Episode 16 Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

I love hearty food that's easy to cook, but delicious to eat,

so there's something about home-baked pies and steamed puds

that work for me every time.

Hello, and welcome to Pies And Puds.

Sweet or savoury, there is something for everyone on the menu today,

something like this.

'On today's show, I visit a Scottish country estate to find out about seasonal game.'

Game is a natural resource that is hunted or shot.

'And I bake a succulent raised game pie.'

-What do you think of that, Derek?

-That looks lovely.

'I meet a Yorkshireman with a passion for Indian dessert.'

I consider myself the king of kulfi.

'An ingredient that I use to reinvent a nostalgic pud.'

-It's very refreshing.

-Hmm.

-More so than an ice cream.

-Yeah.

'Top chef Glynn Purnell shows me a West Midlands classic.'

"Balti" just means Birmingham to me.

'But what's this? A Michelin-starred chef getting the jitters?'

This is pressure. I'm being judged.

'I reveal the secret to a perfect puff pastry...'

A good quality butter is key.

'..for my match day jumbo sausage rolls.'

I don't mind a sausage roll.

'And for full recipes, head to the BBC website.'

Described by the Birmingham Post as "undoubtedly the finest chef to hail from Chelmsley Wood,"

my guest is yummy Brummie Glynn Purnell.

-Did you write that yourself?

-Yeah, my mum wrote that.

-How's things with you, Glynn?

-Brilliant.

I'm really excited. I haven't baked a pie for about 20 years.

-I've eaten a few.

-Right.

-To come here to cook a pie for you is quite exciting.

The thing is, you're a proper chef. I'm just a baker.

Yeah, but you're a proper baker.

Between us both, we should come up with some stuff that's pretty special.

What pie are you baking for us?

It's a homage to Birmingham City. I thought I'd wear the colours.

This is my take on a chicken balti pie.

All right, mate, the kitchen's all yours.

-Go ahead.

-It's too hot for the scarf.

-Take your pint with you.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, buddy.

-Up the blues!

'I reckon everyone's got a secret pie in their closet

'and I'm looking forward to Glynn's baked balti.

'A pretty big pie for a half-time bite, though.'

OK, we've got our flour. I'm going to add the eggs.

-What flour are you using? Strong or plain?

-Just strong.

-OK.

-Crack them in there.

I use one hand when I'm cracking eggs as well.

I'm under pressure. I can feel it already.

We bring our eggs and our flour to a small crumb,

then we just pour our fat and our water in

and we just keep working that

until it becomes nice and shiny and it comes together.

Why balti? Is this something you'd want at a football match

or is it a dish you really like and thought, "This would work in a pie"?

For me, the balti, because it was created in Birmingham...

It's a really nice, mild curry.

-Balti was invented in Birmingham?

-Yeah.

-Are you kidding me?

-No. Basically, it's a dish it's served in which means... translated to "bucket".

-Yeah.

We're a bit more civilised now, so we don't eat out of buckets.

When I hear the word "balti", it just means Birmingham to me.

-It's like home, so I get that relation to it.

-Yeah.

'Glynn slices up leeks for the base of his balti sauce

'and sweats them in a pan over a medium heat with some butter and garlic.'

So we've got our leeks, our shallots,

our garlic all sweating down there.

Plenty of butter because we want to make a roux. We've got curry powder,

just like a mild curry powder.

-Put that in.

-Yeah.

We've got some cumin.

And then we've got some garam masala.

-Is that a traditional way of making balti - a roux, then breaking it down?

-No.

I thought I'd try and make it, so it's broken down, it's pretty simple.

A proper balti, they cook it in the dish they serve it in.

'Pre-cooking his chicken breasts means that Glynn doesn't need to bake the pie for a long time.

We'll use the juice out of the chicken to put into the sauce.

We sweat them down, so it's beautifully coloured.

This is quite mild.

This isn't like a vindaloo or anything too hot.

I'm hard, but I ain't that hard. Do you know what I mean?

'Glynn adds his pre-cooked chicken to his chilled-down balti mixture

'with some fragrant chopped coriander.'

And I think we're ready for the biggest test of my career -

to roll pastry out in front of Paul Hollywood.

Never mind the Michelin inspectors!

They're easy, mate.

Yeah. He's close. See that? That's the problem.

You don't know they're there!

-Whose rolling pin is this?

-Mine.

I'm using your rolling pin, like your lightsaber!

OK, I'm under pressure now. I can see I'm being judged.

'I don't know why Glynn's so nervous. I don't bite. Well, not often.'

-Do you normally take this long to line a pie?

-Yeah.

I just thought to myself, "What a golden opportunity to make pastry for a top pastry chef, top baker..."

-You're through to the next round.

-Thank you.

Right, so in with our chicken mix...

As you can see, we've got massive chunks, lovely sort of yellow colour,

flecks of green from the coriander.

-Mm-hm.

-Make sure it's nice and full

because I don't like a half-empty pie. I don't see the point.

'Glynn adds a lid to his pie

'and does some fancy crimping to seal the deal.'

That's nice, yeah. I like that.

It's just basically twist, pull, then push it back into its...

Obviously, a pastry chef showed me how to do it.

-Very good, I like it.

-Do you want a go?

-So it's inside there...

-Yeah.

-Twist.

-Twist...round.

Twist...round, twist...

-It's a bit difficult, the last one.

-Tuck it in there round the outside.

That'll do.

'Cut a hole in the top to let the steam escape

'and put the pie in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes,

'then give it an egg wash and pop it back in at 160 degrees

'for another ten minutes.

-I'll raise my glass to that one. Cheers.

-Cheers.

'My next recipe is packed full of wild meat

'and I want to use it to explore our national tradition

'of filling pies with seasonal game.'

When it comes to food, everything has its season

and with the onset of supermarkets,

it's difficult to tell when one season ends and another one begins,

but seasonality does not only affect fruit and veg, it also affects meat.

'Hopetoun House is a 300-year-old, Scottish stately home near Edinburgh.

'The lucky chap who calls this modest abode home is Lord Hopetoun.'

Lord Hopetoun, nice to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

-What a fantastic place!

-Thank you very much.

-I don't envy your electric bill, if I'm honest.

Or your gardening bill. It took me about half an hour to come up here.

'We head off on a tour of the estate.

'Hopetoun House is set in over 6,000 acres of beautiful grounds.

'It's a mixture of farming and parkland,

'teeming with all kinds of wild game.'

Coming down to bare basics, what is game?

Game is a natural resource that is hunted or shot.

It's wild birds, often reared as well to supplement the numbers,

but it's wild birds, wild beasts that are hunted.

What sort of game do you have on the land there?

Round here, we've got pheasants and partridges.

We've got rabbits and hares,

deer, largely roe deer wild on the estate, but also fallow and red deer within the grounds.

Woodcock coming into the woods...

We have grey partridge, but not nearly as many as we used to.

'Back at the house, there are many historical treasures,

'but I'm particularly interested in a rather unique household collection.

'These are precise records written by housekeepers from the mid-1700s.

'They document all the ingredients sourced from the estate

'that went into the kitchens and on to the dinner table.'

Here are some volumes from the Hopetoun Muniments.

They're showing some of the foods that were eaten in past times.

This, for example, is the year 1754 to '55.

For example, there's a certain amount of lamb bought early in the year.

"Killed a lamb, being the first of my lord's own..."

That was the first lamb that was...

-From the estate.

-..killed and eaten here probably within a certain period of time.

-Yes.

-Again you've got spring lamb.

-Yes, very much so.

What you can see here very clearly is some of the seasonal elements.

-We're in October 1895 and you can see roast partridge making its way on to the menu for October.

-Yeah.

By the time you then shift into November 1895,

you're moving into roast pheasant

which has come into season at the beginning of October, but is starting to appear by November.

As you work your way through the year and come out into April, you're moving into things like pigeon.

That would have been fresh pigeon

that was fed up over the winter and was just ready.

'These cooks couldn't have made a pigeon pie at any old time of year.

'They had to use whatever game was in season.'

-The seasons are still there if we want to follow them.

-Yeah.

That's one of the benefits of the farmers' markets and farm shops.

'All the wild meat from the estate

'goes to Hopetoun's resident butchery

'and the game which butcher Derek sells

changes according to the time of year, like in the olden days.

'I want my game pie to reflect the current season, so I've come

'to get some expert advice.'

-You've got some meat there. Can we try some?

-Certainly.

-We've got pheasant.

-Uh-huh.

This is rabbit.

-It's got more depth of texture on that one.

-Yes, uh-huh.

-The partridge.

-Partridge.

-Hmm...

I think the partridge is one up on the pheasant.

-I prefer the partridge.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

I'm going to make a hand-raised pie

and I'm using a hot-water crust pastry.

What would you recommend to go in the pie?

Obviously, your venison is your top one for a pie. You can get your venison there as well.

But you have to balance the flavour,

so I would say something like the partridge and the rabbit.

Your rabbit will hold the flavour a wee bit. It's a firmer meat.

The partridge is a delicate one.

I think that's a terrific choice. Venison is a nice, dark meat.

You've got something that's very pale in a partridge. The rabbit is somewhere in between.

The three will look good together,

as well as providing a very balanced range of flavours.

OK, I think I've got my three pieces of game -

venison, rabbit and partridge.

-Spot-on.

-Fantastic.

So I'm all set to make my raised game pie.

Estate butcher Derek has come down from Scotland to make sure I do his meat justice.

-Hello, Derek.

-Hello, Paul.

-I take it Lord Hopetoun is a busy man?

-He's a very busy man.

Cleaning all those windows must take him for ever(!)

It will take a while, aye.

-All the meat that's reared, all the animals on his estate, it all ends up in your butchery?

-Uh-huh.

That is fantastic. You've got provenance straightaway.

-So it's only two miles down the road?

-Not even that.

'A game pie is much easier than it looks

'and whenever you decide to make it,

'I suggest you choose meats with different colours and textures to keep things interesting.'

-So if I run through the meats that I'm putting in my pie...

-Certainly.

-I've got partridge here.

-That's right.

-Venison.

-Mm-hm.

-Rabbit.

-Mm-hm.

-And I've got belly pork here. I need a bit of fat because most of the meat there is quite lean.

-Uh-huh.

So what I'm going to do is pop all this meat into a large bowl.

I've got some parsley and thyme going in there as well.

I've got some Madeira. That little bit of sweetness could come out with the venison as well.

A little bit of seasoning. Some salt...

'I chop up some garlic and add it to my game filling.'

Throw that straight in.

'Along with some mace and allspice to give it real depth of flavour.'

That is the basic ingredients for the game pie.

'For my raised game pie, I'm using a robust hot crust pastry.

'I use 50-50 strong plain flour with some butter rubbed in,

'then I add the key part - lard melted in hot water,

'which strengthens the pastry.'

So I've added all the lard and water to this mixture with the flour.

Then I begin to fold it into the middle for now. I begin to build up the pastry.

It's a double action. Firstly, you mix all the ingredients together.

Secondly, you just build up a bit of resistance and a bit of gluten.

'I roll out my pastry to line an eight-inch tin

'to make a family-sized game pie.'

-Do you not have to grease the tin or anything like that?

-No, all the fat's in there.

You've got lard and butter in there, so it creates its own shine.

So get your pastry, pop your tin down there,

get it inside, take a little bit over the top of the lip, so you know that's what you've got to work with,

pushing it down to the bottom.

'You need to work quickly with hot-water crust pastry

'because the texture changes as it cools and it can become more crumbly.

I've rolled out the lid.

'Once you've added the lid, you can then trim the edges and crimp.'

Anything left over you can turn into a pork pie!

'Finally, pierce the lid and add an egg wash.'

'Put it in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, then turn down to 180 for an hour and a half.'

Here's one... that has been baked.

-What do you think of that, Derek?

-It looks lovely.

Now that is a proper game pie.

It has the partridge, the venison, the rabbit,

all the way from Lord Hopetoun.

'This is my version of a raised game pie, but the beauty of it is,

'you can experiment with whichever meat takes your fancy.'

'Earlier, Michelin-starred chef Glynn Purnell shared with me

'his Birmingham-inspired chicken balti pie.'

'Well, I've got a half-time secret from the terraces of Anfield.'

My guilty pleasure when I'm watching the footie is a sausage roll.

I don't mind a sausage roll, but it has to have plenty of meat.

Good lad.

'Don't you worry, Glynn. My sausage rolls are big on flavour and filling.'

Basically, choose whatever sausage meat you like.

I've just got some pork sausage,

a little bit of thyme as well. If you can rip a bit of thyme off and mix it up for us. Thank you.

So, to move on, I'm going to make a proper puff pastry.

'Into a bowl of 50/50 plain and strong flour, I add two eggs, salt

'and some water to bring it all together.'

Puff pastry's about the difference between cold and hot. If you can get your dough as cold as possible

you'll end up with something that in the oven will just go boof!

-It'll just explode in an oven.

-OK.

And does that make it crispier?

The crispiness comes from the temperature and the butter.

Good quality butter is key.

I tend to use Normandy butter. Slightly higher melting temperature

means you can manipulate it more in the dough. If you get a cheap butter, in the dough itself

it will melt out the side as you fold it. That's a bad sign.

'After a few minutes working the dough, wrap it and chill it in the fridge, preferably for two hours.'

I've got one which I have chilled and I've also got some butter.

I'll show you that in a minute.

'Now roll out your chilled pastry in a thin rectangular shape,

'big enough to accommodate the butter for the turning process.

'You need to have rolled out your butter between two sheets of grease-proof paper

'so it's thin enough to fold inside the dough.'

Get your butter, pop it on your dough.

Take it all the way down to the corners

and then with this bit here - that's perfect -

with this bit that's exposed, a third of it, you fold over.

And then this bit goes onto the top.

-A bit like you do with a croissant.

-OK.

You need to pinch that down now and seal it in.

That's a lovely cold dough.

The butter's beginning to soften already,

so as soon as it hits the butter,

that nice cold dough begins to solidify. That's a good thing.

'Once the butter is sealed in the dough, you can roll it and fold it a second time to double the layers.

This is what we call a single turn, over the top.

Flatten it down. The exposed bit over the top of that.

'Once the butter is sealed in the dough, you can then roll it out

'and fold it for a second time before chilling again.

'Each fold is called a turn.

'Proper puff pastry needs to be turned at least four times.'

What I need to do is roll this out as quickly as possible

before it gets...

too worn.

Now let's look at this.

What I've got is my pastry ready to rock'n'roll.

Get stuck in.

'Next, take your sausage mixture and spread it out all the way along your pastry.'

Sausage meat all the way along.

'Adding pickle is a great way to give your sausage roll a real tangy kick.'

And then roll it up.

-This is a serious sausage roll.

-That's a proper sausage roll.

I want some big jumbos, so I'll trim off the ends first.

'Mark out where you want to cut and slice into good-sized portions.

'Once cut, put the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking parchment

'and brush them thoroughly with a rich egg wash.'

Give it that rich yellow colour.

'Then put them back in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.'

When it comes out, egg wash it all again.

Then with the back of the blade,

just run your knife from the top over to the other side.

And what that does is create a lovely pattern on top of the sausage rolls.

Do this on all of them, then bake it off

at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15-20 minutes until they're beautiful and golden brown.

Let me show you this.

Those there are proper sausage rolls.

Beautiful colours,

filled with the sausage meat of your own desire.

And there you have it - sausage rolls.

Cheers. Nice one, Paul.

I grew up in the heyday of the Arctic roll when combining raspberry sponge and vanilla ice cream

felt like a luxury treat. Still does!

I want to make this old favourite for modern Britain

by incorporating an exotic twist which I found on the streets of...

Leeds.

'Originally from India, kulfi is a frozen dessert. It's a bit like ice cream,

'but it's thicker, more creamy and comes in flavours we wouldn't associate with puddings,

'like cardamom, saffron and pistachio.

'Mike Tattersall started his artisan kulfi business after getting an original recipe for mango kulfi

'from his wife's Punjabi parents, who still get to regularly taste test and give him the thumbs up.'

-Very nice, Michael.

-Thank you.

-Beautiful. Absolutely delicious.

It's more than I expected!

-That's great news.

-Yeah.

-I'm so glad you like it.

It's very nice, it tastes good,

the texture and taste is always the same.

Michael's done us really proud and I'm very, very happy.

'Mike still makes all his kulfi in the same place he started - his own kitchen.'

The main difference between ice cream and kulfi is

ice cream does have air mixed into it.

But kulfi is a dense iced dessert with no air pumped into it.

'Today he's making a batch of mango-flavour kulfi.'

I've got a mix of reduced milk and cream

and I'm just about to add a mango pulp to it.

There's three key ingredients -

reduced milk, cream

and a little bit of sweetened condensed milk.

It takes a little bit of while to mix in the pulp. It's quite dense.

The product's ready to go in the freezer.

To work its magic, I suppose.

'Now in its fourth year, the business is growing

'and Mike regularly takes his exotic Indi-ices on the road.

'He currently sells a range of over ten flavours, and they go down a storm with the locals.'

It's very nice, very tasty.

Delicious.

That was yummy! Oh, I can eat more. Definitely.

-It was lovely.

-Thank you.

-Reminded me of India.

I definitely consider myself the King of Kulfi,

or the Maharajah of Kulfi.

'I want to kick a much-maligned '70s dessert back into the spotlight

'and what better way than with a Bollywood boost from Mike's exotic home-made kulfi?'

Our mobile kulfi man, Mike, is here with me.

-Hello, Mike.

-Hi, Paul.

-What have we got here?

We've got a Wobbly Bobbly and a 1947.

-What's on the top bit?

-That's almond and pistachio with cardamom.

Nice! What's the middle bit?

That's plain cardamom.

-Nice! What's the bottom bit?

-Mango kulfi.

Nice. You have to try this. This is delicious.

I find the flavours in this creamier than an ice cream.

For me, it's got more flavour than ice cream as well, to be honest.

What I'm going to do is make a real classic now,

which is Arctic roll. I remember Arctic roll when I was six, seven.

It was a big treat in my house.

My mum used to say, "Go to the freezer and get your pudding."

It was always the first thing I saw,

normally amongst plates full of plated pies, apple pies.

But Arctic roll was a big favourite.

'I'm making a classic Swiss roll sponge mix for my Arctic roll.'

What you've got to do is mix this together to ribbon stage.

'To get a ribbon consistency, whisk your mixture until you can see it holding its shape.'

That is fine.

The next thing to do is fold your flour in.

If you get a bit of flour in...

'Remember to sift your flour for a super-light sponge.

So get underneath it and cut through the middle.

Underneath and cut through the middle.

'Once it's nicely folded, tip your mixture into a pre-lined tin

'and spread it thinly with a spatula.'

'Spread the mixture evenly,

'and put it in the oven at 180 degrees for around 10 minutes.

'I'm cracking on with the sponge I made earlier.'

'To assemble your Arctic roll,

'spread some caster sugar onto grease-proof paper

'before turning your sponge out.

'Remove the paper and cover with a thin layer of jam.'

We've got some beautiful raspberry jam all over that.

Now this is the tricky bit.

'I've got some kulfi I've already shaped into a sausage and frozen.'

Pop that onto your sponge.

'For the fiddly bit, use the grease-proof paper to help you roll the sponge over.'

Straight over.

Straight down.

A little bit of pressure on there, seal it off down at the bottom.

Now you've got to be...quick.

Lift it onto there.

And there...is your...

Arctic roll.

Just like I remember my mum making.

'Now, you find me a kid who isn't excited about an Arctic roll

'and if you use kulfi or posh ice cream, I think you'll win over any grown-up dinner party, too.'

We cooked up a storm today and everyone's probably famished.

-Tuck in, guys.

-Thank you.

'Today's tasting table is a real clash of flavour cultures.

'Glynn's chicken curry in a pie gave me a run for my money in the football snacks,

'but I think my sausage roll was a worthy opponent.'

Mm, spot on! That's it right there.

What did you call the sausage rolls?

Jumbo sausage rolls! Never heard of that?!

-That's how it should taste.

-Delicious.

'The beauty of my raised game pie is that you can make it using just about any meat.

'The selection of venison, rabbit and partridge take it to the top.'

I think the game pie is delicious as well.

So dense with meat. Beautiful.

-I think it's lovely.

-Like that? You'll sell it in your farm shop?

I'll give it a try!

'And the addition of Mike's super creamy kulfi has kicked my Arctic roll into the back of the net.

'What a result!'

First time I've seen it in an Arctic roll. I'll do it again.

You have to do it again, mate.

This is proper grub.

Join me again next time on Pies and Puds.