West Dorset 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 West Dorset,

one of the most breathtaking and diverse regions in the UK.

This pair of fossils feel right at home

as we explore the area's ancient Jurassic coast.

-Oh!

-Oh, my goodness me.

So this is part of an ichthyosaur's jaw.

-And those are the teeth?

-Yeah, these...

-Look, bigger than mine.

-No, not quite.

-Ah!

-'I get my claws into some of West Dorset's finest produce...'

-Is that quite a big one or...?

-Who does that remind you of, Brian?

You. THEY LAUGH

'..and a surprise extra ingredient.'

BOTH: Whelks.

'We pay a visit to a butcher's shop,

'so old Henry VIII could have done his shopping here.'

Anne Boleyn was born in 1515.

You didn't turn her head into a faggot, did you?

-BRIAN LAUGHS

-No, there wouldn't have...

There wouldn't have been enough meat on it, Janet.

'One of West Dorset's most exciting young chefs

'shows me his exotic take on local seafood.'

This is the interesting bit, this is wasabi.

I've never seen it grown in this country.

No, it's the only farm in Europe.

'And we get to snoop around a Tudor landmark.'

Henry VIII built this.

'The impressive Portland Castle.'

'And along the way, I'll be gathering inspiration

'for a celebratory dish

'that I think represents the very best of West Dorset's

'bounteous larder.'

-Vegetarians, eat your heart out.

-THEY CHUCKLE

Here we are in Lyme Regis, right on the harbour wall.

Look at that, the Jurassic Coast.

It's England's first natural World Heritage site.

Well, the beautiful thing for me is that, here on the harbour,

they bring in great local fresh fish and shellfish.

It'd be good to see what they've landed today.

See that Cobb wall? That's protecting the harbour.

Everybody saw it in the film French Lieutenant's Woman.

Over there to the east,

I'm told there's the oldest family butcher in the UK.

They've been using the same sausage recipe since 1515.

But, what really interests me about here,

is that they breed longhorn cattle

in the beautiful village of Abbotsbury

and I can't wait to taste it.

You know what Jane Austen said about Lyme Regis,

"It's a strange stranger that doesn't appreciate its charms".

HE LAUGHS

I'm talking about literature and you're talking about sausages.

-Yeah.

-What does that say?

The main part of the Lyme Regis harbour wall,

known as The Cobb,

is at least 700 years old.

Fisherman Barry Wason has been in love with the sea

ever since getting his own boat at just 11 years old.

For the last 42 years he's been fishing Lyme Regis

for everything from cod to crabs.

But, today, I'm after one of my favourite maritime ingredients,

lobster.

Fantastic lobsters there.

-Is there a size that you can't take?

-Yeah.

Yes, there is.

Um, it's... I think it's 85ml.

We measure them from the eye socket

to the back of the head.

-Oh, right.

-I've got a measure here.

Oh!

That there, from there to there.

That's the measurement.

Yeah. You stick that by the eye socket...

-Oh!

-..and back to there.

And if that head comes less than that...

-You can't...

-..you've got to chuck them back.

Is that quite a big one or...?

-Who does that remind you of, Brian?

-You.

SHE LAUGHS

-That's quite a good one, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Well, how far out do you go to get those?

-You can catch these just off the rocks here.

-BOTH: Oh, really?

Yeah, but those there come from about, uh, five mile out.

Have you got special spots that you go to that you've got the pots down?

-Yeah.

-Yeah. Do you keep it top secret

cos you don't want anyone else to go there?

No, they all follow.

ALL LAUGH

And is there any danger that lobsters will get fished out,

because so many of our marine stocks are getting depleted now?

No cha... I don't think so.

We're catching so...so many juvenile ones.

-Yeah.

-And if they've got eggs, we've got to chuck them back.

-Yeah. So you're preserving them.

-Yeah.

-Er...

-Do you get other fish as well?

-Yeah.

What's your top other catch?

-Whelks.

-Whelks!?

-Whelks?

-Yeah.

What do you do with your whelks?

Well, we land them and they go -

cooked, shelled, and then they're shipped to Korea.

-Can I see your whelks?

-Yeah.

-Cos I've only ever seen...

-On the boat.

-I only ever see whelks...

-You're not...

-..in vinegar.

And I personally can't cope with shellfish in vinegar.

-I love them in vinegar.

-Do you want me to get some of these whelks?

-Yeah, get me a whelk.

-All right.

When you were a child, you must have had whelks in vinegar, that's how...

My mother ate whelks, my dad ate whelks, my sister ate whelks...

-OK.

-I hate whelks.

Does that make you so different? I mean, you are different...

No, it makes me someone who doesn't want to be associated

with working class food.

THEY LAUGH

There you go.

I reckon, chopped up,

that would be really, really delicious.

I'd make them into a seafood sauce.

-Do they get a good price?

-When he's not looking,

give me a couple of whelks to take home.

-Yeah.

-We came here to get lobsters, did we not, dear lady?

-Yes.

-So come on. Let's go and let's sort out these lobsters.

-Barry.

-Oh, come on.

-Barry, Barry, Barry.

Can you carry them?

You'll be all right.

-Ta-ra.

-Bye.

I'm really looking forward to tasting Barry's luscious lobster.

I'm going to serve it in garlic and herb butter

and then, just for you, Janet, I'll throw a few whelks in.

Thanks, Brian.

I'm using a lobster that's already been cooked in a stock

with lemon rind, thyme

and black peppercorns and bay leaves. So aromatic!

I want to show you something simple today.

I'm just going to reheat it.

-Normally you reheat it on a barbecue...

-Yeah.

..or in an oven. I'm going to reheat it on the stove top over here.

What you need to do first, you take off...

-the two claws, OK?

-Yeah.

I'll take those out the shell in a minute.

And then we split this...

..down the middle.

Try and keep it whole.

So it just makes better for...

presentation.

-Right.

-Now, that's where you come across your first little bit.

Take the meat out.

I've kept this nicely underdone.

So you make sure you don't overcook this.

-We split it, separate all of this now, OK?

-Yeah.

Whatever you do, don't throw the carcasses away. It makes...

-Oh, no, you can boil them up, can't you?

-Great stock.

Absolutely lovely stock.

Take these out...

..carefully. And now, this is when you have to be a bit careful, OK?

So, you can give it one almighty thwack

-but you get shell everywhere.

-I usually use the rolling pin...

-There we go.

-..and imagine it's someone who's annoyed me.

BRIAN LAUGHS Do I come into that category?

No, no, no. You're all right.

That's really what you want.

-Yeah.

-Two of those, OK?

I'm going to, very quickly, put some butter into this pan over here.

I'm just going to reheat it gently, OK?

Cos I'm going to serve this warm today. I think that'd be nice.

So that goes in there.

Just put a little bit of chicken stock in there,

just to give it a bit of steam.

Put that on top there.

Right, now, so we just need something to serve it with.

Yeah, I want to taste a whelk.

OK, right. So, we got some whelks here, look.

So these are the whelks that we got from Barry, OK?

-Yeah.

-Like the ones you had. Just very carefully...

Just...pull them out.

And I'm just going to quickly chop up quite a few.

Those are ready to use as soon as you want them.

In this pan, I'm going to put some butter

and a little bit of garlic and shallots.

I want to just soften this, but not cook it, OK?

I've chopped that.

Let me take a little bit of gem lettuce.

Shredded lettuce goes in there.

Okey-cokey. And I've got some watercress.

-Not picking the stalks out?

-No, the stalks are good for you.

So, what we need now quickly is a bit of salad dressing.

We've got some English mustard, we've got some white wine vinegar.

-Yeah.

-Give it a stir. Very simple.

A bit of olive oil and a bit of groundnut oil.

About four to one...

..of the oil to the vinegar.

The dressing goes into the salad. We give it a bit of a stir.

Just lovely there.

So, all I need to do now is to put this back together again.

The thing about this is, you put it in the wrong piece of shell,

so, as it went that way in,

-it goes...that one goes in, OK?

-Yeah.

And you put that on the plate.

Good so far.

Then we got two claws.

-Yeah.

-One goes on there.

One goes on here.

And it's almost ready.

Salad, potatoes, lobster. We just need the one thing now.

Whelks, whelks, whelks!.

We need the whelks, you're quite right.

-Warm them up in the butter...

-Yeah.

-..like that.

A bit of chopped parsley.

Oh, look at that.

So, all we need to do now is to put

our whelks at that end there.

So there you have it, my lady -

a little lobster with a salad of watercress,

new potatoes,

but, just for you,

a whelk and garlic butter on top.

-Have a try.

-Hooray.

ALL CHEER

I can't wait.

-Right, am I eating this?

-Yeah, yeah.

Mmm.

I love lobster.

I want to eat a whelk.

Do you know what I think that needs?

-What?

-A touch of vinegar.

Eating these whelks, er, is a bit sad for me,

cos I wish my dad was still alive,

because, on Saturdays they used to eat whelks

and I never, ever would eat them

because they always had vinegar in them.

And if only dad could have had whelks done like this.

You'd have had some as well?

Lobster and whelks by the sea.

Oh, thanks, Brian.

Now, I can't possibly come to West Dorset

without getting my fix of history,

and what better place than the Jurassic Coast?

Geologist Paddy Howe spends his days with ancient fossils,

so is the perfect person to look after Brian and me.

So what kind of rocks are we looking for, Paddy?

-Stones a bit like...a bit like this.

-Yeah.

It's a hard, light grey limestone,

very smooth, very flat, er,

we break these open.

About one in five or one in six will have a fossil inside.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-That one's no good, that's too round.

-OK.

They tend to be much flatter than that.

-Right.

-Look for something flat like the top of your head.

BRIAN LAUGHS

How's about that then, Paddy?

Yeah, that's better. Yeah, that's the sort of thing.

-I found that.

-All right, OK.

So, this coast line obviously is world famous for its fossils,

but what period are we looking at?

Most of these rocks are from the early Jurassic,

they're about 200 million years old.

-200 million years old?

-Crikey, Moses.

Well, that's older than me.

-Yeah, a bit like that one.

-That one.

Yeah, that's the right sort of stone.

A bit of a fossil there. That white piece is part of an ammonite.

Where? It's a what?

There. That one's broken but there may be better ones inside.

Right, I'm holding on to that.

I know it's a World Heritage site,

but does that make it OK to pick up stones and have a look at them?

-All the things which are loose on the beach...

-Yeah.

..if we don't collect them, the sea will destroy them all

and that would be a shame. So it's far better we collect them

and learn something from them.

Now, Lyme Regis is famous for fossils,

but wasn't it one woman in the early 19th century

that really put it on the map?

Yeah, Mary Anning, the celebrated local fossil hunter.

An amazing woman.

Was she taken seriously by geologists internationally?

-BRIAN LAUGHS

-She wasn't recognised really during her lifetime, er,

she wasn't...allowed to be a member of various associations

because they were men only.

Yeah, women didn't do that sort of thing at that time,

especially working class women.

You know, so, it was unheard of.

So, what kind of fossils did she find?

Erm, along with her brother Joseph

she found the first ichthyosaur skeleton...

and I've got some ichthyosaur fossils here.

THEY GASP Oh, my goodness me.

So, this is part of an ichthyosaur's jaw.

-There's another piece.

-And those are teeth?

-Yeah, these pieces fit together.

-Look, bigger than mine.

-No, not quite.

-Hah!

You weren't supposed to say that, Brian.

Erm, that is fantastic.

Er, this piece fits onto the end.

Would you have found that inside a rock,

or was that just lying on the beach?

Right, this particular one was just lying on the beach

-about 50 metres from where we are now.

-No!

So, look at all these people who are out today,

obviously they're all hoping they're going to find something like this.

-That's the kind of thing everyone's after.

-I've still got my stone.

Do you think it's, like, not looking very promising?

It's not one of the best sorts of stone.

Are you saying that my rock's rubbish?

It's not the best. There might be something inside.

-I'll crack this one open.

-Right.

Oh, crikey, and it cracked straightaway.

Oh, look at that! There's nothing in there.

It's like a lucky dip. Right, I've scored nought.

-Right.

-That's got nothing in it, I know it hasn't.

-We don't know that.

-Nah, nothing really there.

-Nothing.

-No.

All right, all right, you were nothing as well.

All right, what have you got?

Now, you found this. Do you think there might be something in there?

Look he's got one on the outside anyway, look.

Yeah, sometimes you get squashed ones on the outside.

Um, again that won't be any good

but, again, it tells you there may be better ones inside.

-Oh!

-Ooh, look at that!

So, yeah, perfectly good ammonite. That's the shell.

The shell comes away with the stone.

That's the filler. That's calcite crystal

that's grown inside the empty shell and it's formed a natural cast.

So it's interesting, isn't it, that Mary Anning started here

in the early 19th century.

And here we are today,

literally thousands of people still carrying on her work.

Yeah, people come from all over the world, not just Britain.

You know, Lyme Regis is world famous for its fossils.

Mary Anning really helped

to kick start the science of palaeontology.

Erm, and so, yeah, this...this is her legacy.

Well, I'm going to continue with her legacy

and hope I have a bit more success.

With Janet hunting for more fossils, I'm on the hunt for more inspiration

for my taste of West Dorset.

So I'm off to Weymouth,

to one of the county's top restaurants.

Thanks to his Moroccan and Spanish heritage,

head chef, Taher Jibet,

puts his own exotic twist on locally sourced ingredients.

Taher, good morning. How are you?

-Very well, thank you, Brian.

-Good man.

So, what dish are you cooking for us today, sir?

-Today we're going to make a local sea bream, ceviche...

-Mm-hm.

..with Dorset wasabi

and sea bream crackling.

Fantastic.

And we've got... So much great seafood lands here in Weymouth.

Erm, it's a great little town for fish, definitely.

So we've just taken off the skin there, look.

Now, you made that look so easy, Taher.

-It...

-That is easy to do, is it not?

-It is, yeah, very much so.

Lots of years of...of practice.

So we've got our fish fillet in now, OK. Completely pin boned.

So, we're just going to grease the skin up a little bit,

just going to oil...the top.

And oil the tray.

-So, here I'm using Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.

-Yeah.

Er, I'm just going to get it flat...as possible.

A little bit of cracked pepper.

And some sesame seeds.

-Uh-huh, so, real crunchy bits.

-Yeah, loads of crunch.

-Yeah.

So, we get it to this stage and then we sort of press it, essentially.

-We'll put another tray on top...

-Right.

..so it doesn't bubble up and blister in the oven

-cos you want it to be nice and flat.

-Yeah.

About 200 degrees, 10-15 minutes.

OK, so what's the next stage?

Next stage is, you've got your nice fillet of bream all pin boned.

-OK, we're going to chop it, or dice it.

-Oh, right.

-This is cooked but without heat.

-Indeed, yes.

So the salt and the acid from the lime

will essentially cook this fish.

-Next up, we've got red onion.

-Yeah.

Chop that as finely as we can.

So what we've got here is the locally grown chilli.

It's not the Dorset Naga.

Oh, right, we... The Dorset Naga, I believe, is the second hottest.

-One of the hottest. It used to be the second hottest.

-Right.

-It's still one of the hottest chillies in the world.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-And they grow close to here?

-Very close, yeah.

This is the interesting bit, this is my wasabi.

So, whereabouts is that exactly grown?

-Wareham, not far from here at all.

-I've never seen it grown in this country.

-No, it's the only farm in Europe.

-Oh, fantastic.

-Yeah.

So, really local produce, guv'nor.

Very local, very local. Almost as local as the fish.

So, in a...a circular motion like so.

And you've got your wasabi grated off there.

So, we're going to add that wasabi.

Just going to add a bit of coriander for a bit of freshness,

lift the dish up a little bit.

-So, with the coriander, I always use everything.

-Yeah.

Stalks, the lot.

For me, most of the flavour is in the stalk.

OK, so that goes in as well.

And a lime.

So I'm just going to squeeze that in there.

Give that a good mix.

Lovely colours.

So, er, yeah, we just leave that for 15 minutes.

What I'm also going to make is a...

-Uh-huh!

-..a dressing.

-Right.

-Again, from the wasabi.

-OK, so this is going to pack a fair amount of heat.

-Sure.

OK, so, going to get...

OK.

So, it's going to go in there.

Bit like mayonnaise. So, vinegar.

-Is that white wine vinegar?

-White wine vinegar, yeah.

With this mayonnaise... I learnt this as a boy in Spain.

-Oh, right.

-Um, no eggs in this mayonnaise..

-..at all.

-I was looking when you said that.

-No. No eggs. Milk, just milk.

-Okey-cokey.

So, milk, vinegar. I've put the wasabi in there.

OK. And...

MACHINE WHIRRS

LIQUID RUSHES

MACHINE STOPS

Now, I am intrigued, is that groundnut oil?

-No.

-What is it?

That is pomace oil.

-Pomace oil?

-Yeah.

-OK, right. So what happens next, chef?

Ready to plate.

Let's do it.

That does look beautiful.

The colours are fantastic. But, what I like about it,

it's all local produce but with an exotic theme.

Being half Moroccan myself and growing up with spices

-and exotic foods...

-Yeah.

..that's what I love about food...

is the aromatics, the spices.

And I try and bring them into my restaurant,

into my food, into my menus, my dishes, as much as I can,

Erm, and just tweaking normal dishes either with local produce...

A bit of that dressing.

DOOR CLATTERS

This is really a garnish just to tweak the dish a bit,

-make it a bit of crunch.

-Of course.

Essentially, this is like crackling

but with skin. Fish skin.

-I never thought of it like that.

-Yeah.

I'm just going to grab a couple of pea shoots.

And there's my dish.

Taher has made a locally-caught sea bream ceviche

with Dorset wasabi dressing.

And there's someone already chomping at the bit to get stuck in.

-SHOUTS: Right, where is it?

-It's coming.

There you go. So that's my sea bream ceviche with Dorset wasabi

and sea bream crackling.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

It's really fresh.

It's terrific.

Mmm.

It just takes that little moment to just grow those flavours, don't they?

Now, what about this? That's the skin. Oh!

-The skin, yes. Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

I grill my smoked salmon skins.

-Yeah, it's a great technique he uses.

-Hmm.

What a great combination.

Do you know why I like it?

I've got no idea how to do it.

THEY LAUGH

And I think that is terrific.

I love how Taher has made such a delicious, exotic dish

using only produce grown in Dorset,

even the wasabi.

For the next leg of our exploration of West Dorset,

Janet's taking me up the coast to Bridport,

to a rather special butcher.

One famous for more than just their faggots.

-Hello.

-Hello, Janet.

Now, are you really the oldest butchers?

-Not just the oldest butchers...

-Yeah, you don't look that old.

..England's oldest family business,

499 years old.

So it's very much always from this area.

-You're the historian.

-Yeah.

Was that in the reign of Henry VIII?

-Henry VIII.

-Yeah.

-Really?

Anne Boleyn was born in 1515.

You didn't turn her head into a faggot, did you?

-BRIAN LAUGHS

-No, there wouldn't have... Wouldn't have been enough meat on it, Janet.

SHE LAUGHS

Now, are there some things you sell now

that you can trace back to Tudor England?

Well, two of our oldest recipes are our home recipe faggots

and our English pork sausages

which have been in the family for a very long time.

And obviously those recipes are top secret.

What's a faggot?

A faggot, basically, is a cooked meatball.

It's pork, liver, sage, onion and potato.

What's that wrapped around the faggot?

What's wrapped around the faggot is the pig's...

It's a pig's caul, which is a...

-It's a sort of...

-Stomach lining, is it not?

-Yes, it is.

It's a little fat membrane which keeps the faggot together really.

And unless that's got fat on it,

which a lot of faggots don't these days, it's not really a faggot.

That is the traditional way of doing a faggot.

-Is that a faggot there?

-Yes.

-That's a cooked one?

-Yes.

-Can I taste it?

-You can.

Go on, then. But remember, normally, you should eat these with gravy.

-Usually... They've been cooked today.

-Right.

But you'd normally have it with gravy and mushy peas.

And what it will do, it'll make you see in the dark, make your hair curl

-and put hairs on your chest.

-You sound like my mother.

-As a woman, you probably don't want that.

-I don't want the hairs, no.

Curly hair...no, don't want that either.

-Some people fry that.

-What have you got in it, white pepper?

-A bit of pepper in there, yeah.

-Yeah, white pepper.

-Yeah.

Some people fry it and they do it in a...

Heat it like that and make faggot sandwiches.

Other people, uh, boil it up with mash.

It's great. I'll tell you why I like it.

I was prepared to loathe it.

-I don't know what I thought it was.

-Yeah.

-Some second division version of a haggis.

-Yeah.

Well, they say haggis is similar,

-but it's a lot more peppery.

-No, it's different.

Yeah, it's a lot more peppery, a haggis. But, I mean, that is lovely.

I mean, we sell 4, 5, 600 of them every week.

Just depends on the weather and everything else, but, uh, yeah.

So, you've got a lot of people walking around Bridport

who see in the dark?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, Bridport's a bit like that.

-Can we taste the sausages, please?.

-You can taste the sausages, yeah.

Here we go, this is our traditional breakfast chipolata.

-You try them.

-Yeah.

Now, I take it that's the same recipe as the bigger sausages?

Yes, it is. It's exactly the same recipe,

it's just in a smaller intestine skin.

-Quite meaty, aren't they?

-They are.

There's a very high meat content. They're lovely.

Yeah, sometimes if you get a lot of meat, they're dry,

-but these aren't dry.

-Yeah. No, no, no.

Do you know what I like about those?

It's an all-round flavour.

-Yeah.

-And it's nice and meaty but, as you say, it's not dry.

-It's got a nice balance to it.

-Yeah.

-Very nice.

-Full bodied.

-Full bodied.

-Me?

Oh, that? Yeah, perfect.

Just like Brian in fact, aren't they?

You said it, Richard.

I still have to decide what to cook

for my celebratory taste of West Dorset...

..so I've come to the Longlands Farm in Littlebredy

to meet farmer John Barker

who's been farming Dorset longhorn cattle for around 25 years.

-They look quite aggressive with those horns.

-Of course, yeah.

But they're very relaxed really.

Yeah.

Is that part of what you like about these...

-Yeah, yeah.

-..these beasts?

-Yes, they're a typical traditional old English breed.

-Yeah.

-You said then that they're an old breed...

-Yes.

..but I read somewhere that they're the world's

oldest registered breed, is that right?

Yes, it is.

And it goes back to the 1700s.

Good Lord!

And, er, they were very popular in those days,

not purely for their beef,

but they were used for, uh...as oxen for...

-Pulling?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

And we have an animal over here which is part of the...

-the furniture now...

-BRIAN LAUGHS

..and he's typical of that...of the breed in that era.

So, here you see, Brian, another batch of longhorns,

and they're keeping this area quite tidy.

MOOING

-But they just look calm, docile animals...

-Yeah.

-They're not.

They are normally calm and docile, yes.

They're not as, uh,

what we call "quick" as some of the breeds.

How old are those?

These would be round about 18 months to 24 months.

-And you keep them how long?

-For about 30 months.

These are slow maturing, these animals.

And they like this kind of habitat really.

Of course, in my way of life,

I'm really interested in what they eat.

-You've obviously eaten plenty of it.

-Yes.

-What's the quality?

Very flavoursome beef.

-They don't have a lot of top fat but it's marbled.

-Oh, right.

So the fat is running through the, er, through the flesh.

But that's the big secret that people don't often see.

-They like to see this wonderful red colour...

-That's right.

-..but that's not right.

-No, no.

-You want a deeper colour...

-Correct.

-..and that marbling in there.

-So it's a wonderful little ecological world here...

-Yes.

-..that is nicely balanced.

-Correct.

But that must give great flavour to the beef.

Well, we think it does, that's correct, but, um,

-but then we may be biased to...

-Well, you've convinced me already.

And I've got to come up with this regional celebratory dish,

and I'm thinking that

if I can get a nice piece of beef from your longhorns...

-Right.

-But preferably some ribeye cos that's got nice fat through it

-and marbled nicely.

-Yeah.

-Fantastic. So I'm going to cook that, then you must taste it.

-Lovely.

-I'd look forward to that.

-Good man.

I'm really excited to be creating my own special dish

for West Dorset, using John's longhorn beef.

Brian's tracked down his produce

and I've found the perfect place to cook it -

the impressive 16th century Portland Castle.

Now, Brian, I'm passionate about Tudor history

and I've ploughed all the way through Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall,

-so I've brought you here because Henry VIII built this.

-Oh, yeah?

Right, Brian, this was a fort,

so, to stop anyone rushing in and trying to kill you,

they built the entrance as a dogleg corridor.

So it's at two angles so you couldn't fire at me with your gun.

Oh. It's very clever, in't it, eh?

This is the kitchen,

and this structure was a garrison.

And Henry VIII built a whole series of them

around the southeast of England because he was always frightened

of being invaded by both France and Spain.

And we know, with all the wives coming and going, that was...

a big possibility.

So there were about 15 blokes in here,

garrisoned here. And this is where they ate.

And look how thick the walls are, it's amazing.

-Good Lord, that is 10-foot thick, is that.

-Yeah.

Could have a party in here and nobody would hear.

Do you want to see some weapons?

I would love to do, yes. I'll follow you, you know where we're going.

Well, these are the cannons.

They're replicas but they're pretty impressive all the same.

Oh, yeah. All right.

And there were five on this level and more on the level above,

and the actual gunners slept over there in little wooden hut things

but they looked really...

The lines of sight are terrific, you can see for miles.

-Oh, yeah.

-But, you know what?

This fort was only actually ever used in battle

between the Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Civil War.

-There's a load of...

-Whatever happened to

the French and Spanish then?

Well, they obviously knew it was there and got scared off.

HE LAUGHS Well, that's not a bad thing.

Fantastic views here out over Portland Harbour

which, of course, has been used for centuries as a safe anchorage.

Yeah.

And this fort is made of Portland stone.

It's still really, erm, highly prized today.

It's a fantastic stone. It's so white, isn't it?

The last time this fort was used in a war

was during World War II.

It was an operations centre for planning the D-Day landing.

-So this has seen bags of history?

-Absolutely.

It's time I tried to make a bit of history myself

by cooking up a dish that perfectly summarises the larder of West Dorset.

And where better than on the castle battlements?

I'm so excited.

John, who's sitting over there, there he is,

farmed this wonderful longhorn beef.

Now, I don't know it that well

but I'm told it's going to be the finest steak we have ever eaten.

I'm cooking a ribeye of longhorn beef with herbs,

mustard and garlic butter, and duck fat potato wedges.

That's what we're going to do. Going to keep it really nice and simple.

But what I thought we'd do to make it slightly different

is do a double steak,

so it's like a bigger piece of meat which you share.

-And we'll carve it, so firstly...

-So Yorkshire size?

-Exactly right. Yes, yes. So, look, two pieces...

-Yeah.

..and a bit.

Once you've cut it...

you're in. Two pieces and a bit.

-That is just...

-What's the bit for?

-Seconds?

-Well, it's just that bit extra, yeah.

And it's... Look at that.

That's a... Ah, it's a fantastic-looking piece of meat.

Just look at the actual marbling through it all.

And this is ribeye.

So it's got that wonderful piece of fat in there

which just really gives it flavour.

-So, what I'm going to do...

-Yeah.

I'm going to put a bit of duck fat in there, OK?

We've got rosemary, we've got some lemon thyme,

we've got oregano spilling out there,

and we got some real thyme as well. Lovely!

And, what I'm going to do...

There's no real recipe here, just bags of herbs.

And the trick is just to leave it to marinade a little bit.

Oh, I can smell that from here. It's a fabulous smell.

Cor, brilliant, eh.

Fantastic. So we'll give that a bit of a stir round in there.

And I don't think you need to marinade it for too long

but probably 10 minutes, 15 minutes.

-A bit of salt and a bit of pepper...

-Yeah.

-..in there.

And this allows you to get the barbecue up and running,

ready to go. So...

that's looking OK. So let's get that on the go now.

Lift it up.

Stay.

-And then we'll just put this...

-You want it really hot, don't you?

You want it really hot. I'm going to tell you about that...

You can hear that it's really hot.

Don't you think, most people when they're barbecuing

are so keen to get going, they don't let it get hot enough?

That is... Do you know, you're absolutely spot on

but we're putting the lid down so it acts a little bit more

like an oven as well.

And as it's a very simple recipe, I'm going to actually do chips.

But we're going to do potato wedges.

-Everybody thinks of potato wedges that you buy.

-Yeah.

You don't need to buy them, just boil your own.

Maris Piper potatoes, something like that.

And then, we're going to cut them...

into wedges.

But, what I want to do,

is I want to use the duck fat to cook with.

Phew.

A lot of heat in there.

-See what it looks like?

-Yeah.

-Just look at that.

So we're going to turn it...

slightly.

Now, we've got a big crowd behind us here.

I hope you all like it not too well done.

Cos if you don't - tough!

-THEY CHUCKLE

-You mean medium rare?

I mean medium rare, you're quite right.

-If you say medium rare, people get frightened.

-Yeah.

-What we're going...

The thing about any meats like this is,

you can always put them on and cook them a little bit more.

You can't cook them less once it's cooked, OK?

So give... And let it rest after it's cooked,

that's also quite important.

So I'm going to put some of that duck fat in here

and I'm just going to dip these potatoes into duck fat.

Now, they... If you're careful that you don't have too much duck fat

on at a time.

Otherwise, it'll start to flare the whole thing

and you'll get them too much coloured and too charred,

which we don't really want.

They are just cooked, so quickly put those on there as well.

And I think you'll find that these work best round the outside

where it's not quite as hot.

That way they don't cook too quickly and don't flare,

cos it's not quite as hot round the outside.

As you know, I always like to have a bit of butter with my meat.

That is more than a bit.

-I mean, that's for 26 of us, so it's OK.

-Yeah.

In here we're going to put some grain mustard, lovely texture.

Put that on there.

And then I'm going to chop capers. Oh, yeah. I love capers.

I love capers.

They've got a bit of vinegar. You're not great on that.

-Have you rinsed them?

-I have, yeah, but not a lot.

What's the point in rinsing all the flavour away?

OK, so, chop those up there

and then we'll chop a bit of garlic as well.

And then this chopped parsley to give it a bit of colour.

Go with our other herbs there.

Yeah.

Softened butter, mustard.

-So, what we do with this...

-Yeah.

..give it a good old stir.

And the nice thing about this is,

you can actually make this in advance if you want to do.

Put it in the fridge and then just pull it out whenever you need it.

Now we need to have a quick look at this over here.

Just keep our fingers crossed it's all going the right direction.

Oh, I tell you what.

Can you tell by pressing it?

Yeah. It's still a little bit on the under side.

This has got to be nice and simple, so we've got the herbs...

-Yeah.

-..around the beef.

We got those wonderful potatoes in a bit of duck fat.

I think one of the real tricks of cooking roast meat,

or barbecued meat,

is that you leave it to rest for three or four minutes.

Just make sure that the seagulls don't come down and nick it.

That's all we worry about.

So, I'm going to just now take a chance...

..that these lovely people really actually like it.

..nicely, on the medium-rare side.

-I definitely do, so can I have...

-You can.

-..my bit?

You can, so let me just...

Although I can't eat a whole bit to be honest.

I suspect you might.

Let me just put...

-..a bit of salt on there.

-OK.

Just for that last final minute,

it's not quite where I want it yet.

-I'm going to taste it.

-I'm going to take some of this butter...

and I'm going to put it into this pan here.

It will give it a bit of colour.

As well as a bit of bags of flavour there.

I can hear everybody chomping at the bit now, saying, "Where's my meat?"

So...

..we've got here...

Let's take the meat off.

Smells and looks fantastic.

It's hardly shrunk.

-Well, yeah, that's a good thing is that, i'nt it?

-Yeah, really good.

I did some potatoes in advance so we've got a few there.

And then we put our potatoes.

They look lovely, they do.

This is the exciting bit now. We find out how well done it is.

As I say, this will feed two people, two and a half people.

Just look at that.

Yeah.

That looks...delicioso.

Look how tender it is looking.

-It's cutting really easily.

-It's so tasty, it's like butter.

I can't say that cos you don't like butter, do you?

No, I like meat though.

OK, so there we have it.

OK.

Onto the plate.

It's that kind of sharing dish.

And now the butter's just starting to melt there,

so it's a lovely smell from this garlic butter here.

It smells fantastic.

I've got this marvellous piece of Dorset longhorn cattle.

What we want to do is to put a few...

..potatoes...

over here,

so, when you help yourself...

So, nice and hot. That's what I like.

Just a mixture of potato wedges.

A green salad to go with it.

And there you have it, young lady.

Just for you,

Dorset longhorn ribeye steak.

Brilliant!

Round of applause, I think. For Brian!

Oh, you are so sweet. Thank you.

Now, what do want to do? Do you want me to give you a little piece?

I want a rare bit out the middle.

It is so tender, this meat, I just...

Oh, look at that!

Brian, cut that bit in half for me.

Even my mouth's not that big.

Right.

-Mmm.

-The moment of truth.

-Ten out of ten.

-What about that?

Vegetarians, eat your heart out.

John and Patricia, why don't you come and have a taste, eh?

And a bit of potato to go with it.

-Help yourself.

-Mmm.

I hope that's done enough for you. Good lady, well done.

-Get in there, sir.

-Thank you.

-Mmm!

There's a piece left. I suppose you should have that.

-Yeah, thanks.

-So what did you think of that, Mrs Patricia?

Very good indeed.

Would you like to come and cook it for us at home?

-It would be my pleasure.

-Oh, good!

-John, what about you? Happy with that?

-Yes, excellent.

And yes, you could come and cook it for us at home by all means.

-What a nice man.

-Let's let everybody have a bit.

Okey-cokey.

All right, you lot, come on. Come and get it.

Am I handing it out or that's you? You going to hand it out?

-Right, OK. You...

-Will you excuse my fingers? That's for you.

And that's for you.

Are you going to taste it? Go on, taste it.

-Fingers, I'm afraid.

-That's all right, lass. Tastes better.

-It does. It's gorgeous.

-BOTH: Mmm.

It was lovely. I don't normally like it so rare

but it was actually really, really nice.

That is mouth-watering. It just melted in your mouth.

-Yeah, beautiful, juicy bit of meat, that was.

-Juicy bit of meat?

THEY LAUGH

-What do you think?

-Delicious.

-What do you think?

-Delicious.

Well, that was a great trip, that. There was lovely lobsters.

-Yeah. Whelks.

-Yeah, yeah, mustn't forget the whelks.

-Yeah, fossils...

-Yeah.

-..fortresses...

-Yes.

-..and faggots!

-Yeah, you're quite right.

-Three F's in one sentence.

And those fantastic sausages.

Actually, go on, be honest, what did you think about the beef?

The beef was absolutely divine.

Absolutely divine.

We've just had longhorn beef with your herb butter

and potato wedges in duck fat!

That's a "Taste Of Britain" in West Dorset.

-You got it.

-Thanks, boss.