Provenance Food & Drink

These days, we want to know exactly where our food is grown and raised.

After the horsemeat scandal,

understanding the provenance

of our food is a priority for everyone.

This show's all about putting where your food comes from

at the heart of your cooking.

One half of the Two Greedy Italians, Gennaro Contaldo, joins me

to reveal the secrets of a time-honoured classic.

-Generous?

-Be generous, it's for us!

-Yes!

Restaurateur Oliver Peyton is bamboozled by food labelling.

The Soil Association. Red Tractor Scheme. Dolphin-friendly.

Dolphin-friendly!

Kate's keeping us on our toes with her choice of drinks.

-I'll give you one guess where it's from.

-New York!

LAUGHTER

And I'll be making gourmet hot dogs with only the best ingredients.

This is all about fantastic food and drink.

If you had to trace what you ate today back to its origins, could you do it?

'In today's food world,

'it can be harder than ever to know just what you're eating.

'Getting to grips with provenance is not just about understanding

'where your food comes from but what's in it

'and how it was produced.'

The secret to making a delicious meal is to know your ingredients.

'Chef Gennaro Contaldo is passionate about everything that

'goes into his cooking.

'He taught the likes of Jamie Oliver how to cook Italian style

'and I want a taste of what provenance means to him.'

I need some help. I really do need to learn Italian. You know why?

Because my daughter is dating an Italian boy.

Bless your daughter!

You might be happy but I'm not, I need to learn Italian, my friend.

OK. I can teach you. HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

Whoa! Whoa! First of all we need to do some cooking.

We learn to cook.

-What are we cooking?

-Today, what I am going to cook,

I'm going to make a lasagne

-with ragu, Bolognese.

-Mmm.

'Lasagne's a brilliant Italian classic

'and there's no substitute for making your own.

'To go with it, we're making some delicious focaccia bread.'

I believe the world loves lasagne. Why not to cook a lasagne?

-So simples. What I need you to do is peel my carrots.

-I can do that.

What are you doing, Gennaro?

I have two different meats, one is pork, one is beef, so simple.

Is that traditional, you would mix pork and beef?

It is traditional, most of Italy, to mix the two.

'Lightly fry the meats in olive oil.

'If you get mince from your local butcher, you can ask exactly

'where it's from and see it minced right in front of you.'

A lot of people buy in lasagne ready-made

-but you're making it from scratch.

-Yes, it's so simple. It's so easy.

-And there's no horsemeat in it!

-There is no horsemeat.

What's wrong with horsemeat?

Yes, I agree, if you do use horsemeat, you have to say

you use horsemeat, because in Italy, you know, I do use

horsemeat wherever I go.

In Italy they have extreme respect of the ingredients.

Yes, indeed.

You know exactly where everything comes from.

Yes, we have to know.

It is very important. First, you know very well,

the Italian loves eating well, but also to know the people are behind...

-How do you say...

-The farmer?

-Yes, behind the farmers and everybody.

If he is a good man, surely he will produce a fantastic food.

You know where it comes from and you know the farmer

and know that he has had ultimate respect for that ingredient.

But it's traceability, being able to buy something in the shop

that you know where it comes from.

'Cook the meat until the liquid has all gone.'

Now look how caramelised is the meat, almost burnt.

That looks sensational.

Now we need to deglaze and get that lovely flavour

which is all round here.

'Let the red wine bubble away until it's almost evaporated.'

Now, when I need...

what we call "odore",

the flavour, the smell,

it all goes in.

It is a celebration of the vegetable

and a celebration of the wine.

And more than anything, a celebration for us to eat.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

-Then again, you make the roux.

-Yes.

-Oh, bless you.

I think I can manage that.

A chef named Roux, that will get the perfect roux,

-there will be no troubles.

-I hope so!

'Add milk to the roux and keep stirring.'

A little bit of cheese in the white sauce?

-Yes, I need a bit of cheese in the white sauce.

-Parmigiano?

-Parmigiano.

-Of course.

Parmigiano is traditional.

It's ragu Bolognese

alla lasagne Bolognese

and the Parmigiano-Reggiano comes from the same region.

'A tin of tomatoes goes into the meat,

'along with the same amount of water.

'Cook slowly and add more if it gets too dry.'

Gennaro, you've been in this country a long time, a long time.

Surely you have seen a change of what's available, ingredients-wise?

Yes, I have, indeed. I have to tell you a story.

When I come in England, I never forget, it was...

Early '70s, I was looking to buy some olive oil,

special extra virgin olive oil.

I asked somebody where I can get good olive oil

and he said, "The chemist".

I walked inside the chemist and I said,

"Can I have some extra virgin olive oil?"

I thought I was going to be given a litre of oil,

or a bottle of oil, they give me just a little bit of oil.

I said, "What am I going to do with that?"

That's to use inside your ear.

Warm it up on a spoon with the candles. Yeah, it works well!

But I say it's to cook, eat it.

The lady said, it's to hear.

Anyway, it's finished, now we have got almost everything.

-This is looking fabulous, Gennaro.

-It is.

-What's the next step?

Now we're going to build the lasagne. So simples.

'Make alternate layers of meaty Bolognese with pre-cooked

'lasagne sheets.'

This is pre-cooked.

They make it fresh, they steam it,

so it's already cooked. It makes life much easier.

'Each layer then gets a generous helping of Italian mozzarella cheese

'for extra luxury.'

Fantastic, oh, fantastic.

Don't forget the Parmigiano.

Parmigiano.

'On top of all that goes some of my cheesy white sauce.

'Keep layering until all the ingredients are gone.'

Mozzarella.

Just press them in, just press them in.

It's done. So always nice.

-A bit more?

-Oh, yes, oh, yes!

-So all over?

-Go on.

-Generous?

-Be generous, yes. It's for us!

-Yes!

-MICHEL LAUGHS

-Yeah!

Plenty. BOTH CHAT IN ITALIAN

So, nice aluminium foil to protect it.

-So it's not to dry out...?

-No.

And we cook.

For about 35 to 45 minutes.

The last five minutes we remove the aluminium foil

and you will enjoy it! Go on, put him in.

'To go with our lasagne, we are making

'a mouth-watering focaccia bread.'

Right, Michel. Here I use 1kg of a strong flour.

I use 15g, 1-5, of yeast

and then I use 15g, 1-5, of salt.

Add water. You mix it and knead it and you let it rest

for about half hour.

'The rested dough goes onto a warmed, lined baking tray.

'A few glugs of olive oil go on top,

'along with chopped garlic, rosemary and sea salt,

'which are all worked into the dough.

'Rest again for half an hour before it

'goes into the oven for 15 minutes at 240 degrees.

'Understanding provenance means thinking about every

'aspect of how something's produced.'

The type of soil our food and drink grows in

is fundamental to its flavour, especially for wine.

Kate is convinced it's as important to know about where our vines are

grown as it is to know the grape, producer and vintage of our wine.

In winemaking, like in property, the old adage is true,

location, location, location.

'The soil, climate and geography of a vineyard

'can affect the taste of the wine,

'and it's so important there's a specific word for it, terroir.'

What exactly is terroir?

It can seem a little mystifying but it needn't be terrifying.

'Here are my top tips to help understand how terroir can

'affect the taste and cost of your wine.

'As you might expect, climate has a huge impact on the grapes

'and therefore the end product.'

Hotter weather makes for bigger, fruitier, higher-alcohol wines.

Cooler weather produces more refined, aromatic wines.

'The same grape grown in two different climates

'will have different flavours.

'For example, Shiraz wines from the Barossa

'or McLaren Vale in South Australia are bold and ripe.

'The French equivalent, known as Syrah, is more restrained

'and savoury in style,

'with hints of perfume and pepper.

'The impact of the weather is also the reason wines

'vary from vintage to vintage.

'For fine wines, a good year

'can have significant effect on the price.'

The type of soil the vines are grown in can have a massive influence

on the grapes and, ultimately, the character of the wine.

'You might be surprised to learn that the best soils don't

'necessarily produce the best grapes.

'For instance, where the levels of nutrients are too high,

'vines can produce so many leaves

'that the sun can't get to the grapes.

'And location can affect price.

'A small, steep vineyard plot can be much more labour intensive

'than a large, flat site, leading to higher production costs.

'So you can see where wine is concerned,

'from its character to its price, provenance is everything.'

-Mamma mia, this looks good.

-It's good. Look at that! Fantastic!

'Before we tuck in, we need to add the finishing touch to the focaccia.

'While it's still hot, just drizzle over some olive oil.'

Look at that, that is also cooked underneath. Come here, Michel.

Look, inside, the olive oil, look where it went through!

Oh, my, my, I can't believe it, look at that!

And how you say in French?

-A la table.

-A la table.

-Mm-mmm!

-Yes!

-It's magnifico.

-Grazie.

-That lovely crust, a lovely crust.

-Mmm!

Gennaro, do you know that lasagne is my all-time favourite comfort food?

-Oh!

-It seriously is.

-Look at that. Look at that.

Come on, I want to put everything inside.

-Yes!

-Look at that.

-All right.

This is a proper lasagne.

-It's not just a square, it's running down like a pasta.

-Mmm.

Oh, my...

I love it when you get a piece of the mozzarella. I love that.

My favourite bits are those crunchy bits around the side.

They are brilliant, we always fight for those at home.

-You can taste the love and the passion in this, Gennaro.

-KATE LAUGHS

-You sure can.

-Yeah.

-I need some wine.

-Yes, vino.

So with this meal it's wholesome, it's hearty,

it's full of flavour, so I want a wine that's the same.

We've got three Shiraz.

What we'll see is the influence of local environment on the wines.

It's all the same grape but where it's grown can have a massive

-impact on the style of the wine.

-Mmm.

Shiraz is thought to have Middle Eastern origins.

It was taken to France by the Romans,

so it's widely grown in the Rhone.

This is where this one is from, Languedoc-Roussillon.

This is Jean-Claude Mas, Les Tannes Syrah.

Syrah is the same grape variety as Shiraz, it's just a different name.

It's got lots of lovely, ripe, warm red fruits on the nose.

-A lovely colour.

-A lovely colour.

It's very aromatic.

It's powerful. It's got all the...

In fact, it mirrors the lasagne, for me, anyway.

It's got those red fruits, there's warming spice, that peppery spice.

It's quite savoury.

-Lovely little kick and it goes so well.

-It has got a kick!

-I love it!

-Good.

Right, well, don't drink it all, because you've got another two to go.

Oh, no, no, well, I can't help it.

This is number two. Now we're going over to Australia...

So this one is Jim Barry, Lodge Hill Shiraz, from the Clare Valley.

So wine one was around the £8 mark,

this one is a little more expensive, around the £10 mark.

But very different, isn't it?

You can really see the difference from wine one to two.

This is quite suave and elegant.

It's smooth, it's got the right texture, I feel.

The first one is a little bit... a little bit harsh.

It has got a bit of kick.

I can imagine a winter dish, a lovely slow-cooked roast

and then you sip a glass of that wine and you stay by the fire.

-Come on!

-That goes perfect with this.

-That's it, Gennaro, that's exactly it.

-This is what it's about!

This is the wine for that.

I can imagine. I'm there, I'm in front of that fire.

-He's painting a picture, isn't he? He is painting a picture!

-He is!

And finally we're heading over to Chile.

-Ah!

-This is Tabali, Reserva Syrah.

This is around the £11 mark,

so it's a fraction more expensive than the Jim Barry.

But it's got real potential.

In Chile they're making some really exciting wines.

It's so different, isn't it, when you smell it?

A totally different style of wine.

It feels almost viscous, it's got that viscosity and...

and almost oiliness.

I found it quite velvety on the palate.

Then you drink it, fill your mouth,

and then right down, it stops you,

and goes right through in an elegant way.

-It's longer.

-Very long.

Very elegant, that's the right word for it.

Elegant but long because it goes, wah! Then you unzip it

and you want to go straight back.

Straight back to the food, which I might do!

Me too. Shall we?

There's so much information out there to help us make informed

decisions about what to eat and drink that it can feel overwhelming.

Restaurateur Oliver Peyton is at the end of his tether.

And the moral maze of labelling is making him lose his appetite.

You know what?

I am fed up to my back teeth about feeling guilty about what I eat

and drink, and I'm beginning to think that,

when it comes to my food,

ignorance is bliss.

And all those ethical labels designed to help me

navigate myself through the mire don't help.

Fair Trade. The Soil Association. The Red Tractor scheme. Dolphin-friendly.

Dolphin-friendly! The mind boggles.

If I understood and listened to everything they were trying to tell me,

I would probably never, ever, ever eat again.

For example, let's start with meat.

Animal fats are bad for us.

Too much meat is bad for us, and in any case,

do we even know what we're eating any more?

Fish then - surely there's nothing wrong with a good fish supper?

So long as it's wild, sustainably sourced or line caught, of course.

-Could I get some hake?

-Yeah, sure.

-Looks good.

I'm going to hate myself for saying this,

but it's almost enough to turn one vegetarian.

As long, of course, as you can find organic, pesticide-free,

locally grown fruit and vegetables.

Of course I want to be a responsible consumer, but do you know what?

I just can't do it any more.

At the end of the day, food...

..is just food.

How can you say that, Oliver? Food, just...? That's not possible.

All that love that goes into producing great food.

Michel, what are we going to tell Oliver? What will we tell him?

Yes, perhaps to you, food is food,

but for the people who work in the food industry, it's not just food.

It's about love, passion, culture, territory, smell.

Look, when your suppliers come to your kitchen door,

do you look for some sort of label on it to see where the food is from?

You don't because you know you have sensible suppliers

who produce quality goods.

This idea, when you go into a supermarket,

this plethora of labels now, it's just insane.

But the food chain is so complex now

and so convoluted that at least people can make a choice -

"This is important to me so I'm going to try and go down this route."

No, I'm sorry, this is about consumerism.

These labels charge brands to put their labels on there.

These are businesses in their own right.

I know where all of the produce that comes into my restaurants

are from, I don't need labels to tell me that.

I used to have a pork supplier that used to actually

put the name of the pig on the invoice.

That might be going a bit too far and some people might be a bit

squeamish about that, but I thought that was wonderful.

It's a good point, Michel, and like you say, Michel there, you know

your suppliers, but in reality, how realistic is that for some people?

-We're time poor, we work long hours.

-Yes, but I hear this all the time.

People saying, "Oh, time poor"...

I understand all that. I am time poor, everyone is time poor,

but as long as we learn to consume in a reasonable manner,

buying as much local seasonal produce as we can, you know...

I fully agreed with you, that what you just said.

Everything is seasonal and growing locally, yes,

it is cheap and tasty goods as well.

And that's not difficult to understand.

That's an easy message to get across.

'Has Oliver got it right about labelling?

'Log on to our website...

'..after the show

'to carry on the debate and to find all of today's recipes and drinks.'

There's no doubt about it.

We feel better about our food when we know what's in it.

On the south coast of Cornwall, Thom Hunt forages,

hunts and cooks most of the food he eats.

For him, food provenance is a way of life.

Wild food has become a bit of a buzz word in gourmet food circles,

but the best thing about it - it's available for everyone.

Across the country, wild food has become incredibly popular,

and quite right too, there are some real treats out there.

But personally, the bit that I enjoy the most?

It just makes me feel amazing collecting my own food.

And when you live where I do, the world is your oyster,

or your prawn.

So I've brought you down to the banks of the River Fal,

literally just 100 yards from my cottage up there.

One net, one bucket, and we're going to catch some prawns.

For me, collecting tasty food I can eat for free started out

as a hobby, but over the years it's really become a way of life.

And look at that already.

Great big prawns.

When you're in the woods, the fields, the ocean, fighting the battle,

collecting your own dinner, there's just a level of satisfaction. Aah!

There's a level of crabs down here nipping on my toes as well.

There's a level of satisfaction that you can reach that you just

can't get when you buy your food.

Been out for about 20 minutes now, we've got more than enough for lunch.

Picked out the larger ones, put the smaller ones back,

so it's time for a bit of food.

I think there's quite a misconception sometimes with wild food that

you're generally eating weeds a lot, but we've got a variety

of different birds if you go shooting, wild herbs, wild flowers.

There are some real treats out there to be had.

Now that we've got our prawns, I think

it's time to collect a nice wild salad.

Common sorrel, it's a...

Oh! Really lovely lemon flavour.

Mm! It's beautiful!

It's vital that you're sure exactly what you're picking

and identify any fungi and plants correctly,

but collecting what's available is a great reality check,

given the abundance of food we see in our everyday lives.

We're so used to having everything we want from all over the world

that we don't stop to look and see what's on our doorstep.

Forest bounty like this would have once been part of every single meal.

Unfortunately, the reality now is that people just don't integrate it

into their daily lives.

For me, the beauty of wild food is I know exactly

where my ingredients have come from.

There's no additives, no excessive transport,

and I've only taken what I need.

As far as provenance is concerned, there really is nothing better.

This is the simplest of cooking processes.

A little bit of salted water, get your fire going,

and once you're up to boiling, pop the prawns in.

If you've got access to a freezer, it's best to freeze them first.

And while we're waiting for our prawns to cook, I'm going to

make a really simple dressing using elderberries,

a little bit of olive oil, cider vinegar and some salt.

See if they're done.

Yeah! Look at that, ready to go.

It means everything to be able to go and collect my own food,

enjoying the woodland and the surroundings at the same time.

You can't buy this.

You can't buy it this fresh, you can't buy it this wild.

I absolutely love it.

Mm!

That's simply stunning.

I can tell you one thing - any meal that you've collected yourself

goes way beyond anything that you could buy in a supermarket.

For most of us, we don't want to think about what really goes

into arguably the ultimate processed industrial food - the hot dog!

But I think it's a much-maligned sausage and one I actually love,

especially when it's home-made,

and they're easier to make than you might think.

I'm going to make gourmet hot dog sausages,

but unlike shop-bought ones, I know exactly what's in them.

So we've got lean pork mince. Very important, it must be lean

and well minced, and very cold.

And then we've got our pork fat, regular pork fat, fresh,

and some salted smoked pork fat.

Italian delis sell this and it's called lardo.

If you can't get it, it really isn't a big issue, it's just that it

impairs this lovely smokiness to the hot dog that I particularly like.

Using lean mince means I know exactly

what the fat to meat ratio is,

which you can never be sure about in ready-made hot dogs.

Season generously.

I like a bit of coriander

and a dusting of nutmeg to add some clout.

Next, some cornflour.

This will help to bind the meat together with the fat,

so you should have a nice, smooth sausage.

Now we need a couple of egg whites and finally, frozen milk.

It's just regular milk put in the freezer until it's solid.

The reason behind that is that we want to keep

this as cold as possible because I am going to blitz it up

and I don't want this to get too hot, because if it gets hot,

the fat will split and the meat will start to cook.

Our attitude to provenance is influenced by stories in the media.

The horsemeat scandal saw sales of mincers go up

by nearly 50% in one high street chain,

which just goes to show

people really do care what's going into their food.

No sinews, lovely and smooth.

You close your eyes and it's a hot dog.

It really does, it smells wonderful.

So now for the fun part, actually making the hot dogs.

What holds these together is of course the skin.

All the best-quality sausages use the natural kind,

which you can buy from a butcher.

To start off, thread the skin over the end of a piping bag.

You can use synthetic skins, but...

..why?

Fill up the piping bag and squeeze it,

allowing the skin to come away as the sausage fills up.

Different sized skins give you a choice of larger or smaller

sausages as you prefer.

These hot dogs are natural in colour, they're not bright pink,

there's no food colouring in them, there are no E numbers.

They're also odd-shaped.

One's a little bit smaller, one is a bit bigger.

That happens when you're making food at home and it's not industrial.

Tie a knot in the end. It's important

when you do these sausages that the meat inside is quite tight,

tight enough so as you get a hot dog that actually holds itself.

That one's mine, the biggest one. Gennaro is getting the little one.

Cook the hot dogs for 10 to 15 minutes in a pan of hot

but not boiling salted water until cooked.

86 degrees would be perfect.

Any hotter than that, and they would explode.

I'm serving up these home-made beauties with a little French

twist on the classic hot dog bun, brioche.

A little bit of indulgence,

a bit of extravagance for such a simple much-maligned dish.

And, of course, some caramelised onions and Dijon mustard.

That's it.

-Oh, wow! Wow, wow, wow!

-Look at those!

-Wow, wow, wow!

-Hot dog!

-Yes!

It's a while since I've had a hot dog. A while!

In Italian, we say "ot-a dog-eh"!

LAUGHTER

That's nice!

-So, home-made sausage, so we know what's in them.

-Yes!

A proper brioche bun and French mustard, but as in Dijon mustard.

Beautiful, lovely place. Lovely Dijon region.

Fantastic, and look, this is for you.

This is a Brooklyn lager, so I'll give you one guess where it's from.

-Shall I?

-Go on, go for it.

New York!

-Yes?

-You've got it.

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-No tricks there!

-No tricks.

-We know where we come from, I love it.

-Mm!

-Full of flavour, isn't it?

-Citrus, floral.

-Floral.

-Is it floral?

They use this process called dry hopping, where

they add fresh hops to the beer after it's been brewed.

It really enhances that aromatic flavour of the beer

and it's lovely, isn't it?

God bless America and the lovely Brooklyn beers from New York.

That beer is lovely. What's the alcohol content in that?

It feels as if it's very light.

5.2, actually, yes. I'm quite surprised.

All in balance, though, isn't it?

-Yes, beautifully balanced, my word.

-Let's take a look at that.

-Right, how do we attack that?

-Just go for it!

Wow.

I close my eyes, I'm eating hot dogs, I'm drinking beer -

yes, I am in New York.

-You're a happy man.

-Mmm!

We know what's in the sausage, it's just pork, no additives,

no food colouring.

It's not that difficult to make sausages at home

-and this is a particularly easy one.

-Michel, what can I say?

I'm going to give another bite to ot-a dog-eh!

Of course it matters where our food and drink comes from,

and we do our best to make sure we shop responsibly, but you know what?

If your food is coming out of your kitchen,

you can't get better than that.