Seasonal Feasts Food & Drink

Food fads come and go,

but one that's definitely here to stay is seasonal eating.

I'm going to show you how to get the most from the food year.

'Top Edinburgh chef Tony Singh joins me

'in the kitchen to make a ravioli with a seasonal Scottish twist...'

I'd love to go foraging with you, I tell you.

Might not make it to the woods, but it'd be a laugh.

'..Kate's trying to catch us out with some crafty drink matches...'

-Whiskey? Is it really whiskey?

-Argh! He's too good! He's too good!

'..Food writer Stefan Gates is convinced

'we need to think harder about how we buy our ingredients...'

It's not where it's come from that important.

It's how it's been produced.

'..And I'll be showing you how to brighten up those winter

'nights with a frangipani tarte to die for.'

Welcome to a perfectly seasoned Food & Drink.

Eating with the seasons is all about picking the best of the month's

home-grown ingredients and cooking creatively.

And this doesn't just mean eating everything fresh.

A bit of old wisdom can transform the best of one

season into the highlight of the next.

There's something new all year round.

I believe that, even in winter,

there's plenty of delicious produce available on your doorstep.

Edinburgh chef Tony Singh has cooked at some of the top

restaurants in Scotland.

He's passionate about his home country and seasonal ingredients.

So we're going to be cooking a dish that's got the best of both.

Tony, I know what that is. And it's not French.

Well, Michel, the French would like to claim it. It's a haggis.

It's wonderful. One of my favourite dishes.

I take one home to France every Christmas for my in-laws.

-Lucky them!

-So what are we doing with this one?

I'm going to do haggis ravioli with a game consomme

and a roast loin of red deer.

This dish is a real winter warmer with the Burns' Night haggis,

venison and gamey vegetable consomme,

which is just a name for a clear stock.

I've made some dough, Michel.

-If you could roll out some raviolis for me, that'd be great.

-Got it.

Thanks a lot. And I'll bash on with the consomme.

One of the first things I learnt at college,

classic French training, and people are scared of it

because it seems difficult, but it's one of these foundations.

A good stock and then the trim from the venison that comes off,

carrots, celery, leek, garlic, onions and something a bit different,

black cardamom.

Oh, black cardamom? Oh, let's have a little sniff of that.

-Wow!

-Smoky, eh?

-Wonderful!

Consomme is simply a clear stock, and we're using seasonal veg.

You can choose your ingredients according to the time of year.

Seasonality is so important to me, Tony.

I mean, what does it mean to you?

To me, it's very important the produce is at its best,

which is always what everybody's after, the best flavour.

The best time, the food in August.

I'd be looking at Chanterelles going into the broth.

It's my favourite thing,

going looking for Chanterelles up in the Highlands. I love it!

And they're the best in the world. They are the best in the world.

-Scottish wild mushrooms?

-Yeah.

I'd love to go foraging with you, I tell you.

Yeah? Oh, it'd be a laugh.

We might not make it to the woods, but it'd be a laugh.

For a strong gamey stock, Tony's adding some venison trimmings.

Meanwhile, I'm rolling the pasta for the ravioli.

'Making pasta dough couldn't be simpler.

'It's just flour and egg mixed up and folded together, and pasta

'machines are a handy shortcut if you don't want tired arms.'

-How thin do you want this, Tony?

-I like a bit of texture in my ravioli.

Some people take it really thin

and they want to see what's inside the ravioli.

And I think the surprise is finding out after you've bitten into it.

-I'm with you on that.

-A little bit of texture's great.

Tony's adding Madeira and then,

the magic ingredient for any consumme, egg whites.

The egg whites and the protein in the meat are going to trap

all the impurites.

And impart their flavour back into it.

'It all goes into a pan of cold stock,

'and then it's brought to the boil and simmered for 45 minutes.'

-Don't waste not, want not.

-Absolutely.

That's smelling great already.

That cardamom's great, isn't it?

For the ravioli filling,

I'm making little balls out of the haggis, which is

a surprisingly tasty Scottish treat made from sheep's offal.

And I think disguising them in a ravioli means that some

-people would eat it without even knowing!

-Well, I'm quite surprised.

People are still put off with the idea of eating haggis. It's liver.

People eat liver, OK?

You've got onions, you've got spices, lungs, maybe.

OK, pluck's a bit weird,

but it's from the same animal and you're not wasting anything.

I've brushed the pasta sheet with a beaten egg to make it stick.

-What is your favourite season, then, Tony?

-August is my favourite month.

Cos you've got all the game, you've got all the autumn fruits coming in.

You see, to me, it's winter.

Moving into the game season, stews, slow-cooked food. And you know what?

I think every chef has their favourite season

-and cooks better in that season.

-Yeah. I think you're connected more.

-Connected with nature?

-Yeah.

-And that's what it is.

A connection with nature

and being able to really enjoy that season to the full.

Yeah.

-Is that a little bit too small for you, too twee?

-No, no.

-That's lovely.

-Are you happy with that?

-Perfect, yes.

-So we'll be able to cook, then?

-Yeah.

-I hope. I hope they hold.

-They will.

-Otherwise I'm in trouble.

-Not at all. We'll just do it again.

And again, until they're right.

'This is the stage everyone's scared of with consumme. But it's simple.

'A rather unappealing crust forms on top

'and when the liquid's clear beneath it, turn off the heat.'

So we've got this lovely piece of red deer lion.

-That's a beautiful piece of meat.

-It is.

-No fat in there at all.

-No fat.

It's free-range. So we heat this up.

Some lovely, cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Wild venison is traditionally an autumn and winter meat,

available during game season.

We're browning ours over high heat.

-That absolutely looks gorgeous!

-Lovely.

I mean, it's such an underused meat.

You can get it all year round but when it's in season, it's just...

-So that those in the oven?

-Goes in the oven about six minutes.

We'll just check it and let it rest.

'Of course, we're going to want a drink to go with Tony's

'winter warmer,

'and there's something surprising to match those rich, deep flavours -

'Scottish whiskey.'

Most people only drink whiskey before or after dinner,

but believe it or not, this complex spirit can be matched with

food in the same way wine or beer can.

Drinks expert Kate Goodman has the inside track.

Scotch whiskey can be great with food, but navigating your way

around the Highlands and lowlands of whiskey country can be tricky.

When matching spirits with food,

you need to make sure they don't overwhelm the dish.

There are three main types of Scotch whiskey - malt,

made from malted barley, grain, made from other cereal grains as

well as barley, and blended whiskey, which is a mixture of the two.

Malt whiskey is matured for at least three years, usually,

a lot longer. And it's great with red meat.

For steak, choose a single malt, like Aberlour, which has been

matured in sherry casks, giving it rich toffee and spice notes.

For a lamb or pork casserole,

a smokey single malt works brilliantly,

like Ardbeg or Highland Park.

For chicken or even fish, go for a lighter, more fragrant style,

like a Dalwhinnie or Glenkinchie,

perfect with a bowl of Scottish smoked haddock soup,

or cullen skink, as it's known north of the border.

As a general rule, single malts which come from a

single distillery are the priciest whiskeys, starting at around £25-30.

But miniatures are a great way of finding out which whiskeys

you like best.

If you like a lighter, sweeter whiskey, there is an alternative.

Grain whiskey is made from other grains, as well as barley,

and is less expensive but still a great food drink.

For under £20, you have Snow Grouse, and for a fraction more,

Cameron Brig.

Grain whiskeys have a sweet, mild flavour that goes really well

with desserts like bread-and-butter pudding.

Its honeyed spice complements it perfectly.

Last but not least are blended whiskeys like Famous Grouse

and J&Bs.

They're cheaper, starting around £10-15, but they're also

pretty useful with more difficult to match food like Asian cuisine.

Whiskey might be an unusual choice, but go on, give it a go!

Our seasonal winter feast is almost ready.

The ravioli has simmered for two minutes,

the resting venison is cooked nice and rare

and the consumme is being strained through a muslin cloth.

So, Tony, as a true Scot, are you a big fan of whiskey?

I do love whiskey.

Again, it's a love that I'd left and come back to

-because I had a bit of a rough time when I was 18!

-Oh, dear.

-We've all got one of those!

-Yeah, honestly!

The mere smell of it after that was enough just to put me off,

but I'm back.

I love my more smokier, peatier ones.

-I love it. It's great and it's so versatile as well.

-Absolutely.

For the perfect Scottish accompaniment,

we're using Tatties and Neeps.

We've steamed potatoes and boiled some turnip in sugared water.

-Tatties, Neeps, haggis, bit of venison or deer.

-Yup.

Bit of parsley in there. Oh, it's looking lovely.

But you could do it just with the stock, add a bit of butter,

the chopped parsley in there.

Don't need to clarify it.

-Bit more hearty, a bit more rustic. There we go.

-Fantastic!

-That looks amazing, Tony! Right.

-Ladies first.

-OK.

-I'm going to dig in.

-Go for it.

-Yeah.

It's funny that venison is not a meat that I cook that often

but it's got so much flavour, hasn't it?

Oh... Mm, mm-mm...

That is good. That is very good.

-So we're going to pair some whisky with this.

-Thank you.

Would you match whisky with food in your restaurant?

-I'd do it more with dessert.

-Yeah.

I think it works amazing with chocolate and spice

and just that richness and then go back to peaty whiskies

and the smokiness coming through, I love it.

'My first whisky is a Glen Garioch single malt

'costing around £26.'

This is a very old distillery.

It's over 200 years old,

so you'd hope by now they know what they're doing. This is...

TONY CHUCKLES

-You'd hope so!

-You'd hope so.

This is an eight to ten-year-old whisky.

Give it a go, see what you think.

-It's very sweet on the nose.

-It is very sweet, actually.

You will notice a massive variation between whiskies one and two

and I've got a bit of surprise for you at the end with three.

It's very sweet. Even on the palate, I find it sweet.

It's got quite a creamy...

And texture wise, as well.

I get a lot pear in it.

Pear and apple, it's a sweeter style, isn't it?

I think maybe with the neeps it might work.

-Bring out the sweetness of the neeps.

-It might work.

'My next whisky is another single malt,

'Talisker, from the Isle of Skye.

'A ten-year-old bottle can be had for around £34.'

It's a real powerful, pungent, spicy whisky.

It's the only single malt distillery on the Isle of Skye.

-It's a real explosion, isn't it?

-That's my favourite.

-I knew you see, Tony. I did my research.

-Yeah.

-It's your poison.

-It is.

-It's smoky but not too smoky.

-It's lovely.

-Mmm.

The smokiness resembles the smoky flavour of your black cardamom.

OK, so last one is a bit of a taste test for you guys.

So here we go.

-It's not an Islay, anyway.

-It's not an Islay, is it?

-It's very sweet.

-It is very sweet.

-Pear drops again.

-I'd say it's a lowland.

-A lowland , all right. Michel?

Knowing the way that you work and that you like to fox us...

Erm...

Whisky, is it really whisky?

Oh, he's too good, he's too good.

I can't believe it.

This is a whisky but it's a Japanese whisky.

-Whisky?

-Yeah. So, it's Japan.

'This 12-year-old Yamazaki whisky weighs in at an hefty £45.'

In blind tastings they're winning awards.

They're really standing up to their Scottish counterparts.

I think it's just something to look out for,

something to think about if you're a whisky fan, it's worth trying.

-It spreads the appreciation of this fantastic spirit.

-Exactly.

-And you'll always come back to Scotland for it!

-What can I say?

THEY CHUCKLE

-You had to bring it back around.

-It's true.

Have a game of golf and pick up a few girolle mushrooms on the way.

We can do that and then go to Japan.

-I'm in.

-Cheers, guys.

Our fridges and cupboards are full of exciting ingredients

like this from all over the world.

For years we've been told that the further our food travels

the worse it is for our environment.

But Stefan Gates thinks we have got the wrong end of the stick.

Many people think that buying local ingredients is automatically

better for the environment than buying imports.

That's only true if they're in season

and even then it's not always the case.

Food miles don't give us the whole picture.

To start us eating only local food is blatantly impractical, even if you live in the countryside.

If you live in the cities with dense populations, it's pretty much impossible.

Not only that, but not all foods are suited to our climate, whatever the season.

If we want to buy our food sensibly, it's not where it's comes from that's important,

it how it's being produced.

Let's take tomatoes, for example.

Spanish tomatoes grown in the searing heat

but then exported all the way to the UK by road,

can use up far less energy than British tomatoes grown

in our climate, in heated greenhouses.

The trouble is that food miles simply don't take into account all

of the energy that's used in fertilisers, processing, constructing

buildings, running tractors, even the lifestyles of the farm workers.

In fact, some researchers have estimated that over 80% of

carbon emissions are created even before the food leaves the farm gate.

It's estimated that getting your food from farms to fore, which is the food miles bit

only counts for between 2% to 4% of the carbon emissions.

2% to 4%! That is tiny.

-There you go.

-Thank you very much.

Listen, I don't want to discourage anyone from buying locally,

nothing wrong with supporting your community, a bit of patriotism,

farmers are brilliant guardians of the countryside.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with fresh food.

But if we want to minimise our impact on the environment,

we should try not to get hung up on one issue

and all look harder at the big picture.

The obsession with food miles has fooled us all.

Cheers!

Wow, that's amazing because we've had this theory

rammed down our throats for the last few years that the further

away the food comes from, the worse it is for our environment.

That's right. It's beautifully simple, isn't it?

It makes sense, it's come a long way

therefore it must be, you know, less ecologically sound.

It's much more to do with how the food's been produced.

It's a lot more complex, basically, isn't it?

This is looking at how things are made, how things are stored,

how things are processed, that all comes into it, doesn't it?

You know, shipping...

If things can be moved by ship, it's a very economical form of transport.

Whereas, us driving to the supermarket

-for people drive six miles...

-It's as simple as that.

-..just blow it away.

You're saying we should just stick to seasonality in Britain?

I don't know, then we wouldn't have lemons, you know.

-That's disturbing.

-No, er...

That's the classic, isn't it?

You'd want to get some nice things.

You don't get good mangoes in the UK. I like a mango.

That's right, we could rear bananas in the UK, if we wanted to.

But it just simply wouldn't be ecologically sound to do so.

-How do you buy your food?

-I think I've got the solution.

Most definitely.

I think we should all start gardening and grow our own.

-That in itself, surely, that in itself...

-It's a lovely idea.

-You'd think so.

-It's a lovely idea.

The reality is it's less economically viable

and it's not that brilliant for the planet.

My allotment, the amount of stuff I put into it,

the cost of the thing, way outweighs all the tomatoes and potatoes I get.

Is that because it's a new allotment?

We're talking something that's going on, you've got your compost heap...

If you can make it part of your life, fantastic.

You know, why not? If you are going to buy bananas that are fair trade bananas,

why shouldn't those people get the money that we spend on them?

I think where it comes from communities need to benefit from our pleasure.

-We're enjoying the food, they need to benefit from it.

-Mmm.

I mean, this hits wine as well.

We produce lots of wine in the UK, should we just drink that

and not drink the French stuff?

-No!

-Shall I leave?

THEY LAUGH

Has Stefan got it right about food miles?

Have your say after the show by logging onto our website...

..where you'll also find all of today's recipes and drinks.

In the days before food miles,

we had to think creatively about how we kept our food.

Preserving can infuse ingredients with exciting new taste and textures.

Chef Matt Tebbutt is keen to embrace ways of making his ingredients last

longer and taste better.

'Every good chef knows that seasonal ingredients give great flavours.

'If only they lasted longer.

'Thanks to modern technology, they can but forget the freezer,

'for centuries people had a tastier tasting method,

'the art of preserving.'

These days food is rarely preserved out of necessity

but when I moved out of London some 12 years ago to rural Wales,

I had to completely rethink my attitude to ingredients.

'Take meat, in Britain preserving large chunks of meat

'fell by the wayside years ago.

'I think we can learn something from our continental cousins.

'In places like Italy, curing meat is a £1 billion industry

'and still a great way of making sure that nothing goes to waste.'

Like this, for example, we buy in this restaurant

a quarter of a cow at a time

and that's an awful lot of meat

and I don't want that to go to waste.

This piece, for example, this topside, is about £50 to £60.

What I found is an old recipe for preserve for bresaola.

What it does it changes the texture, it changes the flavour of the whole thing

and it also means you can hold onto it for a lot longer.

First thing we need to do is get our salt.

'In this type of preserving, salt is used to draw out moisture

'and kill bacteria, stopping it from going off

'and you can add all sorts of flavours that will infuse the meat.'

The brine can be made using water and salt

but for this recipe, this traditional Italian recipe, it's wine.

Red or white wine, doesn't really matter, you just need quite a lot,

which is why you end up paying about eight to ten quid a plate.

Now all we need to do is put this lump of meat in.

This meat will sit in here, I will submerge it and cover it

and stick a few plates just to weight it down for about five days

and that will sit quite happily in the fridge.

After that time, you simply bring it out, hang it up

and you leave it for anywhere between one two months.

There you go, after five days in the fridge, that's what it looks like.

There's nothing to it and all you need is a cool

environment in which to hang these meats. Done.

'Of course, there are other ways of preserving meat.

'Food journalist Tim Hayward has an exciting flavoursome way

to make winter game birds last well into the summer

and he's going to show me how it's done.

-Tim, how are you?

-Good to see.

-Good to see you.

We've got some whole partridges

-and we're going to preserve them in jars.

-OK.

-So, here we've got some wine.

-Right.

-Sounds pretty standard.

-And then we've got vinegar.

-So, we're pickling the partridges?

We are pickling partridges which doesn't sound quite as appetising

-as escabeche which is the Spanish name for it.

-Right.

-But that's it. Yeah, absolutely.

-Is it escabeche of partridge?

Escabeche of partridge and it will stay in jars...

You can keep it for half the year. That's how it was originally done.

Before they even go near a pickling jar,

the partridges are browned off in oil for a lovely colour.

Onion, carrot and garlic add flavour to stop the partridges

just tasting of pickling vinegar.

So, not only are you preserving,

so you can keep it long after the season's gone,

but also, you're taking that taste, that texture, of the partridge,

-to a different plane, aren't you?

-Absolutely.

I think all the preservation methods that have survived are there

because they really, really improve flavour,

-not because we strictly need them to preserve any more. So, the next thing is the pickle.

-OK.

-So, we get a saucepan...

-Right.

-..a bit of heat

and those two bottles over there, Let's have the vinegar and the wine.

-There you go.

-Lovely job.

And is it important you let that boil?

Yep. What you're doing is you bring it just to a gentle simmer...

-All in?

-All in, please, yeah.

-Gentle simmer for three minutes.

And all that is doing is basically sterilising absolutely everything.

-And that's the important thing when you're pickling, right?

-Yes.

It's true of any of the preserving methods

-that use vinegar pickle, yeah.

-OK.

After three minutes simmering, it's time to jar everything up.

-Right. So, we're going to pack it in...

-OK.

-..and layer it up.

So, we'll start with a spoonful of stuff.

If you want to grab one of those partridges and shove it in the jar.

-Right! Simple as that?

-There's no elegance to this.

-That's it?

That's it, yeah. So, we can then put a bit more veg down the side of it.

-I like this.

-Chuck in a few more vegetables to fill up the spaces

around the edge and then grab another one of those partridges,

a smaller one this time, maybe, so we can try and get three in.

And shove it in.

The jars have already been sterilised,

but now they go into a pan of boiling water.

So, in 55 minutes, these will have cooked right the way through

and then we'll seal the tops down, the air inside will contract

as it cools and suck the lid down really, really tight.

It'll be 100% sealed.

Nothing can survive the temperature and the incredibly acidic

-environment that's in there.

-Sure.

-That's it.

They need at least two days after cooking before opening.

But the longer you leave them, the better the flavour.

Right, Tim, we can't wait the next couple of days for your partridge,

although it's looking, really, really nice,

but these are a couple of bits that I did earlier.

When you think about it, you realise how many familiar favourites

come from the idea of preserving ingredients.

Sun-dried tomatoes, cheese, olives, even wine.

We might not need to preserve any more,

but the flavours it creates are unique and well worth the effort.

Eating food out of season may not be of novelty any more,

but preserving food in season, for me, is a must.

With a little bit of forward planning, you can have delicious

British strawberries in January and raspberries in February.

I'm going to let you into a secret -

how I preserve fruit and turn it into one of my favourite puddings.

This plum frangipani tart is a little reminder of summer

for the worst days of winter and it's easy to make.

First, we need our sweet pastry.

I've taken it out of the fridge so it's pliable and not too cold.

If it's too cold and you try to roll it, it will crack

and it won't be smooth.

My pastry is made the same way as ordinary shortcrust,

but I've added 100g of icing sugar to make it sweet.

I particularly love this dessert in the winter months,

when it's cold and dreary and wet and horrible out there

and you need cheering up, you need a little ray of sunshine.

And for me, that sunshine is preserved fruit,

fruit that I've preserved in a syrup from last summer.

It's not hard to make preserved fruit.

Fill up a jar of halved plums with syrup which is a simple mix

of sugar and water boiled for two minutes.

A quick stir gets rid of trapped bubbles.

Then, a lid goes on and it's placed in a pan of cold water.

Then, boil for 20 minutes before leaving to cool in the pan.

Once you've put the pastry on top of the tart tin,

you then delicately lift it up

and fold it towards you

and push it down and...

it's a perfect, snug fit,

hardly any waste. And then with the rolling pin,

over the top to cut it.

And there we have it.

So, the next step is to make the frangipani cream.

You might be thinking, "Frangi-what?"

But don't worry, it's simply an almond-flavoured pastry filling

and a real wintry favourite of mine.

I'm adding ground almonds into beaten caster sugar

and unsalted butter. You could also use hazelnuts.

So, just beat that in...

..until it's nice and smooth.

One whole egg.

And you can flavour this with vanilla

or just a drop of bitter almond essence,

if you like that flavour.

Or even a little drop of rum or whiskey.

The delicious frangipani goes into the tart.

The pastry doesn't need to be blind baked first

as it all cooks at the same rate.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the filling's puffed up

and the pastry's crisp.

Now it's time for that summery fruit.

Decant the plums, but make sure you don't throw away the juice.

The syrup can be used as a glaze.

You want to reduce it down until it thickens up.

Or absolutely fantastic for a champagne cocktail.

Arrange the plums on top, brush with some juice for a luscious glaze.

And it's ready to eat.

Michelle, that just looks amazing.

Almost too good to eat, I'd say.

Oh, no. I want to try it. SHE LAUGHS

-There we go.

-Wow.

-Look!

I'll pour the wine while you're negotiating those plums.

So, we've got a sparkling red.

-A bit of fizz there.

-Some bubbles there.

-Yeah.

So, this is Contero Brachetto d'Acqui.

Brachetto is the grape, grown in northern Italy, in Piedmont

in north-west Italy. And d'Acqui is the region it's from.

Lovely, fun wine. It's not one you're going to put

-in your wine rack and keep for years.

-It wouldn't last.

-No, you wouldn't.

-Just drink it.

-Exactly. Early drinking,

Chill it down. That lovely freshness,

lots of summer berries, cherries, touch of chocolate.

Just works really nicely with fruit-based desserts.

-Come on, guys. Come on.

-Ladies first.

Do you know what? I was going to have a big slice and just go for it.

I wasn't even going to use a spoon.

Cream?

-Nice bit of crunch there on the bottom.

-Hmm.

That pastry is just...

very delicate. Lovely.

And the frangipane, the almonds, the butter...

And tangy fruit there against it all,

against that creamy, butteriness. It works.

And they're not too sour. I often think with plums,

they can be quite sour, but they've got that lovely

touch of tanginess, but balanced by that really great sweetness.

-And with that...not overwhelming.

-Absolutely.

-Just works really nicely.

-I think I've got to cut another slice.

-Or two.

-I'd better get in quick. You two have demolished it.

-I was hoping to take this home with me.

-Oh, well. Failed.

Pickling and storing ingredients captures the taste of the seasons

and it goes to show, there's a lot you can do

to make the most of your food year.

Eating with the seasons is a sure-fire way to get

fresh, nutritious food into your diet.

It's good for the environment, your pocket and your taste buds.