Lincolnshire and the Flatlands James Martin's Food Map of Britain

My two passions are flying and food.

And it's from up here you really get to appreciate

the unique landscape that produces the food that I love to cook.

So I'm taking to the skies

to show you how this land has influenced our larders.

On my journey round the UK, I'm going to be meeting the people

who work this ever-changing landscape,

revealing how this terrain has served up

some of the country's best regional ingredients.

It tastes so good!

'And also I'll be sharing some great recipes

'that showcase this amazing land

'that puts such great food on our tables.'

Today I'm heading for Lincolnshire and the flatlands.

Despite the rather unexciting name,

the flatlands of east England are an area of subtle beauty...

..from the Humber Levels to the beautiful Norfolk Broads,

the Wolds and the tranquil coast, and, of course, the Fens.

Most importantly for me,

it's one of our most productive arable regions,

the beating heart of the nation's food production.

Poultry and livestock thrive on the fertile, flat plains...

..giving us prize dairy products and high-quality meat.

The rich, level soil produces most of the country's cereal crops,

and half the sugar beet

that goes into our delicious puddings and sweets...

..whilst the cool waters of the North Sea to the east

give us the world-renowned Cromer crabs...

..delicious cockles,

and have kept Britain's fish- and-chip shops frying for decades.

It's a fascinating place, this, when you fly over it.

It's so flat, you can't tell... You're literally on the horizon.

There's no hills, nothing.

Plenty of places to land, though.

For my first stop today, I'm heading to Lincolnshire's Trent Valley.

Though the flatlands are largely made up of fertile fields

for crops and grazing pasture,

there are a few pockets of light, sandy soil

which makes for poor arable farming and grazing.

But it is perfect for rearing an animal that's closest to my heart...

..the pig.

I was brought up on a pig farm.

There's nothing better, in my mind, than to see pigs.

Something about it just makes you smile. Certainly does for me,

and it's going to bring back so many memories.

Lincolnshire pork is world renowned,

and today I'm visiting 180 acres of piggy heaven...

..an award-winning free-range pig farm

that produces arguably some of the best pork in Britain.

For owners Terry and Jane Tomlinson, it's been a lifelong passion.

We've been rearing pigs for now probably...oh, 25, 30 years,

and we always wanted to produce the pigs on an outdoor system,

just to give the pigs the life they deserve

while we're looking after them.

The pigs are absolutely gorgeous. They're such characters.

It's very difficult, cos you do get quite attached to them.

If they're not rooting about in the soil they're asleep in the huts,

or eating. That's all they want to do. That makes a happy pig.

This really is an ideal landscape for rearing pigs outdoors.

They need dry, mild conditions to thrive.

Here in the east of England,

rainfall levels are some of the lowest in Britain,

and extremes of temperature are rare.

-How you doing?

-Hello.

-Terry, good to see you.

-Hi, James.

-How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-Feeding time, then, is it?

-Yep.

-Now, these are hungry pigs.

-You want to have a go, James?

-Yes, then get out the way,

cos they're usually pretty feisty, these things.

-Come on, girls. Come on, then.

-There you are. You're a natural.

-I did it for 19 years.

-THEY LAUGH

And what breed have we got, then?

Er, the breeding we use are a Duroc-cross-Landrace,

the Duroc being for the hardiness and the durability,

and they're fantastic mothers, and they love to be outdoors.

The land here... I've never seen anything like this, really.

-It's very sandy.

-Yeah. It's absolutely perfect, the farm.

We took a long time before we found somewhere to produce outdoor pigs,

and we come across Redhill, and the land is virtually pure sand.

You may not know this, but pigs have notoriously delicate legs and feet.

Stony or thin soils can damage them and lead to infection,

so the soft, sandy soil of this landscape is perfect.

Another plus is the fact that it's free-draining.

Waterlogged soils can soften their trotters,

making injury and infection even more likely,

not to mention the danger to piglets from chilling and hypothermia.

They have got a fair amount to roam around in.

They're over an acre in size, these paddocks,

and they're in groups of 50,

which is like a real nice group size for outdoor pigs.

They're very sociable animals.

In the summertime you'll see them lying in groups of 15s and 20s,

all sort of snuggled together, when they're having their morning nap.

And what's so special about outdoor-reared pork?

The pigs are left alone to grow at their own pace,

and that means they put on muscle slowly.

There's no stress, and they live a natural life,

and it produces some fantastic-flavoured pork.

-When it's produced slow, it's got better flavour?

-Absolutely.

We get asked all the time at farmers' markets how to cook pork,

how do you get really good crackling, and the answer to that,

it's the pork that you buy.

'I shouldn't say this in front of these guys,

'but as a nation, we really love our pork.'

There are so many ways to cook it, too -

whether it's roasted or cured, loin or belly,

bacon or scratchings, there really is something for everyone,

vegetarians excluded, of course,

Now, I really want to do justice to Terry and Jane's prizewinning pork,

so I'm going to prepare a classic dish with a bit of a twist -

pork chops with crispy black pudding,

Flatlands-grown hispi cabbage, and a fabulous apple-scrumpy sauce.

First thing I'm going to do is a little bit of candied walnuts,

which is fantastic with pork,

and we start that by adding some water...

..to a pan.

Now, this is really simple, this,

and what we do is get some water and sugar

and mix these ingredients together,

and this creates a syrup.

And then we take the walnuts, and we can throw them in as well.

We just leave that to one side,

and they just sit in that sugar syrup like that.

Now, you cannot have pork without apple sauce,

so I'm going to use proper apples for this, Bramley apples,

and we just chop them up.

You can't make apple sauce with fancy French apples.

It's got to be 100 percent Bramleys.

Whenever I'm doing apple sauce, it just reminds me of my grandmother,

cos she always used to take charge in the kitchen,

wouldn't let anybody else make the apple sauce. It was her job -

that and the gravy, of course. She used to always use butter.

That's probably why I've got the love of this stuff.

But a good knob of butter in the pan...

add the apples...

..and start to cook these down.

Now, it depends on how sour the apples are how much sugar you use,

but you don't want too much,

cos you want that sharpness to cut through the fattiness of the pork.

Then the secret of my grandmother's always used to be this stuff -

scrumpy.

So we stew this down for a good ten minutes,

and it goes like that.

And then we can get ready with another ingredient,

which I'm going to do black pudding. Black pudding's one of those things.

You either love it or hate it, but I think people are put off by it

because it tastes like cardboard if you buy the wrong stuff.

Most of the sort of cheaper black puddings that you buy,

you can use as a hockey puck. It's horrible stuff.

This, lovely and moist, and we're going to cut that into chunks.

'Now I'm going to deep-fry these,

'but to keep that lovely moisture in,

'I'm going to coat them with a mixture of flour...

'beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.'

I'm not ready to fry these just yet,

so I'm going to set them to one side.

And now for our pork. Now, this, fantastic quality here.

You can see really, on good quality pork, straight way,

and that's because you get this marbling of fat on the top,

that thick layer, and that fat is flavour.

It also means it won't be dry when you cook it,

so when you portion it up,

do a decent sort of size, as well.

What we're going to do is a little bit of salt on here.

I'm going to pop that into a dry pan...

..and get that fat rendering down in here.

I'm not the only person who thinks this pork's pretty good,

because Lucy over here, the farm dog,

has just turned up.

How cool is that?

Right. While I go wash this up, check it out in that pan.

SHE SNUFFLES

I'm not going to give you the pleasure of turning this over yet,

cos it's not quite ready.

Most people would panic at this point, you see?

You'd end up turning it over and then start prodding it

and cutting chunks out of it to see whether it's cooked.

You can actually see it cooking halfway up the side.

And you know that, if you're rendering that in a pan like this,

and it's in its own juices,

you know that all the flavour's going to be there.

Our apples are not far off.

Now, if you take this down, you've got a proper apple sauce,

but I'm going to grab a little bit more scrumpy.

Right. That apple sauce is just about there,

so we'll leave that to one side, and I'll get my oil on for frying.

Turn that up a bit.

And then...now you get to see this.

This is worth the wait, because when you turn this over...

-HE GRUNTS IN SATISFACTION

-Je t'aime, je t'aime!

Look at that!

Proper, proper pork!

Look at that. I mean, that's one of the joys of cooking, really,

when you... All good things comes to thee who waits.

And she. She's still roaming around there. Look.

Going to drain my nuts.

There.

What you end up with, when they've been kept in this stock syrup,

is they're quite sticky but also moist as well, but...

You can eat them as they are, but when you deep-fat fry them...

..this takes on a whole different level.

So, with the pork, you need it to rest, like that.

What I'm going to do now is just make a little hispi cabbage,

and for that you just emulsify some water and some butter together.

Really it's one of the simple forms of cooking,

and one thing that you don't want to do with cabbage is boil it,

and this is a kind of thing... I didn't teach my granny much.

I kind of learned most of my cooking from her,

but this is one thing that she kind of picked up.

My granddad was probably the happiest of them all,

because he didn't have to suffer broccoli

you could almost paint onto the plate, as well as cabbage.

She was good, my granny, but she couldn't cook cabbage.

When you take the cabbage like this... This is hispi cabbage.

It's not really a trendy cabbage,

but it's a fantastic cabbage to grow, as well,

because it's got no bugs in it.

This needs to cook for no more than two minutes.

'If you start to hear it frying, then, add a drop more water.

'Plus don't forget to season with a little bit of salt and pepper.

'Then you've just got enough time to fry your walnuts.

'Cook them for about 20 to 30 seconds, until crisp.'

What you end up with is these warm but sticky walnuts,

but sweet as well.

It almost tastes like... Sounds really weird,

but almost like popcorn. They've got a really unique flavour,

but taste fantastic.

So our cabbage is literally only about 30 seconds away.

Remember, it's already dead, so we don't need to kill it again...

..by overcooking it.

And then finally we're going to take our black pudding and deep-fry it.

If you are going to do this, cook doorstop-sized portions.

Don't cut it too small and fiddly.

Decent-size portions, so when you cut into it,

you end up with this rich black-pudding texture.

That's what you want. That's full of flavour in there.

You got your apple sauce.

And I was going to plate this up on a fancy white little plate, but...

I'm just going to leave it rustic-y, nice and simple. Pile that up.

'Next add your hispi cabbage...

'..and your walnuts, which are still warm.'

And the final bit is the pork.

It's the showpiece of any dish, really,

when you get pork this good quality.

What this delicious Lincolnshire outdoor-reared pork proves to me

is that you cannot separate a truly distinct ingredient

from where it comes from.

This is definitely a meal I'd call naughty but nice.

That has got to be the ultimate dish on a pig farm. Proper grub!

Granny would definitely be proud.

I'm leaving the Trent Valley now and heading south

to the coast of the Wash and the Fens,

a naturally marshy region of some 1,500 square miles

that lies just a few feet above sea level.

Over centuries, this land has been drained

to leave vast tracts of flat, mineral-rich, highly fertile soil.

In fact, in this one area,

you'll find 50 percent of Britain's best farmland.

There are about 4,000 farms dotted around this area alone.

Now, when you buy seasonal carrots,

cabbages, potatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli,

there's a fair chance that most of it comes from down here.

This landscape is the heart of British veg-growing,

and one in particular.

Welcome to pea country.

Local farmer Simon Clayton,

whose family has grown peas here for generations,

is proud of his crop.

These chaps behind us are harvesting the best peas

you'll find anywhere in the world.

Simon is a member of a cooperative of 82 farmers

who together farm 5,200 acres of prime pea-growing fenland.

The sight of those peas makes us all happy.

I don't think I can think of anything else that we'd rather be doing.

We absolutely love the pea. HE LAUGHS

It seems we all love peas.

They're one of our most popular vegetables.

Each year, your average Briton eats around 9,000

of these little beauties,

and most are grown right here in the Fens.

The season for harvesting the crop is a short one, just six weeks,

so summer's a busy time for the cooperative.

We're harvesting about 30 tons an hour.

We work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It's like the Red Arrows, really, but in a pea field.

I can't wait to rustle up a dish with these prized green globes,

but first I've got to harvest a few.

Simon!

-Hiya.

-Can't really miss you, can I? Good to see you.

-It's good to see you.

-These are impressive machines.

They are. It's a £380,000-worth piece of kit.

-Yeah, it is. Expensive.

-And I'm going to drive it.

-That's right. Let's go.

-This'll be fun!

OK. The parking brake's on.

-There. Do you want to turn the key, strike it up?

-Just turn it?

Turn it, yep. That's it.

Handbrake is there. We'll put it on "tortoise".

-"Tortoise" is always a good idea.

-Absolutely.

Do you want to grab that and just slowly ease it forward?

Very slowly. There we go.

-I got it now.

-That's it.

-And just turn it a little bit as well.

-Ooh!

THEY LAUGH

-Just slowly...

-I was doing it slowly!

-Right. There you go.

-And that's it. We're going.

-I'm sorted now.

-You've got it.

-Got it now!

-You've got it, yeah.

-I thought flying was difficult!

SIMON LAUGHS

That's perfect.

-Perfect.

-I'm harvesting peas! Check this out!

-That's it. That's it. Fresh peas.

-So, exactly what is going on here?

How on earth does this thing de-pod a pea?

Well, it's quite simple, actually.

-It rakes the peas up...

-Yeah.

..and then it's like throwing the pods at a wall.

If you threw the pods at a wall they would shatter,

and a drum takes the pea straw, pea haulm, out of the back,

and we're left with peas.

When we're actually running most efficiently,

we can harvest up to 40 tons per hour.

The landscape of the Fens is perfect for farming peas on a large scale.

That's because with no hills to cast shadows or trigger rainfall,

just a vast expanse of flatland,

the whole crop receives the same levels of sunlight and rain,

allowing it to grow and ripen at the same rate.

-Now, I've tried to grow peas at home...

-Yes.

..with varying degrees of success, really.

-This year, pretty abysmal, to be honest.

-Right. Right. Right.

What makes this area so special for pea production?

The soil's fantastic. It's fertile grade-one silt soil,

and there's a lot of nutrients there for the peas.

That consequently influences the yield and the flavour,

and I'm guessing probably in Hampshire

that it's more of a sandy, clayey loam or something, probably.

-So I may as well give up, then. Is that what you're trying to say?

-Yes.

-Cheers for that.

-THEY LAUGH

It's not just the fertile soil that makes the Fens prime pea country.

Weather conditions here are also perfect.

Peas are a cool, dry-climate crop.

Lying on England's southeast coast, the Fens enjoy low rainfall,

and in the heat of the summer, are fanned by a cool sea breeze.

As a result, the pea crop produced here is arguably Britain's best

in terms of colour, flavour and texture.

Check this out. Look at that thing!

That's it. You've got it. Look at that.

-Peas! Look at all those peas!

-All the peas, yeah.

-That's it. Perfect.

-It's like military precision.

-Check that out!

-Military precision. Great, yeah.

-All done.

-Ready to go to the factory.

-These are going to be frozen, bagged, ready...

-That's right.

..for your supermarket.

-That's why British peas are the best in the world.

-Absolutely.

-Don't overcook 'em, though.

-That's right.

It's a cardinal sin, isn't it, really?

'I absolutely love the pea.

'There is a surprising amount you can do with it, too,

'so to celebrate this most versatile of veg,

'I'm going to prepare a dish that includes peas

'used in three different ways.'

Fillet of plaice with new potatoes, asparagus, crispy bacon

and peas in the pod, served on a bed of delicious pea puree

and garnished with pea shoots.

The first thing I'm going to do is get the bacon on.

Now, I've got some dry-cured bacon,

which means that it contains not much water.

With the dry-cured one, we can just leave it like this in the pan

to render down, to get lovely and crisp.

Next we've got our fish. We can roll this up into little paupiettes.

This is such an old-school way of serving plaice,

but it's fantastic when you get really good-quality fish like this.

Now, you could, of course, skewer these with a cocktail stick,

but they should hold as they are, like that.

Washing my hands.

Now, bacon should be about there.

You can see how much fat has come out.

This has gone in a dry pan, as well, but if you slowly render it

like this, you're going to get a really nice flavour.

Bit of bacon. Lovely.

Right. So we get this pan little bit hotter now for our puree, really.

We got these lovely peas. The key to this is, don't overcook them.

They just go straight into a pan with a little bit of butter.

Now I'm going to add some parsley.

Parsley's going to do two things - give it a little bit of flavour,

but predominantly colour,

cos we want the flavour of the peas to come out.

'Next add water,

'a touch of cream...

'..and season with salt and pepper.'

'Gently warm the mixture up and then pop it into a blender...

'..and blitz for two to three minutes.'

BLENDER WHIRRS

While that's blending, we're going to get our potatoes on,

another ingredient that's grown so well around here.

Just these little baby new potatoes. These are lovely and sweet,

very similar sort to the peas.

We'll just put a few of those in the steamer for about five minutes.

SWITCHES BLENDER OFF

That's what you're looking for.

When you have them fresh like that, look at the colour that you get.

Mmm!

A little bit more salt.

Little bit more black pepper.

And for people watching this,

probably thinking that I've completely lost my marbles,

that now James Martin is now cooking on a steamer,

and he's gone all healthy.

We then take a little bit of butter...

..and mix that in the puree as well...

..just to enrich it, really.

So for those of you who are watching this on your treadmills in the gyms,

turn it up and run a bit quicker, cos that is proper...

We need a little bit more butter in there, actually.

So, just to basically serve with this,

we're going to serve the peas actually in the pods as well.

Cos when you actually get peas as good as this,

you actually want to cook them just as they are,

so really we're going to pop these in with the potatoes now.

We get some asparagus, some nice asparagus tips...

..and pop them in as well.

They can go in.

And then with our fish, you cook this in what we call a cartouche,

which is basically just a piece of greaseproof paper

cut into a circle.

So like this.

Again, measure the size of your little steamer.

Cut that round...

..and you've got a nice little cartouche,

which is like that.

What you can do to get the steam coming up

through the centre as well, you put a little hole in it.

You got that. Technical, isn't it?

A bit of butter...

Place this in the bottom here.

And then what you need to do is just grab your fish.

'You'll need to season these with salt and pepper,

'and steam on top of the vegetables for two to three minutes.

'While your fish is cooking, you can start plating up.

'Spread your luscious green pea puree to make the base.

'Then halve your new potatoes and place on top.

'Once it's cooked, add your beautifully steamed paupiettes.

'Then pop on your asparagus, peas steamed in the pod...

'..and crispy bacon.

'Finally I'm going to garnish this dish with some pea shoots,

'because I'm stood in a field surrounded by them.'

It's pretty good, that, isn't it?

This delicious dish shows just how versatile the pea can be.

But when it comes down to it, whichever way you serve it,

it's the quality of the veg that counts,

and you can't get better than a Fenland pea.

This glorious vegetable, like the pork before it,

is a fantastic example of the feast of wonderful food

the unique landscape of England's flatlands has put on our tables.

Join me next time, when I'll be showing you how to find and cook

more of what this amazing land has to offer.

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