Restaurant Revelations Hairy Bikers Everyday Gourmets

Gourmet food. A feast for the eyes and the appetite.

Mouth-watering recipes.

The sort of thing that you find in the very best restaurants across the country.

But these ones are dirt cheap, and guess what?

LAUGHS They're made by us.

The Hairy Bikers are going posh.

And we're going to do it without blowing the weekly budget.

We want to tackle those recipes you love to order in restaurants

but you'd never think of attempting at home.

I think that's a result, dude.

We're going on the road to meet a foraging chef

who likes nothing more than to get his ingredients for free.

-You've got the bitterness of this with the sweetness of the parsnips.

-Mm.

Going back in time to see how the Victorians made great food for less than a sixpence.

It's just the building blocks of good cooking, isn't it?

And conjuring up some magic to help three wonderful girls treat the ones that they love.

-Chop all this?

-Yes!

ALL LAUGH

Hello.

We're getting down and dirty with an exquisite panna cotta.

And, from our Hairy Kitchen,

conjuring up our own twist on a British legend.

Join us in our quest to show you how to make exceptional dishes

for next to nothing. The art of making everyday gourmet.

TYRES SQUEAL

For as long as there have been kitchens,

there's been bog-standard cookery

and there's been quality cuisine, but throughout modern history

the place that has really set the trend for fashionable food

is the fancy restaurant.

Today is no different,

and there are hundreds of fine places to eat across the country.

The bad news is that the best have always been

the reserve of the well-to-do.

Oh, but we believe in treats for all.

So, me and the Myers, we're on a mission.

To show you how to create restaurant quality food

at home and on a budget.

A pinch of knowledge, a sprinkling of inspiration and a portion of time,

-that's all that you need...

-To treat your friends and family

to a restaurant dining experience within your own four walls.

'I'm going to change my ways now. I'm going to go proper posh.'

Now one dish that pops up on restaurant menus time and time again

-is pheasant.

-But it's one that barely anyone makes at home.

Game is often considered posh nosh for the hoi polloi to have

after a long day's target practise.

GUNSHOTS

But it is, Dave? Is it really?

It can be thought of to be a bit of fiddle to cook,

and it could be thought of to being expensive.

On both counts they're not.

Those come in at the supermarket at £5 each.

If you get them from a butcher, about three quid each.

So for four people you're talking six quid for your pheasants.

And if you know a poacher, for nowt.

Right. I'm just going to take the legs off.

Alongside the breast, we're going to do a confit,

which is a traditional way of preserving meats.

We start by sprinkling the legs and thighs with two tablespoons of salt to draw out the moisture.

It's good to hark back to traditional fare.

Once the salt has worked its magic, pour over a tin of goose fat.

It's a bit of an extravagance at over £2 a pot,

but the depth of flavour it gives is worth it.

Now crank up the restaurant quality by adding a tablespoon

of mixed masala spices, peppercorns, bruised cloves of garlic,

a cinnamon stick and a couple of bay leaves, then cover with foil.

And this goes into a medium to low oven, about 160 degrees Celsius,

for about two and a half hours.

Once you've separated the breast, don't even think about chucking away the rest of the carcass.

Use it to make some stock for the basis of a great gravy.

Every good stockpot must have roughly chopped onions, celery and carrot.

Add a stock cube to a litre of hot water to intensify the flavour.

A good bit of chicken stock-a-roonie.

There you go. Crack on for about an hour and a half or so

while the confit's doing. The building blocks have begun.

Once the confit is cooked and cooled, it's time to make ourselves a mini gamekeeper's pie

with all the tasty morsels that have cooked to tender perfection.

Now look how easily that meat comes away from the bone.

How beautiful is that? What you want is all the meat and none of the sinew.

The sinew is like little fish bones.

Those are the bits that you want to leave behind.

To a hot pan add finely chopped carrot, celery and onion.

Just as with the stock, these three simple ingredients

enhance the flavours of pretty much any cooking pot.

All we're doing is what any good restaurant has done for years.

It's about using every part of the ingredient

and making the best of what you have.

That's what makes it an everyday gourmet classic.

Drain the stock, add the pheasant, and to thicken the sauce a tablespoon of flour.

Pour in the remaining stock and stir until thick, unctuous and luscious.

That's what we want. Now we need to wait for that to go cold.

That's the pie filling. So it's time to make the pie crust.

Have a guess what I've got behind my back?

-No, it's not flour.

-No.

-No, it's not a block of ready-made puff pastry.

-No.

-And it's not suet pastry, either.

-No.

It's... called mashed potato.

But even a simple mash becomes gourmet if you add an egg yolk,

a knob of butter, nutmeg, and a dash of cream.

Give it a good battering. Beautiful.

With restaurant food, presentation is key.

So we're going to make tiny, individual pies

with pheasant filling.

It doesn't cost a penny more but looks gorgeous.

Even that off.

Get the confit, fill your little hole up, like that,

and people are going to think, if you don't tell 'em,

they've got a really craftily-shaped blob of mash.

-Little do they know.

-Little do they know.

Place them on a roasting tray.

Turn your oven up to 180. Remember, it was on 160 for your confit,

and put these in for half an hour.

Heat up the griddle. When it's smoking, add some of that jolly useful goose fat

and a sprig or two of flavour-filled thyme.

Season the pheasant breast liberally with salt and pepper.

Now, literally, what I'm doing is searing them off, a bit of colour on them, two minutes either side. OK?

Now we put them in the oven for six minutes.

I'm making the gravy in the griddle pan using the lovely juices from the pheasant breast.

Add a little flour and some of the stock from earlier,

and for a glossy, sweet finish, a blob of redcurrant jelly.

Now, look at those.

-Now they are belters. Should we?

-Yes, with confidence

born of arrogance, almost.

-Ho-ho.

-Belter.

Serving with savoury root veg mash,

a sprig of thyme and lashings of that wonderful gravy.

I'm dying to cut into that, though.

-People are just going to think it's a bowl of mash.

-Yeah, but it's not, is it?

-No.

-No.

What this dish costs you in time really makes up for in flavour and wow factor.

And all those flavours will be in that wonderful, wonderful rich mash.

Pheasant breast really tender. Big, savoury flavours, aren't they?

That's an exceptionally beautiful dinner for three quid.

You know what? In a restaurant you can pay anywhere up to 20 quid.

Yeah, you're paying for the labour, for the trouble,

but once you know how it ain't that difficult.

# Let's all go posh! # Come on, take a lesson from this.

Our love of creating beautiful and cheap gourmet food

is something we love to share.

So, we've come to North Wales to help three very special girls

cook a surprise restaurant-quality meal of a lifetime.

12-year-old Sophie, a super chef in the making.

15-year-old A-star student Chloe.

And 18-year-old Shanice. She's a right champion.

Down the middle, right?

Chloe and Sophie's mum and dad, Helen and Lee,

are an extraordinary couple.

Three years ago they chose to become foster parents to Shanice,

offering her shelter and love at a very difficult time in her life.

I was a tearaway teen, really.

I was in with the wrong crowd, doing stuff I shouldn't have been doing.

I didn't want help, I didn't want support.

Karen and Lee sort of helped me help myself.

Ohh!

Shanice has, literally, changed her life around.

She's doing voluntary work and helping other young people.

Shanice isn't the only one to have benefitted from Helen and Lee's kindness.

They've fostered more than 20 children over the last ten years.

I think it's amazing having people living with us. I really enjoy it.

As soon as you walk in you get that feeling of, like, a family.

It is amazing to live there.

Do you know, I think fostering is one of

the most important things that one person can do for another.

It's a wonderful thing. It's wonderful to be able to treat

-somebody who's been so supportive to 20-odd children over the years.

-Mm-hm. It's fantastic.

I think it's great. I absolutely think it's fabulous.

So, what's the mission?

-To thank Mum and Dad for everything they do.

-OK.

As a representative for all the other young people they have looked after,

Sophie and Chloe it is their real mother and father,

-but I could be the representation of everyone else that probably thinks the same, that they are amazing.

-OK.

What do, girls, give us some... We need some idea. What do they like,

-what don't they like, what their personalities are like.

-Yeah.

Just give us some background. It's important to you, I can see that.

-Is there any particular food that they like?

-Prawns.

-Prawns.

-They love prawns?

-Prawns. And do they like fancy food as well?

-Do they like food that's a bit, you know, dressed up.

-Jazzed.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-That'll be good.

-So how much money have we got, do you know?

-£50.

-That's great.

-We can do a four-course, then.

-Yeah, yeah, we could.

-That would be good. Really push the boat out.

Well, you can rest assured that Mr Myers and I will do our absolute utmost to help.

So the girls want to lay on a special meal for a very special couple

to thank them for years of selfless parenting.

It'd be amazing for them to actually have a day to themselves.

Hopefully they'll be surprised. Well, they will be surprised.

Now it's down to us to make it happen.

I don't know about you, but having met the girls, let's make this the meal to remember.

This is all well and good, but what are we going to cook?

What we should do is follow that wonderful format

-to a really traditional meal. We've got to start with soup.

-Soup?

I can't start with soup, man. It's boring.

What would you start with, then?

-Prawn cocktail.

-Oh, my God.

-That's good, prawn cocktail.

-You said I'm boring!

-A prawn cocktail.

-But it's traditional. It's, you know...

You know what I'm like for prawns and Marie-rose.

-What about we do an amuse-bouche?

-That's better.

But a little, tiny amuse-bouche of, like, gazpacho.

Summat to freshen your palate.

Yeah, that's nice. A little gob-tickler. Lovely.

Yeah, amuse-bouche.

An amuse-bouche is nothing more than a posh name for a tantaliser.

A tiny little something to get your taste buds tingling.

It's the restaurant label for something as simple as a soup

that's been given a gourmet flourish, and there's nothing to stop you doing the same at home.

We want to make a gazpacho for Helen and Lee,

but this top tip will jazz up any soup.

First, make the Parmesan crisps by grating

the fresh, flavoursome cheese, then spoon into bite-sized portions

and place in a medium oven on a baking sheet.

Cook until crisp. Oh, it's like watching the sun set.

-Really?

-Well, sort of.

When they're done, take out and leave to cool while you spoon out

whatever soup you're using into little tiny cups.

Exactly how you funk it up is a matter of taste.

But this course will only cost pennies, and leave Helen and Lee

plenty of room for the next three courses.

Just don't forget your delicate Parmesan crisps.

That's it. Bite-size and beautiful, a palate-punching amuse-bouche.

Or gob-tickler.

ENGINE STARTS

It's our quest to produce affordable restaurant-quality food in the home.

There's no better place to get restaurant inspiration

than in some of the country's top restaurants.

We've come to the heart of the Cotswolds,

because in Regency Cheltenham there's a chef who's revered amongst his peers.

We're here to see... the chef of chefs.

The man that put gastro into onomy.

David Everitt-Matthias.

David's may not be a household name.

He prefers the confines of his well-stocked kitchens to fame and stardom.

But, in the chefing world, he's considered one of the very best,

having earned two Michelin stars, National Chef of the Year,

Egon Ronay Dessert Chef of the Year, etc, etc, etc.

What's amazing, though, is that where we aim to make food affordable,

David likes it for free and can turn weeds from even the smallest back yard into food fit for a king.

But even just walking around here there's a couple of things.

-Um, chickweed that can be used.

-Yes.

It's amazing what you can find in most urban areas,

although you wouldn't really want to use it from an urban area because...

-Yes.

-Dog wee.

-That, too.

Yes. So chickweed, wonderful,

and quite a nice little salad vegetable.

-Dandelions, they can be used for food.

-Yep.

-And over there we've got some yarrow.

-Oh.

-Oh.

-It's an amazing thing, yarrow.

-Yes. Exceptionally bitter.

This is great with roasted chicken and roasted parsnips.

-Ooh, get that.

-You've got the bitterness of this with the sweetness of the parsnips.

-Mm.

Apart from the fact this is food for free,

they're very distinctive, useful flavours.

-They really are for the everyday gourmet, aren't they?

-They are.

For years, David has been a trailblazer in foraging,

and it's a great way to get unusual flavours into your cooking.

Some things to look out for are...

-Watercress.

-Found in clean, fast-flowing streams

from March onwards.

-Sheep's sorrel.

-Throughout the spring, its sheep-faced leaves

give an appley, citrusy zing.

-And wild garlic.

-It's abundant in the early summer woodlands

and you can use the leaves in salads and pestos in place of basil.

Many of these ingredients are nigh-on impossible to buy, whereas David can get them for nowt.

And do you think it's just, like,

part of your personality, cos you're tight?

No, I'm not tight. I'm a Southerner. I'm not tight.

-So what are we doing?

-OK, we've got seared chicken wings in maple syrup.

-OK.

-With a ground elder risotto.

Some foraged herbs and the new season's gyros. OK.

So chicken wings, nice and easy. We want to just get the knuckles off.

Cos what we're going to do is, when they've been confied,

salted and cooked in duck fat,

-then we just poke the bone out afterwards.

-Ah, right.

-And we get a nice clean...

-All-round eat.

-Yeah, exactly.

The whole thing in your mouth.

David's making a confit of the wings just as we did for the pheasant.

If you thought out pheasant was cheap, his chicken wings are even cheaper.

So then the risotto rice.

-For this, while this is cooking.

-Yeah.

-Can I get one of you to stir it?

-Yep.

-This is going to be the base of the risotto, ground elder.

-Oh, look at this.

-It's the gardener's nightmare,

-but it has a wonderful sort of taste.

-Oh, it's fabulous.

So what we're going to do with that is blanch it.

And we're just going to add a little bit of spinach as well.

Did you know, Dave, ground elder is actually a cousin of the carrot?

You can find it in shady spots across Britain, and is best picked between February and June.

-Nice vivid green puree.

-Oh, wow.

-That's epic.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Absolutely gorgeous.

-Just for something that grows in the garden.

-Oh, wow.

-And there's no seasoning in that?

-No, no. Just as it is?

That's it. As it is. Yes, yes.

Now David's cooking the chicken wings in one frying pan

while browning off some gyro mushrooms in another.

When they're on the verge of getting golden brown,

-then we'll put a bit of maple syrup in just to give them a nice, sticky glaze.

-Ooh.

I just got the lovely scarf of flavour coming in.

Add some of our ground elder puree.

Oh, wow. It's so vibrant, isn't it?

Then the ground elder that has been blanched that I saved over. Just taste it.

No, no, no.

I'm very happy with that. Very, very happy with that.

It's all coming together now, mate.

It is. And look. He's got more freebies to put on it.

This is my kind of cooking.

So we've got some baby wild watercress

that we're going to put on just to give it a little bit of pepperiness.

A little bit of sheep's sorrel. That will give an acidity to the dish.

-A little bit of the puree just so you can get...

-A nice hit of it.

A nice hit of it. That's exactly it. There we go.

-That is the most amazing...

-There you go. See what you think.

Oh, yes.

-What, did you get the hit of the...?

-And you know the acidity with the sorrel?

-Yes.

Oh, man, it's absolutely superb. It just goes on for weeks.

-You know when you taste wine, and the wine goes on and on and on.

-Mm.

-That risotto does the same.

-Depth of flavour.

-I think the phrase is "speechless".

David, for your restaurant revelation, thank you very much, man.

-Thank you. Nice to meet you.

-Truly inspiring. Thank you.

Oh, what that David can do with a handful of weeds is amazing.

Here, mate, if we could pick some of our ingredients to make Helen and Lee's special meal,

it'd add a real personal touch, wouldn't it?

That's all good food for thought, but now it's back to base to decide on a perfect pud to round off the meal.

We're going to get our creative juices flowing

by making our own version of a restaurant fave.

-A panna cotta.

-And not just any panna cotta.

Oh, no. This is a green tea and cardamom panna cotta.

Which may sound right posh, but the ingredients are easy to get hold of

and will probably only set you back over a pound a portion.

Let's boil cream!

It's great, this. I love the recipe. It's brilliant cos it's simple.

We start off with fruit of the cow. Milk and cream.

Look, it's just like that advert, isn't it? Loads in every bar.

So, there's 150ml of whole milk and 600ml of cream.

To that add 12 crushed cardamom seeds with their husks,

some caster sugar and a cinnamon stick.

-Oh, no, I'm sorry.

-Oh, man.

-I know.

-Look.

Look, I'm just trying to do it with some sense of style, you know?

-Do you know what I mean?

-Don't.

Now you can't have green tea and cardamom panna cotta without the green tea.

We've got seven green tea bags. We really want a tea flavour.

And this one is just English breakfast tea for that additional...

Bring that to the boil, watch it doesn't erupt,

-and let it go off the boil.

-Yes.

There she blows, skipper. Turn it off.

Now it's time for the gelatine.

Without the gelatine the panna cotta will not set.

The gelatine has been soaking for five minutes.

Chuck it in when it resembles a jellyfish.

Use a piece of muslin over your sieve to make it finer,

and then strain your mixture through it.

Never in the field of puddings has cream been so infused.

Oh. Now we took this away, but don't chuck the cloth away.

Just stick it through the laundry. In fact, I don't want to waste that.

This hurts but it's worth it. HE SQUEAKS

That's flavour. Agh!

-Have you got that?

-Yeah, but it was worth it, Kingy.

-Definitely.

You could use kitchen tongs to do that, but, you know,

hard man in the kitchen, do you know what I mean?

Pour the mixture into ramekins, cool to room temperature

and then pop them in the fridge for three to four hours to set.

Next, prepare the biscuits, which in posh restaurants are called tuiles.

Cream together 115g of butter

and 115g of icing sugar.

Now carefully stir in 115g of finely sieved plain flour.

Finally, add three egg whites and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and cream it together.

If you like a bigger hit of vanilla, put a bit more in.

Yeah. That needs to rest now for about an hour,

and then we can make tuiles whilst the panna cotta's cooling.

-It's in the fridge, master.

-Ooh.

Do you think his hump's getting bigger?

Now, to make your tuiles really squeal,

cut a template from an old ice cream tub, place it on a baking sheet

and spread your mixture thinly over it.

Remove the template to carefully reveal your tuile.

Sprinkle on some cardamom seeds for depth of flavour.

It's funny, they do remind me of what you see at the bottom of a drawer and you know you're infested.

-HE LAUGHS

-That's true.

-Oh, no, they're back.

Now these go in an oven, 160 degrees Celsius,

for between five and ten minutes,

and they will go, all of a sudden, golden.

So you've got to keep an eye on them.

CLOCK TICKS

ALARM RINGS

After ten minutes, your tuiles are ready. This is where the magic happens.

As quick as you can, carefully get the tuile off the tray and gently wrap it round a rolling pin.

They'll be soft for about 30 seconds, and if you haven't twirled your tuile by then,

then you'll have to make do with flat 'uns.

Lovely job.

For the releasing of the panna cotta from its frigid tomb,

we need some boiling water.

And the good thing is, if they don't come out first time,

you get to eat the casualties.

-Perfect. Perfect.

-Yeah.

-Perfect, perfect, perfect.

-It's still got a wobble.

-That's what you want.

-Love it.

-Now just hold them in the water for five seconds.

-Yeah, if that.

-No more.

-Oh, beautiful.

-It's just bellied. That's perfect.

As it bellies you just see it goes, whoa, and relaxes out of shape.

Fantastic.

But, of course, you could always serve your panna cotta sans tuile.

Are you bonkers? It's these budget-busting flourishes

that turn a bowl of burnt cream into a gourmet pudding.

-Does that not look like a great plate of food?

-Yeah.

-It looks too good to...

-No.

Ohh.

Look at that little spoonful of love.

It's lovely. It has that dry finish from the green tea.

That's a heavenly dessert. The texture's great.

-Mm.

-That's perfectly, perfectly perfect.

That is a top-flight dessert for hardly any wedge.

It's a near-perfect cut-price pud.

-But is it something the girls would really want to cook?

-Mmm...

Listen, do you think we've nailed this dessert for Helen and Lee?

I like the dairy and biscuit combo. I do worry if it's a bit too fussy.

-But I want their meal to come from the heart.

-Yeah, yeah,

and it's got to be delicious but it's also got to be affordable.

Well, I think we can fine-tune it as we go along.

HE STARTS ENGINE

-For a bit more inspiration...

-Particularly with regard to the main course...

What could be better than a quick trip into London's rich history

-of fine dining and restaurant fare?

-Or I could just go on the internet.

No, mate. I'm taking you to London's famous Reform Club on Pall Mall.

Blimey!

The Reform Club was set up in 1836 as the home for some of the most forward-thinking men in Britain.

But probably one of the most famous people there was to be found in the kitchen.

Alexis Soyer, their head chef, was a celebrity in his time.

He wasn't just one of the world's best chefs.

He was also a ground-breaking champion of posh food for everyday people.

A bit like me and Kingy, really.

We think he's got a lot to teach us about great gourmet food

on a really tight budget.

And we've even dressed up posh just for the purposes of investigation.

Cos they wouldn't let us in with our leathers on.

-Oh, the things we'll do for a good dinner.

-You're not wrong.

Alexis Soyer wrote recipe books for all strata of society.

One of his most famous was The Modern Housewife.

Aimed at the middle classes, it was full of tips on how to replicate

high society food cheaply.

Hello, Ruth.

And we're hoping to find out more from his biographer, Ruth Cowen.

With this book he used leftovers,

cheap cuts, more imaginative ways of being economical

to make great food and wholesome food, you know, readily available.

-But top quality.

-And we thought we were being original.

Alexis Soyer beat us to it. SHE LAUGHS

A hundred and odd years ago.

-Absolutely. A clever commercial man, though, wasn't he?

-Very much so.

Then, just as now, people wanted posh food but at cheap prices,

and his recipe book for the working classes was a huge hit.

-He told a quarter of a million copies, which even today you'd be proud of.

-Yes.

But for the Victorians, with their much more limited literacy

and it was very much a class-based thing, it was phenomenal.

So given our quest, is there a pearl that we can learn from Alexis Soyer?

I think there is, and I think turtle soup was a very iconic dish of the period.

-We can't do that. We'll get shot.

-Absolutely.

-Too right.

And it was extremely expensive and rare, even then.

But in his typical way, Alexis Soyer got around the problem

of expense and rarity for the middle classes, who desperately wanted to have something similar,

and he made mock turtle soup. There are two recipes here.

Mock turtle soup is a classic example of swapping out expensive ingredients

for cheaper but equally tasty alternatives.

And we're going to have a go at making it.

Current head chef Terry Howard has agreed to let us into his kitchen.

Heaven help him.

-Right, chef, we're here, present and correct, sir.

-Yes, sir.

And how's this for creative thinking?

The main ingredient in mock turtle soup is calf's head.

Look away if you're squeamish.

Morning. How are we? Not feeling too well, I see. Never mind, eh?

This, to me, looks like really cheap cuts of meat.

-Turtle, it's an expensive commodity.

-Sure.

-So Soyer decided,

for one reason or another,

to use a calf's head as a substitute for turtle.

I suppose, Ruth, this is a classic example of everyday gourmet.

From a very expensive, classic dish,

-you make something that's more accessible.

-That's absolutely it.

I mean, turtle soup was THE most lavish dish of the entire 19th century.

They didn't have any problem with it being a different ingredient.

But the end result had the same texture and the same strength,

a really strong, meaty flavour.

Soyer's trick, as with all good chefs,

is to pull out and enhance the flavours of the main ingredients.

In this case, calf's head.

As with our pheasant earlier, that involves cooking with sauteed carrot, onion and celery.

It's a classic stock.

What's interesting about this dish, David, and what I'm finding is

that all the cuts of meat are quite gelatinous.

So when you reduce it down it's going to be that big, like,

you know, like a veloute. A big, you know, sucker of a soup.

The cuts of meat are boiled in the stock, along with the remains of the head, for a good two hours

before being cooled and pressed to make a firm block of mock turtle steak.

-The soup itself is made from a roue.

-That's butter and flour to me and you.

With the strained stock,

and then flavoured with herbs and glossed up with a helping of cream.

You've got all the flavours coming through from the marjoram, thyme and basil.

-That's the tasty bits, isn't it?

-Yes, definitely.

We've got every last drop out. I'm going to finish it with the mock turtle.

I tell you what. It looks like turtle to me.

-Not that I'm too familiar. Is that OK, about a centimetre?

-Perfect.

With recipes like this, Soyer's cooking became so famous

that he was able to produce ranges of his own branded sauce,

which then allowed normal people to savour some of the high-end Reform Club dishes in their own homes

without the need for fancy equipment or long cooking times.

Now let's taste what Soyer had to teach us.

-OK, everybody, dig in.

-It looks great. It looks really good.

-It's really good.

-Mmm.

-It's tasty.

-Very.

It is. I think, at the bottom of this,

-it's just the building blocks of good cooking.

-Of course.

You start with a good broth, then you turn it into whatever you want to.

You always go with the basics,

and then just create it into something fabulous,

which is exactly what Soyer's done.

-Well, hats off, Alexis Soyer.

-Yes. Absolutely.

-And hats off to Terry for carrying on his spirit.

-Yes.

That Soyer was certainly inventive, Si.

I know, mate, and it's in tribute to him that we're going to make

our own swap-out version of another British classic.

-The beef Wellington.

-COW MOOS

Instead of expensive beef and foie gras,

we're going to use pork and mushers.

Now you could be up to £20 a portion for a good beef Wellington in a posh restaurant.

-This you're getting a massive portion for around...

-Five squid.

Because this is pork, and we know what goes really well with pork,

we've enhanced the dish.

-It's stuffed down the middle with black pudding.

-You're loving it.

It's wrapped in a seared duxelle of mushrooms, then wrapped in Parma ham,

cos the ham goes great with the pork and the black pudding,

and then we serve it with wonderful caramelised apples.

Do you know where we're coming from?

Now this is a lovely piece of fillet.

You see this sinew here? It's a bit tough.

What we're going to do is take that off.

Dead simple. A bit of a knife, take it off.

While I start prepping an onion for the duxelle of mushroom,

check out Si's top tip on cramming that pork full of juicy black pudding.

See this bit of paper here? Put one in, like that...

..and then roll the fillet so it's quite tight.

Take a long knife,

and I'm going to push that knife right the way through.

In the same hole you've put the knife through

I'm going to put the end of a spoon.

My onions are sweating, but that's boring. This is great.

-Right, apple corer.

-Yeah.

-Click! Click!

Look at this. Black pudding plugs.

Shotgun cartridges for the gastronomy world.

In the true spirit of British resolve and invention,

you could find your own way of stuffing the fillets,

but get in as much as you can to make that meat as moist as possible.

But how juicy is that pork going to be

when all that black pudding fat has cooked into it?

It's going to be the best.

For the paste, your mushrooms must be finely chopped

before they join the sweating onions and a shaving of garlic.

I'm just going to generously season the pork before I start cooking it.

Do you know what? I'd be tempted to just cut that into little rounds,

-fry it off and have it with some eggs.

-Ooh, yeah. Ooh, yeah.

-Poached duck egg or something.

-Brown sauce.

-Yeah.

-But that would not be gourmet.

-No.

-That's gourmet.

I'll put the pork into a hot pan and sear on all sides,

while Dave gets to use today's equivalent of

Soyer's time-saving brand sauces.

That wonderful gourmet stand-by. Ready-made puff pastry.

Oh, look at the size of that boy.

HE HUMS "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky

MUSIC: "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky

Roll it out big enough to wrap your pork,

then line it with Parma ham, or any other cured ham of choice.

The mushroom paste gets spread onto the ham.

This is the duxelle of mushroom. And, after all that gentle cooking,

it should have reduced enormously but intensified in flavour.

This is like a fungal duvet for your wellington.

That is beautiful.

-Where would you like it?

-I'd like it that way, dear heart.

-Beautiful.

-There we are.

Now, paint this liberally with egg. You don't want a leaky Wellington!

I'll take that up and over.

Take that up and over.

Now, I've got my seam there,

and I'm going to take it like this.

Under there. This is the bottom, so nobody sees that.

So look at that. That's your presentation side.

So we can get that nice and neat.

The whole thing goes onto a baking tray to be glazed with egg

and decorated with some of the leftover pastry.

I'm just going to give this another coat of egg.

I want a nice, nice glaze.

This will go into an oven at 170 degrees for 15 minutes,

then turn it down to 150 degrees for another ten minutes.

Finally turn it off and leave it for another ten.

Lush. I'm looking forward to this.

And I've got plenty of time to make the ultimate gourmet apple sauce.

This is the oil that we seasoned the pork fillet in.

Very important, that, because, don't forget,

it's about recycling flavours.

What we're going to do is we're just going to caramelise them.

And it shouldn't take too long.

-And you've got that lovely pork fat and bits of black pepper.

-Exactly.

To the apples add some chicken stock,

a few sage leaves, a slug of sherry for sweetness,

and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.

Now what we do is, we cook that until the liquid has reduced by half,

and then we float in some cream.

Now there's posh gravy. Oh, look at the ripples on this. It's lovely when you do that.

-Now you could serve the pork without this.

-You could, Dave, you could.

But just a little effort and hardly any extra money elevates this

from the downright delicious to the utterly delightful.

The anticipation's killing us.

-And... There you go.

-Oh, yes.

-Look at the juices in that.

-Look at that.

It's like a pig roly-poly.

The nugget of black pudding's perfectly in the middle

and that pork is tender.

-It couldn't be anything else, really, with that black pudding.

-Oh, look at that.

Sometimes pork loin can be very dry. That's not dry.

The black pudding, the mushrooms and the ham are keeping it so moist and tasty.

-That, I think, would serve four.

-Easy.

So we're down to £2.50 a head.

We've been too extravagant.

Us? Extravagant? Good grief!

I reckon Soyer would've been proud of us.

We've given the wellie a good old reboot.

And our experiments with making expensive classics affordable

has got me thinking about a way to bring Helen and Lee's four-course gourmet meal in on budget.

I've got it. What about neck of lamb? That's cheap and dead tasty.

Maybe we could make it a bit more delicate. Wrap it in filo pastry

and embrace it with Mexican spices.

Ooh.

Time's running out. We're going to have to meet the girls and find the ingredients for that special meal.

Soyer has given us ideas for the main course.

Inspired by David Matthias's foraging,

we're going to go a-hunting and a-gathering.

But because we don't know our goosegrass from our elbow,

we're leaving the hedgerows in favour of...

..a pick-your-own farm, where your own hard graft can save you cash.

Right, girls, there's nothing tastes finer than fresh fruit and veg

picked by your own hands.

Euch, it's pouring down.

-Yeah, let's go to the farm shop.

-Yeah. We'll have a cup of tea

whilst they're picking the strawberries. Suckers!

-These are good strawberries.

-Yeah, they're all right.

-Taste them, see what they're like.

Minted.

We're preparing a surprise dinner for foster parents Helen and Lee,

whose birth daughters Sophie and Chloe...

-Staying dry.

-Yep.

..and one of their 22 foster children, Shanice,

want to say a massive thank you for all their selfless parenting.

What is so special about Lee and Helen?

-What is it?

-Many things really. Just the type of people they are,

they will go to the edge of the Earth for anybody.

Like Helen, sometimes she's too nice for her own good.

She doesn't know when to say no.

Like, Lee works from half-five in the morning till, you know,

five, six o'clock at night.

They don't stop. They don't have a break.

They are just one-in-a-million.

What did you need from them?

After the experiences that you've had, what was it?

To get me to school, get me through my exams,

motivated me in what I wanted to do in life. Everything, really.

And just, like, I don't know, just a safety blanket.

Yes.

-So you want to say thank you.

-Yes.

It's not just me they've supported, it's not just, you know, whoever else they've had,

the people there now, I think everyone, if they had the chance,

they'd all want to do something like this for them.

Which is why we're out in the pouring rain...

-Picking strawberries.

-Picking ruddy strawberries.

With all these ingredients in front of me,

everything feels like it's coming together.

-It's such a hard life, this toiling the soil, isn't it?

-Oh, yes.

I could take up farming.

Do you reckon? GIRLS GIGGLE

-You'd have to go outside for that.

-Ooh, no. I'm an indoor farmer.

Chloe and Sophie are getting all we need for the amuse-bouche.

-Lemons, two of, please.

-29p each, yeah?

-Oh, we'll have three.

We've got the butcher's counter for the main course.

-Lamb neck fillets?

-That's what we want.

-Neck?

-It's brilliant.

If Si and Shanice manage to get any strawberries,

we could stick with dairy and biscuit idea for the panna cotta

but make a seasonable cheesecake instead.

-If you were a biscuit, what would you be?

-I'd be a chocolate Bourbon.

I could see you as a chocolate Bourbon.

-Can we afford this?

-Oh, yeah.

The girls have got 50 quid to spend on this meal,

which I reckon is pretty generous and should allow us a couple of extras.

We'll take a bottle of that Merlot. It's £6.99.

There's Shiraz as well, £6.99.

Yeah. If we're going to 50 quid, get one of each. That will be all right.

OK.

# It's not about The money, money, money...

Hello.

# I don't need Your money, money, money...

I've got ID if you need it. SHE LAUGHS

All right, thank you.

# Ain't about the cha-ching, cha-ching

-# Ain't about the, yeah, Ba-bling, ba-bling...

-I hope we're on budget.

-# Wanna make the world dance...

-We've already hit £50.

No, we haven't.

Oh, no.

Do you know, I'm always doing this at home.

55? What have we got that's so expensive?

Thank you very much.

-I think we're going to have to put some lamb back.

-Some?

The grand total is £70.98, please.

-Oh.

-Uh-oh.

-Would it be a terrible imposition if I put something back?

-No, that's fine.

Erm...

-Two of the lambs.

-A bottle of wine.

-So I've cancelled that one.

Can I give you two lemons back?

-It'll still be brilliant but we're not going to have any leftovers.

-You're really embarrassing.

You're not the first person who's said that to me.

I can actually see this bag splitting.

Get us another. It cost us 5p.

-That's a grand total of £41.35p.

-Excellent.

Now, what they'll do on the telly is just cut to this bit.

-We'll go, "Excellent. That leaves us nearly £9 to buy the rest of it."

-Oh, yes.

-"We've done well there."

Right, let's go.

-Thank you. Sorry to have been of trouble.

-You're welcome. Thanks. Bye.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-All right?

-It was hard work, that.

-Is it just me or are these three looking shifty?

-Look at our wellies.

-Look.

We've been foraging. Yours hasn't even got anything on them.

You're wearing plimsolls. Where have you three been?

OK, we went to the farm shop. I'm not going out there. It's wringing down.

How much did you spend?

All this for about £40.

You three have been on the rob, haven't you?

-No, we've had a kerfuffle.

-What happened?

Oh, I hit 70 quid, didn't I? I had to work it down to 40.

When it got down to 50, honestly, it was like price drop TV.

That's what happens when I go picking.

Right, so it's crunch time.

Now to put all our ideas and inspirations together.

On our menu for Helen and Lee...

A dainty gazpacho amuse-bouche to whet the appetite.

A classic '70s starter with a spicy restaurant revamp.

For the main course, a variation on the beef Wellington, but this time using lamb and a filo pastry.

And for pudding, a seasonal cheesecake with hand-picked fruit

and a rather flashy sponge sugar crown

to ramp up the gourmet gambit.

And if presentation is half the battle,

this sponge sugar crown makes winning easy.

First, pour caster sugar into a non-stick pan,

and then carefully heat it until it turns into a beautiful brown, gloopy caramel.

Plunge into a baking tray of cold water.

Meanwhile, brush the underside of some bowls with vegetable oil

and place on silicon paper.

And now the fun bit.

-Dip a fork or whisk into the molten sugar and drizzle.

-More like whip.

Over the bowls.

Do this until you're happy with your design, then leave it to set.

Cut off any stray edges and then carefully remove from the bowl.

And there you have it. The crowning glory to pretty up any dessert.

Ah, one, two, three, go.

In the heart of Chester, we've taken over a restaurant,

and the tables are ready for a great dinner for two.

But us and the girls have got some serious prep to do

before Helen and Lee arrive.

And that involves GBH on Ginger Nut biscuits!

-I think she's enjoying that too much.

-I do as well.

-It's a bit of a worry, really.

-Nice work, Soph. Shall we give them a shake?

HE LAUGHS

We're starting with the cheesecake as it will need plenty of time to set.

Mettre le beurre sur le biscuit.

Put the butter, melted, in the biscuits.

-We're in a French restaurant, aren't we?

-No, it's good.

Avec comme tu melanger.

-Stir the biscuits together with the butter.

-Oui.

To make a solid base, pack it down tight.

-This is mascarpone cheese.

-Mascarpone.

Which is a soft Italian cheese, a traditional cheese in a cheesecake.

Fold in the sugar and double cream.

-This should loosen it.

-Oh, look at that!

To make it mega lemony, grate in the zest of one lemon.

-A fingernail in there.

-SHE GIGGLES

-Sophie has put herself into this cheesecake.

-Literally.

-She has.

After softening gelatine in warm water, add it to some heated lemon juice

and then pour it into the cheesecake topping.

And to get those cheeks really puckering,

dollop in three tablespoons of lemon curd.

-You've got a hair in there.

-Where?

-Oh, look at that.

-That's yours.

-It's not. It's blonde.

Ah, Sophie.

Spoon the cheesy mix onto the biscuit base.

And give it a shake to level off.

A shimmy and that'll be fine.

Pop it in the fridge until set.

And then it's on with the amuse-bouche.

Our gob-tickler is going to be gazpacho soup

topped with a dainty quail's egg.

And we start by finely chopping some spring onions.

But Shanice seems to have her own take on finely chopped.

-They're all exactly the same.

-No, you've wrecked it.

-He's not happy now.

-It's a shard.

-I don't want a shard.

-He didn't want a shard.

I didn't know what a shard was. Do you know who you remind me of?

The Chuckle Brothers.

-The Chuckle Brothers!

-Yes.

-Yes.

-It just popped in.

-Would you mind popping it out again!

To me, to you. To me, to you. To me, to you.

Right, you two, cut it out!

Oh, dear. They could've said Ant and Dec or somebody remotely cool.

-Jedward?

-ALL LAUGH

To the pot add some red onion,

green and red peppers,

and a litre of passata.

Add sherry vinegar, garlic and olive oil.

Then mix it up and let it stand to rest.

So that's gazpacho. That's just going to benefit by being stood

for two or three hours for the flavours to infuse.

What we could do is make a sauce and get everything prepped for the prawn cocktail now.

Now the girls were definitely keen on prawns,

and prawn cocktail certainly used to be a restaurant favourite.

It may have fallen out of favour recently...

..but we've updated this classic using some of our gazpacho as a flavour base.

Fold in gently. You don't want to break the prawns up.

Into the prawns and gazpacho go some creme fraiche,

onions, chopped tomatoes and de-seeded chillies.

We want this finer than a butterfly's toenail clippings.

Also some coriander, chopped radish,

zest of a lime and, if you like a little more kick, a drop or two of Tabasco sauce.

I think it needs some salt as well.

-Look at them, eh?

-They're prawns, aren't they?

Look at that! They have blown the budget.

-What are they?

-Prawns!

-They're prawns?

-They're that one's older brother.

Honestly, Shanice, to a prawn lover this is like the Holy Grail.

Blanch those prawns in boiling water until pink.

And that's like super luxury prawn.

And for the main course. Inspired by our very own pork wellie,

we're doing spicy lamb parcels.

Start by searing the lamb neck fillets until brown on all sides.

On half a red pepper place some minced lamb

which has been mixed with onions, chillies and garlic.

Brush melted butter on two sheets of shop-bought filo pastry.

Then balance the neck fillets on the mince and package up into a tight, luxurious lamb parcel.

Brush with more melted butter to ensure it goes golden brown,

then cook at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

The girls have done everything they can do to make this a very special thank you meal for Helen and Lee.

They have no idea what's going on, but Sophie, Chloe and Shanice

hope it will be a surprise they'll never forget.

They do deserve loads because over, like, ten years,

they've, like, fostered 22 young people,

and they've never had this before - or anything.

GIRLS GIGGLE

I think it's important for them to get this treat

because they never have anything for themselves.

They just do so much for everybody. They don't think of themselves,

they think of everybody else. They think of him and her and her and him.

It's everyone else and they're last. They're at the bottom of the queue.

We're just here to say thank you for being amazing parents and foster carers,

and we thought you deserve a treat.

We haven't done it alone. We've had two dodgy caterers from a burger van.

-ALL LAUGH

-Yeah.

-Who are you calling dodgy?

-Hey!

-I'm really worried now. The Hairy Bikers.

-Hello, Helen.

Good to meet you. Nice to meet you.

-Good to meet you. How are you doing?

-Shaking.

-Don't shake.

-Good grief.

-By 'eck, you've got a fabulous family.

-How are you feeling? Is it like, "Crumbs"?

-Yeah, absolutely.

-We're shocked.

-Shocked.

-Are you hungry?

-Starving.

-See you in a minute.

Cheers. Thank you.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, love.

Before the meal can begin,

we've got to add the finishing touches to the gazpacho.

A couple of basil leaves, a blob of mayonnaise and a hard boiled quail's egg floated on the top.

Now, the egg must not sink.

It's touches like these that make a meal restaurant worthy.

-Just a little cheeky starter.

-Oh. Very nice.

-Thank you.

And it's a little gazpacho Espanol.

-What do you think?

-Very nice.

-Very tasty.

We'll be serving the prawn cocktail with one of our massive tiger prawns on the side.

And in the glass, carefully laid lettuce, avocado and prawns.

-A touch.

-Yeah, that's what we want.

-Very nice.

-After your amuse-bouche, your second course.

-It's a prawn cocktail, because we know you love prawns.

-Thank you very much.

I'll just move that, sir.

-That's not a prawn. It's more like a lobster.

-HE LAUGH

-Thank you.

-Well done, kid.

-You know you have to make these when we all get home.

-It's so nice.

-It's nice.

-They've done a grand job.

It's going well upstairs. It's time to see if the lamb parcels are ready.

Do you want to taste the mincey bits?

-Do you think it's too spicy for them?

-No.

-Just right.

-It's well nice.

-Do you think that's good.

-Yeah.

Great. I was worried it might be too much.

We're serving these with steamed vegetables, which give a lovely splash of colour to the plate.

It's all these little things that make it special.

I mean, we're in a restaurant,

so let's give them restaurant styley food.

Right, chocks away, skippers.

-Here's your mains.

-Thank you very much.

-Mm.

-How's that?

-Very nice.

It's really tasty, that.

We're coming to the grand finale,

and the cheesecake is looking stunning thanks to all our hand-picked berries.

And that sits perfectly on top.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Love you. That looks great. Good. I'm happy with that.

-There is it.

-Perfect.

-Oh, are you having some?

-Yeah.

-So have you had a nice dinner?

-Very nice. A nice surprise.

We had no idea what was going on. It was great.

-What a surprise.

-It's their fault.

-ALL LAUGH

We've just had a laugh, like, from start to finish.

-They're the Chuckle Brothers. What can we say?

-I'm going to murder her.

Anyway, it's been a fantastic journey with you all.

It's been a pleasure and privilege to meet you

and be involved in the family for the short time we have been.

Can I just say thank you to all of you.

-We're so proud.

-No, thank you.

We want to thank you for being amazing parents and foster carers

to many young people, and we just want to treat you,

-cos you deserve it.

-Thank you.

Do you think it's lived up to your expectations, girls?

-Yeah, definitely.

-Are you happy?

-Great. There's still smiling faces sat at the table, that's for sure.

-What a team, eh?

-That's what it's all about, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I'm so proud of them all.

-Thank you for this afternoon.

-It's been fantastic.

-I think that was a success, don't you, Si?

-I do, Dave, I do.

That's good, because it all goes to show you can take the poshest, most expensive restaurant meals and,

with a judicious bit of ingredient swapping, you can make them easily

and economically at home. We've shown that the cheapest but most important ingredients are time and effort.

-Yes!

-Lovely.

Which, when budgets are tight, can transform even the most basic of dishes.

And we've shown that if you're completely skint...

..you can go foraging and eat for nowt. Well, sort of.

ENGINE STARTS