Spices 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...

There they go! Look at them!

'..Outstanding food producers...'

Oh, look at that!

'..And innovative chefs, but we also have an amazing food history.'

-Oh, brilliant!

-Oh, wow!

Don't eat them like that. You'll break your teeth.

'Now, during this series, we're going to be taking you on a journey'

into our culinary past.

-Everything's ready, so let's get cracking.

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

Wow!

'..And meet the heroes that keep our food heritage alive.'

It's a miracle what comes out of the oven!

'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,

-BOTH:

-The Best of British!

# Sugar and spice And all things nice... #

'Today's show is a whistle-stop tribute tour of the type of ingredients

'that we Brits most certainly couldn't cook without.'

# Sugar and spice And all things nice... #

'We're talking about the salt, pepper and spices that have lifted our

'dishes out of the ordinary and turned them into taste-tingling sensations.'

Spices that, today, we take for granted,

but once, one of the most valuable commodities known to mankind.

'A handful of cardamoms... well,

'that was equivalent to a working man's annual wage,'

where slaves were bought and sold for, you know, a cup of peppercorns.

And, you know, spice has been the subject of most extraordinary

wheeling and dealing throughout the centuries.

'We'll be lifting the lid on our spicy past as well as adding a bit of

'va-va-voom to some good old British squid...'

Look at that! It's just so nicely curly. That's what it's meant to be like.

'..Going back to the Middle Ages to see how they spiced up a sweet snack...'

This is a very exotic, very expensive dish.

'..Playing around with some pepper and strawberries...'

The smell of these is more strawberry than strawberry!

'..And sampling some rather fiery little chillies.'

-It gives you a lift!

-It gives you a lift?! Your eyes are out on stalks, man!

'Our taste-tingling Odyssey begins with a Hairy Bikers potted history

'of the oldest food flavouring in the world...

'salt.'

'Traditionally, salt has been sifted from the sea and brine,

'and either boiled or left in the sun to evaporate.'

'It was once traded ounce for ounce for gold.'

'People trekked for hundreds or even thousands of miles to transport it.

'Wars were fought over it, high taxes were placed on it,

'cities were built around it, and Roman soldiers were even paid in it.'

'And no wonder.

'Neither humans nor animals could live without it.'

'In the Middle Ages, it was considered very bad luck to spill the salt.'

'Maybe because it was so expensive.'

'A superstition that's been linked back to Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper,

'which shows Judas knocking over a small pot of the stuff.'

'Not a great sign of things to come.'

'And the only way to ward off the evil was to chuck a pinch over your left shoulder.'

'First-footing Scots have continued to bring a pinch of salt

'and a piece of coal over the threshold on New Year's Eve to bring some good luck.'

'Looks a bit more than a pinch to me, man!'

'Salt has also been a status symbol.

'Wealthy hosts placed a salt cellar towards the middle of their dining tables,

'and guests in favour were invited to sit "above the salt",

'whilst those with less clout sat "below".

-'I'm not sure where they would have put us, then, Dave.

-Ahh! Maybe under the table?!'

'By the mid 1980s, salt was everywhere.'

'And scientists were beginning to worry about the amount we were consuming.'

Now there's growing concern that perhaps too much salt might be bad for us.

Well, opinions do vary, but in America, where a lot of these food scares seem to begin,

they've labelled it "killer salt".

'Are you a saltaholic?'

'Research linked over-consumption to high blood pressure,

'and shoppers began to demand more information on their pre-packed food.'

'This essential ingredient brings out the flavour of food, it keeps nutrients in your vegetables,

'helps the rising processes in bread, and enhances batters and cakes.'

'It's a great preservative, and a good luck charm to boot.

'What's not to love about the stuff?'

'In moderation, of course.'

'Nestled next to the salt grinder stands the pepper pot.

'After water and salt, this is the third most popular ingredient for any recipe.'

'But not in our Best of British Kitchen. For our first recipe,

'we're going to promote the modest peppercorn and give it a starring role.'

If variety is the spice of life, there's nothing more varied than this recipe.

It's wacky, it's weird, and it tastes wonderful!

It's our strawberry and pepper scones, or

-POSH ACCENT:

-scones.

-Yeah!

'Just slather with clotted cream.'

'It's the most mega grown-up strawberry and cream scone you could ever taste.'

'Right. For the roast strawberry and black pepper scones you're going to need

'400 grams of hulled and halved strawberries.'

But what you do, you see, you mix sugar and the strawberries with some pepper,

ground black pepper, and then you bake them. Magic, innit?

It sounds a bit weird and wonderful,

but remember when people first suggested putting mint and balsamic vinegar on your strawberries!

You thought that was peculiar, too.

-You never thought that were cream, though?

-No, strawberries and cream.

-It's just one of them things you do.

What we're doing, really, is we're dehydrating them to intensify the flavour, and honestly,

when you put that in a scone mix, with the pepper, you get the spice,

you get the fruit, you get the ah! Seasoning! You see?

When you get this little nugget of flavour, in your golden scone,

your eyes light up.

Strawberries. Hulled, halved, on a baking tray.

'Now sprinkle or grind about a teaspoon of black pepper over the strawberries.'

Pepper's been around, it's been precious, for such a long time.

Going back to Roman times, Pliny complained that white pepper cost twice as much as black pepper.

-Oh! Well, Alaric the Goth.

-Who?

-"Our Rick"?

-No, Alaric the Goth!

-Right.

-As a ransom for Rome, he declared "I want 3,000 pounds of pepper, please.

"And then you can have your city back, until then, it was..."

-Right.

-See!

-Sugar.

Couple of teaspoons of sugar.

'Now, what can I come up with to trump Kingy? I've got it!'

And did you know that in the 12th century,

a pound of pepper was the equivalent of a carpenter's weekly wage.

-Was it?!

-Yep!

And did you know that pepper, when it was introduced into the UK,

was blamed for gout, because it held all the toxins,

or so the medics thought, around the joints.

Hmm.

So put your peppered up and sugared up strawberries into the oven.

About 120 degrees C, or 100 degrees if you've got a fan oven.

For about an hour and a half, very slow.

Et voila, an hour and a half later, dried strawberries.

-They are absolute flavour bombs.

-They are super, super strawberry.

They are, aren't they? Let's make scones.

Now for the scone mix, you're going to need 100g of cold butter.

Thank you.

Just cube the butter. 'Then you'll need 500g of self-raising flour.'

For scones, you always have to have self-raising flour.

If not, you need to put baking powder into ordinary flour.

And sometimes, we've been known to sneak, if it's a heavy scone,

an extra teaspoonful of baking powder,

it makes you scones go whooo!

So, we'll put the butter in, and now we rub that butter.

Put the sugar and salt in first, before you rub, though.

Oops. Dave's right. So in goes 50 grams of caster sugar.

And some salt.

Well, we've got pepper, got to have salt.

-Seasoning, you see.

-It goes together like Si and Dave.

-Yeah.

-Rub.

And just rub it together until it resembles breadcrumbs.

These strawberries which we did yesterday,

you have to scrape off the paper.

This is serious, serious flavouring.

It's concentrated strawberries.

All those kind of jammy bits, we want them as well.

Let's put the dried pepper strawberries in there

and work them through as well as evenly as you can.

I tell you what, Dave, the smell of these strawberries

is more strawberry than strawberry, if you know what I mean.

-They are really good.

-I've got my flour ready for dusting.

-What's the fastest food in the world, Kingy?

-Dunno.

-Scone!

-Hahaha!

-So how do you say it?

-Scone.

-Me too. Scone.

-There is a North-South divide, isn't there?

-There is.

-Scowhn.

It's not a scowhn, it's a scone.

Now add 300 mill of cold milk.

If it ends up being too soggy, put a bit more flour in.

-If it's too dry, put a bit more milk in.

-It's not hard, is it?

-No.

# Scones that can be as light as a B

# Are lovely things to eat in the afternoon

# But they can be better

# When you bake them up with pepper

# You have them with cream, they're a dream. #

Eat your heart out, Paul McCartney!

Did you know that scones, for years, in their various forms,

were always cooked on a griddle? They weren't baked.

Baking scones like this is relatively new-fangled.

-Is it?

-Yep.

-Go on, that's it, man.

-Whoo!

-Look at that. Mr King...

-Yes, sir.

-That dough...

-It's light, innit?

-Yes, it's great.

And as they say, as with bread, the softer the dough,

the lighter the loaf.

It's like my belly, that.

-Twice as lumpy.

-'Now it's time to cut out the scones.

You've got to be firm with this. If there's a strawberry in the way, it'll drag.

But if you're bold and butch, it won't.

-Look at that.

-Oh, man. ITALIAN ACCENT: It's a beautiful thing.

I'm quite asconce with myself.

Look at that, that's got a big hunker in the middle. But you know,

a traditional scone is strawberry jam and cream.

Are you a jam first and then cream or cream first and jam?

It depends on my mood. If I feel like being unctuous

and watching the jam fall over the mound of clotted cream I've stuck on my scone, yes.

If not, and I'm in a hurry, I'll just put jam on,

cream on and then stuff it in me gob.

-Oh, it's got to be jam first, then cream.

-Has it?

Look at that. 'If you say so.'

You set your oven at 180 for a fan, 200 ordinary, Celsius.

Brush these with milk.

And we're going to bake these for about 15 minutes. Right.

Why don't we sit down and I'll teach you a few things about strawberries.

Oh, you think so, do you?

And did you know that in medieval times,

-strawberries were thought to be an aphrodisiac?

-Were they?

And were served in a soup of strawberries, borage and sour cream?

You are getting competitive now about your strawberry facts.

-I can see it but the tone of your voice.

-Do you give up?

-No.

And did you know the myth and legend of ancient Egypt suggested that

if you consumed a vast amount of strawberries

-you may turn into an evil cat.

-(HISSES)

Did you know another myth that if two people consume together

a double crowned strawberry, they will fall in love?

-We haven't eaten one of them, have we?

-Go on then. Tell me another.

-You've run out, haven't you?

-No, I haven't.

Do you know the weight of the world's biggest strawberry?

575 kilos, actually.

-Rubbish, that's over half a metric tonne.

-What is it?

-Well, I don't know, it's about...

-You don't know, do you?

No, but neither do you.

I do know that it was a big strawberry.

We're nearly done.

Look at that.

Scones. They don't get much better...

than this. Now just leave them to cool.

-I'll go and get the cream.

-Right.

Look at this.

Oh, yeah.

-Yes.

-Lovely. Look at the strawberries.

They've kind of rehydrated a little bit in there, haven't they?

Bit of the old crusty clotted, eh? Go on, my friend.

-Well, now that's one of the best of British, isn't it?

-It certainly is.

Strawberries and cream, a British institution. Combined with scones.

Yes. Now, salt and pepper and seasoning

in a way that you wouldn't have thought.

Would you ever believe?

Do you know, Kingy, the way we've done these strawberries,

combine that with the pepper, they're really intense flavours.

As you eat the scone, they just burst on your palate.

-Where's yours gone?

-I've eaten it.

-Already?

-Yeah, it was lovely.

-Si's may have scone,

but fortunately we made plenty of these tasty treats.

The pepper truly enhances the flavour of the quintessentially British strawberry,

turning this teatime classic into something amazing.

Spices have been flattering our imaginations and playing havoc with our senses since prehistory.

For many centuries, the Arabs traded spices to Europe

but kept their sources a closely-guarded secret.

By the 15th century, anyone who had a boat was off exploring the world

and when Vasco de Gama anchored off the coast of India,

the sea route was established

and the Arab spice monopoly crumbled.

The Portuguese held on to the spice trade for a century

until the Dutch formed the Dutch East India Spice Company

-and took the reins.

-The Dutch established the monopoly trade

of clover and nutmeg but British cooking was heavily scented

with spices such as ginger, pepper and cinnamon.

And so, the British East India Spice Company was formed,

and its merchants turned London into

one of the great spice capitals of the world.

The two empires continued to compete for the spice trade for years

and it wasn't until the Treaty of Breda in 1667,

when the British swapped the Dutch a nutmeg-rich island called Run

for Manhattan that a truce was called.

One spice that we haven't actually fought any wars over

but still takes pride of place in our cooking is the chilli.

And back on our best of British spice trail, we've got wind

of a rather special food fair dedicated entirely

to this hot little number.

So we're heading off to Hertfordshire

to sample some hot home-grown produce.

Here, in a field in deepest Hertfordshire,

there's something in the air.

It's hot, it's colourful, and sometimes a little bit dangerous.

It's the chilli.

This is just one of hundreds of festivals that have sprung up

all around the UK that keep our food heritage alive.

Now, the chilli's been eaten in South America since 7500BC.

We didn't start eating them until explorers brought them back in the 15th century.

Since then, the Brits have gone chilli bonkers.

And Joanna Plum has been growing chillies for years.

-That's an incredible array of chillies.

-It's fabulous.

-All grown in Bedfordshire. Nice and fresh.

-A mixed bag!

-Yes, absolutely.

You've got some very hot ones and some nice mild ones.

Joanna, why do you think we have such a passion

for chillies in the UK? Cos clearly, this is a chilli festival.

There's hundreds and hundreds of people here.

What happens is you eat a chilli and it's really, really hot

and your endorphins are released to counteract that pain

and it gives you a natural high.

The nice thing about chilli is it's not just the heat, is it?

You've got different flavours. Chillies for all seasons.

Chillies for various purposes.

The poblanos, they're nice, mild, Mexican chillies

and they stuff them in Mexico.

These Hungarian peppers are great, as well.

-They're fantastic.

-So sweet.

-With cheese and tuna - delicious.

We've also got the Bhut Jolokia here which is extremely hot.

That's over one million Scoville heat units.

-Oh, say that again.

-Over one million Scoville heat units.

'What units?

'In 1902, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville

'invented a way of gauging the heat of a chilli.

'Put simply, it measures the amount of sugared water it would take

'to dilute a chilli to counteract its effects.

'And that's putting it simply?'

Joanna, what would happen if I just stuffed this in my mouth and ate it?

My gosh, you would start to sweat, you might start hiccupping.

But then, this euphoria would kick in

and you may even start hallucinating.

'Neither of us are feeling quite brave enough

'for a bit of hallucination,

'but we keen to sample something that's going to pack a punch.

'Jeremy Green is a chilli champion,

'who can rustle up a mean chilli con carne.'

What that's made with is a blend of 18 different chillies

and spices and what you get is flavour and warmth

and that has smoked chilli in it so you get that lovely back pop,

that smokiness.

And I'll tell you what is really good

and lots of people get it wrong when they come to chilli

is the balance of heat, savoury and sweetness

cos there's a sweetness there that's quite natural.

-This is just perfect.

-It is.

-Perfectly balanced, man.

-Absolutely fabulous.

-You can't stop eating it!

That was good chilli.

'We still had a bit of room for dessert,

'so we found a stall selling chocolate.

'Over 2,000 years ago, the Aztecs were grinding cocoa seeds

'together with chillies as a special drink for their Gods.

'Nowadays, lesser mortals are able to enjoy this heavenly combo.'

So, Sarah, how did you start this off?

This is obviously a passion.

Well, I had a chocolate business

and there was an event at the Chilli Fiesta in West Dean

that I really wanted to have a stand at.

So, I had to come up with something with chilli and chocolate

and so I came up with the chilli chocolate brownie

and they sold so well that each year,

we just kind of add more and more to the range

and then, a couple of years ago,

we decided to get some whole chillies and dip those in chocolate, as well.

'A whole chilli dipped in chocolate?

'Who'd be stupid enough to try that?!'

It's a whole, pressed chilli in chocolate.

You're laughing and I don't know why but I think I'm going to find out.

-I'm getting it.

-Are you getting it?

Her caramels are lovely.

It's lovely, but you do get the chocolate first.

And the chilli just comes under it like an Exocet missile.

HE COUGHS

Whoo!

It gives you a lift!

It gives you a lift?! Your eyes are out on stalks, man.

What are you doing to yourself?

You only went for it cos it was the biggest.

'My macho moment was pretty tame.

'Well, compared to a group of chilli chompers we've heard about

'on the other side of the festival.

'They are playing culinary Russian roulette

'by taking part in a chilli-eating competition.

'The rules are simple - the last man standing wins.

In each round, the contestants eat a chilli of increasing strength,

'and this goes on until they can face no more.

'Round one starts at a relatively mild 1,000 Scoville units.'

To be honest, I think it was a waste of ink signing the paper.

'But the chilli in the second round weighs in

'at a whopping 7,000 Scovilles.

'Forget making your mouth water,

'these chilli peppers will make your eyes water,

'your nose run, your head spin

'and the even produce the odd muscle spasm.'

'The first reluctant retiree leaves, quickly followed by another.

'Two down, eight to go.

'Round three and the chillies reach 8,000 Scovilles.'

-Another one's gone.

-I'm not surprised.

-How is it going?

-All right. A bit numb around the mouth.

-Going out for a curry tonight?

-No, not tonight. No.

'Round four and things are hotting up.

'This must be getting painful!'

100,000 Scovilles. That's like a Scotch Bonnet raw.

'How do they do it? 100,000 Scovilles?

Have you seen this fella on the end, here?

-He hasn't... He's just chatting.

-He hasn't broken a sweat yet.

Oh, you don't eat Scotch Bonnet chillies like that, do you?

It's wrong.

'And the next round separates the men from the boys.'

The next one is 900,000 Scovilles.

'I can't bear it. I can't watch.

'At this point, we're going to strongly advice

'you don't try this at home or anywhere else for that matter!

'The muscle spasms are kicking in now.

'How will the five contestants standing

'take the incredible heat of the chillies to come?'

It'll kick in, now.

We now have the Naga Jolokia, ladies and gentlemen.

These regularly register at over a million Scovilles.

'Sensible lad - he's thrown in the towel

'before even trying the Naga Jolokia,

'the pepper the Indian army considered using as a weapon.'

How you doing, mate?

-I don't know. I think I'm blind.

-You're going blind?

It's round about now the first one will be kicking in.

'And finally, even the toughest contestants

'begin to struggle as the chillies bite back.'

'With one last crunch,

'we are left with an asbestos mouthed winner

'who gets to claim the bragging rights

'and the all-important T-shirt.'

-So, Ian, respect.

-Victorious winner. Amazing!

You haven't even... No, not a bead of sweat.

Do you like chillies?

That's the first time I've had them that hot.

I mean, that's quite remarkable, dude.

I am completely gobsmacked, I have to say.

-Well done, Ian.

-Well done, mate.

-Thank you very much.

We may not all be daft enough to take part in a chilli challenge,

but it's fantastic to see we Brits know how to celebrate our spices.

# I'm just mad about saffron, Saffron's mad about me... #

Spices are the most exotic ingredient in any recipe,

and we Brits love 'em.

They're not just found in food from far-flung lands.

Our ancestors were spicing up dishes as far back as mediaeval times.

Our Best of British food historian and chef, Ivan Day,

is the Indiana Jones of the food world.

Rediscovering historic British dishes and bringing them back to life in his Cumbrian kitchen.

Today, he's resurrecting a medieval spice cake called trayne roste

that has an ingenious use for dried fruit.

This is the kind of pestle and mortar that was once found

in just about every well-provided-for kitchen.

It's incredibly good, because it's so easy to use.

All the work is actually done by a little hoop up there,

and I can grind things incredibly easily with this action.

It could be used to grind any spice.

In fact, it could be used to grind these

I've got this incredible array here,

of spices which are not so popular now,

but were really important in the mediaeval period.

This one, here, which looks more like a catkin than a spice...

..is long pepper, which was imported all the way from Indonesia.

In fact, this one here,

which is another type of pepper called cubeb pepper,

which has a very strong, pungent, almost eucalyptus flavour,

very important in flavouring alcoholic drinks.

Perhaps my favourite, though,

is this very romantic-sounding spice,

which is called grains of paradise,

which is a species of cardamom from the West African coast.

But the most expensive and the most select of all spices was saffron.

Alexander the Great used it for medicinal purposes

and Cleopatra bathed in it.

The use of saffron dates back more than 3,000 years.

Derived from the three red stigmas of the saffron crocus,

which can only be harvested by hand, the world's most expensive spice

costs up to a staggering £4,000 per kilo.

Flamin' Nora!

And saffron's slightly bitter, hay-like flavour

is so unique, it cant be replaced with any other ingredient.

And it's this spice that I'm going to use,

but what I'm going to do with it

is use it as the dominant flavour in a very unusual spice cake.

And the original recipe, which is from 1420, tells us

to take a thread, "the length of a man".

And then we're instructed to thread an almond, and then a date,

and then another almond, and then a fig,

and then another almond and then, finally, a raisin.

So what we end up with is nothing that looks like any cake

that you would have seen, but is in fact an necklace,

it's almost like a bracelet or some kind of jewellery,

rather than anything at all edible.

The rich, exotic ingredients Ivan is using were introduced to Britain around the time of the crusades.

Considered a luxury food, dates and raisins were only used

on special occasions like Christmas, for puddings and mince pies.

Ooh, lush!

But it wont be baked in an oven.

Like many medieval dishes, it's roasted on a spit.

What I'm going to do is a little trick that was done by these guys

who cook continuously in front of a fire,

and that is, I'm going to use a piece of chalk to rub onto the spit.

Now, this, hopefully, will help me,

in that the cake won't stick completely to the spit.

And this is what I love doing the most.

I'm turning it a bit like one of those DNA molecules,

by the time the guy finished with it,

so just make sure that there aren't any gaps in between each row.

It doesn't seem at all English, this, it's like an exotic sweet.

-After a lot of patience and skill, Ivan's DNA dessert..

-Trayne roste..

Is ready for the next stage.

I'm just going to put this down to warm up. While I make the batter.

This is where the spices come into the mixture.

I've got a lavish amount of ginger, quite a lot of cloves,

and this one, which I'm not going to put in till the end is saffron

which was worth more than its weight in gold, literally.

As well as the spices, we've got some plain white flour

and some sugar, which to the medieval cook, was a spice too.

It came from a far-off land and you couldn't grow it here in England.

So this is a very exotic and expensive dish.

Ivan mixes the dry ingredients together

and adds the egg yolks, using a sweet wine to make a thick batter.

Saffron gives its colour better

when it's dissolved in alcohol than water.

I can demonstrate that

very easily just by putting the saffron into the batter.

You'll see it going a very bright yellow as the alcohol dissolves it.

Roasting food in front of an open fire may seem primitive to us.

But it's a highly sophisticated procedure a distinct flavour.

I've got everything ready for the fire.

I'm going to load the basting stick with some batter.

I can hear the trayne roste is beginning to cook.

Whoever invented this must've been very imaginative,

because it is such complicated procedure.

When thinking of spices, most chefs look to other cultures for ideas.

But, like us, Ivan believes our own culinary traditions are often overlooked.

It's such a revelation to make dishes like this from the past,

because you understand that these people were sophisticated.

They weren't primitive, we didn't have rubbish food.

There were times when food in England was better than it is now.

And all the good cooks worked, not in restaurants,

but for private families.

After 40 minutes, when the trayne roste has turned golden brown,

as the saying goes, "It's done to a turn".

Wow.

God, that smells absolutely extraordinary.

I always find this the most worrying point.

This isn't easy to do, so I'm going to hold on

to the string at this end and then very carefully...

..slide it off the spit.

The remarkable thing about this is that the thread

that everything was harpooned on, has actually stayed on the spit.

They were clever folk, them Plantagenets!

I'm just going to see if I can take the first slice out,

And there we have it - look! Isn't it beautiful?

So you get a nice pattern of nuts, figs, raisins and dates going right through.

What I'm going to get in there is all the spices of the Orient,

all the fruits of the Mediterranean.

Everything exotic and from far-away lands,

which was the ultimate status-symbol in a period

when everything travelled by caravan train and sailing ship.

That looks delicious, Si?

He's keeping a bit of British food heritage alive, you know!

Just like our medieval ancestors,

we often look to other cultures for inspiration.

So the final stop on our spicy tour is, of course,

-our Best-Of-British kitchen.

-Where we'll be spicing up

a scrumptious British ingredient with a bit of help from the Orient.

Salt and Szechuan peppercorn squid with a fragrant dipping sauce.

Oh, the accent.

The squid is beautiful. It's hot, it's frizzly, it's lovely,

and it celebrates the squid.

Now, British waters are heaving with these creatures.

We've got loads of squid. Most think that they come from Greece or the Mediterranean.

There's loads around our cold, coastal waters and our squid's great.

Now, he doesn't immediately say, "Eat me", and actually,

he requires preparation in order to make him appetising and lovely.

I'm going to show you have to do squid.

I've got four here and I'm going to merrily get on and butcher them.

First off, I need to pull the body from the tube, like so.

If this makes you squeamish you can always get your local fishmonger to do it for you.

Now, peel the fins off and this yucky-looking membrane.

And underneath you find this wonderful pure white meat. That's what we're after.

Look what's inside? The quill.

It looks, for all the world, like a quill.

It looks like it's made of plastic. That's the spine. I'll just remove that.

Next, we slash this, open it up,

and inside, there's a little bit of guts.

See that membrane there? Peel that off, just tidy up the edge.

That wonderful piece of squid meat. Now, on to the body.

Pull the tentacles off here. Like so. I tend to put off the big one.

Cut them there, just below the eyeballs.

While Dave's butchering his squid,

I'm going to prep what can only be described as the dipping sauce.

-But what a dipping sauce!

-Oh, what!

Put 50ml of water into a pan, along with one tablespoon of white wine vinegar

and 100 grams of caster sugar.

Dissolve the sugar and boil for a minute.

Next take a chilli.

-Seeded or deseeded? What do you fancy? Seeded, eh?

-Oh, yeah. We like it hot.

-Chop your chilli along with a thumb-sized piece of ginger.

-Sliced very finely.

And two cloves of garlic.

Add these to your syrup, then let that cook for about a minute.

-It doesn't take long.

-It doesn't, mate, no.

Then add one more tablespoon of white wine vinegar before allowing to cool.

Have you noticed what we're doing?

We're balancing the sweet and sour because we've got sugar in there,

two tablespoons of vinegar, but also a load of spice.

Sweet, sour and spice go fantastically well together.

They compliment each other so well that it pushes those flavours on your mouth to the fore.

It's a great way of tasting each individual spice.

Let that just stand and go cool.

Before we move on to the next stage, wash the slimy bits off the squid and get rid of any ink.

To get the best out of these fantastic ingredients,

we're going to add to a dry frying pan - no oil in it -

two teaspoons of black peppercorns.

Two heaped teaspoons of Szechuan peppercorns. This is interesting.

Szechuan peppercorns are not a pepper, they're a berry. I bet you didn't know that.

A tablespoon of sea salt flakes.

And half a teaspoon of chilli flakes.

As we push heat through them, the natural oils that's trapped in the drying process

will be released and make a more pungent and a bigger, more rounded flavour.

It really is the best way to get those flavours out of those spices. Fabulous.

Now, the squid.

I cut the bunches of tentacles in half

and they're just ready for frying. These big pieces, what we do is this.

To get a decent shape and cook them,

you score them with a chequerboard pattern.

Not all the way through.

But just across like that.

Now cut those into ribbons, just like that,

but when they cook, they're gonna go like this.

And you get like, twists. They're much easier than rings for picking up the sauce.

The way that you can tell that these peppercorns are nearly ready

is that you can smell them. They start to have that beautiful fragrance.

Smell them, mate.

-Oh, yeah. It's quite nutty.

-Yeah, aren't they?

We're going to put those...

-You all right, mate?

-It's a bit heavy, you know? I was surprised.

Put those in the pestle and mortar

and we'll just grind them to a nice powder.

Have you ever heard of about fast food? There's a bit of faff in the preparation,

but we're talking about a minute or 90 seconds to cook these squid strips out.

Then you have a heap of them.

You sit there with your dipping sauce, cold beer in one hand,

that in the other, and there's nothing finer.

With all our recipes, if you notice what we're doing,

particularly recipes that come together quite quickly, is that we're prepping everything.

And it's dead important.

Cos it's takes the stress out of your cooking

and you just enjoy it more.

-You have a right good giggle. It's brilliant.

-Oh, look at that.

-There you go, mate.

Oh, that's the Szechuan pepper and salt.

Beefed up with black pepper and chilli flakes,

that's going to set the squid alight. So put that into a bowl.

And add five tablespoons of cornflour and five tablespoons of self-raising flour.

Self raising, five. I'll just mix that up with the spices.

It's like the ultimate seasoned flour really. That's it.

Into your wok or medium saucepan pour two centimetres of sunflower oil,

and heat it to 180C or 350F.

That's it, we're there. Now, take a piece of squid, like so...

dredge it in that wonderful Szechuan-peppery melange...

Pop it in the fat and repeat. Mr King will man the pan.

We only want this to cook for about a minute.

As Dave's dropping them in, I'm not touching them. If you do, the spiced flour will fall off.

You've got to be careful and leave it alone.

They will only need between one and two minutes.

Try not to overcook them or they'll end up like rubber bands.

Let's do a few tentacles next. I like these cos they just go like a spider that been deep-fried.

As Dave's dropping the squid in, it lowers the temperature of the oil.

Just keep tweaking the temperature up.

Turn it up as you go through the cooking process.

The easiest way to do this is with a deep-fat fryer with a thermostat.

It's also safer too. It's just easier to see when it's like this.

When the squid is done, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.

To serve, put your dipping sauce in a bowl

and garnish with finely chopped coriander and a slice of lime.

Then pile up the twists of delectably succulent squid.

-Right, shall we dive into the spice?

-Lime juice?

-Yes, please.

-Look at that!

-It's just so nicely curly. That's what it's meant to be like.

-It's coming through.

-And the texture of the dipping sauce is enough to cling. It's a proper sweet chilli sauce.

-Oh, man!

Thank heaven for spice, because it defines our cuisine.

-Yeah.

-And I'm very pleased we have it.

-Oh...

This is our gift to you from the Spice Boys.

MUSIC: "Wannabe" by The Spice Girls

For centuries, our little Island has been experimenting

with exotic flavours and tastes

to create some truly amazing dishes.

So whether you like a sprinkle of salt or a dash of something peppery with strawberries,

or a seriously hot chilli from the shires...

It's worth remembering that good seasoning maketh the man... and the dish.

To discover amazing facts about the history of food, visit...

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

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