Arlene Phillips My Life on a Plate

For everyone, there's a taste of food

or a smell of cooking that zooms you right back to childhood.

It's just like my mum's cake!

I'm Brian Turner...

It reminds me of someone I used to know at school.

..and I'm going to stir up the food memories

of some much-loved celebrities...

Oh!

Look at that!

..going back to their early days before they were famous...

Oh, my gosh.

..with recollections of Sunday roasts and school dinners...

It's time for something to eat. Brilliant.

..and celebrating food their home regions are proud of.

Which way would you like to go?

Er, this way.

I'll recreate a nostalgic family favourite...

Mm, you can't beat a crumble.

..and a tribute dish that puts my guest's life on a plate!

Magic, magic.

Today, choreographer Arlene Phillips returns

to the Manchester area where she grew up.

50 years ago, almost.

Forever ago. It's more.

Forever ago.

Revisiting her childhood home brings back great sadness.

It's quite hard actually, because my mother was so ill,

and all these places have memories of her.

And a visit to her primary school

reminds her of blazing her own trail from a young age.

Under my very stark, miserable uniform,

I wore a red net petticoat.

And in my outdoor kitchen, I'll be creating special treats...

I want the recipe now.

..that take Arlene straight back to those early days...

That was the fish that we ate.

..in a mouthful!

Best flavour ever!

Aren't you wonderful?

One of Arlene's happiest childhood memories is the family picnic,

getting up early with her mum, brother and sister to prepare,

before the 20-minute walk to their local park.

Arlene was born north of Manchester in Prestwich,

but the family moved south to Didsbury

when she was about eight years old.

Dad worked hard as a barber,

so family time on those picnics must have been precious.

We're taking Arlene back to her favourite park

to find out what she remembers,

as I start to build up ideas for a recipe based on her childhood

and home life, with inspiration from this part of Britain.

I want to create a special dish that pays tribute to her.

When were you here last?

Um...she whispers, 60 years ago!

No! Yup, truly, and it has grown old like me.

It's incredible how much it has grown.

What a great place this is.

Isn't it beautiful?

Just look at all that greenery, it's fantastic.

My father was somebody who insisted that every Sunday,

you've got to get out, you've got to walk,

find somewhere lovely, maybe with a little museum,

and this was one of our favourite places. Right.

Although my sister and I used to come here together

and I was maybe 12 and she was 10.

And we would walk for miles and come here and bring our own picnic.

The ten acres of Fletcher Moss Park and Gardens

were donated to the city of Manchester in 1914.

We've prepared a picnic just like the ones Arlene used to have,

with one or two surprises in store.

So, what kind of things did you have when you were at picnics?

Do you remember?

Well, at the picnics, tomatoes, because my parents always thought

if you're going to spend money on food,

it's worthwhile spending money on things like tomatoes.

Celery with cream cheese put in like a boat, because it was fun to eat.

So we'd have our celery boats,

and actually my children have continued in that tradition.

We always had potatoes in salad cream. Always.

Salad cream, not mayonnaise?

No, not mayonnaise. No, salad cream.

The biggest, biggest treat was dandelion and burdock.

Well, why don't we pour that whilst you just...

Were your parents sticklers about food at all?

Did you have lots of money to spend on food?

No. We had little money to spend on food,

so the things I didn't have were things like...

Quality Street chocolates.

I dreamed of them because, as far as my parents were concerned,

you didn't need Quality Street, but you did need an apple.

I would have thought one apple was worth five of those chocolates.

Yeah, but it was dull, an apple,

compared to all the different flavours.

When was it that you fell in love with dancing?

Were you always a dancer,

and when did you know you were going to be a dancer?

I was told I was always dancing, you know,

as soon as I could walk, or in my pram, to music.

My father and mother loved the ballet,

and one thing they would endeavour to do was to take us to the ballet,

but, by the age of eight,

I knew that was what I wanted to do.

So did you actually get into ballet itself?

Because we don't recognise you as a ballet dancer.

No, that's what I studied until the age of 16,

when I went to a full-time four-year course

to become a dancer in Manchester.

We did ballroom, we did Latin, we did modern.

Did you do tap dancing? I did do tap.

I love watching tap. Love that. Yeah!

And the rest is history.

I don't know about you, but Strictly Come Dancing

is one of my guilty pleasures,

and Arlene was a brilliantly incisive judge.

One of the most soul-tingling waltzes

we have ever seen on Strictly.

She moved to London in the very early 1960s,

and, thanks to baby-sitting for director Ridley Scott,

got her lucky break, choreographing commercials for him.

International stardom followed

with the creation of the dance group Hot Gossip in the 1970s.

She choreographed hugely successful West End and Broadway musicals,

like Starlight Express and Saturday Night Fever,

music videos with stars such as Sir Elton John,

TV shows, and feature films like Annie.

All that from humble beginnings in a Jewish family in Manchester.

As a child, were you a picky eater, or was it...

Certainly when I grew up it was, "There it is, eat it,

"because there is nothing else."

Absolutely. You couldn't be picky, you weren't allowed to be picky,

you had to eat what was on your plate.

And my grandmother's house, which was across the road,

there were always people coming in and coming out.

Families, gatherings, Friday nights, Sunday lunches.

With my family, there would be tea -

we didn't have dinner in the evening, there would be tea,

which would be lettuce, tomatoes,

cucumber, fish paste!

Was your mum a good cook?

My mum was a fantastic cook, and the best baker in the world.

Really? Oh, yes. She could have been Mary Berry.

Cakes were woven through with different colours.

We always got those on our birthday.

I do have one other little thing for you. You do?

This is...

Oh!

Our attempt. It's not your birthday, is it?

That is just like...

Your mum.

My mum's cakes.

So beautiful.

Have a little taste.

You bet.

Mmm!

Is that OK?

It's absolutely delicious.

You can be as honest as you like. Oh, my gosh.

It's iced beautifully.

Not decorated, but iced.

That's OK. Yeah, it's flavour that counts.

But the flavour is...

Watch me eat my way through this!

So, just going back to those days then when you were at home,

did you eat all kosher food?

Yeah, kosher food.

And so fairly strict guidelines as to what you could

and couldn't eat? Oh, yes, yeah.

That's the way we lived, we never thought anything about it.

Absolutely. Never thought anything more.

How would you describe the kind of food that you had?

Well, we had lots of chicken soup

because my mother did a brilliant chicken soup,

and of course roast chicken.

We also ate a lot of smoked salmon

because we lived round the corner from a shop called Titanic's,

and we would go down there,

and they would have bags, what they called salmon pieces.

They're all the pieces that nobody wanted

because they liked fine-sliced.

So we would buy the salmon pieces.

Arlene's memories of food shopping evoke fascinating images

of those old specialist shops.

She's talking about an area in north Manchester

where I'm meeting up with local food writer Clarissa Hyman

in a Prestwich bakery to find out more.

There was a small community here in the 18th/19th centuries.

They were Sephardic Jews engaged in the textile industry.

But the big wave of immigrants came at the end of the 19th,

early 20th centuries,

and a lot of Jewish people came from eastern Europe.

I assume they came here because there were already some people here

and it's just grown and grown and grown.

Exactly. People do want to be with people that they share

things in common with, being near family.

In North Manchester, we're probably all related.

One of the many things they say, of course,

is that the Jewish community congregates round the table.

They are really big into their food.

Absolutely. Food is very, very important in Jewish life

and in Jewish tradition.

I always think, you know,

when you are dispersed and when you have to travel across the world,

because of war and famine and poverty or whatever,

persecution, food is one thing you take with you.

It's very potent, it's very nostalgic.

The community continued to grow here due to the Russian revolution

and the two world wars,

and now has the UK's biggest Jewish population outside London.

Keeping it quite simple,

Jewish food and kosher food do have their differentials.

Yes, there is a distinction between Jewish food and kosher food.

Kosher food, essentially, is food which has been prepared

according to the dietary laws, under religious supervision.

But you can have kosher pizza, you can have kosher curries,

you can have kosher Chinese food.

Oh, right.

Jewish food on the whole

is Jewish food which relates to a particular ethnic tradition,

or a particular community, or is eaten at a certain time,

maybe for the Sabbath or for the festivals.

So, Jewish food we commonly think of as, say, chicken soup,

or chopped liver, or here, bagels.

The roll with the hole.

Yes, of course.

Funnily enough, you can have kosher bagels,

and you can have non-kosher bagels because they have been

prepared without any supervision or religiously approved ingredients.

Arlene mentioned a shop called Titanic's,

which is still a bit of an institution around here.

It was founded by Joseph Hyman,

who was a third-class passenger on the Titanic when it sank in 1912.

Lucky to survive,

he went on to New York where he came across the delicatessen concept.

He didn't settle there, and returned to Prestwich a year later,

and founded this family deli business,

where his great-grandson Richard is now in charge.

Clarissa, who is Richard's cousin,

has brought me along for a gourmet tasting session.

We've got chopped liver, which is the quintessential start

to any Friday night Shabbat dinner, or Sabbath dinner.

If you don't have it at the beginning of your Friday night,

then there's something wrong, really.

But there's nothing like the real thing.

Absolutely, and this is a traditional recipe

where it is literally the liver, egg, onion...

..and seasoning.

In reality, it's a pate, but a bit coarser.

Correct, yes.

But it's got a lovely balance, I have to say.

I'm sort of quite surprised.

I don't mean to be rude, but it's got a really nice balance to it.

This place has a fantastic array of ready meals and ingredients,

and everything is kosher.

And the next starter is traditional soup?

Correct, chicken soup. Lovely, so we've got some there.

Jewish penicillin, as it's also called. Is that what it is? It is.

Tell me about these dumplings. Are they dumplings?

They're not dumplings, they are called matzo balls or kneydl.

Well, they are kind of a descendent of the dumpling.

Some people like them very firm and solid,

and some people like them soft and fluffy.

Everybody does their chicken soup differently.

I'm not quite sure whose is best,

whose isn't best,

and I'm certainly not going to say it on camera.

Your mother's. You'll get into trouble!

Interesting for me is, there's bags of fat on it.

There is. It should shimmer.

Right, well, I can see that. But it's not greasy.

No, it's not, but you can see lots of fat on it.

You can taste it, but it's not greasy.

If you'd not told me that they could be soft and airy,

I would accept that and say that's fine. So what goes in there?

That is matzo meal, a little bit of baking powder,

salt and pepper,

and an egg.

Oh, right.

Now, that looks a fantastic piece of meat.

That is your traditional salt beef.

So it's a piece of brisket that has been pickled for about ten days,

and then cooked in simmering water for two and half, three hours,

depending on the size of it, with some seasoning.

I love this, it's absolutely moist and delicious,

and it's got some fat in it as well.

Absolutely. My grandmother would turn over in her grave

if I didn't have fat on it.

What people don't realise is that animal fat

is what gives a lot of our meats flavour,

and yet they trim it all off and get rid of it.

It's a sacrilege.

That is delicious. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Now that was a revelation to me,

and I can see why, even 50-odd years ago,

Arlene's Mum was a big fan of this deli.

It's given me some ideas for the dish I'm going to make

as a tribute to Arlene.

I'm beginning to get a sense of a happy fusion

between the traditions of her background,

and the cuisine of modern Britain.

To help jog more of those childhood memories,

we've brought Arlene back to her old primary school in Didsbury.

I was eight when I came here.

You'd been to another school previously?

Yes, that's when we moved from North Manchester to Didsbury.

I'm very curious to see inside,

if the central green is there, where we did skipping competitions.

Oh, really?

Every morning, yeah.

You go in there, have a little wander round, see what you think.

I'm going to cook a little nostalgic dish for you.

How lovely. So off you go, there's the door.

We've set up the outdoor kitchen in the playground,

and I'm going to make a dish based on something

I think Arlene's Mum would have made for her as a child.

What I've decided to do is make a pickled fish.

Now this is my style of pickled fish

and I really hope it's going to tickle her palate.

I've got some wonderful hake here,

but the first thing I'm going to do, I'm going to make a cucumber salad

to go with it, but a pickled cucumber salad.

Firstly, big cucumbers, we'll just take off the peel.

We don't really want that.

So get rid of that.

Going to chop this in half here.

And then, using the same peeler,

I'm just going to very carefully get some slices of cucumber.

Just nice and thin, just till you can start to see the seeds.

The seeds just make it a little bit watery.

The great thing about this method of pickling

is it's very quick, and it's really your recipe.

It's almost guessology.

About four tablespoons of cider vinegar.

One, two, thee, four.

Enough.

A teaspoon of local honey.

Not too sweet.

A wee bit of salt.

It smells great already, that vinegar smell.

Just separate all the bits of cucumber

and just let that sit there for about 20 minutes,

just put it out of the way.

Six decades have passed since Arlene walked these corridors.

It was a different world then.

Wow, this looks so, so different.

The school is definitely far more child-friendly then when I was here.

It was strict, it was severe, I wasn't happy.

I hated being told off by the teachers,

and look, they've got beautiful boards and cute lockers.

I think I would have fun if I was here now.

This is completely different.

Out here it was just green and we used to go out,

almost every day,

when the grass was dry,

and do skip rope competitions, who could stay skipping the longest.

And I always thought from being young,

it kept kids fit and the mind active.

But this is so different.

We're going to serve this lovely hake...

Hake's a fish not a lot of people use, but in those days,

I think Arlene's mum used to buy hake locally.

I've got these lovely bits here, filleted, bones out,

no skin on it,

and I cut it into six pieces.

These are almost fish fingers.

Nice hot pan, so now we dust it with flour,

and into the pan.

Skin side upwards.

We need to just slice the onions.

So now very carefully with the fish, just to make sure,

you mustn't overcook this hake,

just get a really nice colour.

Lovely.

Arlene had a tough time at school

When I was here, there was no uniform.

When I went on to Manchester Central High School for Girls

we had a strict uniform rule -

look as ugly as possible.

Either cut your hair short, or plaits, or tie it back.

No freedom in hair, that's for sure.

No styles.

I got in trouble all the time

because, under my very stark, miserable uniform,

and woe betide if it ever was sticking out.

Straight to the headmistress's office.

I was there on a regular basis.

This is exactly the same, nothing has changed here.

My school, though, was absolutely no dancing.

That's why I didn't want to be here.

We did drama, we did little plays, not a lot, really.

It was very much about what I called old-fashioned education.

Sit on your chair and learn.

And I think I would have been a lot happier had I had music,

had drama and dance,

and ways of being able to explore learning through different methods.

But it was sitting down,

being judged on everything you did.

From the moment I first went to dance school, I felt alive,

I felt there was a purpose in my life,

even though I was quite young,

I lived to dance.

It stirred something inside me.

Nothing else could make me feel that way.

It's where my ambition began

and my drive began,

and my passion began.

I read every single dance book you could possibly read,

both fiction and non-fiction.

I soaked myself in dance.

I educated myself through dance.

I want my dish to take Arlene back to good times

and her mother's cooking at home in Didsbury.

So far, I've made a pickled cucumber salad,

and lightly cooked small fillets of hake ready to pickle.

And over here, I've got the start of my pickling liquor.

I've got lots of onions in there, I've got some malt vinegar.

I'm going to put some water in here.

Just bring this to the boil.

Sugar.

You can use whatever measurements you like.

I've got some curry powder.

Oh, my goodness.

I'm going to put curry powder in there. You may not have had that.

No, definitely not.

And then a bit of turmeric.

Don't remember turmeric.

A few peppercorns.

There was always pepper, but it was brown, not black.

Right. And some bay leaves - you see it's changed colour already

and that will help to colour and flavour the fish.

Mmm, the smell now.

So, whilst that's happening, over here,

I've taken some strips of cucumber,

and I've shredded them with a potato peeler. Yeah.

I've put that into some vinegar, some cider vinegar, and some honey.

Oh! I've got to smell it, it's quite good for you, is that.

Oh, that's what my mother used to make.

Oh, wonderful, that's good.

A bit of pepper in there, and I'm going to put a bit of parsley in

because I think it wants a bit of colour. Yeah.

So, we've got some fresh parsley.

Just chopped at the last minute.

Doesn't need to be too fine.

Fearless with that knife.

And just put that in there.

My mother used to do her pickled cucumbers,

and we used to put them in jars.

Right. That's what people don't... Store them. Exactly!

They don't do that these days.

Buy lots of them at a good price and then pickle them for the future.

We should do that with lots of fruits as well. Yeah.

Just want you to smell that.

Mmm.

Doesn't it smell good?

Oh, it smells...

It's the mixture of the vinegar and the curry and the turmeric

that gives it that wonderful smell.

It is. So then we take our fish here, just very carefully,

and I haven't overcooked it, I've kept it marginally underdone,

but it's sat there for a few minutes, like that.

I don't know about you, I'm beginning to salivate already.

I love fish.

That's good to hear.

Sustainable?

Absolutely.

After about an hour, you could eat this and it would be lovely,

but I think you need to let it rest for about two days,

so I've got one here, look, just see, look, the changing colour.

Yes. That's purely from age, is that.

And this is one I made earlier?

You've always wanted to say that!

I love these little gem lettuces,

just going to cut them nicely in quarters through the root

and that just gives us that little bit of prettiness on the dishes.

Just look at that and now we find a couple of nice bits of fish.

There it is, just look at that.

It's buried treasure. Mmm!

Just smell that now.

Oh, that is divine.

You will have noticed that I've done that exactly to match your sweater.

I know! Well, I dressed for this, actually.

I always like to match the food in case I spill any on me!

It's a good excuse.

This is exciting.

So, there it is, and I'm just going to take a little bit of the salad.

Oh, yes. That looks amazing.

Cucumber, nice and refreshing. Yes.

That just sits on top there.

How fabulous.

And there we have it, my nostalgia dish for Arlene,

representing the kind of food her mother made for the family.

Pickled fish with a pickled cucumber salad.

I can't wait to taste this fish.

Mmm, best flavour ever.

Oh, aren't you wonderful?

I tell you, this is divine

and I will be making it, and I want the recipe now!

Arlene remembers her mum baking wonderful cakes,

which got me thinking about the British baking revival,

and what's been happening in Manchester.

There's a family-run bakery in Failsworth

that's been going for 150 years,

and they've revived a local baking favourite.

Seventh generation Grace Robinson recently took over from her dad Dave

as head baker.

Everything I know I've been taught from my dad,

literally in the workplace.

I've not been taught by someone out of a book.

I've been taught by my dad.

Working through experience,

and learning everything that he's been taught.

Got your bran muffins here, Sue.

I've been in and out of the bakery since I was 12.

I've always loved being part of the family bakery.

Since 1864, recipes have been handed down through the generations.

The business went from strength to strength and, by 1926,

the family team looked like this.

Despite the invention of supermarkets

and mass-produced breads and pastries,

they've stayed ahead of the curve,

making 250 different products themselves.

The one I'm interested in is the Manchester tart,

and what a treat of a sweet little tart it is!

Yeah, all my friends love 'em.

We get a lot of people who don't even know what they are,

so for us to make them, it gives us a unique selling point.

Dad Dave is ever the old pro.

I suppose it looks relatively easy

but that's because we have had a lot of practice.

When you're doing something every day,

it becomes a natural thing to do.

They make 200 Manchester tarts a week,

but have been known to sell 500 in a day in the run up to Christmas.

Yet, it's almost by accident that the tart made a comeback.

There was a festival being held in Manchester city centre,

and somebody asked us to make some Manchester tarts

for the festival, and they were very successful.

Since then we've been making Manchester tarts.

It's one of those products that has been revitalised,

even though really it was a school dinners item,

and that's what everyone mentions when they come to the stall -

"Oh, I've not had one of these since I was at school!"

Dave masterminded the revival, and finessed a recipe.

A Manchester tart is a sweet short-crust base.

We then put raspberry jam in it.

We put a cold vanilla custard on top of that.

We sprinkle it with toasted coconut,

pipe some liquid fondant on the top of that,

and then a cherry in the middle.

It's quite simple, but it's very tasty.

And, for younger generations, with no school dinner memories,

it's a brand-new idea!

I've never tried a Manchester tart, but I've just bought one,

so I'm looking forward to actually trying it for the first time.

Yeah, I'm just going to go for it.

I could die today and I would be quite happy.

Yeah, it's good.

Back in Didsbury, we're taking Arlene to the street where

she used to live, to see what's changed and what she remembers.

Well, this was my dad's barber shop

and we used to live at the back of the shop and upstairs.

That wasn't there, that shed.

That was our side entrance to the back door,

but we always used the shop front door.

You mean you went into the barber shop, whilst your dad was working?

Yeah, always ran through. Straight through.

Where did you play when you were a child? Did you play out here?

On this forecourt, or in the garden at the back.

If it was raining, we'd skip in the rain

and pretend we were singing in the rain.

Oh, lovely!

And in the back garden.

Why don't we go in and have a look?

It's going to be strange. Let's do it.

Go on, you can do this.

So what does it feel like?

It wouldn't have been that colour, I don't suppose. No, it wasn't orange.

We left before the '60s.

It's quite a while ago.

Yeah, I think we left in 1958.

Good lord, that's 50 years ago.

Forever ago.

I think this wall was here and there was a door and we lived,

our living room and our kitchen were there, were just back there.

and there was a desk here,

and I used to work on the till.

The brushes, where you brush everybody down,

the electric clippers,

the hair dryers,

the little brushes to brush off,

and only men came in, and they used to come in for hot towels.

Do you feel all right?

I feel all right. It feels strange.

I thought going back in time is going to be amazing,

but actually it's very strange.

Well, why don't you go upstairs and have a look,

and see what memories that brings back?

I'm going next door and I'm going to cook a tribute dish just for you.

I think I'm going to need it!

Arlene's old garden is no more,

so I've set up next door, where her friend Jane used to live.

with a nod to her Jewish roots.

I'm kicking off by making pastry.

Flour's in the bowl here, and I've got some cold butter.

I shall put that in...

..with a pinch of salt.

Then just rub that together until we get the consistency of sand,

of breadcrumbs,

as cold as you can get it works well,

just to pull the whole thing together into a dough.

You'll be able to tell if you've got enough in there

if it all comes together, as it's doing now.

Don't overwork it, and we'll just take that out to a nice shape,

wrap it in Clingfilm,

I'll put it back in the bowl and put it in the fridge

and leave it for about half an hour.

I've fried a large sliced onion,

and I've boiled thin slices of three large potatoes in salted water

until they're just cooked, but no more.

And then we've got this wonderful corned beef.

I love corned beef, and I really hope that Arlene does.

We'll cut this into slices.

Don't be tempted to eat it,

says he to himself!

Arlene's old home, behind and above the barber's shop,

has been split into flats, so the layout is unfamiliar.

Well, this is so weird because I have no clue where I am.

I used to come through the barber shop,

and below this asphalt roof

was our living room, and our garden.

Gone!

Oh, my gosh, I've just got my bearings.

And this is strange.

Um...

This was my brother's bedroom.

And this was my bedroom, where I had a little bed,

and by my bed I had a ballerina lamp with a beautiful pink shade on,

and one day I woke up,

wasn't feeling very well,

and I put my hand out,

and I realised that I'd put it right on the top of the lamp

and I had left the lamp on,

and I can remember my hand sizzling to this day!

Happened right in this room.

It was while she lived here that Arlene's mum developed leukaemia.

Oh, my goodness!

I used to think this room was huge, this was my parents bedroom,

and it felt vast.

And...it isn't vast!

It's really, really strange being here.

It was lovely when the fire was lit,

and whichever of us were in, you know, bed with my mum or my dad,

and the flickering would be fabulous on the ceiling,

gentle, gentle shadows.

It's quite hard, actually.

Because my mother was so ill,

and all these places have memories of her.

There are lots and lots of really happy memories

and other memories of sadness,

because a lot of sadness went on in my life in this room,

in that bathroom,

you know, taking care of my mother.

And I guess, we moved after she died,

I think to escape all those memories.

And then my sister had this little bedroom,

just off their bedroom, which is now the kitchen.

And a lot of things happened...

..after my mother was very ill.

And my mother passed away.

My father then became ill.

There were three children,

you know, 13, 15, 17, trying to make life go on.

It wasn't easy,

and I think sometimes you tend to block those things

out of your mind, and so I'm searching for the good times

because I know there were good times.

I hope my tribute dish for Arlene will celebrate

her fascinating past, present and future.

To make my butter pie, I've lined a baking dish

with two thirds of my pastry,

and assembled with layers of fried onion,

slices of boiled potato and corned beef,

and dotted with nobs of butter.

I roll out the final third of pastry for the lid,

tidy the edges and use egg wash to glue the pastry together,

also brushing over the top.

Then into a medium oven for 30-35 minutes.

Let me show you what I've done for you so far. Yeah, go on.

We've made what they call a butter pie

and it's a big part of Manchester speciality.

Right.

Oh!

Don't touch it, it's hot. I won't.

We'll just let it sit for a minute. It's been in for about 35 minutes.

Well, we're going to do cabbage,

so we are just going to take these stalks out of the middle,

and then we'll just put this on.

And we'll put a little bit more butter in there.

Oh! Not a lot.

Well, they say now butter is good for you.

Take these cabbage leaves...

We'll do it in two lots.

Roll them up as if you're making a cigar, but not on your thigh.

And here he goes.

Just shred it nice and finely.

You can get machines to do it these days, but...

With a man machine.

Yes, with a man machine. Get your man to do it.

So we sprinkle that in there.

The trouble with cabbage always used to be,

people took green cabbage and cooked it for too long,

so it became grey and horrible, do you remember?

Absolutely. That's why I disliked it so intensely.

Yes, I'm going to put a bit of water in there in a second

but it won't take long either, and it's very good for you

and I think cabbage is lovely when it's cooked,

a little bit stir-fry, like this.

So that goes...

Bit of salt. Yeah.

Bit of pepper. Yeah.

Just give it a bit of seasoning there,

and an extra little bit of magic here.

We've got some nutmeg.

Oh, my goodness.

Just put a bit in there to start with.

Oh, nutmeg.

I would never have thought of that.

And a drop of water.

So it sort of boils, steams and sautes in butter.

Look at the colour, that's what I like.

Yeah, yeah. And we're not going to cook it for very long.

Whilst that's happening, look, here's the trick,

now this is the thing. Gorgeous.

Just to make sure that it's actually...

It's all right, it's not sticking, that's what we like.

And if you're not sure, just quickly turn it over like that. Yeah.

Then... Look, and that's only the other side.

That goes on there.

That goes like that.

Conjuring with the dishes!

Butter pie. Oh, my gosh.

Now I'm going to serve you one portion on here. Yeah.

That's cabbage, that is, let's pop that in there.

Yeah, the nutmeg.

Lovely jubbly. Going to turn that off, it's ready already. Wow.

So, little trick here, I think,

and particularly now with rapeseed oil,

just sprinkle a bit on the top there.

With your finger, just give it a lovely shine.

Just makes it all look that little bit sweeter,

and what I'm going to do now, quickly,

I'm going to take a slice out of there. Yeah.

OK, so we're going to cut a slice.

That looks....

Look at the layers there, can you see that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Corned beef.

One tin.

We didn't waste anything, but that's northern for you!

Yeah, yeah. Do not waste.

So I'm going to do now...

Sometimes you can put this to drain but it's just a lovely colour,

it took us literally two minutes to produce that.

Very good for the family.

I love the way it's just browned around the edges, so cute as can be.

So there you are, dear lady, that is for you.

Butter pie and butter cabbage.

Butter pie and butter cabbage, it's a first.

A Lancashire Butter Pie wouldn't normally have any meat in it,

And I've switched the traditional pickled red cabbage

for buttered white cabbage with nutmeg,

as a less piquant mate on the plate.

Oh, I don't know where to start, and I need some crispy pie,

that's for sure. Yeah.

Wow, OK...

Mmm!

Mmm!

Wow!

Considering that is only potato, onion and corned beef,

I do think that tastes quite good.

Mm, it's good.

I think it's all the butter, but there is a sweetness to the pastry

that really kicks in when you eat it with the corned beef and the potato.

So overall, you've enjoyed the day?

Some parts of it were hard. Right.

You know, sometimes you go back in your memory and you go,

"I can't wait to remember all those great things!"

and then thoughts come of times that weren't so good.

But I've enjoyed it, and I've enjoyed the food.

And I've really enjoyed my day with you.

You are very sweet, thank you very much.

So here's to happy memories, one more time and there you go.

Yeah, come on, let's tuck in.

We are approaching one of the biggest decisions

this country will face in our lifetimes.

We need a change, we have to take a risk,

and I think it'll make it better.

No, leave things as they are, don't change anything,

it might make it worse. That's just scaremongering.

I'd hoped the debate might be more sensible.