cornwall.

There's got to be no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives

added and the cheese has got to have matured for at least nine months.

-So they don't make it easy for you, do they?!

-No.

-There are a lot of regulations.

-There is indeed.

-But it's worth it.

-I will start here.

-So that one is matured for about 12 months.

OK. It's OK, stick with me.

-And this is the extra tasty.

-Extra tasty.

This has been matured for 18 months.

-So it will have a stronger flavour.

-That's very good.

Mind you, I'm sure it's all good.

Tasty Cheddar.

That's what I'm here for.

Cheese tasted. Now time to seek out the cider.

They say that when the Romans first arrived in Britain

they found the locals happily tiddling away on the stuff.

And we still boast the highest consumption per capita in the world.

My very first alcoholic drink was a cider.

I remember it well. So what kind of apples do you use?

In this part of the world we tend to get a lot

of what are known as bittersweet varieties

which means they've got a lot of tannin in them,

they've got a low level of acidity

and they've got quite a lot of sugar so they make a strong cider.

Neil and Helen make nine different ciders,

including this sparkling little number.

This variety here, which is called Special Reserve.

This is made in the same way that the Normandy

and the Brittany cider makers operate.

-You know the way in Normandy. They make the spirit.

-Calvados.

Do you do Calvados?

I would love to but the licensing over here

is slightly more complicated than it is in northern France!

That will be enough. Very little does me, you know.

I'm not a drinking man!

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

-That is really lovely.

-Yes, special.

-Worth every penny.

-Thank you.

Wells market and all its bounty have detained me long enough.

If only I could remember where I left my old mucker, Mason.

Mason? What are you doing, son?

Somehow I knew I would find you by the hot pasty stand.

Have you been drinking?

Cider?

-Have you been drinking cider?

-I might have had a few.

A brisk walk along Wells High Street will do us both the power of good.

Speed us on our way to our next food destination.

-Hello.

-Can I have a photograph with you?

-Of course, my friend. Are sure about this?

-Yes.

Are you sure you don't want me to take it, mate?

-You do look good.

-Thank you. You look good too.

I don't know why people have a problem with selfies. I can't get enough of them myself.

Nice to meet you.

-So where are you taking me now?

-We are off to the vintage tearoom.

-Yes, it is very...

-Vintage.

-Is that the word I'm looking for?

Pink was the word I was looking for.

The 1950s and afternoon tea seem to go together

in the popular imagination.

The last few years have seen an explosion of these temples

to tea, cakes and nostalgia right across the country.

In this one, you can even buy the outfit

so you can look the part as well.

You're bringing me to this rather exclusive

and slightly strange place.

-This is the vintage shop.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Vanessa?

-Yes.

-Mason.

-Hello. Alison.

-Alison, nice to meet you.

Now, I remember the '50s the first time round.

My Teddy Boy days are definitely over

but Mason is a bit more willing to experiment.

OK, look up. Yes. That is much more in keeping.

POSH ACCENT: Hello. Excuse me madam while I take this call.

Hello, 558, Wells.

I am loving this vintage place.

That's it.

IMPERSONATES NORMAN WISDOM: Mr Grimsdale!

You come here, promising me a cup of tea and a slice of cake

and you end up with the hats and the Norman Wisdom impersonations.

I will be brutally frank with you, ladies.

I am not big on high tea because I think it will ruin my dinner.

But you see, the reason high tea came about was almost

the opposite of that, actually.

Anna, Duchess of Bedford back in the 1800s, she was actually

one of Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting

and they used to have a big breakfast in the morning

and then a very light lunch and a big dinner much later on at night.

And poor woman,

she would find herself just wilting from lack of food.

So she ordered in some little sandwiches and some little cakes

just to keep her going until dinnertime and that's how it came about.

And it spread throughout all the high class houses of the area

and it soon became the thing to do.

The cake they sell most of here is the ever popular carrot cake.

To make me feel at home,

the girls have thoughtfully cooked up something a bit more full-bodied.

Here you have a chocolate Guinness cake, which is delicious.

And this is the topping which is made out of cream cheese

and double cream and icing sugar

and you have to spread it all over the top and whip it a bit

so it looks and resembles the head of a pint of Guinness.

-It's like a cake version of an Irish coffee.

-It is. It is, absolutely.

-It takes a good one to get past me!

-Without the whiskey though.

-Yes.

-Oh.

-Look at that. You've got a lovely touch!

-Thank you, Terry.

-You are a natural.

-Do you eat a lot of cakes, girls?

-Oh yes.

-We really do.

-Every day?

-Every day.

I would say that you two eat a lot of fruit cake!

At least you didn't say we were two old tarts!

Oh, we wouldn't say that.

Thanks to his travels around Britain in the '60s,

old Sam Chamberlain became a great aficionado of our mediaeval

towns and cities and he found Wells particularly rewarding.

And one of the most notable sites is the Vicars' Close,

said to be the oldest intact residential street in Europe.

This is perhaps the most remarkable avenue of houses

along which I've walked.

Extraordinary.

They tell me these are the houses of vicars attached to the cathedral.

Beautiful.

But it's not the ancient stones that have drawn me here,

but what lurks in the crevices between them.

The Mendip Wallfish, named after the hills that surround this city,

is, I discover, the local name for one of my favourite delicacies.

Adrian. Hello, how are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-Good to see you.

Now, I know you are a famous forager but tell me what we've got here.

What we have here are garden snails,

otherwise known as Mendip Wallfish.

That, if I may say so,

is a fairly devious Somerset way to describe an ordinary snail.

Will you pick a wild one for me?

Absolutely. I'll pick this one here. There we go.

So this is the common garden snail.

You can see it's got the lovely mottled effect, the browns and the blacks there.

What you would do is you would collect these

and basically you have to purge their stomachs of their contents.

To do that you would need to collect them, put them in a container with air holes

and basically feed them on lettuce or carrots or cabbage

or something of that nature

so that their stomach contents come out.

These guys can eat poisonous mushrooms, plants, toxic waste.

It doesn't affect them.

Their metabolism means that they can cope with this.

Unfortunately, if you or I subsequently eat that it wouldn't be so good for us.

-We would be brown bread!

-Yes. Quite.

Be warned, my children,

it takes about 12 days to purge a snail to make it safe for eating.

After that, you boil them up and prise them out of their shells.

Now, they may not look particularly appetising at this point

but it gets a lot better from here on in.

-How are we going to cook them?

-How are we going to cook them?

We are going to cook them in a bit of butter and a selection of herbs.

There is no garlic. Unlike the French, we do not have any garlic.

They have been cooking and eating snails in this part of the West Country

for just as long as the French.

And they have their own very particular recipe,

involving lots of fresh garden herbs and melted butter

and finally the magic ingredient - Somerset's secret sauce.

A little dash of cider in there.

-You'll have to tell me when.

-Yes, keep going.

Perfect.

-It smells incredible.

-It does smell beautiful.

After just a few minutes they are ready.

Wallfish a la Wells.

-You've got to eat them as well.

-Absolutely, yes. Here we go.

-Both of us.

That is stunning.

It's remarkable. I would never have thought of eating snails like this.

My compliments.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, Adrian.

The next phase of our gastronomic voyage of discovery sees us

leave the safety of the city behind to take our chances

out in the wilds of rural Somerset.

Here we go through the winding country roads, Mason.

Absolutely stunning, Terry. I've got to tell you. Beautiful.

Is it a bit of a strain for a city black cab driver to find

himself on the little windy roads here?

It's different.

Just different obstacles coming towards me.

Cows, little humpback bridges!

-Yes.

-SOMERSET ACCENT: Angry farmers.

-I am not going in there for a start.

-Oh, you are.

-No. No.

You'll be up to your armpits in mud in that.

Fresh air, Tel. Get that down you.

I can also smell food.

-Never far away.

-No.

We never go anywhere unless there's an excuse to eat. Come on.

It turns out that this most English of settings is home to

an exciting new culinary venture that draws on the tastes

and traditions of the continent.

Somerset Charcuterie is the county's largest producer

of cured and air-dried meats.

So not your average sausage, then.

-Hello.

-Who are these two manly fellows?

-Nice to meet you. Sorry.

-Andy. How are you doing?

-Andy. You must be James.

-Absolutely.

-Good.

-Hi, James. Mason.

Charcuterie comes from the French, meaning cooked meats

and was originally developed as a way of stopping meat from going off.

But over 2,000 years it has gone from being a necessary

practice to a culinary art,

celebrated for the intense flavours created in the preserving process.

It was a big European tradition and has been for many, many years.

But not a British tradition.

We had salted meats, which were pretty awful by comparison.

So when the fridge and freezer came along

and the industrialisation of meat processing, I think

we were happy to say goodbye to those salty meats

that weren't much good and replace them with what we've got.

We haven't got the climate here to be able to produce the kind of things they were producing in Spain.

Our climate may not have improved much

but modern technology in the form of these temperature

and humidity controlled rooms has allowed James and Andy to recreate

the warm, drying breezes of southern Europe in rainy old Somerset.

You got the idea of doing this how many years ago?

We have both been doing it for our own consumption

for four or five years.

I'm a butcher by trade. James has some of his own pigs.

So we have been making air-dried hams and chorizo for family.

But we've been doing this together in the last couple of years.

Risking their hard-won reputation, the boys have

asked for our help in making one of their signature sausages.

A classic Spanish chorizo with a few extra local ingredients.

This cheese is made not more than about two miles

away from where we're standing now on a neighbouring farm.

-What do you reckon?

-Yes. It's absolutely local.

We are mixing it with this fantastic Spanish smoked paprika.

Have a smell of that.

-Mmm.

-And cider.

-And cider. Not forgetting the cider.

Does everything have to go with cider in Somerset?!

Pretty much!

The ground-up pork is mixed with the salts and spices,

fresh garlic and our assembled tastes of Somerset.

And then the fun starts.

LAUGHTER

-See that? What are you laughing at?

-You're a natural.

-Look.

I was born for this.

-Well done. Not a bad effort.

-That is not a bad effort.

-For the first few, though, Terry, you have done all right.

-Yes.

I just panicked. To be quite frank.

Once this is done, what is the next process?

They go into a hot room, a fermentation room.

They'll come out of the fermentation room after 24 hours

and then they'll go into the hanging room for about 10 days.

-If you don't mind me saying, a well hung sausage.

-That's right, Terry.

-You had to go there, didn't you?

-Sorry. I couldn't resist it.

The chorizo comes in all shapes and sizes but these little chaps

are perfect to nibble on when you are enjoying a Somerset sundowner.

-Thanks very much.

-Hope you enjoy it.

-Really tasty.

In this series, Mason and I are eating our way through Britain.

But this little sausage will remain a high spot for me.

Astounding good health. What do they say in Somerset when they want to say cheers?

SOMERSET ACCENT: Cheers!

I thought so. SOMERSET ACCENT: Cheers!

Look at this. Bar Italia.

I never think of Wells as being very cosmopolitan

but as a matter of fact, old Chamberlain says,

"Most of the waiters in the sunlit dining room

"in which we ate were Italians.

"And we suspect the chef was from the Mediterranean also."

Bar Italia I know in Soho.

Are there any Italians in the Bar Italia in Soho?

There's loads of them.

-Because, you know the way Irish pubs are all over Europe?

-Yes.

You never find an Irishman in them!

The next phase of this epic food journey sees us

back in the centre of town trying to fill in the final piece

of our Wells culinary jigsaw.

The cultural phenomenon that old Sam remarked on all those years ago

is still evident today in the surprising number

of Italian businesses to be seen on the high street.

And the reason for it lies in the Second World War.

At that time, there were several prisoner of war camps near Wells

where Italian soldiers captured during the fighting in Europe

and Africa were interred.

And when it was all over, many of them decided to stay on

and make their lives here.

Da Luciano. Come in.

Pizzas. Are pizzas big in Wells in Somerset?

They are certainly in Wells.

We started the family business 25 years ago

and we've never looked back.

We introduced the pizzas in Wells High Street for the first time,

the first original pizza shop.

Presumably, the tastes, the Somerset tastes at that time

would not have gone towards those pizzas, would they?

To be honest, when my parents were first here it was very difficult for them

because people around here had not even heard of spaghetti and lasagne was still foreign.

Of course.

It just wasn't one of the foods we find nowadays which is common.

-Where was the family originally from?

-Calabria.

-Which is right on the toe. The very end...

-Of the boot of Italy.

That's right, yes.

With our story, it's because my father came over here because of his

brother who was a prisoner of war and he was in the camp here.

After the war, my uncle stayed because he liked the area,

found himself a good job and he persuaded my dad to come over

and since my dad was over here, he loved it.

Under the watchful eyes of Luciano's family, including his mother

and father, we now set about the serious business of pizza making.

Like a flannel, look.

-Just slowly rotate it and then comes the spin.

-I will stand well back.

-Yes.

-This could go anywhere.

-You spin it in the air.

-And that is now ready.

-Ready to be laid upon.

-Yes.

Fresh tomato sauce.

-So this tomato...

-You don't put too much on it, do you?

Maybe later, I will open another pizza restaurant down the road!

We can have a bit of competition!

I would call mine Pizza Terreria!

Formaggio!

Here we have some salsiccia.

This is fun. This is good.

Asparagus or...

Let's try a little local asparagus.

Let's put this pizza in the oven.

-I've got it. I got it.

-OK. Nice and steady.

Pizza Terry.

I am bound to say it's not a bad effort, even if I say so myself.

Good man.

With the pizza safely stowed,

I head off to share the fruits of my labour with my partner in crime.

The Bonnie to my Clyde.

Mason McQueen.

-You want me to try this, do you?

-Tell me you don't like this.

Beware of an Irishman bearing gifts.

I put a bit of asparagus in it for you.

-I've got to say, it's not bad.

-That is good, Tel.

-It's not bad.

Calabrian pizza eaten off the front of a London cab

in sight of the great cathedral.

Truly, Wells fare at its finest.

But we haven't finished yet.

As a grand finale to our Wells food adventure, we're heading back to the Bishop's Palace,

where we have invited all our new friends to join us

for a celebration of the tastes and flavours

that it's been our good fortune to discover in this fine city.

Don't blow this. This is a big catering contract!

My nerves are in bits now.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Myself and my compatriot here, Mr Mason McQueen,

are very pleased to serve such a distinguished crowd.

And you as well!

LAUGHTER

Amazingly, I discover that some of our guests had yet to taste

the famous Mendip Wallfish.

-Is that your first snail?

-Yes.

-It is your first snail.

But don't say you can't eat something if you haven't tasted it first.

-You see, the cider in that makes a difference, doesn't it?

-That's nice.

It is, you see. A convert.

Isn't that good?

OK. We will leave you with that expression on your face!

OK, so we have changed it a bit. The bishop used to feed them.

Now you've got an Irishman and a Cockney.

The party is going with a swing,

but now it's time for us to get back on the road.

Ladies and gentlemen.

It's been a great honour and a privilege for Mason and I to serve you

this special bishop's feast in this palace.

Thank you for the welcome in Wells. We've had a wonderful time.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

ALL: CHEERS!

So as the sun goes down over Wells and reflects

on the old Bishop's Palace here, it's been a good day, hasn't it?

-It's been a great day. What a place.

-Did you enjoy the feast?

-Yes, I did.

-Really nice.

-Did you enjoy the snails?

-Yes.

-Snails and cider.

Slowly but surely, they were all right.

-They have wormed their way into your affections.

-They have, mate.

-And tomorrow is another day.

-It is.

Let's go.