Puddings and Pies Hairy Bikers' Best of British

We believe that Britain has the best food in the world.

Not only can we boast fantastic ingredients...

Look at them!

'..Outstanding food producers...'

Oh, wow!

'..and innovative chefs.

'But we also have an amazing food history.'

So it's safe to say that's what the Romans brought to us,

-the art of cooking itself.

-Absolutely.

-It's called a sala cortabia.

-Looks like a savoury summer pudding.

'During this series, we're going to be taking you

'on a journey into our culinary past.'

Everything's ready. Let's get cracking.

'We'll explore its revealing stories.'

BOTH: Wow!

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

Pontefract Liquorice has been my life

and I've loved every minute of it.

'And of course be cooking up a load of dishes

'that reveal our foodie evolution.'

That's a proper British treat.

Looks good, tastes good, that's going to do you good.

-Quite simply...

-(BOTH) The best of British!

Today's programme is a hearty homage

to all the wonderful puddings and pies this country has to offer.

And we've got a lot to be proud of.

They're an important part of our incredible history

and national heritage. We've been tucking into them

since medieval times.

From meat ones to sweet ones,

there's something quintessentially British about the pudding.

And pies, what can you say about pies,

except they are what makes this country great?

Oh, look at those beauties!

They're behind a glass cage for their own protection!

-Oh, Russell, two of your finest with some mash and peas.

-Certainly.

One meat and tatty, one chunky steak coming up.

When you're a regular, you just know what the craic is!

-Oh, you certainly do.

-Mash, peas and gravy.

Lovely. Oh, look at them.

The pie! Well, the Greeks, they dabbled a bit with pastry,

but it was the Romans who sowed the seeds of our pie culture.

Yeah. They invented a pudding of either fish or meat,

and that is the origins of the pie as we know it today.

And medieval courts, they made pies with very exotic ingredients

like peacocks and swans!

Ugh! I prefer chicken with mushroom myself.

Aye, from peacock to pork and apple to cherry,

there's something beautifully British about the pie.

'And the first one we want to celebrate with you

'is a traditional belter, a warm hug that's wrapped in pastry

'and a real British favourite.'

Some people...not all, but some people mistakenly think

that the apple pie is American.

Well, it's not!

They even say, "Oh, it's as American as apple pie!"

Well, we were making apple pies in this country

before Christopher Columbus even learned to paddle.

Exactly. So we're here to claim it back from the Americans,

because they don't own it. We do.

And this is our homage to the great British apple pie.

-Now, as two cooks, we've been making apple pies for many years.

-Many.

We've cooked apple pie on telly before.

But we've refined the recipe. There's a few little tricks and cheats in this,

and we call this the perfect apple pie.

We've got lemon zest in the pastry. It just gives it that edge.

We've put cornflour in the apple mix so it doesn't go soggy.

We've balanced the cinnamon and sugar perfectly

so that apple pie will appeal to every single person on the planet.

We know, because we've worked at it.

This still is a homage to the Bramley,

and Bramley is British!

Buh-ruh-i-tuh-i-huh-suh!... Suh-huh.

All good pies start with a brilliant crust.

Look, I'm going to get on with these apples, right?

-All right, matey.

-Give us another one, mate, would you?

The Bramley apple was thought to have been first planted

by a lady called Mary Ann Brailsford,

who planted an obscure pip in her garden in around 1810

in Nottinghamshire, and from that tree,

which still exists today, the Bramley was born.

To start our pie, put 400 grams of plain flour in a bowl

together with the finely grated zest of one lemon.

Meanwhile, mix two tablespoons of cornflour

with one teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 150 grams of caster sugar

in another bowl.

And now I'm going to peel my apples.

Over to Mr Myers at the bakery section.

So, in my bowl now I've got the finely grated zest of one lemon,

and the plain flour.

To this, add two tablespoons of caster sugar,

and a whole - and I mean a whole - pack of cold butter,

which will need to be cut into cubes.

It's lovely. It's a very short pastry, this.

Short means crumbly. Crumbly means buttery.

Buttery means, "Mmm, this is a good apple pie."

-SIMON LAUGHS

-And do you know,

the Bramley apple is thought to be the best culinary apple in the world.

It's cheap, and it's massive, isn't it?

It is. It's brilliant. The only thing to watch out for with Bramleys

is that they hold quite a lot of moisture,

which is why, you see, we've done the cornflour,

so if it does leak a lot of juice,

you've got it, and it just becomes this lovely, appley, sweet gravy.

Moving on with the pastry,

gently rub your butter into the sugar, flour and zest mix

until it resembles breadcrumbs.

The lemon zest is just hitting my nose nicely.

Ahh! Now, what I'm going to do is...

quarter the Bramleys.

Core them, slice them thin.

Simple.

Now, in here I have got two tablespoons of water

and one egg, and we use this as a liquid,

so I'm just going to put this in, and be careful,

cos I don't want to overdo it. I can always add more.

It won't take much liquid to form this into pastry.

Right. So there's your pastry.

Now, I want to take...

..two thirds for the base

and a third for the top.

There you go. Make a ball. Don't handle it too much.

She's there, but she's very, very delicate.

Wrap this in cling film,

and pop this in the fridge.

It really would be a bit of a devil to roll out now.

Now, there's a couple of top tips for handling apples.

To stop them going brown, put them in some water with some lemon juice,

and that'll stop the discoloration of the apples.

But because we're doing it pretty quick,

and we're going to coat them in that lovely sugary cinnamon coating,

we should be all right. But don't leave them for half an hour

and then expect them to be the same colour, because they won't.

We're slicing these apples, and they're raw,

and they're going to go straight into the pie,

Don't be tempted to stew your fruit first.

Get it into the pie, and get it in raw,

so all of those lovely flavours are concealed

in their beautiful blanket of pastry

that Mr Myers is doing so well.

I'm greasing up my dish.

Next, flour and roll out the chilled pastry

onto a floured surface until it is about the thickness of a £1 coin,

and five to seven centimetres larger than the pie dish.

The world of the pie is fantastic,

and nobody makes a pie like the British.

In fact, our pies are perfect.

Well, I think it's a deep-ingrained tradition of making them

over centuries, and we're good at it.

Yeah. What started out as, like, a coffer to carry the meat -

it just used flour and water as a case...

It was like a ready-made pressure cooker.

For me, the pastry's as important as the pie.

-Absolutely.

-And you'll see, when we cut into this,

it's just so wonderfully crumbly and gorgeous.

Now, to get this onto there,

just dust this with flour so that it doesn't stick to your pin.

Put it like that, roll it up,

put it on there like so...

..and line your tin.

If it's an all-butter pastry like this, a sweet pastry,

do chill it, because it makes handling it so much easier.

-Mr King, over to thee. I'll roll out the lid.

-Lovely.

We're going to look like it's slightly over-filled,

but it's not, because as those apples cook,

they're going to fall away and fall down

and lose some of their volume,

so we need to make sure

that it's as good and as packed as it can be.

Place the 600 grams of beautifully coated sliced apples

into the pie casing.

Brush the rim of the pastry with beaten egg

before putting the neatly rolled pie lid on top

and pressing the edges firmly together to seal.

Look at that, eh?

I remember my mother used to do this, yeah?

-She'd take the pie, and there was this action.

-I love this.

I'm going to make leaves out of these off-cuts

whilst Kingy shows you how to do a crimp.

-Over to you, maestro.

-Right.

What we do... Like that, OK?

Then you go push, push,

push, push...

While Si's crimping, I'm rolling out the rest of the pastry

and cutting out individual leaves.

Stick these onto the pie lid with a beaten egg.

-Egg-wash it...

-That's beautiful.

..nice and gently.

I think this is a prime example of what could be... It's a simple dish,

-it's cheap. This is going to give us ten good portions.

-Yeah!

But a bit of care, a bit of love,

has turned this into something quite special.

You put that in the middle of the table after dinner

-and people are going to go, "Wow!"

-That's the thing.

It's, like, "Oh, it's an apple pie, so don't make the effort." Well, do,

because if you do, it becomes something else then.

Pierce the top to let out the steam, and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Right. That needs to go into a preheated oven,

180 degrees Celsius for a fan oven, for 40 to 45 minutes,

until baked to apple-pie perfection.

Did you know that the Tudors loved their pies?

They were so delighted by them, they often sent them as gifts,

especially at Christmas time.

In fact, Tudor standing pies were often such extravagant works of art

that they can frequently be found featured in still-life paintings

of the Renaissance period.

Now, back to our own work of art.

Our pie's ready, and it's looking art-rageous.

-What do you reckon?

-Look at that!

-Should I?

Yep.

You don't need a sharp knife with that pastry, do you?

-Straight through, mate.

-Beautiful.

Now, remember, that's the crust that has the hint of lemon zest.

Oh!

-Cream, Kingy?

-Oh, please.

Thank you.

A marriage made in heaven.

Great!

The texture of the pastry is gorgeous,

and pastry is about texture,

but that little hint of lemon zest just gives it a fragrant top note.

I think the balance of acidity and sweetness,

which is what we spent a lot of time working on,

is just superb.

And this, in our opinion, is the perfect apple pie.

Served hot or cold, with cream or ice cream,

this pud truly is the apple of our eye.

A British favourite that hasn't changed over the years,

and is still as popular today as it ever was.

Now pies have an important place in the hearts of the nation.

But in Denby Dale, Yorkshire,

they've taken their love to the extreme.

We want to show you the most eccentric British pie we can find.

CHEERING

Which will take some doing, given our rich history

of slightly bonkers food-related festivals and events.

Here's one pie that no man could eat alone.

This pie is like one that you'd find in Alice In Wonderland.

It's bigger than me and Dave and all our mates put together.

# The recipe's no secret

# So if you want to try

# Then get pen and paper ready... #

The last one of these heavyweights to step into the ring

weighed in at a whopping 12 tonnes. Ooh, for pie-ing out loud!

Usually baked to celebrate national events and special occasions,

the giant Denby Dale pies

are part of a 220-year-old village tradition,

and have earned them quite a reputation.

The first ever giant Denby Dale pie was made in 1788,

to celebrate King George III's return from madness.

Great concept! "You may not be mad any more, George,

"but WE are, and we're going to make a truly mad pie to prove it."

The next pie, in 1815,

celebrated the Duke of Wellington's victory over the French

at the Battle of Waterloo.

The third paid tribute to the lifting of the Corn Laws

which marked the end of the Hungry '40s.

Oh, a bit like me, then, but I'm going to have to be well into my 50s

to put an end to my hungry 40s.

The fourth celebrated Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887.

For this, the original pie was made with game,

and actually went off, sending the stench throughout the village.

I bet she wasn't amused!

Thankfully, the locals did step in fast to make a second one.

The fifth, in 1896, was in honour of the 50th anniversary

of the repeal of the Corn Laws.

The sixth, in 1928, was a cracking World War I victory pie.

The seventh, in 1964, celebrated four royal births.

The eighth, in 1988, was in honour of the bicentenary

of the first ever Denby Dale giant pie.

I've never seen anything so big in my life!

And took over a year and a half to plan.

I'm an idiot, simple as that.

Not enough time, really, to do all the things,

but it's quite enjoyable.

This pie was made in a secret location two miles away,

and was made with three tonnes of taters, a ton of onions,

several gallons of gravy, and three tonnes of prime beef.

Ooh, and a lot of sleepless nights.

This particular Denby Dale giant was hailed as the biggest and best ever.

-Very nice. Would you like a sample?

-No. I shall go and queue for myself.

It's a proud moment. It's an honour to do a Denby Dale pie.

There's not many chefs can bake a Denby Dale pie,

and I'm pleased I've done it.

But that was before the ninth and most recent

colossal crusted creation came along to mark the millennium.

Now, this 12-tonne monster attracted 30,000 people

and stole the show.

The proof of the pie, as they say, is in the eating.

I have been the first taster today,

and I was in 1964,

and I was in 1988.

And it tasted beautiful.

Well, if you thought that was bonkers, we're heading to a place

where a classic pudding has inspired even greater silliness.

'Deep in the heart of the Lancashire countryside

'lies the village of Ramsbottom.'

'A peaceful little village that's about to become a battleground.'

It's Sunday and the crowds are starting to gather

to take part in a conflict that dates back to the 15th century.

And, yes, it's all about puddings.

The enemy - the Yorkshire pudding.

The hero - Lancashire's very own black pudding.

And today, they will be locked in mortal combat.

Because we've come to the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships.

He's not wrong.

'That's right. A world championship. For throwing black puddings.'

'The aim of the competition

'is to knock off as many Yorkshire puddings as you can from a 20ft-high platform.

'And you've got three goes at it.'

'The weapon is a six-ounce competition-standard black pudding.'

'And the winner receives a golden pudding

'and the all-important bragging rights.'

'This event is the brainchild of Jimmy Cunliffe and Phil Taylor.

'They've held the World Championship Black Pudding Throwing contest in Ramsbottom since 2001.'

'We caught up with them to find out more and to ready our weapons.'

Now, Phil, I'm putting black pudding down a pair of tights on a Sunday in the pub.

The idea is that the black puddings won't splatter all over the road

and leave us with horrible gunge on the road after the event.

So we've got about 150 of these to go at.

-So we lob the black puddings at Yorkshire puddings, don't we?

-Yes.

And this rivalry goes back centuries to the War of the Roses.

'The War of the Roses took place between 1455 and 1485

'between two rival Royal houses - the House of York and the House of Lancaster.'

'They fought a series of battles for the right to the English throne.'

'Lancaster emerged triumphant

'and it's been a source of bitter rivalry in these parts ever since.'

'But what's this all got to do with black puddings?'

In the time of the War of the Roses, the battle was going on

and they'd ran out of ammunition at Stubbings Bridge.

And the Lancashire lads were throwing food at the Yorkshire lads

and the Yorkshire lads were whizzing Yorkshire puddings back at the Lancashire lads.

They did used to catapult rotting meat and stuff at the enemy in order to spread disease.

-It could have come from that, couldn't it?

-I never thought of that.

But this is the history I've heard about.

Er, Lancashire won the war and he who wins the war writes history.

So I'm not going to argue with that.

'Either way, I know which pudding I'd rather be hit by.'

There's a thingie my Auntie Hilda used to sing...

# All of a sudden a dirty great puddin' came floating through the air

# It missed my mother and hit my father and knocked him off the chair. #

You couldn't say the same about a Yorkshire pudding.

-If somebody threw that it would hit you and you'd go, "Tut."

-You'd be like that.

'Meanwhile, outside, our first brave pudding throwers are stepping up to the golden grid.'

'Is it easier than it looks, or more difficult? It's hard to tell.

'Some of these boys have had years of practice.'

'Still, I do fancy my chances.'

Not bad. Not bad.

Oh, eh!

'A pair of puddings throwing one type of pudding at another type of pudding -

'surely it's a match made in heaven?'

FANFARE

'Time to find out.'

Ladies and gentlemen, we've got Si and Dave from the Hairy Bikers.

CHEERING

'Dressed in Ramsbottom team colours, it's over to us to put our skills to the test.

'It can't be that difficult, can it?'

-Did you see that?

-I know. Have you got your eye in?

Here we go. Come on, give 'em some encouragement.

CHEERING

GROANING

CHEERING

'Si's done it.'

Tension now.

ALL: Oh!

'The pressure's on.'

'I don't want to let the side down.'

ALL: Oh!

ALL: Ah!

Come on, mate.

Go on, then, go on.

APPLAUSE

-Zero.

-'Better luck next time.'

Thank you!

'Let's leave the professionals to it

'while we sample some of these infamous puddings.'

'And who better to try one from than Tony and Mary Chadwick,

'the heroes of the Bury black pudding?'

-Heh, heh, Chadwick. Hello, Mary.

-Hello.

The black-pudding goddess from Bury.

'They've been making black puddings for over 20 years.'

'In Mary's case, since she was six.'

'The recipe dates back to 1865 and has earned them quite a reputation.'

-£2.09. Would you like a carrier bag?

-Thank you.

'In their mix goes pig fat, dried pig's blood, oatmeal,

rusk, barley and a bit of water.'

'This gets piped into a skin made from the intestines of an animal, in this case, a pig.'

'If history is to be believed,

this delicacy has been enjoyed for centuries, and I mean centuries.'

'The oldest reference to black pudding

'goes back to around 1000 BC and Homer's Odyssey,

'which refers to a stomach filled with blood and fat, roasted over a fire.'

'There's even a 15th-century recipe for a black pudding using a porpoise.'

'Enough talk, it's time to try one of these pieces of history.'

'I don't think either of us has handled food this long before without eating it.'

-HE CHUCKLES

-Here you go, mate.

Ah, look, man.

-These, probably, are the best black puddings in the world.

-How do you feel

about seeing your fine produce being hurled against the wall?

It's OK, it's a completely different product.

They're competition puddings, six and seven-eighths of an ounce,

and they've all been tested.

-I would never have thought it was that much bother.

-Oh, yes.

-We have researched this for years.

-Hold on, hold on!

The competition black pudding is aerodynamically sound

to hit said Yorkshire pudding?

I've read this. The weight and aerodynamic properties of a black pudding

are important to the sport.

People have been hurt doing this,

because once you get to, like, 42 knots

rather than miles per hour, cos that's what you measure it in...

'It's catching...

'Dave, come back. I'm not ready to lose you to a pudding just yet!

'Where've you gone?

'Dave?!

'The competition's rattling on, and Dave's still prattling on.'

If one goes off like that,

the velocity of it on the spin off, on the turn and the final...

-Catastrophic.

-Thank you very much, chaps.

-Nice to see you again.

-Thank you.

We want to make you a medieval British classic

that's almost as old as the black pudding itself.

This is food that we were built on.

It was. Two, three, four...

Pease pudding hot...

-Pease pudding cold.

-Pease pudding in the pot...

-Nine days old.

-You've all heard the rhyme, now eat the plate.

-Yes. Pease pudding.

-Gammon with a mustard sauce.

-It's a northern classic.

-It is.

But it is absolutely, utterly rooted in British history.

To make our pease pudding, which will be good hot or cold,

soak 300g of dried yellow split peas for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile melt 25 g of butter,

and roughly chop one medium-sized onion.

When was the first time you had had pease pudding?

-I think it was when I was just about off the bottle.

-Same as me.

We used to have pease pudding, but we couldn't afford gammon

so we used a ham hock in it.

You stripped the meat of the hock in the pudding.

But the best bit was cold pease pudding.

The nostalgia, the onions, it's making me weep.

My mother, my mother would make this...

It's all right, mate. Don't you worry.

It's not my mother, it's the onions. They're killing me.

Right, onion goes in the pan, not to be browned.

There's something quintessentially fantastic

about the smell of onions and butter or oil.

I love it.

-Basically it was one of the stalwart recipes of the family.

-Yeah.

You always had it, it was always there.

I can remember sitting with my granddad,

and I must have been about three

because my granddad died when I was just about four,

sitting eating pease pudding.

There was always a spare ham hock on the go

and he'd strip the ham hock off and build it and me mam...

Oh, the smell of the stotties in the oven.

It was epic. That was my first memory, that was my absolutely...

This recipe takes a bit of time, but it's really worth it.

If you fancy a weekend in the kitchen,

just give it a go because it's brilliant.

It's really yummy.

Now, this is gammon, it's pork that's been salted, cured.

We need to get rid of some of that salt before we go any further.

So what we do is put it in a big pan of water,

bring it to the boil, discard the water.

So we blanche the ham and that gets rid of the excess salt.

Then fry your chopped onion,

together with a good pinch of dried thyme and one bay leaf

before adding your split peas and one litre of water to the pan.

Simmer for 30-40 minutes until the liquid is well reduced.

-Oh, yes!

-The smell of home. That and Steradent.

-Yes.

We're going to extract the ham.

I'm going to throw that down the sink and rinse the pan out

ready for the pea build.

Let's remove the bay leaf. Right.

-Gas off?

-To that, nutmeg.

You need a lot of seasoning, don't you?

Remember the salt in the gammon.

Pepper, don't be too scared of that,

but you need to slightly under-salt this.

What you don't want to happen

is that the salt that may still come out of the gammon

will seep into those peas when we cook them together.

Allow your pea mixture to cool for ten minutes before blitzing

with a stick blender until the peas form a thick puree.

My mother never had this.

-No way.

-She would have passed it through a set of old tights.

Right, that's lovely, now put an egg in.

The egg's going to make it more pudding-y.

Get it in quick, you don't want to scramble it.

Look at that.

-That is lovely.

-Now this is only part cooked.

We're going to poach this with a gammon

and it's going to take in all those lovely bacon juices.

We need to put this in a pudding cloth.

The pudding cloth was invented in the 17th century

and provided a major breakthrough.

It meant that animal guts were no longer required for the casing of the pudding

and they could be made at any time of the year.

Just pop that in the cloth.

This is going to hold it in a really nice shape whilst it's in with the gammon.

And we will have a proper pease pudding.

'The fact that anyone could own a pudding cloth

'meant that puddings became part of the daily fare of all social classes.'

Now, we start to build.

Pop your pudding next to the gammon.

Like so.

'Next, roughly chop one carrot and two sticks of celery,

'quarter an onion and stuff a clove into each quarter.

'Add all of these into your pan, alongside the gammon and pudding,

'with around ten peppercorns and two bay leaves.'

The poaching liquor that your pease pudding is going in is pretty spectacular.

We serve this, the pudding on one side, slices of gammon,

then, we're going to make a mustard cream sauce to pour over the top.

Don't forget, this is all about recycling the flavours

and not wasting anything.

We're going to pour some water until it covers the gammon and the wedges.

And leave it to simmer for an hour and a quarter.

Keep an eye that it doesn't boil dry. Do you fancy a game of Ludo?

-Good idea.

-Excellent.

'By the 19th-century, boiled pudding moulds

'were found along with metal pudding boilers with clip-on lids.

'Now the cloth may be on the wane, but the British pudding fan club

'continues to grow and grow, much like a pudding.

-Beautiful.

-Nice, mate.

-Shall I set the gammon aside to rest?

-Yes.

The pudding, look, you see how it's expanded in the bag? Fantastic.

'To accompany our juicy pudding, we're making a mustard sauce.'

'For this, melt 25 grams of butter in a pan,

'add a dessert spoonful of plain flour and make a roux.

'Before slowly adding half a pint of the reserved stock.'

'Then add a teaspoon of both wholegrain and English mustard,

'followed by five tablespoons of single cream.

'Simmer, season and serve in a warmed jug.'

Yes, that looks perfect.

-We're ready to plate up, aren't we? It looks nice ham, that.

-It is.

That's just a piece of gammon from the supermarket, nothing fancy.

Let's unleash the pudding.

Right.

MUSIC: A Space Odyssey

Dum, dum, dum-dum!

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

That is a pease pudding.

Hey, hey!

I must say I'm quite overcome with this.

Mustard cream sauce. Eek, look at that.

It's an old way, it's a bold way but it's a savoury pudding.

Do you know what, if our mothers are looking down on us, they'd be proud of that.

Well, it's all about the peas.

Well?

Oh...

That's splendid, isn't it?

Nobody can say that the split pea doesn't have a place in the world.

Mix the mustard, the gammon and the pease.

-Mmm.

-That's epic.

-That is epic.

# We are the champions... #

'Now if you want to try pease pudding cold,

'allow the gammon and pudding to cool and then use as a delicious filling for a Stottie cake,

'essentially a pease pudding sandwich.'

-BOTH:

-Yummy!

As we've seen, puddings, steamed or boiled, savoury or sweet,

are an important part of our heritage.

But sadly, in recent years they've slipped off the menu a little.

This is a problem that a special club in Canterbury, Kent,

is setting out to address.

Puddings are the stuff memories are made of.

-The perfect end to a meal.

-And the ultimate comfort food.

A few years back, our traditional puds were

overlooked in favour of Black Forest gateaux and tiramisus.

But you can keep your fancy foreign desserts, for British puddings

have made a comeback and in one corner of the country

they are being positively celebrated.

Our Best Of British food heroes, Jo and Phil Owen,

are helping to keep the tradition of pudding making alive.

They opened their tearoom four years ago and the puddings became

so successful that they set up a monthly Pudding Society to

commemorate Britain's heritage

and rejoice in the delights of the sweet trolley.

The Pudding Society are aiming to meet once a month.

30 is our maximum and we have been full for the ones we have done so far.

It is taking off really well. People love pudding.

There are so few places that you can go nowadays

to get a decent steamed pudding.

It is preserving the history of puddings as well.

There comes a point where people are fed up with the complete fine

dining and small portions that you get that the end of a meal

and they just want to pig out.

You do not have to be as precise as you do with fine desserts.

They are supposed to look big. They are supposed to look like school dinners.

-Dollop on to the plate.

-Yes, a good old dollop onto the plate.

We pride ourselves on making everything here.

We make everything fresh.

When you go to a restaurant

and they've brought a cheesecake out of the freezer, it is disheartening

because this country is great for pudding.

-We've got the best puddings in the world!

-Yes!

Phil and Jo aren't the only ones running a pudding club either,

There are several others dotted around the UK all paying homage to the gorgeous British pud.

If I could eat anything it would be a Christmas pudding -

maybe because you only get it once a year, but it is certainly one that I enjoy the most.

-You can't stand it.

-I can't stand it!

I have to eat a little one of my own on Christmas Day.

I have my own little chocolate pudding.

When I met him he'd only eat his auntie's chocolate cake.

I have come a long way since then.

Around 20 society members will gather this evening to sample Jo's puddings.

The one they have chosen for tonight is the Lord Randall's pudding,

named after some poor chap in the 13th century ballad of the same name.

We have chosen to do the Lord Randall pudding because it's an orange pudding

and at the past few Pudding Society club, we've done lemon puddings

and we stumbled across the Lord Randall Pudding.

In the song, Lord Randall is poisoned by his sweetheart.

But no-one knows who he was or why the pudding was named after him.

It definitely does not contain any poison.

FOLK SONG PLAYS

The method is like making any other sponge pudding with your butter,

your sugar and your eggs. Then all you have left to add

is flour and some milk to make it a much looser consistency.

Then all the flavourings go in which is half a bag of apricots...

..and half a jar of marmalade.

For two and a half hours this is going to steam.

That is it. It is ready to go in.

This steamed pudding is crammed with apricots

and will be topped with a glaze of orange marmalade.

When you steam a pudding it gives it an entirely different texture.

By steaming it you are going to get that heaviness renowned in our puddings.

It is a slower process so it takes a lot longer to steam a pudding than

it would to bake a pudding.

Doing that gives it that texture

when you bite into it that you don't get if you get a cake.

So I prefer everything steamed if I can help it.

After a little savoury starter, the Pudding Society

members will be presented with seven delicious puds to choose from.

Seven?! Crumbs, that's a lot!

There we go.

I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to the Pudding Society this evening.

But first they must take the pudding pledge.

I do solemnly pledge to the Pudding Society...

(ALL) I do solemnly pledge to the Pudding Society...

..that I shall willingly eat pudding...

(ALL) ..that I shall willingly eat pudding...

-..until I have to...

-(ALL) ..until I have to...

..undo the top button of my trousers.

(ALL) ..undo the top button of my trousers.

Thank you very much. Well done.

Each pud is presented to the diners...

Pudding number one - the Eve's pudding.

APPLAUSE

..along with a potted history of each dish.

The name is a reference to Eve - from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

They'll vote for their favourite pudding of the night and the winner will be crowned king of puddings.

-Treacle sponge.

-APPLAUSE

-Spotted dick.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The sherry trifle.

Not technically a pudding but always a crowd pleaser.

Trifle was really at its height in the 1970s.

Where it graced numerous buffet tables,

served in a glass dish to show off its colourful layers.

It truly is a beautiful thing!

The earliest known use of the name trifle was for a thick cream,

flavoured with sugar, ginger and rosewater.

But it wasn't really until the mid-1700s,

when jelly was added, that trifles started to become anything

like the glorious smorgasbord of stodge we know and love today.

-We picked fruit. There you are, sweetheart.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-That looks lovely.

-Very nice.

-I'm going to go small first of all.

-Eve's pudding. There we are.

-Getting into a routine.

-Treacle sponge.

-Definitely treacle sponge. By far.

-The Bakewell pudding was the one for me.

Hopefully I will be able to try some more.

All I know is try everything else

and then come back to the light ones

and then go back into my favourites and that will see you through.

It is a champion strategy.

Ee, after sampling all that lovely pud, it's time for the guests to give their verdicts.

Let's start with the Eve's pudding. Hands up.

The Bakewell pudding.

Hands up for the sherry trifle.

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Hands up for the Lord Randall.

And, finally, the chocolate bread and butter pudding.

Are you ready for me to announce the winner?

CUTLERY JANGLES

Tonight's winner is...

..the sherry trifle!

CHEERING

Well done, sherry trifle.

This is the winning pudding. It doesn't seem like an awful lot of it's gone down.

I wasn't expecting that one.

Well, at the end of the day, they don't have to be elaborate.

Puddings are all about the pleasure.

And as the diners will agree,

our great British puds are very much alive and well.

From traditional puds to the best of British pies.

We're heading to Lancashire,

to a venue where you wouldn't expect to find gourmet food.

'It's match day in Morecambe, and they're expecting 5,000 hungry fans

'through the turnstiles in just a few hours.'

Oh, Saturday afternoon on the terraces!

A pie, a pint, a mug of Bovril...

It's all as British - well, as football itself!

The Bovril was always too hot to drink. It burnt your tongue.

And the pie was always too hot to hold.

I absolutely loved it!

DAVE BEEPS HORN

'But as you know, we're not here for the footie today.'

We're here for the award-winning cuisine.

These pies are apparently some of the best you'll find in the UK.

We're here to meet one of our Best Of British food heroes,

Graham Aimson, the club's head chef and the brains behind their pies.

-Let's go! Oops!

-THEY LAUGH

-That nearly had us, that chair!

-It did!

Graham!

-How are you?

-Good.

DAVID LAUGHS Look at those beauties!

-Look at these!

-Aren't they nice?

-Come round so we can see you.

Now, football and pies are indivisible,

-but your pies are special, aren't they?

-They are.

-How special?

-The best in the country.

The supreme champion of all the pies,

-in bakers' shops, supermarkets...

-That's official?

-It is.

It's Morecambe Football Club, and you just have the best pies.

-The best. The very best.

-And you entered a competition...

We entered it with the ambition of winning the Football League pie,

not even looking at the big supreme championship,

and we took that and the small-producer award,

-so we got three.

-How many pies on match day will you sell?

Last match day we sold 890, and that was with a crowd of 4,000.

Today we expect between 300 and 700. You can never tell.

It depends on the weather, if they're having a family dinner after,

so today we'll have a minimum 400 pies go out.

-400 pies today?

-Today, yeah.

-I can't wait any longer. Can I have a taste?

-By all means.

-Do you want a chicken one?

-Can I have a steak one?

We've got a steak on here somewhere.

'I can't believe Si's got in there first.'

-Are you not having one?

-I haven't been offered!

-Do you want one?

-Of course I want one!

-Do you want a chicken one?

-Thank you.

So, the chicken won what award?

The chicken won the supreme champion and the steak got a silver.

-Look at that.

-The Lancashire hot pots got a gold,

-and the chicken Balti got a bronze.

-Oh, nice pastry.

-Yeah. Pastry makes a pie.

-Oh, aye.

It's not just the means of getting it straight into your gob.

-It's an entity in itself, isn't it?

-Mm-hm.

-Look at that filling!

The cameraman's drooling through the lens now.

These are fantastic pies.

These are comfort food, something everybody relates to.

With some pies, you get your meat and vegetables in there.

It's a substance we all relate to, and it's not hard to make.

Look at that gravy! It's glossy, it's full of meat.

-Man, happy days!

-Graham, will you show us how you make your pies?

I'd love to show you how to make all the pies.

-We'll follow you. Crack on.

-You don't want that bit.

-No!

-Ow!

Now, then, chaps!

-The crust.

-So, Graham, what's your pastry recipe?

-Er, I'm not telling you.

-Ahh!

-No recipes today. No...

-THEY LAUGH

Five-and-half-inch ring, some pre-made pastry here,

which of course we made ourselves. Push into the corners like that.

But you're doing 800 pies.

You've got to have such a system set up.

We take up the full bench when we do a full run.

This is like a manufacturing line, almost.

'Graham here used to work in Michelin-starred restaurants,

'but this is what he loves - upholding great British traditions.

'He's a bit of a hidden jewel in our nation's crown.'

So you really do do this in the proper old-fashioned way,

and it's just brilliant, and that's why you've won the awards.

Exactly. It stands out because it looks rustic and home-made.

It's not a mass-manufactured product like you see in the shops.

With that one, crimp it down like that.

Get the traditional feel of the pie. Oh, yeah!

So, in an hour, how many can you knock out?

If you've got everything prepped, you could probably get 100 out.

-That's it. Quick slash in there.

-All we have to do is pray the team

-perform as well as your pies.

-Yeah. I hope so.

Outside, the Morecambe FC players are already warming up,

and some eager pie-eating fans are getting stuck in early.

'But this is the calm before the storm.

'Graham's got hundreds more pies to bake,

'so we've arranged to meet writer Tom Dickinson in the stadium.'

He's got a bit of an unusual pie story to tell.

I spent one season going to all 92 of the league football clubs,

and I ate a pie at each one.

The pies are the meaty glue that hold the league together.

If you're here at Morecambe, they've got pies.

Man United have got pies. It's something that in every club they've got.

What is it about the special relationship

between football and the terraces and pies?

There's something so comforting about a pie,

especially when you're watching low-league football on a cold, wintry night.

I mean, a grey slab of burger isn't going to do it.

You need something with lots of warming meat and mushy peas

and gravy in it. The pie and football just go hand in hand.

Do the posher clubs have better pies than the working-class clubs?

Not at all. Some of the worst ones were the Arsenals, the Chelseas.

More expensive, but not as good as somewhere like here at Morecambe.

Really, the question on our lips -

did you come up with the answer to the eternal question,

"Who ate all the pies?"

I think that originated back in the 19th century

with this fat goalkeeper. Fatty Foulkes, he was called.

It turns out that William "Fatty" Foulkes

was 6'2" and weighed about 20 stone at his heaviest.

He played footie for Sheffield United between 1894 and 1905.

His size meant that lovely fans came up with the chant,

"Who ate all the pies?" while he was on the pitch.

-CROWD:

-# Who ate all the pies? Who ate all the pies? #

But nowadays I guess it's me. I ate all the pies.

I had one at each of the 92 clubs,

so despite not being too chubby, I think I ate all the pies.

'With that question answered, we want to hear what the fans think

'of Morecambe FC's pies before the kick-off.'

It's time to take the pies to the people.

Shall we start with the big hairy fella?

Let's get him. He looks like one of us.

It's official! Morecambe have the best pies in Britain.

-Apparently so.

-Have a sample.

It's definitely a very nice pie. A nice light pastry,

-and lots of moisture inside.

-Go on, have a big 'un. Chicken.

I will. I like a big one. Thank you.

'We've drawn quite a crowd. The pies must be good!'

-What a good bit of steak!

-What makes a good pie?

-Decent pastry.

-Yeah.

-It's good pastry, isn't it?

-Nice and light.

-Nice, light, crunchy?

-Lovely. Yeah.

Football wouldn't be football without pies, would it?

-Got any more?

-# Bring me sunshine

# In your smile

# Fun and laughter

# All the while

# In this world where we live, there should be more happiness... #

Football and pies. Ah, a match made in heaven!

We're about to cook up a meaty marvel of our own

in the Best of British kitchen.

We're going to do for you today one of our favourite all-time pies -

chicken, ham and leek.

It's just one of the best pies ever,

hot, cold... It's what you call a cut-and-come-again pie, isn't it?

-Yes.

-You think, "I'll just have a slither."

You have a little bit like that.

-And you think, as you pass again...

-"I'll just have a bit more."

"I wonder if I should have a little piccalilli with that."

Anyway, we should show you how to cook it, really,

instead of thinking about pies.

We want you to own this, take it, possess it,

-make it your own. It's brilliant!

-Pies are close to our hearts.

We want to share that pie love with you.

To kick off our chicken, leek and ham pie,

place 450 millilitres of just-boiled water into a pan,

and crumble in one chicken stock cube, and stir.

Then take three chicken breasts and put them into the pan

for ten minutes, just to poach.

A pie, it's an egalitarian thing, isn't it?

Pie is something for the masses.

With pies... There's no pies and prejudice, is there?

HE LAUGHS

-Eeh!

-Oh, I suppose I'd better make some crust, hadn't I?

Well, yeah.

To make your pastry, put 350 grams of plain flour

and a pinch of sea salt into your processor.

Mate, can you pass us two leeks?

HE IMITATES GUNFIRE

Give us the leeks, will you?

Cut 350 grams of butter into chunks,

and pulse together with the flour and salt

until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Then mix in one tablespoon of cold water

with one large beaten egg, and add to your pastry mix,

and blitz till it forms a ball.

Pies!

There comes a point where it just starts to go together.

Don't overdo it. Once the ball's there... Oh! That's it.

Oh, look at that, man! See? Look!

Now, we need two thirds for the base,

and a third for the lid.

So you're just going to put this in the fridge for half an hour,

-and, yes, you've guessed it. I do have some that I prepared earlier.

-You're good like that.

Meanwhile, for your pie filling, finely chop two leeks

and gently saute them in a pan.

But you know, chicken's got an interesting history in this country.

In 1815, there were records of having 12 different kinds

of domesticated fowl in the country.

But the royals, they've been mega chicken-fanciers for ages.

Queen Victoria, she put her cochin fowl on exhibition.

And the Prince of Wales is president of the British Poultry Club.

And the Queen Mother bred chicken.

-She was very proud of her Buff Orpingtons.

-Was she?

She was! I'll just pop this in the fridge. I'm boring myself now.

HE WHISTLES

Moving on, chop two cloves of garlic, and add to the leeks.

Saute that garlic off with the leeks for a couple of minutes.

Then take your poached chicken out of the pan,

reserving the stock for later.

I'm just going to take 250 mill of this.

And butter your pie dish.

Now, put your leek and garlic mix into a bowl ready for the filling.

OK. Now we're going to get on and make a roux.

Start off with 75 grams of butter and place in a pan to melt.

Roll out your pastry until around four millimetres thick,

and four centimetres larger than your pie dish.

So, now we go on to make the sauce for our pie.

About 25gs of flour.

And then you just cook that out a little bit.

OK? So you're left with a nice smooth paste. Look.

See? Nice and smooth.

Pastry goes up.

As you can see, it's really decent to handle.

Pop it on your dish. Press that down.

And that's just what we need.

Right. Now, to this I'm just going to drizzle in some milk.

OK?

And then we add that cooking liquor.

While Si does that, I'm going to chop the three chicken breasts

and a 150-gram piece of thickly carved ham

into two-centimetre chunks.

I'm going to add two tablespoons of white wine to the roux.

Keep that moving. Just want to cook a little bit

of that white wine off.

Now, it's not finished yet, though,

because we want to make it even more unctuous,

and the way that we do that is, we take it off the heat...

Cream?

Should I?

I think so.

We're adding 150 millilitres of delicious double cream.

See the face you love light up with a pie.

THEY LAUGH That's brilliant!

It makes you very happy. Put it back on the heat.

Right. Er, Mr Myers, with your fine palate, sir,

would you mind just tasting that and seasoning it?

Ooh, how bland! Really good flavour from the chicken, though.

-Nice, eh?

-I'll use black pepper. Could use white.

It's a pie filling. We add lots of pepper.

And now we pour that into our bowl to cool.

Now, to avoid a skin forming on the top,

cover your sauce with cling film and leave to cool.

-Now, look. See this here? Look.

-Oh...

No skin on it. Top tip, that.

So, what we do, into that lovely sauce...

Add your leeks, garlic, chicken and ham to the sauce,

and give it a good stir. Now you're ready to fill the pie.

-Look at this.

-Slap it in!

-More the merrier. Bigger the better.

-There's pleasure in a pie.

There's passion in a pie.

Oodles of eggy wash, the pastry glue.

And...

-Oh, man!

-See? Even though it's a butter shortcrust,

you chill it, you can handle it.

Look at that! Amazing! Hold on, mate. I'll get you a knife.

-Use a knife to tidy the rim.

-And then crimp the pie edges

-with your fingers.

-It gives it that kind of Mrs Lovett look to it.

-It does.

-It's like a pie you get in a comic.

-Desperate Dan, Sweeney Todd, all them.

-Yeah.

-Look at that.

-So perfect!

-Could have come out the packet.

-It could.

-I love you.

-Thank you.

-Not you. The pie.

Brush your pie lid with egg wash, and pierce two holes in the top

-to let out the steam.

-It's "pie-fect".

THEY LAUGH

Look at that!

Now simply pop that into a preheated oven,

about 180 degrees Celsius if it's a fan oven,

for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the pastry's golden.

While that bakes, we've got time for a startling chicken fact.

Did you know that 20 percent of all the animal protein

consumed in the world is chicken?

Aye! That means that the chuck certainly is a popular bird.

I wonder if our chicken pie is ready yet!

-HE LAUGHS

-Yes! Oh, it's like Christmas!

Every day can be Christmas when you've got a pie.

-Look at that beauty!

-Look!

Now, this really is the best of British.

We've had them with our grannies. We've had them with our children.

Pies! It's the future!

-It seems such a shame to cut it, doesn't it?

-Cut it!

-Are you sure?

-Yes. Please.

-Look at that.

-A nice-sized wedge, Kingy?

Yeah, please.

Ahhhh!

Oh! Ready? One, two, three...

Now, this is my sort of pie. Look at the colour of it, with the leeks!

That's beautiful.

Oh!

It makes you giggle, though, cos it's so lovely!

The leeks are quite powerful, going through it.

The crust... Well, look at that. Mmm!

Now, this is a classic British pie. It's ours. We're proud of it.

We've made pies since the Middle Ages,

and we're very good at it. And do you know what?

-I think we've just got better.

-Mm-hm!

And you can always add mushrooms to this pie

and make it even more sumptuous.

There can be no greater testament to British ingenuity

than the pie and the pudding.

Each a delicious and filling meal in one tasty package.

-They've inspired passion...

-Eccentricity...

..and we know they will continue to do so for years to come.

And if you want 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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