0:00:02 > 0:00:05We believe Britain has the best food in the world.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11'Our glorious country boasts some fantastic ingredients...
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Start eating it, will you!
0:00:13 > 0:00:16'It's home to some amazing producers...
0:00:16 > 0:00:19My goodness gracious. That is epic.
0:00:21 > 0:00:22'And innovative chefs.'
0:00:24 > 0:00:28'But our islands also have a fascinating food history.'
0:00:28 > 0:00:32The fish and chip shops of South Wales are running out of chips.
0:00:34 > 0:00:35Yes!
0:00:35 > 0:00:36'..and in this series,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40'we're uncovering revealing stories of our rich culinary past.'
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Now there is food history on a plate.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47'..as well as meeting our nation's food heroes
0:00:47 > 0:00:50'who are keeping this heritage alive.'
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Let's have them enjoying themselves. It's a short life.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Let's make it a happy one, like they always have had.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58'..and of course, we'll be cooking up a load of dishes
0:00:58 > 0:01:01'that reveal our foodie evolution.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Spring, summer, autumn or winter, it's brilliant.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10BOTH: Quite simply, the best of British!
0:01:29 > 0:01:32British shellfish are, without doubt, the best in the world.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Our cold, plankton-rich waters are bursting with them,
0:01:35 > 0:01:41and the majority are plentiful, sustainable and exceptionally yummy!
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Our national love affair with these tasty,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48easy-to-cook critters goes back as far as our feet have walked
0:01:48 > 0:01:53these British Isles, and that's why we've dedicated a whole show
0:01:53 > 0:01:56to celebrating great British shellfish.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Crustaceans, across the nations!
0:02:04 > 0:02:07'Yep, if there's one thing us Brits don't have to be selfish with,
0:02:07 > 0:02:08'it's our shellfish.'
0:02:11 > 0:02:14'As an island nation, we've never shied away from shelling out
0:02:14 > 0:02:17'on the rich variety of these armoured delicacies
0:02:17 > 0:02:18'that surround our shores.'
0:02:21 > 0:02:23'It doesn't matter whether we're munching on molluscs
0:02:23 > 0:02:25'like mussels, winkles and clams...'
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Oh, there we go, you little lovelies!
0:02:29 > 0:02:32'..or wrestling with Cornish lobsters and Cromer crabs.'
0:02:33 > 0:02:35'..there are few shells in the country
0:02:35 > 0:02:38'that us Brits have yet to crack.'
0:02:38 > 0:02:41What a wonderful thing to come out of the rivers.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44'So welcome to our generous and bountiful offering
0:02:44 > 0:02:47'of Great British shellfish.'
0:02:47 > 0:02:48It's perfect.
0:02:48 > 0:02:49What's not to love?
0:02:58 > 0:03:03You can't do best of British without this.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The oyster. I love these things.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Britain has the best oysters in the world.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12'And we've a long history of eating them.'
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'In the 19th century, oysters were a staple source of protein
0:03:17 > 0:03:19'for the poor...'
0:03:19 > 0:03:21'As Dickens himself observed,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25'this widely available shellfish came hand in hand with poverty...'
0:03:27 > 0:03:31'Yet flash forward a hundred years and overfishing, harsh winters
0:03:31 > 0:03:34'and neglect during two world wars had transformed them
0:03:34 > 0:03:36'into a rare and expensive luxury.'
0:03:37 > 0:03:39'To eat oysters here,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42'you need not only to be properly dressed but socially acceptable,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45'as well, of course, as having the money to go with it.'
0:03:45 > 0:03:48'Today, the Aga Khan is coming. Yesterday, a princess.'
0:03:49 > 0:03:51'Now farmed in great numbers again,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54'they're a little more accessible to your average Brit.'
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Huge, huge player in our culinary history, the oyster.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02It is, but one of our favourite recipes combines the oyster
0:04:02 > 0:04:05with the other great British ingredient, beef.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07The beef and oyster pie.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10The oysters give it a lovely, briny, savoury flavour.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Odd to think that the oysters were used to bulk out the beef,
0:04:14 > 0:04:16because the oysters were cheap.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20But also, the other little sneak ingredient that the British
0:04:20 > 0:04:24are better than anybody else in the world at doing is the bacon product.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26There's some bacon in here as well.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28'We'll be chucking in a bottle of stout...'
0:04:28 > 0:04:31'..and capping it with some rather nifty labour-saving
0:04:31 > 0:04:33'trick puff pastry.'
0:04:33 > 0:04:36You make it yourself, you get puff pastry with none of the hassle.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46'Firstly, we need to dice 900 grams of stewing beef
0:04:46 > 0:04:47'into bite-sized chunks.'
0:04:49 > 0:04:52'..and you get on with chopping some shallots.'
0:04:52 > 0:04:54'Three should do the trick'
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Just season the meat. Black pepper, bit of sea salt.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05'And we need to brown off this beef in batches
0:05:05 > 0:05:08'to insure we seal in all that wonderful flavour.'
0:05:08 > 0:05:10And if you put too much in the pan, the beef will stew,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12because the temperature of the pan will reduce,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17and it won't be hot enough to put some lovely colour on that beef.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22When did you have your first oyster?
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Actually, I spat my first oyster out when I was about four,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28I think, and I didn't come to oysters until much later,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31because I think it is an acquired taste.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33They're a subtle taste, though, aren't they?
0:05:33 > 0:05:35There's nothing invasive about them.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38No, I think it's more a texture thing for kids, really.
0:05:38 > 0:05:39Yeah.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43'So for those of us with a bit of an aversion to their texture,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'a cooked oyster in a pie is a great way of introducing yourself
0:05:47 > 0:05:48to this highly-prized mollusc.'
0:05:50 > 0:05:52'And with the meat browned off...'
0:05:52 > 0:05:54'..and the shallots in the frying pan
0:05:54 > 0:05:56'with two cloves of chopped garlic...'
0:05:56 > 0:05:59'It's time to get to grips with our star ingredient.'
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Here, that's where the main tendon is, the hinge,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10stick your knife in there, you'll find it.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11This is an oyster knife.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And then what you do, once you've gone through that, like that...
0:06:19 > 0:06:24..there is your oyster. Then what you do, loosen it from the shell,
0:06:24 > 0:06:25and we shuck it.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28What shuck means is you turn it over to the presentation side.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29That's if you were going to serve it raw,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33but seeing as we're not, we're going to put it in here, like that.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Right, the onions are coloured up. Time to add the fatty bacon.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39And it's streaky bacon. You could use smoked.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Oh, look at these!
0:06:42 > 0:06:43They're just lovely.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Taste great. Turn them over, and then what you do...
0:06:46 > 0:06:47You put them...!
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Put them in the pie. How many have we got left?
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Ten, 11, 12. There's two spare.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Look at it, though. It's a beautiful thing.
0:07:05 > 0:07:06Well, not really!
0:07:06 > 0:07:09I mean, what's beautiful about it?
0:07:09 > 0:07:10Jonathan Swift said,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13"Credit to the person who first thought of eating that."
0:07:13 > 0:07:16We are funny, though, aren't we, with our shellfish. Best in the world.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20I mean, the South Koreans go bonkers for our whelks,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and at the same time, we're importing cockles from Holland.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25Eh?
0:07:25 > 0:07:27And green-lipped mussels from New Zealand.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28What's going on?
0:07:28 > 0:07:31We've got stuff around our shore.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Will you stop... You lot at home. Start eating it, will you?
0:07:35 > 0:07:37They say that, medically speaking,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40oysters are among the best thing you could possibly eat.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46They're high in protein, they're full of vitamins and goodness,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48and apparently they're good for your libido.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58'As long as Kingy doesn't eat any more, we'll pop these in the fridge
0:07:58 > 0:08:00'and finish adding them to the pie later.'
0:08:00 > 0:08:03'There'll be plenty of oysters, Dave, don't you worry!'
0:08:03 > 0:08:05'You just focus on finishing off the beefy bit!'
0:08:07 > 0:08:11'Add two chopped sprigs of thyme, and a couple of bay leaves.'
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Take a bottle of stout, and deglaze the pan with that.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Let that froth up, and then pour that into the mix.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29To that, we add about half a litre of good beef stock.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32That's the beefy bit of our beef and oyster pie.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36'Pop that in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius
0:08:36 > 0:08:38'for about an hour and a half.'
0:08:45 > 0:08:47'And if you want, when your hour and a half's up...'
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Now, look at that. It's nice.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54'..you can thicken your gravy with a bit of cornflower.'
0:08:54 > 0:08:56'Simply mix in two tablespoons with some water
0:08:56 > 0:08:59'and stir into a paste before adding to your beef.'
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Oh, that is gravy.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03That is gravy.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Stick to your ribs.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'Add that mixture to your pie dish and then leave to cool.'
0:09:08 > 0:09:10'We'll add the oysters later.'
0:09:10 > 0:09:11'And while we wait,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15'let's get on with our aforementioned trick puff pastry.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:21And it involves frozen butter and a cheese grater.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Frozen butter, and it has to be frozen, it has to
0:09:26 > 0:09:28be in the fridge for at least two hours,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32because what happens is we grate the butter into the flour,
0:09:32 > 0:09:38and it stays solid, but when you bake it, that butter creates flakes.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41'375 grams of butter goes into 600 grams of flour.'
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Have you put your tongue out yet?
0:09:45 > 0:09:46No.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Right, that'll do. Now, fold that in, please.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Make sure it's folded in quite well, because that butter needs to be
0:10:03 > 0:10:05evenly distributed throughout the flour.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08'And remember, don't use your hands!'
0:10:08 > 0:10:13'They'll warm up the butter and turn our trick into a disaster.'
0:10:13 > 0:10:17'Add 375ml of water and make sure that's cold, too.'
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Have to be careful we don't put too much water in.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Yeah, that'll go, now.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28I can feel it in my fingers.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32This paste will probably make double what we need,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36but actually, after all this grating, what you can do is freeze this
0:10:36 > 0:10:38pastry, so it is worth making a double batch up.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43'It's only when our mixture begins to stick together
0:10:43 > 0:10:45'that it's OK to handle it.'
0:10:46 > 0:10:48'A light kneading on a floured surface
0:10:48 > 0:10:53'is the final touch to our shortcut trick puff pastry.'
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Half for me, and half for the freezer.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57- Oh, look!- Look.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59The folds.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01The matrix and the striations
0:11:01 > 0:11:05that have been caused by that cold butter, all without the folding.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09GUN COCKS
0:11:12 > 0:11:15'Roll it out to your desired thickness to make your lid.'
0:11:15 > 0:11:18A bit of pastry edging helps firm things up, up top.
0:11:20 > 0:11:21Righto.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24In with the oysters.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25How many are left there?
0:11:25 > 0:11:27One, two, three,
0:11:28 > 0:11:30four, five, six, seven.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31Eight, nine.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Ten. 11.
0:11:34 > 0:11:3612.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Just cover that with water.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52There you go.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Beautiful.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55Now, we need a steam hole.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Look what I've got here.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04It's a cow-shaped pie cutter.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11Beef and oyster.
0:12:12 > 0:12:13Eggy wash, and we're done.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19And if this isn't history,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22the British culinary tradition in a pie, I don't know what is.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24I bet Nelson had this for his tea.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25Yeah.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30Place that into a preheated oven, 180 degrees Celsius for a fan one,
0:12:30 > 0:12:3425-30 minutes, until it's golden and luscious.
0:12:34 > 0:12:35That's a beautiful pie, Kingy.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37It certainly is, Myers.
0:12:39 > 0:12:40See you later.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Oh! Oh, yes!
0:12:54 > 0:12:55Now that's a pie.
0:12:55 > 0:12:56Look at that.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02Good pastry, huh?
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Oh, yes. Puff pastry without the effort.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08It smells fantastic.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13- It's where the sea meets the land, isn't it?- It is.
0:13:13 > 0:13:14In food form.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16It's like a food estuary.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Oh, look at that.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23This is a generous dish.
0:13:23 > 0:13:24It certainly is.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27Oh, man!
0:13:27 > 0:13:29And then, jauntily...
0:13:32 > 0:13:33Some kale?
0:13:33 > 0:13:34I think so.
0:13:36 > 0:13:37And a couple of batons?
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Oh, indeed.
0:13:40 > 0:13:41There it is.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48The amalgam of everything that's the best of British.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Want to have a little bit of oyster. Look at that.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56That's a taste of England.
0:13:57 > 0:14:03And actually, if you didn't want the oysters in, it's all right without.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08It so isn't!
0:14:12 > 0:14:14'Forget your scampi and steak, viewers.'
0:14:14 > 0:14:17'If you fancy giving the original surf and turf a go,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20'you can't get much better than this.'
0:14:30 > 0:14:33'Like these oysters, much of the shellfish available to us
0:14:33 > 0:14:36'in the UK is now farmed up and down our coasts.'
0:14:36 > 0:14:38'But some UK fishermen are still only taking
0:14:38 > 0:14:40'what nature can afford them.'
0:14:48 > 0:14:52'In September, where most of the country are hopefully celebrating
0:14:52 > 0:14:53'bringing in a successful harvest,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57'for one group of fishermen in North Wales, the month signifies
0:14:57 > 0:15:00'the start of eight months of back-breaking work.'
0:15:02 > 0:15:05'Yep, with the night's drawing in and the temperature dropping,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09'it should come as no surprise that what these fishermen toil to gather
0:15:09 > 0:15:13'is regarded as one of this country's best-kept seafood secrets.'
0:15:20 > 0:15:24'Thomas Jones is the third generation of Jones family 'Mussel Men'
0:15:24 > 0:15:26'to work the famous Conwy mussel banks,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30'and they do it using nothing but a giant rake.'
0:15:32 > 0:15:34There's nowhere else in the UK
0:15:34 > 0:15:36that'll fish for mussels in this way.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40The skill of doing it with a rake has passed down through
0:15:40 > 0:15:42families and generations.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Like my dad taught me, and his dad taught him.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54I've actually been to Aberystwyth University to get a degree,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58but I always had at the back of my mind that when I came back,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01I'd carry on fishing, and that's what I've done.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07All the fishermen have always treated it as a fantastic
0:16:07 > 0:16:13part of Conwy's history, so no intention of changing.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20'The bountiful mussel beds at the mouth of the Conwy estuary
0:16:20 > 0:16:23'have been fished since Roman times and have supported
0:16:23 > 0:16:26'a commercial mussel fishery for hundreds of years.'
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Just after the Second World War, there were over 70 licenses held,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34and whole families were involved in the trade.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37'Tom's keeping these traditions alive,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40'but they are not using these age-old techniques for sentimental reasons.'
0:16:41 > 0:16:45The way we fish for mussels with the rake is very traditional.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47It's probably the most environmentally-friendly
0:16:47 > 0:16:48way of fishing.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51There is no harm to the natural beds, you know,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54we only rake of a certain size.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57The small stuff will fall back through the rake, you know,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59ready to grow back, and we're seasonal here,
0:16:59 > 0:17:04from September to April, and then in the four months
0:17:04 > 0:17:08we're not raking, it gives the beds and mussels a chance to replace.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10The beds have been here for 500 years so far,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14so it must be a pretty good method.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18If you brought a dredger in here now, and carried on working
0:17:18 > 0:17:23all year round, the beds would be ruined within 12 months.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26That would be the end of the industry.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28'..and these mussels aren't going to grow anywhere else.'
0:17:28 > 0:17:31'They're not known as black diamonds for nothing.'
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Because they grow in deep waters here,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35the mussels tend to grow bigger,
0:17:35 > 0:17:37so they've got a lot more meat inside them,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and most fishermen will tell you, because the mussels
0:17:40 > 0:17:42grow in the estuary,
0:17:42 > 0:17:47so they've got the mixture of fresh water from the valleys
0:17:47 > 0:17:49and the mixture of the salt water from the sea,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53so the mixture of waters gives it a distinct taste.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59'In their heyday, it was these outstanding qualities
0:17:59 > 0:18:02'that saw Conwy mussels exported all over the UK.'
0:18:05 > 0:18:08'But, where there were once up to 70 mussel licenses
0:18:08 > 0:18:11'held on the river, there are now only around six,'
0:18:11 > 0:18:14'and despite all of Tom's catch being sold in the UK alone,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17'Conwy mussels are still a bit hard to come by.'
0:18:19 > 0:18:22'But if you can find some, he suggests you make the most of them
0:18:22 > 0:18:25'and cook them up with a bit of continental flair!'
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Our most common way is to steam them with a bit of wine
0:18:29 > 0:18:33and chop up some celery and some garlic,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37get your bread ready for dunking in the juice, and away you go!
0:18:37 > 0:18:39'But for the folk who fished these mussels,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42'things would have never been so fancy.'
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Years ago it was popular for housewives to get Conwy mussels
0:18:46 > 0:18:48and just fry them up in a pan.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Mussels for breakfast, mussels for lunch, mussels for tea.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53It was a cheap and healthy meal.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57'And it still can be now.'
0:18:57 > 0:19:00'When it comes to making the most of a Conwy mussel,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02'the world is your oyster.'
0:19:02 > 0:19:03Well, I just like, personally,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07to sprinkle a bit of chilli over it now, it just gives it a bit of zang.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10'I think you mean 'zing', dude!'
0:19:10 > 0:19:13'Ah, well, whatever floats your boat, Kingy.'
0:19:13 > 0:19:14'It's not very British,
0:19:14 > 0:19:19'but I do find a splash of vino would be very appropriate here.'
0:19:19 > 0:19:21'You always find the old vino appropriate!'
0:19:21 > 0:19:24'With the mussels, dude, with the mussels!'
0:19:24 > 0:19:26You can steam them in water just as good,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30but most people now like a little glass of wine in it.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32'Well said, sir!'
0:19:32 > 0:19:34'And you can't help but revel in the fact
0:19:34 > 0:19:38'that these shellfish are just so quick and easy to cook.'
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Generally, you'd keep the mussels in five or ten minutes,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44but you want to keep an eye on the mussels, really.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47When they open, they're cooked and ready to eat.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50'Cooking mussels really is that simple.'
0:19:50 > 0:19:53'Shellfish like these are a quality, ecologically sound
0:19:53 > 0:19:55'and abundant food source
0:19:55 > 0:19:58'that's right on our doorstep, and we need to make more of it.'
0:19:58 > 0:19:59Everyone should be enjoying them.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01You know, we've got perfect waters here,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04we harvest them ourselves, there's no reason why
0:20:04 > 0:20:08we should be letting this great product go overseas.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10They're such a healthy food to eat.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Should be part of everyone's diet that likes seafood.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23'If there's one native shellfish that's been undervalued more
0:20:23 > 0:20:27'than any other in the 21st century, it has to be the winkle.'
0:20:29 > 0:20:31'For thousands of years, they supplied our countrymen
0:20:31 > 0:20:35'with a valuable and appreciated source of fast food.'
0:20:35 > 0:20:37'Aye, before we learned to cultivate the land,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40'we foraged for food, and what could be easier to catch
0:20:40 > 0:20:44'than a very slow-moving and abundant sea snail?'
0:20:44 > 0:20:45'Right through the post-war years,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48they were still a very popular form of grub,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51highly valued, and people waxed lyrical about them.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53They're delicious, and they're moreish.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Make caviar seem quite boorish!
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The humble winkle, king of them all.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Bought from your local shellfish store.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02How's that?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08'Sadly, over the last few decades, the world of gastronomy appears
0:21:08 > 0:21:11'to have turned its back on this humble little gastropod.'
0:21:11 > 0:21:13'And the mollusc has slipped off the menu.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17'Now we think it's time for this sustainable and tasty treat
0:21:17 > 0:21:18'to make a return.'
0:21:18 > 0:21:22'But there's just a few things standing in its way.'
0:21:22 > 0:21:23'Firstly, there's its name.'
0:21:23 > 0:21:26'Yeah, the word "winkle" doesn't really conjure up
0:21:26 > 0:21:28'the image of an epicurean delight.'
0:21:28 > 0:21:31'Not helped by the fact it's become little more
0:21:31 > 0:21:32'than a playground euphemism.'
0:21:32 > 0:21:35'But it was no joke back in the '60s.'
0:21:35 > 0:21:38At any time of the year, when he has the chance,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40Snips will be busy with his winkle.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43'OK, maybe it was after all.'
0:21:43 > 0:21:46He collects small winkles from all over the place and puts them
0:21:46 > 0:21:49down on his own patch, and he leaves them there to fatten
0:21:49 > 0:21:52until they've grown big enough for the market.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56This is something he can keep going all the time.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58The winkle is a very consistent performer.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03'It might well be consistent
0:22:03 > 0:22:07'but pretty it ain't, and here probably lies its second problem.'
0:22:07 > 0:22:10'Especially when you see it really big, close up.'
0:22:13 > 0:22:15'Stop, mate, we're trying to persuade people to eat them!'
0:22:18 > 0:22:20'But looks aren't everything.'
0:22:20 > 0:22:23'I mean, look at us. We're both extremely tasty.'
0:22:23 > 0:22:27'These days we're far too squeamish about our food.'
0:22:27 > 0:22:31'Again, not so much of a problem back in Snips' day.'
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Snips is thinking about his winkles again.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37What was sown a year or more before should now be ready for reaping.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42Well, you can average 300 a week, see.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45That's a lot of winkles to pick up with one pair of hands, isn't it?
0:22:47 > 0:22:50And they all have to be graded and bagged,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54and then dispatched upcountry, where the football crowd will eat them.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57'And that brings us to the final stumbling block.'
0:22:57 > 0:22:59'Actually eating them,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02'these little fellas can be a bit on the tricksy side.'
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Pick the black cap of the winkle asunder.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Now thrust the pin into the head that's under.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Twist your pin and the winkle's out.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Thrust into the cavern, called a mouth.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17'Yep, it demands a certain amount of dexterity
0:23:17 > 0:23:19'to prize them out of their shell.'
0:23:19 > 0:23:23'So much so, it's even found its way into the record books.'
0:23:23 > 0:23:25This, now, is an official challenge
0:23:25 > 0:23:29to the existing Guinness Book Of Records.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Now, this is the only winkle-picking championship
0:23:32 > 0:23:35in the Guinness Book Of Records. I don't know why.
0:23:35 > 0:23:36Get set, go!
0:23:36 > 0:23:39'But we believe the winkle should be back on our plates.'
0:23:39 > 0:23:41'Forget the negatives.'
0:23:41 > 0:23:44'They're sustainable, can be found up and down the UK
0:23:44 > 0:23:46'and free, if you're willing to go out and look.'
0:23:46 > 0:23:49'But most of all, they taste fantastic.'
0:23:49 > 0:23:54Countless millions have been eaten. A seafood that just can't be beaten.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58So buy a pint or three, enjoy the scavenger of the sea.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01'He's not wrong!'
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'But whilst we do have a profusion of some of the tastiest molluscs
0:24:04 > 0:24:06'you could ever hope to munch on...'
0:24:06 > 0:24:09'we've never been afraid of ripping a page
0:24:09 > 0:24:13'out of somebody else's recipe book when it comes to cooking them.'
0:24:13 > 0:24:16One of the great things about being British is, in fact,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19we can take recipes from overseas and make them our own.
0:24:19 > 0:24:20Yes.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23An Italian recipe sometimes translates wonderfully well
0:24:23 > 0:24:25with British ingredients.
0:24:25 > 0:24:26They do.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28They do. Take the vongole.
0:24:28 > 0:24:34Exactly. Basically, it's tomatoes, spaghetti, chilli,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36good, good British surf clams.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Well, they're not surf clams, they're palourdes.
0:24:39 > 0:24:40Is that a palourde?
0:24:40 > 0:24:41That's a palourde.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43And it's actually from Scotland, that one.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Palourdes from Scotland. Not easy to say.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47But clams are interesting.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49There's loads of different types of clams around.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51There's manilas, there's all sorts.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54- Manilas were an accident, weren't they?- They were.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56They tried to introduce them into Britain, and they escaped,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00but I tell you, the one that makes me laugh is in the Solent,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02you've got the American hardback clam.
0:25:02 > 0:25:03What happened was, the Queen Mary
0:25:03 > 0:25:06and the Queen Elizabeth would come back from America,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and it would dump its shellfish overboard before it docked,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and these clams, who are Americans, go, "Howdy-doody", start breeding,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15and now we've got American hardback clams in the Solent.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Now, top tip when you're dealing with clams.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23What happens, where do they live? In the sand.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25So cover them with water, leave them for 20 minutes.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29That gives the clams a chance to purge.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32What that means is it goes... IMITATES SPITTING
0:25:32 > 0:25:36..and shoots out all of the sand and grit and the bit that you don't
0:25:36 > 0:25:38want to eat, because there is nothing worse
0:25:38 > 0:25:40than an un-purged clam. It's horrible.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43I've got a couple of tomatoes here, and we're using good,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46British tomatoes, and we're going to make the tomato sauce, so we skim
0:25:46 > 0:25:51them first, slash a cross across the bottom, and that's the pan of water
0:25:52 > 0:25:55that I'm going to use for the pasta. We might as well salt it now.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Pop those in for a moment.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06'And when he says "a moment", 30 seconds should be more than enough.'
0:26:06 > 0:26:09And pretty soon, the tomato is going to shed its skin,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12going "I'm hot, I'm going to take my skin off!"
0:26:12 > 0:26:15At that moment, I grab it, freeze it, rip the skin off.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16Now, look at this.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20That has got split and wrinkly like an old man's Adam's apple.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Put it into cold water, and it's so easy.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28Bring that back to the boil, and that's ready for the spaghetti.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Now, try and get a good quality spaghetti,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34because it's one of the main parts of the dish.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Lots of water when you're cooking pasta.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Look at that tomato. Its skin's as easy as a skin thing.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Right.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44- Are you going to snap it?- No.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46I'd break it, you see, because what happens is I'd eat that,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I'd start winding on my fork, before I know it,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52I've got a lump of pasta the size of a tennis ball,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55and it's all over my shirt, in my hair, around my face.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58That's why I haven't snapped it.
0:26:58 > 0:26:59You swine!
0:27:01 > 0:27:03'Now, Kingy's booby-trapped pasta
0:27:03 > 0:27:06'will take no more than ten minutes to cook through.'
0:27:06 > 0:27:09'..and fingers crossed, that's about as much time as we'll need
0:27:09 > 0:27:10'to knock up the sauce.'
0:27:10 > 0:27:14'..within which we'll cook our clam-tastic centrepieces.'
0:27:14 > 0:27:19Into the pan, four tablespoons of olive oil.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21I've got the shallot on, Kingy.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23I've got the chilli. Finely sliced.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25- Shall we leave the seeds in?- Oh, aye.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29I had my first vongole years ago, when I'd just finished college.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31And I'd bought an old motorbike,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34and it was in pieces in my mate's back bedroom,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37and I rebuilt it in his bedroom, rode it out through the hall,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40into the front street, got an MOT, and rode it to Florence.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43And then in Pisa, I had a vongole.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45When I came home, I tried to replicate it,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48and I cooked it with tin clams, little tin baby clams,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51that clamato, you know, the tomato juice and clam juices,
0:27:51 > 0:27:56and I did it with chilli flakes, and actually, it was OK.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59And at the time, when everybody else was still in the spag bols,
0:27:59 > 0:28:00I was offering a vongole.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Well, that's you being cutting-edge.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05The shallots go into the hot oil. Oh, that's too hot!
0:28:05 > 0:28:07We don't want to burn it.
0:28:09 > 0:28:10That would be wrong.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Four cloves of garlic, sliced.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16In a vongole, the clams are little diamonds of flavour,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20but the sauce can be as robust and punchy as you like.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Look at that. Now that's a fair amount of chilli.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26This would bring a wonderful ray of sunshine onto a dreary
0:28:26 > 0:28:27winter's day, wouldn't it?
0:28:30 > 0:28:33- Right, shall we put the tomatoes in? - Yeah.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36And fresh tomatoes, not tinned.
0:28:36 > 0:28:37Let's get some heat through that.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Give that a couple of minutes, and then we put the wine in.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42'That's 150ml of white wine.'
0:28:45 > 0:28:48That really needs to bubble up. You need to burn the alcohol off,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51then it's time for Captain Clam to take to the stage.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Now, what we want is this pasta to be al dente.
0:28:57 > 0:28:58Which is...
0:28:58 > 0:29:00- I don't like it too al dente, though. - I do.
0:29:02 > 0:29:03Not far off.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05Right. The star turns.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07The palourdes.
0:29:07 > 0:29:08Now, then, in we go.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Scotland meets Naples.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15Oh!
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Just push them through the sauce. They're just starting to water.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Right, stick that lid on, so it intensifies the heat.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25The clams are encompassed in that heat,
0:29:25 > 0:29:27and they open their little, smiling gobs.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31What do you reckon, Kingy? Give it a minute and a shake?
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Oh, there we go! You little lovelies!
0:29:35 > 0:29:39'The pasta's done. Almost time to combine it with our clams.'
0:29:39 > 0:29:44I love pasta! We don't eat enough of it, do we?
0:29:44 > 0:29:45No, not any more.
0:29:45 > 0:29:46Not since the diet, no.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Nice big bunch of flat leaf parsley.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Just tossed in at the last minute, stalks and all.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00Oh, man, look at that!
0:30:00 > 0:30:03If the clams haven't opened, don't eat them.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08On account of you'll become very untidy, very quickly.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10Yes, you'll be heading for a proper calamity.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Do you see what he did there?
0:30:17 > 0:30:20This pan and its entirety goes into the spaghetti pan.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And the flat leaf parsley just goes on the top at the last minute.
0:30:24 > 0:30:25Let it steam a little bit.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27And just toss it.
0:30:27 > 0:30:28Black pepper.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Now I did salt the water before I cooked the pasta,
0:30:35 > 0:30:36but I think we need a bit more, don't you?
0:30:36 > 0:30:37We do, we do.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41Fantastic. Look at that.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44There's no highfalutin presentation with this, is there, Kingy?
0:30:44 > 0:30:47No, there's not, because as the ingredients would suggest,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50it's a very simple dish, but it is so tasty and lovely.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53And no Parmesan cheese with a vongole, I would suggest.
0:30:59 > 0:31:00Oh, yes.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04And you don't have to shell out much to make this dish.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08How lovely does that look?
0:31:09 > 0:31:10Get in. I'm just going to dig in.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Yes. I'm a winder.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15I'm a winder, and then a...
0:31:17 > 0:31:19I want another day out of this shirt.
0:31:24 > 0:31:30You know, this is a great Anglo-Italian relationship, this.
0:31:30 > 0:31:32The British vongole.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36And you know, I think it benefits from the relationship on both sides.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39That relationship is cemented in Florence,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43because there is a lad that has the most fantastic delicatessen
0:31:43 > 0:31:47and fish counter, and he gets his clams from Cornwall.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51God bless British shellfish.
0:31:51 > 0:31:52Oh, aye.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06And it's the Cornish coast we're off to next.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10With a coastline of over 300 miles
0:32:10 > 0:32:13and surrounded by water on three sides
0:32:13 > 0:32:17it's no surprise that seafood is high on the agenda in Cornwall.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20And when you're down here on holiday, it's a wonderful treat to be able
0:32:20 > 0:32:23to indulge yourself in one of the most sought after crustaceans
0:32:23 > 0:32:24in the country.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29The craggy coastline and rocky seabed that makes the Cornish coast
0:32:29 > 0:32:31provides the perfect habitat for lobsters,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34and catching and cooking them has been a speciality
0:32:34 > 0:32:38of fisherman-cum-local cafe owner, Callum, for many years.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Well, the main fishery here for a long time was herrings.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51That used to be the big fishery, was a herring fishery, in the winter.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54It was the retired guys that did lobster fishing.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57But over the years, with the decline of herrings and other fish,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03it has become more and more important.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Shellfish is now such an important part of the fishery.
0:33:05 > 0:33:0899% of all fish caught here is crabs and lobsters,
0:33:08 > 0:33:10and the more value is the lobster.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17But as the saying goes, Kingy, a valuable fish is a vulnerable fish.
0:33:17 > 0:33:18There was a boom time,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21and people did catch everything they possibly could.
0:33:21 > 0:33:22But times have changed now.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25From this size and scale fishing,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28if we out-fished this area, there is nowhere else for us to go.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30This is our only patch, in here.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37It is such a wonderful resource, and we are an island nation,
0:33:37 > 0:33:38so we've got to look after it.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47So, to ensure fishermen continue to find lobsters in their pots
0:33:47 > 0:33:49so we can find them in ours,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52scientists are working together with fishermen like Callum
0:33:52 > 0:33:55to preserve the fishery for future generations.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04The National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow is a charity set up in 2000
0:34:04 > 0:34:06to conserve local lobster stocks.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12It rears thousands of baby lobsters to be released into the wild.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17And it all begins with the fishermen supplying what they call
0:34:17 > 0:34:18buried hens.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22Don't worry, viewers, it's not what you think.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26General Manager Dom Boothroyd oversees the whole operation.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28When a female has got lots of eggs,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31it looks actually just like a series of blackberries held
0:34:31 > 0:34:34underneath the tail, that's why we call it buried hens.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37There's probably 4,000 eggs, something like that, on there.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39They can have anywhere up
0:34:39 > 0:34:43to about 40,000 eggs for an exceptionally large female.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46And these eggs are probably a week and a half away from hatching.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51And the reason they have to produce so many eggs
0:34:51 > 0:34:53is because as a baby lobster
0:34:53 > 0:34:57your chances of survival over the first two weeks are pretty slim.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02So in here, you've got some larvae that hatched out
0:35:02 > 0:35:03just a few days ago,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07and they are being fed on some frozen planktonic diets.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09And in the wild, they'd be growing in the surface
0:35:09 > 0:35:12layers of the water, they'd maybe move down during the night,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16up during the day, and they're quite weak swimmers.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20They're very vulnerable during most stages of the life cycle,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24so shoaling fish, sprats, herring, mackerel will feed on them
0:35:24 > 0:35:27in huge numbers, and what we do is we raise them through that
0:35:27 > 0:35:31area of the life cycle, which is probably only about two weeks or so.
0:35:33 > 0:35:34Here in the hatchery,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37sibling rivalry is the only real threat they'll encounter.
0:35:39 > 0:35:40They're so cannibalistic,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43we don't want to lose loads to eating each other,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46so we put them into these cells here,
0:35:46 > 0:35:51and we can hold 4,000 animals in here at any one stage,
0:35:51 > 0:35:56and then we can feed them in about ten minutes, whereas what
0:35:56 > 0:35:59we used to do is we used to feed them individually by hand,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01and that would take all day, and it was very time-consuming
0:36:01 > 0:36:02and quite frustrating.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Yep, rearing kids is hard work, but fortunately after three months,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12these ones are more than ready to leave home.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18And by releasing these youngsters into the wild,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21the hatchery hopes to secure lobster catches for generations to come.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29People aren't going to stop eating lobster.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32People are always going to want to eat it. It's very tasty.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36So we've got to do something to work hand-in-hand with the fishing
0:36:36 > 0:36:41industry to try and sustain it. This is just one of the ways of doing it.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44This is one which is new, it is a novel approach.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50It's creating a shift away from just hunting and gathering,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54just going on harvesting, towards farming.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58And combined with fishermen only landing suitably-sized adults,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01the tide seems to be gradually turning, which is great news
0:37:01 > 0:37:04for the lobster, and brilliant news for us.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08I've been fishing now for 24 years,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12and it does seem to be holding its own,
0:37:12 > 0:37:16but this is what's on our doorstep, this is what we should be eating.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19And it's so good for you. What's not to do?
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Well, one thing we've not done is cooked any.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Back at Callum's cafe, only a stone's throw
0:37:26 > 0:37:31from the quayside of Port Isaac, he promised to do just that.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Here you can have lobster all sorts of ways,
0:37:33 > 0:37:38but there's only one dish that can really do our catch any justice.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41Today we're going to put a thermidor sauce on the lobster.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44This is quite a classic dish.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46It's all about getting the good-quality products
0:37:46 > 0:37:48of the sauce to enhance the flavour of the lobster.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Making a basic thermidor is a lot simpler than you might think!
0:37:56 > 0:37:59To kick off, simmer some onions in white wine.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Once this has been boiled down,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04you just add it to a cheese sauce of your own making.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09Add a spoonful of mustard powder, and in the 15 minutes it takes to
0:38:09 > 0:38:11complete the sauce, your lobster will be ready!
0:38:12 > 0:38:16Originally invented in Paris at the turn of the 19th century,
0:38:16 > 0:38:20a lobster thermidor has always been a dish we associate with posh folk.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25Here in Cornwall, Callum's version, using his own catch
0:38:25 > 0:38:29and these basic ingredients, are giving this bourgeois staple
0:38:29 > 0:38:32a new reputation as a great-tasting food for all.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37I do think fishermen are now more custodians of the sea.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40We are just trying to maintain the fishery,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43and we just are harvesting a crop now.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48We just want to take the mature fish and have a sustainable,
0:38:48 > 0:38:49vibrant future.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56These days, it's not always easy to find great-tasting seafood
0:38:56 > 0:38:58you can eat with a clear conscience.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01But order a lobster thermidor down here in Cornwall
0:39:01 > 0:39:05and chances are you'll be doing just that!
0:39:13 > 0:39:17'Whilst the conservation of some of our coastal shellfish has
0:39:17 > 0:39:20'taken priority in Cornwall...'
0:39:20 > 0:39:23'..on this stretch of the River Thames, an equally tasty
0:39:23 > 0:39:26'freshwater cousin of the lobster, the crayfish,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29'has multiplied to almost epidemic proportions.'
0:39:30 > 0:39:32And we're here to help catch some.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34It's a nice day for it, isn't it?
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Oh, it is, it is. Wrangling crayfish.
0:39:37 > 0:39:38Something the British are good at.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40Messing about in boats and a bit of fishing.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46'It's a prime hunting ground for a local river legend
0:39:46 > 0:39:49'who really can only go by one name.'
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Hello. You must be Crayfish Bob.
0:39:51 > 0:39:52It is, I am indeed.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Very nice to meet you, Bob.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55Nice to meet you.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Where's your limp and your parrot, dude? That's what we were thinking!
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Oh! No, we'll be OK. I've got a fine vessel.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05'Hey, Dave, I'm not sure about this.'
0:40:05 > 0:40:08'He's got grass growing in there, and a tree out the side!
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Let's get ready to rumble!
0:40:14 > 0:40:17'Eh up, Kingy, three men in a boat?'
0:40:17 > 0:40:22'Man, let's hope it stays that way, as we're after an American monster
0:40:22 > 0:40:24'that's over-aggressive over-sexed, and guess what?'
0:40:24 > 0:40:25'It's over here!'
0:40:27 > 0:40:29- Oh, here we go! - Oh, nice!
0:40:29 > 0:40:30- Yes.- There you go.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33- Oh, wow! - Hey, man, they're great.
0:40:33 > 0:40:34They're big, aren't they?
0:40:34 > 0:40:36There are some big ones in here, yeah.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38These are American signal crayfish,
0:40:38 > 0:40:43and that one is probably about three or four years old.
0:40:43 > 0:40:44Right.
0:40:44 > 0:40:45They're called signal,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48not because of the red which they all have on the underside
0:40:48 > 0:40:51of the claw, but because of the little white knuckles.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Bob, how and when did these crayfish get here?
0:40:53 > 0:40:59Specifically, in 1976, when the Government introduced them
0:40:59 > 0:41:02on a scheme, to make money out of exporting them
0:41:02 > 0:41:06as a farming product, so they stuck them into aquaculture centres,
0:41:06 > 0:41:07fisheries, and places like that,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11with the idea of exporting them to Scandinavia.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15It didn't work, so after that, businesses go bust, lakes get
0:41:15 > 0:41:19abandoned, crayfish walk, people help them, then they get everywhere.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24'And that proved to be a big problem for our smaller, timid,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26'indigenous breed of crayfish.'
0:41:28 > 0:41:31'In some rivers, these bigger, fiercer American invaders
0:41:31 > 0:41:35'have outcompeted and outbred our native white-clawed variety
0:41:35 > 0:41:38'to become a major river menace.'
0:41:39 > 0:41:41'But all is not lost.'
0:41:41 > 0:41:44'Bob's on a one-man mission to eradicate this pest
0:41:44 > 0:41:45'once and for all.'
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Man, it's just never-ending!
0:41:49 > 0:41:51How long ago did you set those traps, Bob?
0:41:51 > 0:41:54I put this in last night.
0:41:54 > 0:41:55- Really?- Yeah.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58It's an infestation, not a colonisation, isn't it?
0:41:58 > 0:41:59It is an infestation.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Some of the riverbed's carpeted with them, almost.
0:42:02 > 0:42:03- Really?- Yeah.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06I mean, there are places you can go where you won't see any frogs,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08you won't see any dragonflies or anything,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11because there's so many of them that they've just...
0:42:11 > 0:42:12Kill and eat everything.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14Bob, how did you get into this?
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Well, I first heard about these guys and the problem with them
0:42:18 > 0:42:20back in the early '80s.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24I was floating up the river in the early '00s, and I realised that
0:42:24 > 0:42:28the problem was bad, and nothing seemed to have been done about it.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30I thought, no-brainer, it must be easy.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33They're worth money, they're good food. There must be a solution.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Naive, but here we are, nine years later.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40'They might be plentiful, but you still need a licence to trap
0:42:40 > 0:42:44'American crayfish, even where they are a problem.'
0:42:44 > 0:42:47'But fortunately, where you can get one, you can revel in the fact that
0:42:47 > 0:42:51'this is one environmental crisis that makes some great eating.'
0:42:58 > 0:43:02Strangely enough, the spread of our native crayfish seems to have
0:43:02 > 0:43:04been dictated by mediaeval monks,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07who introduced the shellfish to rivers all around the UK.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14A quality, readily available meat, they were, by Tudor times,
0:43:14 > 0:43:18finding their way into feasts hosted by Henry VIII himself.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22'And despite falling out of favour in recent years,
0:43:22 > 0:43:26'the greater abundance and size of these American invaders has
0:43:26 > 0:43:30'reinvigorated our appetite for this once-common dish.'
0:43:30 > 0:43:32'And a favourite way of cooking them
0:43:32 > 0:43:35'would simply involve boiling them up in a stock.'
0:43:35 > 0:43:36But what's in the stock?
0:43:36 > 0:43:39Started off as a ham stock, boiled a ham up in it,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42and we've just put some local beer in there.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Something around an old traditional British approach to them.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50That's them in. What's in the big pot, Bob?
0:43:50 > 0:43:53This one, this is the traditional Swedish way of cooking them.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57A lot of dill, a little bit of fennel, maybe, some peppercorns.
0:43:57 > 0:43:58They're huge.
0:43:58 > 0:43:59Aren't they?
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Now, what's your technique?
0:44:01 > 0:44:03I tend to break them in the middle like that.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06Your good Swede will immediately...
0:44:06 > 0:44:07Suck the head.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10I'm not a head-sucker.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11Oh, can I have your head?
0:44:15 > 0:44:16These are sweet.
0:44:16 > 0:44:17Absolutely fantastic.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24'If eating them whole isn't your cup of tea,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27'Bob's come up with some ingenious ways of giving these bolshie
0:44:27 > 0:44:30'American invaders a little more British finesse.'
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Hello, Madam, do you come here often?
0:44:33 > 0:44:35'And to help eat the catch, a posse of Thames river folk
0:44:35 > 0:44:38'equally committed to Bob's environmental cause.'
0:44:38 > 0:44:43'And to kick off with, an amuse-bouche of crayfish ice cream.'
0:44:43 > 0:44:45- That crayfish ice cream is stunning. - Marvellous.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48It's spicy, it's tasty.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Chillies at the end, lovely.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53'Some potted crayfish to follow.'
0:44:53 > 0:44:55'And you don't need to guess
0:44:55 > 0:44:58'what Bob's gone and stuck into the quiche, do you?'
0:44:58 > 0:45:01'And for pudding, Kingy?'
0:45:01 > 0:45:02'More crayfish?'
0:45:02 > 0:45:05These are the ones we caught.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07What a wonderful thing to come out of the rivers.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09You know, everywhere else in the world,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12they have crayfish festivals and you celebrate them.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14- I think it's about time we started. - We should.
0:45:14 > 0:45:15It starts right here.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18It does. We've got a good one going on.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20'It might be rather optimistic
0:45:20 > 0:45:24'to try and eat our way out of an environmental catastrophe.'
0:45:24 > 0:45:26'But given that these crayfish taste so good,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29'I'm sure we can pull together and all give it our best shot.'
0:45:39 > 0:45:43The Thames might not have become famous for its crayfish yet.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46But over the years, one spot in the country has built up
0:45:46 > 0:45:50a reputation for supplying a truly special little delicacy.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53'Most of the Norfolk coast is flat and marshy,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56'but around Cromer the cliffs rise above a chalky seabed,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00'and it's in these waters that you find the famous Norfolk crabs.'
0:46:03 > 0:46:07'The Cromer crab is particularly renowned for its high proportion
0:46:07 > 0:46:10'of white meat and its sweet and tender flesh.'
0:46:10 > 0:46:11Gorgeous!
0:46:11 > 0:46:15And the area has always been one of the most productive
0:46:15 > 0:46:16crabbing beds in the country.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20And they've been harvested in more or less the same way for centuries.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24'In Cromer, there are two or three families
0:46:24 > 0:46:26'who have been fishermen for generations.'
0:46:26 > 0:46:29'Sons have joined fathers as soon as they've left school.'
0:46:29 > 0:46:32I've got pictures going back six generations now,
0:46:32 > 0:46:33so we've been here a fair while.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35And now your son is taking over from you, too.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37I hope so.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42But fishing for crabs wasn't a job for the faint-hearted.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45The first one, I'd be seven or eight year old.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48I went with my father, and I just remember going,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51but I can't remember coming back, I was that seasick. It was terrible.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55I feel sick now and again, and so do some of my crew.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56'Oh, rough!'
0:46:56 > 0:46:57'And getting up for work at 2am
0:46:57 > 0:47:00'is enough to make your stomach flip, too.'
0:47:00 > 0:47:04'The crab boats go out to sea at dawn, six days a week.'
0:47:04 > 0:47:07'Each boat has its own set of pots to look after, and the pots have
0:47:07 > 0:47:11'to be hauled in, emptied and filled with fresh bait each morning.'
0:47:16 > 0:47:21The design of the all-important pots was based on years of know-how,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25and perfect to trap any curious crustacean.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29'Richard has 150 pots to look after, and once they've all been cleared,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31'it's back to home as quickly as possible.'
0:47:35 > 0:47:38'Fresh crabs mean money, and if they're exposed to daylight
0:47:38 > 0:47:41'too long before they're boiled, they start to go off.'
0:47:46 > 0:47:48But landing their catch was just the start of it.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51A fisherman's work is never done.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55'The fishermen themselves clean, boil and deliver their catch.'
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Within hours, the morning's crabs will be on their way
0:47:58 > 0:48:00to plates full of salad throughout Britain.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04Without the fishermen's hard work, we would be deprived
0:48:04 > 0:48:07of one of the greatest British shellfish of all time.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10One that's kept us hooked for years.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12For seafood lovers and fishermen alike,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16it's definitely a case of once bitten, forever smitten.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Could you do any other job?
0:48:18 > 0:48:21I mean, if they tried to put you in an office somewhere, on land?
0:48:21 > 0:48:23I'd be sweeping it!
0:48:23 > 0:48:24Did you get that, Kingy?
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Not really, but I got the distinct impression
0:48:26 > 0:48:29he'd rather carry on being a crab fisherman.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36'And fair play to him, because without his endeavours,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39'one half of our final dish would still be scuttling around
0:48:39 > 0:48:41'on the ocean floor.'
0:48:42 > 0:48:44- Oh, mate, this is one of my favourites.- And me.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46It's a scallop and crab mornay.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49- It's a wonderful recipe, isn't it? - It is.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52We make a great, traditional sauce with infused milk.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Proper cooking, the scallops are prepped properly,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58the crab's picked-through fresh... Use the brown meat, white meat,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01whatever crab meat you want, then we bake it with a golden, crispy,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03cheesy crumb on the top.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Now, are you going to do the sauce?
0:49:06 > 0:49:10Oh, aye. I'll get saucy, you get cracking.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13Right. Now, this recipe doesn't call for the coral, and that's
0:49:13 > 0:49:17what this bit's called here, so it's really, really simple to remove.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19You just pull it off like that.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22There's lots of lovely little recipes you can use with the coral.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26You can saute them off with a little butter and some capers,
0:49:26 > 0:49:27so don't waste it, don't throw it out.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29This is the bit that we're interested in,
0:49:29 > 0:49:35and then we're going to slice those into three discs.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Do you know, I love the texture.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45I'm making some infused milk, so I've got 500ml of milk in a pan,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48half a chopped onion, and a bay leaf.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Bring that to the boil and wait for it to cool.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Now, we want to chill these scallops, right.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01The reason that we do that is that when it cooks in the oven,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04we still want this to be sweet and succulent.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07If you don't chill them down, they'll overcook.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12Cover this plate with clingfilm, put them in the fridge,
0:50:12 > 0:50:15and that chills the temperature of the scallop down.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21I've got some gruyere here. I'm just going to grate some off.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26I want some gruyere in the sauce, I want some gruyere in the crumbs.
0:50:27 > 0:50:28It's lovely!
0:50:30 > 0:50:31Now, we're going to keep these shells,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34because these are going to be our little serving dishes.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36That's lovely, isn't it, a lovely thing to do.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39What I'm going to do is I'm just buttering them.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41'And if you haven't got any shells to play with,
0:50:41 > 0:50:44'some shallow gratin dishes will do the trick.'
0:50:45 > 0:50:49As soon as this milk's come to the boil, turn the gas off,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52and we'll leave that to cool for 15 minutes.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Meanwhile, I'll make my roux.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00'Most of your classic sauces will be based around a roux.'
0:51:01 > 0:51:05'Here, Dave's simply adding some flour to about 30 grams
0:51:05 > 0:51:07'of melted butter, and one and a half teaspoons
0:51:07 > 0:51:10'of English mustard powder.'
0:51:10 > 0:51:14What I'm doing is I'm cooking the flour a little bit with the butter,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17just to cook the flour in and that mustard.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20While that settles a while, I'm just going to strain the onions
0:51:20 > 0:51:22and the bay leaf off the milk.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25While Dave's doing that and straining his onions and milk,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28because your shells rock and roll,
0:51:28 > 0:51:33I've just put a little pile of sea salt on the tray, and what
0:51:33 > 0:51:37we're going to do is rest them on that sea salt, and guess what?
0:51:37 > 0:51:38It stops them rolling about.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47Let's just whisk in this infused milk.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Into the mustardy roux. We don't want lumps.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54This is a smooth, sophisticated, soft sauce.
0:51:56 > 0:51:57I'm just going to give that a whisk.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02We want this sauce to be more affectionate than
0:52:02 > 0:52:04the feel of an angel's glove.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Look at that.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14Now we add three tablespoons of white wine,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17and we've got a nice, English, dry, white wine.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20Now, two tablespoons of cream go in.
0:52:22 > 0:52:23It's lush, this, isn't it?
0:52:23 > 0:52:26I love seeing the sauce come together. It's gorgeous.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30Add about 25 grams of gruyere. That's about that much.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32Right, mate. I've just got this sorted.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35All I'm going to now do is add some of the crab to the bottom,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39and then it's ready for the sauce and the scallops.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Just take that sauce off the heat now.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46And I want the heat just to be off that before I put
0:52:46 > 0:52:47the scallops in there.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50What I love about Britain, and these days more than ever,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54there's places like Cromer that's famous for its crab,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Craster for its kippers, Morecambe Bay for its shrimps,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01and actually, people begin to realise just what treasure we've got.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03Never ceases to amaze me,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07the massive market that we have in Europe for our seafood.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11They demand our seafood because it is of such a high quality.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13That's the great thing about the seafood round our shores.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Because the water is so cold, they work harder for their living,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21thus intensifying the flavour, and are tastier, I think,
0:53:21 > 0:53:23than warm water seafood, you see.
0:53:27 > 0:53:28That does smell lovely.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33This could be one of my death row dinners, you know.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36Right, mate, I'm going to go and get those scallops from the fridge.
0:53:36 > 0:53:37Right. I need some chives.
0:53:39 > 0:53:40A tablespoon will do.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44But all this is, is the dressing
0:53:44 > 0:53:47for the fabulous British crab and scallops.
0:53:49 > 0:53:50Scallops go in.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52Treat them with the reverence they deserve,
0:53:52 > 0:53:55so don't just dosh them off the plate into the sauce.
0:53:55 > 0:53:56Oh, no.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59- Just place them, and then we can fold them in.- Yeah.
0:54:00 > 0:54:01Shall I fold?
0:54:01 > 0:54:02Absolutely.
0:54:09 > 0:54:10Fabulous.
0:54:10 > 0:54:11That's punchy, as well!
0:54:13 > 0:54:14Over to you, hero.
0:54:14 > 0:54:15I shall make the crumbs.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20So, what we're looking for is three of the discs per portion.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24But not only do we have the bed of crab, the unctuous sauce,
0:54:24 > 0:54:29the succulent scallop, we've got a crispy, crunchy, cheesy topping, too!
0:54:29 > 0:54:30Get in.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35So, to make that, I've got my gruyere, goes into a bowl.
0:54:35 > 0:54:36Some breadcrumbs.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41And I want some chopped curly parsley.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43Every other recipe you seem to get used to say,
0:54:43 > 0:54:45"And topped with flat leaf parsley".
0:54:45 > 0:54:47What happened to the curly fellow?
0:54:47 > 0:54:51But it's a different flavour. I kind of think it goes better with fish.
0:54:51 > 0:54:52I do.
0:54:54 > 0:54:55That goes into the mix.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59I love this recipe. Apart from the amazing ingredients,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01there's a lovely bit of alchemy, isn't there, Si?
0:55:01 > 0:55:03There is, there is. It's beautiful.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07- There we go.- Great.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12And a nice spoonful of this parsley, cheesy crumb.
0:55:13 > 0:55:14Do you know, Si,
0:55:14 > 0:55:18this dish contains most of the elements of cookery that we love.
0:55:18 > 0:55:19Yes, indeed, it does.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23There's respect to the ingredients, there's different textures,
0:55:23 > 0:55:24there's presentation.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27I mean, it even comes with its own crockery.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30There is nothing nicer than receiving that at the table,
0:55:30 > 0:55:31you know, a scallop shell.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35There's something mystical and lovely about that,
0:55:35 > 0:55:38and it adds to the theatre of your dinner party, doesn't it?
0:55:40 > 0:55:41Do you know what?
0:55:41 > 0:55:46I think we're only 20 minutes away from a taste of paradise.
0:55:46 > 0:55:47Yes.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50Preheated oven, hot, around 200 degrees Celsius
0:55:50 > 0:55:53for about 20-25 minutes, just until it's crunchy.
0:56:09 > 0:56:11Go on.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14- Oh!- Yes!
0:56:14 > 0:56:15Oh!
0:56:17 > 0:56:18How fantastic.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24That's perfect.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27We did think about offering a slice of lemon with this,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31but then we thought no, because with all the mustard
0:56:31 > 0:56:34and all the wine, the lemon could be too acidic.
0:56:34 > 0:56:35Indeed.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38Oh, nice!
0:56:38 > 0:56:44It's fair to say, seafood is our favourite foodstuff.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48And this is really simple, but I think that bit of good cooking,
0:56:48 > 0:56:50it really shows it off to its best advantage.
0:56:50 > 0:56:51Absolutely.
0:56:53 > 0:56:54Well...
0:56:54 > 0:56:56You feel it's a treat, don't you?
0:56:56 > 0:56:57I do.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59That scallop.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01Look at that. How lovely is that?
0:57:03 > 0:57:05Yes?
0:57:06 > 0:57:09What we need for this, Kingy, is a little spoon.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11- You just take a delicate little bit. - Yes.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14- You don't want anything as vulgar as a fork.- No.
0:57:14 > 0:57:15And you get the crab.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21That's it. You've got to cock your pinkie, because it's worthy of it.
0:57:22 > 0:57:23And you blow.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Can't wait.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31But the way this dish is put together is brilliant.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35That super-fresh crab in the bottom, use the brown meat as well.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38The classic sauce, the really fresh scallops,
0:57:38 > 0:57:40and that lovely, crunchy topping.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42Bake it together, it's perfect.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45What's not to love?
0:57:45 > 0:57:46Great British shellfish.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59'We've always been spoilt for choice when it comes to the quality
0:57:59 > 0:58:03'and variety of shellfish that are available to us in this country.'
0:58:05 > 0:58:08'So it's reassuring to know that over the years we've evolved
0:58:08 > 0:58:11'equally varied and imaginative ways of cooking them.'
0:58:13 > 0:58:16'Whether you want to have a bash at some traditional British recipes,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19'or embrace some of the continental concoctions
0:58:19 > 0:58:22'that our shellfish enhance so well.'
0:58:22 > 0:58:25'You can rest assured that you'll end up eating a healthy,
0:58:25 > 0:58:30'tasty and sustainable product that we should all be more proud of.'
0:58:54 > 0:58:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media