Episode 5 A Question of Taste

APPLAUSE

Hello, I'm Kirsty Wark and welcome to A Question Of Taste,

The food show that puts the quiz into cuisine. As always,

we have two teams of passionate foodie friends,

who battle it out over a series of rounds

designed to test their foodie knowledge to its limits.

We'll be testing them on a variety of subjects from ingredients

and techniques to equipment, recipes and history.

Just one team can win, though.

So, before we serve up the first course of questions,

let's meet our culinary quizzers. First up,

we have May Contain Nuts

and their captain, JP.

APPLAUSE

So, please, tell us all about your team and where you're from.

Hello, there. We're all from Somerset.

I have my friend Julie here and Steve at the end.

We've all met through social media with a love of food.

Julie makes some amazing decorated cakes,

celebration ones, and including these rather fantastic sculptures

and Steve is very much part of the culinary world,

he travels all over

seeking out good food places, and I myself am a chef and food writer.

Do you eat together? Do you cook for your two friends?

We sometimes meet up and go and find places to go and eat.

-And turned yourself into May Contain Nuts?

-We did.

Well, lovely to have you here, May Contain Nuts, and taking them on,

we have Three Like To Eat,

and their team captain, Kavey.

APPLAUSE

So, tell us a bit about your team.

I'm Kavey, I'm from London. This is Danny, he's from Essex,

and Dan is also originally from Essex, but has moved to Bristol.

Our team met through a shared love of eating

and we all love to write about food. So, three of us are food bloggers

which is how we first encountered each other.

-These guys also run supper clubs.

-A-ha! This is the new big thing.

-Supper clubs - in your house or in friends' houses?

-At home, yeah.

In the supper club, any particular kind of cuisine?

It varies. It varies.

In the summer, I buried a lamb in a pit and we served that up.

Well, I'm sure it was very tasty.

So, those are the two teams,

but there's one more person I need to introduce in Kitchen Corner.

The man behind one of the UK's most popular culinary publications.

He's really worth his salt when it comes to all things gastronomic,

it's William Sitwell.

APPLAUSE

William, we expect you to add a little spice to the proceedings.

Yes, a modest sprinkling. I'm here in Kitchen Corner to elaborate on the finer points of some of the questions

and hopefully offer up a little food for thought for the teams

and also for the viewers at home.

So, both for May Contain Nuts and Three Like To Eat, it's round one.

Let's get quizzing with See Food.

APPLAUSE

So, fingers on buzzers for this round.

I'm going to ask you 15 questions, each one relating to a picture.

If you buzz in with a correct answer you will score a point. However,

an incorrect answer means it will be thrown over to the opposing side.

Here is your first question.

What is the French term for scoring the surface of food as shown here?

Quadrille. What is this used for?

BUZZER SOUNDS

-May Contain Nuts?

-Churning butter?

-Absolutely right.

APPLAUSE

What is the British name for this cut of beef?

BELL RINGS

-Three Like To Eat?

-Shin?

-Shin is the right answer.

You're now on the board. One plays one.

These are the five basic ingredients of which sauce?

BELL RINGS

-Three Like To Eat?

-Salsa verde.

-Salsa verde is the right answer. Cooked in your supper club ever?

-I've done it before.

Salsa verde is so versatile, isn't it?

It's very popular in Mexican, also Italian cooking.

You can have it in burritos, tacos. I personally love it with lamb.

How fantastic. Maybe lamb in a pit?

Possibly. Just to make it palatable.

What is the cabbage-based national dish of this country?

BUZZER SOUNDS

-May Contain Nuts?

-Just gone.

-Just gone? Over to Three Like To Eat.

-Colcannon.

-Colcannon is the correct answer.

An interesting fact about colcannon is that,

traditionally, at Halloween in Ireland,

you put a bit of colcannon into a sock if you were an unmarried girl.

You then add a charm, and then you could hang that sock

on your front door handle,

and the next man who turns up at your house,

well, he could be your husband.

LAUGHTER

Which tea comes from this Indian region?

BELL RINGS

-Three Like To Eat?

-Assam?

-That is incorrect.

-May Contain Nuts?

-Salong?

-I'm afraid that's incorrect. The answer is Darjeeling.

-That's right.

Darjeeling, from the northern part of West Bengal.

There are 86 tea estates,

and you have to be a producer in Darjeeling to produce Darjeeling tea.

It's a bit like champagne in France.

In which month are these three all in season?

BELL RINGS

Three Like To Eat?

I was about to say June.

That is the correct answer. Very well done.

APPLAUSE

Now, who is this chef?

BELL RINGS

Three Like To Eat?

-Mark Hix.

-That is the right answer.

-Are you a fan of Mark Hix's food?

-Yes.

Mark Hix is an incredibly popular chef.

Brilliant. He had a long career at Caprice Holdings.

He ventured out on his own. He's now got a restaurant in Soho,

he has his own restaurant in Lyme Regis, and he's a real proponent of classic, British food.

It's really simple food, he does. Just using British ingredients.

So you use a lot of Mark Hix's recipes?

No, I tend to go and eat there, if I can.

LAUGHTER

Traditionally containing grenadine,

what is the name of this iconic cocktail?

BELL RINGS

-Three Like To Eat?

-Tequila Sunrise?

Tequila Sunrise is the correct answer.

APPLAUSE

For which foodstuff is this the chemical formula?

The answer is salt.

What foodstuff have we zoomed in on here?

BUZZER SOUNDS

-May Contain Nuts?

-Sweetcorn?

I'm afraid that is incorrect.

Three Like To Eat, have a close look.

-Pumpkin?

-I'm afraid that is incorrect. It is a red pepper.

Who wrote this book?

BELL RINGS

-Three Like To Eat?

-Is it Greg and Lucy Malouf?

That is incorrect, I'm afraid. May Contain Nuts?

You don't have it?

All right, the answer is Claudia Roden.

What ingredient is cooked alongside this traditional Jamaican fish

to produce its national dish?

BELL RINGS

Three Like To Eat?

-Ackee.

-Ackee is the right answer.

-Ever cooked that?

-No, I haven't.

-Eaten it?

-Yes, I have.

William, tell us how ackee came to be part of this Jamaican dish.

Well, ackee isn't indigenous to Jamaica.

It actually comes from West Africa. It also has its proper name,

which is blighia sapida,

which comes from Captain Bligh when he first discovered it in Jamaica.

In 1793, he brought it over to the UK

and presented it to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

Thank you, William. To which bird do these eggs belong?

BUZZER SOUNDS

May Contain Nuts?

-Quail.

-Quail is correct. Quick on the buzzer.

And the final question in this round is

what is the technical term for the culinary knife cut shown here?

BELL RINGS

-Three Like to Eat?

-Chiffonade?

-Chiffonade is the correct answer.

At the end of that first round, what are the scores?

The scores in this part of the competition -

May Contain Nuts have two,

but Three Like To Eat are ahead on eight points.

Very well done.

APPLAUSE

However, it is only the first of five rounds, and now,

we have something rather colourful for you.

The next round is TV Dinners.

APPLAUSE

Now, in this round, we're going to show you six classic culinary clips

from TV archives past and present.

This first clip is Antonio Carluccio from 1996.

In this extract, we have bleeped out a key word

and all we want you to do is to buzz in and identify it. Here's Antonio.

-Ah, this is wonderful. This is the

-BLEEP,

the most famous bread in the whole of Emilia-Romagna.

It is simply dough made of flour, water and yeast

and then pressed in these funny things.

So, Antonio Carluccio there.

Nobody has any idea what that might be?

No-one even hazarding a guess?

-Three Like To Eat?

-Flatbread?

I'm afraid we'll have to look at Antonio Carluccio.

I don't think it is quite as prosaic as flatbread.

Ah, this is wonderful.

This is the tigella, the most famous bread in the whole of Emilia-Romagna.

See, you learn something on this show. Tigella.

Yeah, it is produced quite near Bologna up in the mountains there.

It's very unusual in that it's put into these iron moulds and cooked a little bit

like a waffle. So, you close it up

and it gets this stamp of the flower which is on the iron mould.

It's a little bit, in flavour and texture, like focaccia.

Next up is another missing word for you to identify

from Two Fat Ladies in 1998.

And I'm just going to put some water,

hot but not boiling, around the bottom of this.

Just pour it so it comes about halfway up.

-This whole contraption is known as a

-BLEEP.

Goodness knows why - it's a roasting tin with water in it.

BUZZER SOUNDS

-May Contain Nuts?

-Bain-marie.

Let's see if Clarissa Dickson Wright was talking about a bain-marie.

And this whole contraption is known as a bain-marie.

APPLAUSE

William, it's known as lots of things, of course?

No-one really knows the origins of it.

Of course, it's a more delicate way of cooking.

Some say that it goes right back to a lady called Mary the Jewess,

who was an alchemist, and she was the sister of Moses,

but who knows. I can't verify that for you.

This time, it's one of the first ever television chefs,

Zena Skinner from the 1970s.

This time, you'll watch a clip and a question will follow.

Now, have you ever done it with a fork?

No, I haven't. I think that's a jolly good idea, too.

-It saves your hands getting too smelly.

-This is marvellous.

If you just stab it in the top.

-In the middle?

-That's it. Like that.

Push it right down and then, you can cut between there, if you want.

-And I'll do a carrot, shall I?

-Yes.

Have them done in no time, won't we?

-How's that?

-That's very good. See, you know all about onions, too.

Praise indeed from Zena Skinner.

Well, we saw her chopping onions there,

but from which country does the confusingly-named

Welsh onion originate?

Out of time. Actually, it originates from Japan.

Up next, it's Rick Stein from 1999.

See if you can guess the bleeped-out word.

So here, look. Look at these.

Again, we're just beginning to get those in England.

-Now, these are

-BLEEP.

-They are a vital ingredient of a green curry,

either a chicken or a fish green curry.

-Three Like To Eat, what were the bleeped-out words?

-Pea aubergines.

Let's see if he was talking about pea aubergines.

Again, we're just beginning to get those in England.

Now, these are pea aubergines...

APPLAUSE

-They're very pretty, aren't they, William?

-Very pretty.

They look a bit like a small, untidy bunch of grapes. Famously cooked

in south-east Asian cuisine. They've got quite a bitter taste.

When they're cooked, you put them in your mouth and they have a mini explosion.

Well, here's Leslie Walters from 1991.

Again, you are looking for the missing word.

Now, while your pasta is cooking, you can actually prepare your seeds.

I'm just going to switch this on.

Now, I've got lots of different seeds here.

-I've got fennel, poppy, mustard,

-BLEEP,

-sunflower and sesame.

Three Like To Eat, what do you think the seed was that she...?

-Pumpkin.

-Pumpkin seed. Let's see if she was talking about that.

I've got fennel, poppy, mustard, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame.

APPLAUSE

Well, I have to say, Three Like To Eat,

you are cooking with gas at the moment.

One final clip from the '60s features the late Gilbert Harding -

a journalist who was once dubbed the rudest man in Britain.

Now we're about to see why.

Watch the clip cos the question is about to follow.

Have our designers learned nothing from past mistakes?

Or will the new generation of housewives use this marvellous,

shiny equipment in the same old muddled way?

Look out! The milk's boiling.

There! Not bad, was it?

Not bad? It was dreadful.

I counted 20 journeys.

Yes, 20 journeys, carrying things. A total of nearly 100 yards.

You see, as far as from here to the corner of the street and back.

I wonder how many miles a day you walk in this kitchen?

How many miles indeed?

That was Gilbert Harding in an infomercial about new kitchen equipment there,

but in which decade was the iconic cooker,

the Aga, first introduced to the UK?

Which decade?

BUZZER SOUNDS

-May Contain Nuts?

-'40s?

-That is incorrect.

Can you offer us another decade?

-'50s?

-Is incorrect. You're far too late, in fact.

It was indeed the 1920s. So, at the end of that round,

William, what are the scores?

Well, May Contain Nuts are on three, but leaping ahead,

Three Like To Eat are on ten points.

APPLAUSE

Now, we move on to round three and it is the Smorgasbord.

APPLAUSE

In this round, each team will take it in turn to be in charge of a question board.

So, first up, May Contain Nuts, let's have a look at your board.

We can see ten pictures of food.

All we want you to do is identify five ingredients

that go into Chinese five-spice powder.

You'll get a point for each one you get right.

However, if you get one wrong, your go is over,

and all the other team has to do is get one point right

to score a bonus and knock out all the points you earned in the round.

William, a few more details on five-spice?

That's right. There's a maximum of five points on offer.

We're looking for the five ingredients

that go into making the traditional Chinese five-spice

as defined by that great reference book Larousse Gastronomique.

May Contain Nuts, have you done sufficient conferring,

and if you have, can you give me the first ingredient of five-spice?

-WHISPERING:

-Star anise?

Star anise.

We'll go with star anise to start us off.

Star anise, a quick one to start you off.

Is star anise part of five-spice?

It is, that's a good start.

APPLAUSE

Your second ingredient, please.

I think it's coriander.

Yeah, coriander?

We're going to go with coriander next.

You're going with coriander.

Let's see if coriander is part of five-spice.

No, it's not.

Four to go. It comes to the other side.

You have to get the first one right to get a bonus point.

So, what do you think is in five-spice?

Ginger.

You think ginger in is five-spice? Are you sure about that?

Not really!

-But you're going for it. Is this just an educated guess?

-Yeah, we'll go for ginger.

Where does it come on our smorgasbord?

So, that was an incorrect answer,

which means, of course, that you have one correct,

and you keep that point.

We're still missing a few ingredients. William?

OK, we're looking for cinnamon.

Cinnamon is believed to be one of the oldest spices around.

It appeared in ancient Sanskrit texts and also in the Bible.

Then we're looking for fennel seeds.

Then there's Szechuan pepper.

Szechuan pepper is a confusing name, it's not actually a pepper.

It's made from drying the red-brown berries of a type of ash tree.

Then we're also looking for cloves.

Cloves, a very ancient spice used in the middle ages to stud oranges.

People put them in their houses as they thought they'd see off the plague.

You presumably cook with five-spice?

Yes.

I never thought about what was in it before.

Well, now you know.

OK, Three Like To Eat, here is your board.

Identify the five vegetables on the board.

Think very carefully.

William, a little more information?

From the ten foods on the board,

only five of them are technically defined in Britain as vegetables.

We want you to identify those five.

So, put your thinking caps on.

Are you ready to give me your first one?

-Rhubarb.

-You think rhubarb is a vegetable?

-I have no idea.

Are you right?

APPLAUSE

That was perhaps one of the trickier ones, so what's your next answer?

Mangetout...

INAUDIBLE CONFERRING

Mangetout.

Let's see if you're right.

Botanically, they're actually a fruit,

partly because they're related to the pea flower and they have seeds.

I thought they were vegetables.

That means that May Contain Nuts can pick up a bonus point

if they get the next one right, and also knock off their one point.

What are you going to go with on the board?

We are going to go...

It's quite risky, but we're going to go with elephant garlic.

You thought that was risky?

Compared to what else is up there.

You thought, in for a penny, in for a very big piece of garlic.

Julie's very confident about it.

Shh!

Was your confidence misplaced? Let's see.

APPLAUSE

Of course, there are other vegetables on the smorgasbord.

William, which are they?

OK, so you missed out on artichoke.

Throughout history they've been used for a whole variety of things,

not just eating.

You can use it as a breath freshener, aphrodisiac...

Some people have also tried it as a deodorant, although it does tend to scratch you under the arms.

Also, surprisingly, lettuce.

Until Louis XVI of France, it was always cooked, always eaten hot.

Finally, asparagus.

The king of vegetables.

Literally going back years to Roman times

when fleets of boats were sent to bring asparagus to the emperors.

So these are the five vegetables,

and at the end of that round, where does do the scores sit?

May Contain Nuts have five,

Three Like To Eat are surging ahead on ten points.

APPLAUSE

OK, the next round is called Food Clues.

So, how does it work?

There are two questions in this round.

For each question, I'm going to reveal a series of clues,

all related to a particular food.

The more clues we reveal, the more apparent the answer will become.

You can buzz in at any time and guess,

however, you're only allowed one guess per team.

If you get it wrong, the other team will have all the successive clues.

Each question is worth two points.

You could be brave and go in early and try to grab the advantage,

or will you sit back and be potentially left very far behind?

Here is your first set of clues.

The number one clue is actually on your desk.

Remember, we're trying to identify the food associated with the item,

rather than the item itself.

So, please, take off your shiny hats.

INAUDIBLE CONFERRING

I'm going to give you your second clue.

It's estimated that there are around 7.5 million hectares of land

worldwide growing this.

BUZZER SOUNDS

It's May Contain Nuts going early.

Grapes?

-You're going early on grapes?

-Going early on grapes.

You just want to make up time - grapes is the right answer!

APPLAUSE

Making up points indeed.

There are more than 8,000 varieties,

including the Cardinal, Hanepoot and Ribier.

They're used in the famous French dish Sole Veronique.

They're used in Verjuice, a medieval invention, now enjoying a revival.

When dried they become raisins and sultanas.

Grapes is the right answer.

So, the grapes and the scissors?

Well, they are grape scissors, of course.

They date back to the Victorian age when etiquette was everything.

You're at a table and didn't want to be seen pulling grapes off the vine,

making a mess and handling the food too much,

so you used grape scissors to make a dainty chop.

Fantastic. A very, very good early answer from May Contain Nuts.

Here is your second set of clues.

A rather strange-looking thing.

INAUDIBLE CONFERRING

BELL RINGS

Now, Three Like To Eat are going, very, very early,

but if you get it wrong, May Contain Nuts have the field to themselves.

Go on.

Garlic.

-Garlic.

-Yeah.

Why do you think it might be garlic?

Because it looks like a garlic chopper.

A garlic chopper.

Well, Three Like To Eat, that is the correct answer!

APPLAUSE

Let me give you more information about garlic.

It's believed that in ancient Egypt, the pyramid builders

were given a daily ration of this to improve their strength.

The French town of Cadours is famed for producing its gourmet version.

Each year in the Isle of Wight there is a food festival dedicated to it.

It's thought to have anti-cancer properties,

and one of its nicknames is "the stinking rose."

It looks like a toy car, William, but what's the principle?

Well, I've got one here.

It's actually called a garlic zoomer. Of course, it does chop garlic.

You open the top up,

put in your clove of garlic, shut the top,

and then you zoom it round...

like that.

When you've chopped it enough, you then open it up.

Take out the blade, the vicious blade,

and you've got chopped-up garlic.

-Easy as pie.

-Beautifully chopped.

But you have to wash it, when all you need is to use a sharp knife!

However, it does the job.

So, William, the scores, please?

May Contain Nuts are on seven.

Three Like To Eat are on 12.

APPLAUSE

Very, very good. However, it's not over until it's over.

Now it's time for the final round, Gastroknowledge.

APPLAUSE

Just five points in it now.

You'll have two minutes of questions on the buzzer. Lots of points here.

Lots of chances to catch up or perhaps zoom ahead even further.

Can we have two minutes on the clock, please?

Which word beginning with C is a clear broth often served as a first course?

-BELL

-Three Like To Eat?

-Consomme?

-Correct.

Which hotel was the birthplace of Escoffier's peach melba..?

-BELL

-Three Like To Eat?

-The Savoy?

-The Savoy is the correct answer.

What is the name given to small round pieces of mutton or lamb,

dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and..?

BELL

Three Like To Eat?

Crumpets?

No. ..then grilled or fried?

Epigrams.

Williams, Cresanne and Conference are all types of..?

-BUZZER

-May Contain Nuts?

-Pears.

-Correct.

Which sauce is a mixture of shallots, butter,

-and a white wine or vinegar reduction?

-BELL

-Three Like To Eat?

-Hollandaise?

No. May Contain Nuts, do you know?

Shallots, butter, white wine or vinegar reduction?

Beurre blanc.

The International Olive Oil Council puts virgin oil into four sections.

-Extra virgin, virgin, ordinary virgin oil, and what?

-BUZZER

-May Contain Nuts?

-Pomace?

-No. Three Like To Eat, do you know?

Standard?

It is lampante.

What term features in the name of several dishes that contain spinach?

BELL

Three Like To Eat?

Florentine?

That is the right answer.

Resembling a piece of plastic, what is the name

of the large transparent shard found inside the mantle of a squid?

-BUZZER

-May Contain Nuts?

-Cartilage.

-I'm afraid it's incorrect.

Three Like To Eat, do you know your squid?

Quill?

Quill is the right answer.

What name is the given to a thin slice of meat

spread with forcemeat, then rolled up?

Out of time. It's paupiette.

What is the Indian name for clarified butter?

-BELL

-Three Like To Eat?

-Ghee.

-Ghee is the correct answer.

Which bread, chiefly made in Westphalia, Germany,

is a sweet, heavy rye bread?

BELL

-Three Like To Eat?

-Pumpernickel.

-Pumpernickel. You know your bread.

Which F is a dish made with white meat cooked in a white sauce?

GONG BANGS

-I can take an answer?

-BUZZER

-May Contain Nuts?

-Fricassee?

Fricassee is the correct answer. Just in at the last minute!

So, time is up. William, what are the final all-important scores?

At the end of that, May Contain Nuts have nine points,

but Three Like To Eat really do like to eat because they have 18 points!

Well done!

APPLAUSE

So, going off the boil were this week's losers, May Contain Nuts,

But they stayed cool as a cucumber, this week's winners,

Three Like To Eat!

APPLAUSE

Join us next time when more food fanatics hope to prove themselves

on A Question of Taste. For now, goodbye.

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