Episode 18 Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

There's nothing better than a steamed suet pudding

or the smell of a home-baked pie baking in the oven.

This is food that comes from the heart,

and it's certainly food that's close to my heart.

Today is all about my passion for the straightforward comfort food

that generations have thrived on.

Sweet or savoury, pie or pud,

there's something for everyone on today's menu.

Coming up, I'm baking my rich sausage plait,

helped by my guest, Hannah Pemberton,

a big fan of one of its key ingredients, black pudding.

Have you mixed up all the sausage meat yet?

-No, I'm about to do that now, chef. Sorry.

-I'm not a chef, I'm a baker.

-OK, sorry.

-I'm higher up the tree than a chef.

-Oh, OK!

I go back in time when I visit an old-fashioned sweet shop,

looking for some inspiration for my next recipe.

All the sweets I remember are all lined up in jars.

It's nostalgia for me. It takes me back to when I was a kid again.

Liquorice - my childhood favourite.

-It's a tart...

-Tart.

-..raspberry flavour.

Are you calling me a tart?

Us British bakers use spices every day,

and spice expert Arun Kapil takes me on an aromatic journey

through the East, without ever leaving my kitchen.

This doesn't taste like what you'd expect.

-You have to change the rulebook.

-You do, but that's the whole point.

I'll be turning my attention to the 1970s,

and creating a spectacular dessert based on a classic.

That is a Black Forest gateau trifle

infused with some beautiful spices.

And if you want to bake my recipes,

check them out on the BBC website.

Up north, where I grew up,

the locals love their black pudding and I do too,

so I decided to incorporate it into one of my recipes

and turned to the home of black pudding in search of inspiration.

The heart of black pudding in Britain is indisputably Lancashire

and, in particular, the town of Bury.

Black pudding has been made in Bury by one company continuously

for over 100 years, and it's owned by Debbie.

What makes a black pudding special is the actual recipe itself

and there's lots around, but these here,

it's quite special and everybody seems to like them.

Making black pudding is not for the faint-hearted.

Dried pigs' blood and cleaned intestines

are turned into nearly 2,000 tonnes of pudding every year.

Yeah, everybody wants to make a good black pudding,

and they enjoy doing it as much as I do,

and I think that's what makes it so successful.

Black pudding is not to everyone's taste, it's true,

but I asked three local ladies who love using black pudding at home

to show me how they serve it.

First up is Michelle, who lives on the outskirts of Bury.

She serves her black pudding a very popular way, with scallops.

First of all I boiled a pan of chicken stock

and I put frozen peas into it with a bit of mint and salt and pepper.

In the other frying pan I fried my black pudding off,

returned that to a plate then put the scallops in and fried those off.

I blitzed the pea mash and then plated it all up...

..and finish it off with a bit of balsamic glaze.

Michelle's recipe is a classic restaurant starter,

simple, honest, and called classic for a reason.

Next it's Linzi,

who has a rather different approach.

She serves black pudding in filo parcels with rhubarb.

I like the combination of local ingredients

but with something different, like filo pastry.

First of all,

you saute the finely chopped black pudding.

You then remove that, fry the onion and the rhubarb just for

a few minutes to start the softening process.

And then add some cider, which you then simmer for a little while

until you have a thick paste.

You then add the black pudding back to the pan,

pushing it up and then allow that to cool.

Then you make your parcels by rolling out your filo pastry

and putting about a spoonful in each one.

Form the pastry parcels and then pop them in the oven

for about 15 to 20 minutes until they're golden.

Linzi serves these lovely parcels

with a sweet chilli sauce dip.

Nice!

Finally it's Hannah's turn, from South Manchester.

She puts her black pudding into a steak and Guinness pie.

Combine the onion, the celery, carrots and the beef,

mix together with the stout, Worcester sauce

and a generous amount of seasoning.

Put that on a hob with the lid on for a couple of hours

until the meat starts to soften.

Skin your black pudding and then cut that into large chunks

and mix that through the pie mix.

Line the inside of a baking case with puff pastry.

You part-bake that and then when that comes out,

spoon the mixture into the base

of the pastry base and then take another piece of pastry

and lay that over the top. Pop a hole in the centre,

trim off the excess and bung it in the oven

and it will be done in about 30 to 40 minutes.

Hannah's dish is closest to how I want to cook

with black pudding, but I'm going to be using sausage meat in my pie.

Hannah, you use black pudding in a pie like I'm going to, actually.

I think black pudding is more eaten in the north.

They're not as passionate down south. It's a cultural thing.

Do you find that yourself?

I've only ever lived in the north,

so I know loads of people who are proper black pudding advocates.

You don't just eat it at breakfast, you can eat it with loads of things.

You can stick it in a risotto or have it crispy with other things

or there are other interesting things that you can do with it.

-Risotto?

-Yeah, like, you wouldn't put it in the risotto, but you might

have it sliced really finely and then crisped up and dressed...

Are you saying it's a kind of northern truffle?

Um, yeah, maybe, it's a northern truffle!

So, there you have it, black pudding is a northern truffle.

OK, now I'm going to make a poor man's beef Wellington.

This is no normal sausage meat plait.

Fresh, buttery pastry, mushrooms, caramelised onions

and of course the deep flavour of British black pudding,

make this pie rock.

If you could...

chop up that black pudding.

Mix it with the sausage meat

-and pop it in there.

-OK.

-Thank you very much.

Finely chop some chestnut mushrooms and fry for 5-10 minutes.

Then pop it into a processor and blitz it down,

so it ends up in a paste.

It's fairly dry, which is what you want at the bottom

of your sausage plait,

cos you don't want a soggy bottom soaking through

to that pastry in the bottom.

-Nobody wants a soggy bottom.

-You don't want a soggy bottom.

Have you mixed up all the sausage meat yet?

-I'm about to do that now, Chef. Sorry.

-I'm not a chef, I'm a baker.

-OK, sorry.

-I'm higher up the tree than a chef.

-OK!

OK...

Next, chop up a red onion into chunks and gently fry.

In a separate bowl, Hannah has mixed the black pudding

and the freshly-picked thyme into the sausage meat.

Into this pan with the onions we're going to add the butter

and sugar, brown sugar.

This will start melting and start caramelising these onions.

You need to cook these for about ten minutes

and then you add the sherry vinegar straight into it

and then reduce that down for another five, ten minutes.

And you end up with something... that looks like this.

It's beautiful and soft...

-and it smells so sweet.

-What does the sherry vinegar add to it?

-Flavour and sweetness.

-Smells fantastic.

-Smells great, doesn't it?

Yeah, lovely.

Now it's puff pastry time.

This really needs to be made in advance.

Keep this pastry cool and handle it as little as you can.

Now, this is where you start to build your sausage plait.

Start with a layer of the mushroom paste,

then it's the sausage meat and black pudding mixture.

I hope you like this, by the way.

Yeah, I think it's going to be delicious.

And finally, the caramelised onions.

To make the plait, take a sharp knife, trim off the ends

and the sides.

Stretch the corners, fold over the top

and push down to seal the ends.

Cut two-centimetre strips all the way down the pastry

on each side of the filling

and fold over to create the plait effect.

So you fold over one and go over the other side.

Take it from corner to corner,

and likewise over again all the way down

and this forms a beautiful little plait latticework on the top

-which looks great, doesn't?

-Lovely. It's going to be delicious.

It's reminded me of a giant glamorous sausage roll.

-Oh, yeah, that's pretty much what it is.

-Yeah.

And that, basically, is your sausage plait.

Give your sausage plait a good egg wash,

sprinkle with sesame seeds,

and to bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes,

until you get something like this.

You can see what's happened. It's roasted all the sesame seeds on top.

-Looks amazing.

-Gorgeous golden colour on the top.

Let's take a layer...

-That looks amazing.

-And there you have it.

That is a sausage plait fit for any table.

Beef Wellington, you should be quaking in your wellies!

This pie has everything, not just looks.

The black pudding gives the mushrooms and sausage meat

a deep, savoury taste, which is balanced by the sweet onions.

First, I'm spicing up my kitchen.

A huge number of my recipes use spices and we bake with them

all year round.

But chef-turned-spice-expert Arun Kapil

is here to tell me there's more to my spice store than I think.

-Hello, Arun.

-Hi, Paul.

It's difficult to impart to the people watching the smells

that are happening at the moment. So what, basically, have we got here?

This is like taking a stab at an English kitchen spice rack,

you might say.

It's easy to forget that pepper is actually a spice.

Arun has brought in a selection to give me a masterclass.

-What's this, is this pepper?

-You have to guess, Paul.

See if you can guess which ones they are.

I've got four different peppers here and I don't know which is which.

I wouldn't normally just eat pepper.

It's like tasting a wine, to an extent.

You want to get a good noseful of it.

You smell it, you don't eat it.

You smell it first

and that starts to play memories in your head from things in the past.

And then when you actually taste it you get both the flavour

and the taste of it.

The first thing that came in, "it's very peppery"!

-ARUN LAUGHS

-It's pepper!

This is white pepper.

White pepper is essentially exactly the same as black pepper,

but that black husk has been taken off it.

-That's all white pepper is.

-Really?

-Absolutely.

-A bit mustardy as well.

Beautiful. Absolutely.

-Like a wasabi, almost. It's going in that kind of direction.

-Yeah.

-That would go in a steak and ale pie, no worries.

-Perfect.

Now, the next one, which is slightly darker,

this is a bit more earthy than the first one.

-It's definitely stronger.

-This is long pepper.

This was the original pepper the Romans used to trade in

before black pepper was discovered.

It works really well with sweet stuff.

The problem is, when you put salt and pepper in a dish, you know

what it's going to taste like.

This doesn't taste like what you'd expect,

-so you have to change the rule book.

-You do, but that's the whole point.

That's what I'm all about.

Changing the rule book is what we should be doing.

We haven't all got one of you in the kitchen.

No, but everyone can play.

Arun has brought in one of my favourite spices, nutmeg.

-Is it a nut?

-It's actually a seed.

It grows like a conker, you crack open the green shell.

Inside the green shell you see this black nut, this dark-brown nut,

and around this nut is a lacy husk, which is mace.

So, you take off the mace, you crack the brown casing

and you end up with the seed, which is nutmeg.

I love nutmeg.

Later, I'll be asking Arun to help me

spice up a classic dessert recipe.

It's my reinvented favourite pudding with pepper.

But first I'm going back to being a kid again.

I'm making a traditional pudding that's full of flavour

and memories of my childhood. I want to rekindle that sense of fun

and enjoyment we all remember from when we were kids.

In Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire,

is the oldest sweet shop in England, first opening its doors in 1827.

If you're looking for true nostalgia this is the best place to start.

The classic ye olde penny sweet shop. Look at it!

It takes me back to when I was a kid again.

It's got everything in here that I'm looking for.

I'm itching to get inside but, more importantly,

I want to try my favourite sweets

and find inspiration for my true nostalgic pud.

The shop is a family business and is run by Keith Tordoff...

-Hello, Paul. My wife...

-'..his wife Gloria...'

Hello!

'..and their son Alexander and his partner Kirsty.'

This is... Well, I'm a kid again.

You must be a kid, working in a place like this.

-You've got to be, in a sweet shop. Absolutely.

-It's nostalgia for me.

I look around, all I see is, from the age of four to the age of 14,

all the sweets I remember are all lined up in jars,

and they're springing back to me. I'd forgotten half of these things.

Like a lot of us,

I think my first love of flavours started in a sweet shop.

Toasted tea cakes.

Ah! Pebbles. A school favourite. A kopp kop.

-Do you have cough candy twists?

-Yeah.

-No!

-Yeah.

Sorry, I'm like a kid.

-I really could eat these sweets all day.

-Which one is your favourite?

I've got to say Yorkshire mixture.

I'm from Yorkshire, I'm a Yorkshire lad

and it's got a little bit of everything.

We've got in it, obviously the pear drop, the fruit rock and,

one thing that's very important,

every single one must have a fish in it.

That's tasty.

Now, believe it or not, I'm here to do some serious research

and I want some advice about old-fashioned flavour

that would go well in a steamed pudding.

I'm looking for something that's got a bit of kick to it,

a bit of character to it

and something I could put in a pudding that reminds me of my youth.

I think, for memories, it's got to be the sweet peanut.

-Oh, yes.

-Smell the actual sweet peanut.

-It's just like a peanut, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Mmm...they're delicious, those.

Peanut isn't the flavour I'm looking for,

but I'm certainly enjoying reminiscing.

Now, thinking of another one - I'm thinking strawberry.

I think it's got to be, for memories, a strawberry bonbon.

It's chewy...

It has got that strong strawberry flavour.

One thing that has stuck in my mind, one flavour I haven't hit -

and I've seen it a couple of times in the shop - liquorice.

Now, liquorice is one of those flavours and textures,

-you either love it or you hate it.

-Yes.

In Keith's shop, he has an array of liquorice I can try,

and first, I try liquorice bark.

All liquorice starts here.

All liquorice starts from the root - they grow the plant.

The plant itself, above ground,

grows up to about four foot in height.

And this is then, to get all the liquorice products,

is actually boiled to extract the juice from it.

-It tastes like bark.

-Yes.

-It does taste like bark.

-It's like chewing on a tree.

-Yes.

But then you've got...that sort of sharpness coming through.

But I want to try liquorice that's a bit more familiar.

You've got something which actually is one of my dad's favourites -

a Pontefract cake. Can I try one?

Of course you can, yes.

Help yourself - always got the seal on it, the stamp.

What is the seal?

The seal was originally Wilkinson's Pontefract Factory

and it used to be stamped by hand, did that,

and the ladies could do about 30,000-35,000 of these per day.

A bit of aniseed added to it, a bit of treacle added to it.

-That's the key thing, I think, is that treacle.

-Yes.

Treacle's been added and you...you can taste that now.

When you said it, I thought, "Yeah, got that."

This helps me a lot.

Well, after eating all those sweets, I've finally made my decision

on which flavour I'm going to put in my next recipe.

It's liquorice.

That flavour is delicious,

and that flavour in a nostalgic pudding,

for me, is the one.

Keith, Gloria, I had such a great time that day.

-For me, it was going back to flavours I'd forgotten.

-Hm.

I think that's what sweets do -

they rekindle old memories from childhood and growing up.

That's what it's about.

I admire the necklace, but...

-Oh, yeah.

-..you haven't got that, eh?

-You trumped me.

-Trumped you.

That's not real, though.

Have a nibble on that, you'll need a dentist.

-Exactly - that's real.

-That's real.

-That's a proper one.

-I'm not swapping, cos it's half-eaten, is yours.

-Yeah.

You brought another load of sweets here - good on you!

What I'm going to use is actually the liquorice.

Before that, Paul, can I just say

-that we've got a surprise for you today, actually.

-Oh, yeah?

We've gone to a lot of trouble,

-a lot of experiments, a lot of research...

-Research.

And I know you weren't expecting this today...

PAUL LAUGHS

-I love it!

-Paul's Hollywood Eyes.

-There we are.

-I'm honoured.

It's not a nasty trick, though.

It's not tasty - it's a tart raspberry flavour.

Are you calling me a tart?

LAUGHTER

-If you wear a necklace...!

-I love that.

Do you know what's happening? My taste buds have been...

They're like fine-tuned instruments.

They've been assaulted.

They've just been kicked in the teeth.

They're just being wellied. That's lovely - thank you.

I'm made up with that.

Now - what I'm going to do is a liquorice steamed pudding.

My steamed puddings are surprisingly light and fluffy

and the liquorice gives it a fruity tang

that runs beautifully through the sponge.

Now, to start with, I'm going to add all the ingredients -

I've got flour, sugar, I've got three eggs going in.

Once these have gone in, basically, it's an all-in-one mix.

You just mix it all together.

Throw it all in, three eggs, then I've got some butter.

Then - this is interesting.

I've got some baking powder in there,

you want a little bit of rise, lighten it up.

And I've got...

What's that?

-It's treacly.

-Treacly.

-It's liquorice extract.

-The pure...

-This is the pure stuff.

-From the sticks.

-Yes, exactly.

Get it in the mix.

Mix the ingredients together until well blended,

and it's as easy as that.

Perfect. This is the basic mixture...

..which I'm going to spoon into there.

These are the little pots I'm baking in,

I've just buttered the inside of them.

Could you pass me four of those Catherine Wheel things, please?

I'll give you different colours, different centres.

-They've got various names - spogs, horse cakes, jelly buttons...

-Really?

-Yes - all different names, you see.

-Pink and blue things.

-I can't use that, you see...

-Oh, we'll eat it!

Waste not, want not.

Place the liquorice into the bottom of the buttered and lined mould,

then simply spoon in the mixture,

allowing a bit of space for the sponge to rise.

So what I've got is my four pots

that are filled with the liquorice sponge,

I've got the liquorice at the bottom.

I cover my individual puddings with a sheet of silicone paper

and then tin foil, and steam for 45 minutes.

And they should come out looking like this.

-Ooh.

-Ah, there we are.

-Perfect.

-They've kept their shape.

Ooh, perfect.

There you have it - liquorice puddings.

This wonderfully light and buttery pudding

is a real winter warmer that hits the spot every time.

Thank you very much, guys,

because I thoroughly enjoyed myself at your shop -

thank you for the inspiration with the liquorice

-and a BIG thank you for my sweets.

-Many thanks.

Earlier, Arun Kapil taught me a thing or two about pepper,

and he's brought with him some home-made blondies,

made with white pepper, for my next dish.

Now...it is a twist on a trifle,

and what I mean by that is it's a '70s twist,

because I'm going to use the idea of a Black Forest gateau.

Now, if you're a fan of the Black Forest gateau,

then you're in for a treat.

I'm turning this classic combination of chocolate, cherries

and kirsch into a trifle.

Arun is going to use his knowledge of spice

to add a twist to my recipe.

These are the cherry and chocolate and - I believe - pepper blondies.

-Absolutely.

-Mm. OK. Well, we'll try them later.

-I like the idea of it, though.

-Cool.

I'm going to utilise it in my trifle,

-it'll be the base of my trifle.

-Lovely.

First job is to cook down the black cherries in syrup.

Now, what would you put with that?

To bring out the fruitiness, cloves - if you infuse cloves into the syrup,

-I think that might add something to it.

-OK.

-If I give you a little pestle and mortar...

-Very good.

..take what you want and grind it down.

In this pan, I've got some milk and cream here,

which are going to go straight in.

Oh!

Bring this up to the boil.

Have you ground up that clove for me?

What I've done is just crushed them

so they can infuse, rather than going...

-Are we going to strain it?

-No.

-Right, I'll keep going.

-Crush it down!

Can't get the staff nowadays. OK. Egg yolks in there.

Caster sugar, straight in.

I'm going to add some flour to it -

this'll be the thickener in the custard.

This is known is creme patissiere,

or creme pat, as I like to call it,

which is thick, flour-based egg custard.

When the cream and the milk have come to the boil,

you then drop it straight onto this mixture

and we're going to put it straight back on the pan again

and cook out the flour.

-You managed to do that clove yet?

-I have, finally. Here we go.

-Let's have a look.

-Is that OK?

-Beautifully done, yes.

We're going to pop this clove... in with the cherries.

That should infuse quite nicely. I'll just give it a bit of a stir.

It does smell good, I'll give you that. OK.

Over here, the milk's just boiled,

I'm going to add that to the mixture.

Give this a stir.

-Now...nutmeg.

-Indeed, sir.

-How much?

I would say maybe just...six or seven rubs.

Now, I've got some chocolate here I'm going to break up.

This is going to turn our traditional creme patissiere

into a chocolate one.

Break the chocolate into pieces and tip into the creme patissiere

and very gently stir until it's all blended in.

Then pop it back onto a low heat and keep stirring.

And once you see it beginning to hold on the spoon,

take it off the heat and put it into a bowl to cool down.

It almost sets like a jelly - you wobble it

and it'll begin to settle very quickly. That's when it's ready.

Once it's chilled,

I add double cream to create a deliciously thick chocolate custard.

Yeah. That's very good.

-That's got your nutmeg in it as well.

-Beautiful.

-It does bring out that chocolate.

-Doesn't it? Absolutely.

-Great blend.

Next, drain the clove-infused Morello cherries.

-You can smell that clove.

-Gorgeous, isn't it?

I'll leave them over there to cool.

I'm using Arun's pepper blondies as a trifle base.

A delicious alternative to sponge.

It's white and black pepper in there.

Again, now you've tasted the black and the white pepper,

you can see possibly why I've used both to create a balance.

-It's quite sweet, yeah.

-Yeah.

-One's sweet.

-Absolutely.

-OK.

-Lovely.

-I love trifles, brilliant.

-LAUGHING: Exactly!

-I love trifle, with a passion.

-Probably one more will do.

-Perfect.

Then soak the blondies with kirsch,

then layer with Morello cherries,

some cherry jam, and that gorgeous chocolatey creme pat.

Finally, top with the whipped mascarpone and creme mixture.

-This is where you begin to salivate.

-I've done that already.

-Now, that is pretty much finished.

-Looking good.

I've got some chocolate. It needs more chocolate.

-Do you know what I'd do with that, as well?

-What's that?

I would probably also grate on some pepper, to keep the theme going.

-Pepper?

-Yeah.

I love you, Arun. I really do.

-But shut up!

-But don't push it.

All right, I'll put a little bit on, OK?

-Sweet.

-Yes. Tiniest bit.

And a little bit of white pepper on the top.

That's enough. There you have it.

That is a Black Forest gateau trifle,

infused with some beautiful spices.

If this hasn't made your mouth water,

I don't know what will -

dreamy chocolate custard, clove-infused Morello cherries

and blondies soaked in kirsch.

A classic with a twist.

Thank you for your help, thank you for teaching me

a little bit more about spice.

My guests are ready to eat.

Today, it's been all about home and nostalgia,

with my posh sausage plait, a real celebration of black pudding,

which I hope Hannah will enjoy.

Wow - it's really good with the black pudding, isn't it?

Mmm - and I hadn't thought of cooking it with onion before,

but it's lovely and sweet.

-Comfort food.

-Yeah, yeah.

That's what it is - comfort food.

Next, my steamed liquorice sponges,

inspired by my visit to the sweet shop.

I must admit, it's the first time I've ever had a pudding

with liquorice.

-Oh, wow!

-It's really good.

It just gives a hint of the spice.

That sponge being so buttery as well.

-The liquorice cuts through it.

-Cuts through, yeah.

-I think that works.

-That's really good, actually.

With the cream, it's absolutely delicious.

Finally, my Black Forest trifle with a twist, using the peppery blondies.

-This is the big fella.

-That's delicious, Paul.

-The cherries!

-Yeah, the cherries...

-That's something.

-The cherries with the clove really works.

-Isn't it?

Mm - you get that hint at the end, with the clove.

Just beautiful - lifts it.

In the chocolate custard, you can get the nutmeg, just.

Yeah, you can. That's a dangerous pudding.

-That's a beautiful pudding.

-I don't have a sweet tooth,

I'm not mad into puddings,

but I could eat a whole bowl of that.

Going back for seconds.

This is what food's all about - it's about experimentation,

trying different flavours,

and pushing yourselves that little bit.

I hope you'll try these recipes at home.

Join me next time - see you then.

-Anyone want my Hollywood Eyes?

-Yes, please!

-Oh, yes!

Make it two!