Sheep Hairy Bikers' Best of British

We believe Britain has the best food in the world.

'Our glorious country boasts some fantastic ingredients.'

Start eating it, will you?!

'It's home to amazing producers...'

-My goodness gracious. That is epic.

-Isn't it?

'..and innovative chefs.'

But our islands also have a fascinating food history.

The fish and chip shops of South Wales are running out of chips.

-Yes!

-Yes!

'And in this series, we're uncovering revealing stories

'of our rich culinary past.'

Now there is food history on a plate.

..as well as meeting our nation's food heroes

who are keeping this heritage alive!

They're certainly enjoying themselves.

It's a short life, let's make it a happy one like they've always had.

And of course we'll be cooking up

a load of dishes that reveal our foodie evolution.

Spring, summer, autumn or winter. It's brilliant.

-BOTH:

-Quite simply, the best of British.

We believe that British lamb, mutton and hogget is the best in the world.

-Yeah, because...

-Because it tastes so delicious.

I mean, you can roast it, you can barbecue it, you can curry it.

I mean, you can put it in a Shepherd's pie.

And then you've got pasties, kebabs, you've got samosas...

It's because our world-class farmers have, for generations,

been selectively breeding and rearing sheep for their meat

and the fantastic flavour that meat producers.

Sheep are ingrained into our landscape and food culture.

Since ancient times they've kept us fed and clothed

and generations of Britons have tended them in our fields and hills.

So today's show is a celebration of our woolly friends!

Whether it's for tasty heritage cheese,

forgotten traditional varieties of meat

or spectacular international cuisine...

We'll be exploring the best

that these familiar beasties have to offer.

When we sit down on a Sunday afternoon

to tuck into a nice joint of lamb...

Most of us are too busy applying the mint sauce

to spare a thought for the people who reared it.

So we wanted to redress that with our tribute

to one of the oldest and, as far as we're concerned,

one of the most important professions in the world.

The shepherd!

MUSIC: "Little Green Bag" by The George Baker Selection

A breed of man or woman as hardy as the animals they tend.

But getting rarer.

You see, these days, thanks to modern technology,

one shepherd can look after a lot more sheep.

-Hold 'em up!

-So fewer of us get to rub shoulders

with the practitioners of this ancient art.

The men and women that at one time could be found

all over our British countryside ensuring the safety of their flocks.

It was never a life for the faint-hearted

and every day was something of an endurance test.

Sheep are extremely free-ranging creatures,

so the shepherd had a lot of ground to cover.

'Every day, John Owen walks about 1,000 of the 3,000 acres in his charge

'covering the same ground roughly twice each week.'

Agility was everything.

The safety of their flock was paramount.

If I don't rescue it it'll probably stay on the ledge

until it gets that weak and dies, or it'll probably try and jump off

and jump into the waterfall and get drowned.

For the shepherd, one of their pressing worries

must surely have been their biggest occupational hazard: the weather.

'In the terrible winter of 1947,

'Rainscar was cut off from the outside world for 13 weeks.

'And Mr Coates had to make six-mile journeys

'with a horse and a sledge to fetch supplies of food.'

The shepherd's sacrifices meant the animals were in tip-top condition,

and British sheep were the best in the world.

And there was no better place to show off such fine beasts than at market -

the sheep equivalent of Fashion Week, but with fatter models.

Beautiful back end. Look how broad and wide they are.

It's the epitome of sheep breeding.

Ooh, they look good enough to eat.

What is it you're actually looking for,

because you're handling them all the time?

Well, when we put the hand over the loin and over the back end,

we try to assess the amount of fat we have on there

so that they cook well and look well

when presented on the butcher's slab or supermarket shelf.

Britain really can claim some of the finest lamb in the world.

And it's all thanks to the men and women like these

who dedicated their lives to caring for the nation's sheep,

so that only the finest meat would reach our table.

There may not be many shepherds any more,

but lamb is just as tasty as it ever was.

For our first recipe in today's show

we're going to cook a supercharged version of a traditional lamb dish

that you can't go wrong with.

Masala lamb chops, smothered in onions, fried kidneys

and a three-root vegetable mash.

-Everybody loves lamb chops, don't they?

-Who doesn't, Dave?

I don't know. It's one of those traditional things.

It's really funny, though. When it comes to kidneys,

-some people are a bit iffy.

-How can... They're fabulous.

They are, but when you and me were in Argentina and they were doing,

like, a whole lamb on a spit, the kidneys were in it

and that was the treat, and actually we both firmly believe

that when they're cooked properly and prepared properly,

-kidneys are fantastic.

-They are just that

and what we're going to do, we'll show you how to prepare a kidney.

Should we get on with the root mash?

Well, let's do that first so we can get it on and then...

Cos actually the dish itself is quite quick.

-Rugby!

-Hold on.

-Celeriac, Mr King?

-Hello?

Could we have half of that celeriac in, kind of, two-centimetre cubes?

Of course, sir. On its way.

The celeriac.

It's not the most attractive of things,

but it's tasty and it makes an unusual alternative

to your bog-standard mashed tatie.

It's quite a modern addition to our kitchen,

but it's really getting up there now.

It's getting popular. It's everywhere.

To give the mash a sweet edge, I'm adding two carrots and two parsnips.

It's funny, we're one of the few nations that eat parsnips.

They haven't really caught on in the New World

and, do you know, the French don't eat them at all?

Boil the three up, let them rumble.

Mash with butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg

and that's like your blanket for everything else to perform its dance on.

Fantastic. Now, look.

I'm going to do four of these beautiful lamb chops.

They're cutlets, look at them. Beautiful.

-They're juicy ones, aren't they?

-They're fabulous,

and I'm just going to season them up with salt and pepper

in preparation for Dave to cook them.

But first I want to cook a big pan of fried onions.

Not, kind of, sweated.

This is like, kind of, browned, caramelised,

and you know it's like Laurel and Hardy go,

"Mm-mm, Stanley, and smothered in onions!"

These chops are smothered in onions.

So chuck in a knob of butter and two thinly sliced onions in the pan.

Cook for about ten minutes until golden brown.

This'll give us time to prepare the kidneys.

That's your kidney. Now, sometimes when you buy from the butchers

they'll have taken this membrane off.

If your butcher hasn't taken it off,

just peel it. Simple as that.

And then you've got a lovely, nice, clean kidney.

Now, what you do...

Is cut your kidney in half.

And you see that?

That bit is as chewy as an old boot.

So take a pair of scissors, just snip it out...

There you go.

And all of those horrible bits is what you don't want.

Another final snip.

That's the core of the kidney that you don't want.

That is a perfectly prepared kidney.

And then you repeat the process on the other half.

Right, just toss them...

..toss them in the seasoned flour.

And set them aside until we're ready to go.

That's our kidneys, cored, halved and tossed in seasoned flour.

Look at those.

-They're proper fried-up onions.

-Get in.

-That's what we want on this one, isn't it?

-Oh, it smells so good.

Fried onions. Fried onions.

And just pop these seasoned chops in.

And about two minutes on each side.

Mm! Oh, yeah.

The lovely thing about frying in butter, it browns things.

I'd say they've had...

A couple of minutes. Turn them on to the fat.

I hate that on a chop, where the fat is kind of raw, do you?

-Oh, it's horrible.

-And then add your kidneys.

Use your kidneys as a bit of a prop.

I think those chops are ready, Si.

Yeah, they look like it, mate. Very, very nice.

Oh, perfectly cooked, mate.

They've got nice colour on the fat at the side.

-They're juicy, eh?

-Beautiful.

And now pop the kidneys over.

Two, three, four.

-It's just the smell, isn't it?

-Wholesome, isn't it?

Right, they're done beautifully.

The last thing we want is to overcook these

or it'll be lamb chops with Marsala-coated squash balls.

I'm just going to put these in a 50-degree, just a very warm oven,

just to, kind of, rest and keep warm.

Add the onions back into the pan and pour over 150 mls of the Marsala.

It's sweet and slightly spicy,

and all that caramelisation of the onions

is going to colour the wine and give us a very rich, unctuous gravy.

We've got some pepper in here and some salt

and there is so much flavour in this pan. It's fab.

And the last thing I want to do is to finish this off with some butter.

Which is quite indulgent,

but honest, with the Marsala wine, oh, it works.

Right, onto the mash.

Just mash it roughly, then what we're going to do,

we're going to put half of this butter in, some salt...

..some pepper...

..and a good, good sprinkling of nutmeg.

And then I'm going to take it over and beat it.

Blitzing it with a hand blender will give it a lovely smooth consistency.

This is going to be hearty and robust, isn't it?

It's not nouvelle.

Lay the chops on the mash, snuggle in the kidneys...

..smother in the onions and Marsala gravy

and garnish with the deep-fried sage leaves.

That's lovely, isn't it?

I mean, really, it's lamb chop and kidneys, but with a bit of care.

Go.

-Straight for the kidneys.

-Yeah.

-Oh, they are good.

-Oh.

And the chops. The Marsala...

Those onions with the kidneys and the lamb go so well with it,

because Marsala is sweet and spicy.

-Beautiful.

-Mm.

And the mash, it's so much more interesting than the humble potato.

If you don't like kidneys,

this would work just as well with the lamb chops.

It would be a lovely way just to dress up your lamb chop

for a Thursday night's tea.

And what better way to celebrate great British lamb?

Simple, eh? Lamb is great,

but it's not the only sort of sheep meat around.

Thanks to some traditionally-minded sheep farmers,

some of the more mature cuts that have fallen out of favour

over the years are starting to make a comeback.

If there's one place in the world where you'd struggle to farm

anything other than sheep, it's the Lake District.

Yep - cold, wet and mountainous, on the high fells,

its climate and topography can be conquered by few animals,

other than the hardy sheep!

National Trust tenants Jon and Caroline Watson

have been farming these durable animals up here,

in my home county of Cumbria, for years.

But as well as rearing lamb and mutton,

they're also rejuvenating the production

of a little known halfway house between the two.

Hogget is a meat many of you will not be familiar with.

So hogget is sheep meat in its second year.

The first year of life it's classed as lamb

and then when it goes over a year old and its teeth are up

that becomes hogget for a year

and then after the second year it becomes mutton,

and it's got the benefit of being tender like lamb

but it's got the richness and the depth of flavour of the mutton,

which is really nice. It's a lovely middle ground.

And there's good reason as to why a product like hogget

is so well suited to where they live and how they have to farm.

Well, farming sheep in this part of the country has its unique challenges.

One of the difficulties is quite obvious.

The topography, as you can appreciate,

the low-lying land is marginal.

Not a lot of grass.

The sheep have to live on the fells, on the high ground,

and they eat all sorts of vegetation up there,

from lichens to heather to berries.

Anything they can get their mouths on,

and that helps to enrich the flavour of the meat.

Which, when it reaches hogget stage, is phenomenal flavour.

Really, a traditional flavour.

So, yeah, we like to let them grow naturally

rather than farm them in a hurry.

Traditionally the animals would have been left as hoggets

because the wool was so valuable,

and they would get two cuts of wool

before they went to slaughter.

With the advent of war, though,

came the pressing need to feed the nation

and slow meats like mutton and hogget began to be phased out

for quicker, readily available lamb.

With that many sheep breeds went into decline

in favour of more productive animals.

But if you're farming on the Lakeland fells

there's really only one sheep you can turn to -

the Herdwick!

WHISTLE CHIRPS

The Herdwicks are ideal for the Lake District

and to be taken through as hogget.

They're short, stocky animals with four solid legs

that they can climb anything, basically.

The wool, also, is very coarse and they have a double layer of wool,

which insulates them from the harsh winters up on the fell,

and also helps the rain just drip off them,

cos we do get a lot of rain in the Lake District.

And Herdwick are slow-growing

so they do put fat down inside the meat as marbling.

If they're left to eat natural grazing

they just make beautiful hogget meat.

The perfect synthesis that the Herdwick has with its environment

had an unlikely but influential champion

in a well-known children's author,

renowned for her empathy and understanding of animals.

Beatrix Potter in particular had a very close association with this area

and she owned many of the farms in this area,

and the farm that we tenant from the National Trust

was once purchased by Beatrix Potter, and she was a great believer

in that the Herdwick is the right thing,

the right animal to be using in this area.

She also got to know the farmers very well.

She farmed herself and became, you know,

part of the scene for a while

and really did a lot of work to try and make sure

that the Herdwick were appreciated

and that's the way we like to farm now,

and the meat product that we produce, the hogget that we produce,

is a reflection of that way of farming.

So you can perhaps understand why Jon and Caroline

are so keen for more people to try this little known

but highly regarded meat.

We've been lucky enough to win lots of awards.

We've got a good reputation.

We supply a range of Michelin-star restaurants,

which is brilliant, but at the same time,

it's easy to cook, its user-friendly.

We've got a few different options here, just as an example.

This is the cutlets, or the rack, and that's loin meat,

so the middle section of the animal, where you've got this beautiful eye,

which is really, really tender, so this tends to be cooked very quickly.

You can serve that pink. Then you've got the leg part.

This is a half leg joint, perfect for roast dinners.

It can be done relatively quickly and served pink

or you can do it as a lovely slow-cooked dish

and you get the richer, deeper flavours coming through.

The quality and versatility of hogget

might not have gone unnoticed by many top chefs,

but Jon and Caroline are acutely aware that to revive it

they've got to engage with folk like you and me.

You can see the marbling that you get in the Herdwick.

Very fine layers of fat, which all the flavour's in.

And with hungry walkers strolling right through the farmland

where they rear their hogget,

they've decided the best way of doing that is burgers...

hogget burgers!

I think it's very important to be able to sell the meat

and, sort of, connect it to the landscape its reared in

and make people think about their food,

tell them about the origins, the type of breed,

what's it eating, where's it been slaughtered -

all those questions we want people to start asking

so that people don't shy away from asking that sort of thing.

What's happened is farming has become behind closed doors

for a lot of people and all they see is the end produce

at the supermarket in cellophane wrapper

and we want to try and get round that, really.

And we feel that to keep the hoggets up on the fells,

to keep the animals grazing naturally, is nature's way.

It's by far the best method of farming.

Work with nature rather than try to oppose it.

We couldn't agree more and we are going to work with nature

to make the most of a lovely joint of Hogget

by cooking it up with some traditional British ingredients -

barley, vegetables and cider.

This hogget and barley stew shows the cut of meat in its element.

It's just the stuff for pot roasts, casseroles, curries -

anything slow-cooked, really.

Now, the difference between the meat of a lamb

and a hogget is very simple.

If you have a look, what happens is that it has a greater fat layer

so the intramuscular fat of the hogget

is greater than that of the lamb.

-That's the marbling.

-Exactly that.

-Exactly.

So that's what you are doing,

and also, if you look at the grain of the meat,

the grain of the meat is a lot denser

so thus requiring slightly more cooking time

than you would ordinarily have with a lamb.

Now, this is a pot roast,

so basically it's a joint of meat that's cooked in loads of veg.

In fact, I have more vegetables to peel and chop

than somebody who is doing a life sentence in Wormwood Scrubs.

-I'd better get started.

-You do.

I've got one onion, two sticks of celery, three carrots,

two turnips, two parsnips and two fat cloves of garlic sliced.

'Just get chopping, man!'

Right, what I'm going to do is I'm going to season the hogget up

and then we're going to brown it off in a big casserole dish.

Never underestimate the power of seasoning.

You want a generous teaspoon of salt and black pepper,

and rub it into that skin.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in the casserole dish,

and then add the meat.

Mmm. So, we've seasoned the hogget, and what we're going to do...

We're just going to brown that off.

So leave it two or three minutes.

Till it goes golden brown.

Turn it over, another two or three minutes,

and you want to get a nice even colour.

Don't you? You do.

Really, you can do anything with hogget that you can do with lamb.

-Yes.

-But just a bit more gentle.

You know, if it's a slow roast, they'll be a little bit longer.

It's great meat, it's tasty meat,

because it's that little bit more mature.

And as we all know, the older the animal,

the more maturity and taste it develops.

-SI LAUGHS

-Or it could be just a knackered old thing that you want to shoot.

I'm fed up doing vegetables.

# I'm just busy doing my turnip. #

Very good at it, you know.

Amazing creatures, though, sheep.

I mean, the thing is, you know, we talk about the food,

but so may of the clothes we wear are made from wool,

which comes from a sheep.

It's true.

I like knitting, too. I enjoy knitting.

It's satisfying, you see it grow.

But thing is, you can knit whilst you're watching telly.

And a lot of men knit, you know.

I've never seen you knit.

Do you knit?

Are you a secret knitter?

I'm a bit of a closet knitter, d'you know what I mean?

What, in the...in the dark?

-What?

-No, no, just on me own, watching the telly,

or sometimes I sit in me study, and I don't tell me wife.

What have you knitted?

Um...

Motorcycle clothing.

Basically undergarments.

You ever wondered why I don't get cold and you do?

Right, that's brown.

And I've just...this is me veg done.

Now the hogget needs to casserole on its own

without its vegetable chums for an hour.

Pour 500ml of dry cider over the meat.

This will deglaze the pan

and get all that meaty flavour off the bottom.

Next, add 800ml of lamb stock, a bay leaf,

some chopped rosemary and thyme.

Oh, look at that.

Fabulous.

The hogget is going to bathe in that, kind of, herby broth.

So we pop the lid on...

and place that in a pre-heated oven, 160 degrees Celsius, for one hour.

Meanwhile...

I'm going to saute off all this veg.

Holy lordy.

Let's get two pans on, eh?

When sauteing, you don't want to overcrowd the vegetables,

so use two pans if you have to.

Pop the veggies in.

Then we just sear these off.

You need to saute them in about two tablespoons of sunflower oil

over a medium heat until they are lightly browned.

It's going to be a well-packed casserole, in't it?

HE CHUCKLES

Got the barley to get in yet.

Now they're colouring up a treat,

so just put some sliced garlic in one,

and some sliced garlic in the other.

And just sweat that garlic through a bit, but don't burn it.

How long's that hogget been in?

An hour nearly now.

-Oh, shall we start building?

-Might as well.

Starting to smell lovely.

Ooh.

Beautiful.

Let's see.

-Has it shrunk?

-It should do.

Ooh...

We've got a mutant hogget if it hasn't shrunk.

-Ooh, it has shrunk, hasn't it?

-Look at that.

Ooh, beautiful.

-It's half the hogget it was.

-It certainly is, look.

-Look at that!

-Look at that.

Eee...

Next, add 125 grams of pearl barley into the casserole dish.

Barley.

-It's probably the oldest cultivated cereal on the planet.

-Indeed.

It was first cultivated up to 7,000 years ago.

And it was thought to be the special food of gladiators.

And the gladiators were called hordearii.

Hordearii!

-Which means barley.

-Yes.

In an old and ancient tongue.

Once rinsed in aqua, add the barley to the meatius maximus

and fortify with root vegetables.

-I think that's it.

-It certainly is.

And that goes back into the oven...

for an hour and a half.

I know a nice little ditty about barley.

While we're cooking, we can have a bit of a sing-song!

# There was three men come out o' the west

# Their fortunes for to try

# And these three men made a solemn vow

# John Barleycorn was dead

# They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in

# Throwed clods upon his head

# And these three men made a solemn vow

# John Barleycorn was dead... #

An hour's up and man, it's smelling good!

Now...

There's always a moment, isn't there,

-when you undo the lid of a casserole dish...

-Yeah.

to see what has happened.

What lies in there?

Ooh! Yes!

Now the barley's expanded,

the veggies have taken up that juice...

That is a one-pot wonder, isn't it?

This is healthy, it's hearty,

-it's British, and it's not expensive, is it?

-No.

That's tender.

There you go.

Absolutely beautiful.

It's this barley I want to taste.

Tell you what, the cider...

the flavour of the cider's still there in the barley.

Mmm.

Ohh...

That's as British as Big Ben or Stonehenge.

-It is.

-And the hogget's been around for just as long.

Spectacular.

-A lovely full-flavoured meat.

-Yeah.

-Really good.

But it's a really succulent, tender,

-fall-apart, melt-in-your-mouth meat as well.

-Absolutely.

Mmm.

That is good.

Long before we were a nation famed for its beef and dairy produce,

the sheep reigned supreme over the cow.

But not for its meat.

The British were renowned all over Europe for their wool,

and by the middle of the 13th century

we were exporting more of it than anything else.

And with wool at a premium, it's hardly surprising

that long before we were eating them,

the most nourishing thing we got from a sheep was from its milk!

Martin Gott and his partner Nicola

milk their own flock in the foothills of the Lake District.

The story goes that sheep were the first farm animal

to be domesticated.

So we've milked sheep longer than we've milked cows

or even goats, really.

It's just that in this country, they've fallen out of favour,

probably around 200 years ago

as people started to move into milking cows

and bigger dairies and bigger farms.

And the reason Martin needs this milk is cheese.

But he's not making sheep's cheeses the we might be familiar with

like manchego or roquefort.

He's making British sheep's cheese, and he's proud of it!

The sheep's cheese that we make is called St James.

The name, for me, was after a cheesemaker from the Seventies -

when I set about making cheese, he was one of my inspirations,

he was a guy that I'd heard of, read about,

and then met on a few different occasions,

and really, he got me thinking about going into cheesemaking,

so when I made this cheese, I named it after him.

And it's a style of cheese I think he would have, er...

You know, he would have liked, really, so...

And it's based on an English method of production,

so it's not based on any French or foreign recipe.

HE WHISTLES Come on, girlies!

Oh, you're very pretty, aren't you?

He might be making a British sheep's cheese,

but he's had to look to the continent to find a breed

capable of giving him enough milk to work with.

In the UK there's no traditional breed of milking sheep,

it's not something that we have in the UK.

Most of the sheep are bred for meat production or even wool production.

So with that, we had to go looking for an alternative breed,

and so we went to France and imported a French breed of sheep

called La Caune, and they're the sheep responsible for roquefort.

And really, they're a sheep that's been bred

over the last thousand years to produce milk

and to suit the milking process,

so they're animals that like human contact,

they produce a good quality of milk

and consistency of milk over a long time period,

so they'll milk for up to eight months,

and then we're adapting them to fit our climate.

One thing they don't like is lots of rain, so as we breed every year,

we look for sheep that suit our climate,

so they become anglicised French sheep.

Whilst the La Caunes might take a bit of time adjusting to the wet,

the milk they produce from the lush pastures that result

gives Martin a brilliant product to work with.

The quality of our cheese

is dictated by the quality of the milk that we make,

so by producing our own milk, we have the final say

in how that milk's produced.

The benefit of that is that our sheep produce most of their milk

on pasture and out at grass, which we think has a better end result.

They might not produce anything like the quantity of milk

a cow produces, but sheep's milk has several qualities

that make it perfect for cheesemaking.

After adding the rennet, there's little else in terms of ingredients.

But we've a few hours to wait until the milk has curdled and can be cut.

Sheep's milk is unique in that it's twice as high in minerals

as goats' milk or cows' milk.

And that has an impact on how the curd forms

and how that curd really works in the cheese vat,

so because it's twice as high in calcium,

you get a very thick and rich set that makes a very robust curd.

It's not just the milk that makes this cheese unique.

There's a big investment in time and technique.

To make this sheep's cheese British,

you've got to treat your curds with care.

What we're doing is pulling the cloths up the side of the moulds,

and that allows for the...it puts a little bit of pressure,

gentle pressure on the curd, which allows it to expel the whey

in a sort of controlled manner,

but without actually squeezing or pressing on the curd,

so it's not damaging the structure of the curd.

It's a gentle way to just allow that drainage and allow that weight

to keep coming out of the curd.

It's a very English thing to do.

Continental recipes tend to use stirring of the curd

into smaller pieces, or even sometimes heating the curd

whilst it's in the vat to try and expel whey.

So we use a much more gentle...

but sort of elongated process of expelling whey,

so it happens over a longer period of time.

It's a less hurried way to make cheese.

Over a 12-hour period, all that curd gradually compresses

until the cheeses are this size.

But the love, care and attention that Martin lavishes on his product

doesn't stop there.

St James is a washed-rind cheese, and before it can reach maturity,

it needs a regular massage to improve its texture and taste.

It's important the cheese gets salted,

and with this style of cheese, you're putting it into the curd.

As we make the cheese, we actually apply it to the outside,

and that allows a rind to form, or a crust to form on the outside

but also allows the salt to be absorbed into the cheese,

which then allows the right conditions to be created

inside the cheese for it to mature properly.

And we just get more interesting, complex flavours and textures

by washing the cheese.

So we're what we describe as artisan cheesemakers,

in that we're applying a craft and an art to the cheese

rather than just a scientific process.

And I think we're in the middle of a real resurgence and revival

in artisan cheesemaking, so there is more knowledge around British cheese

than there probably has been for...

well, I would guess probably over 100 years now.

That's Wigmore.

It's a British sheep's cheese.

That knowledge has seen a raft of small artisan producers

from all over the UK producing as varied a range

of uniquely British sheep's cheeses

as you'll find anywhere in the world.

Martin stocks many of them in a cheese shop he runs

in conjunction with his dairy.

We could fill this whole counter with British sheep's cheeses.

We've just tried to pick a nice selection

of what's good and what's interesting,

try and keep it as diverse as possible.

So if you look at what we've got here,

we've got our own St James which we're making on the farm,

we've got the Beenleigh Blue, made down in Devon,

we've got Berkswell, which is one of the longest-running sheep's cheeses

in the UK, and that's very much like a hard cheese,

and they've got that real fruity, sort of sweetness to them,

that you won't get with something like the St James.

The ones we've gone for, we feel they deliver that length of flavour

and that subtlety that I think the British palate really likes.

They're not really big, sharp, up-front flavours in general,

they tend to just deliver quietly, but really consistent depth.

It's taken us a while to re-engage

with our heritage of making sheep's cheese,

but with the dedication and passion of people like Martin,

British sheep's cheese is something

that won't disappear again in a hurry.

We know we can get great Greek feta made with sheep's milk,

we can get good Spanish manchego and Italian pecorino,

and the French make roquefort,

but there's just as good cheeses being made in the UK, if not better.

You know, and a lot of people don't realise

that we actually send our sheep's cheeses to Spain, to Italy

and to France, cos they're starting to import our cheeses now,

because they're as good as what they offer.

So the sheep's cheese we're making in Britain now

are as good if not better than anything

from anywhere else in the world.

And we're not only world-class at making sheep's cheese -

we also make some of the best lamb dishes on the planet.

Both traditional, like our one-pot hogget...

..and more exotic offerings, like hot curries and of course kebabs.

And where better to get stuck into some of our fantastic

multi-cultural lamb dishes than our capital city?

London is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world,

with one in four people who live here hailing from overseas.

And you know what, each one of those nations

brings their cuisine to our capital city.

And Dave and I here think that's worth celebrating.

Now, in history, from Biblical times to modern day,

the first go-to meat to celebrate has always been lamb.

And nobody, in our opinion, knows how to cook lamb

better than our North African friends.

So we're here at one of the city's most famous Moroccan restaurants,

and we're gong to find out how to cook lamb

celebratory North African style.

-Get in!

-Whay!

-I cannot wait. Crack on!

This is Momo,

an incredible slice of Morocco right in the heart of London.

The restaurant opened in the mid-Nineties,

and we've come to meet one of the managers,

Meriem Talbi, to find out how they use lamb

to showcase the very best in North African cooking.

-Nice to see you.

-Hello, darling, good to see you.

Likewise. How are you?

-I'm good, thank you, how are you?

-Very well, welcome to Momo.

It's brilliant. You're coming off a London street,

and, well, we're in Morocco.

-We're in North Africa.

-In North Africa.

The smells, the sights...

What's Momo to you? What does it do?

It's not about food only.

Of course food is very important. But it's about the music,

it's about the hospitality, the generosity of North Africa,

and today you're going to try with the chef,

and bring the best we have in North African culture and cuisine,

the Meshwei.

Meshwei is an entire lamb that's slow-cooked

in a vast array of spices to create something rich and luxurious

that's usually served at celebrations.

Ahh...that reminds me of Morocco!

Me too, mate.

I tell you what, when we were in the Atlas Mountains,

Dave did the most fantastic thing, He did a belly dance.

-My God!

-He was brilliant.

And he had nipple tassels and a tray of candles on his head,

and he was brilliant.

I can do belly dancing, but the chef is better than I am.

This could be interesting. Meshwei and belly dancing.

-At the same time.

-You buy one, you get one free.

THEY LAUGH

Bog off!

Momo's chefs Philippe and Abdullah are going to show us

how this amazing lamb dish is made.

First up is the marinade.

Everything represents Morocco.

Colour, sunshine, herbs, spices.

So we start with the turmeric.

-Salt.

-Salt...

-Some paprika.

-Mmm-hmm.

There's also plenty of butter.

There's no way that lamb's going to be dry, is there?

Not at all.

And of course, coriander.

Oh, yes.

-If you want to cover the..

-Yeah, get stuck in!

-Right.

-So is the butter all over inside and out?

Inside and outside, yes.

You know, it's wonderful to get our wonderful British product

combined with the great Moroccan flavours and spices, isn't it?

You've missed a bit.

Kingy, I'm doing lamb, I'm not cleaning the windows.

Is it important to get the marinade inside as well?

Of course, because during the process of cooking,

-the lamb will lose some fat.

-Yeah.

-And it will mix with the butter...

-Yeah.

-..and it will infuse the couscous we will put inside.

-Ooh.

All right, so we're stuffing this with couscous as well?

That's what you're going to do,

so it's very important to cover properly,

all the marinade will go through every single piece in the lamb.

And you know that couscous

is going to be the best-tasting couscous ever!

-Ever, ever.

-Wow!

What d'you reckon, Abdullah? You happy?

-Yeah.

-Not too bad.

-Not too bad for a first-timer.

-Uh-huh.

Dave, that looked like a very satisfying thing to do.

It's going to be a lot more satisfying when we get to eat it!

The world class couscous is made under chef Abdullah's expert eye.

Wow.

There's golden sultanas, orange blossom water, oh, all sorts!

Oh, yes.

Oh, and a shedload of butter.

Philippe, do you really enjoy cooking this particular dish?

I really enjoy this dish.

Cos we can eat all together, in the middle of the table,

and customers, people just take it by hand, and all share that.

And that sharing is a very important part

of the Moroccan culture, isn't it? Sharing around the table.

-Yes.

-Which I think sadly in British culture,

maybe apart from our Sunday lunches, we're losing that a little bit.

-And it's a shame, cos it's one of the great pleasures of life.

-Yeah.

That's true.

The lamb is then stuffed with the couscous.

D'you know what? It's like an early episode of Casualty, this,

before they got the effects right.

PHILIPPE LAUGHS

Philippe sews up the lamb with the skill of a surgeon.

There you are.

Oh, man.

Philippe, this is a real celebratory dish, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

-Shall we?

-Let's go.

Right, lads, hold on, I'll open the door.

And then get out the way.

Ooh...

Beautiful.

What makes the Meshwei really special is slow-cooking it.

Over six hours, delicious spicy aromas

fill the restaurant right up to the roof.

THEY SNIFF

Ooh, the exotic smells of Morocco.

-Oh, Dave.

-Beautiful.

Yes, indeed.

Wow.

You know the problem with a whole roast like this

-is it's really difficult not to nick a bit.

-Yeah.

There are so many nickable bits, aren't there?

-You can see them all.

-The piece there...

That bit there.

And now we get to eat it!

-Yes!

-That's the good bit!

-Mm-hmm.

Let's go.

It might be communal food, but I don't really want to share it!

-Are you ready?

-Yes.

-Yeah!

It's not going to take much carving, that, is it?

-No, it's not.

-It's making me mouth water.

It's just falling off the bone, isn't it?

Well, I suppose the restaurant staff do deserve some, too...

Look at that. Whoa!

I love you.

HE LAUGHS

As we say in Arabic, Bismillah.

-Bismillah.

-Bismillah.

-ALL:

-Bismillah.

I'm speechless. Don't talk to me!

It's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

The lamb is superb. It's tender, it's tasty...

but all the butter, the spices, everything there,

it is a perfect celebration

-of British lamb North African-style.

-Mmm-hmm.

There are many ways to eat lamb in Britain,

but it's not just the recipe that makes a difference in flavour.

There are all kinds of different breeds of sheep,

and how they are raised, and particularly fed,

makes all the difference to the taste of their meat.

There is so much to celebrate

when it comes to the world of British sheep,

but there's one breed in particular we think deserves special praise.

The North Ronaldsay.

It heralds from one of the most remote Scottish isles,

and encompasses some of the qualities

that have made our nation truly great -

tenacity, determination and hardiness...

Plus it tastes amazing!

In fact, champions of its meat hold it in the same regard as prosciutto,

truffles or caviar - a unique gamey flavour to be savoured.

'The mutton is nourishing and has a strong, distinctive flavour.

'Unusual sheep on an unusual island.'

You see this, isn't any ordinary sheep -

it's an evolutionary miracle.

They survive almost entirely on a diet of seaweed.

That's right- slimy, salty seaweed.

-Is that good for them?

-Oh, yes,

because recently I had a sample analysed,

and I was very impressed with the figures which came back.

They have the run of the beach, and over the centuries,

they've learned to find out where the seaweed is and to eat it.

And that's what's believed to give its meat that distinct flavour.

This seafront living isn't so much a lifestyle choice -

it's more a life sentence.

One of the more unusual features about this island, you can see,

is the wall which runs right round it.

The human beings are on the inside, the sheep are on the outside.

'Back in 1830, the laird of the island decided

'that there was more money to be made from rearing cattle

'and bigger, fancier breeds of sheep.

'The wall was built,

'and the introduced animals were given the grass,

'while the little native sheep were banished to the beach.'

They might have starved...

..but these little sheep had been around since the Bronze Age,

and weren't about to take it lying down.

Through "shear" determination,

they managed to "bleat" all the odds,

and adapt to their new circumstance.

'In just under 200 years of banishment,

'their unusual diet has fundamentally reshaped

'the way their bodies take up vital nutrients.

'They can now die if given grass to graze all year round.'

And it wasn't just the menu that altered.

Unlike other sheep, instead of grazing during the day

and chewing the cud at night,

these beach babies are governed by the tide.

When its low, they eat, and when its high,

they rest and wait for their dinner to go down.

This little breed are not only remarkable evolutionary treasures...

..but a gourmet's delight thanks to the unique quality of the meat

their seafood diet produces.

And they've proved that they're worth their salt

by surviving against all the odds.

In fact, surprisingly, the wall gave the North Ronaldsay

a new "fleece" of life.

Because without it, this ancient breed

would have almost certainly have been cross-bred out of existence.

We could baang on about this for hours,

but right now we've got some serious cooking to do.

And d'you know what? The other great thing is

our British lamb makes flamin' marvellous curry.

Right, and that's what we're going to do now, a lamb curry.

This one, it's going to be a bleater!

Oh, Dave, no.

No, Dave!

We're going to be using minced lamb to make these beautiful koftas

served with a delicious curried tomato sauce.

-We're making a meatball curry!

-Meatball curry.

-BOTH: Koftas.

-Curry.

-Can't beat koftas. There's something about meatballs.

-There is.

Every nationality, we've done Moroccan meatballs,

Scandinavian meatballs, just savoury meatballs,

but they're juicy. A meatball when it's done properly...

-An Italian meatball?

-We have.

-You name it,

we've been around the world with meatballs.

-Now, Dave's going to make the balls.

-Yep.

And I...

well, I'm going to make the sauce for said balls.

But it all comes together in perfect harmony.

My oh my!

These are spicy balls.

Right, these koftas are packed with flavour and a lot of ingredients,

but don't worry!

We're going to bung it all into a food processor

and let that do all the work.

You need two green chillies, one medium onion,

about 15 grams of fresh ginger, four garlic cloves,

one teaspoon of flaked sea salt, two teaspoons of garam masala

and a quarter of a teaspoon of hot chilli powder.

And lastly, a tablespoon of tomato puree.

Now I'm going to pulse this until it's a paste.

About halfway through blitzing, use a spatula to push the mixture down

to make sure you get it evenly blended together.

Ooh!

I tell you, these, they're like a taser for your tastebuds.

Smell that paste, Kingy.

-Oh, wow!

-Wow.

Oh, that's fabulous.

You put the lamb in there, minced lamb...

-Whoa!

-About 600 grams.

And we're just going to pulse that together.

You'll only need about 20 seconds in the blender.

Ooh, it's like a meat smoothie!

Look at that.

That's the kofta mix.

Whoo!

What I am going to do now is put in loads of black pepper,

and honestly, it's more black pepper than you think,

it really works with this.

Just give that a mash through.

I need three tablespoons of coriander.

I'm not going to do this in the food processor,

cos I don't want the blades crushing the life out of the coriander.

It would bruise it, be horrible.

Coriander's funny, isn't it, some people hate it, but I love it.

Stir that in.

And just work that coriander through.

The best way to do this...

is to get your hands in.

Now cover it with cling film and chill for a few hours

to let the meat absorb all those delicious spices.

Of course this being on the telly, we've made some already.

Handy, that.

Whoa! When I took the cling film off, got a real waft.

Take a piece like a small walnut.

It does stay together quite well.

If it doesn't just use damp hands, but I think I'm fine here.

And roll it.

And it's nice to have uniform meatballs.

I don't like odd-shaped ones.

And repeat.

While Dave's cracking on with that, it's sauce time.

To kick off, we need to heat three tablespoons of ghee,

or sunflower oil if you can't get that,

and fry two medium chopped onions, four chopped garlic cloves

and 25 grams of chopped fresh root ginger

until they're all softened and lightly browned.

Just add a little bit of salt...

to the onions, cos it draws out all of that great moisture and sugars,

natural sugars in the onions.

Keep stirring!

Next, add a tablespoon of garam masala, and if you like it hot,

a teaspoon of chilli powder.

Stir that in

for another minute or so.

Next, roughly chop four large tomatoes.

And did you know that the word "tomato"

comes from the Aztec word "tomatl,"

you know, cos that came over with the potatoes,

and at first, they were thought to be poisonous,

but the Latin name for tomato,

when translated, means "edible wolf peach."

-Edible wolf peach?

-Oh, yes.

Doesn't that sound great?

"I'm doing an edible wolf peach sauce with me spaghetti."

D'you know, can you imagine?

"'Scuse me, can I have half a pound of edible wolf peaches, please?"

DAVE LAUGHS

-Oh!

-Romantic times.

Right, what we want to do, increase the heat...

..and then put these lovely tomatoes...

..into the pan.

And we're going to cook them over a high heat

until they start to yield all of their moisture.

And then after that, I'm going to add our tomato puree.

# Mince on a Thursday

# Curry on a Friday...

-# Cottage pie on Saturday... #

-And give it a stir.

And sprinkle with salt...

and half a teaspoon of caster sugar for sweetness.

Just to counter the acidity in the tomatoes and the tomato puree.

Give it a stir.

Pour in 500 ml of lamb stock.

Add a bay leaf,

and a cinnamon stick.

Ooh! Nice touch.

OK, cover the pan loosely,

and cook on a simmer for about 20 minutes.

-How you getting on with your balls, dude?

-Oh, smashing,

-look at that, symmetry.

-Lovely, that, dude, lovely.

-But, you know, Kingy...

-What, mate?

-D'you know who makes the biggest meatball in the world?

-Oh, no...

-Dave...

-It's true!

-No!

It's the Iranians.

-It's called a koofteh tabriz.

-A koofteh tabriz?

Koofteh tabriz.

And each meatball is a whole chicken stuffed with fruit and nuts.

That's what you call a hell of a meatball!

Koofteh tabriz!

-So...hold on, hold on, hold on...

-Yeah?

So it's not just a stuffed chicken, then.

Is it a deboned chicken?

I don't know the technicalities, but you can look it up on the internet,

but it is...it's a kofta, it's a koofteh, it's a meatball.

I mean, the Greeks have keftides.

The Swedes have kottbullars.

The French have croquettes.

Lots of countries have koftas or kooftehs.

-They're all meatballs, though.

-They are, mate.

-Call them what you like.

-Right.

-Meatballs.

-Right now.

-Nice!

So that's 20 minutes, mate.

-Any chance of a taste?

-Yeah, have one.

Ooh, I...really fresh.

-Yeah?

-Nice, yeah.

What we're going to do...

Fish out the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.

Take it off the heat...

..and blitz it with a hand-held blender until smooth.

Now, you need to be quite cautious about this, cos this is hot.

So don't lift your stick blender up and cover the kitchen

and your children and your husband and everybody. It's not a good idea.

You'll not be popular.

DAVE LAUGHS

Right, we're going to return that back to the heat.

Bring it to a simmer.

Add 200 ml of water.

But remember this is just a guide amount -

you don't have to put it all in.

Have a look at the consistency of the sauce,

and assess how much water you want to put back into it,

but you want it, kind of, quite thick.

The meatballs are going to soak up some of that moisture.

Right, boys, you're going swimming!

In that pool of flavour.

What we're going to do is cook it uncovered

for between 20 and 35 minutes.

And that'll be it.

Cor, look at that lamb cauldron of flavour.

I tell you what's interesting, Dave, the sauce has gone right down.

-Yeah, it has.

-So 35... 20 to 35 minutes...

cooking uncovered has really thickened that up lovely, hasn't it?

Yeah, and it's also taken the juices out of the meat

and it's changed colour.

I've just got some simple jasmine rice here,

-and run a little bit of coriander through.

-Lovely.

That's it.

Look at that.

Oh, nice!

But I think the great thing is about meatballs,

whatever description, whatever nationality,

they're such a good eat when they're done properly.

-You want lots of that sauce.

-Oh, man.

And just some natural yoghurt.

Cos I think these are going to be pretty spicy.

Although people might say that a kofta curry

-isn't the best of British, well, it is.

-Yeah.

Cos it's here, it's here to stay, and I'm very grateful for that.

So am I.

Tuck in.

Ooh, nice texture.

-Yeah.

-Bit of rice.

DAVE CHUCKLES

Ooh, they're good.

Oh, yes.

Best of British sheep.

Rockin'. Yeah, it's world-bleating.

Sheep are livestock that Britain excels at.

And the world-class lamb, hogget or recipes

that make the best out of their meat are something we should be proud of.

So if you'd like to know more about the recipes on today's programme,

log onto our website:

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