West Country

0:00:05 > 0:00:08Two of my passions are flying and food.

0:00:11 > 0:00:14And it's from up here you really get to appreciate

0:00:14 > 0:00:18the unique landscape that produces the food that I love to cook.

0:00:30 > 0:00:34Today I'm heading to the West Country.

0:00:41 > 0:00:45The first stop today is going to be right at the bottom left-hand

0:00:45 > 0:00:47corner of Devon.

0:00:54 > 0:00:57These are the girls that live at Langage Farm.

0:00:57 > 0:01:01We've got 250 of them, and their job is to turn this green stuff

0:01:01 > 0:01:05into top-quality dairy products.

0:01:06 > 0:01:10Devon's famous for its dairy, in particular clotted cream,

0:01:10 > 0:01:13and Andrew Steadman has been working with the cows that make it

0:01:13 > 0:01:16for nearly three decades.

0:01:16 > 0:01:19'Getting up at four in the morning is not actually my idea of fun,

0:01:19 > 0:01:21'but it's got to be done.

0:01:21 > 0:01:24'But just looking after cows to the best of our ability,

0:01:24 > 0:01:27'I do find very satisfying.'

0:01:27 > 0:01:31There's been a farm here at Langage for over 900 years,

0:01:31 > 0:01:34and now that it's got its own creamery,

0:01:34 > 0:01:37there's practically no distance between the pots of clotted cream

0:01:37 > 0:01:40and the fine beasts that provide the raw ingredients.

0:01:41 > 0:01:44We do name them all.

0:01:44 > 0:01:46We got Daisy over there. That's Jenny over there.

0:01:46 > 0:01:48That, I think, is Ermintrude,

0:01:48 > 0:01:51but she will tell me afterwards if I've got that wrong,

0:01:51 > 0:01:54and I think we'll have to wait for some more later on,

0:01:54 > 0:01:58cos I can't see any other ones that I recognise here.

0:02:01 > 0:02:04This is a summer pudding with basil and clotted cream,

0:02:04 > 0:02:09produced literally by those cows just over there.

0:02:13 > 0:02:16A lot of people will worry about how much fat's in clotted cream,

0:02:16 > 0:02:19but look - if you put some fresh fruit in it like this,

0:02:19 > 0:02:21it's got to be healthy, right?

0:02:26 > 0:02:29Seriously, though, if you're going to make this,

0:02:29 > 0:02:33use fresh fruit. Frozen or preserved just won't be as good.

0:02:35 > 0:02:39Summer pudding. I'm going to create one with just strawberries.

0:02:39 > 0:02:41You can use a mix-match of fruit with summer pudding,

0:02:41 > 0:02:46but this, with English strawberries, there is nothing better, really.

0:02:46 > 0:02:48And I definitely wasn't going to do scones,

0:02:48 > 0:02:51cos we're in Devon. Cornwall's just over there,

0:02:51 > 0:02:54and it upsets them round these neck of the woods

0:02:54 > 0:02:58if a Yorkshireman comes down here and shows them how to make scones.

0:02:58 > 0:03:00Good old English strawberries.

0:03:00 > 0:03:03I'm just going to break them up like this.

0:03:03 > 0:03:05I'm going to just put a touch of basil in.

0:03:05 > 0:03:08Often when you make summer pudding, people put mint on the top,

0:03:08 > 0:03:11but basil is a fantastic herb.

0:03:11 > 0:03:14Use a little bit of the fresh basil,

0:03:14 > 0:03:17and we just mix that together, and that's it, really.

0:03:17 > 0:03:20Just that. And then we're going to line our little moulds here.

0:03:20 > 0:03:24I've got some dariole moulds, or you can even use a teacup,

0:03:24 > 0:03:28but the way that you do that is just take some oil first

0:03:28 > 0:03:32and just rub the bases around the edge with oil.

0:03:32 > 0:03:37Now, this is going to make the clingfilm stick to the base.

0:03:37 > 0:03:42We'll just use some clingfilm inside the little moulds like that.

0:03:42 > 0:03:44So we've lined our little moulds here,

0:03:44 > 0:03:47then we can take the sliced bread, and this is where, really,

0:03:47 > 0:03:50it's only in the UK where you can get summer pudding,

0:03:50 > 0:03:53because over in Italy they do this with ciabatta,

0:03:53 > 0:03:56or in France they do it with Pugliese.

0:03:56 > 0:04:01You need white sliced bread only. Nothing else. White sliced bread.

0:04:01 > 0:04:05And we just remove the crusts, like that.

0:04:05 > 0:04:08We'll cut that into oblongs like that.

0:04:08 > 0:04:13Then we need two round small pieces of bread...ish.

0:04:13 > 0:04:16I haven't got a ring or a cutter.

0:04:16 > 0:04:18And then we need two large ones for the top.

0:04:20 > 0:04:24And then we've got our sauce. Now, I call this a sauce

0:04:24 > 0:04:27because too many chefs nowadays call this a coulis, right?

0:04:27 > 0:04:30It's not a coulis. We're in the UK.

0:04:30 > 0:04:34This is a sauce, and it's a puree of fresh English strawberries.

0:04:34 > 0:04:37Nothing else - no sugar, nothing. Passed through a sieve,

0:04:37 > 0:04:40and that's our sauce. And then we can dip the bread into the sauce,

0:04:40 > 0:04:43the small bit first.

0:04:44 > 0:04:47You're aiming to completely line the mould,

0:04:47 > 0:04:51small circles at the bottom, oblongs around the sides,

0:04:51 > 0:04:54and no gaps. You don't want a leaky summer pudding.

0:05:01 > 0:05:04So, when you've got the moulds lined,

0:05:04 > 0:05:07then we can use some of this filling.

0:05:08 > 0:05:10Now, I actually love basil and strawberries together.

0:05:10 > 0:05:13They really are a great combination,

0:05:13 > 0:05:15and taste very similar to pistachio nuts.

0:05:15 > 0:05:20Just fill these moulds with the strawberries and basil,

0:05:20 > 0:05:24but only halfway, because this is the best bit of it, really.

0:05:24 > 0:05:28Proper clotted cream. Fill this full,

0:05:28 > 0:05:30and this clotted cream sits in the middle.

0:05:30 > 0:05:35It's like a little hidden gem, a little jewel inside this bread.

0:05:37 > 0:05:40Now, just to show off a bit, I want to try to make something

0:05:40 > 0:05:43that'll remind us of Devon's golden sunlight

0:05:43 > 0:05:46to decorate the pudding, and for that,

0:05:46 > 0:05:48I need to caramelise some caster sugar.

0:05:49 > 0:05:54While that's happening, we can finish off our little puddings here.

0:05:54 > 0:05:56This is where you want the large pieces,

0:05:56 > 0:05:58or the large circle of the bread.

0:05:58 > 0:06:01You want to dip this in.

0:06:01 > 0:06:03What you want to do is just press them down.

0:06:03 > 0:06:07So the old recipes would then tell you now

0:06:07 > 0:06:12to find a brick, and put it in the bottom of your fridge,

0:06:12 > 0:06:15and wait for about two days before the summer pudding's ready,

0:06:15 > 0:06:19but if you make it like that, particularly with this thin bread,

0:06:19 > 0:06:22you can then hold the clingfilm like this,

0:06:22 > 0:06:26and it should in theory just pull away.

0:06:26 > 0:06:28So far, so good,

0:06:28 > 0:06:32but really, it's probably better to do your cooking in a kitchen

0:06:32 > 0:06:34like I originally wanted to do.

0:06:34 > 0:06:36Outdoors is, quite frankly, dangerous.

0:06:36 > 0:06:40This is the dilemma of cooking in a field, you see?

0:06:40 > 0:06:43This is to stop the wind.

0:06:54 > 0:06:57That's the price of cooking a summer pudding outside.

0:06:59 > 0:07:03Disaster averted by my lightning-fast reflexes,

0:07:03 > 0:07:05it's time to get back to the cooking.

0:07:05 > 0:07:08While the sugar slowly melts,

0:07:08 > 0:07:12I'm putting some more of the strawberry sauce onto the pudding,

0:07:12 > 0:07:15and then some of the distilled Devonshire sunshine.

0:07:18 > 0:07:22This really is what makes this area so special.

0:07:25 > 0:07:27Look at that. Nice dollop,

0:07:27 > 0:07:33and then we got some fresh English strawberries to go with it, as well.

0:07:33 > 0:07:35We could stop there,

0:07:35 > 0:07:38but we're going to attempt to do some spun sugar outside.

0:07:38 > 0:07:42Now, to do that, really you get some caramelised sugar

0:07:42 > 0:07:44and you spin it over your steel.

0:07:48 > 0:07:51What on earth am I doing this out here for?

0:07:54 > 0:07:56You got a bit of this,

0:07:56 > 0:07:59together with bits of grass.

0:08:02 > 0:08:05You just mould this up,

0:08:05 > 0:08:08and just finish this off with a little bit of icing sugar,

0:08:08 > 0:08:12which is, like...completely wasted my time, isn't it, really?

0:08:12 > 0:08:15JAMES AND PRODUCTION TEAM LAUGH

0:08:15 > 0:08:18Do you know what? I give up.

0:08:18 > 0:08:22Just take a shot of that. I'm going to enjoy the view. I've had enough.

0:08:23 > 0:08:26'To be fair, I suppose I should've taken note

0:08:26 > 0:08:29'that as well as being one of the sunniest places in the UK,

0:08:29 > 0:08:32'this place has to be one of the windiest.'

0:08:32 > 0:08:35But if that's what it takes to make clotted cream what it is,

0:08:35 > 0:08:38then, I suppose we should all be glad.