Islands 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 ye!

'It's home to some 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!

'..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.'

Let's have them enjoying themselves.

It's a short life. Let's make it a happy one like they always have had.

'And of course, we'll be cooking up a load of dishes that

'reveal our foody evolution.'

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

Quite simply, the best of British.

We're an island nation, but did you know that our little island

is surrounded by 5,000 other little islands?

-5,000?

-Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Five thou...yeah. 5,000.

Well, that's if you include...like rocks, and that.

Well, there's at least 1,000 islands,

and 150 of those are habitable.

Now, a lot of those fair isles have their own food traditions

and specialities, from heritage tomatoes on the Isle of Wight,

to edible snails in Jersey.

With easy access to the sea and unusual microclimates, our islands

have a lot to bring to the plate when it comes to our wider, national cuisine.

And today's show is dedicated to celebrating the role these

rocky extremities have played in our foodie history,

from the Scottish whiskeys of Islay...

..and amazing samphire from the Isle of Wight,

to the lesser-known aquatic treats that can be found splashing around the waters of Jersey.

We'll be cooking up some fantastic recipes using the best island produce Britain has to offer.

Our culinary journey starts three miles from the Hampshire coast,

on the Isle of Wight.

At only 147 square miles there's nowhere else in Britain with

so many habitats squeezed in.

And it's so sunny, Queen Victoria even got her knees out, and had a summer house built here,

complete with its own private beach!

But the island's so much more than just a holiday resort for royalty.

With its lush green fields and warm sunny climate, it's known as

"the garden isle" - a paradise for food lovers.

We're here to meet Robert Thompson, the chef

and proprietor of the island's only Michelin-starred restaurant,

the Hambrough, and he's going to introduce us

to the culinary delights of the Isle of Wight.

Now, Robert's out collecting lots of ingredients that kind of pull

the taste of the island together for us,

so we're going to have to go and find him.

# Bring me sunshine... #

Rob became Britain's youngest Michelin-starred chef

at the age of 23 and he's passionate about the local

ingredients that the island has to offer.

# ..as the sun from up above... #

Robert!

# Bring me sunshine, bring me love. #

It's like Gone With The Wind!

-Mind your step as you come over.

-So what have you got there, Robert?

Rock samphire I've just gathered from these little nooks and crannies all over the cliff.

It's very different to the samphire that I get up at home,

that's in the marshes.

It's quite a citrusy flavour.

If's a bit harsher than marsh samphire grass. Not as salty.

Come on, man. You can imagine that going fantastically well with seafood and fish. Fabulous.

Samphire was once particularly popular on the Isle of Wight

and people risked their lives to collect it from the cliffs.

Shakespeare even mentions it in the Tempest as a "dreadful trade".

During the 19th century, samphire was shipped from the island in casks

of seawater to London markets, but its popularity eventually declined

due to its scarcity.

But in recent years it's been making a comeback

on our plates, and a good thing that is, too.

The beauty of an island is you get great local ingredients like this

all in one small area!

Perfect for chefs.

Can you put together a really true sense of what the island's about,

and its produce, just from a little bit of foraging here and there,

to embellish the already-existing ingredients.

There's so many ingredients just hiding

and all you've got to do is just go and find them,

cook them simply, you know, take care of them

and present it in a nice sort of dish, and job done.

How is the samphire going to enhance the dish you're going to

cook for us?

I'm taking a lovely piece of sea bass. A nice...it's a fresh sea bass from this morning.

I'm just going to pan-roast that and sit it on a nice,

you know, pile of the rock samphire grass,

just a little bit of butter, a little bit of nutmeg in there.

And then a little sauce vierge with that dish.

So the tomatoes, all that combined together - olive oil,

a bit of lemon juice in there, fresh herbs.

All going to combine nicely.

Tell you what, Si, I can't wait to try this!

It's a hard job but someone's got to do it.

Rob is going to be combining the best that the island has to offer in his recipe,

and there's plenty to choose from!

The Isle of Wight is famous for its tomatoes and the climate here

perfect for them. With more sun than other parts of the UK, they've

been growing here since at least the 19th century, and these days

the Isle of Wight produces over half of Britain's organic tomatoes.

Another of the most cracking ingredients grown in the area is garlic.

There are 8 or more varieties here, including smoked and chunky

elephant bulbs, well suited to the climate.

And perfect for juggling!

It's become so successful, the island has a yearly garlic festival

to celebrate, as you would do when you grow bulbs like this monster.

D'you know, I looked at that garlic and I thought my eyes were playing tricks!

-It was like garlic, but different - not as we knew it.

-Look at that!

Size of them.

Eh! And just one clove of garlic would be sufficient.

Oh, come on, lads. We're getting distracted looking at the Isle of Wight's shop window!

-Yep.

-We need to have some cooking.

-OK.

-Let's crack on.

So we've got nice fillet of sea bass here, so we're just going to

take a nice piece off, then we're just going to take that fillet,

then you're just looking for that...you can just hear it. It's just starting to go.

While Rob has the fish on the go,

I'm blanching the lovely handpicked samphire.

It only needs a couple of minutes to loosen up the flavours.

And to think it's free!

Oh, I love island life!

-I think the nice thing about it is the simplicity to it that's just...

-Carried away with the smell!

Fry it up in butter and it's ready to go.

For the herby sauce,

Rob uses a mix of tomato varieties grown on the island, which all

have slightly different flavours.

-What have you done to those tomatoes?

-Just taken the tops off, and then just a little bit of salt,

a little bit of pepper, olive oil, and then just under the lights. You can put them in a low oven as well.

But we put them under the hotplate lights just to intensify, and you can see they're just shrivelled.

So it's like you'd have a sundried tomato - this is just like a kitchen-lamp-dried tomato!

COOKER TIMER BUZZES That'll be the sea bass.

Yeah - let me out! I'm hot!

Ooh! Look at that! I cannot wait for a nibble!

I can tell the way you're handling and treating the ingredients,

you've got such respect for what you're cooking with.

I mean, that bass, I've just got it this morning.

So it's a stunning sea bass, and you can't mess about with it,

you know. Just cook it nicely, score it perfectly.

You know, you've got to give it respect. You have to.

A few more minutes with a bit of butter and the fish is cooked to perfection!

Sea bass.

The colours are absolutely wonderful.

As an extra delight, Rob's added some crustaceans caught right on the doorstep.

Ooh! All this Isle of Wight loveliness gathered together on one plate.

But he's not done yet!

Rob's put that huge garlic to good use and he's made some crisps to go on top.

-Are you going to try?

-Oh, aye!

Seems a shame. So lovely, isn't it?

So lovely. It's a lovely plate of food.

-Oh, man!

-It's good?

-Oh, yeah!

I think what I'm really impressed with, Robert,

is this rock samphire, because it just sits so nicely.

There's that element of citrus...it just sits perfectly

and holds the whole dish together.

Complements everything perfectly well.

Rob's dish is a round-the-island tour of foody goodness.

You know, I think you've well-and-truly shown us that the

treasures that the Isle of Wight has to offer...it's got another one as well - he's called Robert Thompson!

Absolutely. Superb.

Wherever you have islands you can find crabs -

they love hanging around the seabed eating shrimps and doing their...

well, their funny little walk...

But cooking with crab is a relatively recent thing.

Back in the 18th century, crabmeat was used

mainly as bait for catching lobsters and the only people who

ate them were fishermen - who simply boiled them.

But there's so much more to the British crab which, prepared right, is a true delicacy.

So, to show off its unique flavour, it's best to keep it simple.

Our first recipe is simplicity in a crab shell.

Look at that. That's not a crab, that's an armoured car.

Can you imagine? That's superb.

Now, this little segment is about how to dress a crab.

What I would suggest is putting it

in a Spongebob Squarepants onesie

and your crab will be perfectly dressed.

Mr Krabs, from the Krabby Patty! I love Spongebob.

Now, what I'm going to do is, first of all, take their claws off.

Just feel how the claws are articulated and pull them in the opposite direction.

Like that, so you want to pull them towards you.

Take these bits off.

So, the claws are off, and now the legs.

And we're going to deal with the body of the crab.

Now, we need to get this bit, that attaches all the legs,

off from the shell.

So, what you do, crab on its back with his legs,

or what would be, in the air, and you do that, and just pull it,

and if it doesn't move,

take a knife and just put it in there like that, twist it...

and then try and pull it again.

That's the one. Press it in like that.

And then just...

Now, here, we're in business. Look at all that lovely meat.

Whilst Si does battle with our monster crab, I've got

the strenuous job of grating a couple of hard-boiled eggs through a sieve.

Do the whites and yolks separately

and you'll end up with a fluffy artist's palette of colour.

The bits that you really don't want to eat on a crab,

there's only a few of them.

In the corners here, there's a little membrane.

You don't want to eat that, so discard that.

And these are called dead man's fingers. They're not.

You're not going to die if you eat them but they're just, ugh,

they taste like feathers.

They call them feathers, don't they, some people?

And they're just the filter unit

of this beautiful, beautiful crustacean.

With all the feathers and membrane removed, you can

begin to get to the good stuff.

If you've got a tin dish, use that to put the meat in,

because you'll hear any missed bits of shell as you drop the meat in.

I'll come back to this bit in a minute.

But, let's do the easy bit first.

This is where the brown meat lives, right inside the shell.

You always said you prefer crab to lobster, don't you?

Yeah, my dad used to always use the brown meat,

mix it with hard-boiled eggs and make crab pate on toast.

-It was lovely.

-Fantastic.

-Then we'd have the white meat separate.

I suppose that's how you got two meals out of a crab, really.

Absolutely. And I think that's the thing.

We're an island race, and around islands, normally, you get great crab,

and the great thing about that is, you just let the ingredients

speak for themselves, which is what your dad did, didn't he?

Yeah, yeah.

Look at that. That's all beautiful, beautiful meat.

Now, back to the main body.

Cut through the centre of this.

Quite hard to do, but it's worth it.

All that is white meat.

Now, these are picks, and these implements are an exercise

in getting into the nooks and crannies.

It's great practice

if you're thinking of going in for a career in dentistry.

Or chiropody, for that matter. Indeed. He says, working on the feet!

DAVE LAUGHS

Now, these bad boys. Again, they articulate one way.

And just break them

In the opposite direction to the way that they articulate.

Next bit, a good, sharp tap, and again on this side,

and that should break the claw, look.

Clean as a whistle.

It might be worth warning your neighbours before you start on this,

because for a while, your kitchen's to sound like a building site.

But, for all this elbow grease, the end product looks rather pretty.

So, what you can do, there is a line that runs,

and I don't know whether you can see this here,

what you want to do, you want to take that off,

because that's how we kind of open the shell up,

and then we're able to use this shell to dress the crab.

-Just start it off...

-By 'eck, there's some meat in this crab!

..with a pair of scissors.

And what it'll do, it'll fracture down this line.

See? And then it will just pull off.

Crab is enormously underrated,

and one of the most nutritious seafoods you can eat.

They are a goldmine of flavour.

The dark meat provides an earthy, savoury base note

while the white meat is more, well, exquisite and gentle.

It's funny, when you start to put it all back together you wonder

-how it all came out of that crab.

-That's true!

For the finishing touches, we are going to carefully adorn the crab

with Dave's egg fluff, a few capers

and a sprig or two of parsley, finely chopped.

Bravo. There we are. One classically dressed crab.

Picking the meat out of a crab may be a labour of love,

but it's worth the fuss. Our British crabs are world-class.

They say no man is an island, Kingy, but if I had to be one,

it would be Islay, it would be in the Inner Hebrides.

Wouldn't you rather be, like, Barbados or something?

Oh, no, you see, this little island might be less than 30 miles wide

and 30 miles long, but it's the centre of the universe

when it comes to the wondrous world of whisky.

I tell you what, mate, you would definitely be the most popular person at any party, all right.

Aye, and with the Customs and Excise office, too.

The very name "Islay" warms the heart of Inland Revenue men,

just as, no doubt, on occasions, Islay's chief product

warms their innards, because this is whisky Islay.

# Whisky do your stuff

# Till I've had enough... #

Today, the small island of Islay produces around 25 million litres

of whisky annually, in its eight working distilleries.

That's a quarter of Scotland's malt whisky exports.

And they've been at it for hundreds of years.

# Whisky do your stuff...

Since the 18th century, it's been home to some of the finest

distilleries in the world, numbering over 200 in its history.

Producing the water of life, or Uisge Beatha,

as it's called in these parts, with a very distinct taste.

The spirit produced on Islay

is of a complete and single quality

and character than is to be found in any other part of Scotland.

It is said that the sea salt air that blows across the island

gives the whisky a unique flavour of the sea.

But another key factor in its quality

lies beneath the islanders' feet.

The furnace below the kiln is served with coke and peat.

The aroma of the peat imparted to the barley

during this drying stage eventually gives character to the whisky.

Men are turning over the drying malt amidst the aroma of the peat,

the peat reek, as it's called.

The fact Islay is largely composed of rich and anything but reeky peat

undoubtedly led to its whisky's prized and discernible flavour.

When it is put into casks for maturing, by law,

Scotch whisky must not be less than three-years-old.

Yes, this is powerful stuff, all right.

# It's a Scotch on the rocks... #

But it wasn't just the flavoursome whisky that led to the business

being so prolific on the island.

Surprisingly, it was more down to a bit of a historical oversight.

After the union with England, it became the only place in Scotland

where no government excise officer operated.

Oops! And with no-one collecting taxes from 1707 until 1823,

it was just like the gold rush for renegade distillers.

And without these cunning rascals, the industry might never have grown

into the whisky powerhouse it became.

SPEAKEASY JAZZ

Today, the spirit is one of Scotland's most lucrative

exports and global sales are at an all-time high.

So Islay's liquid gold looks set to warm the world's cockles

and enrich the nation's coffers for many years to come.

So, it's time to see if we can dream up some way

of putting that amber nectar to good use.

Now, the best thing to do, without a doubt, with Islay malt,

is to drink it.

And, without a doubt,

the second best thing to do with Islay malt is to make

that world-famous dessert, cranachan,

which is exactly what we're about to do.

Cra-na-chan!

This extravagant-looking pud was originally a harvest festival version

of the humble Scottish breakfast.

But I don't think anyone could accuse this of being porridge.

Now, what I'm going to do, I'm going to get some porridge oats,

I'm going to put them in a frying pan and guess what?

-I'm going to toast them with some almonds.

-And I'm going to mix it.

Now, the thing is, Islay malt whiskies, I think

are some of my favourites in the world. It's a bit of...

# Way bonny boat like a bird on the wings

# Over the sea to Skye... #

Right, anyway. Cranachan-bound.

What I'm going to do, I'm going to toast porridge oats, I'm going

to toast them off in a dry frying pan with some almonds.

Now, you want to toast these over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.

That's it.

-Oats are fascinating, aren't they?

-Oats are.

They are packed with more goodness than any other form of cereal.

They also contain more fat. And they reckon there's so many Scottish high achievers

-because, as a race, they eat more oatmeal than any other.

-Wow! Eh?!

So, in the bowl, we put cream.

Now I've made a bit of a change

to what otherwise is quite traditional recipe.

We're using half fat creme fraiche,

gives it a little bit more of a sour note,

but also to make it a little bit lighter.

Ooh!

So, mix the creme fraiche with the cream.

Now, we want some vanilla extract. We make our own.

All the vanilla pods we use for baking, we've slashed them

and taken the seeds out, and put them in brandy.

Just keep popping them in a bottle. And with the process of time,

you get the most wonderful home-made vanilla extract.

Smell that!

-Lovely, isn't it?

-Mmm!

-Did you get it, Mrs Arthur, did you?

Good lass.

Half a teaspoon.

And now to uncork the treasure of the Northern Isles - ooh, my favourite bit.

CORK SQUEAKS THEN POPS

Oh!

BAGPIPES STRIKE UP

Three tablespoons of malt whisky.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger was a trifle, he'd be cranachan,

-wouldn't he?

-He would, yes!

It's like, you know, it's got muscles on its spit,

this pudding, it's great.

Now I want three tablespoons-ish of honey.

-Three?

-About. Now, we whip this until it's thick.

Don't over-whip it because some of the oats and nuts are going to

sink into it and thicken it even further.

Just keep turning it.

Turning it over.

And whilst Dave makes all that noise I'm going to do something

a little more soothing.

A raspberry puree.

Mamma!

Put a few of them back. Maybe it was a bit much.

All I'm doing is pushing the raspberries through a sieve

with the back of a spoon.

None of the seeds make it through the mesh

and all the luscious loveliness does.

Nice!

That bit, you don't want, that other bit, you do.

It really is worth making some of this,

and you don't need that much to make a hell of an impression.

What a puree!

What I'm going to do with that

is just put some caster sugar in to sweeten it.

About one to one-and-a-half.

Just like that raspberry sauce you used to have on ice cream

-and call it monkey's blood.

-Oh, yeah!

Once the oats have browned slightly take them off the heat

and allow them to cool.

The components are here.

Now, what we want to do is, Dave's going to form layers.

Those layers need to be loose.

You know, relaxed.

It's a free-form pud, isn't it?

I haven't done this too much, I've still got a bit of flow on it.

Soft peak, lovely.

# Baby don't take my whisky away from me... #

# Baby don't take... #

It's a really easy pudding, this, and it's one,

if you take all the components,

you can actually assemble it at the table in front of your guests.

But one thing it doesn't do, it doesn't last.

And it doesn't last cos it's delicious.

But you can't make it an hour before and serve it,

you're just going to have, like, a pot of mush.

There you are, mucker.

More of this stuff.

Loose-form blobs.

-Such a lovely pudding. this.

-Isn't it?

-It's lush.

-Some more berries.

It's full of bad stuff, but you've also got a bit of vitamin C,

-haven't you?

-Aye.

Actually, it's important to remember that Scotland is THE region

for berries. Loganberries, tayberries, raspberries.

And, to top off, a lovely drizzle of heather honey.

The engine room of that is produced on an island, the isle of Islay.

You'd never be able to drink it with a straw.

No, but you can eat it with a spoon.

Mmm!

-That just works so well, doesn't it?

-Oh, it does.

The great thing about cranachan is the textural differences.

You've got the crunchy oats and toasted flavours of the oats

and the almonds, the soft cream and that lovely, lovely berry fruit.

Yeah, and the whisky underneath all that,

gives it quite a grown-up, sophisticated flavour.

Here, Kingy, cheers, let's raise a glass as a fitting tribute

to our five thousand islands.

May they never sink.

Next, we're off to the Channel Islands

and when you think of Jersey's offerings to the world of gastronomy,

what first springs to mind may be its luxurious cream or superior potatoes.

But, hidden within its shallow waters is a very,

how do you say this? Unique delicacy.

What the heck is that?!

Our funny looking friend, here, Dave, is an ormer,

a type of edible sea snail which grow all over the world.

Where they are also known as abalone.

It might look like the alien from a 1950s B-movie but,

according to the folk of Jersey, this little beauty

makes fantastic eating and was traditionally cooked in a stew.

It's so tasty, in fact,

it was almost lost from their dinner plates for good.

Ormers had been gathered here for centuries

but they were so popular with the Victorians,

they were overfished, and became increasingly rare.

Despite overfishing,

the industry limped on until disaster struck in the 1990s

when a disease destroyed more than half the Channel Islands' stock,

and strict controls were put in place.

Now, if you want to catch an ormer,

they have to be over nine centimetres and can only be collected

at restricted times of the year, to allow stocks to replenish.

It might sound like a bleak picture

but, thanks to some Jersey food heroes,

the ormer's making a comeback even Elvis would be proud of.

Justin Surcouf has been working tirelessly for the last six years

to get them back into the water and back onto our plates.

By farming rather than fishing them.

And it's needed some serious dedication.

They need constant attention, constant feeding, constant nurturing,

so it's got to be a labour of love and that's what I love doing.

I love producing them, seeing the end result

from an egg, nothing, to this.

They're beautiful.

Poor Justin's got thousands of tiny mouths to feed,

and when I say thousands, I mean thousands.

It looks like a Hogwarts potion class, and this is actually

an ormer kitchen, where Justin makes the food to feed them up

from tiny wee eggs into big, juicy adults

In this room we produce algae and diatoms, which the ormers graze on

from when they're first, a larvae until nearly 1mm.

We're trying to give them the best algaes

and the best foods which will make them grow

and be healthy animals so they grow big, fat and meaty.

It's pioneering work

but this is currently the only place in the British Isles that grows them.

There's no book that I know of that you can read and it tells you everything about them.

I don't think there's a day gone that you haven't learned something new.

With great care and attention, Justin nurtures the ormers

in giant tanks, until they're like little teenagers, ready to move on.

This is grown by my own hands and we've created these -

very exciting, because it's never, ever been done.

When they're four-months-old, the ormers are taken from the nursery

into the big, wide world

and grown in undersea cages until they're ready to scran.

Because they're farmed rather than wild ormers,

Justin can sell them smaller than the 90 millimetre legal limit.

His company's hoping to market these smaller ones as "cocktail ormers",

hoping to broaden their appeal.

This is a big moment for Justin. It's his first ever harvest

and all of those years of hard work are coming together.

This is the size of ormers we're looking for,

55 millimetres which is a perfect cocktail ormer.

And it's very exciting, because it's the whole process finished.

To promote the business, Justin takes them back to the beach to show

off to local chefs - the first time his ormers have ever been tasted.

A quick-fry up by business partner Gary, and they're looking top-notch.

-That is delicious.

-Beautiful.

They've got super flavour. I really like them, actually.

But there's one important person who's yet to try one.

Mmm!

Justin's ormers are a great hope for the future.

But this is a delicacy all about heritage, too.

The traditional way of cooking them up is in a casserole.

Mary John has been eating them like this since she was little.

I remember the first time I had ormer casserole.

I think I must have been about six or seven

and they didn't really give you the ormer at all.

They only gave you the gravy with the potato,

because all the grown-ups had the ormers.

That's a bit mean!

You just take your ormer

and cut it from the bottom out of the shell

and then pull the ormer out.

Well, this is not really wanting to make me eat it, Mary!

This is the dirtiest part, but once this is done, they're not too bad.

Afterwards, you give them a really good scrub.

And then they look quite edible.

It's essential, really, before you cook them,

that you have to scrub them and clean off all this black

from the sea and seaweed, and all these bits.

And they should really be eaten when there is not an R in the month.

Pork, they always say you shouldn't eat it in very hot weather.

I imagine it must be something like that with the ormers.

But it's an old Jersey thing. Now, you can see, it's so much whiter.

After a quick dry with a towel, Mary jabs the thickest part with a fork.

For her, this is a recipe with deep roots.

I do think it's very important to pass on things like this.

If you don't pass the recipes on, then they simply disappear,

which would be such a pity.

She then tenderises the ormers with a rolling pin, as you would a steak.

These are larger ormers than the farmed ones and need a bit more work.

I think sometimes it does you good, especially if

you're in a bad temper, to give all these ormers a good beating!

Tell them who's boss, Mary!

After giving them a good hiding, she fries them up with shallots.

Then the whole lot goes in the oven.

And eight hours later, Mary has done Jersey proud.

Served up with a good dollop of Jersey potato mash,

Mary's delicious ormers are ready for eating.

It's really nice, very good, yes.

It might seem like they're only for the adventurous,

but these island delights are more than just a tasty snack.

Ormers are as much part of Jersey as warm weather, Jersey cows

and the TV sleuth, Bergerac.

Because they're so scarce,

you might be hard pushed to get hold of an ormer,

so for our next recipe, we're using an ingredient

that's just as tasty, but can be found at your local supermarket.

Let me introduce you to a national treasure. Simon King.

No, the Isle of Man Queenie.

It's brilliant.

Look at it. Sweet, beautiful.

The smallest of the scallop family, but small packages

are wonderful things, and these are sweet and gorgeous.

Yep, It's our favourite bivalve mollusc - the queen scallop.

The Manx Queenie is especially good due to the clear, deep waters

and strong tide that flows around the island,

providing the little Queenie with all the plankton she can eat.

And every year, the islanders hold a week-long festival in her honour.

And frankly, I don't blame them.

And, with this island treasure, we're going to do an Asian twist.

In fact, we're going to just batter it, and that's British,

but we're going to do sesame tempura Queenie scallops

and we're going to serve that with a ponzu dressing,

which is a lovely citrus soy dressing.

And, just because we can, we're going to do some asparagus tempura as well.

And with that sesame batter, it's going to be so indulgent,

-but light and fabulous. But it's all about the Queenies.

-It certainly is.

Now, what you do, in the half shell, you just treat them

very gently and move your thumbnail across and underneath it,

and it will come off as clean as a whistle.

And then, this bit here, very gently, just pull it away.

Look at that. Right, asparagus. All we do is, we want the tips.

I'm going to blanch these for precisely 90 seconds.

British asparagus is very seasonal.

It's only available for eight weeks of the year,

but it's worth waiting for, as it's the best in the world.

While Dave's doing that, all I'm doing is, I'm just rolling

the beautiful Queenie scallop on some kitchen paper.

And it's just to dry them off so that, when the batter does

sit on them, it'll sit on them for as long as possible.

When the asparagus has turned a vibrant green, drain

and rinse in cold water to stop it cooking any further and going soft.

I'm going to go and get our ponzu dressing now.

And it's really quite a simple little number, and it's brilliant.

Doesn't take long to cook,

and there's not a lot of ingredients in it.

It took a while to catch on

but we Brits have really embraced Japanese food.

It's now the fastest-growing cuisine in the country, which means

you should be able to get hold of these ingredients quite easily.

We've used 100 millilitres of mirin,

which is a seasoning made of sweet rice wine.

One tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and 75 millilitres of dark soy.

And a strip of this stuff - kombu.

Kombu is available in most Asian supermarkets.

It can also be found lying on most island beaches.

Indeed. It's seaweed.

OK?

Pop your kombu into your ponzu and heat for three minutes,

or until reduced by half.

I'll get on with the batter. You take some cornflour.

And mix that with regular flour.

And, to this, we're going to add a tablespoon of sesame seeds.

Now, the sesame seeds are going to toast and pop.

And now, the secret to a really good tempura batter.

Take some freezing cold sparkling mineral water

and add 100 millilitres to an egg yolk.

See?

The bubbles and the temperature are important to getting a light,

crispy batter. Now, we mix that with the flours and the sesame seeds.

Stir it up a bit but don't worry about trying to get rid of the lumps.

We want lumps!

Add another 100 millilitres of fizzy water and mix again.

Once the dressing has reduced in the pan, discard the seaweed and

let the liquid cool before adding two tablespoonfuls of this stuff.

It's what gives the dressing its name - ponzu sauce.

It is available at all good Asian supermarkets.

If you can't get this, just use lemon juice.

So, two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice

or two tablespoonfuls of this citrus seasoned soy.

Now, tempura is quick, it's quick to happen,

so you need to make sure you have everything ready.

Everything at hand.

Tip one, put the batter right next to the fryer

so you don't dribble the batter all over your best table.

At about 180 degrees, hot fat.

Take a piece of the blanched asparagus,

pop it in the batter, take it out quickly, put it in the oil.

Off it pops, in fact, you could do a load.

After about two minutes, the batter should go crisp,

which means it's ready.

See how crispy they are. Oops! Hee-hee! Oh, I love it!

This ponzu sauce is for dipping, and I'm going to dress it with very

finely sliced chilli and some spring onions, but just the green bit.

Thoroughly chopped.

Time to get on with the Queenies now. Just like with the asparagus,

put them into the hot fat before the lovely, frothy batter slips off.

-Here you are, mate, here's your big dish.

-Lovely.

-Nearly there.

Scallops don't need a lot of cooking.

A couple of minutes in the fryer should be long enough.

Ooh, here we go. Oh-ho-ho! Yes!

-Ye Gods! It's like shellfish popcorn.

-Get in!

-There you are.

A bed of asparagus tempura, then the scallops.

Check it out.

A beautiful fusion of the best Japanese techniques

with great British produce - asparagus and Queenie scallops.

It's slightly undercooked

because it's steamed in that little batter casket.

What's not to love?

This is like a union of islands, isn't it, really?

I mean, Japan's got lots of islands, we've got lots of islands.

And in this little archipelago of culinary love,

we've brought them together.

Do you know, with all of these islands

knocking around the place, I'd like one of my own. I can see it now.

King Si of New Siland. It's got a nice ring to it, hasn't it?

Not going to happen, mate. They'd have the army in.

But there's one very special island in Britain that does have its own king and queen.

Piel Island lies off the coast of my home town of Barrow in Furness

where King Stephen Chataway and his lovely Queen, Sheila,

rule over a culinary kingdom, complete with its own castle.

But you'll mostly find the current monarch in the pub.

Being island royalty goes hand-in-velvet-glove

with being landlord of The Ship Inn.

The size of my kingdom is approximately 50 acres.

Somebody once said, "There's a pub, there's a castle, there's a king."

What more do you need?

Dream job or what?

'The first recorded king I think was James Hool in about 1720.

'So I think I'm about'

number 29 on the list of kings.

It's still quite an honour. It's quite a select group.

I'm proud to be part of it. It's brilliant.

One boozy night out in the 18th century,

Piel residents decided to elect their own king

for a bit of a giggle,

a tradition that was inspired by some real drama on the island.

In 1487, a young boy called Lambert Simnel landed here

with several thousand mercenaries.

He was a pawn in an aristocratic power struggle,

but his supporters claimed he was the rightful King of England.

At the battle of Stoke Field in Nottinghamshire,

Lambert's army was defeated by the actual king, Henry VII.

As he was only 11-years-old, instead of having him executed,

Henry gave him a servant's job in the kitchen, turning meat on a spit.

As well as being ruler and landlord, these days the king is also the chef.

Today's a special day on the island.

A rare ceremonial knighting is taking place

and inspired by Lambert Simnel's story,

Steve is going to be spit-roasting a large piece of meat.

The butchers on the mainland have got him an entire

locally-sourced porker for a right royal feast.

Cheers, Neil. Thanks, Michael.

And you've guessed it.

There's only one way to cook a piece of meat of that size - hog roast!

There is one tricky thing about living on an island -

getting there with a big slab of pork means swapping

one's royal carriage for a 4x4

to get across the rough seabed while the tide's out.

Where's a servant when one needs one?

Being king of an island is starting to look like jolly hard work.

Just one of those unique locations. It's difficult. We've no gas.

We've no electric. We've no telephones.

We only got water in the '70s.

So, we're on generators and gas

and it's all got to be hauled over there and it makes it

rather difficult sometimes.

It might be tough, but armed with that hog,

his loyal subjects will be impressed at the evening's festivities.

Goodness. Should have got a little one.

Note to self, try and get smaller pig.

The techniques for roasting a whole hog haven't really changed that much

since Lambert Simnel's time.

Looks a bit mediaeval, I know.

If you don't fasten it on tightly,

what will happen is the hog will just spin on the spit

so one side of it just won't be cooked.

The beauty of cooking it on the hog roast is

the slow rotisserie movement.

All the juices are going back into it

so it's self-basting which is what makes it so succulent.

It really is nice.

Just need to score it now and salt it.

Scoring the fat and rubbing in salt is important

to draw out the moisture as it cooks, to get the crackling spot on.

You don't have to make a pig's ear of it(!)

If I don't get the crackling right, they will sulk. I shall be lynched.

Well, you can't lynch the king, he's in charge.

You'll do.

Enough pig.

Ah! It's proper medieval-style cooking, this.

Except with a gas roaster and an electric-powered spit.

But you can't beat a huge chunk of meat.

As the roast gets going,

King Steve's royal subjects start to arrive.

And for one of them, it's going to be a very special occasion.

Don Galloway is being knighted for his services to the pumps

and generally being helpful around the place.

He's doesn't get any real powers,

just the kudos of being a Knight of Piel.

It is now my proud and honourable duty to welcome you

to the Brotherhood of the Knights of Piel island, Sir Don Galloway.

And he's anointed with that holiest of holy oils - beer.

With his trusty retainer knighted,

King Steve gets back to sorting the roast.

Moment of truth. Stand by for perfection.

That smells absolutely gorgeous.

I know it's cooked right the way through.

I can feel the heat in the spikes as well.

It's just the texture, the smell, the feel of it. It's good.

This is not about finesse.

This is about feeding people a decent, locally-produced product.

Delicious.

Delicious.

It is really beautiful.

It's very, very tender, very juicy. Superb.

If I don't say so myself, I think this is the best hog roast

I've ever done on Piel Island.

This has turned out perfection.

I've got proper food envy, mate.

With a feast like that, King Steve thoroughly deserves his crown.

At first glance, the Scottish archipelago of islands

that make up Orkney might not look like they'd produce

-much in the way of food.

-But you'd be wrong!

It actually punches way above it's weight

when it comes to delicious produce and food exports.

The soil might not be rich, but over the years,

the enterprising Orcadians cultivated their own,

highly-successful farming and fishing industries.

If efficiency is making the most of what the Lord gave you,

Orkney should rank high in the list of the Lord's servants.

And we should give thanks because Orkney has provided the world

with some top-notch grub over the years.

The waters of the Gulf Stream create a mild climate.

The summer days are almost endless and for the Orcadian,

a crofter with a boat,

the sea and the land provide a substantial harvest.

For centuries, these fishermen with ploughs have been making the most

of the perfect conditions to catch

some of the world's finest lobster and crab.

But in the post-war years, they went after the international market.

'Seven or eight years ago, these Orcadian lobsters were eaten

'largely by Orcadians.

'You want a lobster, you go down to the port

'and buy one off a lobster boat for 9p a pound.

'By the time these very lobsters have been flown

'from the Isles of Orkney to the miserable and backward

'capital cities of half of Europe, the simple clientele will end up

'paying 25 shillings for just one half of one small lobster.'

Today, nine out of every ten lobsters caught end up on plates

around Europe and the island is home to the biggest hatchery

on the continent.

But it wasn't just the seafood industry the Orkney islanders

were capitalising on.

By the '60s, the cattle business was a nice little earner too.

But as a community that must literally export to survive,

Orkney concentrates mainly on cattle.

Nearly 20,000 beef cattle a year sail out to the mainland

through ports like Kirkwall.

Orkney now has the highest density of cattle in Europe

and are known for their outstanding beef.

And the island owes much of this success to the post-war years

when the farmers embraced modern farming methods with open arms.

'The soil isn't much more than reasonable,

'but farmers up here read this as an incentive to mechanise

'rather than an excuse to under produce.

'Orkney's farms are the most mechanised in the country,

'churning out, among all the rest, 2.5 million gallons of milk a year.'

And they certainly made the most of it,

creating a high-tech dairy industry that would go on to become

the biggest north of Stirling.

Whilst the islands might be a success story of the mechanised age...

Its food production was all rooted in traditional Orkney fare

and the geography that made it taste so special.

And its small-scale kitchen food industry continued to thrive

alongside the big boys.

Producing delicacies so good that back in the '80s,

gastronaut Keith Floyd couldn't wait to try them.

-Can we taste one of these?

-Yes.

This sounds obvious to say, it's very difficult to say things like this.

This is very cheesy, it's very creamy,

but it also smells and tastes of the sea which is not surprising.

I mean, the sea's only yards away

and the wind blows over the pastures here.

The Orcadians could never be accused of sitting on their laurels.

Their foresight and hard work means that today,

it has the highest GDP of all of the Scottish counties.

Not bad for a place a quarter of the size of the Isle of Wight.

And as well as their line in dairy and lobsters,

they also supply brown, or edible, crabs,

like the one we prepared earlier.

These crabs are a jewel of our islands

and we couldn't resist showing you another recipe with them.

And because they are so packed full of flavour,

the British crab is perfect for enhancing recipes

from other parts of the world.

So, we're making Thai-style crab cakes with our very own

chilli jam to dip them in.

So, mate, I'm going to get on with the chilli jam.

-I'll get on with the crab cakes.

-OK.

We need two chillies,

about 15 grams of root ginger...

and two cloves of garlic.

So, I'm going to prep those and there's a reason for that

-and I'll show you about that in a minute.

-Right.

To make the crab cakes, take a large quantity of good

British crabmeat, brown meat as well as the white meat.

Look at that. Big clumps of claw meat. Put them in a food processor.

Now, for flavour as well as bulk, just put in some king prawns. Raw.

Here, I've got some Thai-green curry paste. About a tablespoon.

This gives it a lot of life.

And a tablespoon of cornflour.

Now, we process that to make a prawny-crabby paste.

The fine texture of these crab cakes is all part of the style

but don't allow the mixture to become too thin

or it'll turn to mush.

And no amount of chilli will be able to repair that.

Home-made chilli jam's lovely, isn't it?

-A lot of the bought ones tend to be, I think, quite chemically.

-Yes.

Look at that. You could just put that on toast now, couldn't you?

This is jam sugar.

Now, jam sugar is a mixture of sugar and pectin

which is a thickening agent that naturally occurs in fruits.

-OK.

-So, what we're going to do, we're going to take some water.

To your 100ml of water, add red wine vinegar

three tablespoons thereof.

And to help it set, 225 grams of jam sugar.

Heat it all up and make a syrup.

-It's important to get the consistency of this right, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Although it's a jam, you want to be able to dip your cakes in it.

-You do.

So, it's quite critical not to overcook it.

-Yep, you want to dip it, not have to spread it.

-Exactly.

It's the crab cake, not toast.

To the crab mixture, I'm adding a bunch of finely-chopped coriander leaves

and half-a-dozen finely-sliced spring onions.

Give this a good stir.

Because of the cornflour and the processed prawns,

it has quite a gelatinous texture

that you can form with wet hands into your crab cakes.

At first, it appears it's like trying to juggle snot.

But with practice, it's quite possible.

Now, I'm going to start to add my garlic.

With a grater that's slightly coarser,

I'm just going to add some root ginger.

And then our chilli.

You see, I've got very little chilli in the crab cakes.

I've just got a little bit in the green curry paste.

We're going to save that kick for the chilli jam.

People can pick how hot they want their feast to be.

-Shall I get cracking?

-Yeah, mate. Absolutely.

I've seasoned the crab mix, the spring onions and the coriander.

I'll put some cornflour on a plate.

That's so they don't stick.

And I will start to form them.

To stop them sticking to your fingers, really clean hands,

wet your hands,

take a ball of mixture. There's enough here for about 12.

And with wet hands, just form it.

About golf-ball size into a patty. Like so.

I like them to be tidy.

I don't like rustic.

-You're not keen on rustic, are you, mate?

-Not with crab cakes.

Make about 12 of these and put them onto your little bed of cornflour.

A small dredge of cornflour is enough to stop the crabby bundles

from sticking to the plate whilst you make the rest.

We now need to put that into a heatproof bowl and let it cool.

-And the red wine vinegar gives it a wonderful red colour.

-Fab.

For the first time ever in my personal history of cooking

on telly, when I said, "This makes a dozen", it has.

Without cheating!

Get ready to fry the crab cakes by

heating six tablespoons of sunflower oil in a pan,

waiting till it's really hot,

before carefully placing the cakes in.

Oh, yes.

Wait till they've firmed up before you turn them

or you're just going to end up with a pan of Bombay mix,

-if you're not careful.

-Have you noticed what Dave's doing?

He's doing the clockwork thing, you see.

So you know...

which one you put in first.

It's easy to be put off from cooking with crab,

particularly if you cook them from live,

but a ready-prepared one in the shell from the supermarket is fine.

And whilst fresh crabmeat is preferable, the stuff you get

from a tin will do the trick as well.

Beautiful. Look. Just coloured up. Crisp.

And they flip quite easily.

Keep going round the clock.

And you see they're all super dupe.

Now, as the chilli jam cools, it'll begin to firm up.

That's the sort of wobble and consistency that you want.

If you cook it too much, it'll set Only cook it for the three minutes.

Then put that into our serving dish.

And if you're like me and you've made rather a lot,

just stick the rest in the fridge

and you can keep dipping for a couple of weeks.

These little beauties are so versatile - perfect for lunch,

as a light snack or as a little amuse bouche if you're entertaining.

And to garnish...

you've got it - a simple wedge of lime.

And there we are, our Thai-style British crab cakes,

a perfect representation of East meets West.

-Oh, mate.

-Lovely, isn't it?

-Coriander. Got a bounce to them.

-Yes.

-There's nothing better, is there?

-No.

You know what, Si, I think these crab cakes are

a very worthwhile celebration of the great British crab

which indeed is a treasure of our British island.

Hear, hear to that.

From the northernmost archipelago of Shetland...

..to the sunnier climes of the Isles of Scilly, it's our islands' traditions and culture...

..combined with their sea-bound geography and climate,

that make them such a rich source of culinary diversity and excellence.

And to find out how to cook

the recipes in today's show, visit...

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd