Monmouthshire A Taste of Britain

He's Brian Turner.

And she's Janet Street-Porter.

I'm passionate about walking.

These feet have taken me the length and breadth of Great Britain.

I've been privileged to cook all round the world,

but it's Britain that I love - fabulous produce, great ingredients

right here on the doorstep.

We're joining forces to explore Britain's rich heritage.

And the landscape that's given us such wonderful produce.

He's in charge of the food.

And guess what - she's in charge of everything else!

-This is...

-A Taste Of Britain.

Today we've come to the magnificent county of Monmouthshire.

This picturesque corner of Wales is packed full of fascinating history,

diverse landscapes and bustling market towns.

We'll be sampling the county's abundant array of produce.

And washing it all down

with some of Monmouthshire's delicious local tipple.

Slight, er, grapefruity and slightly flinty for me.

I realise I'm not using

the flowery pretentious language of the wine buff.

Too sweet for me.

While Janet gets to know some of the artisans...

Over here, I've got a bundle.

That's not a finished piece of sculpture.

-So you don't go out to a hardware store and buy wood?

-No, no.

..I'll be searching for some local ingredients

to use in a celebratory dish that captures a taste of Monmouthshire.

Brian, here we are on top of Kymin Hill and down there is Monmouth.

It's a town that has a huge significance.

It marks the border between England and Wales,

and of course we're in Monmouthshire, so we're in Wales.

But over there is England, to the north the Black Mountains,

that's the beautiful Wye Valley,

and over there, the plains of the Usk.

But in front of us, an exquisite late-Georgian building.

And you know what that was used for?

You should be really interested - picnics.

Because in the late 18th century,

there was a movement called the Picturesque Movement,

where devotees, a bit like early hippies,

used to go to exquisite spots in the landscape

and have meals and enjoy the scenery. A bit like us.

Absolutely. Of course, Monmouth is a foodie county,

got lots of artisan producers

and they really make use of the diverse and fertile landscape,

as well as microclimates in the deep valleys.

And that should give you a clue

as to one of the places we're going to visit.

But, first, there's an award-winning charcuterie man

who produces fantastic stuff, let's go and see him.

-Let's hope the weather perks up.

-I hope so, yeah.

From cultivated crops to organically reared animals,

there's a rich variety of produce in this region.

And local charcutier James Swift at Trealy Farm

is certainly adding to the variety.

His methods owe a lot to the Spanish and Italians,

but James is one of Britain's best producers of cured meats and sausages.

Well, this is a beautiful place I found, some fantastic charcuterie.

This is really a treat.

-Yeah, I love charcuterie.

-It's interesting that people...

We're now starting to catch on in this country,

making them here with local products, that's the real thing.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Hello, Janet. Hello, Brian.

-You all right?

So you're here to maybe taste some of our charcuterie?

-Definitely. Show us.

-Shall we go?

-Absolutely.

-All right. OK.

Wow, what a spread you've put out here.

Just a little selection of what we do.

We've got some air-dried duck.

Here we've got what they call coppa in Italy,

the air-dried shoulder of pork.

We've got some beef here that we do a bit carpaccio air-dried style.

Fennel salami and a couple of our little snack salamis,

that's a spicy one and a smoked one.

Can I start with a spicy salami?

-OK, yeah.

-Mm.

-It's got a lovely nose to all of it.

As soon as you get here, you can just smell that lovely mixture.

That's what it does, it really concentrates the flavours down

-when you've got it air-dried like that.

-Mm.

So this is beef carpaccio.

-Is that like the Bundnerfleisch in Germany and...?

-Yeah.

Or frankly some types of bresaola in Italy

because, you know, all these things, they're...

People think of them as one thing, but they're a whole family of things.

It's like chorizos, every town in Spain is different, you know.

So when you started to make charcuterie,

were you mimicking the stuff you get on the Continent at first

and now you're trying to develop a British take on it?

Yeah, we had to go to the Continent to learn our techniques, our skills.

We've got these great traditional breed animals,

like traditional breed pigs - the Tamworth.

We've got far more of these breeds than on the Continent, so we thought,

"Hang on a minute, we should be doing that in the UK too."

Then we came back and we mixed it all up really.

Wasn't the original problem the climate in this country?

Absolutely, yeah. It is the climate and it's not even that it's wet,

it's just that we don't know when it's going to be wet.

We have to do it under controlled conditions.

Have you managed to get accolades from Italians and Germans?

-Actually, yes, we have.

-Brilliant!

-One of the top guys from Spain came

and he was like, "You're having me on!"

It's not from Britain, is it?

Well, this coppa tastes amazing.

That's some of the best I've ever had, is that, I have to say.

I know, I love the amount of fat in it.

That's what gives it the flavour, isn't it?

Mm. And the duck breast is terrific too.

It's lovely and tender, the duck breast.

Yeah, and it's all free-range meat

and that, you know, that makes its difference as well.

Now, do you make sausages?

-We do make sausages as well, yeah.

-Can we make sausages?

-Of course we can.

-Lead on.

-Show us where we're going, boss.

OK, all right, then.

'James is going to help us make our very own recipe.

'We just need to agree on the ingredients.'

-OK, so we're going to make some lamb sausage.

-Yeah.

We've got some lamb here from our own farm, Welsh Mountain lamb.

OK, now, what do we associate with lamb, a bit of rosemary?

-A bit of rosemary I think works fine.

-Right, a bit of rosemary.

-A bit of rosemary.

-A bit of rosemary. Er, two grams a kilo there.

-A bit of garlic?

-I think garlic's a good...

-Do we need a lot of garlic?

-No, just a hint.

-What about just a pinch? Done it.

Well, no, I deserve a pinch as well. Oh, that's garlic.

Right, that's sorted that out.

-So white pepper.

-OK.

-Quite a serious amount of pepper there.

-Yeah.

-It's in the air.

-Salt.

-Yeah, we've got to have salt, always got to have salt in a sausage.

Not a lot, not too much.

-What's your daily allowance?

-Depends how much sausage you eat.

Now we've got to decide about breadcrumb.

Are we going to go down that route?

Sausages are padded out that that way they're cheaper to make.

Let's ask the expert,

is there not a case for a little bit of breadcrumb to help bind it,

to give it the texture that we are used to?

The breadcrumb holds a bit of moisture in,

it holds a bit of water in, but I would say that,

cos of the amount of fat that we've got in there, we don't need it.

You're outvoted.

OK, right, fine, so no breadcrumbs.

What's your...? Is it going to be an all right sausage?

I think it's going to be an all right sausage. Let's make some sausages.

Ah, hah, hah.

Oh! Oh! No, don't put it like that, you're getting it lumpy!

Yeah.

Oh, look at that. That's looking good.

That's it now, I think.

That's it. OK, so, press in first.

-Press.

-Yeah.

-Grrh!

Oh, look there's one of Brian's air holes.

When Brian was obviously talking, it's got a lot of hot air in it.

There you are.

Well done, my little sausage.

Bring on the gold medal.

'Well, Brian, now I've impressed you with my sausage-making skills,

'you need to do them justice.'

That was so tasty, that charcuterie,

but of course the star of the show,

yet again, Miss Street-Porter, was...?

-My sausages.

-Your lamb sausages.

So what I'm going to do, I'm going to cook the lamb sausages

and serve them with a lightly pickled local cabbage.

This is local rapeseed oil, get that in there.

So we put those in there, turn them on full heat.

The trick is not to play around with them, get a nice colour,

turn them over and just cook them slowly through.

Over here, we've got some boiling water,

we've got these two different kinds of cabbages here.

-They call this a hispi cabbage.

-Yeah.

And a Savoy cabbage, so we'll take those like that.

I think Savoy is my favourite cabbage.

-Yeah, I think me too as well.

-It's got a lot of flavour.

Just shred them, the idea is firstly to blanche it, to keep the colour,

-and then I want to just cook it slowly in a bit of butter.

-Yeah.

I'm going to put it into salted water,

just to get this little light pickling effect.

So in that goes.

Hopefully it's going to just keep its colour now.

So just very quickly.

-Did your mother overcook cabbage like mine did?

-Oh!

They had it on for hours in those days, didn't they?

Do you know, I once said that on television

and me dad came and nearly hit me.

-That looks great.

-So I've got rid of the boiling water there.

So I'm just going to put it into cold water

and hopefully that'll just help to shock the colour,

so it doesn't go that awful shade of grey that you're talking about.

Yeah, my mother's cabbage was always grey.

I know you don't really like me doing this, but I'm going to put a bit of butter in here.

I've got some of this wonderful local bacon here

and it looks fantastic.

I'll just cut that into little strips.

It's got bags of flavour there

and I've got a shallot here,

shred that as well.

We're going to get all that flavour into our cabbage.

And then put the shallots in there.

Let's have a look and see what's happening to these here.

Look at that!

-It's like the...it's like the water tower.

-It's an exploding sausage.

Well, as James said, there's lots of fat in there.

-There's a lot coming out.

-There is, yeah.

-But they haven't really changed shape or size, have they?

-No.

They're looking good.

-Just smell that, that wonderful...

-I can smell the smoking.

..that wonderful bacon. A little bit of vinegar.

White wine vinegar, white wine vinegar there,

not malt vinegar, but any other flavoured vinegar will be fine.

And then we just put that in here.

That really is going to be lovely, is that.

-Let's have a quick look at these sausages.

-Ah!

I knew I should have put breadcrumbs in there!

OK, so I think we're almost on our way there.

A bit of salt and pepper.

I'm just going to put fresh chopped parsley in there.

I think it just works very nice - chop it at the very last minute

and put it into the cabbage.

Sausage are looking great,

so I think we're ready to dish up this wonderful family dish.

So we can take the cabbage

and just pile it...

in the middle...

of the plate, so it's a help yourself job is this.

-What I've got here, I've got some new potatoes...

-Yeah.

..that I've cooked in a bit of water and butter and all we need now...

are our sausages.

I'm just going to pile them on in the middle.

There you are, my love, what do you think to that?

Lamb sausages with a lightly pickled local cabbage.

Great, looks like a Desperate Dan meal!

-Right, are you having a taste?

-Yeah, let's get going.

That sausage looks really good.

The sausage is so meaty.

You talk, I'm going to eat.

Sausage-tastic.

It's really, really good. What do you reckon?

-You're going to hate me.

-What?

I would've liked it with a bit more breadcrumb in there.

Well, Brian, we'll have to agree to disagree.

It's perfect!

So what we really need is James as arbiter.

-Yeah, James, come and taste them.

-Come on, James.

What have we here?

-Right we've got sausages.

-OK, all right.

I'm looking forward to this.

Really good.

Really well cooked.

And that's a great accompaniment.

Monmouthshire is known as the Garden of Wales.

Its temperate climate and diverse landscape

mean it's home to much of the country's agriculture

and almost half its orchards.

At Berllanderi Farm, in the village of Raglan,

renowned sculptor Harvey Hood draws inspiration

from the local countryside

and from the fruit trees growing on his farm.

-Hello, Harvey.

-Hello, Janet, nice to see you.

-What a fantastic spot you've got here.

-Yeah.

-Can I see your orchards?

-Yes, of course you can.

When Harvey originally bought Berllanderi,

he set about re-establishing the farm's ancient orchard

that had fallen into disrepair

and to date he's planted over 600 new trees.

Harvey, is it true that by recreating this orchard

-you re-established something that was all in this area?

-Yes.

100, 200 years ago, there were lots of orchards

-like this, weren't there?

-Yes.

We found out that some of the trees had been planted here in 1840.

-So they were very rare trees?

-Yes, they were.

We found that two pear trees would produce superb perry

were unique and they've been renamed as Berllanderi pears.

-So you've got your own pear tree...

-That's right.

-..that nobody else in the UK has?

-That's right.

-And we've grafted these trees...

-Yeah.

..from those, so we've carried on this variety.

You've saved something from extinction.

That's right, yeah.

When you came here, what was it you saw that connected with you

that made you think, this is going to be my inspiration?

Well, the place is called Berllanderi,

which is Welsh for "orchard of oaks",

and that was sort of a sign, I think, to sort of...

I was working in oak, I wanted to have a tremendous supply

of materials and that's what sculpture's about.

It's about tonnes of stuff.

So when you came here you just saw a lot of wood?

Yeah, a lot of wood.

-OK, well, I'm very curious, can we go and have a look?

-Yeah, sure.

Harvey was head of sculpture at the University of Wales,

but to focus on his own artwork, he set up some studios

in the outbuildings of his 16th-century farmhouse.

This is my main studio in here.

What a great space.

A lot of my work used to be from wood

and, particularly, from the trees that were here.

The tree is a metaphor for ourselves.

We talk about the way a tree can be...

er, have a trauma.

When I've been cutting pieces up, I suddenly look at them

and think, "That is amazing,"

you know, the way that this piece of wood has tried to repair

itself from this trauma of being cut into from here.

-I like the way that this piece is unfurling.

-Yeah.

-And I sort of make a piece like this.

-Yeah.

-This is in bronze.

-Yeah.

But this is this sort of potent energy of, er,

something which is curling up and making the spiral.

So, I use it both as a material

but also as an inspiration.

Over here I've got a bundle.

Now that's not a finished piece of sculpture.

That is just something which I don't know what I'm going to do with it,

-But it's bubbling away.

-Yeah.

So you don't go out to the hardware store and buy wood?

No, no, I don't go and buy wood.

-So you, how many acres have you got here?

-Seven acres.

So you're going round...

And I'm actually growing the material...

-Yeah.

-..that I want to use.

And I use all the things that are around here.

I'm still on the hunt for more inspiration for my celebratory

taste of the region.

So I've come to Abergavenny to visit a chef doing great

things for the county's gastronomic reputation.

Having begun his career working for the legendary Roux family,

chef Simon King is now on a quest to create fabulous food

using as much local produce as possible.

-Good morning, Simon, how are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-What are you going to cook for us?

-So today we're going to cook

an elderflower panna cotta with poached gooseberries

and with the panna cotta we'd serve a warm elderflower fritter.

OK, so what do we do first?

You infuse some milk and cream with the elderflowers.

I've got 250ml of milk and 250ml of double cream.

To that I'm just going to add the elderflowers

and 65g of sugar.

So those look like you've picked them yourself?

I have, indeed. We're very fortunate that we live in a rural area

and there are plenty of hedgerows around and about.

It's there, it's fresh, it's on your doorstep.

You know, we can't argue with it.

So you've got the milk and the cream infusing with the elderflower.

How long do you infuse that for?

-We're heating it up for a quarter of an hour, 20 minutes.

-Right.

Extract that elderflower flavour and add this gelatine here,

which will help set it and give it that wibbly-wobbliness.

BRIAN CHUCKLES

So as soon as that's warmed through, like so,

we can add it to the infusion.

Then we can leave it to cool down, strain it

and pop it into our pots ready to set in the fridge.

So that's in the fridge, so what happens next?

So next we're onto the poached gooseberries.

Coated in sugar overnight to help start softening them

and to get some of the natural juices out of the gooseberries.

Those are dessert gooseberries?

-These are dessert gooseberries, a variety called Red Windsor.

-OK.

They're just sweeter and softer than

the more traditional green ones.

I need to bring those gooseberries up to a warm temperature

so they're nice and soft.

So once those gooseberries are ready, what do we do next?

We'll leave them to cool down and, whilst they're cooling,

-we'll organise the batter, ready for the elderflowers.

-OK.

OK, so we've got 225g of flour.

To that we add 250ml, or grams, of fizzy water.

Give it a quick mix.

-So is this like a tempura batter?

-Er, like a tempura batter.

And then we've got a couple of eggs

just to add to that.

And then we've got a little splash of vinegar, as well,

just to help crisp it up.

See, my grandma used to put vinegar in her Yorkshire pudding mix

and everybody asked me why

-and I said, "I don't really know why, but it works."

-It works.

-Because her mother did it before her, too.

-Absolutely, you're probably right.

So we just add a little pinch of salt...

and a more generous pinch of sugar,

because we're using it for a sweet concoction.

And then we've got these lovely umbels of elderflower

and all we need to do is coat these in the batter,

-nice and gently.

-Yeah.

And take them over to the fryer.

Now, the fryer is set at 170, just give them a quick little shake.

So how long does that take, approximately?

It's a couple of minutes on each side, just until they're crisp

and a light golden brown.

And then we'll drain them off and sprinkle them

with a little bit of vanilla sugar to serve alongside the panna cotta.

Perfect.

So we've got the gooseberries that we poached earlier.

Yeah, they look like they're little grapes.

They are, they're beautiful, aren't they?

Just pop that by the side.

A little bit of extra on the top.

-And bob's your uncle.

-Beautiful.

So this is an elderflower panna cotta with poached gooseberries.

I think that looks really delicious,

-but let's find out what the lady thinks.

-Absolutely, indeed.

Hello, Janet,

we've got an elderflower panna cotta with poached gooseberries for you.

-Brilliant. Thank you.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

Panna cotta is one of those desserts I always order

because I prefer it to sorbet, I prefer it to ice cream,

in fact it's one of my top desserts.

And the nice thing is the elderflower trees are just outside.

-As I say, locally grown gooseberries.

-Yeah.

They're delicious cos they're tart.

Yeah. Local cream.

Very good.

-Mm, I love these fritters.

-Yeah, they're great, aren't they?

-It all works really well together.

-Mm.

It's delicious.

-Can I tell you something?

-Certainly can.

I haven't been in this area for 25 years and when I was last here,

I visited a fantastic vineyard that's just down the road.

-Can I show it to you?

-I'd love to go to the vineyard.

-Great.

Monmouthshire is fast emerging as a respected wine-producing region,

with Welsh vineyards gaining a reputation

for their distinctive flavours.

Sugarloaf grows seven varieties of grapes

on its five acres of south-facing slopes.

Its owner, Louise Ryan, is going to tell us

why the local conditions make it the ideal spot for wine-making.

-Hello.

-Hello, Janet and Brian.

-Hi.

-Hi there.

Welcome to the vineyards. Let's go and have a look at the vines.

So how many vineyards are there in Wales now?

So it's a growing industry and we've got 16 in Wales at the moment,

but the six are in Monmouthshire.

So what is it about this particular plot of land

that makes the vine grow here?

It's the climate, it's the land, it's the aspect.

So with all the different elements combined

and the varieties we're planting,

you've got that distinctiveness, then, that gives you the bouquet.

Are you ending up with a dessert wine, a sweetish wine?

Because a lot of wine in the UK falls into that category.

-Actually we ended up as something slightly drier...

-Right.

..because we're growing more northerly,

you end up with something drier,

but you've got that aromatic character in it.

So it's got bold fruit, but it's got a dryness behind it.

-I'm desperate for a taste of it, though.

-Yeah, yeah.

-We've listened to all this.

-Are you thirsty?

-I want to see if I can spot a Welsh wine.

-Let's go do it.

'To begin our tasting we're going to sample some wine

'made from grapes grown right here in Louise's vineyard.'

I find it a slight...

grapefruity and slightly flinty for me.

-I can see when I'd be drinking it.

-A sunny day.

-All day long.

-Sunny...

-A sunny day.

-A sunny day.

-Nice, fruity wine.

'Louise is so confident of the unique body and flavour of the wine

'from this region, she's challenged us to identify it

'amongst some other respected foreign wines.'

-This is slightly sweeter, is this?

-Let's try the middle wine.

That's got slightly less power to it,

it isn't as sweet but it still has a sweetness to it.

Too sweet for me.

I realise I'm not using the flowery, pretentious language

of the wine buff.

OK, so you can move on to the last one and try that.

That's yours.

That's definitely your wine.

I would not be surprised if all those three were Welsh wines.

That is the wine I would say no to.

And that's the one, if I'd had two bottles of this one,

I might be agreeable to drinking that one.

So this first one was a New Zealand Gewurztraminer.

The next one is a Pinot Grigio, Alsace.

I'm quite surprised how I didn't enjoy that as much as I would think.

-Yeah.

-And the last one is...

-Yeah!

-..the Welsh Madeleine Angevine.

-Well, well done.

-Congratulations.

You've made a wine that is distinctive,

that we spotted straightaway

and it's quite, quite different to the other two.

Well done, I think that's... You've done a great job there,

that really is lovely. I'm going to cook a celebration dish,

so it would be really nice if I could buy some from you.

Could I just buy a case? Well, all right, just one.

-No, we'll have a case, we'll have a case.

-That's fine, we can do that.

I couldn't possibly come to this region without delving

into its long history.

Situated at the confluence of the Wye and Monnow Rivers,

the town of Monmouth has witnessed a long and turbulent past,

with both the Welsh and the English vying for supremacy here.

The best spot for us to start our exploration

is the 13th-century Monnow Bridge.

Brian, I've brought you to Monmouth to see this incredible bridge.

There isn't another one like it in the whole of Great Britain

and it's one of only three in Europe.

So it's a fortified bridge

and that tower on it was used to collect tolls.

It was a guardroom for soldiers

and it was even turned into a private house.

The bridge dates from the 13th century

and it was built to defend the town.

But guess what? The river is so shallow that if you just walk

a little bit downstream, you can actually paddle across.

Anyway, what a fantastic structure.

-It's amazing, that, isn't it?

-Yeah. Shall we explore the town?

There's two different doors, that's probably when it was a tollbooth.

-Yeah.

-I wonder what you got charged for coming in.

Do you get change out of a farthing?

Before we head into town, no historical visit to Monmouth

is complete without a stop at its castle,

or what's left of it, that is.

Monmouth is really important strategically

because it sits between England and Wales,

and the Normans built a castle here, originally,

and then it was the home of John of Gaunt, and Henry V was born here.

-Oh, right.

-Of course Oliver Cromwell destroyed the castle.

As Oliver Cromwell always did, eh?

Yeah, and then after the Restoration,

the beautiful house over there was built by the Duke of Beaufort

and it still houses troops today.

In the centre of Monmouth, Agincourt Square has statues

commemorating local historical figures.

So here we are in Agincourt Square,

named after the famous battle at which Henry V was triumphant.

And here's a statue of Charles Rolls

-whose family have their home quite near here.

-Oh, right.

Now, Charles Rolls, as we all know,

was a fantastic aviator, mechanic, very keen motorist

and in 1904, he met Mr Royce.

-I knew you were going to say that.

-And they founded Rolls-Royce.

All across Britain there are many counties

facing a declining bee population.

In Monmouthshire, however,

efforts to create flower-rich habitats to support

pollinating insects are doing much to help solve the problem.

Local beekeepers like Gareth Baker

are becoming well known for producing top-quality honey

and he's agreed to show us some of his colonies.

If we can face getting up close and personal.

-Hi, Gareth.

-Hi, Janet, Brian. Come to have a look at the bees?

-Yes, yeah. I'm slightly nervous.

-No, not a problem at all.

As Brian and I are NEWBEES,

we'll need to be protected from head to toe before we venture any closer.

Oh, my goodness, what have we got to put on?

Chemical warfare suit, wellies, welders' gloves.

There's a little hole there.

They're too big, they can't get through there.

These don't come from a long line of limbo dancers,

you'll be absolutely fine.

-Will you stop standing on my bit?

-All right, OK.

-Oh, what's that thing you're setting off?

-That's the smoker.

-It just calms the bees down a bit.

-Why? Has it got Prozac in it?

-Lead on. You go first.

-OK.

-Then they can sting you.

Gareth, what you got a gate for? Bees can fly through the gate.

Gareth, why's the honey here so special?

In the Wye Valley, there's not an awful lot of farming,

but what we do have is trees and hedges.

So we get what I would call old-fashioned honey.

So around here the farmers haven't cut down the hedges?

-Yeah.

-And the hedges are traditionally managed.

And what we've done in Monmouthshire,

we've actually declared Monmouth to be a bee friendly county.

Is that why, when I arrived in Monmouthshire, I saw all the verges

planted with wildflowers, on the roundabouts?

And the hedge has not been mowed and flailed to death.

Gareth's colonies have a wide variety of flora in this region

from which to source their nectar.

This year, I think we've had a bit of clover crop,

I think the lime's been fairly good this year.

For the time of the year,

the season and what they actually go to,

the flowers they go to, determines the flavour.

That's what makes the honey.

The honey the bees produce,

it's a recipe written by nature.

-That's a very poetic way of putting it.

-It's nice, is that.

Hives need queen bees in order to thrive

and Gareth's been doing his part to support the local bee population

by helping to rear new queens in his own hives.

Oh, look at that.

They've gone queen-less, but the bees are now rearing another queen.

And what we've got here, that's a queen cell.

Oh, right. Is the queen inside there?

Yes, so we've got a queen that will hatch out shortly.

We're happy that it's self-repairing.

Well, don't you need some honey for cooking, Brian?

I'd love some honey.

-So that's all full of honey now?

-That's all full of honey,

there's probably about 25 to 30lb of honey in each of these boxes.

That is some amazing comb honey.

Now, that looks perfect for my celebration cook,

so can I have some of that for cooking with, please?

You can take that with pleasure, Brian. There you go.

What a gentleman.

Now we've got our hands on some

delicious locally produced ingredients,

we're all set to cook a dish to celebrate a taste of Monmouthshire.

I've invited some of the locals we've met along the way,

so let's hope they approve.

And what a great place this is, eh?

And look, we've got our friends all here,

James is here, our charcuterie man, fantastic.

Louise, wonderful Monmouthshire wine, thank you very much, darling.

We're going to use it in our recipe today.

And, of course, Gareth, this marvellous honey.

What I'm going to cook for you,

I'm going to revolve it all around honey,

-I'm going to make some little madeleine biscuits.

-Fabulous.

Made with honey instead of all sugar,

-and then pears poached in honey...

-Honey.

-..and butter.

It's a really simple recipe is this and it all centres around this honey

which comes from 200 yards just over there.

Now, madeleines, you said they're biscuits,

but they're kind of spongy biscuits, aren't they?

Spongy biscuits is correct, yes.

So, first thing we do, we take a bit of sugar,

and a bit of demerara sugar goes in there.

A couple of eggs.

And then a vanilla seed here. If you haven't got vanilla pod,

you can use a bit of vanilla essence, that works OK.

-Now thanks to modern technology...

-Oh, yeah.

..we're going to whisk this up.

And what we need to do now is we need to beat that up

until it's about twice its size and a lot lighter.

It's almost there, can everybody else see that? Look, see?

-It's foamy.

-It's foamy, got...

-That's the trick, isn't it?

Bags of air in there, but as you say, these are so light

and so tasty.

-You can see its track now, OK? So...

-Yeah, that's how you know.

That's how you know it's ready.

What I've got over here, I've got a pan on and I've put some butter

in there just to make it a really nice and smooth sponge.

And I'm going to put some of this,

Gareth, some of your wonderful honey in there.

This smells so good, does this.

That goes in there and it just wants to melt.

Over here I've got some plain flour.

And I've got some baking powder.

So then we take a spoon and we just carefully stir this in.

You've worked hard to put air in there,

what you don't want to do is to start knocking it out, OK?

Now, one other thing we've got to put in there,

-that's our butter and our honey.

-Yeah.

-They've all melted together.

Pour it down the side of the bowl, just stir it in.

Not too fast.

-It will... It's looking more like a batter.

-Yeah.

Now the problem at this stage is, it's now becoming quite soft,

so I found that you need to put it in a fridge for about 30 minutes.

-Oh, that's interesting.

-Just to cool down.

Put it in the fridge if you would, please.

And there's one in there,

if you bring that out that will certainly help.

As if by magic, Brian, I'm back.

THEY LAUGH

-With a cold one.

-I thought it was too good...

-Look, it's got...it's a really...

-It was too good to be true,

I was never going to get rid of you for ever.

Right, so you all know the trick.

You just twist the bottom a little bit

-and you put it in a container like this.

-Yes.

And then we can scrape it in there

without it all coming out the bottom, says he.

See, look, it's got that little bit stiffer which is really...

Once again, we don't want to knock the air of it.

And these cook very quickly, and if you can, when they come out,

you want to put them in a warm place, these are best served warm.

-So, got these lovely madeleine moulds.

-Yeah.

I'm sure you've got some, and we brush them with butter

and dust them with a bit of flour. So now you very carefully...

Oh, I want to see how you do this.

Well, just a little half inch. The trick is once again...

So you don't fill it up?

-No, absolutely not.

-That's been my mistake.

-It'll spread across.

-Yeah.

And they'll also rise because of the baking powder.

So these need to go in the oven very quickly,

220 degrees for no more than five minutes. Go!

Right, while she's away,

I'm just going to cut these pears up into a dice.

We've got some local butter on and this is just to serve with them,

to make it into more of a dessert than just an after-dinner snack.

Your slave is back.

-You did a good job there, well done.

-Yeah?

-Thank you very much.

So look, I'm just dicing these pears,

you don't want pears that are overripe either.

Yeah, my dice is never that regular.

I've been practising for a few years, lass.

So I'm going to use some of this lovely wine here, Angevine.

Can the assistant have a...?

-Of course, it's quite warm, I'm afraid.

-Thank you.

And then, of course, I've still got some of this lovely honey.

So take that honey.

Put that in there.

No sugar, just pure...

Oh, gorgeous.

White wine, butter, honey, that's all it is.

So we'll take a dish and the beauty of these, look,

when you turn them out,

it's the cooking side that actually is a fantastic colour.

-They look like shells.

-They do, yes.

So we'll just lay them around the dish.

And all I'm going to do now

is just put that lovely pear mixture with the honey in the middle.

Just give that a little reduction so it's really nice

and reinforces the flavour, particularly of the honey,

cos it just...

Just smell that.

-Is that good or is that good?

-So strong.

See, that's just started to thicken up there.

That butter and that honey together, just in the middle.

And there you have it.

Just for you, Welsh madeleines with local honey

and local wine and pears.

-Ta-da!

-Thank you, Brian.

Now, before our friends have a taste, go on, tell us what you think.

Mm!

The honey's great, Gareth.

The madeleine...

Mm, divine.

-All right, your sauce is great.

-Yes!

I suppose we ought to invite our guests to have a taste, then,

-should we?

-Do we have to?

-No.

Come and taste it.

Right, Gareth, what's it like?

Cor, do you know, it's kind of hard to believe that Brian could

actually improve on the taste of honey, but this is amazing.

Really? You're not worried his head's going to get so big,

it won't fit in one of your bee suits?

King of black puddings, salami and chorizo.

And king of eating this as well.

Delicious.

So, your wine, his honey, my madeleines, what do you think?

Absolutely beautiful.

The honey is so intense you can really taste that coming through

and the pears really lift it as well, they lift the sponge.

So, amazing.

Well, Monmouth, what a place.

It's so surprising, there's so much to see here.

So pretty, parts of it.

Yeah, Monmouth itself, fabulous town, I think,

and the countryside, so beautiful,

not enough people come and explore it, I don't think.

-I think you're right.

-Well, we had Harvey's historic orchard.

You got your own pear tree...

-That's right.

-..that nobody else...

-That's right.

-..in the UK has.

Don't forget the wine at Sugarloaf Vineyard, that was tremendous.

If I'd had two bottles of this one,

I might be agreeable to drinking that one.

We went to see Simon's restaurant, that lovely elderflower.

-Yes.

-That was delicious.

And the bees.

Our encounter with the bees.

Oh, what's that thing you're setting off?

Well, at least we got something sweet out of it.

I think you're right, honey.

And on that ghastly pun, I think we can say...

That was...

BOTH: A taste of Monmouth.