Eggs and Mackerel Great British Food Revival

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

-To save fantastic British produce from extinction.

-But we need your help.

-Essential ingredients that have been here for centuries...

Are in danger of disappearing...

Forever!

Together, we want everyone to get back to British culinary basics...

-And help us to revive our fabulous...

-Magnificent...

-Mouth-watering...

-Unique...

And utterly delicious food heritage.

Great British Food Revival is back!

It's one ingredient we seem to take for granted

and it's used mainly in all types of cooking.

As a nation, we eat 11 billion of them every year -

that's 182 per person - but mainly one variety.

Because, for the last 100 years, we've seen a decline in choice,

so I'm James Martin and I'll hopefully reignite your passion

and find out the best of all of the great British eggs.

On my campaign to revive other types of British eggs,

I'll be meeting farmers who are as passionate about eggs as I am.

-All our little girls.

-You're a busy parent if this is all your little girls!

'I'll get vocal about our seldom-used great British quail eggs...'

-A lot of noise comes out of these little things.

-Oh, yes!

'..and best of all, I'll be sharing my all-time favourite ways to cook

'with these neglected little beauties...' Oh, oh!

'..including my melt-in-the-mouth strawberry sponge cake made with duck eggs.'

If there's Heaven, this is it. It's right here, right now.

I'm a pastry chef and I absolutely adore eggs

in all shapes and sizes.

Eggs have got to be one ingredient

that we really do take for granted in cooking.

We, of course, use hen's eggs all over the place in our food.

But if you venture a little further afield, and go for duck and quail,

the flavour is so much better.

Duck and quail's eggs were once an important part

of our diet, gorged on by Henry VIII and revered by Mrs Beeton.

But ask anybody what kind of eggs they eat nowadays, you only get one answer.

-Hen's eggs.

-Hen's eggs.

-What other kind of eggs are there?

-Never bought duck or quail eggs.

They're probably nice, I don't know.

They're more than quite nice, they're delicious and are starting to reappear in our supermarkets.

I've come to Fakenham in Norfolk to begin my campaign to convince you

to give alternative eggs a go and I'm starting with duck eggs.

Really, my memory of duck eggs in particular

comes from when I was training in France.

They used to have duck eggs on the menu

more than hen's eggs. I remember the salad, salade de gesiers,

which you would never have on the menu in the UK

or, if you put it on the menu, you're pretty brave as a chef, cos nobody would want it.

It's a salad of duck gizzards,

and the duck gizzards came in a tin and they came in a tin of duck fat,

and they confited the gizzards, and you served that

as a salad of crispy bacon, the warm gizzards,

and this sort of poached and pan-fried duck egg,

and the flavour of the duck egg was something very different to the hen's eggs that I'd had as a kid.

Just the flavour, the richness,

the butteriness and the fattiness of the whole egg.

'But it would appear I'm in the minority.

'Here in the UK, we buy just over 10 million duck eggs a year

'compared to a massive 11 billion hen's eggs.

'It's a depressing figure, but hasn't put off poultry farmer

'David Perowne, who's recently branched out into duck eggs.'

So you started with 50 ducks? There's more than 50 here!

-We've got about 300 here.

-Right.

-We bought them as ducklings,

vaccinate them as we go, then they come in to lay.

And what's the main difference between, say,

producing duck eggs as opposed to chicken eggs?

-They don't probably lay quite as many per day as a chicken.

-Yeah.

You've got that. But the main difference,

-with economics, is they eat newly twice the amount of food.

-'It means they're slightly more expensive

'than hen's eggs, but you get plenty for your money.'

A chicken egg will be about 60g, and these'll be about 80g egg,

-so you get a lot more of an egg.

-The flavour of a duck egg is far superior to a hen's egg to me.

Well, it is. The yolk is bigger, and that's where the flavour is.

-I mean, ask all children what's the bit they like eating, the yolk.

-Yeah.

And so, suddenly, you have something that's very flavourful,

easy to use, I mean, you can do everything you want to do with it.

You can do everything you can with a chicken egg but with more flavour.

'So, the next time you see duck eggs in your supermarket, pop them in your basket.

'They might be a bit pricier than hen's eggs, but trust me, they're well worth it.'

-Still warm as well, these ones.

-Yeah. I think that's enough.

'And to inspire you to start cooking with duck eggs at home,

'I'm going to use David's incredible eggs to create

'my very own take on salade de gesiers.'

I'll do a deep-fried, crispy duck egg, with a duck confit salad.

Now, for this recipe, we'll soft-boil the duck eggs.

First of all, boiling salted water.

And what I'm going to use is a touch of vinegar.

Now, it's a good trick putting vinegar in, because,

as the eggs roll around in the boiling water,

sometimes the shells crack, and doing so allows the whites to come out.

If we put the vinegar in, it will hold it all together.

Hen's eggs, soft-boiled, you want about five minutes.

With duck eggs, you're looking about 5.5 minutes, purely the fact

it's all down to size. 'And you can see the difference between the two,

'if you crack open a hen's egg, then a duck egg.'

You can see straightaway on here, the size of the yolks,

but, most importantly, the size of the whole egg.

'Which is a whopping 30% larger than a hen's egg and worth every penny.'

Our eggs are ready.

These can come straight out into the ice-cold water.

Just instantly stops it from cooking.

We can leave those now to go cold. 'While I make a pickle.'

It's very, very quick, very simple but tastes delicious with this.

'All you need is some pitted cherries, a sliced shallot

'and three store cupboard staples heated together -

'rice wine vinegar...

'a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of sugar.'

It's nothing more complicated than that.

Normally, with pickled onions and that kind of thing, you had to wait 3-4 months.

This is really quick, really simple, great flavour for our salad.

'And while that infuses, we can peel our eggs.'

Now, always on an egg,

you have a little white membrane that's just underneath the shell.

So, the idea is to get your finger

just underneath that membrane first of all,

and it becomes easier to peel.

'Once that's done, you can coat them in the breadcrumbs.'

So you've got the flour, the egg and the crumb. So first off...

roll it around in the flour,

then in the egg

and then in the breadcrumbs.

So, there you have it - a nice, little sort of egg

ready for deep-fat frying. With that, I'll do a little salad.

'Using mixed leaves with a sherry vinegar and olive oil dressing

'that'll go brilliantly with my next ingredient.'

I'm going to incorporate into our salad this duck confit.

You can actually buy these nowadays in jars, but what it is is,

basically, a duck leg that's been salted and cooked in duck fat.

So we're just going to basically just break the duck confit,

like that, a little bit in there.

I got some bacon. Just a simple little salad.

'And before we dress it, we can deep-fry the duck egg in hot oil.'

And once in the fryer, it wants to deep-fat fry for about 20-30 seconds.

'Until it's a lovely shade of golden brown.'

And there you have it - a deep-fried crispy duck egg.

'Easy! Time to put everything else together.'

So just dress the salad in some of your sherry vinegar dressing.

'Add some of the cherry and shallot pickle.'

Then what you're looking to do, really, is just build a little nest on the plate,

so your duck egg can be placed on the top.

It's lovely and gooey and soft in the centre.

And then, what I like is just a pinch of rock salt on the top.

And look at that egg yolk.

What's great about this dish is you get... The egg yolk

gives you a nice dressing, you get the crispiness of the outside,

the whites are full of flavour...

Mmm! It's proper, proper flavour is that.

It's how eggs should taste. That's what it's all about - the taste.

That's what food should be about - taste!

And with a duck egg, you really get that. It's delicious!

I want you to rediscover duck eggs,

a delicious ingredient largely overlooked in this country,

so I'm on my way to Dereham in Norfolk

to meet a producer who sells around 7.5 million duck eggs a year.

That's quite a turnaround given that, 70 odd years ago,

their reputation was in tatters because of health scares.

Salmonella has blighted the egg industry for years,

and it wasn't until recently, when the government stepped in

to create legislation that's almost eradicated it all in hen's eggs.

The same can't be said about duck eggs.

There's no legislation involved in any of their production.

It seems ridiculous to me that there should be a choice between the two.

It should be the same legislation across the board.

'Something producer Melandy Daniels is tackling head-on

'with her own set of stringent guidelines.'

Wow, this is impressive.

LOUD QUACKING

-All our little girls.

-Your little girls?

-Yes.

-You're a busy parent if this is all your little girls.

-SHE LAUGHS

-How many is in here, then?

-There's about between 350 and 500 per pen.

-Right. And are these different ages as we go down?

-These first pens,

-the first four, they're called our Star 3s.

-Yeah.

-These are coming towards the end of their laying life for us.

-Right.

'Melandy keeps her ducks inside,

'to try to ensure they're free from infection,

'changes the straw regularly and vaccinates against salmonella.'

-These were hatched last Wednesday.

-Last Wednesday?

-Last Wednesday.

It's their birthday tomorrow. They'll be a week old.

-LAUGHTER

-Great little things, aren't they?

So what age do you vaccinate these little fellas?

Start the course at two weeks, then 12 weeks and 18 weeks,

just before they start to lay. So by the time they come in to lay,

-they're fully vaccinated and covered.

-I'll let you go.

-Run back.

-LAUGHTER

'And the farm precautions don't stop there. They collect their eggs

'as soon as they're laid, disinfect them thoroughly

'and send a batch away for testing every month.'

-They grade them by light as well. Why?

-Handling them by holding them up to the light,

you can see where the air sac is. It should always be at the top.

The egg stays fresher longer like that.

'But what sets these eggs apart is their own unique stamp,

'a sign of assurance, similar to that found on hen's eggs in the supermarket.'

And this is the important thing for me, where the Red Lion logo

denotes that it's from the UK, it's been vaccinated.

You've done more or less the same here but your own way of doing it.

-We print on the date the egg was laid, the best before date...

-Yeah.

..and then I can tell you that these came from the Star 7s,

so we can more or less pin down which pen of ducks these came from.

If we are going to get people to eat more of these eggs,

then this is going to be the best way of going about it.

Yes. We're not just putting the details on the egg,

we put our name on that egg. The Blue Duck is a Watercress Lane duck.

'So Melandy's putting her head on the block in order to restore confidence in duck eggs.

'And there's a chef in South London who's doing much the same thing,

'naming his restaurant after his favourite ingredient.'

-On the menu, you've a choice between hen's egg and the duck egg.

-Yeah.

When you first opened, I'm assuming

-the hen's eggs were more popular.

-They were winning hands down.

-Yes.

And at the moment, they're running kind of parallel,

and maybe the duck egg might be even taking the lead now.

-People get to taste it and understand the taste.

-Absolutely.

-Do you think that's where it comes from?

-I think so.

At first, people were apprehensive, a little bit weary.

"It's a bit rich, it's a bit this,"

and now people are appreciating the flavour of the duck egg.

'It's great news and just goes to show that,

'once you've tasted them, there's no going back.'

-You had the duck eggs as well?

-Always duck eggs.

Why always duck eggs? Do you like the taste?

There's much more flavour, bigger, fuller, always. And it's a bit of a novelty.

There you go, gents. Regulars here.

-But you've never tried duck eggs before, have you?

-No.

Tell us what you think.

-It's a little bit richer.

-Richer? Would it be something, if you came back again, you would try again?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Certainly.

-Definitely.

-We've got a convert over here.

LAUGHTER

It's such a shame, to be honest, that the humble duck egg

has had a reputation that it's never really managed to shake off,

as it's a great British product. But if more places like this open up,

serving great breakfast like that, maybe our attitudes might change!

'And duck eggs aren't just delicious at breakfast.

'They're a great alternative in cakes and puddings too,

'and, to prove it, here's my twist on a classic tea-time treat.'

As a nation, we've been baking cakes since the 18th century,

but it wasn't until the 19th century when the most famous cake of all was born -

Victoria sponge, named after Queen Victoria.

But what I'm going to do is bring it right to the 21st century

and use duck eggs to create a strawberry and cream sponge cake.

Now, the base of this recipe is sugar, first of all...

..and butter - it has to be made with butter. That's very important.

You can't make this with margarine, you don't get the same taste.

This is what I love about baking cakes, these fantastic bowls.

It reminds me of when my granny used to bake

and she used to use these stoneware bowls

and rub butter and flour together in her hands while watching Corrie.

And I've actually still got the bowl that she baked with all those years

at my home. But they're lovely.

There's something just a great feel and a shape to these things,

so a little bit of vanilla, purely optional if you want to put that in,

and then we whisk this up.

And it's really important that you use butter at room temperature.

We're just creaming the butter and sugar together,

and it just slightly changes colour and goes a little bit lighter.

Now we can add our duck eggs. 'You'll need five in total.'

And the secret, just add one at a time,

keep mixing all the time.

'Add them too quickly and the mixture will split.'

That looks good to me. And I've got some self-raising flour here.

I always mix this bit by hand, because if you make it by machine,

it toughens up the gluten in the flour,

and your cake doesn't end up being nice and light,

and that's what we're looking for.

So, if you're going to replace a standard recipe for duck eggs,

literally, you want a little less duck eggs,

cos they're much bigger than hen's eggs,

so just drop the amount of eggs down in a standard recipe.

'Once everything's combined, divide the mixture between two tins.'

If you put too much sponge in one tin,

and try and cut it in half after it's cooked,

the outside tends to be quite dry

before the inside is actually cooked.

And then spread this mixture down a little bit, not too much.

'Place them in a medium-hot oven.'

This needs to go in for about 18-20 minutes, until it's nicely cooked.

Now, with that... This is where purists would have a heart attack,

because Victoria sponge classically is served with raspberry jam.

I'm actually going to make a strawberry jam.

'This isn't a classic jam either - it's quick and easy, ready in minutes.'

I'm going to add less sugar, some lemon...

'Which will help it set.'

..before I add the fruit.

'You'll need about 500 grams, hulled and halved if they're big.'

And we cook this really rapidly for about 10 minutes.

This will speed it up, but the offset is it won't last very long,

so in the fridge a maximum of a week, that's all it's going to last.

'And while that's cooling, we can make our garnish,

'strawberries dipped in melted-sugar caramel.'

This sugar's extremely hot.

So make sure you dip the strawberry and not your finger,

cos you'll only do it once.

And then, you can see our jam as it starts to thicken,

and all we can do know is just transfer it onto a tray...

Allow it to cool, and there you have it -

an instant, quick strawberry jam.

'The perfect filling for our duck egg sponges, which have now cooled.'

Traditionally, of course, this would be filled with raspberry jam,

and just raspberry jam, and topped off with caster sugar.

However, if the WI are watching, I do apologise,

cos this is not a classic Victoria sponge, this is my version.

Cos the last time I entered this for a WI competition, I got banned.

They banned me on all fronts, because they said it shouldn't have double cream in it.

I filled it full of strawberry jam and I put icing sugar on the top.

Between me and you, it tasted the best.

But it didn't win.

In fact, it didn't even come last. It got disqualified.

Now, no need to over-whip this, just leave it probably at that,

just lightly whipped.

So, to assemble this, pick whichever top you like as the base,

and then we can spread it full of this jam.

And put plenty on as well,

because I guarantee people are going to dive into this.

'Topped with lashings of double cream.'

Oh, oh!

Look at this.

And I can grab the top part of the sponge.

And then finish that off with some icing sugar.

And last but not at least, our caramel-dipped strawberries.

And there you have it - who could resist that?

My strawberry and cream cake made with duck eggs.

But the real, true test, to see whether these duck eggs

are well worth it, is when you look inside.

A light, delicate sponge.

It really does make the difference in terms of colour

and, most importantly, flavour.

Oh, ho, ho, ho!

If there's Heaven, this is it. It's right here, right now.

I want you to start appreciating other types of eggs.

I'm off to Kirdford in West Sussex to track down another one.

Hopefully, I've persuaded you to try

one more egg in your shopping basket, the duck egg.

However, there's one more I want you to look at as well,

and it's only a little one - the humble quail's egg.

An egg with a long, auspicious history, found on Norman,

Tudor and Victorian menus, and now considered

a bit of a luxury item, only bought on special occasions, if at all.

That's something that this quail farmer hopes to change.

-A lot of noise comes out of these little things.

-Oh, yes.

Good alarm clocks.

How do you get started into farming quail? It's not the usual...

It all started as a hobby.

We've kept hens for a good number of years, in the back garden.

We went to a county show one year

and we saw about half a dozen in a small rabbit hutch.

My son, Charlie, asked the guy who was selling them

how much room they'd normally need.

The guy said, "You could probably get another dozen in there."

So, he looked at me and I looked at him

and we thought, "Better take these little guys home."

-And all of a sudden, we had all these eggs.

-And what have we got now?

-We've got three of these, each with how many?

-Each with about, erm...

about 150 in them. In these houses, they're free to fly,

they're free to roost on the ground - underneath, there's straw -

and to live as natural a life as we can give them.

So why do you think they're not so popular as they used to be here?

-I think not many people keep them over here.

-You can't be one of...

one of just a very few.

-It's the first quail farm that I've ever come across in the UK.

-Yeah, it's pretty niche.

'Which is why we need to support them

'by buying quail's eggs all year round.'

There is a distinct flavour with quail's eggs,

that separates them apart from duck eggs and hen's eggs.

Mmm. They're kind of the opposite end of the spectrum from duck eggs.

They're a much lighter, more subtle taste,

with a really nice, creamy texture.

'And there's so much you can do with them.'

One of the restaurants that we sell to,

they take our freshest eggs and poach them.

You've started smoking the eggs as well?

Yes, we've tried to do as many things as we can with them,

just to show how much is possible with them.

I think the more people become aware about them,

the more people use them, the less of...

dare I say it, the fine delicacy they'll be,

and accessible to many people.

-Absolutely, yeah.

-What's your favourite?

If you could pick anything to do with them,

-what's your favourite?

-I like the Scotch eggs myself!

'Sounds good to me. Nik's wife, Sylvia, makes them to sell at farmers' markets.

'As luck would have it, there's a fresh batch in the fryer.'

-OK. And there we are.

-Looks good to me.

-One hot, fresh egg.

-I can get you a clean knife, if you like.

-That's all right.

Of course, these are great, being smaller, children like them.

They're hot but they're delicious.

And much easier to eat, being that sort of size.

That's right - for people who haven't got such a big appetite,

I think they're really pretty little...

Unlike people like me, who would want about six of these.

That's right. You can make yours with a goose egg.

Thanks very much(!)

'Yeah, I might just try that, and you should too,

'because British duck and quail farmers deserve our support.'

What's great about this here, you've got a thriving,

successful business, brought out of just a hobby.

It goes to show that quail's eggs shouldn't just be

eaten for Christmas, because they taste delicious,

and we should appreciate them all year round.

And here's a great recipe that will help you do just that.

It's bursting with flavour, takes minutes to make

and gives you the perfect lunch, supper, snack, you name it.

It's an Arbroath smokie pate

with soft-boiled quail's eggs and beetroot.

Timing is of course, crucial, when it comes to soft-boiled eggs,

none more so than quail's eggs,

because these tiny little things only want two minutes.

Boil in salted water, a little pinch of salt in there.

Some vinegar, bring that to the boil

and then we can drop in the quail's eggs.

While they are cooking away, on with our beetroot.

I've got some cooked beetroot here.

You can get this in supermarkets now.

'Don't mistake it for that pickled stuff.'

Just get it nice and thin.

'And when your eggs are done, pop them in ice-cold water

'to stop them cooking.

'And plate up your beetroot with another favourite of mine,

'caper berries.'

I love these things. They're really delicious in flavour.

Almost like a little miniature fruit inside.

Put a few of those on there.

'Then you can carefully peel your eggs.'

The good thing about these, particularly all soft-boiled eggs,

is once you peel them, they keep really well,

just in ice-cold water in the fridge, and they'll keep overnight.

All done. Then over to our pate.

These are Arbroath smokies.

What these are, are haddock.

A lot of people think these are like kippers - it's nothing like kippers.

The process is still the same, it's still hot-smoking, but kippers

are done with herring, this is haddock, and you just have them with butter.

I'm going to create a little pate with them.

'And it's dead simple.

'Just whack the fish in a food processor, minus the bones.

'Add a good squeeze of lemon juice, a little salt -

'remember, these are cured - lots of black pepper and some double cream.'

It's got to be double cream.

The reason being, as we blend it, it wants to create a pate.

If you use anything like creme fraiche...

..yoghurt or anything like that, it will split and it will end up,

basically, into a drink and not into a mousse.

We blend it. How long is that?

Five seconds?

Arbroath smokie pate. As easy as that.

'Dress the salad with a light vinaigrette.'

And then, just finish this off.

You've got your lovely quail's eggs, straight through, done,

and you can see, just perfectly soft-boiled.

And then, just to finish this off, you've got this mousse.

If you're feeling a bit brave, you can then do a little quenelle.

The difference between a dollop and a quenelle is 20 quid.

'And serve with some crunchy Melba toast.'

And there you have it, my Arbroath smokie pate

with soft-boiled quail's egg and beetroot.

The best way to revive our Great British eggs is to cook with them.

Here at a cookery school in Bristol, they're teaching people to do just that.

-Right, so, has anyone poached quail's eggs before?

-No.

The reason I love eggs is because they are incredibly versatile,

but I find, whenever I suggest quail eggs or duck eggs to people,

very often the response is, "Ooh, I'm not sure about that."

Pour it all in, put the lid back on.

So, I think, people are missing out, if they're afraid.

Because you treat them in exactly the same way as a hen egg,

but you get so much more out of them.

So, these are your poached eggs.

Cooking with different eggs is completely new to me.

I've never cooked with anything but hen eggs.

I'd never tried them before,

because I didn't know what you did with them.

Now I know they are similar to hen's eggs, in that you can use them

in pretty much the same way, but they just are a slightly better flavour.

I've always steered well clear of duck eggs, because they look so different,

and they're the same as hen's eggs and they're much tastier.

Mmm. That's really, really lovely.

They're converted - so how about you?

It's such a shame - as a nation,

we seem to have lost our nation's appetite for variety in our eggs.

Hen's eggs are essential, but there are others out there.

These are great British staples and not just for the chosen few.

These are not luxury items, these are everyday items.

Duck eggs, quail's eggs, they produce fantastic flavour and taste

in cakes and other dishes.

So next time you're out shopping, try them - you won't be disappointed.

And now for a chef who is desperate to revive a produce

that everyone around the world loves eating, except us Brits.

I bet you were thinking I was going to come along

and start complaining about another endangered ingredient.

Well, this time, I'm not.

I'm going to start whingeing about the lack of support

Britain gives one of the greatest fishes,

that swims with abundance around its coastline.

And that's the great British mackerel.

'My name is Richard Corrigan. I'm fanatical about this fish.

'And I'm determined to do one thing...

'to persuade you - yes, you -

'to discover this great British delight.'

'I'll also be trying to persuade a first-time mackerel eater

'to take the plunge and taste it.'

I've never eaten fresh mackerel.

'I'll discover the shocking truth about where most of our mackerel is eaten.'

Russia, Egypt, Nigeria - because they value mackerel.

'And I'll be in the Revival kitchen,

'cooking up three brilliantly tasty fishy dishes.

'This is a real boy's dish.'

Every year on my annual leave, I go to southern Ireland,

to a wonderful place called Woodstown.

It's very near this gorgeous fishing village of Dunmore East.

I've a small boat moored there and every day, I go out off the Hook Head

and I go fishing for gurnard, sea bass or mackerel.

And when I catch that fish, I always treat it so simply.

A wonderful, wonderful way to spend any summer day.

It's not only delicious - it's also really good for you.

The mackerel is a swimming health food.

They're filled to the gills with omega-3 oils,

which helps prevent heart disease.

But we're not fans of it.

Personally, I think the real issue in Britain is we are all a little bit boring!

We're used to have three or four maximum different species of fish, and we stick to them -

month in, month out, year in, year out.

Now is the time to try the great mackerel.

And if we don't re-evaluate our attitudes to mackerel,

it will simply disappear from our plates.

The mackerel industry is huge.

It's a great British success story. But there's something fishy about what happens after it's caught.

I've never tried a fresh mackerel.

I don't like mackerel.

I don't tend to cook it at home much. The family don't tend to like that.

We've got the kids, and they're quite fussy.

I just don't like the taste of it, don't like the look of it.

I tried mackerel for the first time this week. It was disgusting.

'Hmm, really?! But they're not alone.

'We have Europe's largest quota to fish mackerel,

'catching £170 million worth of fish every year.

'And how much of this stays in the UK? 10%.'

We export 90% of our mackerel.

90%?! What's up with ye?!

But maybe that's because we're all a bit stuck in our old ways.

We're all capable of eating that bland piece of cod,

that tinned mackerel or the sardine in a little bit of oil.

But how about I show you how to eat really great fresh mackerel?

'Most of the mackerel we see in our fishmongers' and supermarkets is caught by massive trawlers.

'But I want to witness a slightly less industrialised way of fishing.

'So to see it really fresh, I've joined Gavin Thain on board his boat

'as he line-fishes for mackerel off the coast of Peterhead.'

The sun belies how rough this sea can get.

It's a beautiful day here, but my, oh my,

this boat is shaking around like a rocking horse.

Is this a calm day in Scotland?!

-Yeah, yeah. We do this every day!

-What's the art of catching mackerel?

It's more finding them. Once we find them,

it's quite easy to catch them. But they move so quickly.

They'll be there one hour and gone the next.

How do you know where to look for the mackerel?

Well, on a flat, calm day, the birds often give the mackerel away,

-because the mackerel are feeding on the sand eels...

-Yes.

And they chase the sand eels to the surface,

and the birds feed on the sand eels.

So... Not every time, but most times.

Gavin, explain to me how your line system works.

There's 40 hooks on each line

and about six pounds of lead.

So this proves the flies - the lures -

down to the bottom, through the mackerel,

and the mackerel obviously think that there's some kind of feed...

-Yeah.

-..so they grab the hooks,

the machine senses if there's a lot of fish goes on

and it takes them straight back up.

Then the line comes up between these two bars here,

and the space isn't big enough for the mackerel, so it pulls the hook...

-Pulls the hook out?

-..from its mouth, into the chute, then into the basket.

'Luckily, we find a shoal of mackerel quite soon

'and quickly, we're landing lots of these slippery fish.'

What is a good catch of mackerel for you, Gavin?

If I catch a tonne in a day, that's a very good day.

-You look like a mackerel eater yourself.

-No, no, I've never eaten fresh mackerel.

-You've never eaten mackerel?!

-No. Only smoked.

-Have you never been tempted?

-No, not really.

-Why?

-See them every day.

-Well, hopefully, I might change your mind on that, yeah?

'He's a mackerel fisherman

'and he's never eaten fresh mackerel. Outrageous!

'It'll be my mission to get him eating his own harvest.

'I'm just about keeping hold of my breakfast on these choppy waters.

'But holding onto a fish, that's another matter.'

First of all...

the bounty...

HE CHUCKLES

This is...

Nothing more would I want for a beautiful mackerel for breakfast...

But a...a delicious North Sea mackerel, fresh,

is one of my favourite fish in this whole wide world.

A coastal British fish, found with abundance and plenty.

And so easy to prepare. And so many uses. So versatile.

This is one of my favourite fish to cook with.

'I can't believe Gavin's never eaten his own catch fresh.

'A bit of my cooking should see to that.'

-So, this is your first time having a piece of mackerel, eh?

-Yeah.

Just working with fish this fresh...

is just beautiful. It really is.

'All it needs is a splash of oil and a knob of butter.'

How quick was that, Gavin?

-Just a few minutes.

-Here.

Leave that there.

Yeah, it's a treat.

It's good.

'I'll take that as high praise from him.'

This is even extra special.

I taste mackerel that's probably two days old when it gets to my restaurant,

or maybe a day and a half.

But straight out of the sea...

I've eaten a lot of mackerel...

..this is delicious!

'And if you like the look of that mackerel,

'I'm going to show you how easy it is to cook,

'in a wonderful recipe in the Revival kitchen.'

Mackerel and fruit really go well together, once you get the acidity right.

The dish I'm going to cook for you is mackerel with a warm greengage chutney.

The idea came for serving greengage with mackerel

from a very old recipe of rhubarb with mackerel.

If it's good enough for rhubarb, it's good enough for greengage.

'Start by putting some roughly chopped onion in a pan

'with a little vegetable oil. Then some chopped garlic,

'and put the lid on it.

'I want them softened, not fried. Next, the tomatoes.'

This is where I'll differ from a lot of people.

Skin the tomatoes or not?

I'm not going to even bother.

So in the tomatoes go.

What it just needs in there, just for that moment, is a dash of water.

A bit more moisture.

Lid on.

And as the tomatoes cook, the skin will loosen away from the tomato itself,

and you can just pick 'em away at the end and discard them.

Put on a pot of boiling water, boil the pot of boiling water,

put the tomatoes in, skin the tomatoes. Makes cooking far too difficult!

'Then some spices -

'a couple of star anise, mustard seed, ginger,

'turmeric, ground cardamom. Then start preparing the greengages.'

These are nice and ripe. They need very little cooking.

What I don't want is kind of a mashed-up greengage. I like just a little bite in them still.

Just makes it ever so interesting.

Greengages go really well with mackerel.

The simple reason is, there's a slight tartiness to them,

and that makes a really good accompaniment to an oily fish like the mackerel.

It's just a natural wonderful accompaniment to go with mackerel.

'By now, the tomato skins should be falling off,

'so pluck them out with some tweezers and add in the greengages,

'with a few teaspoons of sugar and a dash of vinegar,

'and leave your instant chutney alone for four minutes.'

So...

mackerel. What are we looking for?

We want our eyes nicely full in the fish.

You can check the gills - they need to be as red as can be.

When they start going slightly grey, you know that fish is getting old. And most importantly...

..it doesn't smell of anything, like any good fresh fish.

'To prepare it, de-head and clean the fish, then fillet.

'It couldn't be simpler.

'Slice beneath the backbone,

'all the way along the mackerel, giving you two fillets.

'To remove the bones, hold at the tail,

'run the point of the knife down either side of the spine, and pull out.

'Then put your mackerel on a hot, oiled pan, skin side down.'

Raw mackerel is absolutely delicious.

So, I like my mackerel, if anything, just slightly opaque in the middle.

Hence, I don't turn it around. I put it skin side down.

I leave it there.

What I'm looking for is really crispy on one side

and just barely turned on the other, just warm through the flesh part.

So, what I do is...

turn over my fish.

Counting to five,

one, two, three, four, five.

And...

onto my board.

Stop the cooking straightaway.

'Then serve up.

'Chutney, mackerel, celery garnish,

'with a sweet, vinegary dressing.'

The greengage just has the right amount of acidity.

The mackerel is gorgeous.

And the celery works really well as a nice garnish to accompany it.

Salady, fruity, gorgeous piece of mackerel.

That's why Britain should really get eating this dish.

'One of the simplest, easiest and cheapest ways to eat mackerel,

'and, in one big supermarket chain, accounting for nearly half of all mackerel sales,

'is the humble tin.'

'I'm meeting Francis Clark in Fraserburgh, who owns the only fish canning plant in Britain,

'to see the process.'

How much mackerel is coming in here?

We will produce between 20 and 30 tonnes per day.

90% of oily fish caught around the British coasts is exported all around the world.

-How come we're not in love with it?

-But that just shows you how much more countries

value this raw material.

It is the most wonderful raw material because of the omega-3 and the oils,

and it's only now that the British public are coming to respect the value of mackerel.

-That's the skin of the mackerel. Can you feel the oil in it?

-Yeah.

And these are the fillets once they've been skinned. You see? Beautiful.

People are now appreciating the benefits of mackerel. The omega-3.

And also the price issue.

Mackerel's the cheapest of all fish out there by a long way.

It is the best fish to eat for people's well-being and everything.

-So that's just steamed?

-Yes, just steam cooked.

-It's still warm.

-Yes, yes, it is.

And then it'll be automatically packed by machine here.

And then the various sauces will be put in the can.

-And it's not overcooked.

-No, no, perfect.

If the world starts eating mackerel, how sustainable is all of this?

When you look at it just now,

the huge eaters of mackerel are Russia, Egypt, Nigeria,

because they value mackerel - they've been valuing mackerel for years and years and years.

This is the part where the lids are put on mackerel in tomato sauce.

-So the fish is in there, the sauce is in there, the lid's going on.

-The lid goes on, yeah.

This machine can work at roughly 250, 300 cans per minute.

In Denmark, mothers use this for their lunching food for their children?

-That's right, they call it brain food.

-How come we don't have a similar culture in the UK?

Because the eating habits in Britain are completely different to Scandinavia.

But you'd rather give your kids that, with mayonnaise, than bread?

Rather than give them crisps and a chocolate biscuit.

-So we should be eating this mackerel?

-Of course we should.

And it is on our own back door.

We're not worried about a resource being damaged in the Pacific

or being damaged in the Mediterranean, like the bluefin tuna.

This stock we have in the UK, properly harvested

and properly managed is there for ever more.

A very reasonable thing to eat as well?

-70p a can.

-70p a can.

-Nothing.

That alone was worth the visit to Scotland,

to see one of my favourite snack foods

in the factory environment, done with such efficiency.

This is one of the super foods we're going to start to get to know

a lot better in the very near future.

'And to start getting to know mackerel better,

'how about trying my next recipe in the Revival kitchen?'

And for those of you who still have a problem eating mackerel,

let me persuade you.

My next dish is a mackerel and squid roll.

First for the roll, we're going to prepare the vegetables.

'This Asian-inspired recipe needs preparation.

'So shave some carrots, finely slice an onion,

'shave the stringy bits off some celery and finely cut them into lengths.

'Then chop up the chilli.'

I'm keeping the chilli, just chopping it up whole.

I just want all of that flavour. This is a simple, rustic roll.

So, nothing too fine about it.

'Final bit of chopping. Spring onions and peanuts.

'Get your wok hot with some plain vegetable oil.

'And chuck in the onion and the celery, toss them around a bit.'

And one way for a stir fry, without cooking it, without making it...greasy,

is...put a lid on it.

Take a small bit of water. We don't want to be adding oil the whole time.

Mackerel is oily.

So we don't want to make it too rich, with lots of cooking and lots of oil.

A dash of water, lid on.

Add a little bit of a steaming process to that celery when it's just gone in.

My peanut, straight in now.

The reason I'm adding the peanut now is to get some heat into the peanut

just to take out some of the flavours which are the natural oils in it.

Put my carrot in now.

I left the carrot till last. It's shaved really, really thinly.

It's going to cook very quickly.

My spring onions.

Little pieces.

Add in my chilli.

And straightaway... I add in some ginger.

Grate it.

No skimping of the ginger.

Can have never enough.

'Then the Asian seasoning.

'A dash of soy, fish sauce and mirin,

'and you can get all these in your supermarket,

'and that's your vegetables done.

'Next, the squid.'

Squid must be really fresh, like the mackerel,

so a really good fishmonger.

Some people buy their fish from supermarkets,

some people go to a fishmonger. I like to go to a fishmonger.

I like to get to know my fishmonger.

He becomes my good friend, he would never give me an old piece of fish.

It's common sense.

'Cut it into fine strips and cook quickly in boiling water.

'Then put straight into iced, salted water

'to stop the cooking any further, then our delicious mackerel.'

If you are in a supermarket and are looking to buy some mackerel,

you can always ask the fishmonger how old it is.

It's a good indication of should you be eating it or not.

Maximum two days and after that, it really starts to deteriorate.

I'm taking off the mackerel skin in this recipe,

because mackerel skin, when it's cooked,

can be just a bit flabby and uninteresting.

When you're cooking it in a pan, you can crisp it yourself,

delicious!

But as a stuffing inside that spring roll -

hmm, would you like to eat some fish skin? Not really.

'Now bring it all together.

'Take a couple of sheets of spring roll pastry, or filo pastry,

'and brush on a paste of rice flour and water around the edges.

'Add in your vegetables and squid and your lovely raw mackerel.

'Roll up, tucking the edges in halfway through...

'..then pop in a deep-fat fryer.'

So what you're looking for, for the roll, is a nice golden brown.

Five minutes is plenty.

'Mix together a little dipping sauce of soy, mirin, spring onion,

'lime and grated ginger.'

So, taking the roll...

into that ginger, soy and spring onion.

Mmm! What a great use for mackerel!

The squid makes it even better,

but the mackerel in this is fantastic!

This is a real boy's dish.

A football game, a beer, and a mackerel and squid roll.

Enjoy!

Mmm...

We've followed the whole process through,

from the canning of the mackerel to catching it live,

but one of my favourites is the humble smoked mackerel.

We've been smoking fish in Britain since the Middle Ages.

Of course, it wasn't a flavour thing then.

It was all about preserving food.

I'm heading to John Milne's smoke house in Peterhead,

which uses local mackerel.

So this is the smoke house, John?

This is The Old Smoke House in Peterhead.

We've had this place about 40 years.

And you yourself come from a family of smokers?

We come from a family of fishermen, fish merchants and fish smokers.

What we do is completely natural. The fish is washed

in a sort of brine, and this gives a smooth surface,

which enables the smoke to pervade all the way through,

which is really the natural, old-fashioned way of doing it.

I thought the old-fashioned way would be to put salt over the mackerel.

We don't want to put salt in. We want to keep it as natural as possible.

-So a healthy product as well, then?

-I would like to think it's one of the healthiest products you could get.

Salt is a method of preservation, smoke is a method of preservation -

we're talking about very old-fashioned coastal methods.

Scandinavia, Scotland, Ireland - smoke and salting

has played a very important part in the coastal communities.

Oh, I think that goes back hundreds of years, doesn't it?

-It's religious, it's Friday, we had fish.

-That's correct.

'Once they've been brined,

'they're laid out to dry then placed in the kiln.

'John uses beech and oak sawdust to create a mellow, smoky flavour.'

-So these are just...still warm.

-Still warm.

Out of the oven, I mean, absolutely perfect.

This is a real treat, John.

Mmm!

It's divine.

John, that's really delicious.

Wow. It tastes so good, that mackerel.

But that has to be up there as one of the great culinary treats.

That hot smoked mackerel that John produces in this smoke house

has to be one of the great foodie things I personally HAVE ever eaten.

Why isn't the rest of Britain eating this as well? It's delicious!

You can buy smoked mackerel cheaply in fishmongers and supermarkets,

but how about trying to smoke it yourself?

The last dish today I'll be cooking for you is one of my favourites.

It's a tea-smoked mackerel with crab apple jelly.

OK, first of all, for the crab apple jelly,

we need some crab apples...

sugar and some water.

'Begin by cutting up your little crab apples.'

Making a jelly like this is a great way of using up

that bountiful supply of the crab apples.

Or even pears, for that matter.

This is a very simple jelly I'm making. It's just some water

crab apples, the sugar...in.

And let's be honest, crab apples are very British, very now.

You can be as ambitious as you want -

a little bit of ginger, a bit of star anise in there,

you could put any flavouring, or even a dash of vinegar,

some fresh coriander at the end, just to give it another edge.

'Now for our delicious mackerel.

'You'll need a few fillets.'

Often when I'm fishing in Ireland on my holidays,

I either bring some Japanese accompaniments,

or I make up my own smokery, as I'm going to show you today.

It's really simple, and there's nothing like a hot-smoked tea mackerel.

It's a really easy recipe to follow.

Failing that, you can always have it Japanese style - raw.

To allow that smoke to penetrate the fish,

just lightly score the back of the mackerel.

Just cutting into the skin - not so deep into the flesh...

just like that.

'In Scotland, John had a whole kiln for smoking his fish.

'My way is a bit simpler

'and gives a different flavour.

'You'll need a roasting tray, a cooling rack, some tinfoil,

'and some ingredients to give it that smoky flavour.'

I mean, the choice of mixture in the smoke is up to you.

Equal quantities of rice, brown sugar, I'm using jasmine tea,

you could use Earl Grey, you could use anything that you want.

'The tea gives it a lovely flavour, as does the sugar,

'a real caramel hint.

'The rice just stops everything burning.

'Turn the heat on and wait for the smoke to slowly rise.'

We're going to season our mackerel now.

We're going to place our fillets...

on the top.

Tinfoil.

'It takes about five minutes for the mackerel to cook and flavour.'

As you can see, the smoke starts to come up.

I'm just going to open it for you, see what's happening.

'Then turn off the heat and let the smoke continue to permeate the fish.

'Back to the jelly. Grab a pestle and mortar,

'or a bowl and the end of a rolling pin, and crush the cooked apples.

'Then pour into some muslin and squeeze.'

And it's that beautiful juice inside,

and then you can use the back of the pestle

just to squeeze out all the juice...

from the crab apple.

'To turn into jelly, it'll take about a day in the fridge,

'but it'll be fine to use after a few hours.

'It just won't have set properly.

'To garnish, I'm tossing a few crab apples with sugar and butter

'over some heat, with a splash of vinegar.'

And that's our hot smoked mackerel with crab apple jelly,

and the smell is divine. The sweetness of that crab apple jelly,

little bit of tart, warm, salted apples on the side,

some homemade, earthy bread with hot smoked mackerel -

yum!

If eating mackerel is to be revived, then we all need to play our part,

and there are a lot of ways to learn more about this fabulous food.

These fish fans are catching mackerel off the coast of Brighton.

Oh! Look at that, the only one in the sea.

I keep feeling like I've got a bite, but I don't.

I don't have anything on there. I keep reeling them in and they're empty.

-That's my second fish today.

-Well done.

If you're going to eat something, you should be able to catch it and kill it yourself.

-It's a mackerel.

-It is a mackerel. That is big enough to eat.

That's a lovely one.

It's been fantastic. Definitely not a sport for middle-aged men.

Ooh, look out. That's when we get hurt.

It's something which I would definitely and do again.

Even the children as well, coming out on the sea today, beautiful blue sky and sunshine,

it's so relaxing and it's really satisfying when you do catch a fish.

But fishing is only the first half of the day.

Back ashore, they're learning how to make sushi at this Japanese restaurant

using mackerel they've just caught.

First you always start with the tail.

They learn how to fillet, prepare it and how to roll sushi.

I always considered sushi being very difficult to make,

but having seen the demonstration today,

it's not so difficult actually.

Your mackerel, put it in the middle like this.

It's gorgeous eating the fresh mackerel sushi.

It's the first time I've eaten fresh, raw mackerel. We just caught it about an hour or so ago.

I've only ever had smoked mackerel pate before

and tried a bit of smoked mackerel on a barbecue,

so to actually have it fresh is absolutely gorgeous, really nice.

What's with us? 90% of mackerel in Britain is exported.

Nigeria, Egypt, Asia - what do they know that we don't?!

Well, come on, Britain, start eating this fish.

There's plenty of it, it's really cheap and it's ours.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]