North Essex 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 around 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, our culinary and cultural voyage of discovery brings us

to the picturesque region of North Essex.

Characterised by its small market towns and scenic countryside,

this enchanting part of England has inspired generations of artists,

including Britain's most famous landscape painter, John Constable.

North Essex has close historical links to the railways.

So, it's all aboard for a ride in the driver's seat.

Can I do the whistle?

Excuse me, I'm driving.

HORN TOOTS

'Our strawberry-picking skills will be put to the test as we race

'head-to-head at one of the region's many fruit farms.'

Brian, those are albino there - that's not a ripe strawberry.

'Along the way, we'll be searching for the ideal ingredient

'for a celebratory dish that sums up the taste of North Essex.'

-Just look at the difference.

-Oh, yeah.

There, you see, it's just got thicker.

It's the consistency of paint, isn't it? Isn't it?

Brian, what do you think of this place I've brought you to?

The views are just sensational, they're fantastic.

Yeah, it's Hedingham Castle.

It's one of the highest points in North Essex.

And it was given in 1066 by William the Conqueror

to his brother-in-law, and he improved the castle,

and I think he probably raised it a bit, so he could see all his lands.

And you can see over there Braintree,

which was the centre of the textile industry.

Over there, Saffron Walden.

There's some great arable produce round here.

It used to be called by some people "the bread bin of Britain".

And there's also a guy I know who's got a fabulous restaurant,

I just can't wait to see it.

-So let's discover North Essex.

-Come on.

Thaxted, one of the region's quaint villages, with rows

of brightly painted cottages,

is a good place to start our exploration of North Essex.

And there's a farm nearby known for its game that's the perfect

place to begin sampling a taste of the region.

I've heard that very close to here there's a gentleman who's

just started producing guinea fowl.

-I'd love to see him.

-I love guinea fowl.

-Yeah.

But at the moment, most of them come from France,

so be interesting to see what British ones are like.

They're funny creatures. Have you ever...?

-What, funnier than me?

-Yeah!

Hey, look at this - Dick Turpin's Cottage.

It's not even a cottage, is it? Look at that place, it's fantastic.

-Absolutely beautiful, early Tudor.

-So what, you think he lived there?

No, actually, I've looked it up in the guidebook

and his Uncle George lived there!

-Ha! Are you serious?

-He stayed there.

-Oh, right.

-But that's Uncle George's house.

-Seriously?

Yeah, Uncle George was a butcher.

I bet he didn't do guinea fowl.

Simon Hughes and his family have been farming

poultry in Saffron Walden for over half a century.

Simon, how did you get started?

Um, nepotism, really.

What do you mean, your dad, your grandad?

-Yeah, that's right, yeah.

-Yeah.

-That's not a bad way.

-No, it's a very good way, yeah.

Er, my grandad started the farm -

-just after the Second World War he bought it.

-Yeah.

-And he's always done some poultry.

-What do you mean by that?

I know now you mean guinea fowl, but what else do you produce?

So we do chickens, ducks and geese for Christmas here.

I haven't always done guinea fowl -

about two years I've been doing them.

Why did you pick guinea fowl?

-Well, cos I like the flavour.

-Yeah.

They help the other birds, they eat lice and ticks, anything like that.

Oh, right. Oh, I feel better already now(!)

So that makes them taste great!

That does make them taste great and keeps things clean.

If you've got a wasps' nest, put your guinea fowl around it

and they'll soon eat that.

They have got a very definite flavour, but it's not strong.

No, it's quite a subtle flavour, sort of probably somewhere

between a chicken and a turkey and a pheasant as well.

Yeah, I think it's between a chicken and a pheasant, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Just a hint of gaminess.

-Yes, yeah.

Well, I'm definitely inspired. I'm going to cook a really great

guinea fowl dish with your guinea fowls. Let's go.

Sounds good.

'I'm curious to find out what Brian's going to make

'with Simon's guinea fowl.'

I think a rustic North Essex farmhouse needs a suitably

rustic dish, Janet,

so I'm making pot-roasted guinea fowl on a bed of caramelised onions.

Brian, you can see the meat is darker than chicken already,

-can't you?

-Yeah, it's more like pheasant meat.

It's a two-portion bird, is this.

So, a bit of oil in here, pan nice and hot.

What you need to do first, you need to put the thigh pieces in,

they'll take a bit longer to cook. So get 'em in there.

And what you really need to do is make sure it's a really good colour.

OK, I'm just going to quickly shred some onions.

-And I've also got some shallots.

-Yeah.

And I've blanched them off, so just cook them in boiling,

-salted water, so that...

-I grow those.

-Do you really?

Yeah, they're dead easy to grow.

-And they're really nice when they're roasted, I think.

-Yeah.

So I'm now going to put the breasts in.

Turn them over now.

Oh, that's a nice colour, that's OK.

And it really is a question of getting a bit of colour.

Don't forget at this stage, a wee bit of seasoning,

so just salt the whole thing.

It already smells wonderful - it's got that nice,

pleasant smell of the skin roasting there, which I think is lovely.

OK, so just a bit of butter in there, I've got oil in there

mainly, but I just want to get some flavour with our onions.

Right, so, let's take these out now.

-So, it's a one-pot dish.

-Yeah.

I'm going to serve it in the same pot, which I think is going to work

even better. So now I'm going to take these blanched shallots, I'm going to

-put them...

-How long did you blanch them for?

-About five or six minutes.

-Yeah.

-And once again, just get a bit of colour.

And the trick to that is actually to be very masculine...

-Yeah.

-..have lots of patience, to get a really nice colour.

Yeah, I don't think patience is a male or female virtue,

it's just a virtue.

Of those that have it and those that...

Exactly, and I haven't got it, so carry on, anyway, carry on!

I have, so I'm fine, so there's not a problem at all here.

OK, so we've got a bit of colour there, that's looking good.

So we take those out now as well, put those on a plate.

Because then what you need to do is we need to cook our onions that

we've now sliced up till they start to get a really nice colour on them.

-Cos they are sweet, aren't they, onions?

-They are, yeah, yeah.

I'm going to put a little bit more oil in.

And just one more knob of butter, cos that'll help caramelise it,

give it a nice colour, and give it a stir around.

That forms the bed for everything I've got here.

-So I put the, er, shallots in.

-Yeah.

Give it a stir round again.

And there's lots of flavour and moisture come from those as well.

So we're going to take a bit of the thigh meat,

-and a bit of breast meat.

-Yeah.

Make sure all the juices are back in there.

We've already said it's important not to lose juices,

and that's flavour as well as moistness.

Now, I've got some thyme over here.

-Yeah.

-Fresh thyme - smell that.

-Yeah.

-It's good, innit, eh?

It's delicious. It's such a lovely herb.

It is. And so that's just going to go, sprinkled generously,

on the top.

You've very carefully cut all the twiggy bits out of it as well.

Well, that's the way you have to do it, really.

What we do now is, we take a wee bit of temperature out,

so we've got to bring it back up again, but we add a bit of moisture.

It wouldn't be a proper dish if we didn't put a bit of wine in there.

Not too much.

You can always add a little bit more.

You want sort of a juice to serve it with, but not a gravy,

not a sauce. A bit of chicken stock.

You're not making a stew.

No, absolutely not. So, lid back on.

Now, I think it's nice on here for ten minutes. Watch this.

Just get your head over here - come 'ere, come 'ere,

-get your head over here. Watch.

-Oh!

-Look at the moisture that's just come out of it.

-Oh, smells fantastic.

It's going to be lovely and moist, is that. Turn that off.

We just want... This is the kind of dish you could put onto the table,

everybody helps themselves. I've got some chopped parsley,

cos I like that little bit of vivid green.

But we also want people to know that it's got that thyme in it.

So this is lovely, fresh thyme, I do love this.

So just pull a few...and just scatter a few bits of that

over the top, so that little bit of perfume goes on there.

What do you think to that, madam?

Looks great.

There's only one person that I'm prepared to share it with.

Oh, thank you.

No. Simon!

-Oh. Trust me, huh!

-It's his guinea fowl.

Well, exactly, all right.

-Have a look at that.

-Oh, that looks amazing, Brian.

-Well, you can't say anything else, really, can you?

-No, I can't, no.

OK, right, fine. So, look, I'm going to put two portions on here.

-Right, there you are, Simon.

-Oh, thank you.

And it is one of those things that we chefs do actually like to do,

a bit of presentation.

Then we just take a couple of those, the whole shallots

and the onions and then just put a bit...

See that gravy? That little bit of juice there just kept it nice

and moist. And there you have it. So, dig in, boys and girls.

Right. Simon.

Well, thank you.

-Oh! Tastes great.

-It does, it is amazing.

-Well, I'm having another mouthful.

-You should become a chef, Brian.

Yeah, one of these days I might just do that, if I've got enough time.

Are you giving it ten out of ten, Simon?

-I would give it ten out of ten, yes.

-Thank you, Simon, you're a gent.

Go for it, girl.

I want a bit of thigh before Simon finishes it all off.

-I love your thighs, Brian, they are so tasty.

-Yeah.

The best thighs you've ever seen.

I just think the sweetness of the onions, the actual flavour of the

guinea fowl, it's a perfect marriage just with that sprinkle of thyme.

Now, Brian, I feel I need a little mini break from you.

Don't take it badly.

I'm off to Braintree to see a fantastic textile museum,

-you do what you like.

-That works out perfectly.

North Essex has links to the textile industry dating

back at least three centuries.

One of its most famous producers was Warner & Sons,

who supplied fabrics to the aristocracy

from the 1700s and manufactured all the way through to the 1980s.

Based in the original mill that housed the company, Warner Textile

Archive in Braintree documents nearly 500 years of design history.

With around 100,000 items, it's the second largest collection

in the country, after the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

'Archivist Kate Wigley is going to show me

'some of their colourful collection.'

-Hi, Kate.

-Hello.

-Hi, very nice to meet you.

-And you.

So, why Essex?

Why is Braintree the home of all these goodies?

Well, it actually works back from, er, the woollen trade.

As the industry started to decline

and silk became more fashionable,

Braintree grew from the silk trade

because companies started to base themselves back out

into the smaller counties that were surrounding London.

-We're talking, what, early 18th century?

-Yes.

And these people were, you know, skilled workers,

-but they lived in terrible conditions.

-Mm, and crammed in.

And it's actually very difficult, as you can imagine, to weave in

very difficult, dark conditions, um, with, you know, people

all around you and trying to squeeze in a big loom into small buildings.

So, Kate, Warner, they were making fabrics for royal palaces,

for coronations, for the aristocracy.

This looks like exactly the kind of thing you'd find in a stately home.

What date is this?

Er, well, it's from about 1832.

Did they actually put it on the wall?

Yeah, they would, er, stitch it to the wall on frames

so that it looked like wallpaper.

You've got ballrooms and parties and dinner parties,

you're inviting ambassadors, the aristocrats, the lords and ladies.

You want to show off, and people would know

that you would have only been able to go to a couple of places

to get this fabric, and they would know the cost of this.

-So it's bling.

-It's bling.

Now, are we coming on to the 20th century here?

Things changed dramatically after

the Second World War - Warner's really grabbed that opportunity,

by developing different types of printing methods.

And this is an example of some of the things that they did really well,

that they were known for, this iconic design by Eddie Squires, 1969,

to celebrate the moon landing.

-Now, Kate, I can hardly contain my excitement.

-Good.

This I know is from the London Underground.

Warner's went from weaving silk and velvet to...

Yeah, industrial, effectively.

It's referred to by the old workers as the knicker wool fabric, because

-it's actually woven with knicker wool, effectively.

-Knicker wool!

It's got the little gimp in it,

and that's what makes it really hard wearing.

Right, well, my grandad was a train driver on the Piccadilly Line.

-Oh, right, yeah.

-And I don't know how he got hold of it,

but a sofa in their house at home was covered in this!

Yeah, absolutely...

I'm sure loads of workers filched bits.

Well, thank you so much for showing me all these fabulous fabrics.

No, thank you.

Not only are they brilliant to look at and they're so rich

and colourful, they've brought back so many memories.

I still need to decide what I'm going to cook

for my celebratory dish,

so I've come to visit a great local chef in Epping for some inspiration.

From many varieties of vegetables to colourful micro herbs,

Jahdre Hayward and his wife Amanda cultivate an impressive array

of ingredients right on the doorstep of their restaurant, Haywards.

-Hi, chef.

-Hello, how are you today?

-I'm good, and yourself?

-Fine, thank you.

-It's good to meet you.

-What are you going to cook for us?

-Today I'm cooking fillet of cod

with koji and basil puree and a cherry tomato ketchup

and a potato galette.

-OK, well, kick on and show us what you're going to do.

-OK.

That is a lovely fillet of cod,

-it really is a delicious-looking fish, that.

-Yeah, it is.

-So I'm just going to gradually just take it off like that.

-Yeah.

That's a skill that takes a bit of practice, is that, isn't it, eh?

-Yes.

-You made it look so easy there.

-And I'm just going to cut it in half.

-Yeah.

Pick the bones out, and then I'm going to salt it.

-I'm not going to waste this, I'm going to use that for staff.

-Yeah.

I'm just going to take a bit off the end.

And just like that.

That's lovely.

And I'm using Maldon sea salt rather than table salt.

-That's pretty local, yeah?

-Yes, from Maldon.

It does make an amazing difference to the texture of the fish -

it tightens it up, it gets rid of the excess moisture

and it seasons it a bit as well, doesn't it?

-Yes, it does.

-A taste of the sea.

-Yes.

And I'm just going to put clingfilm on top of it.

-OK.

-Just to press it,

and then I'm just going to leave it in the fridge for 45 minutes.

I'm originally from Bermuda, and this is a dish that reminds me

of when I was growing up.

Every Sunday, you have a dish called "cod fish and potato",

so it's just actually salted cod.

I'm going to make the cherry tomato ketchup.

So we have some cherry tomatoes here with cinnamon stick, star anise.

They've been under the salamander for 45 minutes,

and now I'm just going to put them on the stove, to continue cooking.

That's why they've got this colour, they've blistered slightly.

-A touch of Chardonnay vinegar.

-Lovely.

-And some sugar.

-Yeah.

We'll just put it on the stove.

So, what's next, Chef?

Er, I'm going to make the garnish for it.

-So I'm going to make a potato galette.

-Right.

So I'm going to... I have a machine here.

Now these are wonderful machines.

I absolutely love 'em.

So, we're going to make potato spaghetti.

-I'm just taking the ends off a bit.

-All right.

And then you just go like that.

-And then I just tend to hold it like this.

-Yeah.

I remember the day, Chef,

when we used to have to do this with a knife.

Yeah, you might well laugh, eh!

Well, I can't imagine doing that.

And I'm just going to squeeze some of the starch out of it.

-OK. So why do you do that?

-Just to make it nice and crispy.

-Yeah, that's cool.

-OK.

I have a pan on the stove already.

I'm going to put a touch of butter.

Good man, I like to see a bit of butter in these dishes.

Oh, I love butter.

Me too, a bit of flavour.

So, there's no specific pattern, you're just doing it,

you're making it up as you go on this pattern, yeah?

-Yes.

-A real artist.

-And then I'm just going to press it down gently.

-Yeah.

-And then I'm just going to put it back on the stove.

-Yep.

OK, Chef, so what's next?

-OK, so I'm going to make the koji and basil puree.

-Right.

-So in here I have a bucket of iced water.

-OK.

And that's just to, when I've actually blitzed up the koji

and basil puree, I put it on ice so it can keep its green colour.

So the koji has just been lightly cooked with some shallots

and garlic.

And then I've blanched some spinach beforehand with a bit of basil.

-OK, yeah.

-And then refresh it in iced water.

-OK.

-Yep.

-And then I'm just going to pass it.

If you'd mind holding that for me, please.

I'd be very happy to do that, Chef.

-And so it's going to be really fine, all the bits are out there.

-Yeah.

And once again the ice is to shock the colour

-and keep the colour in, yeah?

-Yes.

And what I do, I'm just going to cover it again with clingfilm.

-Yeah.

-And that's it, that's the koji and basil puree.

-OK.

-And I'm just going to put that in the fridge.

I'm going to start blitzing up the cherry tomato puree.

So, if you remember, I put some star anise and cinnamon in it.

-Yeah.

-So, I'm going to actually take that out, because...

-Of course.

..that would just make it go completely bitter.

And I'm just going to blitz it up.

So, again, the reason why I'm passing it is just to get all the

cherry tomato seeds out of it, cos I just want a very pure puree.

That looks lovely, does that.

Oh, it does.

OK, so I'm just going to bring the potato galette over

and just turn it over.

So, as you see, it's crisping up quite nicely.

OK, so I've already washed off the cod.

-Right.

-And I've rolled it in clingfilm.

The reason I've rolled it in clingfilm

is so it has the perfect shape when I pan-fry it.

So now I'm just going to portion them.

And that's it.

And then I'm just going to take the clingfilm off.

-So they're a lovely shape.

-I'm going to pan-fry it.

-Yep.

Presentation side down.

I'm going to put it in the oven for four minutes.

-So, we've got the spinach...

-Yeah.

-..with the diced shallots and knob of butter.

-Yeah.

So, I'm just going to put it on my tray.

If there's any water left, I'm just going to drain it off,

I'm just going to press it down.

OK, so basically the cod has been in the oven for four minutes,

so I'm just going to put it again underneath the salamander...

for two minutes.

And then after I've finished that, I'm going to put

a knob of butter in it, just to give it some more flavour.

So, gradually I'm just going to add some butter to the dish

and then I'm going to baste it.

These are also some cherry tomatoes...

which I, er, put under the salamander just to blister a bit.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So they're still nice and firm.

So, I'm just checking, we've got the spinach there.

-The spinach is here.

-Potato.

-Potato.

-Fish.

-Fish.

-Tomatoes and our two...

-Purees.

-Perfect, so this is it, Chef.

-I am salivating and can't wait.

-OK.

A lovely colour.

So, we've got the spinach.

-Cherry tomatoes.

-Yep.

-Right there.

And then the fillet of cod,

and then we're going to put the galette on top.

And a bit of basil oil.

OK, so here we have roasted fillet of cod,

koji and basil puree with cherry tomato ketchup and a potato galette.

Well, the dish looks fantastic,

but it will have to taste as good to satisfy our duchess.

-It looks like your cup of tea.

-Yes, it does.

It smells good.

Right, what's in the galette?

-Just potato.

-Oh, it's lovely.

-Just crisp potato. Home-made crisps.

-Mm.

Nice bit of cod.

-Look at that cod.

-Perfectly cooked.

What thinkest thou?

Delicious. Tastes very fresh.

Big flavours in the courgette and the tomato ketchup,

but they work well together.

Well, it's a bit like a modern version of fish and chips.

It is rather, yes.

Postmodern fish and chips.

The origins of the railways in North Essex have close links

with its manufacturing history.

A number of small independent lines were set up by local businessmen,

to transport goods to the capital and beyond.

Some, like the Colne Valley Railway,

still run today as tourist attractions, and I've organised

a ride with local train buff Nick Ellis.

-Hi.

-Hi, Nick, Good day.

-Hello, Brian.

-Are you good?

-Hi, morning.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Welcome to the Colne Valley Railway,

preserving it as it was in the 1950s, but you're more interested

in how it started, so I'll take you over to the steam engine over there.

Fine, thank you.

'This railway was built thanks to the local manufacture of silk.

'It was extended a number of times and eventually reached Cambridge.'

Going back about 120-odd years, to the 1850s,

there was no major industry here except for at Halstead.

Halstead had one of the largest factories in the country

at the time, famous for making silk and other goods.

-The workers created the demand for coal.

-Yes.

They wanted coal to heat their houses.

Coal was expensive - you could get it to Colchester very cheaply,

but it actually cost six shillings a tonne to move it from Colchester

-up to Halstead.

-Oh, I see.

-And that was why the railway came.

As a result of that, obviously, silk could be taken out.

So this was developed really as a goods line.

To all intents and purposes, that's where it made its money.

So when did the railway fall into decline?

It was always in decline, it went bankrupt twice!

-From day one!

-From day one, yes.

-1964 it finally closed.

-Ah. Can we actually get on a train?

Oh, definitely.

Come this way and we will get onto our 1960s diesel train.

I should have worn a '60s frock.

Or a boiler suit.

There we are, our 1960s for you.

So if you'd like to come in the guard's van...

Thank you, sir.

Right.

-Come in.

-Hello.

-Hello there. How are you?

-Can I have this seat?

-Morning, Evan.

-Good morning.

-It's exciting.

-Oh, can I press the buzzer?

-Is that it?!

-That's it.

BUZZING

How long does it take to learn to drive one of these things?

It depends whether you do a crash course.

-A crash course!

-Um...

-It's not a good word, is it?

It's not just learning to drive it,

you've also got to learn how it operates as well.

So, if something goes wrong,

-you've got to be able to deal with the issue.

-Evan?

-Yes.

I know I don't look like a promising tr...

Get your eyes back on the line!

-Oh, don't worry.

-It's not going to make any difference.

I know where it's going.

'Sadly, today, there are only a few hundred metres of functioning

'track left here.'

There you go.

-Can we have a driving lesson then?

-Yep.

'Well, I'm looking forward to getting in the driver's seat,

'but as Paul repositions the train back in the station,

'its complicated gear system has derailed Janet's enthusiasm.'

Look, Brian, I can't do gears.

And on my bike I set it on one of two gears - flat or hill.

Well, yeah, but we don't have that problem here - a) it's all flat,

and b) you can't...

Yeah, but what is this throttle malarkey? What's a throttle?

Well, it's like a... it's like a clutch on a car.

I don't know what a clutch is, I've got an automatic!

When you had a clutch on a car you used to put the foot in,

-take it out.

-Brian, I've never had a clutch.

Well, I'm telling you! I'm teaching you, for goodness' sake!

I'm never, ever, ever going to learn gears because I don't need to.

Listen, if I can work it out, you have to be able to work it,

you're far more intelligent than I'll ever be.

I know I'm more intelligent than you, I just don't do gears.

You can't have both gears, looks and intelligence, yeah.

I can't bear that you're going to be driving a train.

-Right, Evan.

-Right.

I think we've decided that only Brian can drive,

cos I can't understand what a throttle is.

-Right, OK.

-But get close to him, you might have to take over.

-Right.

The first thing is put your hand down on that, then you wriggle it.

-It's quite heavy to push down, isn't it?

-It is.

Well, the idea is that if you are ill, it will naturally come up.

You've got 36 tonnes of train behind you here.

JANET LAUGHS

You know, you think you're driving an artic lorry...

You don't... Tell me what I need to know, and not what's going to

frighten the hell out of me, huh?

Just think you're making a very complicated sauce

with a lot of butter in it.

You can pull that round. And release the brake.

Right. All the way round?

-That's it, yeah. That's it.

-OK.

-It will start to creep forward.

Oh, crikey.

It suddenly feels like it's taking...

it's taking you over suddenly.

-Yeah.

-Can I do the whistle?

-Excuse me, I'm driving.

HORN TOOTS

So I pull it towards me.

Yeah, pull the accelerator towards you. That's it, keep going.

Crikey, there is such a sense of power here, man.

Oh, it's the end!

I can see the end of the track, please, Brian, stop!

-Right, drop the accelerator down.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, gears to neutral.

There's buffers. Wow, that's good, we're only...

30 yards from the buffers.

Thanks, Brian.

'Don't tell anyone, but I used to be a train spotter,

'and I think I'd quite fancy taking up train driving as a hobby,

'but, in the meantime, it's back to the day job.

'We still need to decide on a main ingredient for our celebratory dish.

'North Essex is famous for many soft fruits,

'so we've come to Wash Farm in Halstead to try some.'

Well, I promise I won't mention it

any more times, but I was good on that train, wasn't I, eh?

Stop gloating, it's very unattractive.

This is a lovely fruit farm here - it's quite small,

the fruit is perfect and I'm desperate to cook here.

Good. Get off train driving.

Owned by Shirley Stevenson and her husband Pete,

this family-run farm focuses on producing fruit for the local

community, and has resisted offers to supply the big supermarkets.

-Hi, Janet.

-Hi, Shirley.

-Nice to meet you.

-This is Brian.

-Hiya.

-Hi, Brian.

Nice to see you. Nice to meet you.

The train driver. Can we look at the farm?

-Sure, not a problem.

-Great.

-Would you like to come with us?

-What's your major crop?

-Strawberries.

What other fruit have you got here?

Well, this is really just the beginning of our season.

So we'd have strawberries, we'd have raspberries, gooseberries,

blueberries, currants, which are something that you

often don't see as well, cos a lot of farmers have taken those out.

-What are those over there?

-Cherries!

-Ah.

Well, here's the strawberries.

The beauty of these is that you can actually plant them

successionally so you have effectively 60-day plants.

Strawberries used to be something that everybody would say,

-"Oh, it's Wimbledon, it's strawberries."

-Yeah.

And they associated it with a very short time of year.

-Absolutely.

-Late June.

-Yeah.

And you're saying that, by covering all your options,

how long is your strawberry season now?

Late May, first week in August.

But can we pick some?

Cos I think I'm going to try and use these in my celebration dish,

-so can we pick some?

-Can I trust you? Can I trust you with my crop?

-Yeah, you can trust Brian.

-I'm a train driver, I'll be fine.

-Trust him, he's a train...

-With my strawberries?

He's a train driver, so...

Now, we come to the strawberries, which are ripe at the moment.

'To make the picking a bit more interesting,

'Shirley's decided to pit us against one another

'in a strawberry-picking race.'

-Here you are, Brian.

-Thank you, Duchess.

Right, are you timing us?

-Let's see how it goes.

-How long we got?

Right, you've got one minute, start.

Crikey, I can't see 'em now - they've just suddenly hidden themselves.

How do you stop the baskets falling on the floor and them

rolling out of the baskets? This is ridiculous.

She... Do you have to put them in the basket?

-In the basket, not in your tummy.

-You didn't say that at the start.

My apologies. In the basket, please, Brian.

OK. And is there any minimum size?

You're doing a lot of talking, Brian.

Quality and excellence, and I would get on with the picking.

Too much talk - too much banter on that side.

This is like being back at school again, is this, isn't it, eh?

-Absolutely.

-Never had this before.

Now, I see the quality in Janet's basket, it's looking very good.

I naturally go for upper classed, posh, good-quality things normally.

Now tell me, neither of you are colour blind, are you?

Well, we train drivers have to be a bit careful what we do.

Brian, are yours red or are they light red?

-Oh, you didn't say they had to be red.

-They've got to be ripe, Brian!

-You didn't say anything about that.

-But you're a chef, Brian.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Stop! Put down your baskets, please.

-Right.

-Right, let's have a look-see. Now, quality.

-Oh, no. Oh, Brian.

-I've got longer stalks.

Just look at his colour.

Brian, those are albino there - that's not a ripe strawberry.

-Brian!

-You be careful,

cos I know what's happened here, I've been set up.

Look, my strawberries are...

These have been picked already, haven't they?

I may have picked slightly less than you...

but mine are Premier League strawberries.

Those are Second Division pickings.

Yeah, I would definitely rate yours on quality. I'm sorry, Brian.

Could I have some for my celebration dish?

You certainly may, Brian.

The only thing is I would suggest that you use Janet's,

because yours are really, really poor quality. Thank you.

-Just accept defeat gracefully.

-Thank you, thank you. Thank you.

Not a good loser, Brian.

'Hard luck, Brian - you may be able to steer a train down a track,

'but I think you'll agree I'm the expert in the strawberry department.

'Armed with a few of my professionally picked specimens,

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

'along with a few friends we've met along the way.'

What a fantastic place we've got here,

and just look at that view - look at these lovely people.

-Yeah.

-Sheep.

-And the sky is almost the same colour

as your shirt. I've got a sunny disposition today.

And I can see all the people we've met on our journey.

Kate from the textile museum, Shirley and Pete.

You've got it right.

Now, the reason we're here at Shirley and Pete's

is cos we're going to make

a lavender strawberry queen of puddings.

Just for you, Duchess, you're going to get elevated today.

And these strawberries are from this very farm.

We've got local lavender and breadcrumbs.

Now we've got some breadcrumbs here,

we've made them from these Essex huffers.

In the old days, it always used to be stale bread,

then they decided to make it with sponge crumbs,

-and now we make it with breadcrumbs again, but special bread.

-Lovely.

OK, I've got some egg yolks,

-and I'm going to put into there sugar...

-Mm.

..some, er, vanilla pod.

And I'm going to make that wonderful traditional thing, custard.

Right, well, while you're doing that, I've got this wonderful

traditional thing called local sparkling wine.

CORK POPS

-Oh!

-Oh, isn't that a lovely sound?

OK, Brian, I'm going to pour you a celebratory glass of this

just to show no hard feelings.

Thank you very much, that's very kind.

This is for me, because I won at the strawberries.

-OK, you get on with whatever you're doing.

-All right.

It's Pete and Shirley's wedding anniversary.

So, let's pour them a glass.

Pete, thanks for letting us come to your farm.

You're very welcome.

And, Shirley, thanks for showing me where the best strawberries were.

-It's a fix, isn't it? I knew it.

-Well, you had to beat Brian.

Now, all of you lot, would you like to serve yourselves?

Cos I'm not really waitress material.

Sorry, Brian, I'll get back to my...

OK, right, in here I've boiled milk and double cream,

OK? Once it's heated,

pour it on there.

So I'm going to put that back into here.

So you sort of bring it up to heat

and keep stirring it with a wooden spoon, it takes about ten minutes.

So I've got one here.

Just look at the difference there, you see?

-Oh, yeah.

-It's just got thicker.

It's the consistency of paint, isn't it? Isn't it?

That is like, um, emulsion.

Well, I like to think it's the consistency of custard.

OK, right, so it's a nice...

All right, well, you obviously haven't painted any walls.

You get a pie dish.

You know, normally with recipes it tells you,

only use so many strawberries, but actually

when you're places like this and strawberries are so good and

so ripe and so sweet, you use as many as you can get away with, in my book.

So you're doing a whole layer of them.

I'm just going to put plenty of these in here.

Now, queen of puddings normally was a very simple pudding,

it was to use up stale breadcrumbs.

They didn't ever think of making it as luxurious as this is.

But this is really a luxurious pud, is this.

Now, we go back now to our custard, which we've got nice and thickened.

So, I'm just going to strain all that out of there now.

-So we get a real bit of...

-So you've infused it.

That's exactly right, like a good cup of tea.

Breadcrumbs, just over the top.

And just...

Now, it's quite simple, is this -

once you've put that together you take the custard.

I've got to just use a ladle over here,

cos if you pour it over the top, you'll spread it everywhere.

So just try and make sure that everywhere gets...

So you don't mix it, you just pour it on like that.

Just pour it on, yeah.

And what you'd normally do, you'd leave it for about 30 minutes...

To sink through.

..to sink through, so the ones at the bottom will soak up.

And then top it up after about 30 minutes, cos it sort of goes...

HE SLURPS

..and it drinks up all that wonderful creamy custard.

This is going to go in an oven, 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.

So when it comes out, it looks like that.

Wow! It's so yellow.

It is yellow, you're absolutely right, yes. And it just...

-So, the eggs...

-Well, just the egg yolks.

..really go yellow, that shows you how good the eggs are.

The next stage is quite simple once again.

You take some local honey.

Oh, smell that.

-Oh.

-Just a bit in there.

Now, there's no real recipe for this,

you put not quite as much or as little as you want.

Take that out of the way.

Going to bring that up to the boil,

then I'm just going to take strawberries...

and cut them into little pieces.

As soon as that's boiled, strawberries go in there,

you end up with this mixture here.

So it's like a quick strawberry jam, almost.

You're quite right, that's why you take it off the heat

and then put the strawberries in, so they just don't all boil away.

So, very gently, cos it will break up, it doesn't...

nobody will notice it,

but you still want to be quite professional.

Just like that.

Now, to finish this off, we need to put some meringue on it,

we need to make it look like a crown fit for a queen.

And the idea is we use meringue, and then we'll get some,

and I've got some here ready to go.

-In a piping bag.

-In a piping bag with a star tube.

Now, it's a very simple technique,

but it does take a bit of practice occasionally.

So here we go. So we just do a line across.

You're making it look easy, and it's really difficult, I think.

Well...

It's like all skills.

Mm. It's one I haven't got, I can tell you.

Like that and train driving.

Ha! You're wicked.

So now we're going to lattice it, so we just, over the top.

-Oh!

-Over the top.

-Getting clever now.

So, icing, thank you very much, that's very kind.

Icing sugar goes on top.

Now this'll probably go all over the place.

Icing sugar on those strawberries over there. Right, OK.

Put it in the oven.

-And it comes out... looking like this.

-Fabulous.

I'm going to just use these wonderful strawberries.

This is a crown, it's fit for a queen, cos it's queen of puddings.

I'm going to sit that in the middle

and I'm just going to take a little bit of this lavender.

Oh, I want to stop the wind blowing it everywhere.

Why don't you go stand over there?

No, I'm trying to think how to do this.

-Right, what about that?

-Here you are, I'll do it.

You hold that in front there, thank you.

So nobody can see what we're doing here.

OK, off we go. And we'll just sprinkle a little bit round there

so it really looks like a crown.

-All right, get on with it.

-Yeah, I'll just, er...

Are you doing all right there? You're fine? OK, OK, right.

There we have it, ladies and gentlemen,

a local lavender and strawberry queen of puddings.

Thank you very much.

APPLAUSE

Well, shall we drink a toast?

To the pudding and the chef.

-Cheers!

-Cheers!

-Cheers to Janet and cheers to that.

Now, the proof of the pudding, of course,

as always, is for you to taste it.

-Right, where's my portion?

-Right.

Now, I'll just give you a nice bit of meringue, the actual custard.

Oh, you lucky lady.

-Dig down, dig down.

-And look, guess what I found?

This is elderflower ice cream, local ice cream.

So you have that, let me give you a bit to taste to go with it.

I think that'll work extremely nicely.

Stunned silence.

Well, the queen of puddings...

-is very royal.

-Oh, I love it!

-It's superb.

-Another success!

-I don't know how I do it, I'll tell ya.

-Mm.

-Ice cream's great, too.

-Oh, shut it!

Even Her Majesty would love that.

-OK, guys, come over here and queue nicely, huh?

-Spoon!

-Thank you.

-Spoon. I want to know what you all think.

-Pudding.

-Your bread, yeah, great.

-There we go.

-All right, OK. Coming round.

-Right, hang on, your spoon.

-Thank you, thank you very much.

-Service, this lady.

-What do you reckon?

I thought the lavender was a wonderful touch,

a really sort of aromatic flavour, gorgeous.

Cos you think it's going to be heavy, and it's not.

-Yeah.

-Really light.

-Not at all. It's really summery.

-Could you taste the lavender?

-Not enough.

-Not enough?

Well, get in there before Brian finishes it.

Did Brian do your strawberries justice?

I thought he did, actually.

You had to think about that.

-I loved it.

-You love it.

-Absolutely.

-What about you?

I really enjoyed it.

I think it's the best I've seen our strawberries used.

You'll have to be printing that on a little leaflet

and giving it out.

Well, we've had a terrific journey through North Essex.

Obviously, as far as I'm concerned, there are high and low moments.

A high moment was going to that fabulous textile museum in

Braintree, I could have spent all day in there.

Low moment, well, it involves an engine,

and I'm not saying any more.

Did we do a train, did you say? I do remember.

We did a train, but then we did a strawberry picking

competition, which, if you remember, Brian,

-I won.

-The guinea fowl was great.

-Yeah.

-But that queen of puddings,

with the lavender and the strawberry,

a taste of North Essex, eh?