Essex A Taste of Britain

He is Brian Turner.

And she is 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 Essex coast,

an area abundant with the best of British produce.

Rolling landscapes, spectacular nature reserves

and vibrant seaside towns.

We'll be getting a taste of the region's famous oysters.

-Oh, look at that.

-Oh, look at that. Get back, get back.

-Oh, no.

-Get back.

And I'm taking a walk on the wild side.

We have had bison dug out only three years ago.

-Bison, out here?

-Bison at East Mersea.

Along the way, we'll be searching for the perfect ingredients

for my celebratory dish, which sums up a taste of the region,

with a little help from my willing assistant.

Just ignore it.

There's a lot more to the Essex seaside than

nail bars and night clubs.

And our journey today begins on the island of Mersea,

the most easterly inhabited island in Great Britain.

This is just beautiful,

I can't believe that I hadn't been here before.

It's so calm.

It's like a picture postcard, a shot in time, it's lovely.

We're here at the confluence of the Blackwater river

and down there, the Colne river

that goes all the way up to Colchester,

which is the oldest recorded Roman town in Great Britain.

You know all these facts.

-Well, taken by Queen Boudicca.

-God bless Queen Boudicca!

Yeah, took it back for us, around AD 60,

but fantastically historically important town, Colchester,

-and, of course, world famous for oysters.

-Absolutely.

I know I'm desperate to meet people who grow or harvest oysters

round here, cos it's world famous, as you say,

-and it's just over there, I think, where all the beds are.

-Yeah.

And it just feeds on this lovely water, which is

full of nutrients round here.

-I got to find somebody who knows more about them.

-OK.

-Let's find a man.

-It might even be a woman, Brian.

It'll be a man, trust me.

I think oysters are the perfect ingredient to

begin our exploration of the Essex coast.

I've tracked down expert Richard Haward,

whose family business specialises in both native and rock oysters.

Sorry, Janet, he's a man.

-This must be Richard.

-Yes, that's me.

-Hi.

-Hello.

-Brian Turner.

-Hi, Richard.

-Pleased to meet you.

Now, Richard, how long's your family been growing and harvesting oysters?

-About 250 years.

-250 years?

But oyster production here goes back a long, long time, doesn't it?

Oh, yeah, I mean, when the Romans came 2,000 years ago

they found wild oysters here, and they were pleased

cos they were already having to try and grow them in Italy at that time.

So whereabouts do you actually harvest these from?

-How far out do you go?

-Well, we go in the river and we catch the small ones,

and then we own bits of the sea bed in the creeks here,

what run up into the marshes and that's it.

They seem to get better-quality plankton,

so they fatten up and we get a better-quality oyster.

So what you're doing is taking the small oysters and moving them

to somewhere where they're going to get better food and grow big.

One thing I want to ask you,

is how many years do they grow before you harvest them?

Because most people don't realise that oysters can grow gigantic.

-Normally at least, at least four years old.

-Yeah.

And we got some of these can be ten or more.

-I imagine a ten-year-old oyster is massive.

-Knife and fork job.

One thing you're going to have to explain to me

is what's the difference between natives and rock oysters?

Well, I've got some of each here, so that's the easiest way.

The one in me left hand, that's a rock oyster,

which we started growing here,

-I don't know, 30, 40 years ago.

-Yeah.

Erm, and that's a native oyster, that's the sort the Romans found.

-Yeah.

-Erm...

It's more elegant, isn't it? Let's be honest.

What's the difference in the taste?

Well, an oyster tastes of the bit of the sea if comes from.

Most people say that rock oysters are more salty than the natives.

So how do you test to see if they're actually fresh and alive?

HE TAPS OYSTER

-Sounds very solid.

-Yep.

If one of them was dead, or very weak, they would sound hollow,

-but that sounds quite firm and solid.

-OK.

-Oh, look at that.

-Oh, look at that.

Do you know, that's the nicest rock oyster I've seen in ages, is that.

They're starting to come into the best time of year for these now.

-Yeah, and what do you eat them with, lemon juice?

-Nothing at all.

I like the way you said that.

Fantastic.

-Have you eaten it?

-Yeah.

Thanks for sharing it. I've got mine here.

You've got the best one.

Thank you very much, guv'nor, I've got the native.

Oh, look at that, that's what I call an oyster.

-Get back, get back.

-Oh, no.

-Get back.

-I rushed in.

You did.

That looks just... What do you think to that?

Just look at that, have a smell.

That was so good, there was a sweetness, as well, about that,

which is absolutely fantastic.

Yeah, that is one of the differences.

Well, just looking at oysters excites me,

so I'm going to do a cooked dish with some oysters.

I don't know if that's going to excite you, or not.

I'm in a holding pattern about that.

Yeah, I can see that.

Because I've spent my whole life avoiding cooked oysters,

cos I just think the taste of the raw oyster, it's just...

Honestly, it's one of my top five tastes of all time.

So you're going to have to hit a very high mark here.

Sadly, there's some butter and cream in there

but, apart from that, I think you're going to love this dish.

OK, I'll definitely give it a try.

She likes to put me under pressure, but I've got a feeling this dish

could convert Janet to the delights of cooked oysters.

It'll have to be good, I can be quite fussy, you know.

No, really (?)

So I've got a half a dozen native oysters. I'm going to try

and convince you that cooked oysters work nearly as well as raw oysters.

-OK.

-What I'm going to do is make a classic Oysters Thermidor.

So first thing I need to do is put a wee bit of butter -

not a lot, on this occasion - in there.

-Yeah.

-And a few shallots.

Chopped shallots, or chopped onion if you haven't got them,

bags of flavour and then lots of herbs, Noilly Prat.

Why do you use that?

Well, just smell it, now.

-It's herbaceous.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's got a bit of alcohol to it and it really works well

with all fish dishes.

I'm going to put a bit of fish stock in there to make the sauce.

That goes in there.

So whilst that's reducing,

I'm just going to get these oysters ready over here.

These have already been opened.

They look very clean and lovely, don't they?

They've been keyed as well, don't touch! I need all six.

OK, they've been keyed. That means, they've been turned over.

I'm going to put the juice into one.

The juice is so great, isn't it?

Is it going to add a lot of flavour to your sauce?

-This is going to make it taste like the sea.

-Yeah.

So we put those in there.

Now I wonder when the Romans came here,

-whether they were eating their oysters cooked or raw.

-Well, I...

I imagine if it was the winter and they were freezing cold

in their little leather skirts, or whatever, they were cooking them.

I think you're absolutely right and I think they would have done,

but you have to remember you mustn't cook these too much.

If you do, they'll toughen up.

It's really just the gentlest of cooking.

There are six oysters.

I'm going to put a bit of double cream in here.

How long's that going to take to reduce?

Well, it'll probably take a bit longer.

-If you've got any funny stories to tell, that's fantastic.

-If you want to be educated...

-I'd love to be educated.

-Yeah, I mean, other than about food.

No, I think what's fascinating about this part of Britain

is that the Romans arrived in Colchester

and they introduced loads of different things to Britain -

guinea fowl, pheasants, fallow deer,

olive oil, obviously, wine.

There were thousands of Romans in this area and imagine how

thrilled they were to discover something they could eat, oysters,

because, obviously, they'd had oysters back home in Rome.

OK, so now it's coming on nice, it's starting to thicken up.

-You've converted me so far.

-Right.

Because although I said to you I wasn't keen on cooked oysters,

I think what's happened, in the past, I've had them with all sorts

of bacon and black pudding

and people have really added too much to them and it's overpowered them.

This way's just going to be the sauce.

And it is a classical dish and has endured over the years.

I hope you're right, actually, and I've got my shells.

I'm going to serve two each, in each of these three,

so my half a dozen.

The first thing I'm going to do, I'll take some of this sauce here.

Now the trick about this is you don't want to overcook them

-because they become rubbery...

-Yeah.

..and chewy, which we really don't want, which will spoil it.

We're just going to warm them through nicely.

-So two of these, can you see?

-Yeah.

Two of these go in here now.

-That's a lovely one, that is.

-Oh, it's two in a bed.

And as a good Yorkshireman, don't waste.

That can go in there.

So I'm going to put it in the oven here

and all I want to do is put a little bit of heat through these.

Now look, just look at this,

it's now starting to thicken up is this sauce.

How long have you got them in the oven for?

Less than two minutes.

What I'm going to do now, quickly,

is put this pan on here, away from the heat,

and I'm going to put some mustard in here.

This is up to you how much you really want,

we don't want to overpower them, they've got a subtle taste.

I'm going to actually put an egg yolk to give it colour.

It'll also help me glaze it

and get a really nice colour, hopefully, on top.

In it goes.

Stir in that egg, away from the heat

so we don't get cooked bits of egg.

-Yeah, you don't want scrambled egg, do you?

-Exactly right.

That's looking perfect, is that.

So I'm going to put some parsley in there, that changes the colour

and then this is grated Parmesan, and that goes in here.

Now what I'm going to do now, quickly,

is I'm going to turn this onto grill,

bring them out of the oven.

The best way to check is touch it with your back of your finger,

it's quite sensitive there - OK, that's nice and warm.

Now we're ready to finish it off.

So that goes on there.

We've got that egg yolk in there, hopefully that's going to help it

colour a little bit more and just a wee bit

of Parmesan cheese,

like that.

Into here it goes.

Lovely, so now...

Here's a nice little way of actually serving it.

I've got a long dish here.

I'm going to put some sea salt on top,

just to hold it.

Could you pass me that samphire, please?

I've picked this, you know, and it's all around here on the estuaries, isn't it?

So we'll just put that on top,

just to give this white dish that little bit of colour.

Samphire's become very popular lately, but people cook it,

and there's absolutely no need, you can heat it through.

If I want it hot, I just have a pan of hot water

-and put it in it and then take it out.

-No salt.

-No salt.

-Straight in, straight out.

Do you know what I do with it? I chop it up, not too much, I put it with pasta.

Makes a great pasta sauce.

I'm learning something every day.

Oh, look they've started to colour, but I don't want them to cook

too much cos you would hate that.

I'm quite happy with that as it is.

And there you have it - Oysters Thermidor.

-Just for you.

-Thank you, Brian.

Have a taste of that one there.

Oh, yeah.

I'll tell you what, I'm no longer a cooked oyster virgin - I love it.

It's good, isn't it? I have to say, I think it's great,

-I'm chuffed to bits with that.

-Delicious.

Essex has over 350 miles of stunning coastline to explore,

so we'd better move on.

So this is the causeway that connects Mersea to the mainland,

and it actually dates back to Roman times.

It's a dramatic view, isn't it, with the tide out?

The mud flats look brilliant, don't they?

Well, apparently, this can flood at very high tides,

people do get stranded, so the island can get completely cut off.

Now, Brian, I'm a fantastically keen walker

and I love walking round the coast, and there's a trail that goes,

a coastal path that goes right round Mersea, and I'm going to go

to start off in the country park, Cudmore Country Park.

So are you up for it?

Yeah - I'm not going on a long walk, that's for certain.

I don't mind doing a bit, cos I'm quite a healthy chap,

but I am not walking for miles, I don't care what you say.

You keep going and I'll catch you up, probably.

Brian may want to skive off, but I'm not passing up the chance

to explore the Essex coastline.

Cudmore Grove Country Park's long sandy beach

and open grasslands make it the perfect spot for a walk.

I've asked park ranger Dougal Urquhart to join me.

-Hi, Dougal, nice to meet you.

-Yeah, nice to meet you.

Right, I've got rid of Brian, so you can take me on a proper walk.

I've heard so much about this coastline, will you show me these fabulous cliffs?

Yeah, let's go and have a look at the wonderful cliff line.

Cudmore Grove was an active stretch of coast during World War II,

with relics of the war still visible.

Today, however, the park is used for more peaceful pastimes.

I've walked a lot of the British coastline,

but I haven't walked around here, is it really popular with walkers?

It's very popular with walkers and it's a nice, easy walk

which is on the flat.

-I was going to say flat, yeah.

-Flat, yes.

And this is one of the few rural beaches where there's no piers

and kiss-me-quick sort of hat shops and ice cream parlours

and things like that. This is a place where people can really enjoy

the wild beauty of the Essex coast.

The cliffs here at Cudmore Grove are made up of layers of silt,

built from deposits of an ancient river that once flowed here

many thousands of years ago.

So how old are these cliffs?

Well, these actual cliffs

are probably 200 to maybe even 300,000 years old, so...

-My goodness!

-..really old.

That was when Britain was still joined to the continent.

My goodness - so if they're 200,000 years old,

does that mean that you could look here and find

amazing fossils and bones?

Yes, East Mersea has been well known as a great place for looking

for fossils for the last 100 years or so.

One area's actually just below the cliff here.

-Yeah.

-Er, where a straight-tusked elephant, the jawbone was found

and also narrow nose rhinoceros tooth, which is now extinct,

and also giant deer, which has got a huge antler span of three metres.

Erm, so there's some fascinating stuff being found

and I've got a bone here.

This was dug out by a bait digger just recently

and it looks like it could be, sort of, a member of the cow family

and we have had bison dug out only three years ago.

-Bison out here?!

-Bison at East Mersea.

-Yes.

-That's amazing.

-I know.

Dougal, are these cliffs actually eroding all the time?

Because they look pretty fragile to me.

They do erode the whole time,

probably, on average, just under a metre a year

and what we're seeing here,

these are the old gun emplacements from the Second World War.

These big lumps of concrete used to be way above our head

and in the late '80s, they just collapsed down on the sand.

What are these sticks for out in the sea, are they breakwaters?

Yeah, these are brushwood breakwaters -

the idea was the mud flats would build overnight,

salt marsh would regenerate and they would take out

the energy of the waves so it didn't thump against the cliff here.

Did it work?

No.

Whilst the "Duchess" is off on her stroll, I'm on the hunt for more

of this area's tasty ingredients.

From cultivated crops to organically reared animals,

there's a rich variety of produce to choose from.

Making the most of the food found on his doorstep is

Chef Darren Bennett at his restaurant, The Magic Mushroom.

-Good morning, chef, and how are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-Fantastic, what are you going to show us?

-I've got a trout.

Trout's caught locally, we've got some lovely baby tomatoes,

grown by a local guy, there's some local asparagus,

and it's a very simple spring, summer dish, quick and easy to cook.

Let's have a look at this trout fillet.

Now this is a local trout farm, is it?

Local trout farm, these have been filleted off.

OK, so pan's getting nice and hot.

That's the big secret for a lot of people.

-Get the pan on, lots of heat in there.

-Absolutely.

Get the pan hot and this is key, as well,

just being organised to start with.

-Are those local at all?

-Our boy Jim grows them on his allotment

at the back of his house.

-It's great for a chef to see freshly grown...

-Absolutely, yeah.

-..rather than boxes of tomatoes and it becomes blase.

-Yeah.

-To actually grow something and see it grown is great for us.

-Right, so.

I normally use a bit of me Maldon sea salt,

sprinkled on there.

A little bit of oil in the pan.

So just turn the heat up a little bit.

Skin side down?

Skin side down, I tend to cook it so it's quite crispy

-and then last minute, turn it over.

-Yeah.

Same time, I'm just going to try and get these potatoes in.

A knob of butter in there.

Saute potatoes are something you don't see these days,

like you used to do - you're not as old as I am, by a long chalk

But people still like them, you can not beat the flavour of those.

Just going to turn that down a tad.

-Are you going to baste them a little bit?

-I'm going to baste them a bit.

-All I'm going to do is pop them in the oven.

-Yeah.

Here, we've got some asparagus. That's been blanched off.

-Is that local?

-Very local.

-Yeah, lovely stuff at the moment.

-Oh, it's beautiful.

-That's looking good, that trout, from here.

All I literally do, just check it, I flip it over.

And that looks lovely, does that.

Then bring your other ingredients together.

-We've got a little bit...

-Just tell us what you've got.

-Baby Gem lettuce.

-Yeah.

I put this in last minute, it just makes it a nice, colourful...

So we've got lettuce, we got shallots.

We got lettuce, shallots, tomatoes,

and it's literally a matter of putting it all together.

And then you've got a bit of kale as well here, yeah?

-I put that in last-minute, that's been blanched off.

-OK.

It's literally one minute in boiling, salted water.

It's become a superfood, a cult food, if you like,

people are all using it -

it's a lovely colour and it's good for you.

-Absolutely. It's got a little bit of a bitter taste.

-Yeah.

With certain dishes, like with the trout,

it actually works really well.

I like to put a little tiny splash of balsamic vinegar.

Here, I've got some fresh almonds,

-we put in at the last minute.

-Give it a nice change of texture.

I tell you what, there's a good...

There's your five a day in one dish there.

It's good to get a nice bit of colour, just check there's...

Just toss them over two seconds.

I like to call those quick roast potatoes, sometimes.

The proof of the pudding, chef.

It can't get any hotter than that, chef.

Lots the colour in there.

So you got some quails' eggs there?

These have literally been cooked for 2 minutes, 17 seconds.

-2 minutes, 17 seconds.

-Yeah we timed it to a T.

And they're just nice, gooey, soft, erm...

And that's the dish.

I think that looks fantastic and do you know what's even better?

-My mate Janet is going to love that dish, I know.

-That'll be good.

-Hello.

-Good morning, local caught trout.

-Oh, look at that.

-Looks good, don't it, eh?

It looks fantastic.

So the beauty of this is that 90% of it is local produce.

The tomatoes, the asparagus, the potatoes,

the fish, the kale.

Yeah, well, I'm fanatical about vegetables, so...

Five a day, all there.

-What you going to try first?

-Oh, I dunno.

-I'll try a bit of the trout.

-Make a decision.

I'll have a bit of the trout.

That's a very nice trout.

Wasn't it? A lovely texture, nicely cooked.

-It's a light fish, too.

-Good flavour.

Right, I'm liking the asparagus, cos it's still crunchy.

-Mm.

-This is the kind of proportion of, erm,

protein to veg that I have at home.

Well, I've giving it five.

And I'm having the last bit of asparagus.

-That's out of five?

-Mm-mm.

-So it's a hit for you, then?

-It's a hit from me.

Good girl.

Well, five out of five ain't bad from the "Duchess".

But we do need to decide what'll be in our celebratory dish

that sums up the area.

All over Essex, there's a host of producers embracing organic

agricultural methods for vegetables and meat.

I'm meeting someone who's fast gaining a reputation

for excellent pork.

That's if we can find him.

I want to know where this sausage man is.

I've got a butcher who's got a pork farm somewhere called Wicks.

Yeah, try reading the map the right way up.

-I'm never sure which...

-I'm going to Maldon Salts.

-You just watch the road...

-I'm going to Maldon Salts.

..and I'm going to find my butcher.

While Brian's still trying to figure out which way's north,

I'm heading off to find another star ingredient from this area.

The salt trade has been synonymous with Essex for over 2,000 years.

The Doomsday Book lists no fewer

than 45 salt pans around the Maldon area.

Today, the world-famous Maldon Salt Company is the only surviving

salt manufacturer in the area.

Established in the 1880s, Steve Osborne's family have made salt

for four generations and still operate from their original factory.

-So this is your empire here?

-Well, this is River Blackwater.

This is where it all starts for producing our famous salt.

What makes Essex produce such brilliant salt?

Well, its geographic location is very important because Essex

has a very low rainfall compared to the rest of the country.

As you can see on a beautiful day like today, you got nice sunshine,

got nice winds, so what that does is that actually helps with

the drying process and the increased salinity of the River Blackwater.

These salt marshes were even used by the Romans.

That's right - 2,000 years ago,

the Romans started making salt here, they used to cut in clay pits.

The water would then flow into these pits,

and natural process of evaporation, wind, sunshine

would help create a brine in these salt pits.

The final process of the evaporation would occur in clay pots over

open fires, so the salters that would effectively be on the sea wall

would be boiling up the brine in these clay pots,

creating a salt crystal

and then smashing the clay pots to effectively get the salt out.

And what did these poor people do, live off,

when they were out here in all weathers?

They would, obviously, live off oysters,

which was a staple food for all the salt makers.

-Oysters were like their fish and chips!

-That was it.

-They had oysters like we'd have a bacon sandwich?

-That's right.

Yeah, that was the staple diet of the salt makers at the time.

The company began supplying salt to Harrods in 1900

and by the 1950s, it was being exported worldwide.

So what's so great about Maldon Salt?

What sets it apart from ordinary old salt

that you just get in a supermarket?

Well, the distinctive look for a start.

It's the pyramid shaped flake and crystals that you see.

Soft texture when you crumble it between your fingers

and, obviously, that clean, fresh taste, as well,

which doesn't have any of that bitterness

that you often associate with common table salt.

I think what we should do is we should go up to Maldon

and have a look at the salt factory now

-of how we produce the Maldon Salt.

-Brilliant.

Never mind the Romans, this is how we do it today.

So where do you get the water from?

We take the water from the River Blackwater,

we then filter it,

we then pump the water into the steel salt pan that you see here.

Then we bring it to a galloping boil and we take off the lees,

which is impurities like magnesium salts that form on the surface.

A bit like when I make damson jam, yes. So you skim it off.

Then we reduce the temperature until we can see the salt crystals

starting to seed on the surface of the water.

Once that grows to a certain size and weight,

-they break the surface tension, fall to the bottom and sink.

-Yeah.

It's like snowing, effectively, it's snowing salt flakes.

That whole process takes 24 hours

and then the next day, we're ready to rake the salt in,

which you see is happening before you.

Putting it into these draining bins, where it's left

to drain for another 24 hours.

So here, you can see the finished product.

We've taken the salt from the draining bin

and it's got fed into our drying machine there.

Any excess moisture's then evaporated away

and we're left with the dry product, ready to be packed.

-So you can feel it, it's actually still warm.

-Yeah.

It's warm and the crystals are so big, look at that.

I know. Taste one.

See? A beautiful, sweet taste.

Absolutely. It does taste good.

Well, I wonder if Brian's any nearer to finding ingredients

for our celebratory dish?

I think I'm onto something.

This area is renowned for some of the best pork in the country,

so I've come to Wicks Manor Farm to meet farmer Fergus Howie,

who recently won an award for Britain's best sausage.

Well, there's a good healthy smell round here.

Yeah, that's the pig farm.

This is our farrowing house, this is where mums give birth.

-Yeah, like a maternity hospital.

-Yeah that's correct.

And this seems to me to be really state-of-the art, is that the case?

Yeah, this is cutting edge in pig industry for the way to farrow

and look after babies as they're born.

So here we can get in here and we can look after them.

We can watch them as they're giving birth, making sure everyone is,

you know, is up and breathing and she has as many piglets

alive on her litter she's potential to giving birth to.

Mums want the temperature to be about 18 degrees,

whereas piglets want the temperature at 28, so these...

-Which is why you've got this?

-Yeah.

All of these farrowing places have got a creep with a light,

so piglets can go and keep warm, whereas Mum can cool down.

There's 11 piglets there, is that normal?

Yes, it's normal for a mum to give birth to 11 or 12 piglets,

then once they're four weeks old, we wean them from Mum.

-Then they go outside.

-Yeah, by that time, Mum's looking out to get away from them.

Every time she lays down, they're trying to suckle,

so she wants a bit more "me" time,

and then we'll move the piglets away so they're in pen on their own.

Let's have a look at the outside ones.

OK, so this shed here is split into three sections,

as far as the pig food they are eating is provided for them.

When the pigs get taken off Mum, it's really important that they have a milk and a biscuit diet

because they're not used to cereals.

So the first section of this, of this shed

is where we're giving them what I call like chocolate gateau,

-really strong, rich food...

-Yeah.

..which is going to really promote growth.

Then they come over here, this is about, getting on

for about ten weeks old and they're on their cereal diet here now.

Around where we are now, these pigs are getting to about 30kgs

and then we change the diet again so they're onto more of a weaner diet.

We're trying to get them away from the chocolate gateau, into salads.

And if you feed it really well when it's young,

it puts on good muscle content, puts a good foundation down,

it'll get to 100kgs with a lot of muscle and not a lot of fat.

-And that's when people like me get hold of them.

-Yeah.

So the proof of the pudding's in the eating, mate.

-Are we going to try this?

-Better go and try it, yeah.

Come in, Brian, we'll try some of these sausages.

I can smell sausages, that's wonderful.

-Baked in the oven?

-Yeah, straight out the Aga.

There we go, these are our award-winning sausages, here.

-Are they all the same?

-We've got some different ones, here.

-Oh, right, OK.

We've got some pork sausage.

I like pork sausage. Natural skins.

Natural skins, no added fat, so when you cut them open,

you'll notice that there's no fat dribbles out of that.

They're very firm. Good texture to them, bags of meat in there.

And we've got a Old English one here,

which is got a bit more seasoning -

that's thyme, nutmeg, sage and pepper, added to the Old English,

to give that a little bit more of a herby flavour.

That actually has got plenty...

That's got more seasoning in it, and that for me, now,

suddenly it give me bags of flavour.

That's very nice, is that.

As a chef, we judge quality retrospectively,

by looking at the plates that come back,

and that's nearly finished, is that sausage,

so you can tell I like that.

If I could, I've got to produce this celebration dish

or something that reflects the area that I'm in,

and it strikes me that if I could have some sausage meat...

-Yeah, that would be fine.

-..that would be perfect.

-Yeah, lovely.

-Thank you.

-Very good. Thank you very much.

Armed with a few pound of Fergus's award-winning sausage meat,

we're all set to create a taste of Essex.

The sun's shining, so I can't think of a better place to cook

that sums up this area than the beach.

We've asked a few of the locals we've met here

to give us their verdict on the dish.

So, no pressure, Brian(!)

I want to thank you all for coming today,

you've certainly brought fantastic weather with you,

and I hope, Brian...

No, they didn't bring me with them, I came by myself.

No, Brian, I want you to amaze me.

I'm going to show you this great sausage.

Thanks to Fergus, you got some wonderful sausage meat here, OK.

-I'm going to make sausage cakes, like fishcakes.

-Yeah.

But with nutmeg-flavoured spinach

and then I'm going to serve it on braised barley

with spring onions and tomatoes

and a little bit of tomato sauce, as well.

I'm looking forward to that pork,

because you didn't know that I've already eaten your pork

and it's fantastic, but I've never done this recipe.

-Neither have I, as it happens.

-ALL LAUGH

-We'll crack on, I've got the pan on here, OK.

-No, it's going to be good.

A bit of rapeseed oil in there and spring onions.

So what I'm going to do, I'm going to keep the green for later

cos I just like the colour,

and then just nicely shred the whites of the spring onions.

So that goes into here,

I'm going to put a bit of garlic in and now we give it a stir.

So, it's almost like making a braised rice

or a risotto, if you like.

But actually, barley, something we've forgotten to use.

I know, it's something our mums and dads chucked in soup,

-like a risotto.

-Just to thicken it up.

-Yeah.

Absolutely right, so...bung that in there

and we give it a stir around, just to coat it with the oil,

pretty much like you would do for a risotto,

and I'm going to cook it with chicken stock, not water,

chicken stock works great.

What I'm going to do is, I'm going to put the lid on there,

bring it up to the boil, 20-25, I'm going to turn it down once I've got it boiling,

so it's a nice little braise away there,

and let it sit.

Put some oil into heat.

You'll notice that I'm not putting much butter

in this recipe cos I just think...

I've noticed that, you've got a gold star already.

So, lovely sausages,

I'm going to put into this the chopped spinach.

Give it a whirl round.

Normally, I'd use my hands at this,

just don't want to get too dirty just yet, cos were not in a...

I'd have to run right down to the sea to wash me hands, so...!

I'm going to put a bit of pepper in there,

just to spice it up a little bit.

But then what I've got to put in there

is one of my favourite condiments.

-Worcester sauce.

-Worcestershire sauce.

Is it Worcester sauce or Worcestershire sauce?

I always call it Worcester sauce.

You could make it a different flavour,

so that it's not just a pork sausage meat -

good as it is, we just want to give it that extra dimension.

Right now, I'm going to make four of these,

and I want to try and get them to be a fairly even size.

And as a professional,

I should be able to do that.

But...

-There's no guarantees at all.

-JANET LAUGHS

-Lovely.

-I think smaller ones look nicer anyway.

I think it's a bit off-putting

to have a great big football on your plate.

-Darren, is this how you'd do it?

-It is, yeah.

Listen, Darren has never done this dish before, I can guarantee.

I bet he's made a few meatballs!

It's whether he'll do it in the future is what matters.

Now, this is when I need a bit of help from you.

You're allowing me a role in your preparation?

Right, what I want you to do, I'm going to put it in the flour,

-like that.

-Yeah.

I want you to turn it over, shake off the excess,

then, with one hand, put it into the egg and then take it out

and put it into there, and I'll do the rest OK?

-Turn it over with your...

-Is this a practice one?

-Let's go, left hand.

-Yeah.

-Right, turn it over.

-Turn it over.

-Make sure it's got flour all the way round it.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.

-Now shake off the excess.

-Argh!

SHE LAUGHS

-Just ignore it.

-This is very fresh sausage meat.

-I know, I know, right!

-It's still alive! It's good stuff, Fergus!

Right, right, I've shaken it.

Excess off. Right, OK. Now drop it into there.

Now with this hand, turn it over.

God, it's worse than choreographing a bloody ballet!

-Now, it's got to be everywhere, OK?

-All right, all right, I'm doing it.

Shake off the excess.

Oh, look there's a bit there that hasn't got egg on it.

It's important! I'm trying to teach you how to do these things properly.

-All right, I've got it.

-OK, right, now drop it into there.

-That's it - now, we do the same again three times, OK?

-Right, OK.

Let just have a quick stir of my barley.

Oh, that's lovely.

That's it, yeah, good.

Right, OK. All right, all right.

I'm getting it. By the time I've done 100, I shall be on it. Right.

What do you think, Fergus, you think this'll be all right?

-So far, it's looking good.

-Good man, there.

There's a sink underneath there to wash your hands with, OK?

They're not too bad, I've got them all basically the same shape.

-So, are you ready yet?

-Yeah, I'm back.

What I'm going to do now, just shake off the excess breadcrumbs

cos if they drop off into the fat, they'll burn

and they'll just have dirty little marks on them.

So, just shape them all up.

That looks good.

They're like fishcakes, but they're actually sausage cakes.

And they're not rissoles.

They certainly nothing like that, you're quite right.

Right, I'm going to put them into some oil,

just to make sure that they get into the oil, there.

Now, you have to cook them slowly like this,

otherwise the breadcrumbs, before the sausage meat is cooked,

will be too brown - we don't want that to happen.

Let's have a quick look at the colour -

now, that's the colour, almost the colour I'm looking for.

And I'm not going to cheat, but I've found an oven

in this beach hut over here, so I'm going to take them in there.

It's nice if you cook them in the oven

cos they cook right through the middle.

It's pork meat, we want to make sure it's cooked. That's where I'm off.

I can't believe he's left me in charge! Stay in there for a bit!

Fergus, what do you think of the recipe so far?

I think it's fantastic! What a great idea.

Yeah, because I bought your pork before,

I've never thought of doing this,

-so I'm really interested to see how it turns out.

-Same here.

-Darren, what about you?

-Yeah, it looks good, can't wait to taste it.

-Yeah, it smells good doesn't it?

-Yeah, it does smell really good.

Do you do a barley risotto?

We do a lot of risottos, but not barley ones, so...

-Well, there's going to be a first for you.

-That's it.

Right, you can come out now!

Can you make me a space on the table

-for these...these...cakes, yeah.

-Yeah, OK, boss.

-I'm coming out now.

-Do I look like a skivvy?

ALL LAUGH

Who said "yes"?

Where's it going to go? Down there? That's fantastic.

Here's a little tip, if you drop them in the sand,

tell people you like them very crispy, all right?

I'm going to take these over here, just let them sit for a minute,

we can just reheat them before we go,

cos I need to make a bit of sauce.

Two pieces of butter,

-that's lovely and a few shallots.

-Right.

And a bit of garlic,

and I've got some tomato concasse,

so just skin taken off, seeds taken out, chopped -

you know how it works, don't you, Janet?

Yeah. I can't bear tomato skins, so that looks fantastic.

I quite like the skins on, if I'm honest with you,

but I knew you didn't like it, so I put that in here.

You were up all night doing that, I know!

-OK, a bit of chicken stock in there.

-Yeah.

So, we've got the three elements to the dish,

we've got the sauce, which is on the way,

we've got the braised barley here,

and we got the sausage cakes here.

This green of the spring onions that I kept,

I'm going to put in now.

So, shred those up there. These go at the last minute,

we put the white in so that's cooked down, it's nice and soft,

this'll be a little bit more crunchy,

but it also a different colour

and it'll actually add to our braised barley.

That goes in there,

give it a whirl.

I'm going to put some tomatoes in there.

Just look at the colour, what do you think to that?

-Isn't that beautiful?

-Does that look good or what?

What's really good about barley is it really holds its shape.

It does, it does, and you don't have to undercook it

or overcook it. It's nice.

-What do you think to that, people?

-Yeah, it's great.

Do as you're told, enjoy!

Right, so, that's on the go there.

-Yeah.

-I think we're almost ready to serve up.

One other thing I need to do, I got some chervil here.

-Lovely herb, is chervil.

-Yeah, I love it.

I only put this in cos it's subtle, like you,

and I thought that would make a real...

Funnily enough, Brian, I grow it.

So, chervil, I'm going to put into the barley now, OK.

Just to finish off, give that little bit of colour.

Yeah.

Have a taste, tell me what you think.

It's good, man.

Tastes very fresh.

Well, it is, ain't it? Cos I've just made it!

No, what I mean is...!

What I mean is, Brian, that fresh tomatoes

taste infinitely better than anything out of a tin.

You're absolutely right.

So, I'm ready to go now.

So, firstly, we put our barley on there.

-It's got a lovely colour.

-What you don't want to do

is put it in one of those shapes or forms.

Oh, you mean in a mould thing?

Yeah, we don't want to put in a mould,

-it's just natural. So, we'll take these now.

-Yep.

Those just sit in the middle. Perfect.

A little bit of tomato sauce,

and by that, I mean the stuff that we've just made here.

I'm going to be a bit cheffy, look.

You're doing a dribble!

I'm doing a dribble, yeah. When you get to my age...

I was going to say, comes with the territory.

OK, so just a little bit there, cos we want to make it...

And we've got some lovely friends on this trip,

and they've really done us a world of good,

so I want it to look nice.

I've got these little bits of chervil over here,

and I think chervil looks so delicate and so pretty.

-Can I taste it first?

-Have a taste first,

and then we'll serve it to everybody, yeah.

It is good meaty sausage meat, this, I have to say.

-Oh, that sausage meat tastes great!

-What about the dish?.

I haven't got round to all the elements, I'm... ALL LAUGH

It's fantastic.

Well, isn't she a lovely...?

She knows her food, that lass!

Our little sausage cakes and barley.

That's it, give round of applause,

it deserved it - well done, thank you.

OK, get stuck in, chef, don't hang around.

-What do you reckon to that?

-Mm, do you want a job?

You definitely get the herbs when you're eating it.

That's good, that's good to hear.

-Really good, isn't it?

-Lovely sausage meat.

-Yeah, lovely.

-Happy pigs.

-Happy pigs, that's it.

-Shall we go again?

-Yeah, yeah, course you can.

-Go on, I'm being polite.

-Someone have that!

-Don't be shy.

-No hanging about, there.

I've never cooked anything like this before,

but I will have a go at doing a pork cake like this. Great idea.

What a fantastic way of cooking and eating British pork!

What were the best moments for you?

Well, it's exploring a part of the coastline

that I hadn't been to before.

That was amazing. And I really liked going to the Maldon Salt factory.

Because I've used Maldon Salt for years, and now I know how it's made.

For me, the weather and the scenery have just been absolutely fantastic.

The oyster man, what a character he was! Did great stuff with oysters.

-And I got to eat a lot of oysters!

-Yes, you did!

The piglets, at the pig farm, and that sausage meat, fantastic.

Taste of Britain, here in Essex - it was great, eh?