Beef and Shellfish Great British Food Revival

We're here to put Britain back on the food map. We're on a mission to

save fantastic British produce from extinction. But we need your help.

Essential ingredients that have been here for centurys: Are in

danger of disappearing... Forever. We want everyone to get back to

culinary basics... And help us revive our... Magnificent... Mouth

watering... Unique... This is an extraordinary tale of a

struggle for survival. Despite producing some of the finest

quality food, world-class, in fact, it's on the verge of extinction,

but there are signs of a fight-back, and you can join the battle. My

name is John Torode, and I'm determined to persuade you to get

behind these bovine beauties and to In my campaign, I find out how

serious the loss of rare-breed cattle could be. It would be

catastrophic if these animals disappeared. These White Parks go

back to the fifth century. How one man's passion helped save a breed

from extinction. I make no claim of our breed being the best, but I

don't know if any others that are better. And I'll be cooking my

version of the perfect British Sunday roast.

I don't think it gets much better Look. Don't get me wrong. We eat

plenty of beef in this country, but many of us are missing out on the

stuff that is absolutely fantastic, the sort of beef that makes your

heart thump when you cook it. You can smell it. It's just the joy of

true beef flavour and beef smell, and the animals - these animals -

that produce that type of beef, are truly in threat of extinction.

Britain has lost six native breeds of cattle. They're never coming

back. Even now, there are five rare breed species on the critical list.

They're nearly extinct. When I first arrived in deloon 20-odd

years ago British beef wasn't that celebrated. I actually wasn't that

enthusiastic about it until the time I tasted a piece of rare breed

beef cooked over charcoal, then things changed. It was deep, it was

smoky, it was delicious. It was salty. It had true texture, and for

me, it tasted like proper meat. Of course, from then, my life changed,

and now one of my most favourite things in the world is to take a

piece of well-hung beef, roast it simply for my friends, sit down

with a glass of wine and celebrate the beauty of the bovine. But if

these native breeds become extinct, we'll never be able to savour that

sensational taste again, and it's up to you whether you want to do

something about it to. Kick off my campaign I am heading to the

National Trust Women poll Park Farm. I want to find out exactly how we

nearly lost our native breeds. I am meeting Richard Broad from the Rare

Breed Survival Trust. How many different breeds were

there in the UK? I suppose within the cattle, there was probably a

breed from most of the different regions. Of course, the Second

World War within the UK, farming changed completely, didn't it?

the 1947 Agricultural Act paid people to produce food - didn't

matter what quality it was. They just wanted numbers of cows,

numbers of sheep, numbers of pigs. The more modern breeds were more

readily available and could more easily be intensified. This

National Trust farm works closely with the Trust in their attempt to

reverse history. They're running a commercial farm that stocks and

cultivates rare breeds. I am getting a tour with their manager,

Richard Morris. These are our Irish Moiled and Gloucesters here. I

haven't got a Gloucester bull this gee, I am running them with the

Irish Moileds. You don't see many of these. You don't. In the '50s we

were down to three cows and two stock bulls, which has meant now

it's incredibly difficult to find a bull that isn't related to your

cows, so what you do now is find one that is least related. It does

make it difficult. Right. We call them the secret lovers. You never

see the bulwarking, but he does the job. Such a beautiful breed. Nearby

they're also farming Gloucesters, White Parks and Shetlands. All are

on the rare breed watch list. Why would you want to be doing this?

Every animal has an intrinsic value. It's incredibly important we keep

these going. It would be catastrophic if these breeds

disappeared. These White Parks go back to the fifth century. We have

to keep them going. We have to keep that broad diversity of genetics.

If there was a difference in tai, what would you say? I would say the

quintessential English roast, it's nicely marbled on the outside and

strong textured. If it's hung well, it's cooked well, it's just

exquisite, it's just beautiful. You start talking about beef and my

teeth start tingling. But meeting farmers like this gives me great

hope we are reviving the traditional breeds, and we can

continue to eat great British rare breed beef. My strategy now has to

convince you to go out and buy some rare breedby. Of course, in the

revival kitchen I am going to be cooking something truly delicious,

a classic piece of beef. This beautiful piece of meat is a

Toscana. That is usually served in Italy. We may know it in this

country as a T-bone steak, but the really important part of this

wonderful piece of beef is the outside layer of fat to keep it

lovely and moist, but more importantly, inside these little

tiny rivers of fat, which are called marbling, and without

marbling, this piece of beef would be as tough as old boots. You may

as well get yourself a piece of cardboard, cover it with gravy and

just eat it and believe you're eating steak because this piece of

beef is a beautiful thing, and this is my Toscana with shard, shallots

and thyme. Between this piece of fat is a tiny, tiny white piece of

sinew. That piece of sinew, when the heat hits it, will act like an

elastic band. That band will shrink, and the piece of meat that sits

underneath will shrink as well and become quite tough, so we need to

be able to make sure that flesh relaxes as it cooks rather than it

pulling together, so what I do is simply take a knife and make little

score firstly through the fat so I can see where the sinew is,ed a

once I've done that then I can actually attack the piece of sinew

underneath. Now that my White Park steak is prepared, there are some

golden rules about cook it - hot pan, so hot you can't put your hand

above it. Oil the meat, not the pan, and just a plain vegetable oil, not

olive. Then put your meat down and listen

to it sizzle. Turn once each side is seared. If it tugs when you lift

it, it's not ready. Everybody has a preference how they want their beef

cooked. Really, that's up to you how you want to eat it. For me it

needs to be more medium-ish because if it's rare, it's cold on the bone,

and it's a little bit jelly-like, so I like it to be cooked through

and for the blood and all the juice just to be coming out and you get

the full flavour of the beef. Once it's seared all over, pour the

juices on from the griddle and pop it in the oven to cook 200 degrees.

I am going to prepare some veg to go with it, first, these shard. I

have separated the leaves and dropped the stocks into some hot

water to soften them for a few minutes. Into a hot pan add butter,

a segment of lemon. Add chopped anchovies, a spoonful of cape, then

your shard. I have shallots in another pan with thyme and beef

stock. Our beef is ready to come out. I love that smell, just

absolutely love it. That lovely smell of just roasting beef, and I

need to just let it rest. This piece of beef is a decent hunk of

beef, and the actual volume of beef that's left over after we've cooked

it is still a large quantity. This is a piece of beef which is about

three years old, and sometimes if we're buying continental breeds in

supermarkets, the beef is a lot younger. It doesn't have the

structure to the muscle, it doesn't have the marbling, and you could

end up losing about 50% of that meat just by buying a piece of meat

very, very cheaply, so buy decent beef. It's a completely different

flavour. It's a different texture, and when you eat it, you'll taste

After the steak has rested for the same time it took to cook, you can

plate up - shard, then your carved beef, shallots and a drizzle of the

juices. Now, of course, the joy of cooking any amazing piece of beef

is to get to eat it. There is a huge amount going on on this plate,

but everything goes beautifully You know that really familiar brand

of beef - the one that all the steakhouses and the fast food

burgers name themselves after? Well, would you be surprised to learn

that the original pure Aberdeen Angus is on the rare breed survival

trust critical list. It's close to extinction. So I have come to meet

farmer Geordie Suitor who started to revive the breed when he

realised we're nearly wiped out, and do you know, I have never seen

an Aberdeen Angus up close. Wow! There is that square frame you see

in all of the original breeds. That and absolute straight back,

straight down, a decent-sized bum, but not really fat, and just

recollect angle, and they're extraordinary. What exactly is an

Aberdeen Angus? The original Aberdeen Angus were started way

back - the first one started in the 1850s. Pure-bred Aberdeen Angus was

in danger of extinction? Yes. many were left when you started

this? Off the top of my head, 30, 40 at the outside. I see a huge

merit in these animals. There's just a quality about them that has

been lost over the years. These cattle do not need cereals. The

conversion is wrong. You're giving an animal ten kilos of a protein

that a human could eat to gain two kilos. It just doesn't work. It

comes back to the fact that as time goes on, grain will be needed to

feed the world population. These guys can eat grass. What about the

argument of simply we should be eating less beef, but more of the

good stuff? Well, I would subscribe to that theory without a shadow of

a doubt. If anybody is going to know about

quality, it will be the local butcher who sells beef including

Geordie's pure breed Aberdeen Angus beef. They take longer to mature,

and they're traditionally grass fed. The flavour is very different. It's

very sweet. It's very tender. Because it's slow grown, the grain

is fine. It's not the grain system of the continentals will have.

You'll see the difference in the colour of the fat. The quality of

the eating is there, and people notice that. It's too tempting. I

have to taste the difference between pure-breed Aberdeen Angus

and a nonrare breed. That Aberdeen Angus is extraordinary, the

sweetness from the grass, the smokiness that goes with it, is

subtle, but still really, really rich, and because it has been

hanging for a decent amount of time, it has that lovely dry texture to

it as well. That is amazing. That is amazing! How do you think these

two will compare to each other on flavour? On flavour alone? The

purely grass-fed Aberdeen Angus It is extraordinary that this one

man has the dream of a single heard with be that will taste

extraordinary. The irony is that, for this beef to survive, we have

to continue to meet it. I have a recipe that guarantees to encourage

you to do that. And it uses one of the cheapest cuts of beef. This is

a shin of beef. It is the type of meat that needs to be cooked long

and slowly. For me, this is the sort of thing that warms your heart.

It takes hours in the oven. It is sensational. This is my braised

shin of beef with * Nice and parsnip puree. -- star anise.

The is has been maturing for quite a long time. That is a good thing.

The more it sits around, the more tender it gets. I am cutting of the

flesh from the born, but your butcher will happily do it for you.

When you meet people like Geordie, who are so passionate about what

they do, it is pretty inspiring to think that they spend their life

taking their time to bring back a traditional breed and let us taste

that meet that we should be all the time. Get a casserole and put it on

a high heat. Let the pieces of beef sector, do not jiggle them around.

You're looking for a dark colour, a really dark, because that is where

the flavour comes from. Do not put too many at once, the beef will go

soggy. It needs other ingredients to add sweetness, ingredients to

make it stretch a little further, and also for the sauce to become

fruity. For the sauce, crush some garlic, peeled onion, some celery

and carrots, and pop them into the casserole. A great source has to

have many dimensions - as weakness -- sweetness, star anise and acid.

That is there to break down the sinew in the beef. That leaves you

with a piece of beef that is soft and succulent when you taste it. I

add a bit of red wine and my secret Aussie twist. Soy sauce and fish

sauce. I am going to add fish sauce rather than salt because I think it

gives more of a rounded flavour. The same thing with the soy sauce.

It starts to smell of berries and liquorice and tobacco. It is

becoming quite manly and Butch. That does not mean that the girls

cannot eat it! But it is very strong to make the sauce thick and

shiny I am going to add a pig's Trotter. The gelatin will ensure

that the stew sparkles. The fruitiness that comes from Port the,

the acid and strength of berries that come from red-wine are going

beautifully with the liquorice. Put the beef back in, bring to the boil,

then a tablespoon of fish sauce and soy sauce. The beef is nearly

cooked. To accompany it, I have boiled some parsnips in milk and

pureed them together into more of a source than a masher. This sauce is

reduced and then meet is starting to show the beautiful nature of

that sweet, sticky sauce. -- than I am not sure, I will have to have

another one. There are huge, rich, big flavours surrounding that beef.

The parsnip is also huge. Inside, you can taste the beef. Do me a

favour - get yourself a decent butcher and go and talk to them

about a rare red traditional -- about a rare round traditional

breeds. ETA steak. -- eat a steak. In Scotland, we have found a breed

that is on the brink of extinction. Only time will tell whether the

Aberdeen Angus will survive. But there is hope. It comes from the

success story of Father and son team, bald and Tom Williams. They

have put their heart and soul into some of -- reviving these Longhorn

cattle. What is so special about them? I was brought up in Suffolk.

I saw them as a little boy being exhibited at the Suffolk Show. I

thought, one day I will have some of those myself. I passionately

feel for their beauty. As a little boy, what do you go for? You go for

their horns, their temperament, their colour. All of those things.

I would find it difficult to keep any other breed. I have had these

for over 30 years. As ever, the most important thing is flavour. Do

they taste they needed? A butcher's tell me that the marbling of the

meat -- the butchers. The marbling of the meat is very good. I make no

claim that it is the best, but I do not know of any meat that is better.

I have to say, up as a cook and as an Australian who was not excited

about beef, when I started to taste the flight this I was enamoured. I

have to say thank you because it is brilliant. It is lovely to see that

the work you have done has taken his breed and it is becoming

commonplace. And I can tell you that there are

few Australians taking out long horns. Good! Bob's son is taking on

the mantle and is ensuring the success of the business. I am 32.

My parents bought their first one when I was born. It is really great

to have a continuation of that breeding herd. The breed has really

improved in numbers and so on. We have great sales of beef and, with

conservation grazing, it has turned into a great business. People will

be unaware that you need to graze certain parts of the country - you

cannot get them with big machinery, so you have to have animals in

place to make sure you keep it at a certain level, is that right?

Cattle are fantastic for conservation. I think the key to

any successful farming operation is making sure that you're end product

is sold down the correct streams. We do not have launched quantities

so we need to make sure we sell them at a premium. -- large

quantities. I would say that is the good key to success.

Here is the one we have been waiting for - the quintessential

British Sunday lunch, using some very British Longhorn beef. Roast

British beef, roast British rare breed beef, probably the most

important meal served to the British public and indeed the world

over. For me, the best piece of roast beef comes from this

wonderful, absolutely extraordinary forerib rib. It has been worked

quite a bit, so it really has depth. At the same time, when roasted

slowly, it is tender and melt in the mouth. This will be my slow

roast rib of beef with Yorkshire puddings. This is a really

expensive piece of meat, but that piece of meat will feed a whole

family at Christmas. That actually means that it is quite good value.

Keep the fat. I will say it again. It is essential for moisture during

cooking, and you can always cut off the excess later. Score it, rump

oil my collarette. I am going to put a mustard crust on it. I like

stuffing. -- Rob oil Mack all over it. Growing up in Australia, we did

not do Yorkshire puddings. My grandmother did lots and lots of

stuffing. I think it is because everything was expensive and she

wanted to stretch and get good value for money. It was not until I

got here, 20 odd years ago, that I learned how to make a Yorkshire

pudding. They are pretty good. Even as an Aussie. Combine breadcrumbs,

wholegrain mustard, a couple of eggs, fried chopped onions, water

and pepper. It is a decent piece of beef, it deserves good seasoning.

Put some carrots in the pan. Plaster all of that wonderful crust

on top. Add water to the pan to stop it burning and olive oil to

stop it sticking. Put it in a preheated oven at 220 Celsius.

Immediately drop it and leave it That is stunning. And the crust has

gone crispy on top, the fat is starting to melt away inside here.

The ire of the meat is lovely and Brown. - eye of the meat. Whatever

you do, do not carve it now. It needs to relax. This is where we go

wrong. Give it a rest, Britain. Use the time to get your Yorkshire

puddings cooked my way. Pour your milk into a bowl, add eight eggs.

There will be people screaming, saying, what do you think you're

doing? This is how I make Yorkshire puddings. A lot of people put the

flour in first, make a well in the middle. I do not think that works

as well. Sometimes, the amount of delay that you have with the eggs

and flour means the flower get lumpy. This way, I mix my eggs and

my milk and salt together. Then add your flour and whisky. Keep going

until your biceps look like Popeye's. This gets rid of my bingo

wings. Poppet on to the heat and put lard into each mould, not

vegetable oil. That burns. Then wait until the fat is so hot that

it shimmers. Sizzling, just to the top. Then straight in the oven. Get

it in the oven as fast as you possibly can. When it is ready,

take out your roast potatoes and my a delicious Yorkshire puddings, car

for the beef and serve it up with pride. -- carve the beef. That is

roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, the Australian way.

If British rare breed beef is to be saved, we all need to help out.

These people in Suffolk were so interested in finding out about

beef that they took up a new hobby - butchery. To get hands-on and

understand the difference joints is fascinating. It is a great way to

work up an appetite for later on. This class introduces where the

cuts are and what they are used for. They get too did obituary. A course

like this greatly increases the knowledge and makes you appreciate

what goes into farming and butchery and putting a really good piece of

What they'll take home from it really is a little bit of extra

knowledge, so when they go to the butcher's, hopefully me, they can

say, I'm going to have a brisket this time. I usually get topside,

but that tasted fantastic. There are lots of these courses being

held all over the country. To help, it's as simple as searching out the

local meat from your butcher or going online.

That is one seriously delicious, beautifully tender piece of

Longhorn, slowly roasted so all the flavour stays in, but it stays

wonderful and succulent, then served with a crusty Yorkshire

pudding - I don't think it gets much better than that. Find

yourself a good buter, demand the best, understand what you're eating,

and I'll tell you what, it will pay dividends. You'll taste the

difference every single time. Now, here's man with a reputation for

loving food from the wild who's passionate about reviving another

British produce that's plentiful but largely ignored.

I'm Valentine Warner, and I'm very passionate about some truly

fabulous British produce. It's delicious. It's healthy, and it's

very sustainable. It's British shellfish. In particular, cockles

and mussels, which are udgely undervalued in the UK. Look at all

this amazing tasty British shellfish. It's massively lucrative

market worth �300 million to UK fisheries. And where's it going?

Abroad. It's my hope to help revive our British shellfish. Wow. I have

never seen so many mussels in one go - ever.

Trying my hand at cockle picking - a dying art that deserves our

support and appetite. Absolutely back-breaking! And showing you how

quick and easy it is to cook shellfish at home with some

deliciously straight-forward cockle dishes, including my moreish

stuffed mussel. I could easily do with a whole

plate on my own. I have an insatiable appetite for British

shellfish, born of childhood holidays spent by the sea. What I

love is primarily the taste. For me, they're iconic. When I think of the

British beach I don't just think about donkeys or candyfloss or bat

and ball, I actually think of little bowls of cockles and whelks

picked with a toothpick. And we Brits have been munching on it

since we learned to fish. In fact, shellfish used to be sold by the

pint outside our pubs not too long ago. So what'ss changed? I think

one of the main reasons fresh British shellfish has fallen out of

fashion is it's hard to get hold of especially inland. We may be an

island nation, but there seems to be mainly frozen or cooked stuff in

the supermarkets, and fing mongers are sadly few and far between. I am

off to the coastal town of Swansea to see what we're missing. In 1939

there were 10,000 fishmongers, thereAbout, in this country. Today

there are approximately 10,000. That's pretty sad. But there is one

place where buying fresh fish is thriving, and one of those places

is Swansea market. This place is a Mecca for seafood lovers like me,

and awash with the most amazing array of fresh British shellfish.

What have you just bought? Cockles. How fresh are these? These are

absolutely a couple of hours old. I could have those until the cows

come home. And I often do. I am extremely happy to see these little

delectable creatures, something you're not likely to see in the

sught. It's maceing to see these razor clams here. Do you think as a

nation we're scared of cook these things? We're scared of trying

something different. It's such a shame. As a result, our European

neighbours are snapping up our shellfish, shellfish they consider

to be some of the best in the world. Neil, I don't think we have the

amazing passion for our shellfish that they do on the continent.

Would you say to that? I totally agree with you. I think a lot of

people are scared of the product. People think they're going to get

sick. You do get a few people asking that. What do you say to

them? There is nothing to worry about at all. We need to stop being

afraid and embrace this fantastic British product. If there is anyone

who can help kick start my shellfish revival it's outspoken

cockle Queen Carol. Carol sells cooked cockles by the

bucket-full and has since the age of four when she helped out on her

grandparents' stall. They're eaten traditionally with pepper and

vinegar, but she has plenty of other suggestions for trying this

local delicacy. It's lucky you haven't given me a job because I

would constantly be at the produce. I wouldn't be able to stop eating

all day long, but for those who don't like cockles, how would you

tempt them in? If you put a bit of bacon or breadcrumbs in the frying

pan and put cockles in, you can enjoy them. It's a good breakfast.

And Carol's promised to cook me one. We put the onion in the pan, the

bacon in with it, together. I come here for breakfast and end up

cooking my own. That's right. We pour some cockles in there now. You

said you wanted the taste the cockles. We'll have a nice few

cockles in there, right? Well, it's smelling glorious. No Welsh

breakfast is complete without lava bread which is in fact seaweed.

This is the breakfast of champions - the amount of irons and minerals

in here, I am going to be charging around for the rest of the day.

There we are. Wow! Well, I think because we have been talking about

cockles, cockles first. Oh! The cockles are so meaty, they almost

don't need the bacon at all. That is very, very delicious. It's an

inspired way to get people eating more shellfish so the next time you

come across cockles or mussels, give them a go. They might look

scary, but trust me, underneath their hard exterior is the most

delicious, nutritious, tasty meat. And if it's the fear of cook them

that's putting you off, you'll have no excuse once you see how easy

they are to prepare, starting with mussels which have been harvested

in Wales since the 11th century. I think living by the sea, Carol and

everyone in Swansea really enjoy their shellfish, but I have to

convince the rest of you - anyone else who isn't quite sure about how

they feel, so my first recipe is going to be stuffed mussels.

Here I have some lovely, juicy, fat, sweet mussels. The first thing you

need to do is debeard them. The beard is this bit that sticks out

the side. You want to remove that. Here it is. Hold the beard, and

pull it forward until it comes away. Poor mussel. I know if I had a

beard, I wouldn't want anyone tugging on it, but this is what you

have to do. The other thing I am looking for is mussels that are

open. You should tap them. They should close up tight. If when

they're open they don't close while they're being tal tapped, those

should be avoided and disposed of. These are all good and tight. They

don't want anyone breaking into their home. So we can set about

steaming them open. Literally a couple of thimble-fuls of water.

Once they're all in, put a lid on. Using a lid is very, very important.

It keeps the steam in. It kills the mussels quickly. They'll all open

at the same time. This is what tells you your mussels areing

couped. If they don't open, don't eat them. It's as simple as that.

They only take three to four minutes. They're beginning to open

already. We want them slightly undercooked because we're going to

stuff them and cook them again later - about a minute will do it.

That's what you want. It's hardly cooked at all. So strain off all of

those lovely juices and keep them for another dish. Remove the empty

half at the mussel shell. Look at that fat one. It's very hard to

resist the temptation to eat it, but that is great recipe when

you've got lots of people who are kind of having drinks or you want a

good pre-dinner snack for a few people. It's amazing to make and

looks pretty dramatic once it's done. Stage two is my incredible

stuffing mix, so grab yourself a bowl, throw in a hearty handful of

breadcrumbs... Take a cloth - sounds like a magic trick -

And bash the living daylights out of those walnuts.

Take that, walnuts! Then toss them in with some mashed-up garlic, a

scratch of lemon zest. Lemons and garlic! A handful of freshly grated

Parmesan cheese and a good bombardment of black pepper. Don't

be shy when you think you have twisted it enough. Keep on twisting

- Italian waiter on overdrive. a slug of vermouth. Love the stuff

- one for chefy - but maybe not today! Right. Parsley - a lot of

parsley. Good English curly parsley, please. I love flat-leaf parsley,

but I think it gets a little bit too much press. We have this

wonderful curly parsley here. And we need tarragon, a brilliant

partner with shellfish. I can see all the little mussels jiggling

around - jiggling with excitement at what's about to happen to them.

Once they're chopped, throw them with a hardy knob of butter. Do you

know what? No mucking around. I am getting involved. Just kind of

really mush the butter through all the ingredients, and that's it.

Simply stuff each mussel with this wonderful mixture. OK. There you go,

my little friend. Making sure you cover all the meat so it doesn't

dry out in the oven, then pop them all on a baking tray and under a

hot grill. Adios, mussels. And two to three minutes later, they'll be

gorgeous and bubbly. Right. They're nicely browned on

top - yum yum. I promise you, when you carry these around a room or

put them on a table, they just do not last long. And there they are -

really, really delicious, really, really simple. I really want to get

into these. Well, it looks good. I promise you - it tastes absolutely

fantastic. There is that meatyness of the mussel and the garlic and

herbs - I could easily do a whole plate on my own.

I want you to fall back in love with British shellfish,

particularly mussels, one of my favourite seafoods, farmed in their

millions off the coast of north- west Wales. I really remember being

five or six and a huge mountain of mussels being put in front of me in

France, a mountain so big I couldn't see anyone elsesiveing

around the table. I was obsessed with them, really, and ruined all

future holidays by demanding mussels so much. "You can't have

another bowl of mussels!" "I want mussels!" I appear to be in

the minority when it comes to this crustacean because only 10-20% of

them stay in this country. We certainly catch enough of the stuff

on boats like this. Last year alone, we produced a whopping 30,000

tonnes of British mussels. A third of them are farmed here in the

fast-flowing waters of the Menai Strait, home to the UK's largest

mussel fishery, which sells 95% of its cash to mainland Europe.

seems odd I could go to calai, sit down to a big bowl of mussels, and

there's good chance you might have produced those. For sure. The

mussels we produce are sold somewhere. If they're not sold in

the UK - I think some go to the UK, but the vast majority are sold in

Holland, perhaps, sometimes Spain. Unfortunately, they're sold as

Dutch or French or Belgian mussels. It's all because we don't eat the

stuff. It's enough to make a mussel lover like me rather puzzled,

especially when you see how much we produce. Wow. That is a lot more

shellfish than I could eat in one sitting. We're farming them here,

so the mussels are on the seabed at quite high densities. I have never

seen so many mussels in one go. you catch a whiff? Yeah. These

mussels are farmed sustainablely in a small, concentrated area with

minimal human intervention, and there is plenty more where that

came from. That is one mountain of mussels. Yes, this replicates what

you see on the seabed. We have lots of mussels and crabs. These are 18

months old. It's perfect for harvesting. Is this the water

processing? Yes. It will clean off the silty, muddy sediment. Once the

mussels have been washed, they're then lifted on to convary belts

where unwanted hitchhikers are pulled off, then they're sorted

into bags with freshly pumped sea water, ready to be sent to more

appreciative mouths elsewhere in Europe. How much is one of these

bags worth? 12,000 euros. If you go to a restaurant in the UK, you'll

probably buy a kilo of mussels for ten or 15 pounds. If you go to

Belgium, it's 20-25 euros. People don't care about the price. They

just want to eat the food because it's good. It's bonkers. They're

cheaper here, so even more reason to keep them here. They're

incredibly good for us, packed with vitamins, minerals and essential

omega three. Not only are they delicious,

they're easy to cook and reasonably priced. And healthy. And healthy -

I am lucky enough to have been given a bag of mussels by James. I

am going to tum and into a classic you can enjoy at home. I think we

always think of Mill marrying her when we think of mussels. Here is a

different one -- moules marinieres. These are hearty winter mussels.

This is for when you have been walking, the wind has been blowing

in your face, your trousers are drying on the radiator. First, I am

going to make the sauce. You need plenty of good British butter. Two

bay leaves. Throw-ins celery, diced shallots and garlic. To kick slowly

so that it does not colour. The sauce should be quite looking. --

Add some white pepper. And one of my favourite ingredients - pastis.

That is an aniseed steam bath there. Add 1 heaped spoonful of flour. As

you add more liquid, you will start to see it will loosen up. Really

beat those lumps out. You do not want a lumpy sauce. When it is

smooth, we can cook our mussels in a generous drop of white wine. And

then put the lid on. Three to four minutes later, the mussels will be

cut. Easy and speedy - what more could you want? I am going to turn

off the gas. Get a colander. Turn this one on. Strain the mussel

liquor. Very important to get the mussels straight back into the pot

so that they stay warm. Delicious. I am going to frisk the mussel

juice into the white sauce. Then bring it to the boil so it thickens

nicely, and adds some luxurious double cream. Just looking at it is

comforting. The sauce is the right consistency. In the goal. -- in

they go. A final flourish of Tender and sweet. That is good food

for mean weather. I want to get as many people as

possible in the country eating shellfish, including cockles, which

we Britons tends to turn our noses up at. I am on my way to South

Wales to find out where all of our cockles end up. The tide has gone

along way out and it is the perfect time to gather cockles. They have a

bit of an image problem. They are bound up and down the country on

great expanses of beach like this, where they have been gathering in

their millions since Roman times. In some places their numbers are

dwindling and what we do pick often ends up abroad. What a great place.

The best environment to work in in the world.

This man has been harvesting cockles here for 40 years and once

people to rediscover this neglected little bivalve. It is hand gathered,

which is very different. It is an age-old technique that he has

promised to show me. I cannot wait to get my feet wet. So this is the

spot? Here we are. What do I D? want to make a start like that.

Distress the ground a bit? Yes. Put that in there now. I have done this

for about a minute. Doing this all day would be absolutely back-

breaking. But the reward is definitely worth the effort. That's

it. That is very pleasing. anyone come and take cockles from

the beach? Yes. You are allowed eight kilograms a day.

The amount varies from beach to beach so check with the local

authority first. They will also advise on water quality. There you

are, beautiful. The sad fact of the matter is I am unlikely to get to

try these. When the sacks are full, what happens to the cockles? They

are taken to Spain. So they all disappear to Spain? Yes. Can you

believe it? If we are going to help, maybe we need to reinvent the great

British cockle so that more of them stay in this country. That is

exactly what is happening 15 miles away. If you think that cockles can

only be served with vinegar and black pepper, think again. I have

come to meet a man who is rewriting the cockle cookbook. He is a local

chef using local cockles in new and done -- and inventive ways. I have

just been picking cockles and I wanted to come and talk to you

about them. They are very popular around here. What would you say to

people who do not live around the coast and Arabic squeamish? You can

use them in fish cakes, Welsh rarebit. You can even turn them

into cockle popcorn. You quote them in flour, salt and pepper, give

them a shake. -- you can turn them into cockle popcorn. Essentially,

they are ready when you hear the pop. Take them out. They are

completely coated. Look at them. can't wait. Try one of them. Series

the, that is lovely. That is so easy to like. Those are absolutely

delicious. Cockle popcorn. If you need more convincing, how

about a hearty plate of surf and turf? And Wales is somewhere that I

really love and I like the idea of Welsh lamb grazing in the fields

next to the beach where the cock a la landed. This is Welsh lamb with

cockles. Often, it is advised to put cockles

in fresh water and they spit out the grit and stuff. I am not sure

about that. If they are left to in fresh water for too long it will

kill them. I would advise shaking them under water in a colander.

Give them a good shake. It will also watch the sand off of them.

When they are clean, put them into a pan with some simmering cider. I

will put a lid on so that the steamy easily. -- they steam easily.

Strain off the liquid. The important thing is to keep as much

liquor as possible. It will be the basis of the sauce. I want those to

cool. No the meaty part of his dish. This is fairly cheap and it is one

of my favourite pieces of lamb. I am going to trim it, season with

chopped thyme, salt and pepper, and Brian a tenner hot pan. -- brown it.

Now I am going to add a bay leaf. Then some cider vinegar. And

returned a lamb to the pan. Then we have the delicious cockle and cider

juice. And that is it. Just bring it up to a simmer, put on the lid

and put it in a medium-hot oven for 45 minutes to an hour. These are

fat, these cockles. Look at that. It looks like a toucan's head. So

delicious! They are like little sweets in this perfect packaging.

They will complement this week Welsh lamb perfectly. It needs the

lid removed for the last 20 minutes of cooking in order to reduce the

sauce. All I need to do is to take out the lamb, up popped in the

cockles, leaving some in the shell for show. Then returned the lead

and carve the meat. -- return In will be even more delicious

topped with some cockles insider. The sauce smells so wonderful.

Finish off with parsley and celery leaves. I would say that is a

joyous-looking plate of Welsh lamb with cockles.

Meeting the people behind our fantastic British shellfish has

made me even more determined to revive this great British

ingredient. What has come out of this is that eating shellfish is

fun. We have lots of this stuff and it is incredibly easy to cook and

enjoy. We mustn't take it all Sue Seriously -- all too seriously. One

shellfish ban has taken to the road with some -- taken to the road with

highly inventive selling techniques. He has pictures of great British

physiques to help sell it. It is a fast food seafood option that is

not fish and chips. They have also come up with another way to entice

customers. OK, down on all fours. Most of them will lose. We are

trying to create something a bit more exciting. And it is hitting

the right spot. I bought the mussels because they looked

interesting and they're very nice, fresh and tasty. They guy seemed

fun so why thought, why not? Come on, Fox, talking to shellfish.

British selfish is some of the finest on offer so, the next time

you want to try something new, going by a sum. You do not have to