Island Life Hairy Bikers' Best of British

You know, we believe that Britain has the best food in the world.

Not only can we boast fantastic ingredients...

-Piece de resistance.

-Ah, nice!

-Now, which is which?

-Lamb, mutton.

-SHEEP BAAS

-'..outstanding food producers...'

It's brilliant, isn't it?

'..and innovative chefs...'

'..but we also have an amazing food history.'

-Aw, brilliant!

-Oh, wow!

Don't eat them like that, you'd break your teeth!

During this series,

we're going to be taking you on a journey into our culinary past.

It's all ready, so let's get cracking!

'We'll explore its revealing stories...'

-SIMON AND DAVE:

-Wow!

'..and meet the heroes who keep our culinary past alive...'

Pontefract Liquorice has been my life

and I have loved every minute of it.

'..and of course, be cooking up a load of dishes

'that reveal our foodie evolution.'

Look at that, that's a proper British treat.

We have...a taste of history.

Quite simply, the best of British!

You know, nothing defines Britain more

than the fact that we are an island race.

The sea that surrounds us provides us with nourishment and livelihood.

And we believe it has some of the best seafood in the world.

From traditional favourites like the Whitstable oyster

and Morecambe Bay shrimps

to sea bass, crab, lobster and langoustines.

The coastal waters of Britain truly are a fertile paradise.

For centuries, they provided us with a livelihood

and a plentiful supply of food.

But in the past 50 years,

we've got stuck on familiar favourites like cod and haddock.

And we developed a taste for exotic species from abroad,

like prawns and tuna.

We seem to have forgotten all about

the other amazing species we have around our British Isles.

So in this show, we're going to seek out some of the fish and seafood

that have delighted and nourished us for centuries.

In the Best Of British kitchen,

we're going to celebrate one of the jewels from our ocean treasure-trove

and show you just how simple it is

to sear a scallop.

It is completely ridiculous when you think that we live on an island

and the best harvests that we have

are from our shores and from our seas.

How mental is that?!

Well, the rest of the world seems to appreciate this except us,

that's why we export the seafood,

cos people from other countries buy it.

I think maybe we're frightened of it,

frightened of its preparation

but really, scallops are so easy

and I think for children as well, they're such an easy eat.

It's meat - there's no grisly bits, there's no faff.

It's brilliant and scallops are ours.

Look, you can buy them like that, or you can buy them...like that.

I'll show you how to get... that out of that in a minute

and it is so simple it's ridiculous.

-They're like fish marshmallows, aren't they?

-Exactly that, yes.

Scallops go well with lots and lots of things.

You can pair it with cauliflower cheese - fabulous - celeriac,

but we're pairing it with two of its most, almost spiritual brothers,

bacon and black pudding.

This classic combo of salty bacon, delicate seafood

and the rich, earthy flavours of black pudding

is served up on a cloud of fluffy mashed potato and greens.

Known to the Irish as colcannon.

It's our island life on a plate.

We've got some potatoes on here which are poaching gently.

When you do mashed potatoes,

it's important that you poach the potatoes

rather than boil them,

you will get a fluffier mash.

Right, kale.

Kale's lovely, it's very good for you,

it's very high in iron, vitamin C

and all sorts of lovely things.

We're going to take the main tough bit out

and this is what we're interested in -

the leaves, here.

So, I'll crack on with that.

First, chop the curly kale,

then finely dice a small onion

and sweat in olive oil.

And so you don't get long, stringy bits...

..turn your thingy round,

and put your knife through it the other way.

All hail the kale!

It's a great dish, brilliant.

Good bit of roughage as well, that kale.

It's really good for you,

full of vitamin C, full of iron.

Fabulous.

Colcannon, it's like Irish bubble and squeak

and it can be cooked with either spring onions or cabbage,

ours is with curly kale.

-Can I put the kale in now, Si?

-Yeah, mate. Crack on.

We're just going to fry this down on top of the onions.

They're nice and translucent.

Just pop that in and it'll drop quickly, it'll cook quickly.

The kale's beginning to drop already, mixed with the onions.

Cos you're cooking it in the onions and the oil,

it's going to keep this wonderful green colour.

It's like a...little postcard from the Emerald Isle.

It's lovely, isn't it?

Once you've strained the potatoes, pop them into a warm pan to dry off.

You can see the steam coming off it,

but don't colour them in any way, shape or form.

Keep an eye on them...

and look, they dry out really, quite quickly.

And that's what you want

because then that potato will produce lovely, fluffy mash.

We're going to pass those potatoes through a ricer.

Again, there'll be no lumps in this.

I mean, you could put your beaters on a food mixer,

just so it's lovely and creamy.

In this pan, I'm going to melt some butter in some cream. Don't be shy!

Now let's start to add the cream and the butter.

This is quite luxurious!

Just put in the kale and the onions.

Just make sure you evenly distribute

all that kale and onion through your mash.

Dave's just to add a bit of pepper there.

-Whoa-ho-ho!

-Oh, that is good, eh?

You'd want for nothing better, would ya?

The colcannon keeps warm in the oven

while we make our magical trio

of bacon, black pudding and scallops.

Bacon and scallops are a marriage made in heaven.

Going back to the original Coquilles Saint Jacques -

bacon, scallops and cheese -

but, you know, scallops go with so many things.

It goes great with cauliflower.

Make a wonderful cauliflower puree with cheese,

sit a scallop on top, it's fantastic.

We do one with black pudding, apple and scallops.

Scallops - fantastic.

This is really good streaky bacon.

If you can, don't scrimp on your streaky

because it forms a really important part of the dish.

Just fry that off, now it needs to be crispy.

So don't overcrowd the pan

and what we're going to do,

we want to save all that lovely bacon fat.

Some bacon, you'll get loads of water out into the pan.

At this point, you'd need to strain that off but this is good bacon.

That's just fat and oil.

And this...is black pudding.

It comes in many forms, you get square black pudding,

you get ones that are like, kind of a knotted muscle,

but this, we want little rondelles.

This is good black pudding.

There was a song about black pudding.

# Oo-oh

# All of a sudden the dirty black pudding

# Came floating through the air

# It hit me mother and missed me father

# And knocked them off their chair

# Oh! #

I love that.

I'll just pop the black pudding in the oven

to keep warm with the bacon.

Now for the star of the show -

our king scallops from Devon.

The scallop shell is associated with a lot of symbolism.

Think Botticelli's Venus,

the goddess of love and fertility

rising from the sea...

on a scallop shell.

It also became the symbol of Saint James of Compostela,

the patron saint of fishermen.

Legend has it that Saint James

was washed up on the beach

covered in these shells.

And the pilgrims also wear a scallop shell around their neck

and apart from being the sign of Saint James,

it makes a handy little drinking vessel

so you can get a little cup of water.

-How lovely is that?

-The scallop's been around a while.

This one's slightly easy cos it's opened

but if it isn't open and it's tight,

there's a little black...

Can you see that little black dot at the back there ?

That just keeps it, that shell closed

and then all you do is work your way around the side, like that.

The flat bit of the shell,

all you do...

..is just cut the scallop away from that part of the shell.

Then you just push this down, like that. OK?

Then, just underneath...

just ease it off.

Then, turn it the other way up

and just pick away...

..that membrane from that lovely piece of meat.

That is just a nugget of pure, high grade seafood.

It's just great and if you don't want to do that,

you can buy them ready done, like that.

Don't be frightened of them, please, please eat them,

cos they are harvested from our own waters and they're brilliant.

Now for a sauce worthy of a king...

Scallop!

We're deglazing the black pudding and bacon juices in the pan

with a drop of Marsala,

which is a Spanish fortified wine.

-Oh, man!

-Needs to cook down, it's beautiful.

-Oh, God, it's gorgeous.

Marsala's a wonderful ingredient,

it's great with liver, it's great with scallops.

Dry and season the scallops with a little salt and pepper

and a drizzle of olive oil.

So let's get those scallops sizzling.

You need to have that griddle,

banging hot!

-OK?

-You want the scallops almost to jump off.

-You do.

-Look at that.

-Just hold them there for a minute. Oh, that is hot!

The most important thing is not to move them, just leave them.

If you move them now, you'll rip the flesh.

You'll see as it cooks,

they'll just come away, nice and easy.

And literally, it's a minute either side.

-The scallop will tell you when it's ready.

-Yeah, look, coming away.

People think, "It's stuck!"

It hasn't, it's just not ready.

They're not far off, are they?

Oh, lush!

-Should I get the rest of the players out of the oven?

-Please, man.

Then we can start the build!

Plate.

Put the bacon on top of the colcannon.

The black pudding.

This is the Marsala and chicken stock, and the fats all reduced.

So really, you can have gravy with your fish!

I'll let a little bit of that fall provocatively onto the plate.

The black pepper in there...

I think that's enough, do you?

That's absolutely gorgeous.

Scallops don't have to be a namby-pamby starter.

That's a really robust dish.

It's meat and two veg, and we've even got gravy.

I know you're not supposed to talk with your mouth full,

but if there's one dinner you cook for your family, cook this one.

It's fab.

Well, I think that's a fitting celebration

of one of the finest products of our island race.

Too right.

Now, it's a testament to our island history

that for centuries, the biggest and busiest fish market in the world

was at Billingsgate in London,

the beating heart of our fishy food history

for almost 1,000 years.

Billingsgate fed lucky Londoners

with fish from every corner of the British Isles.

Every day, 250 tonnes will be hurried in and then carried out

on its way to caterers, fish shops and restaurants.

Billingsgate Market is the quickest way yet invented

of getting the fish out of the sea and onto the table.

-VOICE ECHOES:

-Its history is the stuff of legend.

The story goes that in 400 BC

a Saxon chap called Belin, King of the Britons,

spied a good business opportunity on a sheltered inlet,

on the shores of the River Thames.

The perfect port for boats laden with...fish!

He erected a mighty gate for all fishermen to pass through

for a small fee.

Belin's gate! Billingsgate - you get it?!

And in the Middle Ages, when fish was a vital part of our diet,

the market was granted a royal charter.

Making it of-FISH-ial! Official - you see?

By the 18th century, 150,000 tonnes of fish a year

were unloaded here

and sold from ramshackle stalls and sheds around the dock.

It was time for an upgrade!

The city of London commissioned the prestigious architect

of nearby London Bridge, Sir Horace Jones,

to construct a grand hall to house the market.

The new trading hall boasted the latest in Victorian technology -

steam generators which powered the lifts

and boiled the shellfish at the same time...

..and the catacombs below were packed with ice

to keep the fresh fish cool.

It was state of the art!

Fishing boats docked from all over the British Isles...

..vessels from Yarmouth brought smoked fish...

..oysters came from Colchester...

..mackerel from Cornwall...

..sprats and herring from Sussex...

..and cod from Yorkshire.

A carved figure of Britannia

proclaimed our fishy prowess to the world!

But Billingsgate's most famous legacy

may be the eccentric behaviour of its colourful characters.

For 700 years, the commonplace activity of buying and selling fish

has produced a unique subculture

with its own highly distinctive camaraderie, wit and smell.

We don't look too bad on it, do we, the smell?

It's history has even become part of the English language.

The expression, "Swearing like a fishwife"

comes from the sharp-tongued language

of the women who sold the fish.

And, "To Billingsgate," means to curse like a porter

with a heavy box of fish on his head.

Thank goodness for bobbin hats, then!

Nothing much as fashion goes,

but a necessary protection against both wet and weight.

Bobbins, they're called.

At its beginning, Billingsgate had provided hungry Londoners

with a vital food source.

But 1,000 years on, it has become a specialist international market,

which also served exotic fishmongers and posh restaurants.

From abroad, we have the American squids...

mainly going to Chinese restaurants.

-Where does this red mullet come from?

-Greece.

Quite good suppliers now coming in for the immigrant population.

For example, we have the Portuguese sardines and grey mullet as well.

And though its move to a large, airy warehouse in the Docklands

marked the end of an era for some...

Could take about 300 years to get an atmosphere here

that we had in the other market.

Billingsgate's survival through history, and colourful culture,

are as much a celebration of our island life

as the wonderful array of fish from our shores.

-Do you like fish?

-I love it...and I mean that.

For us Hairy Bikers, there's one seafood speciality

that's an unbeatable favourite...

Potted shrimps from Morecambe Bay.

A real British classic that Si and I remember from our childhoods.

For hundreds of years, shrimp catching and potting

has been at the heart of the local economy, here in Morecambe Bay.

When the tide rolls back, it reveals 120 square miles of sand,

containing tasty brown shrimps.

Renowned for their delicate taste and unique texture!

Until the 1960s, horses and carts dragged nets behind them.

Then tractors took over,

able to pull two nets each, up to 15 foot long.

On the other side of the bay,

boats have traditionally dragged nets behind them

as the tide goes out.

The shrimps are then boiled on board

and sent off to the potting factories.

We want to find out what makes these potted shrimps

taste so very special.

So we're in Morecambe

to visit the oldest shrimp-potting business in town.

James Baxter set up his potted shrimp business in 1799

and it's still going strong today.

The company has also been purveyors of potted shrimps

to the Royal household since the 1960s.

The catch of the day is still shelled by hand.

And then, the magic happens.

The humble shrimp is transformed into a local delicacy -

potted shrimps in spiced butter.

But is it their 300-year-old secret recipe

or their technique that matters?

Manager Mark Smith is putting us to work

so we're hoping we might get to find out.

Morning, Mark. Dave.

If you can just both take a hairnet.

It's an attractive look this, isn't it?

Works well.

MARK LAUGHS

-Would you take me home to your mother?

-No, not really.

Yes, the Ena Sharples memorial concert.

THEY LAUGH

Right, gentlemen, we'll go through to the potting room.

In here, gentlemen.

-Good morning, ladies.

-Good morning.

-Morning, ladies!

Morecambe Bay shrimps are one of the culinary treasures of the world.

They're fantastic.

There's nothing else like it.

This is true, we're a delicacy

and we still do everything by hand.

We don't mass produce but what we do produce is quality

and it's always been about the quality.

-You can keep your caviar.

-Oh!

You can keep your snails.

There ain't nothing like Morecambe Bay shrimps.

So what happens here, Mark?

What Anne's doing now is melting the butter

and then she'll add the spices.

-What's in the spices?

-Can't tell you that.

-They'll be maize, won't there?

That's traditional.

-Yes, we have a secret recipe... and it will remain so.

-Good lad.

Good lad.

Well, it looks like that's one recipe

that will stay secret forever.

I bet the Queen doesn't even know what's in her potted shrimps!

But one thing's for sure, it's not just what goes in the spiced butter

that makes these shrimps special.

It's how you stir it in that counts.

-Are you putting your back into that?

-I am, I'm trying to move the pot!

There's a knack, ain't there?

A knack that you have and I don't.

-Are you going to have a go?

-Yep, I will.

-It's easy, it's like rowing a boat.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

Like you're rowing a boat.

-Like that?

-No, one hand!

Well, that's on my own, it does it!

Room for improvement!

We won't call him if we're on holiday!

Once the shrimps have been skilfully stirred,

they are boiled for 15 minutes in their famously secret,

spiced butter.

And after the ritualistic tea break,

the Morecambe Bay shrimps have cooled.

It's time to get them in their pots.

Put it on the scale now.

And it's got... Hey, exactly right!

I don't bloody believe it!

Oh, aye, on the money.

-A natural, see? It's in me blood.

-Not having that!

You're miles out.

I'm going to have to leave this to the experts cos I'm a bit slow.

-One spoonful.

-Put it on...

-Make sure it's covered.

Make sure the whole spoonful goes on.

Cos you see, it is not just for taste, is it?

It is a preservative - the butter keeps the air out.

It's one of the real old methods of potting.

This method of preserving meat and fish

was particularly popular with sailors of the 17th century.

They left our fair Isle on long voyages

with a wide variety of potted meats and fish

which helped them beat malnutrition.

'And there's still a big demand for potted shrimps today,

'they sell around 100,000 pots every year!'

We've always loved Morecambe Bay shrimps,

-but I reckon we love them even more now.

-Hear, hear!

-Yeah.

-Thanks very much, thanks, Mark.

-Yeah, thanks. Magic!

-Thanks you.

-Thank you.

-See ya, bye!

-See ya later!

Isn't it nice to think that one of our pots of shrimps

might be enjoyed by Her Majesty?

It makes you proud, dude, to call these British Isles home.

Lets hope they keep at it for another 300 years.

Now we Brits have a voracious appetite for TV cooking programmes.

And we Hairy Bikers owe our love of food to those classic TV chefs

who helped to change our eating habits.

And who inspired us as a nation to get into the kitchen.

Mate, if we're going to celebrate fish, who have we got to watch?

Floyd On Fish, 1985.

This was Keith Floyd's first series

in which he travelled round Britain on a trawler,

introducing us to the abundance of fish around the British Isles.

A beautiful, fresh, succulent scallop. Bon appetit!

He believed, like we do, that Britain has the best fish in the world!

Do you know, none of you lot will eat these.

All of these are going to Spain, to France, to Italy,

but scrubbed till it's pink and boiled, placed in the centre

and you'll crack open the claws,

dip it into unctuous yellow mayonnaise

and think, as they must think, "What fools the Brits are for not

"taking advantage of the wonderful things we've got around our shores."

-Hear, hear.

-He's right, isn't he, things haven't changed.

This show is a classic

because it features another passionate fish hero

who makes his debut on Floyd's series.

Jolly well is, isn't it?

Famous for his fish restaurants in Padstow in Cornwall.

-Look at Rick Stein!

-Crumbs!

-'Welcome to your kitchen.'

Well, cheers, cheers. The wine's very nice...

Voice is the same, isn't it, but his appearance has certainly changed.

Rick Stein's restaurant, here in Padstow, was voted one of the best,

or in fact THE best seafood restaurant in the country.

So, what better place could we come to to cook my favourite fish,

which is a bass.

Now, for me this is the king of fish, you can grill it,

you can steam it, you can cook it in fennel flaming with Armagnac...

And of course Rick and Keith are the two people

who've done more than anybody to persuade us to catch fish,

-enjoy fish and to eat it.

-Yes!

'I'm going to stuff it with just some ordinary root vegetables.'

Here we've got celeriac,

which is like celery, but comes in a root form, er, carrots, fennel...

You've all got that at home,

those ingredients, you could use any root vegetables you fancied.

-This is Nick's own special recipe...

-He called him Nick!

Nick Stein, ha-ha!

-Rick, dear boy, Rick!

-Rick! Oh, I'm terribly sorry!

Well, once you've seen one cook you've seen them all, haven't you?

THEY LAUGH

Film is very expensive, get on with the cooking!

OK. Well, what I'm going to do is just, er,

gently sweat these root vegetables off.

It was maverick Stein, isn't it, really?

In those days he'd just started out.

He had the best seafood restaurant in the country,

but did he know it would grow?

It would take over Padstow in Cornwall.

He's got a chip shop, his restaurant, he's got the seafood cookery school.

Yeah, the school, yeah.

I mean, he's had such an affect on the local economy,

-they call it Padstein now!

-I just think that's great!

30 seconds, starting from now,

on the importance of fresh herbs in the kitchen.

Right, well, I mean, for my style of cooking, which is simple,

there's no, sort of,

I'm not involved in elaborate cooking at all,

herbs are THE most important part

and they've got to be fresh herbs so I have to grow them myself

cos, as you know, Keith, trying to buy herbs

in a greengrocers in England, it's a joke!

-Cor, that's changed over the years, hasn't it?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-Now we can get fresh herbs daily.

-Yeah.

We're so used to hearing about fresh local food now.

But 25 years ago these two were ahead of their time.

What is interesting, in these days of nouvelle cuisine,

you know, the photograph on a plate at £20 a head,

you're actually serving a whole fish with a head on -

the way I like to see food served,

but is there a, I mean, is nouvelle cuisine here to stay?

Does it affect your customers? Are they frightened of seeing a fish?

Well, you get the odd one that wants the head taken off.

It comes in about 50 seconds after it's gone out,

"Don't like the head!", which is...

You know, what's wrong with a fish head?

It's, er, you know, the Chinese have fish head soups for God's sake!

I mean, there's nothing wrong with them,

but some people are very squeamish about those sorts of things,

but on the whole I find that customers

prefer to get the whole fish.

-He's good, Rick Stein, isn't he?

-He's fabulous, isn't he?

-He's great.

He's just, the two of them are just so empowering and they want,

you know, they demand that you get in the kitchen

and use produce that comes from our shores, it's brilliant!

-Both of them, I mean, they inspired me to cook.

-Yeah.

-But they inspired med to cook, didn't they?

-They did.

-This is quite incredible, isn't it?

-It is.

I mean, this has to be the best table in the world,

in the best climate in the world, with the best fish in the world!

-Absolutely.

-Which is a bass, isn't it?

-They're so passionate about fish, aren't they?

-Yeah.

I mean, shellfish.

Why are we so anti-fish in this place?

Maybe not in your restaurant because you are just fish,

but the British as a whole reject fish.

As far as I'm concerned I've got breaking strain of a hot Mars Bar

when it comes to fresh bass! It's a brilliant fish, isn't it?

It is, it's absolutely wonderful. I can't understand...

why the English are so anti-fish.

Certainly when they come to the restaurant

they're a lot keener on fish because we are by the sea

and I think they feel it right to eat fish in that sort of setting.

I think people are scared of fish because they are scared of the work,

or they perceive there will be some work in eating it.

Yeah and also it's fiddly and it's bony and it's this and it's that,

it's so wrong.

I just, I just really like the look of a fresh fish

straight out of the sea.

Just feel, "Wow, I'd really like to make that something special."

I'll drink to that.

Thank you very much for joining us for our lunch,

I hope you'll join us on the next Floyd On Fish programme

because believe me, my gastronauts, this is the way to eat fish!

Ha-ha!

Keith Floyd and Rick Stein

believed the best way to sell seafood to the Brits

was to entice us down to the coast to sample it fresh from the sea.

They hoped that way, we'd be hooked!

Well, in Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight,

there's one man who is taking that idea on board.

Our Best of British Food Hero - local fisherman Geoff Blake!

Ah, a couple of lobsters! Here we go.

These pots, they've been down for two days, so, er...

this is what they've come up with in a couple of days,

is a nice female crab there.

They've got a big rounded shell

and these crabs are renowned for the red coral meat inside,

which is a really tasty delicacy.

Geoff and his family have created a small fishing haven

complete with pier for landing the fresh catch,

a wet fish shop and a takeaway.

Their dream is to sell the freshest fish in town.

We have boats that are just landing now

and we have the fresh Dover sole we caught this morning,

mackerel we caught this morning and this is all put out

and by 11 o'clock the shop's open with the day's fresh catch.

It's really family teamwork that makes it work.

My wife takes the orders and organises all the deliveries

and my son helps us with loading the vans

with stuff that has to go to the mainland.

My daughter helps out in the fish and chip takeaway,

it's a real family team effort.

-Sea bass for two, whole or fillets?

-Er, I think filleted tonight.

-Yep.

We never set out to be fishmongers,

we just wanted to sell what we were catching.

That's 7.75.

And when we moved into this bigger premises

we needed to draw in from other fishermen

and encourage them to land to us.

And pollock fillet there, if I can give you that.

Geoff's fishy friend James

is also delighted to be selling fish this fresh.

He wants to wean the locals off buying the same old suspects

from the supermarket...

Got grey mullet fillet there.

..and discover just how good fish can be when it's fresh from the sea.

You go into a supermarket and you've got Catch Of The Day board,

you've got a massive Catch Of The Day board up on the side.

Well, how's that possible, how can a supermarket get the fish that day?

It gets transported from market, packaged, labelled

and then sent off to different depots and then sent off to stores.

When it says, "Catch Of The Day," it should mean catch of the day.

We should, OK, we can be catch of the minute. Or catch of the hour!

Geoff and his family are passionate about persuading locals

to eat the riches that they have on their doorsteps.

Thanks very much, bye!

It's some of the best seafood in the world!

People are surprised at how much does come in at Ventnor, you know,

it's, er, they assume that UK waters just produce cod and that's it.

They don't realise the array of things

and a lot of things we catch they think comes from the Mediterranean,

but the case is that it's usually British fish

sent down to the Mediterranean for them to eat down there!

Until recently Ventnor had no harbour,

so the local fishermen here had no other option,

but to send their seafood to the mainland

and from there it was shipped to the continent.

But Geoff wanted to change all that.

He had a brainwave.

He helped the local council secure funding to create a fishing haven,

complete with harbour wall and a multi-function fishing pier.

So that he and other local fishermen

could land and sell their catch right here.

It's just purpose-built for what we need.

We've got somewhere to tie out boats,

easy to unload the catches off the boats with the fish-hoist

and on the shore end we've got our shop

and you've got a little package there from one end to the other

takes the fish from boat to customer.

Despite the abundance and variety of top quality fish available here,

until 50 years ago the Island's shallow waters and rocky seabed

were unsuitable for commercial fishing in large boats,

so no fishing industry developed here.

And for much of the last century,

the local economy relied

on Ventnor's reputation as a holiday resort.

Established by the Victorians who flocked to Ventnor

for its warm sheltered climate and stunning coastal scenery.

Geoff's ancestors turned their hands to whatever they could find.

You can trace our family back to the early 1800s,

when they were longshoreman.

Really, a longshoreman is someone who makes their living

from along the shore.

It's swung between being fishermen,

to operating bathing machines and doing deckchairs,

rowing boats, sailing boats that take people out for trips.

Really, in the last 30 years, the bucket and spade brigade

have been starting going abroad.

The business has evolved more into the food side,

and the local food, and what the sea can produce for us.

As well as selling a vast range of fresh fish in his shop,

the family chip shop also offers

an unconventional array of takeaway fare.

The mackerel will either be sold whole in the shop,

or we will fillet them off,

cover them in breadcrumbs and serve them with chips in our takeaway.

But the main thing is, it's beautifully fresh.

And it's sustainable.

As fish and chip shop favourites,

cod, haddock and place suffered from overfishing in the Atlantic,

Jeff is converting his customers to new specialities.

I think it was my mum's idea.

During the winter we do crab on chips,

and when lobster is in season, we do lobster on chips.

We are getting the brown meat first,

because it oozes down and makes a nice sticky sauce.

It's really nice, cos the warmth of the chips,

and then with the cold crab on top,

it warms slightly and it's a really nice mixture.

We really take pride down here,

because we can pull the crabs out of the sea, and the fresh fish,

and put it on, and everybody comes down and says how much they enjoy it.

Our whole town here has become a real seafood mecca,

everybody is coming to eat the local seafood

and we really get a buzz out of that.

I think our ancestors from years gone by will be quite proud

of what we are achieving,

and the Blakes are still living on the Isle of Wight,

making a living for themselves and other people.

That is something we can be proud of and Ventnor can be proud of.

Now, in the Best Of British kitchen,

we'll show you what else you can do

with this most versatile and delectable

of British seaside delicacies.

The crab. The crab delivers.

It delivers on flavour, it delivers on texture, it's brilliant.

Yes, the crab is undoubtedly the king of crustaceans.

-It is, Dave, it is. And we're going to show you what to do with it.

-Aye.

We've created a recipe that combines the crab with the mighty leek.

Here's how to make our Best Of British crab and leek tart.

All tarts start with a pastry base.

And this one is half wholemeal, half flour. Take a leek, Kingy!

I'm on my way. Two leeks, I'll crack on with them.

We'll saute those in a frying pan with a little bit of butter.

The important thing is, we don't want any colour.

We simply want them to sweat.

Take wholemeal flour... in a processor.

Mix with plain. To your wholemeal and plain flour,

add little knobs of butter.

Like so.

You can put it into cubes, and it looks all posh, there's no need to.

It's a very quick and easy tart, this, it's really nice.

-And it tastes immense.

-It's fantastic, isn't it? It's a fave.

Leeks, you know... # They make you sing! #

No, it is! They're meant to be good for your voice.

Emperor Nero believed, and he was very vain about his singing voice,

that leeks made him sing better.

So he ate loads, and his nickname was Porrum Fargus,

which means leek eater.

-It doesn't!

-HE SINGS LOUDLY

-You'd better get going, son.

-I've eaten loads in my time.

-Not enough.

-Ohh!

'Blitz the flours and the butter in a food processor

'until you get fine crumbs.

'Then add the egg in a thin stream until it all comes together.'

This is a short pastry.

It's shorter than Ronnie Corbett wearing sandals, this one.

-Butter your tin liberally.

-Put your leeks in for about three minutes.

You don't want any colour on them, you want them to sweat,

sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat. Think Benidorm.

So just roll that flat. And put that great big lump in your tin.

Now, you could try rolling it out, get yourself in a kerfuffle.

Just press it in with your fingers in an even way, it's so easy.

Thing is, it's short, it's full of butter. It's going to be tasty.

Because sometimes wholemeal pastry,

if you don't have loads of butter in,

quite frankly, can be like a beer mat.

That's them. Turn them off, take them off the heat, let them cool.

See, no colour on them. We've just sweated them, lovely.

-Look at that, the hands of a master.

-Aye. Just get it nice and even.

It's so much easier than trying to wrestle with a rolling pin.

-You know, it's the personal touch.

-It's the personal touch.

As you can see, beautifully even.

Now what we do is we prick this with a fork,

and just pop this in the fridge to chill down for half an hour

before we blind bake it. Look at that, beautiful.

Ow! Ooh! Ee! Ooh! Ow! Ooh! Argh!

Now if you've just tuned in, you may wonder,

why is he baking a bean pie?

It's not. This is a process known as blind baking.

What happens is, we pre-bake the base.

And as you can see,

the beans will hold the pastry to the sides of the tin.

Also, apart from giving us a pastry case with a good shape,

it'll make sure that it's cooked.

-So you'll never get a tart with a soggy bottom.

-No. That's wrong!

-We could make the filling, couldn't we, son?

-Let's crack on.

Now! Thank you.

-HE HUMS "THE STRIPPER"

-Now!

We need three eggs, whisked lightly, and then...

Creme fraiche, look at that.

That's going to make a tart rich, tasty and anxious.

Look, creme fraiche falls in a certain way. Look at that.

Look at that bit there. And this is truly island life.

An island of creme fraiche in the sea of egg.

I wonder how different life would have been if we'd been connected

to mainland Europe, and there hadn't been the English Channel?

-Do you know what I mean?

-German.

-Well, we would have been invaded!

-Right, mate, next?

-The brown crab meat.

Now, crab comes in two parts.

The back, which is full of the brown stuff,

which I think is one of the great gastronomic gifts to mankind.

And the white meat. The brown meat goes into the base.

OK, so that's...so we've got now eggs, the creme fraiche,

and now we've put the brown crab meat.

Don't forget the base!

-Take the beans out...

-Taking care not to burn your mitts.

It's cooked, lovely. What we still need to do is firm it up a bit more.

We'll pop that back into the oven without the beans for 10 minutes.

Keep an eye on it, we don't want to burn it.

-Lovely, mate.

-Yeah.

Look at that!

It's like a well-formed digestive, which is what we want.

-Now, in here, our leeks go.

-Puts me beans back.

And again, just whisk them in.

The white crab meat mixture goes into the base,

and the leeks and brown meat mixture on the top.

Starting from the middle.

-Look, a couple of little'uns, Kingy.

-Perfect, dude.

It's what you call cooks' perks, waste nowt..

-It's a thing of joy, isn't it, really?

-It's lush, man.

And top with grated cheddar. Cooks' perks, cooks' perks.

We're not worried about these overflowing, these are just for us.

Pop that into an oven for about half an hour at 160 degrees Celsius.

-Ready.

-Steady.

-Go.

-Smells great.

-It does. That is... Look at that, man!

-It's epic!

-Yes!

-That's beautiful, isn't it?

-Look how it's bubbling away. Ohh!

The crust is perfect.

-Now you could serve this warm, couldn't you?

-You could.

I think it needs to cool a little bit.

-It just needs to be like blood warm.

-Yes, it does.

-Cup of tea, then.

-Aye.

-Might as well.

Time for snackaroonies.

The leek and crab tart. Thank you. It's a good cutter, isn't it?

And that base is so thin.

-Oh, yes! Oh, it's crisp, the bottom's crisp.

-It is!

-Beautiful.

-Right.

-Bon appetit.

You know, our great British eating crab, it's punching through

all those flavours and keeping a taste of its own.

It is. A truly great British harvest of the sea, man. Fantastic.

So whether you stop in Morecambe Bay to sample potted shrimps...

Or venture to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight for fresh crab and chips...

Or head to our capital city to buy fresh fish

from our famous Billingsgate market...

..there's not a corner of our beautiful British Isles

that will fail to provide you with fabulous fresh fish.

We love it!

And to find out more...

..visit:

..to discover some amazing facts about the history of food.

And to find out how to cook up the recipes in today's show.

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