Birmingham Len and Ainsley's Big Food Adventure

What you got going on there? Ham, egg and chips?

Great British food!

'As a chef, food is my life.'

Lovely.

Don't try that at home!

'But as far as my mate Len goes, we're on a different planet.'

My rules are this -

never eat anything you can't spell

and never eat anything you wouldn't want to step in.

THEY LAUGH

This is the chicken's feet.

-Chicken's feet?

-That's right.

-No.

'I've travelled the world but never had the courage to experience

'new cuisines and always stuck with what I know.'

-Look, that's your favourite there.

-Chips!

-Chips!

'But using a pancake once to wipe my face...'

What is he like?

'..me family decided enough was enough...'

Yes!

'..and that my taste buds needed to brought into the 21st century.'

Hot!

There's a lot more to this culinary world of ours than pickled walnuts.

'It's time for me to show Len a whole new culinary world...'

I'm going to do it.

'..that will make his palate purr.'

THEY LAUGH

You're not talking food adventure?

Food adventure indeed!

-Ho-ho!

-Ho-ho!

What's that I see? Is it a tandoori chicken?

THEY CHUCKLE

I liked it.

And that's all I need to know.

For the last decade, I've been a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

London-born and bred 71 years ago,

my taste buds have been influenced by my nan's cooking.

I've never eaten spaghetti, had a curry and even pizza, well,

looks a bit exotic.

I was also born and brought up in London

but as a chef, my palate has experienced

and travelled to every part of the globe.

Over the last 20 years, there's been a food explosion across Britain

and now, no matter what you desire, every cuisine is catered for.

For me, I have ten favourites that are never far

away from the table at home,

and my perfect dinner?

Well, prawn cocktail to start, full English breakfast, oh,

and a jam roly-poly.

Oh, it's food heaven!

My mission during our time together is to educate his taste buds

and see if I can replace anything on the ten from Len board

and show him that there's more to life

than a prawn cocktail from 1976.

Today, Ainsley and I have pitched up the mobile kitchen in the Midlands

in one of the country's most populated cities, Birmingham.

And on the menu, I'll be putting my whole soul into making Polish

dumplings.

Yes! You're looking just.

Yeah!

More Polish heart, please!

Look at this!

No, more heart, please!

More heart? Oh, lovely!

I get my head turned by Thai cuisine.

It's knockout.

Do you like it?

I love it.

And I'll be dishing up dinner for the locals.

THEY CHEER

-Everyone's got to try this.

-It's great, innit? It's great.

HE LAUGHS

Here we are, mate. Good old Birmingham.

-Have you ever been before, Len?

-Many times. I've danced here.

The Strictly Come Dancing tour comes here

so, you know, used to come up the old M1.

-Happy memories.

-Ooh!

-Cha-cha-cha!

-I'll say no more.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Yeah, I've been lots.

I'm not surprised. It's Britain's second largest city, isn't it?

-And it's got a good vibrancy about it.

-It has, yeah.

What does it conjure up in your mind?

Well, it's full of life, isn't it? There's an energy about the place.

-It's got that multicultural feel about it, too.

-Yeah.

So I think that's going to be very much reflected in what we're

-going to find.

-Well, do you know, as you go round Britain

and you go into these major cities, it's amazing how diverse

the population has become and with that, of course, the food.

-Absolutely.

-Yeah.

Very much reflected in the markets, everywhere you go.

Everywhere you go.

-Shall we go, then?

-Well, let's go.

First I'm giving Len a taste of a country with a long

relationship with Birmingham - Poland.

The Polish community in the Midlands can be traced back to the

late 19th century.

And it was during World War II

that an influx of Polish refugees came to England to

fight alongside the British Armed Forces.

After the war had ended, many ex-servicemen where eligible for

grants to retrain so improved their English and gained qualifications.

Over the years, they have had a huge presence in engineering,

car production,

iron, steel, chocolate and jewellery manufacturing.

Today, there's a community of almost 9,000 Polish speakers

living in Birmingham who have helped to build this historic city.

-If I said to you Poland, what does that sort of conjure up?

-Poland?

As soon as you say Poland, I think of my great-great-grandfather

who was, in fact, Polish.

-Really?

-Oh, yes. Jozef Sosnowski.

-Oh, wow.

-He came from Poland. So I have, within me, Pole.

Oh, right, you've got a bit of Pole in you.

I've got a bit of Pole in me. Yes, I have.

So, are you saying Polish food?

Polish food is... Yeah, absolutely. That was next on the agenda.

Well, I've never had it, obviously,

cos I've never had much of anything, but with a bit of Polish blood

maybe, you know, it's going to be a match made in heaven.

Have you ever been to Poland?

I've been there.

I've been to Poland. I've been to Warsaw and I've been to Gdansk and...

Yeah, but I never... No, don't ask. I didn't.

How can you go to these places and not try the food?

Well, it's quite easy, really. I just don't order it.

Come on. I've got to sort you out.

I'm hoping to reconnect Len with his heritage by taking him

into the heart of Birmingham and the Karczma restaurant that's

been part of the Polish centre since 1958.

A cornerstone of the community, they serve hearty, traditional

Polish dishes and it's all run by Sebastian Meller.

Go on, then.

Oh-ho!

This is nice. Sebastian.

-Hello.

-How you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

-Lovely. This is...

-Good to meet you.

'Sebastian's wife Ania is in charge of the kitchen.

'And she's going to cook me a few classic dishes that

'hopefully are going to impress Len,

'starting with traditional Polish dumplings.'

-Hi, how are you?

-Hi, nice to see you.

Nice to - oh! Lovely.

Is this a Polish tradition, the kiss?

Oh, yes, three times. One time small.

That's lovely. Ah, what are you making here?

-Dumplings, Polish is pierogi.

-Pierogi.

Pierogi, yes, this is a traditional dish.

Does this originate from a certain part of Poland or all over, Ania?

-All over.

-Everywhere you go.

-Yes, every.

Does every mother or every person know how to make it?

Yeah, every mother and every grandmother.

-Today I make my favourite pierogi.

-Yeah.

It's from cottage cheese.

-Oh, wow, that's lovely.

-It's lovely.

I must say, this restaurant has got a lovely flavour to it.

It's like a country sort of retreat, in the mountains.

Yes, exactly that, that's what we bring to England, actually.

We're show Polish hospitality in Birmingham.

Is there a big Polish community in...?

Yes, of course, but most popular customers is the British.

The Polish people cook Polish at home.

-Actually, it's nice to show the restaurant for the Britons.

-Yeah.

And enjoy Polish food, Polish, you know, hospitality,

-and Polish beer and vodka as well.

-Yeah.

'In the kitchen, Ania is busy making the dough for the pierogi dumplings,

'similar to a pasta dough.'

Mmm.

When I make pastry, it's a very hard job.

You doing long time, no stick to the table.

-OK, so you have to knead it for a long time.

-Yes.

-You want me to have a go?

-Yeah, I am very tired.

'Oh, me and my big mouth!'

-You must...more pressure.

-More pressure.

Yeah, and more Polish heart.

Yes, I understand. More pressure and more Polish heart.

Yes!

Good looking job.

Yeah, I know, I'm really going to...

You keep pulling back, Ania, you pull, I push. There you go.

-More Polish heart, please.

-Yeah, yeah, look at this one.

-Now, more heart, please.

-More heart!

Ah, lovely. What do you think?

-Not yet.

-Oh, dear!

'It's like being back at catering college.

'I bet Len's having a more relaxing time.'

I'm going to let you in to a little secret here,

because my great-great-grandfather, he was Polish.

Really?

-Josef Sosnowski.

-Josef Sosnowski.

Yeah, so we've got a bit in common.

And this shirt, is this traditional Polish?

Yeah, it's come from the Poland, exactly.

And the style of the things, it is from Polish markets.

-Yeah, well, it looks great.

-I love this one.

-I'd like it myself, actually.

-You are half Poles, actually.

I am a little bit of a Pole, yeah.

So, you know, I could wear it with pride.

'In the kitchen, Ania's still cracking the whip.'

I might even get myself a job here.

She's got me making the fillings for the pierogi dumplings,

using a speciality Polish cheese.

Lovely.

Cottage cheese, two packets, no paper.

No paper, all right.

Only cottage cheese.

She's having a go at me. No paper, all right.

-This is twarog in Polish language.

-Twarog.

-Twarog.

Twarog. Very creamy, lovely creamy texture.

'The traditional dumplings have sweetness to them

'by adding a vanilla sugar into the filling.

'It may seem unusual, but I know Len's got a bit of a sweet tooth,

'so I reckon it will go down a storm.'

-And mix, please.

-This?

No, for hand.

OK.

You must feel...

-Yeah, feel the food.

-Yes.

-Feel the food.

Thin pastry.

So the pastry must be nice and thin so you can taste the filling inside.

Lovely, very smooth and lovely. And still warm.

I make for my husband tea, only he's too many eat.

This is a man's problem, you know.

If something tastes good, he has to...

-This is only for my husband problem.

-Is it really?

'Now the dough's finally rolled out, we can fill the dumplings.'

..no long.

Look at this, my cheese is coming out.

-It's too many, too much.

-Too much cheese, OK.

-This one?

-Yes, please.

-OK, lovely.

'The dumplings go into a pan of simmering water

'and are bought up to the boil.

'Once they float to the surface, they're cooked.'

Yeah, I think...

I think Ainsley and your wife maybe are ready for us to eat something.

Yeah, of course, I can't wait.

'The final touches for the pierogies are a topping of melted butter,

'a sprinkling of breadcrumbs...

'..and more sugar.'

More sugar.

I don't know, I like it sweet but I don't know if Len likes it sweet.

-That looks lovely.

-Oh, yes.

-Thank you. Mwah...

-Three times.

I don't forget that... I won't forget these either.

Tell you what, Len...

'Wow, I wasn't expecting Polish food to look like that.

'I thought dumplings where things my nan made.'

We've got a whole combination here, you know.

There's savoury, we've got meat, some with spinach,

this is with, like, a cottage cheese and, ah!

-What do they call these?

-Pierogi.

-Pierogi.

And remember, this is...

Your great-great-grandfather probably ate these.

Yeah, he probably did.

'This one's for you, Grandpa Joe. It's pierogi time!'

What is... I like it. Let me try a green one.

You like a bit of spinach?

-I like spinach.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

-Hmmm.

'Well, he hasn't spat it out, which is a good sign.

'But he hasn't tried one of mine yet.'

This one's with cottage cheese.

-Yeah, what...

-I helped make these.

-You did?

-Oh, yeah, I'm a professional now. Pierogies with a Polish heart.

Half, not all.

Not all! Half a heart.

Oh, these are more sweet.

-Cottage cheese, yeah. You like that?

-Yeah.

-This is the best for me.

-Very, very tasty.

-Mmm, lovely.

-Thank you very much.

'He's ploughed through the pierogies without so much as looking up.

'Hope he's left a space for what's to come...

'mushroom bread and traditional beetroot soup.'

Cos you like beetroot, don't you?

'I love beetroot, but soup? You sure?'

'Yeah, I am, but before you get a chance at that soup,

'get your chops around the old mushroom bread.'

-Mmm...this is tasty.

-Isn't that lovely?

-It's very tasty, Ania.

-Thank you.

This is so clever, how this is made.

You know, with all the folds and...

It's very nice.

'Well, it's part of my heritage, so it here goes, a bit of borscht.'

Well, I think it's delicious.

Right, I tell you...

Yeah.

No, I don't mind it at all.

'I'm guessing that's going to be a bit of a low score from our Len.'

'Ainsley, you're not wrong.

'Sorry, Poland, but it's not one of my favourites.'

This is your first Polish experience - you happy with it?

Yes, yeah.

Both of you, thank you very much indeed,

thank you for allowing me to come into your kitchen...

-You're welcome.

-..your restaurant.

Let's toast with the beetroot soup - what do you say in Poland?

-Na zdrowie.

-Na zdrowie.

-One, two, three...

-ALL: Na zdrowie.

So, Len, with all that DNA flowing through your veins,

-what did you think of it?

-What, the Polish DNA?

-Yeah.

If I'm going to be honest, I thought the hospitality was great,

I loved the place, the way they'd done it out like a sort of

a log cabin up in the mountains. That was terrific.

The food, it was quite tasty, not really my cup of tea.

That doesn't make it a bad meal.

-No, I can understand that.

-It's only taste.

-Yeah.

Tell you what, though, the bread was delicious.

-Mushroom bread, to die for.

-Mushroom bread.

CHOIR SINGS IN POLISH

'So the food of Len's ancestors was a bit of a mixed bag.

'Luckily, I've arranged something that's a bit more up his street.'

CHOIR SINGS IN POLISH

'The Polish Centre is the home of the Echo Doliny Choir,

'who sing traditional Polish folk songs.'

CHOIR SINGS IN POLISH

'They also perform traditional Polish dance.'

'With all those Pierogies bouncing around in my tum,

'I better take this one a bit easy...'

I'm not doing that!

'..unlike my mate Ainsley, who's jumping straight in!'

And we're going to go left.

The same step, that's it.

We're about to finish, ready? Hey!

Walking around this great city,

almost every turn brings a new cuisine and a new taste.

But if you head out of town to the countryside,

a local producer is pushing surprising boundaries.

Just outside Birmingham is a hidden gem,

a farm run by Richard Aldis,

that once again shows the diversity of the local area

and grows produced that you would never expect from this region.

Amazingly, Richard grows everything, from pineapples, bananas,

citrus fruit, peaches, nectarines, plums.

You name it, he has a go at it...

and with great results.

The pineapple growing is very successful for us.

People don't believe that we can grow a pineapple that tastes

the same as you would expect from a supermarket.

Also on the farm are grapes.

Whereas most grapes in the UK are grown outdoors for wine making,

these very sweet, full-bodied Muscat grapes are actually for eating.

There's some bananas there which are just about ripe,

but these are younger ones just coming up.

I never thought I'd be able to grow bananas in the UK

and certainly not in the West Midlands.

I think I'd rather be in the West Indies today.

Oh, no, tropical fruit in the middle of the UK! Amazing.

Birmingham has been termed as an area of super diversity

and is now home to a whopping 187 nationalities.

22% of the city's 1.1 million residents

were born outside of the UK.

And with such an eclectic population,

the demand for specialist food is high

and everyone's food needs are catered for right here.

The Bullring Market in the centre of the city offers fruit, veg,

meat and other produce from all over the world,

'attracting over six million shoppers a year.'

'I want to show Len the buzzing outdoor market,'

where there's 130 different stalls.

And I want to introduce him to some of the Caribbean food taste

of my childhood.

Oi, Len, come and have a look at this.

When I grew up, as a child, we used to go down to the market.

This is what we would see.

My mum's eyes would light up cos it reminded her of home.

Look at this, look, that's cassava.

All these kind of vegetables.

We've got a bit of yellow yam here.

-And there's a white yam.

-And that's a white yam, I know!

All you do it peel this and boil it, sometimes you can fry it off.

What's that, then?

That's like a chilli, scotch bonnet pepper, but it's actually a chilli.

Scotch bonnet pepper.

Yeah, it's like a little bonnet, isn't it?

-Where did it all come from?

-The ground.

No, I don't mean...

When I was growing up, we'd go down the market

and they're would be none, absolutely none of this stuff.

What do you think this is, here?

Oh, no, I was going to say that was a Granny Smith.

-A Granny Smith!

-AINSLEY LAUGHS

That's a christophine.

Christophine? You're making this up!

I'm not, they're called...

-You just make up a name.

-Oh, come on!

-What is it, is it a fruit?

Yeah, yeah, you grate it, you can put it in salads

and stuff like that. Come on.

Let's go and do some shopping, come on.

Take care, darling. This way.

'This place is packed full of produce and people.

'It's wonderful, but at the indoor market, there's even more.'

-Well, here we are.

-Lovely.

Clothing and household items,

plus ethnic shops, butchers and fishmongers.

140 stores in total.

-Oh, wow, what have we got here, then?

-I like shellfish.

I like crab, I like lobster. My nan used to get a pint of winkles

-and she would de-winkle every one for me.

-Wow.

So I'd have a...

Vinegar, bit of pepper.

-Lovely.

-How long have you been in the market, then?

-175 years.

175, that's...

I must be doing something right. I'm the fifth generation.

-And have you always had this pitch?

-Yeah, our family business,

we started off selling game and things like that

and, as the times went by, we specialised in shellfish.

So, 175 years, how has the market changed?

Oh, it's changed a lot, the foods have changed a lot.

We get so many varieties of people now, we've got to cater for them.

We get a lot of the Asian community now, cos they still eat as a family.

And the Eastern Europeans eat as families, how we used to,

-but we don't any more.

-Yeah.

So they'll make an event out of a meal.

They want their food that they get from where they originate from,

their homeland food, so we get it for them.

-So we get food from all over the world.

-Fantastic.

-A lot of change, but adapting to the change.

-Yeah.

-We're getting the food for the people.

-Adapt to it.

Cheers, mate, God bless you.

I hope your family goes for another 175 years.

Oh, we will, yeah.

-I hope that's a West Ham tie and not Aston Villa.

-Sorry!

-Wrong end of the country!

-Oh, get out of here.

'Wow, that's another first for me,

'wandering around a food market, actually getting excited about the

'food and learning about new stuff that I wouldn't mind having a go at.

'Ains, you've got my food juices flowing again.'

In keeping with the diverse palette of food

that Len's been experiencing today, I've arranged for him to sample

some speciality dishes from one of these communities.

Next up on the menu...

is the taste of Thailand.

-I've been to Thailand.

-Have you?

-Yeah, I went to Phuket.

Oh, right, and what was the food like?

Well, I never sampled the local cuisine, if I'm honest.

-There was...

-Oh, come on, Len, you can't go all the way to Phuket

-and not try...

-No, no, no.

-Why not?

-No, my ideal wouldn't be a THAI restaurant.

-Yeah.

It would be a PIE restaurant.

I'll give you pies.

Apple pies, steak and kidney pies. Now, if we were going to...

I can't, I can't, I can't do this, Len.

I'm travelling all over with you and you start telling me,

instead of Thai, you want a pie restaurant!

-Let me tell you something about Thailand.

-Yeah, OK.

What was great were the people.

They were warm, they were smiling, they were gentle.

I imagine that the food will be similar to their character...

Totally.

..you know? It won't be harsh and brash. It'll be delicate.

And a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Do you think we should take something from that type of cuisine?

What do you mean, like a takeaway?

No, but take the influence of all that...

Oh, look, come on, let's go and have it.

I'll give him pies, all right.

We are heading to the outskirts of Birmingham to Sabai Sabai,

owned and run by husband and wife team Torquil and Juree Chadwick.

Juree hails from a family of chefs.

The restaurant is a family affair,

with members from both sides working here.

And I can't wait to get Len stuck into his first Thai food experience.

Come on in. Hi, guys! How you doing?

-Not too bad, thank you, how are you?

-Is it Torqeel?

-Torquil.

-I'm going to the kitchen.

-I'm going over there.

OK, shall we go?

'While I pitch up with Juree about the food, Ainsley, as always, hits

the kitchen with Torquil to discuss what I'm gonna get my chops around!

Ah, what have we got here, then?

Well, today we're going to be

cooking you some garlic and pepper sea bass.

At the moment, he's just carving some vegetables, which are...

It's traditional.

It started about 700 years ago

and the kids actually learn it in primary school.

So, really something you can always get a job

outside of primary school then. Hello, Chef, how are you?

Hiya, I'm quite good, thank you.

-Yeah, goody good. And we're cooking some sea bass today.

-Yes, sir.

First the chef dusts the sea bass fillet in flour for a crisp coating.

Well, Thai food, they took on wok cooking from the Chinese

when they introduced it to Thailand.

So that's what they use these days, with the big burners.

I mean, this is a traditional way of cooking within the wok.

And you can see it'll bubble away there.

You know, what makes Thai food different?

Thai food is very fresh, everything's in the preparation.

Thailand, I think it would be the middle ground of Indian

and Chinese, so if you like both of those cuisines,

you're bound to find something you like about Thai food, I would think.

Is it a light, delicate type of food?

Yes, we have a spectrum of dishes and tastes,

so it goes from sweet, sour, bitter, spicy.

And do you change the menu at all,

you know, to suit the British palate?

A lot of dishes we do tame the taste down,

so it's not as spicy as you would have in Thailand.

Cos I think English palates are not used to the super spice.

As the sea bass cooks,

the chef prepares the ingredients for the sauce.

And Len will be pleased, as there's not a chilli in sight.

-Garlic...

-So, minced garlic.

Garlic and pepper...

..and baby corn.

-Baby corn, yeah.

-And carrot.

And it's really interesting how everything is cut up

with little grooves in it, little cuts in it. Look at that.

That's really interesting,

the carrot there has all the little cuts in there.

-Makes it nice for the eyes.

-Yes, sir.

-Carry on.

Next we put green pepper and onion...

..and mushroom and spring onion.

Lovely.

So the vegetables all go in, add a little bit of stock water,

to get a bit of a...

Make sure it doesn't burn.

'Thai food is characterised by its layers of flavour.

'Len's always banging on about every mouthful tasting different,

'so this might just be a taste sensation too far.'

The heat! What type of temperatures are we talking about here?

I think, er, they need to get the wok up to about 150 degrees, 180,

just to generate that power.

All of us, we go and we buy a wok

and we think we're going to generate exactly that same type of heat,

but we're never going to get that type of heat at home.

No, no. You'd probably end up burning the pan.

I never knew that curry, was everywhere,

I always though it was just Indian.

There's Thai curries and I suppose you can get just the same,

you can get those very powerful spiteful ones

or the very gentle, delicate ones.

Massaman curry is very creamy and subtle.

It's got hardly any spice in it

and you have the most dishes that people know, the green curry,

the red curries, there's more spice to it.

So you have lots of different types, levels of spice.

And what's that he's just hit it with?

He's made basically a mix of oyster sauce and mushroom soy sauce.

Soy sauce is a big ingredient in Thailand,

he's adding the soy sauce now.

Oyster sauce is a big ingredient as well,

which gives it the basis of a lot of the stir-frys.

And pretty much, that's it, he's just going to let it bubble away.

'This is a typical stir-fry dish, so it's ready in a matter of minutes.'

Chef, that smells fantastic! Ah!

This is where the vegetable carving comes in, it's to decorate and make

everything look really nice, the intricate details they can go to.

And he's just going to top the sea bass with the sauce that he made.

Beautiful.

Brilliant!

I think Len's going to look at that and go, "Wow!"

And then, of course, secondary comes the amazing taste.

Come on, Torquil, let's go and I'll do it here.

In Thailand, people tend to have a few dishes and they share it,

a bit like Spanish tapas and everyone sits down.

It's more like a meal that you share with friends

rather than, "This is my dinner and I'm having this."

The food gets laid out and you have a rice dish on the side.

So Thai people put the rice on first

and then a little bit of what they have on the table.

In keeping with this traditional style of eating,

Chef has prepared a couple of other classic dishes for Len to try.

Lenny boy, have we got some treats for you!

Feast your eyes on that little lot.

'Wow! What an amazing looking spread!

'I can't wait to get stuck in to this lot!'

What do you think, Len?

I think the first thing when you have food

-is you sort of eat with your eyes.

-Yeah, absolutely.

And when you look at this, it's beautifully, beautifully presented.

'Well, that's promising!'

Yeah, I've been told that you start with a bit of rice.

How about that, Len, is that...?

To everyone that's eaten here before,

I always recommend the sea bass. They love it every time.

-I'm hoping you will as well.

-Yeah.

I'm telling you what, that...

-is great.

-Lovely!

There is nothing spiteful or...

HE MOCK GASPS ..you know, "Send me water."

It is just lovely.

The fish is cooked beautifully and the different bits and pieces,

lovely. It's gorgeous.

If you were eating in Thailand,

the locals would like to have a lot of chilli added on the side

-or they'd have...

-Yeah.

..a bit of chilli added to give you that super heat.

Can I tell you a factoid?

There's more vitamin C in a chilli than there is in an orange.

Well, there you go. But you still won't eat the chilli, though!

No, it's too hot.

'Len Goodman and top tips from the kitchen.'

'Well, it's just that I'm full of fabulous factoids.'

Now, this is the chicken satay with peanut butter.

Pretty much peanut butter, yeah, but it's peanut satay sauce.

So it got, like, tamarind in it, palm sugar.

-You try it.

-Yeah, oh, yeah.

Try it, it's knock out. You can have it with the vegetables.

You like it?

I love it!

So, would you come here again, Len?

I'm not going to lie, be honest and be yourself

and that's what I try to do.

So...

I would 100% come in here and eat all of that.

-Wonderful.

-It's great.

-That's good to hear!

Well, thank you, guys. What an absolute treat.

This is very, very nice indeed.

'I'm almost lost for words,

'so I'm miming a silent salute as I speak - oh, yes!'

What a waste, all that time in Phuket and never sampled

that beautiful, beautiful, delicate, delicious food.

I know, that sea bass, your face, your eyes just said it all, Len.

And I never, ever... I've heard of chicken satay...

Yeah, no.

But that has opened my eyes.

-Hit all the right spots.

-It was truly...

Everything came together, you know?

I loved the restaurant, the presentation,

the delicate taste of the food.

It all came together, it was great.

And I doubt whether that will ever get beaten

because that was as good for me as I imagine I'm ever going to get.

'Wow, I think that hit the mark!

'I never dreamt Len would enjoy Thai cuisine that much.

'I reckon he'll be booking a flight back to Phuket before he knows it!'

After that, I'm a bit worried, because I've got to cook.

And instead of playing it safe, I'm sticking my neck out

and going back to Poland.

I'll be doing a pork escalope

with beetroot and a dill and horseradish sauce.

OK, first of all, I'm going to start off with this

beautiful smoked bacon.

You can see there's quite a bit of fat in there,

but that's where the flavour is going to come from,

that's what we're going to saute our cabbage in afterwards.

So straight into a warm pan.

Now let's get into the cabbage.

The type I'm using is sweetheart, but you could use Savoy.

All we do know is shred it up.

Take a nice sharp knife, removing the core.

Don't want that in there.

And we're just shredding this up.

Perfect.

Shred that up and then pop that on top of our bacon.

And I'm just going to add a little bit of water to the pan

to allow that to steam and stir-fry for a bit.

OK, you don't want it to dry out and that water will evaporate.

And now for that beetroot.

I've already got some cooked beetroot here, actually,

and I've just diced some of that up and we're going to pop that

into our pan with a little bit of white wine vinegar and some honey.

Now, that's the basis for your beetroot.

Literally as soon as that starts to bubble down,

it becomes a little bit saucy, if you like.

A little bit thick and sticky.

See, that's just beginning to get...

quite sort of thick now.

That's beginning to sweat down beautifully.

And then we're going to take our beetroot

and pop that into the glaze to warm it through.

That's perfect, look at that.

The beetroot, once you've tossed it in that lovely glaze...

Oh, absolutely lovely.

Put that to one side.

There's our bacon and cabbage, that's already done.

OK, let's bread up our pork escalopes.

You can see that they're not too thick...

and put that straight into the flour...

..then into our egg.

Make sure it's well coated, all right? Cos the whole idea

of coating it in flour is that it actually glues the egg to it

and then into the breadcrumbs.

That's it, guys, all right?

Make sure that's well-coated in the breadcrumbs.

There's your pork escalopes and if you want to be a little bit fancy,

guess what? You can give that a little bit of a marking like that,

can you see that? All right, that gives it that lovely little effect.

Beautiful, right. I've got my oil in the pan, I'm going to take

a little bit of butter and pop it in there.

I like the combination of oil and butter.

It gives a nice brownish to the escalopes and of course it helps

prevent the butter from burning.

Once that calms down a little bit and that butter is melted,

just lay those escalopes down into that hot pan.

Right, let's get on with that

horseradish, dill and sour cream sauce.

Take your dill, dill weed, and just chop a bit of that up.

Got our sour cream.

Just a bit of that horseradish,

little bit of that going in there.

And then what? It's not rocket science, pick up your dill.

Put it in there.

Stir that round.

And Bob's your uncle.

Now, depending on the thickness of your pork,

you should be looking at roughly three minutes a side for these.

Turn those over, you can see that, look, golden and crispy.

Look at that little indentation that I did with the back of the

knife there - you can see it gives it a lovely little presentation.

I think that looks so pretty.

Right, I think our pork escalopes are done, perfect.

OK, let's serve this up now.

Of course, we've got all these wonderful influences,

we've got the bacon and the cabbage.

We've got our glazed beetroot.

We've got our pork escalope...

just on the top.

We've got our lovely horseradish, sour cream and dill sauce.

Just a touch of that.

Just on the edge there.

Nothing more than that.

It's time to head to our food truck for the moment of truth.

We've got a beautiful breaded pork escalope that I've pan-fried

in a little bit of butter and oil. We've got some beetroot there,

-little bit of honey, little bit of vinegar there.

-OK, lovely.

Some cabbage and bacon,

and we're finishing that off with a horseradish and sour cream sauce.

-Just a little dollop.

-I'm telling you what, that is sounding...

Look at what you've done.

Now, give me the old fighting irons.

I'll put it there.

Now....

this looks tasty.

Nice bit of pork escalope, pan-fried...

Pan-fried, there, a little bit of the old horseradish, which I love,

and look, little bits of lardies.

That's it, lardies, you can call them lardies, a bit of bacon

and cabbage going on there and with a little bit of beetroot, too.

Now, can you see this twitch?

I can definitely... That's what I'm worried about!

No, once you get that... I don't do that, stop it!

Once you get that twitch, you know you're on to a winner here.

-Oh, right.

-This...

Ainsley, you 100% have done it again.

Is that coming across...?

Oh!

That is your best to date!

Ow! Go away(!)

I promise you! That is your best to date!

Len likes it, ladies and gentlemen, do you fancy trying it?

ALL: Yeah!

All right, then that's what we like!

Go on, it won't kill you(!)

HE LAUGHS

It's great, I promise you.

This represents the Polish people of Birmingham.

Go on give it some!

Give it some!

Absolutely gorgeous.

Absolutely gorgeous, it is.

Everyone's got to try this.

It's great, isn't it? It's great.

Mark it out of 10.

-It's easily a nine.

-It's a nine.

You've got a nine over here!

Oh, fantastic!

What do you reckon?

That's amazing.

Babe! You're lovely you are!

I think it's gorgeous, what is it?

It's an escalope, it's been pan-fried.

Oh, they're all having a go now, we've got

the Harlem Globe Trotters steaming in(!)

-Beautiful beetroot.

-Beetroot, loves the beetroot!

-Lovely!

There's a bit of dill in the, er...

-Bit of dill, is there any dill?

-Little bit of dill going in there.

He's got that, he's got that through his taste buds.

So, Len, what have we learnt from our culinary experience

here in good old Birmingham?

Well, I've learnt first of all, let me say, that your escalope,

-lightly breaded or whatever it was...

-Yeah, that's right, yeah.

..with a bit of beetroot and cabbage

and a few little bits of bacon, was a triumph.

It was delicious.

They are flavours of Poland, that's what I really tried to capture.

And then a bit of horseradish on it just, yeah.

-Gave it a lift?

-Gave it a lift.

The Thai restaurant was fabulous.

Honestly, it was light, it was tasty, you know,

I promise you, if my old Sue said,

Er, "Let's go out and eat," and there was one,

-I'd say, "Here we are, let's go in that Thai restaurant."

-Yeah?

That was beautiful.

Now, the Polish food, Ania and Sebastian, they were lovely.

-Yeah.

-For me, it's not quite my cup of tea.

Didn't titillate your taste buds, really?

No, but I must say, what else I learnt from Birmingham,

was such a diverse culture, you know, you can

go from Poland to Thailand in 500 yards.

-And there's a lot more in between.

-And loads in between.

Yeah, which we might visit one day.

Why wouldn't we? Onwards and upwards.

-Come on.

-Here we are, mate.

'So, Ainsley, after a day filled to the brim

'with lovely Polish morsels...'

Very tasty, Ania.

Thank you.

How you doing you all right? Lovely.

'..and fragrant Thai flavours...'

That is great.

'..will any of today's dishes make it into my top 10?'

I'm surprising myself now,

but that Thai sea bass warmed me cockles today.

So out goes my favourite Prawn Cocktail,

and in comes that aromatic sea bass with Garlic and Pepper sauce.

Oh, ho! Yum, yum, in me tum!

So, thanks, Birmingham for a great food adventure day,

can't wait to come back soon.