Episode 20 Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

Today I'm all about flavour combinations.

I've got a rustic meat combo, traditional cheese with a twist,

and a crazy cake decoration.

And it's all happening right here, in my kitchen.

Welcome to Pies & Puds, my favourite kind of food.

I've got plenty of tasty grub in store for you today,

and here's what's on the menu.

Coming up: this little piggy wins prizes.

I'll be making some hearty fare with award-winning charcuterie

reared and cured right here in the UK.

Wow! What a collection!

-It is.

-This is only some of it, too.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I'll be using it later, and the smell is incredible.

Tangy, salty cheese goes beautifully with sweet, crunchy apples.

But I go a step beyond, and serve them hot in this delicious dessert.

That, for me, is a proper pie. An apple and Wensleydale pie.

Cake artist extraordinaire Adam Cox joins me

to share his tricks of the trade.

Is this one yours? Is that mine?

See, you don't know, do you?

'Adam can turn anything into a cake, even me!'

Wow!

My first recipe is a savoury pie

using an ingredient we have in abundance.

The good old rabbit.

It's lean and healthy,

and I want to pair it up with another flavour.

For our continental friends, rabbit is a delicacy.

In Spain, it's served with chorizo, in Italy, it's pancetta.

So I'm taking a leaf out of their book

with my rabbit and pancetta pot pies.

When you think of pancetta,

you don't normally think of sourcing it right here on our shores.

David and Karen Richards are artisan charcuterie producers

making some award-winning piggy products in Dorset

and taking the south of England by storm.

We were here last year and it was really busy then,

nearly sold out, and we're hoping to sell out today.

You don't think of this as being British. Not cured meats.

I think it's nice.

I'll finish the whole plate for you if you like!

The charcuterie and pancetta that David and Karen produce

rivals the best that Italy, France and Spain have to offer.

For David and Karen to create the best pancetta they can,

they get their pork from their local pig farmer, Sam.

He rears free-range rare-breed pigs called Oxford Sandy and Blacks,

which have a perfect fat-to-meat ratio and a great flavour.

They are free to roam the woods and snuffle out tasty treats

like chestnuts and acorns.

If they're free-range,

then it tends to be happier meat you're dealing with.

At the bottom of their garden,

David and Karen hand-cure, air-dry, and smoke

salamis, chorizo and wild game.

It's the pancetta that David is particularly proud of.

We make pancetta from the belly of the pig.

We carefully cut the belly and take the skin off.

And then we mix a blend

of herbs and spices and curing salt.

David uses a secret blend of fresh herbs and spices

including salt, fresh garlic and thyme,

bay leaves, juniper and mace

to impart amazing flavour into the meat.

Once the salt and aromatics are rubbed in,

the meat is then left for two weeks to absorb the flavour

before it's leave to ferment and mature for months.

The reason for curing meat is to preserve it.

As you can see, this is starting to dry now.

It's turning a lot darker.

It's quite flexible still, so it's got a long way to go.

In Italy, in the mountain regions,

the humidity tends to be absolutely right

for the production of charcuterie products.

Here in the UK, it's a whole lot harder.

So we have to use rooms like this

to recreate what they've got naturally.

David and Karen's passion for their cured meats is clear to see.

I can't wait to add this rich flavour

to my rabbit and pancetta pie.

Karen, David, welcome to my kitchen.

-Thank you!

-It's fantastic to see home-produced charcuterie.

-Wow! What a collection!

-It is.

-This is only some of it, too.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So just run through what you've got here.

At this end, you've got air-dried beef.

If we were in Italy, we could call it bresaola

but we can't, so that is...

DORSET ACCENT: ..Dorset air-dried beef!

-Oh, it's "Dorrset".

-"Dorrset", yeah!

-It's got a huge depth of flavour.

-It has.

-Yeah.

It's got port in the cure,

so you get a lovely long finish when you're eating it.

Now, moving on to the pancetta.

Now, obviously it's to do with the fat and the meat

and the way it's cured.

Now, when you come down to this, it looks like pure fat.

That is cured and fermented back fat.

And if you were in Italy, you'd just slice that off and eat it as it was.

-You're kidding me.

-It's divine!

It's absolutely divine.

I think what I'm going to do is a rabbit and pancetta pie.

-Yum-yum!

-Using your gorgeous pancetta.

'I don't use rabbit as often as I should.

'It's so lean, which makes the pancetta a perfect pairing

'as the fat works to impart more flavour.'

What I've done here is browned off some of the meat from the rabbit,

and I still have a couple more pieces to do,

which I'm going to pop into a pan.

There's a bit of butter and oil in here.

Just brown them off for about five minutes.

Now, I need some pancetta. Which do you recommend?

-I think I'd probably go for that one.

-OK.

It's got a really good mix of meat and fat there.

The smell of that is incredible!

Got thyme and lovely things in it.

I add some garlic, fennel, onion and the Dorset pancetta

to the pan I used to brown my rabbit in

so the mixture keeps all that lovely rabbit flavour.

Next I pour in the wine and chicken stock

before adding the rabbit back into the pot

and leave to cook for an hour and a half.

Once that happens, you take the rabbit out

and then reduce the liquor that's left in there.

If you look over here,

this is the liquor that's been reduced in the pan.

I add some cream to the reduced liquor

to give an extra touch of luxury.

And some chopped parsley for the herby freshness

that complements all the flavours.

Next, flake in the rabbit meat and allow the mix to cool,

that's the pie filling all done.

Have you ever done anything with "wabbit"?

We have. We actually tried doing a smoked rabbit loin.

-It was delicious, but so much work.

-Such a fiddle.

I haven't done a rabbit and pancetta pie. That will be on the menu soon!

It's a bit different.

'Season with salt and pepper.'

Now, at this stage now,

take it off the heat

and then leave that to cool.

'As the filling cools, I prepare my pastry.

'For this recipe, I've already made a rich, buttery pastry

'that just needs rolling out.'

You can see the butter in there.

You know this is going to taste fantastic.

So what you do is, over here, I have my cooled filling.

You can see the cream, the rabbit.

You don't put pastry underneath? Just put it on top?

-No, not this one. What I'm going to do is make a lid.

-OK.

But, I mean, you could.

I would do it if I was doing a thinner pie.

Something as deep as this,

you'll have a problem with a (soggy bottom)!

Soggy bottom. Yes, I know the problem!

Does it rain up there a lot, does it?

Now roll out thin strips of dough

and push them around the rim of each pie

before adding the lid.

'Once the lid is on, use a beaten egg to wash the top

'and then bake at 200 degrees C for 25 to 30 minutes,

'or until they're gorgeously golden brown.'

-Look at this!

-Oh, wow!

Oh, look at that.

Very hot...

but very delicious.

And there you have...

..a rabbit and pancetta pot pie.

These little pies with rabbit and delicious Dorset pancetta

are a perfect winter supper.

I like to serve them with buttered greens

and some roasted carrots.

I've been baking cakes for over 30 years

and I've been eating them even longer!

I've seen them baked in all shapes and sizes -

or I thought I had, until now!

Adam, welcome to my kitchen. This is incredible.

-They don't look like cakes!

-That's the idea.

These are works of art.

You let your imagination go with it

and hopefully... They're not finished until I'm happy with them,

so that's the main thing.

Adam Cox first discovered his flair for cake design

at the humble age of 18.

He now runs his own cake-making company

and his incredible cake creations are so popular,

they've even attracted celebrity attention.

What strange things have you been asked to do?

Well, you get asked to do all sorts,

but the character ones are very popular

because they've got such a personal touch.

I get people sending pictures in

of them and their dogs, for instance.

Obviously I've made the bread, cos it's appropriate to the programme,

and obviously your line of work.

I've made another one as well, which is more appropriate.

'It seems Adam knows me better than I expected!'

I was told you were into fast cars.

-Wow!

-I needed a bit more on there,

so I got my mum doing a bit of research

and she found an old interview where you said your hobbies included

flying your model Spitfire!

That's...

HE LAUGHS

-That actually looks like me!

-That's the idea.

You've got the jeans right. You've got the shoes...

Actually, you've got the shoes absolutely bang-on with colour.

-Well...

-The shirt, I quite like the fact it's buttoned down to my navel!

If I undo this down to there...

-Could have done with a bit more toner.

-More toner, exactly.

-It looks a bit peaky.

-You must have been on holiday since I did that!

That is incredible.

And this, you are right about this.

Is that right? My mum gets the brownie points for that.

I do have a remote-control Spitfire.

The attention to detail that Adam manages to capture

is really amazing

and testimony to his sculpting skills.

Now, let's see if he can teach me a thing or two.

I'm going to teach you how to make your own model of yourself.

The way I do it. Have you ever done anything like this before?

A little.

-A little?

-Yeah, but not much.

No? What sort of thing?

-I went to art school and studied sculpture.

-Right. There you go.

But that was a long time ago!

Hey, doesn't matter.

I hope you haven't lost it, anyway!

I've definitely lost it. I lost it a long time ago!

-What were you using to sculpt with?

-Clay.

-Clay. It's very similar.

'Adam has prepared his icing in advance,

'using edible food colouring.'

First of all what we'll do is split this.

I'll do one at the same time as you

so just do what I'm doing.

First, knead the paste a bit. You're used to kneading.

We all have our ways. Then make it into a sausage.

-OK.

-So just roll it out.

Start from the middle and just work it outwards.

This is going to be a pair of legs.

-Right.

-Not one.

-OK.

Then just bend it in the middle,

push it together, and there's a pair of legs.

So then we're going to make two shoes.

So that can be one, that can be another. They're yours.

Then just roll them into little sausages.

And then stick the shoes on.

What I do is put a little indent where the join in your leg would be,

just underneath,

then just bend the paste up...

in the join where the knee would be.

So this is acting as the cake.

-Right.

-OK? Now we're going to do the shirt.

We make my rather stylish shirt

by rolling and kneading the icing in the same way.

-Yeah.

-So we flatten it out, as much as you want.

-Yeah, it's dead flat, my stomach!

-There you go!

Then we'll just put a little mark down the middle.

-And then just stick that in there.

-Ow!

'Adam uses dry spaghetti to form a hard frame or dowel

'to keep the sugar paste in place.'

This is going to support the head as well,

so we want to leave a bit of excess on the top.

Is this one yours or is that mine?

-See? You don't know, do you?

-There we go!

That's mine, there.

Mine's the smooth one with no cracks on the knees!

-Are you sure? I think you've swapped them round!

-No!

I told you I did sculpture.

Hang on, we've not done the head yet.

That's true!

'We make the intricate hands and arms,

'which Adam makes look very easy.'

So this is going to be the head.

First thing you do is put the nose on.

That gives you a guide for where everything else on the face goes.

Oh, yeah. I look like an angry baby!

That's all right!

It's a new monster in Doctor Who!

I let Adam show off his intricate skills.

I don't just let anyone do my hair, you know.

-That's me when I'm older!

-OK. We've got you now and you in 20 years.

-We've covered it.

-30 years.

That's fantastic. Thanks very much, Adam.

I've learnt a lot about the modelling process.

-It's all about layers and technique.

-Yeah.

-That's brilliant.

'I've seen lots of cakes in my time, but never anything like this.

'Adam captures personality in his cake art

'which gives it an engaging and very original dimension.'

There's a saying in Yorkshire

that apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze!

So I went to Wensleydale, the home of Yorkshire cheese,

to find the perfect flavour for my apple and cheese pie.

This is Hawes, deep in the Yorkshire Dales,

and home to one of Britain's best-loved cheeses.

David Hartley runs Wensleydale Creamery,

where they make traditional Wensleydale cheese, of course.

Wensleydale has been made in this valley for generations,

but since 1897, the Hawes commercial creamery

has been churning it out by the bucket-load!

It's proved so popular, they've been experimenting with a mix of flavours

that might give traditional cheese enthusiasts nightmares!

Here we go. This is what I'm here for.

There are so many cheeses to choose from,

I guess I'll have to try them all!

This is all about Wensleydale, but a combination of multi flavours.

Whether it's ginger, cranberries, apricot, pineapple!

This is going to be interesting.

We'll start with the basic one first.

Wow!

It's a classic Wensleydale, crumbly.

It's got a lovely inherent flavour

and you're left with that classic crumbly cheese flavour left on your tongue.

It's delicious, it really is.

Classic Wensleydale is already a tried and tested recipe.

But what about the more unusual variations?

Ginger. I'm not sure about this.

I can smell it before I've even eaten it.

The texture's bang on with this cheese.

That ginger overwhelms the total flavour of the cheese.

It brings something to the table, but for me, you might as well just have caramelised ginger.

It's a no from me on the ginger, but how about the Christmas classic, cranberry?

Now...

the first thing you taste is the cheese.

Then the texture of the cranberries comes in.

I also know for a fact that's their best seller.

That one wins hands down ahead of that ginger one.

But there's a few more to go yet!

This one's interesting. Lemon.

Wensleydale with lemon. Tastes like cheesecake!

Just need a digestive biscuit underneath. But that's maybe not a bad thing.

But not for me with a cheese.

Next up, the garlic and chive. Surely that's a winner?

Far too garlicky!

I don't like that at all.

I've chomped my way through some of the novelty cheese choices,

but none of them have really tickled my fancy.

Complete with a fetching red hat,

I track down the boss, David,

who's rustling up the most popular export, Wensleydale with cranberry.

The traditional cheese is blended down into crumbs

and then fresh or dried cranberries are added.

The cranberries that we use come from America

and one of our biggest export markets is Wensleydale with cranberry back in America!

Which is great!

When did you start adding ingredients to your cheese?

Were you not happy with your cheese, for some reason?

We were very happy with the cheese that we'd made

but Wensleydale is a comparatively small part of the overall cheese market.

And when we started up, back in '92,

by the mid-'90s there was a growing market for cheese with fruit blends, primarily.

But Wensleydale, because it's a creamy, milky cheese,

it does lend itself to those sort of sweeter, fruitier blends.

I can't believe that just under one in three cheeses sold has got cranberries inside it!

That, for me, proves the point

that flavour combinations work,

as long as you get those combinations absolutely spot on.

Some of the world's tastiest dishes challenge your taste buds

with unusual flavour combinations.

And although combining apple and Wensleydale may seem like an odd choice,

they're actually a match made in heaven.

I've decided to use the traditional Wensleydale for my apple pie.

And if it succeeds like the Wensleydale and cranberry combo,

I'll be onto a winner.

'So I'm armed with the country's finest crumbly cheese.

'And I'm also joined by Yorkshire lasses, Liz and Sue,

'who've lived in Wensleydale all their lives.

'To celebrate this champion of British cheeses,

'I'm going to bake them an apple and Wensleydale pie.'

Liz, Sue, welcome to my kitchen.

-So you're from Wensleydale?

-Yes.

-Both of you?

-Yes.

-Near Leyburn.

I take it you've eaten a fair amount of Wensleydale, then?

-Yes.

-Yes.

I normally eat Wensleydale, rather than any other cheese.

Now, we've got a selection of cheeses here from Wensleydale.

It almost shows the movement of cheese from the original

from your families supplying all the milk to the original dairy,

into the modern take on Wensleydale.

This is the original Wensleydale. What do you think about the original Wensleydale?

-Is it still something you eat often?

-Yes.

-My favourite.

-It's your favourite?

-Yes.

-Yes.

My favourite and my friend's favourite on Christmas Eve with Christmas cake.

-Wensleydale?

-Wensleydale cheese with Christmas cake is wonderful.

OK!

You see, I think it tastes like... You see, I'm a lad from Cheshire.

-Yeah.

-It does taste like Cheshire, a little bit.

-Yes.

Crumbly, got lots of flavour.

Now, this is the cranberry one.

-What do you think of that one?

-Yes, I like both the fruit. I like the apricot one, as well.

Do you not feel, as a business,

it's one step too far, doing this stuff?

Or is it something which, you think Wensleydale is so precious, but you think, "OK, fine."

As long as they keep the Wensleydale, traditional Wensleydale there.

I do like the original Wensleydale.

-In fact, so much that I'm going to use it in my recipe.

-Right.

So what I'm going to make is an apple and Wensleydale pie.

'It had better be good. These ladies know their Wensleydale.

'I'm going to have to make a cracking pie!

'I've made a sweet shortcrust pastry for this pie,

'using butter and flour, sugar and a pinch of salt.

'Use cold butter to get a firm breadcrumb texture

'before adding water to bind the pastry.'

Now, I need to split this into two.

One for the lid, and one for the base.

So, you get your bit of pastry, flatten it down.

Little turn for luck!

And just gently take it out. Keep it moving.

I think once you... Once it stays in one place,

you have a problem.

-The steam roller effect.

-Yeah.

'Gently roll the dough over your tin and coax it into place,

'making sure you push it into the bottom and sides.

'Once your tin is lined,

'skin and roughly chop some cooking apples and some Cox's apples

'for their sweet juicy flavour.

'I think the ladies will want a bit of a bite to their pie,

'so I'm keeping the apple nice and chunky.'

I'm going to cut off some of this Wensleydale.

I'm going to add some of this cheese to the top.

Is it something that you like to use?

-Oh, yes, have it with apples.

-Yes.

-But not cooked in the pie.

-Not cooked in a pie.

I'm adding a bit of sugar to that as well

cos there's some tartness coming from the baking apples.

I think that will probably do.

This is going to melt inside. So the next thing I want to add is the lid.

'I roll out a lid with some of the remaining pastry from earlier.

'Once it's on, push it down onto the base to form a firm seal.

'Trim off any excess and then crimp the edges.

'Every baker hates waste,

'so use the leftover pastry to make your pie look a bit more special.

'Don't forget, I've got two Yorkshire lasses to impress!'

Get rid of that. Looks a bit like a heart at the moment.

Get a little bit for the top.

Then use some egg wash on it, which I've got here.

Brush the top with egg, all the way along.

You can enrich this egg wash by putting an extra yolk in it,

making it very yellow.

Get your little apple,

stick it on the corner.

A little bit sticking out there.

A bit of egg wash on top of that.

Get some sugar, coat it all over the top.

'My pie is now ready for the oven,

'which is pre-heated to 200 degrees.

'Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown

'or, in my case, take out the one I made earlier.'

Look at that.

And it smells... It smells so good.

You've got that beautiful apple in there.

Two types of apple, the Cox and the baking. Two different flavours.

And you've got that Wensleydale cheese in there

melting with that gorgeous golden pastry.

That, for me, is a proper pie.

That's an apple and Wensleydale pie.

'I know what you're thinking. Cheese and apple?

'But trust me. Yorkshire folk have been eating this for years.

'Earlier, cake decorator Adam Cox brought in a cake he made especially for me.'

'Now I'm going to test Adam's artistic skills further.

'It's a cake decorating challenge with a tropical twist.'

Adam, this is a...

..pina colada cake.

-Looks delicious.

-It's made of Madeira, so it's a bit more substantial.

Can you make that look fantastic with your icing and sugar paste?

I think between us we can do a good job of it, yeah.

Right. I'm going to show you guys how to make it now.

But in the meantime... This is butter cream,

which can go on the outside, or whatever you want to do.

Leave it with me.

'Pina colada is a classic rum-based cocktail

'flavoured with coconut and pineapple.

'I've incorporated these flavours into my butter cream

'which I've made with softened butter, sifted icing sugar,

'coconut liqueur and pineapple essence.'

Now, if you could mix that together,

that's your butter cream coating for that, if that's of any use to you.

No problem at all.

Now, when it comes to a pina colada, it takes me back.

It takes me back to last week when I was on holiday.

Everyone's had a pina colada. It's that strong coconut, the pineapple and a bit of cream.

So I'm going to make a Madeira cake, something that Adam is now about to decorate.

But it needs to be substantial. It's probably going to take some weight.

So to start with, you need the flour in the bowl.

'I'm making a Madeira sponge using the all-in-one method,

'which means everything in a bowl at the same time.

'Start with self-raising flour, add seven whole eggs,

'caster sugar and margarine.'

But you could use butter in there, so you could use half margarine, half butter.

A little bit of milk going in there, too.

And finally, coconut. This is one of the key ingredients also

in a pina colada.

Now, get your mixer.

Start off quite slow.

-Watch it, mate!

-Sorry, mate, am I covering you in margarine?

I know you're trying to sabotage my work!

Why would I do that, Adam?

Again, mix all these ingredients together. Get in there.

How are you getting on with that? What do you think of the cake?

The cake itself is a delight to work with, actually.

You should do this professionally!

Really moist.

You can see at this stage how wet it is.

You can see the globules of fat, but it needs to be mixed together properly.

So high speed, and then get right in there.

Start breaking it all down.

So what are you going to put on the top?

Well, pina colada you sort of enjoy chilling back on the beach,

so we'll do a nice desert island theme.

I'm liking your thought there, Adam.

It's beginning to come together and cream together quite nicely.

There's our mix which is good to go.

'This is a substantial cake, so put it in for about an hour and a half

'at 160 degrees until golden brown.'

Obviously, Adam's had the cake now for about, ooh, three hours.

How have we got on?

Well, I'm just taking my time, making sure it's up to scratch!

-It's very neat.

-Thank you.

So what's this going to be? What's the base of the cake?

We're going to cover it in the blue colour and put a little disc of sand in the middle.

Not sand, but sand colour, which will act as the island.

Then we'll do a little scene on the island.

We'll have a palm tree and a little pina colada, probably.

Hopefully a guy on it, chilling out, enjoying himself.

No rush, then, mate! Hurry up!

Leave it with me.

'After a busy day in the kitchen, there's nothing better than sitting down with my guests

'who've helped me create today's dishes.

'First up, we have the beautiful rabbit pancetta pies

'made using Karen and David's award-winning pancetta.

That fennel really comes through, doesn't it?

-I think the pastry adds to it. It's a proper pie when you put a pastry lid on.

-Yes.

'I can't wait to hear what Liz and Sue

'make of my apple and Wensleydale pie.'

The cheese is very subtle, isn't it?

-It doesn't shout out that there's a lot of cheese in it at all.

-But it's there.

'And Adam has done something "rum-arkable"

'with my pineapple and coconut cake.'

What did you do with that cake? It looks stunning.

I've gone for the theme of the pina colada.

Even made a little one here,

so you're just chilling out on the beach.

'Living the dream on a beach made of cake. My very own "dessert" island.'

Notice how I'm avoiding carving you here!

You might want to keep it!

-Cheers!

-That's lovely.

-Tropical summer.

We've made some great recipes today with those flavour combinations

that for me really work.

I hope it's inspired you to do the same in your kitchen.

-Cheers, guys!

-Cheers!

-Cheers!

To good food. Cheers.