0:00:02 > 0:00:06All sensible TV programmes start with a man leaning on a gate,
0:00:06 > 0:00:07telling you where he is!
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Not that we're sensible, but here are some clues!
0:00:15 > 0:00:20First this land was invaded by these fellows - the Punks.
0:00:20 > 0:00:26Then, they were followed by Asterix the Gaul and his men. The Vikings!
0:00:26 > 0:00:30Then...oops! He'll never play for England!
0:00:30 > 0:00:35The ears have dropped off! No point mucking about,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38who do you think wore these?
0:00:38 > 0:00:45The Border Reavers, men of bloodcurdling yells and healthy appetites.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47You know where we are!
0:00:47 > 0:00:48North Korea!
0:01:29 > 0:01:34# The fells are alive
0:01:34 > 0:01:37# With the sound of curlews! #
0:01:37 > 0:01:43This is absurd! Just so that YOU can get what the director calls
0:01:43 > 0:01:45"a sense of place,"
0:01:45 > 0:01:50I have to stand on this blasted heath on the Northumberland Fells.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53"Quite simply, love," he says,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56"Cook up a little something with a Roman influence,"
0:01:56 > 0:01:59to impress the visiting professor of Roman archaeology, Hadrian's Wall,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03gastronomy and Northumberland history.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07And that lot - you - are standing there with their little tripods under umbrellas!
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Dismantle the lot and come down and pay some attention to ME!
0:02:12 > 0:02:17Thank you! Now, the purpose of this exercise
0:02:17 > 0:02:21is to interpret what the Romans might have eaten,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24I don't know, 2,000 years ago,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26when they were building Hadrian's Wall.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32I reckon they would have eaten quite a lot of pig, like this bit.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I'll cut it into little cubes.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Now, I don't usually complain
0:02:38 > 0:02:41but it is raining and I have got a temperature.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Richard might have to wipe his lens off
0:02:44 > 0:02:47cos the rain is coming down.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50I've got pieces of pork, bits of carrot...
0:02:50 > 0:02:52I reckon the Romans...
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Sorry about this, but this is real-life stuff.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01This is MY programme, please. They all know what a carrot looks like!
0:03:01 > 0:03:06Onions... Don't look at the onion, they know what an onion is!
0:03:06 > 0:03:11Trying to make a Roman-type meal... So we'll chop those together...
0:03:11 > 0:03:14I'll chop up some garlic,
0:03:14 > 0:03:19cos it was the Romans who brought garlic here.
0:03:19 > 0:03:25I need some parsley, because they were great herb users.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30And what all wars were about was about spices and things!
0:03:30 > 0:03:32DOG YELPS
0:03:32 > 0:03:38Cumin seeds, ginger, marjoram, thyme, dill, and stuff like that.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41A typical selection of Roman herbs.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44They had more herbs than Sainsbury's.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49Because, like me, these guys were stuck out here!
0:03:49 > 0:03:55And if they didn't pickle, preserve or spice their meat, it was...ahem!
0:03:55 > 0:04:01Anyway, they also had wine, so they whacked in a lot of wine,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04with these herbs and spices.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10Being soldiers, before the time of "Please Keep Britain Tidy",
0:04:10 > 0:04:14they probably tossed the bottles into a hedge!
0:04:14 > 0:04:20In we put our meat, carrots, onions, and stuff like that.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25And we let that marinate now for about 24 hours -
0:04:25 > 0:04:31as long as it takes to do the first 700 kilometres on the decathlon.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Let me tell you about this!
0:04:33 > 0:04:38This was the centurion's Worcester sauce!
0:04:38 > 0:04:40This was the centurion's soy sauce.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Walk along the wall, and I'll tell you what it is and why I've got it!
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Emperor Hadrian was a Spanish chap.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55He got the idea to build the wall from the Chinese. Of course!
0:04:55 > 0:04:58You can easily imagine the legionnaires, wrapped in togas,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00under the menacing Northumbrian sky,
0:05:00 > 0:05:05munching on roasted dormouse stuffed with pine cones.
0:05:05 > 0:05:06Yum yum - I think!
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Northumbria - and here we go for complaints from other regions -
0:05:10 > 0:05:12is the most unspoilt and beautiful part of Britain.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Polanski had it absolutely right when he filmed Macbeth...
0:05:16 > 0:05:20oops, I mean the Scottish play, here!
0:05:20 > 0:05:22Here's the home of St Cuthbert and a fine glass of mead.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Here endeth the first travelogue.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34That took me SECONDS to research! Fascinating!
0:05:34 > 0:05:40But back to this liquid. This is the centurion's Daddy's Ketchup.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45He wouldn't eat anything without it because his food wasn't...too good.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48I made this about three weeks ago
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and I've had it macerating ever since.
0:05:52 > 0:05:58It is anchovies, sprats, marjoram, red wine, salt...all boiled up,
0:05:58 > 0:06:04left to ferment for a few weeks, and strained and there you have it!
0:06:04 > 0:06:09We ought to brand it. Floyd's Centurion Sauce. Could be a hit!
0:06:09 > 0:06:14You drop a bit of it into your pork marinade.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20And because they didn't have sugar, and this is a bit pongy,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24they put in a teaspoonful or two of honey.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28That's why honey people are called apiarists, I think.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30It's a Latin word.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33There it is. You can feel it. You can smell it.
0:06:33 > 0:06:39The pork, the herbs, the onions... it's been in there about 24 hours.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Now it has to go round here,
0:06:42 > 0:06:48in my typical Wood Mark 4, or at home Gas Mark 6...
0:06:48 > 0:06:50It goes into there...
0:06:55 > 0:06:57Put the lid on...
0:06:57 > 0:07:01HE COUGHS For about 45 minutes...
0:07:03 > 0:07:08Richard, you wipe your lens. That was a bit hot.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13But I have got this guy coming to dinner so we have to live with it.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17HE COUGHS This is ridiculous!
0:07:17 > 0:07:21I made a little joke about throwing bottles away,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25but please don't be a prat and don't throw bottles, OK?
0:07:25 > 0:07:29OK, Richard, back on the pot.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32If we need an expert on the Romans,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37the director goes straight to the pub and finds one.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42Donald MacFarlane, what DID the Romans... I feel like John Cleese...
0:07:42 > 0:07:45What did the Romans do for us?
0:07:45 > 0:07:50First, imagine the culture shock to the locals.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53The Brigantes, the Votadini,
0:07:53 > 0:08:00the Selgovae...that lived on the tops of these hills.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04These are people or birds? People! People.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08And their quite primitive lifestyle
0:08:08 > 0:08:13was probably to roast an ox and everyone would partake of that.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15What you had when the Romans arrived
0:08:15 > 0:08:19is a very highly civilised nation, even by our standards.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22They introduced a disciplined system
0:08:22 > 0:08:27of society, and along with that - which is the reason why we're here -
0:08:27 > 0:08:32they introduced foods, commodities, that the locals didn't have at all.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Like turnip, cabbage, lettuce, herbs.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Name a herb. The Romans brought it.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42The British cabbage was...? Brought by the Romans, yes.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Donald, if I don't serve this,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50using the standard Roman utensils, it'll to be cooked to a frazzle.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53We've had the Romans.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58What other influences stormed into Northumberland?
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Well, following the Roman withdrawal from Britain,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07the Anglo-Saxons came for about 400 years.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12So, as a Roman historian, what do you think of my dish?
0:09:12 > 0:09:14It's interesting.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18I think you've probably recaptured
0:09:18 > 0:09:22the..."flavour" of yesteryear quite well!
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Oh, it's not bad, actually.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30It's got that rough, coarse sauce, if you don't mind me saying....
0:09:30 > 0:09:34My dear fellow, feel free to be edited!
0:09:34 > 0:09:40I believe, sitting for three hours working my way through this...
0:09:40 > 0:09:47But this rough sauce would be exactly as they would produce.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52If I saw a poster in Rome saying, "Caesar needs YOU,"
0:09:52 > 0:09:57and this was the food you got, there's no way I'd join up!
0:09:57 > 0:10:00You've got to ask the question - why DID they withdraw?
0:10:08 > 0:10:10If my director had his way,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14this shot would last half an hour. He loves Newcastle.
0:10:14 > 0:10:21Joking apart, we asked the College of Science and Technology
0:10:21 > 0:10:24for a taste of the North East.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28They generously obliged by giving up a day to create an edible tableau.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Fresh salmon from Berwick-on-Tweed.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37"Loppy Dog" - lamb cooked in Newcastle Brown Ale.
0:10:37 > 0:10:43"Electric Soup" - more nutritious than Popeye's spinach.
0:10:43 > 0:10:49Craster kippers baked with cranberries and rosemary.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52A fillet of pork in flaky pastry.
0:10:52 > 0:10:58Here's the boss, James Walling, to talk you through the rest.
0:10:58 > 0:11:04Well, we've got here traditional jugged hare, potted celery,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07leek and onion stuffing, parsnips,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10roast pheasant in an oatmeal crust
0:11:10 > 0:11:14which is cracked to release its wonderful odour.
0:11:14 > 0:11:21What is this? This is a traditional dish - a leek pudding.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Suet pastry with leeks inside,
0:11:24 > 0:11:29a bit of ham through the centre to give an extra bit of flavour.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34I've been here in the North East, which I love, for five days now.
0:11:34 > 0:11:41I've been to 128 pubs, 94 discos, 18 restaurants, 47 hotels...
0:11:41 > 0:11:46and I haven't seen those on any menu anywhere!
0:11:46 > 0:11:51Well, I'm amazed. It should be on every menu in the North East.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55It's a very traditional north-eastern dish.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00It's very old, very solid, very robust.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05The type of thing chefs are trying to get back to. So they should!
0:12:05 > 0:12:12Now, this looks splendid. That's a wonderful dish - a pan haggerty.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Sliced potatoes and onions,
0:12:15 > 0:12:20a bit of grated cheese, baked in the bottom of the oven.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25A staple dish of any north-eastern menu. Wonderful flavour!
0:12:34 > 0:12:38# ..Dum...dum...dum...
0:12:38 > 0:12:44# Dumble dumble dum...dum... #
0:12:44 > 0:12:49This music is incredible! But back to the commentary.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54Here we are, on The Good Ship Radiant Way, just off Seahouses.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59A bit like The Owl And The Pussycat without the five-pound note.
0:13:20 > 0:13:27Now, all cooking of the REAL kind depends on first-class shopping!
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Anyone can buy a packet of frozen fish.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35But if you've got real "B dot-dot-dot with an S on the end",
0:13:35 > 0:13:39you go where it's really happening!
0:13:39 > 0:13:44Waves, head of white water, all that business!
0:13:46 > 0:13:50But you know what fishermen are like, don't you?
0:13:50 > 0:13:55They say it was that big, but they haven't caught anything!
0:13:55 > 0:13:58So I brought a few mussels
0:13:58 > 0:14:03from Seahorses - or Seahouses or whatever it's called!
0:14:03 > 0:14:09But the crew HAVE caught some fish, so I'm going to prepare a dish
0:14:09 > 0:14:15which is going to be called "Light On The Radiant Way".
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Our nautical dish of the day!
0:14:18 > 0:14:23Panache of fish, The Radiant Way. Name of the boat. Get it?
0:14:23 > 0:14:25We've got whiting, haddock,
0:14:25 > 0:14:31lemon sole, cod, prawns, and we've got some codlings.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36So take your shopping basket. A couple of whiting...
0:14:36 > 0:14:41I'm not joking! This is unbelievably bad!
0:14:41 > 0:14:46One of these things here. Very slippery. In you go.
0:14:46 > 0:14:52This is shopping on the ninth parallel, OK?
0:14:52 > 0:14:57A little codling, and something else...
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Don't laugh! Every time you have a fish meal,
0:15:04 > 0:15:10what I'm doing now is what they do every day of the week!
0:15:10 > 0:15:15So don't joke about it. It's fun, I know, for us.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18But this is how they really work.
0:15:18 > 0:15:24So, out of this lot, I'm going to dedicate a dish to this ship,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26The Radiant Way.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Richard, come into the kitchen, if we can get back.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45To recap, Richard, and I know you're not used to boats...
0:15:45 > 0:15:50we have my little fresh codling, my little whiting, my haddock,
0:15:50 > 0:15:56langoustines, prawns, the mussels I brought with me, some parsley,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and some cream, and not really very much else!
0:15:59 > 0:16:05But while I fried those fillets of the freshest fish you can imagine,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10at the same time I made, as every little cookette knows,
0:16:10 > 0:16:16a simple white sauce - butter and flour, milk, onions, bay leaves
0:16:16 > 0:16:18and a bit of parsley. OK?
0:16:18 > 0:16:23I did it while I was fooling about. Cos this is the magic of...magic.
0:16:23 > 0:16:29At the same time...from Seahouses I got these brilliant mussels,
0:16:29 > 0:16:35merely poached them in about a quarter of a pint of water
0:16:35 > 0:16:37so that they opened.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42I want a really fishy flavour... Richard, this is the tricky bit.
0:16:42 > 0:16:50We've got to get some of this juice from the mussels into the sauce.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57And stir that in. So we have a fundamental white sauce, OK?
0:16:57 > 0:17:01With a fishy flavour, which is quite nice...
0:17:01 > 0:17:07If I may now... You know, I have to tell you I am REALLY tired.
0:17:07 > 0:17:13We take this pretty serious. I know you love me rolling about in ships.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18And trying... And cooking things but there AREN'T, I can promise you,
0:17:18 > 0:17:2117 home economists behind me doing all this.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26Right. Our little fillets are sort of ready, OK?
0:17:26 > 0:17:28The point of this kind of dish
0:17:28 > 0:17:34is that you do not need to go to night-school for a CSE in cooking.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Freshness is everything. Simplicity.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41If I can do it in this small space,
0:17:41 > 0:17:46any of you can do it in the wonderful comfort of home.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Right. I've got a few tasks to do.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54Very freshly chopped parsley, we all know what that is.
0:17:54 > 0:18:00Stay with it, Richard. I'll buy you a large one if we ever get ashore.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05Stay with it, dear boy. I can see you wobbling.
0:18:05 > 0:18:12Strain the white sauce into the parsley there.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Discarding the flavourings I added,
0:18:15 > 0:18:21the carrot, the onion, the mushroom and stuff I put in.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25Stir that in. That is really real.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31And it's very, very good.
0:18:31 > 0:18:37And, because it's for the captain and a very good friend, Mr Swallow,
0:18:37 > 0:18:44I want to make it really rich and luxurious so I'll add some cream.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48And put that gently on the gas, to cook away.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52And here we come to the tricky bit.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01I put a couple of little fillets on this lovely white plate,
0:19:01 > 0:19:06the little langoustines, tailed and headed and split down the middle...
0:19:09 > 0:19:15A few fillets of fish... then some of my little mussels...
0:19:16 > 0:19:21I think that, one way or another, this has got to be
0:19:21 > 0:19:26a sort of fishy version of Northumbria on a plate.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30We're working in absurd conditions,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34nothing on the clock but the maker's name...
0:19:34 > 0:19:39My sauce is warm, the flavour has gone through...
0:19:39 > 0:19:45And watch closely... Well, just admire the steadiness of my hand...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48under these absurd conditions...
0:19:49 > 0:19:53I can't put that down...
0:19:53 > 0:19:58I think, you know...fresh fish... Floyd... Northumberland...
0:19:58 > 0:20:01On a plate. I think it's brilliant.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Now beginneth the history lesson.
0:20:13 > 0:20:19A long, long time ago, before telegraph poles were invented,
0:20:19 > 0:20:24on this rugged shore, a Viking longship floundered.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29The enterprising locals turned it into the Northumberland coble.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33"But this is a food programme!" I hear you cry.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37The chippings from the boat yard go a few yards away
0:20:37 > 0:20:42and are used to smoke these plumptious little monkeys.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46I love this symbiotic stuff - nothing is wasted.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51The cobles catch the herring and the oak flavours the kipper.
0:20:51 > 0:20:57The kipper was invented by John Woodger, of Seahouses, in 1840.
0:20:57 > 0:21:04I think there should be a statue of Woodger in Seahouses.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09The fish are split and immersed in brine for half an hour.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Then they're put on these "tenterhooks",
0:21:13 > 0:21:17and this is where the expression originated.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22And that's what I'M on when I'm making these programmes!
0:21:22 > 0:21:28This timeless procedure has been handed down for generations,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30as this rare archive film shows!
0:21:32 > 0:21:34On these programmes, the Floyd programmes,
0:21:34 > 0:21:39we've done so many crab cooking sequences, I've run out of things to say in the commentary!
0:21:39 > 0:21:42I thought I'd write a little poem instead. Here it is.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44It can make you quite sad to cook a crab
0:21:44 > 0:21:47They say that they squeal in the steam
0:21:47 > 0:21:51but I know a crab is really quite glad to appear well-dressed on the screen!
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I'm a very partisan kind of guy.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59I LOVE Somerset and Devon and Cornwall.
0:21:59 > 0:22:05# I love coffee, I love tea, I love the Java Jive and it loves me!
0:22:05 > 0:22:11But, jokes apart, as much as I love the West Country fish,
0:22:11 > 0:22:18if you want a real crab, come to Seahouses. They're the sweetest I have ever tasted!
0:22:18 > 0:22:23They live off the hard bottom, not in mud. They're superb.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24They live off the hard bottom, not in mud. They're superb.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27DOG YELPS
0:22:27 > 0:22:32But what we're really here for is the kipper. The REAL kipper.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34No Japanese technology,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38no gas-fired burners, but the REAL business.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Now, Richard, sometimes in a cameraman's life,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43smoke gets in your eyes, but stay with it, OK?
0:22:43 > 0:22:49This is where it's at. Step in to see the fire, to see the kipper.
0:22:49 > 0:22:57After about eleven hours, killing me softly with her herring, you can take a bite...
0:22:57 > 0:23:00..and step into heaven.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Heaven turned out to be dead good,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12lots of pretty scenery and birds, rivers flowing with milk and honey.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16And the lady angels were Wikings, as the next cooking sketch reveals.
0:23:19 > 0:23:25Northumberland must be the last bastion of rural countryside in Britain here amongst the fells,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27the valleys and where the North Tyne flows.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29People here eat in a strange way.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32GUNSHOT QUACK!
0:23:32 > 0:23:36This is what they eat. Not, as it is in the succulent South, a luxury.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Here it is quite a common dish.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41It is so cheap and so plentiful and people are so bored with it,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44I couldn't find a real Northumbrian person to cook me one.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48What I did find was a Wiking. A Wiking.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49Who is called Ebon.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52I shall call her deep and crisp and Ebon because that's how I remember it!
0:23:52 > 0:23:56And she's a great pheasant plucker - difficult to say if you've had one or two!
0:23:56 > 0:24:00And as a Wiking who's been raping and pillaging for 1,000 years,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03she's going to cook something for us that demonstrates her understanding
0:24:03 > 0:24:06of Northumberland, particularly because I don't feel well today.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08I've got a cold. What are you going to do with this?
0:24:08 > 0:24:10I'm going to skin it,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14take the breasts off, which I'm going to cook in mead. Mead.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17You are talking to me in a nice way, I know you can drink it.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20What is Mead? Let's have a glass.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24It's a honey-based drink that was brought over by the Vikings.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Ah, plug for the Vikings.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29This is what they fired themselves up on
0:24:29 > 0:24:33when they charged on their cricket club tours. Yeah, yeah. Very nice.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38It's brilliant. Start plucking the pheasant.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43It is true what I said, that the locals are not desperately keen on eating it
0:24:43 > 0:24:47in the hotel restaurant because it's such a common sort of dish for them.
0:24:47 > 0:24:53Yeah, they usually sort of eat the lambs and beef, things like that.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57But...
0:24:57 > 0:25:00As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the nicest meats you can get.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04That's right. So tender and... And good value, too.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07One of each, this is why farmers are cross
0:25:07 > 0:25:09because they eat all their little...
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The last supper!
0:25:12 > 0:25:15You carry on plucking away, we all know what plucking is about.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18We have to get on with some real cooking.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21What you should do, I've pinched deep and crisp and Ebon's recipe...
0:25:21 > 0:25:23You get these lovely fillets of pheasant
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and these still have their shot in them, that upsets some people.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28In the old days in my restaurant,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31to make things really authentic, I had a little tray of split
0:25:31 > 0:25:33shot and put it into the dish at the last moment just in case
0:25:33 > 0:25:36they thought they were home reared ones.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Anyway, these breasts of pheasant have been marinated for how long?
0:25:39 > 0:25:4348 hours, just in mead, just to keep it really simple
0:25:43 > 0:25:47because as you probably already know, the Vikings'
0:25:47 > 0:25:52and old Northumberland way of cooking was to try to keep everything
0:25:52 > 0:25:55simple and also they didn't need to disguise any real...
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Sort of meats, flavours with anything
0:26:01 > 0:26:03because it was so fresh.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Right, OK, let's get to do some cooking. The gas is on over here.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Whizz round in one of your steady slow walks, Richard.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12We'll find ourselves over here by the stove.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Ebon, it's up to you to tell me what to do. We have the gas on.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Yeah, it's on. Richard, close up in here, if you please.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22We've already sweated off or melted down or softened a few onions.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24What's next?
0:26:24 > 0:26:29Add the pheasant breasts now and blanche them off. One in there.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31No seasoning at this stage? Not at this stage, no.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Just sort of close the pores on it.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39Maximum frying speed? Yeah. Let that sizzle away.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44Let them get brown or golden on both sides like that so they seize up and seal.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Richard, if you don't mind, close-up and then organise a wibbly wobbly shot
0:26:48 > 0:26:52so that we can come back to that later on in the cooking stage.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05And certainly this mellifluous amber liquid will make all the difference to the dish.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Sweetness and light, it is. Good word, mellifluous. What's next?
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Then you add some double cream to it.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15But first we're going to cook the alcohol from the meat off,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18take the breasts out and serve them up on your dish.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Spilt it all over the place but that doesn't matter.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27We'll wipe those dishes in a moment. Cream into there now? Yes.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32Be quite generous. I mean, this is your invention, this dish.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35This is a Wiking Northumbrian marriage, I suppose.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Yeah, it's so simple
0:27:37 > 0:27:42but I prefer simple dishes that are really tasty and nice.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44It is tasty and nice, actually.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48And if you think this is a very rich dish,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52if it's too fruity and too sweet to go with game, think about pork
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and apple sauce, think about venison and redcurrant jelly.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58The thinking behind this dish is perfectly OK,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00the savoury meat and the sweet sauce.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Do you want to whack those onto the table, my darling?
0:28:03 > 0:28:06And then we can have a little taste and see how it all comes out.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Right. This, as usual, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16If it isn't brilliant I'm cutting you out of the programme!
0:28:16 > 0:28:19SHE GIGGLES
0:28:19 > 0:28:20It should be tender enough now.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Well, marvellous.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27It is gamey and sweet
0:28:27 > 0:28:30and I worry about dishes that have honey and cream in them
0:28:30 > 0:28:33because I feel it's an excuse for not cooking properly sometimes
0:28:33 > 0:28:36but you did reduce it all properly and it really does work.
0:28:36 > 0:28:42It's a lovely melange of flavours. Yeah. Here's to you, my darling.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47Viva Northumberland. Cheers! And up with the Wikings!
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd