Episode 4 Nigel and Adam's Farm Kitchen

Over half of the land in the UK is dedicated to producing food,

but what do we really know about what ends up on our plate?

I'm Nigel Slater - a cook - and I know my way around a kitchen.

And I'm Adam Henson - a farmer - so crops and animals are my expertise.

We're joining forces to get us all back in touch

with where our food really comes from.

Over the past three weeks, we've seen how our busy 24/7 lifestyles

mean we know less about the food we eat than any previous generation,

and are increasingly reliant on convenience foods.

It is a bit pale.

It is a bit. And a bit...floppy.

We've looked at the bounty each British season brings

to show that food has a natural cycle despite the British weather.

THUNDERCLAP

And we've explored the impact of international foods

on our weekly shop

and the spice and variety they've brought to our tables.

We've been looking at the top 50 fresh foods we all buy

week in week out, tracing them from farm to fork.

And in an attempt to get closer to the food we like to eat

we've sown, grown and cooked our own produce.

Tonight, we're going to look at how our shopping

reflects our British heritage.

Traditional foods that our grandparents enjoyed -

that are still in our weekly baskets.

But who eats them, and how we eat them, has changed.

We spend over three billion pounds every year

on fresh fish and shellfish,

but very few of us are still buying them from our local fishmonger.

Traditional crops like oats and root vegetables are now back in vogue,

along with that medieval favourite - cider.

Last year, we drank one and a half billion pints of it.

That is a delight!

-PIG GRUNTS

-We also look at pork.

It appears on our list of top 50 fresh foods

in at least five different guises

and we'll be looking at them all tonight.

We're rearing three little pigs to see why traditional breeds

have largely been pushed aside

by this modern, white, lean, mean pork-making machine.

Which we will use to make our very own British bangers.

WOMAN: Nigel's are a bit bigger.

Well...!

And we'll show how British pork

is now used to cater for our ever-evolving tastes.

What about a bit of chorizo?

-A bit of "choritho"!

-Oh, "choritho"!

THEY LAUGH

And as our time on the farm comes to an end,

we take our little piggies to market with all our other produce,

to sell in aid of Children In Need.

Hello!

-How are you? Nice to see you.

-Really lovely to see you.

But first, one of our oldest heritage crops -

oats.

We've been cultivating them for over 3,000 years.

Following a post-war dip,

porridge oats are back one of our traditional store-cupboard favourites.

Last year, we ate almost 1.6 billion bowls of porridge,

that's enough to fill 160 Olympic-size swimming pools!

Sales of porridge oats have gone up 47% over the last four years,

as we've become more health conscious.

They're high in fibre and low in fat, and relatively cheap.

I'm going to plant some oats,

so that I can challenge Nigel

to come up with some tasty exciting recipes,

because apart from porridge and biscuits,

when it comes to oats, like many other people,

I've got no idea what else to do with them.

If it all goes to plan,

by the end of the summer Nigel will get his oats,

and hopefully cook up something unexpected.

While the oats are laying down their roots,

our three little pigs are getting settled -

into their new home, and with each other.

They're here, Nigel! Come and have a look at our pigs!

Let's get the Glamrock in.

'We're rearing three different breeds.'

The ginger one is a Tamworth, which is the oldest breed in the UK.

The black and white is a Glamrock - Sarah and Simon's cross-breed,

a mixture of old and new.

And our white pig is a truly modern, commercial pig -

the sort most of our supermarket pork comes from.

So those are our three little pigs!

We'll feed them exactly the same food,

and see if there's any difference in the speed they grow

and the meat they produce.

Can't wait!

# This little piggy Went to market...#

PIGS GRUNT EXCITEDLY

# This little piggy stayed home... #

They seem to be getting on all right.

# This little piggy was A booglie-wooglie piggy

# And he did the Lindy All the way home... #

GRUNTING AND SNUFFLING

# Piggly wiggly piggy... #

Our pigs have only been here three weeks,

and there's already quite a difference.

-They've grown well.

-They've grown well!

-Who's putting on the most weight?

-Shall we give them some food?

If we can get in past them. Come on, piggy.

Now then, don't eat my shoes, eat a bit of this.

PIG GRUNTS

You can see the commercial pig here - it is lean and muscular.

So it's not putting on any fat, it's just putting on good meat, really.

Having a good old scratch!

Can I do that for you?

NIGEL LAUGHS

People don't want to pay for fat, Nigel.

I do. I'm happy to pay for fat.

I think it's a very, very important part of the meat.

But I know it's what a lot of people don't want.

But look at, look at her - she's more curvaceous!

-ADAM LAUGHS

-You like that one?

I like that one. I like that one much, much more.

You're not anti the ginger, are you?

THEY BOTH LAUGH

Certainly not!

We eat 24 million pigs a year, and we all have our favourite cuts.

Obviously, we buy bacon, that's recognised.

Pork chops, and medallions of pork.

Roast pork, stuffed pork fillet.

And then we'd use chops, or belly pork.

Bacon as well and sausages. We eat a lot pork, come to think of it!

Typically, a commercial pig produces over 30 different joints.

PIG GRUNTING

From the leg meat, the back legs here,

you've got lovely roasting joints

and then also, of course, from the shoulder.

And then, the hind legs can be made into ham and gammon, as well.

There's the belly, which is my favourite bit.

That can either be roasted or it can be bacon, and that's streaky.

You've got a nice bit of loin here, which makes back bacon.

You're going to get about 450 rashers.

And then, of course, you've got the spare ribs.

-Ah! The ribs!

-Stacks of sausages. How many sausages?

About 150 sausages from one pig.

There's, what - about 60 something kilos of meat, off this pig?

Yeah, 65 kilos, yeah.

So basically, almost my body weight!

-You're quite slim, aren't you!

-I am!

So who's eating what, and where?

PIGS GRUNTING

Pork chops are a favoured cut in the Midlands.

For the north-east, it's roast leg and shoulder.

Bacon and gammon are popular in Scotland,

while the south and east of England

prefer their pork in sausages.

And overall, Northern Ireland buy the most pork per household -

getting through the equivalent

of 100,000 pigs a year!

GRUNTING

The wonderful thing about pork is you can eat it

for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This is my take on a breakfast classic.

A Danish pastry, with a British filling.

Or, a modern take on the good old sausage roll.

It's quite difficult to find really tasty sausage meat,

but, it's very easy to find a good sausage.

So, find one that you like and just take the skins off,

and what you're left with is great sausage meat.

You know, I'll bake my own bread, make my own cakes,

but this is just great... Ready-made puff pastry.

They even roll it for you!

And the time you save doing this, gives you a few minutes to

make a sauce to go with them.

Just spread your sausage meat over the pastry.

And this recipe couldn't be easier!

It needs very little seasoning, but I love pork and fennel.

Just sprinkle about a teaspoon, a couple if you really like them,

over the sausage meat.

You could use your favourite herbs or a chopped onion.

And then all you do is roll it.

I'm using an egg wash to help hold it together.

Cut it into slices, place them on a baking tray,

but not too close together.

It's quick and simple.

So it's 200 degrees for about ten, 12 minutes.

While they cook, you've got plenty of time to knock up the sauce.

So, apple sauce.

Whenever I think of pork, I think of apples.

So in they go...

Some apple juice - just about half a glass.

And then my favourite spice...

..little green cardamom pods - five, six, seven...

Get a nice heavy weight...

..split them open...

..pop the little black seeds in with the apples,

then give these a little crush.

Just look at these.

A delicious, simple and cheap treat -

working out at around 40 pence each.

Fantastic. So what have you got here?

Ah-ha-ha...!

Now, these are sausage Danish pastries.

-Lovely!

-Thank you very much.

Cheers.

Aw, yum - loving them!

# In the summertime When the weather is hot

THUNDERCLAP # You can stretch right up And touch the sky

# When the weather's fine, you got

# Women, you got women On your mind... #

It's a typical British summer

and our oats are growing well out in the field.

Unlike most other grain crops,

oats grow best in cooler climates with plenty of rainfall.

That's why our main oat-growing areas are in the east of Scotland

and the Welsh borders.

Here, in the UK, we eat lots of oats, unlike our European cousins -

they mainly feed it to their livestock!

COW MOOS

I bet Nigel's never cooked anything with animal feed before!

Well, if Adam can grow it, then I can cook it.

In our vegetable garden the peas are ready for picking

and I want to use them in that traditional favourite meal -

fish and chips.

No fish dish is perfect without some fresh peas.

As an island nation,

fish has been part of our staple diet for hundreds of years -

from locally caught whitebait, eels, kippers and oysters,

to North Sea cod, haddock and Dover sole.

And we bought it all from the local fishmonger.

Today, fish appears on our fresh food shopping list three times -

fresh and smoked fish is at number 16, prepared at 32,

and shellfish at 34.

Cod, once the nation's favourite,

is now out-sold two to one by salmon.

Once a considered a luxury,

salmon is now farmed and has become cheaper and more plentiful.

Unlike previous generations,

we buy most of our fish pre-packed and filleted from supermarkets,

and much of it is imported.

But we are also buying it breaded and battered

making it barely recognisable, so many people, particularly children,

have no idea what the food they're eating naturally looks like.

Nigel wants some fish, but being a farmer,

I'm better on things with legs!

So I've come to a fishmonger for some advice.

-Malcolm, hi.

-Hello, good morning, Adam.

-Good to see you. This looks lovely.

-Thank you.

Malcolm, what should we look for then in a good fish?

Nice firm flesh, bright eyed, gills nice and pink...

If they're grey and gooey, then you know your fish is old.

Press it, and if there are thumb prints left in it,

it's beginning to decompose.

But anything like that eats beautifully filleted,

or on the bone.

What are the popular fish? What sort of things are we tending to eat?

Bass and salmon.

Anything that's not too exotic.

A favourite of mine is the gilt-head bream, there.

We've got a nice pollock in there this morning.

Pollock is an ugly fish, isn't it?

Do people get put off by the look of that beast?

By the name, I think.

It's a lovely fish. You'll get good quality...

Lots of meat off of that.

Pollock is similar to cod in flavour,

texture and nutritional value,

but is generally much cheaper and more sustainable.

Now, Nigel wants to cook up fish and chips,

so how about we use some pollock?

-Absolutely.

-See whether he can do something decent with that.

I'm sure he can. He's a talented man.

Barry, will you fillet that for the gentleman, please?

-No problem.

-Thank you.

The advantage of fishmongers is they are incredibly knowledgeable,

offer a huge variety of fish,

and will do all the filleting for you.

They'll advise on what to use for a particular recipe,

and most offer a cheap Catch of the Day.

It's a shame we've lost 90% of the high street fishmongers

over the past 70 years,

but we are seeing more and more of them now inside the supermarkets.

Well done. Another one done. There you go, Adam.

Thank you very much, gentlemen. That's wonderful.

Well, a lovely bit of fresh Scottish pollock -

I'm sure Nigel will be very happy with that.

I certainly am.

I believe the key to preserving our heritage foods

is reinventing them for modern tastes.

So I've got these lovely pieces of fish.

And I'm going to cook them in a very, very traditional meal -

good old fish and chips, but with a difference.

I make my batter a slightly unusual way.

I start with 110 grams of flour.

That's plain flour.

Because it's a very fine batter.

Now to make a batter really light and crisp,

sometimes people put mineral water in there,

and also there's a beer batter recipe that is very good.

But I'm going to use - perry.

It's like cider, but it's made with pears.

I think it's more refreshing

and that the flavour's a little bit brighter and cleaner.

It's got lots of fizz.

Now, I want 175 ml of this.

So that goes into the flour.

And then just a couple of tablespoons of a very light oil -

so something like sunflower or rapeseed,

and then I'm going to give it a really good whisk.

The perry really lightens the batter.

Now that needs a little bit of a rest.

Now, my chips.

My favourite chipping potato is the Maris Piper,

but any good big white potato will do.

I'm going to cook mine with the skin on.

I'm going to bring these up to the boil from cold water.

What you really achieve by boiling the potato first

is that you give it a really lovely floury texture inside.

Once par-boiled, spread them in a baking dish

and sprinkle them with rapeseed oil and seasoning.

No fish and chips is perfect without some mushy peas.

Now mushy peas are made with marrowfat peas.

I'm doing these with fresh garden peas,

and the reason is because I want a more vibrant flavour.

And, you know, I'm not going to boil these peas,

I'm going to cook them with a tiny bit of water, and then butter.

All they need is a couple of minutes,

and once they're drained, I add a modern twist on the traditional.

I've got a little bit of wasabi.

Now, this is the Japanese horseradish paste,

and it's got quite a bit of heat.

It's what you get with your sushi.

Just a bit of that in there.

My batter has now rested,

and I want to make it really fluffy and wonderfully crisp,

so I'm going to add a beaten egg white to the mix.

So I'm just going to scoop that into there...

Give it a quick stir.

So I'm going to take my piece of fish,

dip it into the batter,

and then into the hot oil.

What really happens when you're cooking fish in deep oil

is that the fish actually steams within the crisp batter.

The fish cooks very, very quickly.

And for that rustic feel,

I put them into flower pots - it really helps to keep them warm!

Fish and chips in perry batter with wasabi peas -

the new and the old in one delicious dish.

Listen, I know it's a bit daft, in a flower pot, but you'll see why.

Just so easy to hold.

-Thank you, they look great.

-Thanks, Sarah.

-Sam?

-Thank you.

-Shall we just dig in, then?

-No, dig in, dig in - absolutely!

Ooh - that's really light!

-You know, we should have fish and chips outside.

-Oh, right.

After a rainy start, summer's now here.

But Simon's already turned his thoughts to winter,

so he's mowing, rowing up and baling the grass.

This is to feed the animals during the winter months.

But it's not good news for our oats - they prefer lots of rain.

But I'm hoping they're hardy enough to cope

with the dry and very hot weather.

It's three months since our pigs arrived,

and they're now firm friends.

They've all been fed the same diet

and yet their weight gain varies between 40 and 52 kilos.

Hello, piggy!

Our heaviest pig now weighs in at 78 kilos -

that's over 12 stone in weight!

But what are all those kilos - meat or fat?

I'm going to scan them to see.

Nigel calls them Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner,

cos this one's bacon for breakfast - lovely old Tamworth.

# I got pig at home in the pen

# And the corn to feed him, Lord

# All I need is a pretty little girl To feed him when I'm gone... #

I like the ginger one best!

Let's get the scanner on her, then, and we'll see how we go.

So this is just a standard ultrasound scanner -

-the sort of thing that you'd use on a pregnant woman?

-Exactly.

The back fat on our commercial white pig is 7.2 mm deep.

So how does that compare with our traditional breed - the Tamworth?

Great skills, Matthew!

-Brilliant.

-There we go.

So, she's got 13.21 back fat -

so a lot more back fat. Almost twice as much!

Yeah. Massive difference.

Go on, then!

And our Glamrock - the mix of old breed and new

is in the middle with a depth of 9.25mm.

So you can understand why the commercial pig producers

want this kind of animal.

Exactly. That's the way it is, yeah.

-She's doing the best.

-That's it.

If we look at the same cut of meat from those breeds

you can see the difference.

The marbling, where fat is found throughout,

is hardly there in the white pig.

That's pretty meaty evidence of just

how our three pigs differ naturally.

SHEEP BLEATING

Being a farmer is sheer hard work,

and it's not just the animals and crops that need tending.

A working farm needs constant maintenance.

Chocolate brownie?

Chocolate is a favourite.

A whopping 94% of us bought it last year,

spending £3.7 billion on a very wide range.

We love our chocolate in this country.

We make three times as much as they do in Switzerland,

and we eat the equivalent of 178 bars each per year.

Now, we can't grow cocoa beans on our farm -

they need tropical conditions

and take three years to reach maturity.

But we've been importing and processing cocoa beans

since the 17th century.

Chocolate used to be an expensive, rare treat,

but over the decades, changes in chocolate production

have made it affordable for everyone.

Today, we buy 400 million kilos of chocolate each year -

that's the weight of over 2,000 jumbo jets!

And while most of us pick up the most popular brands,

it's the artisan end of the market that's expanding the fastest.

So what's the secret? How is it made?

First thing we need to do is roast the cocoa beans.

It's just a conventional...

-Baking oven.

-..baking oven.

-So I could do this myself at home?

-Yes, absolutely.

The roasted beans are then broken into small pieces

and the shells removed.

The pieces of bean, or nibs,

are gradually added to a granite grinder,

which turns them into a paste.

Hm... Maybe I won't be doing this at home!

It really turns to a paste quite quickly.

It's like peanut butter.

Each cocoa bean is about 50% cocoa butter

and 50% cocoa powder, effectively.

So as soon as you get any heat and a bit of pressure...

Then add some sugar and you've got chocolate.

Sales of flavoured chocolate bars

have gone up 24% just in the last year.

So I'm going to try my hand at the art of bespoke chocolate-making,

using two of my favourite flavours - coffee and, of course, cardamom.

If you do it quickly, you don't get so many pouring marks

-on the back of the mould.

-Oh, OK.

After a short time in the fridge to set,

the chocolate's ready, and then...the best moment!

Our bars!

-HE BREAKS CHOCOLATE BAR

-Nice snapping sound.

This is working for me.

-Mm.

-For you?

Yeah, delicious.

Chocolate made the old-fashioned way for modern tastes.

Look at that... Isn't that smart?! Thank you, Mr Duffy!

It's the height of summer

and everyone is out enjoying the sunshine.

But for Simon, the pressure is on.

Our oats are ready to harvest.

I love seeing my ingredients in the field.

I've got quite an array of recipes, savoury and sweet,

which I'm hoping will make Adam sit up and take a little bit of notice

of this brilliant grain.

Simon's nervous about letting me loose in his combine harvester again,

so he's doing the honours this time!

# You're going to find me

# Out in the country

# Come on and find me... #

Once the oats are harvested, Adam takes them to the mill.

# Where the air is good

# And the day is fine

# And a pretty girl

# Has her hand in mine

# And the silver stream Is a poor man's wine... #

Our 1.5 tonnes of oats may sound like a lot,

but this mill is used to processing 100 tonnes at a time -

so we've mixed ours in to make a much bigger batch.

There's 29 tonnes in this lorry.

James Lea is going to tell me what happens to the oats next.

He's asked me to meet him on the roof top,

and now I know why - it's so noisy in here!

It's a bit weird - there's no-one around, at all.

-Hi, James.

-Hiya.

-I was told you were up here.

Goodness me, I must have been up seven floors.

There's no people, just enclosed machines - what's going on in there?

The oats have made it all the way up to the top of the mill.

They go down slowly through all the floors, lots of machinery.

It's cleaning the oats - taking out the stones and the straw

and the other things from the field - the impurities.

We're then taking the shells off the oats.

Once we've got the shells off, they're ready for milling.

-And no people in there?

-There's one miller who's controlling the mill.

And he's always running around looking for the machines

and how they're running, but mostly, it's automatic.

Goodness me. Incredible system, isn't it?

Over the years, the mills, machines

and the number of workers who man them have changed,

but one thing has stayed the same...

We take the oats from the farms, we add nothing to them,

all we do to them is steam them in order to give them a partial cooking

and prevent them going off in your cupboard.

And then, we mill them out and they're packed.

Nothing added at all.

And oats are considered a superfood -

relatively high in protein,

helping to reduce cholesterol and the risk of heart disease.

It's really lovely to see them all packaged up.

Makes me quite proud.

We're producing two types of oat -

rolled oats, which have been chopped a bit before milling,

they make a lovely smooth porridge.

The jumbo oats are basically just the flattened oat,

much crunchier and great for biscuits and flapjacks.

We've even got our own label - Nigel And Adam's Jumbo Oats!

I told him we could grow them, we've made the grade,

and now they're in the packet.

Let's just see what he can do with them.

-HENS CLUCKING

-Morning.

Someone's been busy.

I've got rolled oats and I've got jumbo oats.

So, something sweet and something savoury.

First, I want to toast the oats for both recipes

in a good helping of butter.

So these are the jumbo ones. Big handfuls.

And then, I want some of these little chaps in, the rolled oats.

I'm getting the most lovely homely smell - it's warm and comforting.

I think they're done.

So I'm going to put those to one side.

My sweet recipe is going to include chocolate.

Lots of it! Lovely, plain, really quite dark chocolate.

I'm actually going to melt it in cream.

So I've got 150 ml over a very low heat...

..and then just snap the chocolate into the cream.

You can HEAR good chocolate...

it snaps crisply.

And while I leave that to gently melt,

I'll get on with the savoury stuffing recipe.

Soften a couple of onions, then add some pistachio nuts.

Just give those a minute or so with the onions.

I want to put some figs in here. Going to use fresh ones.

Don't worry about skinning them.

They don't need any cooking, not really.

I'm just going to warm them through.

I'm just going to put a few thyme leaves in.

It's that thing of what goes with what.

And figs will always love thyme - think of those Greek hillsides,

with the fig tree and the wild thyme growing.

You just know they work because they grow together and live together.

Got some great colours going on in there.

A really nice coarse sausage meat here.

Mix...the nuts and onions, figs

and thyme into the sausage meat.

And I've deliberately kept all the pieces quite large.

I want this to have a really crunchy texture, to be really quite big.

Can you imagine this with some roast pork?!

I mean, yes, this is an accompaniment,

but I'd be happy to eat this on its own.

So, in the oven. 200 degrees, for about 45 minutes.

While that cooks, I can get back to my sweet recipe.

Let's have a look at this chocolate.

Yes! You see.

The chocolate and the cream have melted together.

There's no lumps and I'm still not going to over-mix it.

I want some little nuggets of sweetness in here.

So, I'm adding a couple of handfuls of dried cranberries,

cherries and some crystallised ginger.

Just so you get those little bursts of sweet heat.

That chocolate smells divine.

And then, that just goes in the fridge to set.

-Adam?

-Yeah!

-Come and try this!

Have we got some scrumptiousness? So, is this sweet or savoury?

All right, this is...oat stuffing.

These are our oats.

-Oats that we grew just out in the field here.

-Yep.

-Brilliant.

-I'm loving it.

-And a few pistachio nuts, too.

-Oh, yeah!

Wonderful.

-Smells good, doesn't it?

-It does! Really good.

Mm!

-There's a whole heap of flavours going on in there, isn't there?

-Mm.

You never cease to amaze me, Mr Slater!

Ah, well.

ADAM CHUCKLES

-It's a bit weird - but can you cope with chocolate now?

-Yeah, I can.

There's our oats, toasted, chocolate and a few surprises.

Wonderful. Even Blue's come to say hello, now.

Wow!

You might get a little bit of crystallised ginger, as well.

Oh, that is just SO good!

-It's amazing what you can do with those oats, isn't it?

-I know.

I mean, you think porridge first of all, then flapjacks, then oatcakes.

But then, you realise that actually they're incredibly versatile.

Just keep eating, I say!

Mm.

On the farm, there are over a 1,000 animals that need looking after.

And today, I've drawn the short straw - mucking out the horses.

OK.

Can I just say Nigella doesn't do this!

Sarah and Simon have six horses on the farm

and they produce a fair amount of muck!

-How often do you do this, then?

-Twice a day.

When they're in.

-Even manure isn't wasted on this farm

--

this will be used as fertiliser for the fields and our veg patch, too.

Our three little pigs aren't so little any more.

So where are we now, with these?

Well, they've grown on really well, and they're looking magnificent

and the commercial pig is off to the slaughterhouse on Wednesday.

-Time to go.

-Yeah.

True to form, the commercial white pig is ready to go first,

a full month before the other two breeds.

As a farmer, the emotion of taking a pig to slaughter,

you know, you're reared it, you've seen it it's whole life -

there is always that human emotion.

You'd be incredibly soulless

if you didn't feel something for them going...

erm, but it is food, isn't it?

Oh, it's food. And I really can't wait,

to get the meat back and just to see how it cooks and how it tastes.

Erm...call me soulless!

The thing that's really interested me

is that three completely different breeds - very happy together.

You know, they've really got on.

Sometimes you'd come up in the evening and they'd be snuggling up asleep.

Time to go.

All right, see you later.

(Sort of!)

Obviously, the 24 million pigs we eat each year

can't all be hand-reared like this,

but welfare standards for pork production in the UK

are some of the highest in the world.

Which is really reassuring given we eat so much of it,

in all its various forms.

Two of our firm favourites,

have been eaten in the UK for generations.

Bangers are number 20 on our top fresh foods list.

Last year, we got through 185,000 tonnes of them -

enough sausage meat to go around the British coastline four times!

And we all love bacon!

It appears as rashers at number 11, joints at 28 and steaks at 37.

So, using the meat from our commercial white pig,

we're going to make them both with a modern spin -

starting with the good old British sausage.

What matters to you and me is not the skin, but what goes inside it.

EU rules about sausage content

have really improved in the last few years.

Before the changes, almost anything could go into your sausage -

intestines, lungs...

But now, only really nice meat,

the sort of thing you'd find on a butcher's slab,

can go into your sausage.

And expert sausage-maker Sarah is going to show me how it's done.

The meat we're using is shoulder and a little bit of belly meat,

from our white pig.

We mince it, then mix in the other ingredients -

rusk, herbs and seasoning.

That's got everything in there to make a perfect sausage.

Bangers vary hugely in flavour, value and variety.

If you want to know what goes into yours, look at the label.

The biggest retailer in the country, Tesco,

sell more sausages than anyone else.

So, at the top of their range, we've got one with 97% meat...

at £7 per kilo.

Then one at 72% meat.

The mid-range Butcher's Choice is £4 a kilo.

And then their Everyday Value range at just 50% meat.

The other 50% is mainly water, rusk and flour, preservatives

and some pork fat.

Clearly reflected in the cost at just £1.50 a kilo.

So when is a sausage not a sausage? When it's got less than 32% meat.

OR when it's a hot dog.

Some of the cheapest varieties of hot dog don't legally count as meat

as much of it is mechanically recovered chicken.

The reason I like the idea of making my own sausages

is that I know exactly what goes into them.

This is about 75% meat, a little bit of rusk and fat,

which you do need, and some seasoning.

Right, that's it.

Now, we need to get our sausage meat into the skins.

What you don't want in here is air bubbles,

so you want to get your meat in there, pack it down.

-As much as you can.

-OK.

So, it's a bit like a potter, throwing clay onto the wheel,

you want to throw it with conviction.

Oh, wow! OK. I can do that happily.

-What we need next are the skins...and stick it over the nozzle.

-Yeah.

-Shall we turn the speed down?

-Let's turn the speed down.

-You've got a complete sausage virgin, here! So, not too fast.

-OK.

Oh! Right. Now you need to help it.

-Right...

-You'll get the feel of it -

just let the skin go with the sausage as it comes out,

and we'll just make a big pile here. So, just keep going.

-Oh!

-Oh. Bit of a split.

-Hate it when that happens!

-We've all been there!

SARAH CHUCKLES

-Right, OK?

-OK.

Now show me how to link.

# Come on, let's twist again

# Like we did last summer

# Yeah, let's twist again

# Like we did last year

# Do you remember when... #

Let go.

# Things were really hummin'

# Yeah, let's twist again

# Twistin' time is here - bop! bop! #

I'm feeling slightly proud, Sarah.

Well, Nigel's happy with his British bangers,

but I'm trying something different.

Continental cured meats like salami, pancetta and chorizo

wouldn't have been in our grandparent's shopping basket,

but today, they appear at numbers 36 and 41 on our shopping list.

-Hi, Pete!

-Ah, Adam.

Surprisingly, we're even producing them here in the UK,

so I've brought some meat from our commercial white pig

to give it a go.

That looks beautiful meat, doesn't it?

So if I can help you make some pancetta and some chorizo...?

I'm sure I'll find something for you to do, Adam.

-ADAM LAUGHS

-Great!

Then every so often, put a lump of fat in there, as well.

Peter usually uses a pig breed that's more fatty

than our commercial white.

Why do you need the fat?

If you don't have the fat, it tends to dry and be really tough,

whereas if you have the fat, it keeps it nice and soft.

-Good fun, isn't it?

-Great.

-That's a big pile of meat.

-It is.

That's about half.

Just give these spices a bit of a stir.

The magic ingredient in chorizo is paprika,

which is ground up red peppers.

So it gives it a lovely colour.

This recipe also includes oregano, garlic, fresh ginger

and a secret ingredient.

It's a bit like kneading bread - so get into the middle...

It's great, isn't it?!

The smell is just...lifting from the tray!

It's just wonderful!

You see, as farmers, we never get to follow the product right through,

and come across exciting things like this.

I've eaten plenty of chorizo and those sorts of things,

but never seen it being made before!

-Well, there you go. Now you know.

-A real treat!

I think that's probably done now, time to load up the sausage machine.

-The skill of this is getting them all about the same size.

-Hm.

So this is our very first chorizo sausage.

-Made from our lovely little white commercial pig.

-Yeah...

-Bless her.

They'll need to be cured,

but first we need to prepare our pork bellies to make pancetta.

-Give that a little bit of a mix up.

-OK.

In here, Peter's included ground pepper, juniper berries,

nutmeg and, most importantly, smoked salt.

The salt will dry out the meat, and prevent any bacteria from growing.

-Then just rub it in?

-Just rub it in.

People have been curing meats for thousands of years, haven't they?

They have, yeah. It was a very good way of preserving food.

Our pancetta will be left in a fridge for a week

to absorb the flavours.

Then it will be hung here, in the curing room for about two weeks.

-I see, yeah.

-You can see what happens to them.

They look great, don't they? And you've got the chorizos here, too!

-Yeah, that's some chorizo there that's actually ready.

-Lovely!

It's getting near the end of our farming year,

and there's not much left to harvest.

Since we started in March,

we've grown tonnes of oats and spring wheat.

We've even managed to grow durum wheat, a rare feat in this country.

And we're really proud we made it into our pasta.

Our bountiful veg patch has produced potatoes, beans, carrots and peas,

some courgettes, pumpkins and much much more.

We've brought strawberries back from the dead,

and shown how tomatoes left out in the weather may look rough,

but taste the best.

(Yes!)

We've reared some tasty animals...

-COW MOOS

-..and we've tried our hand

at oriental farming in the Cotswolds -

resulting in failure AND success.

All the produce that we've NOT cooked and eaten,

and there's a fair amount of it,

will be sold with the proceeds going to Children In Need.

Now, we've only the apples left to harvest.

Last year, we spent more than £850 million on apples -

more than any other fruit.

Not exactly perfect apple-picking weather -

but autumn's here, and we've got to get on with it.

Apples have been grown in Britain for thousands of years,

and cider is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks made in the UK.

It nearly died out in the 1960s,

but today, cider-making is big business again.

So cider production uses over 17,000 acres of apple orchards -

that's about 30,000 football pitches!

In the 14th century, cider wasn't just drunk,

it was used to baptise children

as it was thought to be cleaner than water.

Hey! Not bad, eh?

I reckon you've done this before!

Farm labourers even used to get paid partly in pints of cider.

And that happened right up until the 1950s.

So here's hoping!

Like in the olden days, our apples won't have to travel very far.

The cider will be made with the help of Mike Pearson.

-So your cider really is local, isn't it?

-Yeah.

We're getting it from here.

There's a fair few trees here, we can make a reasonable quantity.

Can't get more local - the barn's half a mile over there.

Knowing who's giving you your apples, where they've come from,

where they're grown... And I think that's what'll give it

its own specific flavours and characteristics.

We're off to Mike's barn to press them.

MIKE: Tip them in.

After a good wash, and a final quality control,

we can chop the apples.

The apple puree is wrapped in cheesecloth.

Simon and Sarah's three trees have produced 450 kilos of apples -

enough to make 45 cheeses.

-And then turn that?

-Turn that on and that'll release the hydraulic ram.

Although we're using modern equipment,

the method is very traditional -

making cider just as it has been done for hundreds of years.

That's about 50 tonnes of pressure, so you can now turn it off.

We'll end up with about 300 litres, or 530 pints,

of proper farmhouse cider.

But it'll take about six months, and I can't wait that long!

Thankfully, Mike still has some of last year's batch.

-Look at that colour.

-Lovely, isn't it?

-Amber! Beautiful.

Here's to our cider!

Oh, it's lovely.

That is a delight! Isn't it?

Fingers crossed, ours is just as good!

Farming is obviously a never-ending cycle,

and as winter draws in, the farm is still hard at work,

with tractors rolling the ground to create a seed bed

to plant wheat for next year's harvest.

Sarah and Nigel prepare the veg patch with manure from the horses.

And the rams are let loose, and need no encouragement

to produce next year's lambs.

This is known as tupping in the farming world.

# Birds do it

# Bees do it #

So there's just THREE rams for how many ewes?

About 150 ewes.

-It's a hard life.

-Yeah. It's why they've got massive...

THEY BLEAT

RAUCOUS LAUGHTER

The rams in this field will sire around 260 lambs between them.

And over in the pig pen,

our rare breed pigs are now fully grown

and we all know what that means.

The Glamrock is a whopping 130 kilos - that's over 20 stone.

What a porker!

So this is goodbye.

This fabulous...fabulous animal is ready.

Ready to go.

Look at all that meat - just tremendous.

The size of those hams!

But for the ginger Tamworth, it's a different story.

I've decided, because she is just SO lovely,

she'll make a wonderful breeding sow.

So I am going to take her back to my farm, and let her have piglets

-on the farm with me.

-You big softie!

-I know.

But she is lovely, isn't she?

I could tell right from the word go with you two! I knew.

Us gingers, we like to stick together. Look...!

She's gorgeous, isn't she?

I can't believe you've nicked my bacon sandwich!

THEY LAUGH

Well, it's all down to the Glamrock now.

Where we'll get everything - any hams, any bacon...

our roasting joints, all that belly, there's a lot going on there!

Sausage meat, everything.

All that meat will be sold in aid of Children In Need,

and not forgetting my money for the Tamworth.

So, after eight months of growing crops, rearing animals

and getting used to this farming lark...

-Come on! Come on!

-THEY LAUGH

..we've got a stall-load of produce to sell to the public.

Following various recent food scandals,

customers are now wanting to know more about where their food comes from.

Traceability is now really important.

Unsurprisingly, farmers markets are springing up in our cities

as well as the more traditional rural areas.

It seems better quality, and it's nice to know where it came from.

So it instantly tastes better!

Yeah, you get the best produce on your own doorstep.

With market sales worth £250 million,

we're seeing a return to selling food grown locally and sold locally.

And you can even see this happening in supermarkets -

as they change store layouts to look like markets,

bringing in more butchers, bakers and fishmongers

and, most importantly, using labels to tell us exactly

where our food comes from.

The vegetables taste different.

Everything has a slightly different taste.

I like the idea that you know where it's come from.

We had some magnificent sausages this morning, so that was great.

Yeah, local.

We're setting up our own stall at a local market to sell our produce.

The two pigs have been made into bellies, sausages and bacon,

and more unusual things like chorizo, pancetta and scratchings.

We've also got our oats and pasta and wheat flour.

-CHURCH BELLS RING

-Eight bells.

Time to get going.

I hope this Chippy lot have got a lot of money - we've a lot to sell!

This was made by my own fair hands.

-You put some sweet sherry in!

-Yeah, a little secret ingredient.

Except it's not secret now - I had to put it on the label!

These are our Glamrock scratchings, made from our own pigs.

-I'm making a right mishmash of this!

-Need help?

-Sarah! Quick, yes!

Thank goodness you're here!

The irresistible smell of sausages and bacon should pull in shoppers.

That's £3.50, please. Thank you.

Would you like a big industrial bag? The more you buy, the cheaper it is.

Well, why not?

I made that sausage. Good, though.

Delicious.

-Do you like them rolled or jumbo?

-Rolled.

-Rolled.

Try a bit of pork scratching?

-Er...

-Porridge?

We've got it all! Sausages? Slice it, dice it, fry it, bake it.

They're looking busy. I think the stall's in good hands.

I'm going back to the farm to cook up something special

for the end of the day.

-Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy those.

-Lovely!

-Another customer.

-Can I get ten packs of pasta flour, please?

-Goodness me, you must like pasta!

-No, my dad's Italian, so...

-Is he? Well, I hope he enjoys it. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Right, sir. That's £15, please.

-How about £30?

-Have two bags!

No, no, still want one bag.

Oh, really! Well, that's VERY kind of you.

-Thank you very, very much indeed.

-You're welcome.

The local shoppers, businesses and schools are coming out in force

to buy our produce and support Children In Need.

Thank you very much.

We do a Let's Get Cooking Club

where we bring pupils in that don't usually cook at home.

We run catering there, as well,

so it'll get used in a lot of different ways.

That sounds amazing!

We're being run off our feet. And it's only halfway through the day!

I have the perfect recipe for when they get back -

something warm and hearty, traditional and yet new...

And the inspiration for this dish is the Lancashire Hot Pot.

What I want to do is get all the flavours of the farm...

into one dish - so I've got pork,

I've got some apples...

This is all the stuff from our little farm.

A good old sizzle going on.

This is our Glamrock pig.

This is lovely meat to cook with -

it's got just the right balance of lean and fat.

And the trick with browning any meat is "leave it alone".

You want the sugars in the meat to caramelise,

and if you continually move it around the pan,

they don't get a chance. So, leave it alone.

That gives me time to prepare some seasoning

with a couple of handfuls of peppercorns, rock salt

and some juniper berries to give it a little kick.

All roughly crushed.

So, you want this to be a really coarse powder...kind of like that.

I'm mixing it into some flour, then adding the pork.

All these little bits that stick to the pan, they're going in as well -

because there's masses of flavour there.

What this will do, is to just coat the outside of the pork

and when it goes back in, it'll make a really luscious sauce.

Soften four medium onions in the same pan,

before putting the meat back in.

This is going to be SO good!

I've got some stock here.

I've just got a good quality vegetable powder stock -

I've taken the bones from the pork, and cooked them in the stock.

It just saves so much messing around.

You get a lovely meaty stock for very little work.

So, to the topping.

I've got my turnips sliced.

And I want something to go with them that's a little bit sweet

and works very well with pork - I've got some apples.

Now, on the meat, just lay alternate slices of apple and turnip.

I'm calling this Gloucestershire Hot Pot - in honour of where we are.

And the fact that all this food comes from the landscape -

these are apples from the orchard, the pig from the sty over there,

these lovely little turnips, it all belongs here.

So all that needs now

is a little bit of butter.

Just a little bit here and there.

A little bit of salt and pepper.

This is one of those very good-natured dishes

that can sit in the oven, covered in foil, at about 160,

just quietly getting on with it, while you get on with other things.

To drum up more business,

I thought we'd go round and give a few tasters.

Lovely.

It's delicious.

It's working. The guy over there tried a sausage round the corner,

and now he's at the stand buying.

-They were made by Nigel Slater and Adam Henson's own fair hands.

-Oh!

That's why there are some different shapes and sizes!

Mr Cameron, sir!

-Hello!

-It's busy in Chipping today!

-How are you? Nice to see you.

-Really lovely to see you.

I'm going to have some of the pork sausages. The plain.

-And I might have some of your rolled oats - the jumbo.

-Jumbos?

-It's porridge time now.

-It is.

So my children are telling me.

-It is.

-Right, how much is that?

-That's £5, sir.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Ah, the workers return.

They must be ravenous.

-Oh, look at this! Hi, Nigel.

-Hello.

Wow, this looks lovely! Look at this, kids!

So...look at this one then.

What have you got there?

That's...our Glamrock.

-Really?

-Yep.

-What's left of her.

-THEY LAUGH

-Aw, poor old Glamrock.

So, come on then, how much did we make?

In the region of £1,500.

-What...?!

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-Oh... So pleased.

But, Nigel, these two and the kids, they're just on it.

They're just brilliant sales people.

So, how much do you reckon we'll make when all the money's in?

Well, the orders are still piling in,

it's difficult to know but it's going to be substantial.

-It is good, isn't it?

-It's great! Cheers.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

Here's to the successful market. And cheers!

-Ah, thanks very much for having us, as well.

-You're welcome!

The biggest buzz for me was the durum wheat, really.

Cos that, I just thought, well, you know, a big ask here.

But, actually, when it was combined

-and then you came back with it in the packets...

-Mm.

And then when you made us that lasagne, that was just fantastic.

But I have to say spending time in the kitchen with you, Nigel,

because I'm not a cook, I've learnt so much that is easy to do.

And then is just so rewarding at the end of the day.

And, actually, you know, I've started doing more cooking at home already.

I'm glad to hear that. Very glad to hear that.

It's so easy to go and buy food that I actually only know

what's there in front of me and what I'm reading on the packet

and this, the opportunity of being here, and joining all those dots -

right from my plate, my kitchen, right the way through

literally to the seed, to the soil...

It's been a great opportunity actually.

Good, I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

So are you going to miss Nigel and I,

or are you going to be pleased to see us gone? Out of your hair?

-I don't know!

-Eh?

-It's been fun.

You're supposed to say, "We're going to miss you!"

-OK, we're going to miss you.

-That's it! Very good.

THEY ALL LAUGH

And we're really going to miss YOU and your WONDERFUL farm.

-Thank you.

-Hear, hear.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd