Salisbury Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip

It's the fellow with the horns I don't trust.

-Wow.

-He's coming for you. Look out, Mason.

He's telling you to clear off. Get away from his wives.

I can't pull the wool over his eyes.

THEY LAUGH

Naah!

Every one a gem.

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

HE LAUGHS

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

meet the people.

And, ah, yes, eat and drink.

Is melt in the mouth a Seussical 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'm looking forward to a decent meal. Are you?

Oh, 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're following in his footsteps...

I'll do all the work.

..to seek out weird and wonderful regional British cuisine

and discover how our tastes have changed over the years.

Do it right, son.

-Uh, uh!

-Ooh!

This is made from?

-Watercress.

-Don't have any vodka, do you, that we could mix with it?

Make a little cocktail before lunch.

Today, we are heading to Salisbury in Wiltshire

where the delicacies of the South West await us

to tickle our fancy.

You know this book that we are following,

the British Bouquet by Samuel Chamberlain.

-Sammy boy.

-A good man.

And he says, "The traveller who approaches

"Salisbury for the first time, guided by the towering

"spire of the cathedral, is due for a thrilling experience."

Wise words from Sam Chamberlain.

Have you ever been here before, Mason?

It's my first time in Salisbury.

I can see that from the way you're driving around in a concentric

-circle here.

-LAUGHS: I'm trying to look relaxed!

Yeah, you're not fooling me.

We've been down the street three times already.

THEY LAUGH

In our role as official BBC-appointed food connoisseurs,

we've come to Salisbury's 13th-century marketplace

right in the centre of the city

to start our gastronomic voyage of discovery.

-Morning, Terry.

-Good morning.

Which roughly translates as - get in there,

annoy the locals, eat anything we can lay our hands on.

Don't think of the produce.

For goodness' sake, man.

-Hello, mate. You all right?

-Hello, sir.

-How are we?

-We're very well, thank you.

-Good, good.

-Are you in charge of this?

-No.

-Good man. Neither am I.

-Where's the boss?

MASON LAUGHS

Despite there being no less than six large out-of-town supermarkets and

four smaller ones in the centre,

this twice weekly 800-year-old market is thriving.

Thank you.

And it's good to see some traditional Wiltshire offerings

taking centre stage.

Is there anything that is... Oh, lardy cake. What's that?

Lard, sugar, currants baked on a bit of bread.

-Completely non-fattening.

-Non-fattening.

-I could eat plenty of that.

-It's the best seller in the town.

-Is it?

And is it traditional to here? Give us a bit of lardy cake.

Don't be so mean. Goodness' sake, man.

Mm. This is fantastic.

-Thank you.

-It is fantastic. It's a credit to you gentlemen.

Yes, it's true, dear viewer. Your ears don't deceive you.

Lardy cake really is made out of pig's fat.

We all have a big bowl of bananas today...

And if they're putting pig in their pudding,

we better find out what's going into their sausage.

-Hello!

-Hello, mate. How are you?

-How you doing? All right?

-Yeah, good.

Things are better now I'm tasting your sausage.

It's a tough job but someone's got to do it.

-Someone's got to do it, don't they?

-These are all local sausages?

-Yeah, all made with chicken, they are. All low in fat.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

I must say, it's delicious.

-Well, these chickens have not died in vain.

-No, they haven't.

Since our Samuel Chamberlain was browsing these market stalls,

the sights and smells of the Continent have come to Salisbury,

including the national dish of Spain - y viva Espana!

How do you fancy a real traditional Wiltshire paella? Buenos dias.

-Buenos dias.

-Paella, I wouldn't associate that with Salisbury.

The paella we've got here has got Wiltshire chicken in it.

The vegetables are...

I generally buy them in this market or if I'm working elsewhere,

-I always buy locally.

-The locals obviously love this.

You've got the traditional chicken, chorizo -

fantastic.

-Me gusta mucho.

-Gracias.

-Mm.

-That's lovely, Steve. That's really good.

-Yeah.

-You keep talking and I'll keep eating.

-OK.

Paella is now so popular in this country, it even rivals lasagne

as the nation's favourite ready meal.

And those of you with an inquiring mind may be interested

to know that the name comes from the Arabic word meaning leftovers.

No, I didn't think that would put you off.

Leaving the market behind, we head gamely into the back streets

of Salisbury in search of even more food.

With any luck, we might even burn off a few calories along the way.

-Where would you like to go? Let's go left.

-OK.

-Now this is old town stuff, isn't it? Look at the architecture.

-Yeah.

This is what must have brought Chamberlain here, yeah?

This is what he must have thrived on. He loved this stuff.

In the 1960s when Chamberlain was here,

they were hardly any supermarkets in Wiltshire.

Most people still shopped in small family food businesses.

-Fish Row,

-Tel. That's caviar.

Butcher Row.

Pritchett Butchers. Terry, look at that signage.

"Home killed only. Family butcher."

-You couldn't put that up in a sign these days.

-No way. No way.

"What, you kill animals in your home?"

-Shall we have a chat with them inside?

-Let's go and have a look.

-Hello!

-How are you doing?

-Very well, thank you.

-We've just seen your sign, "Home killed only."

-Yep.

-Could you explain that a bit more for us?

-Um...

Obviously many years ago,

most butchers actually had their own abattoir in the back and they

were allowed to kill their own animals and then go on to sell them.

Unfortunately, laws have changed these days

and we can't do that any more.

-I blame Brussels!

-So do I.

THEY CHUCKLE

They may change the rules, but tastes in Salisbury stay the same.

The bestsellers here are traditional Wiltshire faggots,

still made to their original 100-year-old recipe.

You see, faggots are slightly foreign to me.

Nobody has ever eaten a faggot in Ireland.

What are they made of?

We have minced pork, liver, bacon, bread crumbs, onions.

I bet there are delicious. How would you cook them?

-Just roast them in the oven for 40 minutes.

-In a gravy.

-Gravy.

-With a bit of veg?

-A bit of veg, bit of gravy. Absolutely delicious.

-You don't want to spoil it with veg.

-No?

-Are you a bit of a veg man?

-I didn't know this about you.

-I like my meat and two veg.

MASON LAUGHS

Traditionalist.

What's your first impressions of Salisbury, Terry?

I think it's a lovely place to live

and old Chamberlain speaks very highly of it.

It's changed a hell of a lot since Chamberlain came through here anyway.

I've changed since 1963 myself. I know that's hard to understand.

HE LAUGHS

I think I was probably at my best in '63.

It's been a downward spiral since then.

I can see you living here, Mason.

I can see myself in a nice bright pair of corduroys, a tweed gilet.

So you'll be getting into a pair of yellow corduroys very shortly,

will you?

I wouldn't go that far. Maybe light pink.

Even a couple of the greedy guts like myself and Mason need

time away from the trough, so the next phase of our Salisbury

journey takes us to the local museum for some serious

research into our specialist subject of food.

It's not all beer, women and skittles for us, you know.

-We are getting out of the cold.

-A bit of culture, Terry.

-Oh, yes.

-A museum.

-That'll make a change.

Suits me too at my age.

-Wow, look at these lovely birds.

-Where?

LAUGHING: These ones here.

-Oh, I see. Yes.

-Boostards.

-No, bustards.

-Bustards.

-Great bustards.

-Oh, I've know some bustards in my time.

Oh, for goodness' sake.

You must meet them on the roads all the time in the old black cab.

-It's good eating.

-The size of them.

-It's bigger than a pheasant.

The poor, old great bustard,

heaviest of all British flying birds,

used to live happily on Salisbury plain,

but sadly, they were eaten to extinction in the 19th century.

Now one reason for that may be its inclusion in the 1803

Almanach des Gourmands, which describes the ultimate Sunday roast.

A deboned garden lapwing is stuffed into a lark,

followed by a thrush, and so on until it all ends,

some 13 birds later, in the poor, old great bustard.

They've try to reintroduce them since 1970.

Let's hope it's successful

-because there's plenty of eating on this great bustard.

-Amazing bird.

-Size of it.

-Oh, lovely.

Just stuffed in a cabinet like that. You know,

you being a national treasure, you know you could end up like this.

I'd be very lucky to end up like that.

Rather than in an open grave somewhere. Bring it back.

-Bring back the bustard.

-Bring it back.

We can all have a good square meal.

Feasting has always been on the menu here in Salisbury.

Whenever there was anything to celebrate,

be it the end of the Crimean War or a king's coronation,

locals would gather in the marketplace and get stuck in.

Now, this curious figure known as the Salisbury giant was

brought along too. He made his first appearance in 1400.

He hasn't missed a feast since,

which is evident from the size of him.

The outfit reminds me of the late Demis Roussos cos I always

maintained that there was a Greek party going on under his frock.

-Oh.

-People throwing plates around.

A good doorman. TERRY LAUGHS

-Salisbury Cathedral. What do you think, Mason?

-Wow.

That's incredible, Terry.

It's worth the journey in the old black cab to see that.

Most definitely.

The first time I've seen this, in the depths of my ignorance.

-It's fantastic.

-It's beautiful. It is beautiful.

-I'm going to go in.

-You going in, yeah?

-Yeah. I'm entitled. I'm the right religion.

-Can you get in? Will they let you in?

-They won't let me in there.

-I'll wait here for you.

-I didn't think they would.

No right-minded person could come to Salisbury

and not take in the glories of its most famous building.

Back in the '60s, our own Sam Chamberlain waxed

lyrical about this magnificent cathedral set in an emerald close.

I'm not here, though, to speak to you in hushed tones of niches

and quatrefoil motifs,

I am on the trail of a hot local food story.

And by all accounts, feathers were ruffled at the highest level.

-Hi, Gary. How are you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

Gary is, as we can see,

the clerk of works.

Now, they tell me, Gary,

-that you have been up the spire.

-I have.

-Stands back in astonishment.

-Four times now.

-On a ladder?

On a ladder on the inside.

-30 foot from the top, you climb out of a little weathered door.

-Please!

2ft by 3ft.

Then you climb the final 30ft on the outside,

on bronze rungs that were put there in 1950.

-You don't look down much, do you, when you are doing that?

-No. No.

And when you're on the top of the capstone and you do look down,

you can't see the spire because the capstone is wider than

your point of view, and it feels like you are floating, actually.

It is really quite a surreal experience.

Does that not frighten you to death? I couldn't do it in a million years.

-It is still scary.

-I could not do that in a million years.

For some reason, the spire seems to get thinner

and thinner every time I go up there.

I don't know if it is me being more mortal.

There was a famous chap called Old Hayley the Plumber

who apparently climbed to the top of the spire and roasted a pheasant

in, I think, it was the 1780s or something like that.

I think it was a brace of pheasant he cooked and roasted

on top of the spire.

I like the sound of that!

Roast pheasant at Salisbury's top tip.

Now, what a plumber called Hayley was doing up

there in the first place, we'll never know.

The Cathedral's most prized possession is the best

surviving copy of the Magna Carta.

This year it celebrates its 800th anniversary.

Now, you wouldn't normally associate the foundations of modern

democracy with a cheese sandwich, but trust us to sniff out

some tempting morsels to eat, even in the most unlikely places.

Here we are, backstage, Salisbury Cathedral.

A vestry.

And who..who have we here?

Oh. You shouldn't have dressed just for me.

When I came in, I noticed you were filling your faces with

all sorts of things. What is this?

This is our new Magna Carta chutney.

Magna Carta. Do you mind me saying,

it is a fairly pretentious name for a chutney.

-It is, absolutely.

-And why is it called Magna Carta?

Well, it is Magna Carta

because this is the year of Magna Carta.

And because it was that,

I wanted to use ingredients that were available then,

not necessarily in a chutney,

which probably wasn't known about then, although the spices were

known about and the raw ingredients -

plums, damsons, apples, burdock.

And I managed to locate some unusual ingredients.

This is the big one. This is called grains of paradise.

Grains of paradise are a member of the ginger family,

grown in West Africa.

They first arrived in Europe in the Middle Ages,

carried by camel train across the Sahara.

Their pungent peppery taste was sometimes used to disguise

meat that was, well, on the turn.

But I'm sure the kitchen here more than meets

current food hygiene standards.

So, obviously, the servers

have already been filling their faces with it.

-So can I try a bit?

-Oh, please do. Please do.

Do you mind if I use fingers?

No, absolutely not.

But make sure you get a good big wodge on it,

and then you get all the flavours.

We'll offer it up, your chutney.

-LAUGHING:

-Right.

Delicious.

A true taste of medieval Salisbury.

Setting is not bad either.

This is lovely. I can see what Chamberlain...

He must have loved coming to England.

-It is full of character, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is full of character.

There is a pub on nearly every corner, which I really like.

Can you imagine taking the dog out for a walk?

"I'll see you in a couple of hours."

THEY LAUGH

So, referring to Sam Chamberlain's epic tome,

he says, "The enquiring gastronome would do well to seek out

"a restaurant called Haunch of Venison,

"an old English chophouse.

"If you are in Salisbury for the day only, the Haunch of Venison seems

"destined to fill your time with a full measurement of contentment."

I'll be the judge of that.

-Ah-ha!

-Hello.

-Here we are... Look at this place.

It is just a wonderful old pub. Fantastic! How old?

It's five years short of 700 years old.

The building used to be a brothel.

-Did it?

-Yes, we have the gorgeous St Thomas' Church at the back.

And we have a tunnel between St Thomas' Church and our cellar.

Would this facilitate the local clergy?

It would, to save their embarrassment.

What's this? Raunch in the Haunch?

I should probably make my excuses and leave.

But in the interest of gastronomy, I'll just pop my head upstairs

and see what is going on.

Is that a haunch of venison you have got there?

Yeah, it is a rolled haunch.

Do they appreciate a decent haunch around here?

-It is by far the best seller here.

-Is it? Is it locally shot?

-That's what I want to know.

-We get ours from the New Forest,

so it is probably about 20 miles, 20 miles out.

Probably about as local as you're going to get.

Now, what are you dressing it with?

Salt, pepper, a bit of olive oil and some chopped rosemary on there

just to give it a bit of flavour on the outside.

-So, you have dressed it.

-Yep.

-And now what do you do?

-Stick it on the frying pan?

-Yep.

Just going to put it into a nice hot frying pan.

-Yeah, I thought so.

-Just going to seal it on the outside.

I'm not completely ignorant in these things, you know.

How long do you cook it for?

This will cook in the oven, after it has been sealed,

for about 45 minutes, so it's nice and pink in the middle.

I'm not in the mood for a roast, so instead, I'm going

to toy with a venison and smoky bacon casserole,

completed by a medley of fresh vegetables.

The sun is beaming through the latticed windows

and I feel like an ancient Tudor gentleman.

Oh.

Mm.

Is melt in the mouth a suitable phrase?

From the Middle Ages to the 19th century,

Salisbury was an important coaching town -

hundreds of thousands of travellers a year passing through.

Many stayed here, and occasionally,

they left some of their personal belongings behind them.

You can't come here without talking about the hand,

-which is in the case.

-Oh, I see it.

A mummified hand.

And the story goes, Terry, is that in the 1820s,

a stranger came into this pub, walked in through the door.

All the locals looked round. There was a silence

that traditionally happens when a stranger walks into a pub.

-Yeah, I had it myself when I came through the door.

-Exactly, yeah.

Anyway, I'm still here, go on.

He walked to the bar and said, "Drinks all round."

He was then invited to join in a game of cards,

of which he actually started to lose, heavily.

And then he started to win.

Unfortunate for him, just sitting to his right was the local butcher,

who had a sneaking suspicion that he was cheating at cards.

Reaching inside his bag, he pulled out a meat cleaver.

And as the stranger held his cards at the table,

one fell, expert chop...

Chop!

..cut his hand off at the wrist.

And that hand was mummified

and put into the wall of actually this area here.

-Did you make all that up?

-No!

That is the truth. Honest.

Do you know what I really like about you? I hate stopping a journey.

I have run out of petrol in the past

-because I didn't want to stop the car.

-Yeah.

And so I am so grateful you didn't say,

"Let's stop and have a cup of tea."

Cos it might have ruined our friendship early on.

You don't want to empty your bottle, do you?

THEY LAUGH

Our exploration into the fine fare of Salisbury would not be complete

without mentioning its prime crop.

-This, apparently, is the home of British watercress.

-Oh, yes.

It used to grow around Salisbury Cathedral, you know.

Are you a great watercress eater?

It has never really appealed to me before, but, you know,

it's going to take...

Somewhere like this is going to get my interest.

People keep telling me... "It's very good for you," they keep telling me.

-"It's full of iron."

-Yep.

-Have you tasted iron lately?

-No!

-Yeah.

Well, honestly, I think it is

the most overrated thing in the world, to be honest.

So don't ask me what we are doing here.

What are we doing here?

We're about to find out.

So, Keith Hitchings, you are the man.

You are the man to talk about watercress, I hear.

And we are surrounded by this stuff.

I'm not a great fan, to be honest with you.

What is so great about watercress, then?

-It is a wonderful product.

-Well, you'd say that.

It has got lots of history. It has been eaten for many, many years.

-It was a staple in the diet of Victorians years ago.

-Really?!

People would eat watercress just held in a paper cone.

Now stop it. So like chips?

They'd get a paper cone of watercress and eat it?

It was a very cheap food at that time.

And it was eaten just readily in the streets, I'm told.

My great-great-grandfather moved to the village back in the mid-1800s.

And by 1880, he had actually established a watercress business

here at Broad Chalke.

So, it has been very popular for years and years and years.

The fact that I don't particularly like it

sprinkled all over my food, that is neither here nor there.

I'm going to change that before the day is out.

-Are you going to convert me?

-I'm going to convert you.

Not only am I going to be forced to eat the stuff, we are

being roped into picking it as well.

I'm sure Chamberlain never had to do things like this.

-So, Keith, this is the traditional way of cutting watercress?

-Yeah.

What I am doing now is cutting a hand of cress,

what we call a hand of cress.

So I'm going to fill up the compartments of my fingers,

five fingers' worth.

If there is not five, you have done it wrong.

I'll eat more of it now that I see the effort that goes into

cutting it.

-Oh, yeah, oh.

-Because we used to cut for hours.

We were starting sometimes 7.00, 7.30 in the morning,

cutting right through to 4.00,

-especially at Easter time, when the demand was extremely high.

-Wow.

This is how it was done. I mean, most watercress was cut in this

-fashion for hundreds of years, really.

-Like every expert,

you have made what is actually quite difficult look really easy.

Thank you, Terry.

Ladies...and one gentleman.

So this is the sharp end.

So, have you any idea where this watercress is going?

It is going up to markets up in London.

What is the order today, how many do they want?

93 boxes.

-93 BOXES?!

-So...

-So you have got to be here for quite a while.

Do you ever make the mistake of eating any of it?

-THEY GIGGLE

-No.

-Yeah, I mean, do you like watercress?

-Yes.

-Come on, be honest.

-Yes.

-What you like about watercress?

-It's good for you.

You see, soon as somebody says that,

you realise it is going to taste like hell.

-No, it's not, as in the kids love it.

-Do they?

-Our kids love it.

-Your kids love it?

-Yep.

There is no putting it off any longer, time to sample the cress.

First up, a rather dubious looking beverage

made to a secret recipe, I'm told.

You don't have a vodka, do you, that we could mix with it?

-LAUGHTER

-Make a little cocktail before lunch?

-And this is made from...?

-Watercress.

-Oh, that's great.

-That's OK! That is very good.

That's EXCELLENT.

I can only tell you, I'm surprised.

-Watercress lasagne.

-This is it.

I'll risk it.

-I am bound to say, Keith, this is damn tasty.

-Thank you.

It goes against the grain to think that watercress can make

a decent lasagne, but it does.

So when you were a kid,

I mean, you were literally forced to eat watercress.

You could say that, I guess. But it is just in the veins now, isn't it?

Watercress in your veins. You'll live forever!

-Do you know what Stonehenge looks like?

-Yeah.

Are you sure?

I'm just looking out for coach loads of Japanese tourists,

that's what I'm looking for.

That is a rotten way to navigate.

Chamberlain devotes a whole page in his book to the mighty

Stonehenge, praising this dramatic monument standing

isolated on its timeless plane.

But our search for the final piece of this Salisbury food puzzle

bypasses such well-trodden territory.

We are headed a mile east to a mysterious wooded glade

where a team of archaeologists have uncovered evidence of how

our earliest ancestors lived 9,000 years ago.

There is only one question we want to know the answer to.

-What were they eating, do you know?

-They were eating

a brilliant diet, actually. They were eating aurochs.

But these aurochs would've been about three times

-the size of a Jersey cow. They're enormous.

-Aurochs?

-Yeah.

The taste would be something like between the best piece of beef

and venison. Really delicious.

But if you got one of them down, got an adult down,

that would feed 100 people.

So they ate aurochs, what else did they eat?

You've got everything.

It is a sliding scale from massive aurochs, red deer,

all the way down to frogs and toads' legs.

So we were eating frogs' legs long before the French.

Definitely, I think so.

What about the river? Did they eat fish?

They were eating fish, lovely salmon and trout. Gorgeous.

But they were also eating eel as well.

It seems the way they were catching the eel -

cutting the head off a really big animal, sticking it in the spring.

Then you get the eels coming in through the eye sockets,

gorging themselves on the brain, they can't get out, give it

a couple of days, pull the head out, and there you've got an eel trap.

It is a no-brainer, Tel. Hello, you all right?

I thought I was going to throw up there for a moment.

You wouldn't survive out here, I'd have to look after you.

Eels on Wheels for you.

-Eels through Skulls.

-Yes.

-Oh, come on.

-Yeah.

Come on, you're trying to put me off.

And all these various little artefacts that we see here?

Yeah, we've got... These are the tools used,

from very big type of axes which can penetrate anything

to the tiniest tools, the type of tools here that could well have

been used to take a little toad or frog down.

Can you just see the way they've very skilfully taken planes off?

Extraordinary!

The last aurochs died in Poland in 1627.

But other pre-historic ingredients are still available.

To celebrate these exciting revelations about Salisbury's

earliest known cuisine,

local curry house owner Burhan Uddin has come up with a new dish.

-So, Uddin.

-Yep.

-You've created this venison curry?

This is a venison curry. It is what we call venison bhuna.

And that is in honour of the dig, is it?

In honour of the dig, yeah, that's right.

As the smell of Uddin's curry wafts across the glade,

the archaeologists gather gratefully by the fire as we all enjoy

a last lingering taste of Salisbury.

Poor old Stone Age man.

Never got any of this.

-So, Salisbury was OK, wasn't it?

-It was amazing, Tel.

-Can we hit the road?

-Let's go.

-Do you know where you're going?

-No, but don't let that scare you.