Episode 10 Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

They say every pie and pud tells a story and, today, I'll prove it.

I'm on the trail of a long-lost recipe, uncovering an international cheese war

and telling you all about me and my six years spent baking in Cyprus.

Hello and welcome to Pies And Puds which is all about my affection for straightforward, honest food

that is easy to cook, but delicious to eat.

Here's what's coming up on the show today.

'I uncover a forgotten part of Britain's baking past,

'a tart that was born of both our seafaring heritage and the exotic flavours it carried to our shores.'

-The Cumberland Rum Nicky is alleged to have come from here.

-Alleged?!

Of course it came from here. Where else is it going to come from?

'Made to make your mouth water.

'I make tasty snacks with a controversial Yorkshire cheese

'that caused a continental bust-up.'

'I'll be revisiting my days when I lived in Cyprus with my friend, Cypriot chef Tonia Buxton.'

-So I've got the yeast as well going in there.

-Maya.

-Maya's lovely because it sounds like "magic".

-It does.

'And I unite the tastes of Cyprus and Britain in this beautiful pork pie.'

-That must look amazing when you cut through it.

-Let's hope so. Let's not build it up, shall we?

'My guests get together to enjoy all these great treats.'

-That's delicious.

-Thank you.

-Really, really good.

'And if you want to try them, all my recipes are on the BBC website.'

I love exploring Britain's food history and recreating long-lost dishes,

so when I heard about an old recipe that preserves our maritime heritage I was straight on the case.

It's said that families

of the returning sailors

made a dish from the contents of their ships.

The fantastic Cumberland Rum Nicky.

Packed with dates, apricots and rum it's rarely baked today but I

want to have a go so to get to the bottom of the story

I went to the local library to find out more.

Now, this is in 1861.

They're bringing in sugar - tick.

They're bringing in rum, obviously, because these guys are rum traders,

but they're also bringing in preserves.

That's the killer blow for me.

That would have been your apricots, your dates.

The family would have had the flour.

They're all the key ingredients for making a Rum Nicky.

'So the 18th century merchants to the Caribbean were importing the rum and fruits needed

'for the Cumberland Rum Nicky,

'but they must have been exotic and expensive.

'Jefferson's were one of the main shipping companies at the time

'and their original offices are still here in Whitehaven, preserved as a museum.

'The museum manager is Phil Haslehurst.'

This is the heart of the Jefferson's empire. From here, they ran a worldwide business.

Can I ask you if they had two key things? They're important.

One of them is dates and the other one is apricots.

Well, certainly dates because without dates,

you couldn't have some of the dishes that are so known with Cumbria today.

-The Cumberland Rum Nicky is alleged to have come from here.

-Alleged?!

Of course it came from here. Where else will it come from?

This was the premier harbour. This was the M1 to the destination.

This was a nexus that meant that Cumberland Rum Nicky basically had to be made here.

There was nowhere else on the planet it could have been made.

OK, so the rum and the dried fruits were arriving here. That's for sure.

But how did they get into the hands of the locals?

This was treasured cargo.

those rum merchants would never have given it away.

Back in the museum's basement the cargo store survives.

But those bars look pretty strong to me.

I can't see them taking it from here. It's too difficult.

Once it comes into here, it's Fort Knox.

It's been signed in. It has to be signed out by the taxman.

It had to be purloined on the ship or in transit to here.

So, basically, it was nicked from the ship coming up to here.

Someone's probably been paid off. "I've just dropped one off there." For his buddy.

It dropped off the back of a dray.

So it's a Cumberland Rum Nicky because it was nicked.

What a brilliant story. The locals must be dead proud.'

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Cumberland Rum Nicky, do you know what it is?

-Cumberland Rum...?

-Nicky.

-Have you heard of a Cumberland Rum Nicky?

-Never.

-Have you ever heard of one?

-No.

'To be honest, it probably is too far back in time

'to really say for certain exactly how a tart like this was created,

'but I don't care if it's a myth or not.'

It's a great story. It's a tart that's been made using the contents of an 18th century ship

to celebrate the return of the sailors that have been away at sea.

I am looking forward to making one.

-I had an exhausting day up in Whitehaven. It's good to see you, Phil. Are you all right?

-I am.

I'm glad you've brought some rum.

We didn't think we'd had enough last time.

There's a glass. I'll have a little bit.

-Just the honest...

-Yeah, an honest drop.

What I'm going to show you is the dish that we've been trying to find out about in Whitehaven.

It's the Cumberland Rum Nicky.

For all you people in Whitehaven that I spoke to and I asked you, "What's a Cumberland Rum Nicky,"

I'm about to show you. You need to rejuvenate this in your area.

Now, to start with, I've got some butter which I'm going to put straight into the bowl.

And then soften it up a little bit.

While Phil makes himself useful chopping the dates I

get the filling started with dark muscovado sugar and butter.

'I'm a decent baker and rather than nick my preserved fruit off a ship, I bought it from a shop,

'but these chopped apricots and this crystallised ginger are pretty much

'what the tall ships brought to Whitehaven.'

-How are you getting on? Oh, you beauty!

-A few more than that?

Um... Oh!

That's potent, that. That's grand, that is.

OK, we'll just throw that in there as well.

Then you mix all these ingredients together.

I'm going to get my hands in there.

I'm using a simple shortcrust pastry that I made in advance.

What's left over from the base is perfect for the lid.

The filling is going to go in now as well,

so we take a big scoopful of that...

At this stage, because the ingredients are not particularly wet,

you'll get away with...without getting too much of a soggy bottom.

'The bit of pastry you saved will become the lid, but this will be no ordinary pie lid.'

Now, what I'm doing here is just cutting strips off

which is going to form the lattice work on the top.

The best way to do it, I feel, is if you get some paper...

Start placing your strips on there...

'..and continue by alternating between horizontal and vertical until you've got a woven effect.

Once you've done that, you end up with a basic latticework.

If you put a bit of pressure down the outside

to try and seal it together,

then what you want to try and do is basically... This is the tricky bit.

Flip it on to the top of the pie.

So you grab it, flip it over...

That deserves a round of applause.

Then you neaten it all off, so you take a bit of time, just straighten it all off,

then pinch all round the edge where it overlaps, just to force it down.

Again you trim it round the outside.

So you go from that, which you bake in an oven for about 25 minutes at 200 degrees C,

and you end up with...this.

There you have your Cumberland Rum Nicky.

'I'm not sure how they served it in the 19th century,

'but I'd suggest you serve it warmed with some rum butter on the side.'

Whitehaven, I hope you're watching.

-I'm looking forward to that.

-Phil, you'll have to wait a little bit longer to try it.

I lived in Cyprus for over six years, but there was one dish I never learned how to bake.

That is a flaouna, so I've invited my friend Tonia Buxton along to show me how to do it.

-Welcome, Tonia.

-Hi, Paul.

Now, you've got a full array of Cypriot delights here.

I thought you might miss Cyprus,

so I cooked you some things you'd have eaten there.

Absolutely.

'Tonia makes amazing Cypriot food.'

-Have a look at that.

-'It's a passion that we share through our association with the island.

'Together, we're going to make a traditional Cypriot pie we both love.'

You're going to bake one of my favourite Easter delights and it's the flaouna

which every village in Cyprus apparently makes the best in the world.

'Flaounas are filled pastry parcels that are salty or sweet, depending on what village they're made in.

'I can't think of anything similar in British baking.'

-Would you like to take over?

-OK.

-If you need me to do anything, just shout.

-I do. You're my baker.

You're going to make the dough.

A flaouna dough uses Cypriot village flour with lots of flavour added.

Ground cherry pips, mastika, cinnamon, yoghurt and milk.

-I'm going to make the filling.

-OK.

-I've chopped some fresh mint.

-Yeah.

Everything just gets put in the bowls.

In Cypriot cooking, we don't measure anything. Everything is done by a glass or a cup.

As long as you use the same glass or cup throughout, it works out fine.

-It saves on the washing as well.

-It really does.

I've got a cup of Cheddar cheese which is how we English Cypriots make it now because we can't always get...

-You're called BBCs.

-I'm BBC, British-born Cypriot.

-Isn't that cool? BBC.

-I quite like that.

'After the Cheddar, Tonia adds a classic Cypriot cheese - grated halloumi.

'Raisins will add some sweetness, then a cup of semolina and flour.'

And then it's the spices.

'Tonia is using mastika again

'and another popular Cypriot flavour - mahlepi, ground cherry kernels.'

-So I've got the yeast as well that's going in there.

-Maya.

-Maya's lovely because it sounds like "magic".

-It does.

-That's all of that done. I've got a lot of eggs to go in here.

Bear in mind that these flaounas are eaten after everyone's been fasting for 40 days, a vegan fast...

-Are you doing this for me?

-No. I'm just standing up to give this dough a bit of a wallop.

-OK.

I thought it was too much to ask for! I'll put about five eggs in there.

It's a very rich flaouna, a very rich pie.

I'll just beat these up really well.

Then a bit of milk to bind it all.

OK. What do you think of my dough?

-It's all right.

-OK.

SHE LAUGHS

So I'm going to pour that into here, then I'm going to just give it a really good mix,

but I think the best way is to put my hands in and get really messy. That's the way it mixes best.

Mix that really well. You have to get your hands in there and really bind it well together.

-You need some milk in there?

-A tiny bit just to make it a bit more...

Perfect, thank you. That's it.

I'd like you to roll out the dough.

'Roll out the dough fairly thinly, but not so thin it won't hold the filling,

'then cut out circles. Tonia's little bowl is perfect as a guide.'

Now I'm going to take them and press them into the dampened sesame seeds,

then to that, you're going to add a tablespoon of the flaouna mixture, just like that.

Yeah.

You can do triangles, but my family always did squares.

Yeah, it was always squares.

Then I'll just put a little egg wash on top here.

You want this lovely, glossy egg wash on the top. That's why I've put sesame seeds in the egg as well.

That gets on to the filling and you leave a little hole at the top there,

so it can swell and open up, otherwise the pastry will crack.

-It looks great.

-Et voila!

-Fantastic. They're going to go into the oven now.

-You've got some over here.

-I have.

Now, these look fantastic.

That is what I remember as a flaouna.

You can see the sesame seed all the way around.

You can see the filling begin to pull that apart slightly.

They smell so good. They smell of that mastika.

-They're not the most beautiful pies.

-They are.

-You make much prettier things.

-No.

This is proper, rustic Cypriot baking.

Rustic or not I love these.

But before I share them with my guests at the end of the show

I've got a tale of international cheese wars to tell you.

These cheesy parcels may look Mediterranean

but their main ingredients can be found a lot closer to home.

In Yorkshire.

When it comes to cheese, I've always associated Yorkshire with the likes of Wensleydale,

but there's a lady who has made it her mission to bring a southern European cheese to the Dales,

though it hasn't been an easy journey.

Judy Bell began making her home-made sheep's milk feta almost 30 years ago.

It was her own allergy to cow's milk that inspired her.

I started Shepherds Purse because I realised there were a lot of people

who were intolerant to bovine products, cow's milk products.

I decided to investigate and came home and said to my husband, "Shall we milk sheep and make cheese?"

As you do, Judy.

Experimentation began in her own farmhouse kitchen

and soon created a white, crumbly, Greek-style feta cheese.

So we made Yorkshire feta and we salted it not quite so heavily as Greek feta.

In 1993, things really took off with a prestigious award at the Great Yorkshire Show.

Her business and her feta were going from strength to strength, but that was all about to change.

A letter dropped on our desk from Defra,

telling us that we would not be able to make feta any longer. It was a great surprise.

It turned out that Greece wanted its feta to have a Protected Designation of Origin,

meaning only feta from Greece could use the name and so a battle commenced.

But eventually, we actually had to stop branding it as "Yorkshire feta".

Despite having created a highly respected and popular cheese,

Judy and her family were no longer allowed to sell it. Their Yorkshire feta needed a new name.

We got lots of support from the general public, lots and lots of letters suggesting...

But everything that we sent to Defra, they rejected,

until we eventually came up with Fine Fettle Yorkshire Cheese.

But would a feta cheese not called "feta" really catch on?

Look at that - finished product!

Despite her long international battle, Judy is pretty upbeat about the future.

Fine Fettle to us Yorkshire folk means that we've fixed it,

so Yorkshire Fettle is here to stay.

We are going from strength to strength.

I reckon Judy's cheese will bring a Yorkshire twist to my Cypriot dish.

I'm delighted that Judy has travelled down from Yorkshire and has brought some Fettle cheese

which will make a wonderful addition to my spinach and pine nut parcels.

-Welcome, Judy.

-Hi there.

-What a fascinating story that is about the Fettle!

I started the business making sheep's milk cheeses.

I thought everybody will know this is a sheep's milk cheese, so I'll call it Yorkshire feta.

-I like the idea of the wax.

-The wax keeps it nice and fresh.

Great in sauces.

-Hmm!

-There is nothing better than a 100% sheep's milk feta.

Now, this dish is going to be a spinach and pine nut parcel.

I'm going to use this Fettle inside it which will work extremely well.

Would you like me to crumble it?

Do you know what? Yes. I'm going to get you a little plate. Hang on.

There you go, Judy.

If you could break down that Fettle for me, that would be fantastic.

'This recipe is based on a Middle Eastern speciality

'called a fatayer which I've eaten before.

'Rather than using pastry,

'the filling is wrapped in a soft bread dough. It might seem unusual for a pie over here,

'but in the Med, it's how they've been making them for centuries.'

To make the dough I'm mixing strong flour and a little salt.

And adding in dried yeast.

We need to divide this up. We're going to make some parcels with it.

First of all, that'll be enough for one.

Two.

The balls are roughly about 100g each, maybe a little bit more.

There you go.

Now in a pan, I'm just going to put this heat on at the moment.

What I'll use as the base is spinach. I'm using frozen spinach.

You might be surprised to see me using frozen spinach, but it's quite easy to use

and if you get a good quality one, it's less watery than fresh stuff.

You evaporate off the liquid and this will turn into a beautiful mush,

not too dissimilar to this.

Into this bowl, I'm going to add some pine nuts. I've toasted these.

Pop that in there as well.

-Obviously, you've crumbled down some beautiful Fettle.

-Yes.

And this is going to go inside there as well.

I'll add a little bit of mint.

And basically fold all these ingredients together.

This is the key ingredients in the parcels.

Now a little bit of flour on the bench.

Get my...

I have to have at least one. It's like a lucky spin.

Roll out the pieces of dough. You want to make it to a rough circle.

-There you go. And all you do is grab...

-That smells delicious.

-It is gorgeous.

I don't really want my parcels to look like a Cornish pasty, so I have another plan.

This is the funny bit. Flatten it down. I want these quite triangular, so you shape it with your hands.

Shape the filling into a rough triangle. Like so.

And then you grab the sides and pinch that down,

like so, to seal it. You bring up the base here,

lift it up, pinch that down that side

and again the other side. Pinch it all the way down again.

So what you end up with is almost a triangle pastry, like so.

Bake them at 220 for 15 minutes and they should look like this.

-You have spinach...

-Amazing.

-..pine nut, Fettle parcels.

These are proper little hand-sized pies. Leave them to cool for a bit

and they'll be perfect to take on a family picnic.

Earlier, Tonia Buxton showed me how to make flaounas - tasty, traditional Mediterranean snacks.

Now it's my turn to do a slightly British thing. Now this is a raised pork and egg pie,

-but I'd like you to add a Cypriot twist to it.

-I have a few ideas for that.

-OK.

I'm quite proud of this pie. Done right, it has a magic egg running all the way through.

The sausage meat flavour is simple and British. Well, it is unless you've invited your Cypriot friend.

-Tonia, I'm going to ask you to do a few Cypriot twists.

-I've brought you some loukanika,

which are Cypriot chorizo, really.

OK, if you can chop them up and add them to the sausage meat and onion,

-also coriander - yes, please! And coriander seeds.

-Yeah.

A little bit of that ground down and in there. If you throw that together, that's the pie filling.

Now this is a hot water crust pastry. In here I've got my flour

to which I'm going to add some salt.

And some butter.

Now the butter needs to go in and I'm going to crumb this down, break it into the flour now.

While I'm breaking this in, over in this pan I've got some water and a good lump of lard.

I've heated that water up. All the lard's melted. That's really, really hot.

The melted lard will soak right into the flour and make a good, strong pastry.

I'm going to add one egg for richness

and then quickly use the hot, lardy liquid to bring it all together.

-Feel this, Tonia. It's lovely.

-That's hot.

-It's lovely.

-See?

Now the pastry is about right.

I'm going to cut a little bit off for the lid.

That'll probably be enough.

I've got my rolling pin here.

And you begin to roll it out to line that tin.

-How are you getting on?

-I'm done.

It's the quickest I've seen you work.

Pop your tin on there.

What you need to do is be careful. Lift up the pastry.

Just dollop it in.

Try and build it all up.

It's quite tricky to work this dough sometimes.

But what I'm going to do is just take a knife and trim

just a little bit of excess round the outside. That is now ready.

-If I can take your...

-There you go.

-Beautiful.

I'm going to start by layering the bottom with this beautiful heavy mix

of sausage meat, right the way down. Pack it right into the corners.

Perfect.

Now I'm going to make a little ridge right down the middle.

Make a little ridge and then you get your eggs.

-That must look amazing when you cut through it.

-Let's hope so! Let's not build it up!

Now how do I get that magic egg that runs right through the middle of the pie on every slice?

It's easy, really. Top and tail some hard-boiled eggs and line them down the middle.

Then you get the rest of the meat

and then you pack it around the eggs that you've put in there.

So again this seals the whole thing in.

This is where you get your hands dirty. Don't be scared.

Just pat it all down, spread it all over the top.

-This is going to taste great.

-It's the Cypriot spices I can smell over this side.

I'm smelling the British pork. And I think it's going to be good, though.

We've left a little piece of dough and a little bit of excess there.

Again, flatten it down. A little bit of flour.

Roll it out to the size of the tin itself.

That then goes over the top.

Like so. Another knife trim round.

That will do.

Get it out the way.

And then just crimp it all the way round the outside.

And if you do make a mistake - I know you don't - can you just patch it over?

Oh, yeah.

I've got a little piece of dough left over, a little bit of flour. This is just decoration on top.

Knock out a little piece of dough.

-You don't have to do this, but if you want to show off.

-And you always do. A little bit.

Me?! Me? Never.

Now don't waste those off cuts. Make something pretty for the top.

Very decorative on the top.

Again, brush that. A little bit of egg wash.

And that's it. It's as simple as that.

That is a pork and egg pie.

To bake this, I'll pop it into the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Quite high. It begins to cook inside and sting the outside.

And when it has baked...

I've got one here that has been nice and cool.

Want me to hold that?

There you go. Look how solid it is.

This is the beauty of hot water crust pastry. There you have it.

Now what I want to do is show you what it's like inside. Grab a knife.

We'll just cut down. Be quite forceful with this pastry.

I'm hoping they get an egg somewhere down the middle of it. And there you have it.

There is your gorgeous raised pork and egg pie.

Although it works well as a picnic pie

I think it's rich and hearty enough to be a winter treat on a cold day.

'Today I've had some fun welcoming both new and old friends to create some wonderful pies and puds.

Now it's time to tuck in. Please help yourself.

'First, the flaounas, that Cypriot Easter treat.'

-That's delicious.

-Thank you.

-Really good. Thank you, Tonia. It's taken me back to Cyprus.

-'And from the Mediterranean to Yorkshire.'

-The pine nuts come through well. The cheese binds it.

It adds a little creaminess to it.

-These are delicious, Paul.

-And the dough's not normal dough because it's soft, you know?

-'And from the parcels to the pie.'

-It's lovely.

It's the water crust pastry that holds it all together. Any other pastry would crumble.

'Listen up, people of Whitehaven. It's your Cumberland Rum Nicky.'

-Absolutely amazing.

-I'd have it with a pint of cream.

-That's a serious filling.

-A proper pie.

That is absolutely delicious!

And the pastry's not bad either.

-Yes, very nice.

-I've had a great time today.

There's no better way to end than sharing good food in good company.

I think I better raise a glass to Whitehaven.

-A nod to Whitehaven, but also a big yamas to Cyprus.

-Yamas!

Yamas!