Episode 3 Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

Pies and puddings really sum up the strengths of our culinary culture.

It's great food that's easy to make and delicious to eat, and I love it.

Today, I'm all about hearty winter fare.

Rich meat pies to warm the cockles of your heart,

and to cool it all off,

the creamiest milk pudding I've ever created.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four -

there's spuds galore as I head out on a quest

to find the perfect potatoes for my meat and two potato pie.

Proper Northern pie, this one.

I'll be putting my twist on a classic panna cotta,

using plump blueberries and farm-fresh buttermilk.

Don't they look great? Look at the colour of them!

And it's a Lancastrian lovefest in the kitchen as fellow

Northerner Nigel Haworth joins me for a dose of gastronomic nostalgia.

So, mutton, it's an elderly sheep.

You're talking about something with a bit of age,

I think we've aged well. You know what I mean, Nigel?

And I seek inspiration from my roots

as I recreate the classic Liverpool dish - scouse -

but with a Hollywood twist.

It's a sort of posh-ish scouse.

Which, I suppose, is a bit like me.

And if you want to make any of today's dishes,

go to the BBC website for the full recipes.

I've been making meat and potato pies for donkeys' years,

but my recipe is slightly unusual because I use two types of potato.

But, with so many varieties out there, do we really know our spuds?

So, my meat and two potato pie. The big choice is, what potatoes?

I need two different varieties that are going to do different jobs

when cooked, and I wondered how many varieties

my fellow fair-goers actually know.

Can you name any potatoes?

Desiree, King Edward... Jersey Royal.

-Maris Piper...

-Do you like potatoes?

-Potaters? Dunno know about that.

-Not "potaters". Potatoes.

-King Edward.

-Jersey Royals.

-Desiree.

-Charlotte.

-Yeah, Charlotte.

-Ooh, new potatoes.

-No.

-Apache.

-Charlotte.

-What?

-Raw.

-Raw.

-Sweet potato, does that count?

-No.

-King Edwards.

-Desiree.

-Desiree.

-Yup.

-Desiree.

Any time you want, just chip in.

-What's your favourite one?

-A decent-sized one.

A baked potato.

So, the overwhelming three are Jersey, Desiree,

King Edward and that's it.

Very, very strange, considering how many different types are out there

at the moment, they're the leading three.

Well, in Bucks, anyway.

I need two types of potato to work in my meat pie,

but how do I decide which two?

I need some professional help,

and Dr Mike Storey, one of the country's top spud experts,

is just the man for the job.

Can you tell me the difference between a Desiree and a King Edward?

What-what would each bring to the table?

King Edwards, they're particularly suitable for Sunday roasts.

Desiree, red skin variety, makes a lovely, creamy mash.

And what about a good all-rounder?

Maris Piper, that's probably the most widely grown variety

and the one that you'll find in most supermarkets.

That's a good all-round potato.

-So, what have we got here then?

-That's the King Edward.

When you break that down, it breaks apart very easily.

So that's the fluffy variety.

-That's the fluffy varieties that we're talking about.

-OK.

For my recipe, I need a potato with a similar powdery consistency

and another that will hold its shape and texture.

-What else have we got in here then?

-Charlottes.

-OK.

You can see that has stayed much firmer

and we'll put that side-by-side.

You can see it's a very firm texture.

That will have a very, very firm bite.

Considering they've both been in there the same time,

that one is beautiful and soft and that one is rock hard.

This final one is Maris Piper -

that's much more like the King Edward in that case.

That's probably the most popular variety with the chip shops.

So, if it's fluffy mash you're after

then the Desiree is the spud for you.

But if you need a potato that can stand the heat without

falling apart, go for a sturdy Charlotte.

And if you're making roasties, you can't beat a King Edward.

Still confused? Then the Maris Piper is the best all-rounder for you.

-Thanks.

-OK.

So, I'm all set to bake my next recipe,

a steak pie featuring not one but two types of potato.

Now I'm making a meat and potato pie

and I've got the two types of spuds here that we chose.

-Do you know your spuds?

-I hope so.

-Crack on peeling that.

-Great, thanks.

Right. What I'm going to do is break down some of these spuds.

I've got the two types of spuds here, so if you can peel that lot.

He doesn't have to, I've got them all here!

I'm actually using chuck steak.

'Chuck steak, or braising steak, is packed with flavour

'and really benefits from being cooked slowly.'

'Next, I roughly chop an onion

'and throw it in with the raw chuck steak.

'Then, pour in enough water to cover the meat and bring to the boil.'

If you find later, when you're cooking it off,

you've too much liquid, you can leave it to one side

and use that as a gravy, anyway.

I'm just going to put a little bit of seasoning in there.

'Cover the pan and simmer gently for about an hour and a half

'until the sauce thickens and the meat is tender.'

All the meat is tender. The smell is fantastic.

Again, it hasn't been browned, but look at the colour of the meat,

it's just breaking apart at the moment.

Finally, add both types of the potatoes to the meat,

season and cook for a further 35 minutes.

The Desiree potatoes will break down to thicken the sauce

whilst the Charlotte potatoes keep their bite.

Look at this.

This is the mixture that has been thickened slightly

with the potatoes.

Good, lumpy, proper Northern pie, this one.

OK, you've got your filling.

Now I need to choose a lid.

I've decided to go down a very traditional route.

I've got my plain flour here and I'm using suet.

'Suet is usually raw beef or mutton fat

'and it's perfect in this recipe because it adds to the flavour

'and helps give the pastry a better texture.'

You rub this together.

Try and break down that suet a little bit

and then the liquid goes in.

When the liquid goes in, then you work it slightly.

I still want those pieces of suet in there.

It will break down, but it really adds to this dish.

So the suet that you're using, is it vegetable or animal suet?

It is animal. You can use vegetable if you want to.

-Animal's got more body to it.

-OK.

If you want to, you can use butter in there.

The whole idea is it's quite a robust pastry.

'I'm adding just enough cold water to bring the mixture together

'into a soft and slightly sticky dough.'

That is a lot of hard work,

-could you do it in a mixer to make it easy?

-It's not hard work!

-Oh!

-Show us your bicep.

You've been picking potatoes, haven't you?

You pick potatoes and I do the pastry.

The thing is, I would actually use a dough hook if you're doing that

in a mixer but, if you want to get rid of those bingo wings,

this is the way to do it. OK? Are you listening, Mum?

-Mum's going to kill me now, Mike.

-Yeah.

'Work the pastry dough until it comes together and becomes smooth.

'Add a little extra plain flour if it starts to stick.'

I'm happy with that.

The next stage for me is to put the meat into the tin.

So, I get the meat.

Look at the lumps of the meat and the potatoes.

You can see, as this is going in,

the Desiree potato has done the job as a thickener.

The Charlottes are staying quite plump, quite firm.

The whole thing together is going to work as a dish.

It's simple but highly effective,

which is what a pie is all about.

Pop your dish back down there.

Just make sure the juices are all the way covered.

With your pastry, I'm just going to take a little bit of this off.

This is going to form the rim around the outside.

Make a bit of space.

Flatten it down with your fingers.

Then roll it. Start in the middle, full length of your hand.

Nice and gently.

Tack it down onto the top of the plate

and just simply push it down onto the rim of the dish.

'To finish the pie,

'roll out the rest of the pastry to around 7 to 8mm

'and lay it over the top of the dish,

'pressing it down onto the pastry rim.'

Get a little blade. Lift it up.

just neatly trim around the outside.

I love this job. I used to do it with apple pies when I was a kid.

50 apple pies every hour, I used be quite proud of myself.

Just run round the outside.

All I'm going to do now is crimp it.

The way you do that is two fingers, the forefinger,

just push down and lift up.

I learnt this from my mum, she used to crimp the side

of her pies like this. I think it looks attractive.

'Finally, put a hole in the top to allow steam to escape

'and keep the pastry crisp, and bake for around 35 minutes at 200 Celsius

'until golden brown.'

And you can see straightaway what the suet's done.

It has given it that depth, that texture, that colour.

The whole thing together, that crispy top

with the extra bit of pastry on the inside, there's your dunking bit.

Beautiful potatoes, thanks very much, Mike.

With that meat that's been cooked for an hour and a half,

it's really tender and then it's gone into an oven.

That, for me, is the best meat and potato pie you'll ever have.

I'm proud of my culinary roots, and pies and puds

is the perfect way for me to celebrate them.

I'm delighted to be joined in the kitchen today by Nigel Haworth,

a fellow Northern lad who dishes up proper Lancashire recipes.

-Hiya, Paul.

-Hello, Nigel.

-How are you?

-Nice to see you.

Now, what are you going to be cooking for us?

I believe you are going to be cooking up something from your past?

Yeah. I mean, my mum was a big fan of suet pudding.

We've got a Herdwick mutton pudding with black peas,

otherwise known as Carling peas.

-Do you want to crack on?

-Yeah.

-I'll help you. You step into our kitchen.

-You're doing all the hard work!

-You tell me.

Tell me what to do, mate. Come on.

Right, we're going to, first of all, make the suet.

We have got self-raising flour, we've got suet,

a little bit of water and a little pinch of salt in there.

-If you want to pop that and mix that together.

-I've got the flour, suet...

-Mutton is an elderly sheep.

-Yeah.

A minimum you'd say of two-year-old.

Here we have got some shoulder and neck of mutton.

We have got the kidneys and we have got some mutton bacon.

That's basically the belly of the mutton, just cured,

-salt, sugar, a little bit of mace and pepper.

-Yeah.

That gives it a little bit of oomph.

You're talking about something with a bit of age, we've aged well. You know what I mean?

Now we've hit our 30s.

I wasn't going to say but, yeah, you're probably right.

'Nigel combines the diced mutton,

'the mutton bacon and sliced kidneys in a bowl

'and then adds the black peas.'

So what is it about Northern pies and puds, I think, is special?

Do you know what? When you get on the train from Preston.

-Yeah.

-And you get off the train at Euston?

-Yeah.

You realise it's a lot warmer down South.

You need hearty food up there in the winter times.

This dish is a real moreish, heart-warming dish.

'Nigel finishes off the filling by pouring a little water

'over the mutton mixture, which will later become the gravy.'

I love gravy.

'Everything goes into the pudding basin

'that I have lined with suet pastry.'

I just need to moisten that with a little bit of water

and then roll out the pastry for the top. OK?

It's the same thing, not just hearty meat puddings,

but there is also the sweet side of things, as well.

You've got the steamed puddings, the toffee, sticky toffee

and all that stuff. I mean, they're just fantastic, the flavours.

Hearty, and they fill you up.

It is carbed to death, whether you are using a suet or a heavy dough.

You don't need to have a huge portion of that, because it's rich...

Speak for yourself, Nigel!

It's filling. I got five portions out of that the other day.

-Five?

-You know, we are a bit tight in our house, but five portions.

-Do you want me to trim that?

-Yeah, please. If you would.

-You're done this before, haven't you?

-Er, once or twice.

'Nigel steams his mutton pudding in a pan on a hob for four hours.'

-Look at that!

-There you go.

You can see it's taken a little bit of the colour of the meat as well.

-Those juices have sort of infused in there.

-Yeah.

That's the hardest bit.

Right, I'm going to leave that a minute and check my sauce.

So, black peas, what are they all about, then?

Carling peas, pigeon peas, black peas or parched peas,

they are what they used to feed the pigeons on in the old days,

but became a staple part of the diet, you know, in the North of England.

So, it links in nicely. It does go awfully well with mutton.

If you're going to do a mutton stew, use Carling peas and also,

of course, because it's a pulse vegetable, it thickens as it cooks.

-So it'll break down and add to it?

-Absolutely.

I'm just going to pop that onto our gas there. Pop the capers in.

-You can wrestle that off if you want.

-Oh, right.

It's a very sexy feeling when it comes off, I'll tell you.

-Oh!

-Oh, eh-up!

Oh, dear! It's broken, but look at that inside.

-I'm going to patch that up.

-A patched-up pud!

-I can work me magic on this.

-Let's finish it off now.

We're going to pop over...

-I love you, Nigel. I just want you to know that.

-Thank you, Paul.

-That's proper food.

-I didn't know you cared!

Pop that over there.

There you go, Paul, you've got Herdwick mutton pudding

with black peas and capers.

That looks absolutely stunning.

'Nigel's hearty mutton pudding is the perfect winter warmer.

'It's a real taste of the North and I love it!'

'My next recipe uses a really common ingredient

'that I think has been overlooked.'

Milk.

Full of goodness and part of a healthy, balanced diet.

At least, that's what my mum always said.

I've been in search of the cream of the crop.

'Ivy House Farm in Somerset has been producing the cream

'of British dairy produce for the last three decades.

'It's run by husband and wife duo, Geoff and Kim Bowles,

'with a little help from their children.'

'They have a herd of 160 organic Jersey cows,

'a breed renowned for their lush, rich milk,

'and can count upmarket retailers like Selfridges,

'Fortnum & Mason and Harrods amongst their fans.'

I think our Jersey milk and cream always has been

the champagne of creams.

It's always been superb quality to taste. It's thick, it's rich

and it's wholesome,

and I'm immensely proud of what we produce here.

'Farmer Geoff has a special relationship with his Jersey cows.'

She was giving the highest butterfat in the herd.

That made her cow of the week, a few weeks ago.

'A typical day here starts at 5am

'when the cows are led to the parlour to be milked.'

We've got to separate the cream while it's warm,

so we always milk this time of day. We do only milk once a day.

The milk is then coming down these pipes through the milk meter

so we know how much milk the cow has been giving.

The fat is then separated from the milk so the dairy can meet

every demand, from semi-skimmed milk all the way to clotted cream.

But the product I want is buttermilk,

the residual liquid produced once cream has been churned into butter.

Often discarded, buttermilk is now enjoying a welcome revival.

This is supposed to have qualities in cooking and pastry making,

and traditionally is good in scones and all that sort of thing.

And a lot of the old recipes do say, use buttermilk.

I've been using milk products for years,

so let's hope Geoff and Kim's makes my panna cotta

UDDERLY scrumptious!

COW MOOS

And Geoff and Kim have joined me in my kitchen. Hello.

Those cows, fantastic animals. They look like a part of your family.

-Well, they are.

-Have you named all of them?

All the characters have got names.

They've all got numbers, so we know where everything traces from.

Everything starts from the cows.

If I was going to come back as a cow that's where I would want to live.

OK, so we've got some of your creams here.

What we've got here, actually, this is double cream, which

we picked up from a local store, and this is YOUR double cream.

-The colour comes from the cow.

-It comes from the cow, yes.

It's in the metabolism of the cow.

I'm going to use this in my panna cotta.

The one I'm going to make is basically a blueberry panna cotta.

'I'm going to soak some gelatine leaves

'whilst I put the cream into a pan with caster sugar and vanilla paste.

'The intense flavour of the vanilla paste combined with the blueberries

'is going to be absolutely fantastic.'

Slowly melt down the cream with the sugar

and vanilla paste on a gentle heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

-What do you eat with your cream?

-Anything!

-Anything.

-Do you put full whipping cream on your cereal?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-It's because you can.

-Because we can, that's true.

Wait until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Then add your softened gelatine, keep stirring until it's melted.

It's pretty much all gone at the moment.

So what I'm going to do is add your buttermilk.

Next, add the buttermilk and stir thoroughly

Then pour your vanilla mixture onto the blueberries and then pop them

into the fridge to set, preferably overnight.

This is what they look like when they've been set.

Don't they look great? Look at the colour of them.

I'll pop it on a plate, pop it underneath,

little bit of a shake. There it is.

There's the panna cotta. Beautiful.

You can see the vanilla paste on top and you can see

the blueberries in there and that beautiful, yellow Jersey milk.

That looks stunning.

Now, to go with this I decided to do a very quick blueberry compote.

Add star anise to equal parts water and sugar.

Melt it down and throw in a quarter of a punnet of blueberries.

Then cook slowly until the fruit breaks down.

So you serve the panna cotta with this beautiful blueberry compote.

That together with the Jersey milk is something very special.

Geoff and Kim, thank you very much for coming along,

-and thank you for bringing this gorgeous cream and milk with you.

-Thank you.

Made with some of Devon's finest buttermilk,

my blueberry panna cottas are full of creamy goodness

and I can't wait to taste them

with my guests later.

-I love you, Nigel. I just wanted you to know that.

-Thank you, Paul.

Earlier, Nigel showed me how to make a classic Northern mutton putting.

Now it's my turn to show Nigel a dish that my mum taught me

when I was a kid, and it's scouse.

The twist is, I'm turning the scouse into a pie.

Nigel, what I've got in the pan at the moment is a browned...

I've actually browned the neck of a lamb.

Scouse traditionally has beef or lamb in it, right?

I'm using lamb, which is basically on the bone.

I think it's got a little bit more flavour and it's a cheaper

cut of meat which, realistically, we would have had.

All I've done here is brown off the lamb,

-and if I take this out for now...

-I've never eaten this, Paul.

Haven't you? You've never have scouse?

-You only live 30 miles up the road, mate.

-I know.

And leave that to rest. Now, all the juices in there...

Nigel, if you could shop that onion, just roughly chop it,

straight in there.

Once that's softened, just chop up potato, the carrot...

We're going to have the thyme, the bay leaf and then the stock back

with the meat and cook that for about an hour and a half, two hours,

until the meat - check it -

the meat will just fall off the bone. It's delicious.

For my scouse, I'm using Desiree potatoes,

which will break down and thicken the gravy nicely.

Now, as a pie, it needs a lid.

I'm going to show you how to do a rough puff pastry.

And to make that, you need flour. I've got plain flour here.

-That's well chopped, Chef.

-Thank you.

While Nigel carries on with the pie filling, I'm going to

concentrate on the pastry lid.

Squeeze of lemon juice in there.

Adding lemon juice to the dough helps to break it down,

which in turn ensures a lovely, flaky pastry.

Little bit of salt in there.

And then I'm going to add some butter that's just been cubed.

It's essential when making rough puff pastry that both your butter

and water are really cold.

I'm going to add the water to this mixture and just begin to form

this pastry. Just mix it around with your hands.

The butter will break up a bit

but there will still be chunks in there.

I can't believe you've never had scouse.

Scouse, or lobscouse, originally, it was called,

came from the Baltic, Latvia, and it was brought in from sailors.

Sailors brought this dish in with them

and then, Liverpool being the port it was, they just grabbed it.

Liverpool is now really buzzing again, isn't it?

It was, and it's taken a few years to get there, but now it is.

It's one of those lively places that you go to.

-The city centre is fantastic, isn't it?

-Isn't it?

-Absolutely.

Have a look at this pastry now.

You've got a rough pastry with lumps of butter running all the way

through it. And that's perfect.

Pop that onto the bench...

-It's great having a chef working here.

-Yeah!

-Good lad.

I'm expensive, you know.

-THEY LAUGH

-Send me the invoice, mate.

-Pop these in, Paul?

-Yes, please, mate. Thank you.

I'm just going to roll it out again...

one more time...

So now you flatten out your pastry and this is another turn.

You fold it over a third,

the exposed third goes over the top of that.

Because at the moment the butter is beginning to soften, I'll put that

in the fridge for at least an hour.

You need to fold it twice more and then your puff pastry will be ready.

Minimum four. You can do five.

Bring out one here...

..that I have folded, and there it is.

What you're looking for in a good puff pastry or rough puff is marble.

-Do you agree, Nigel?

-Yeah, absolutely.

So I'll park that to one side, bring over this...

..which is the pot of the scouse!

That basically has been cooked for an hour and a half, two hours.

The meat is falling off the bone,

the potatoes are beginning to break down, the Desiree potatoes,

to thicken up that sauce. The smell is fantastic.

It's a bit cooler because I've got to put the lid on.

If I put it on when it's too hot

the puff pastry will collapse and fall in.

I'll park that down there. I've got my pastry.

The next thing I'm going to do is put the lid on the top.

When rolling out your rough puff pastry,

always start from the middle and work outwards.

-It's a great pastry, isn't it?

-It is a great pastry.

So the lid is here.

Cover as much as you can...

Take it down the sides...

I'm going to try and cut it round here using a knife.

Take it a little bit further down the side of the pan.

-That'll allow you to crimp the edge, Paul?

-Yeah.

I'm just going to basically give a little bit extra round the side

and bond it to the pot itself.

Obviously, my mum would just serve it out of the pot with a big

chunky bread and that's it.

But the addition of this buttery pastry,

I think, adds something to this.

-In essence, Paul, it changes it from a stew to a pie, doesn't it?

-It does.

Exactly.

Before baking my scouse pie, I brush the top with a beaten egg

so it browns up nicely.

So it's like a... a sort of posh-ish scouse.

Which I suppose is a bit like me. So what's happened is...

THEY LAUGH

I live down in Kent now, you see?

So what I've done is,

I decided to put puff pastry on a very traditional bowl of stew.

Pop your scouse pie in the oven for half an hour on 200 degrees

until the pastry is golden brown.

-Here's one we did earlier.

-Oh, yes.

Look at that.

You have a beautiful, golden pastry all over the top.

It's got that flake, it's got that butteriness

and inside is my mum's and my favourite,

scouse pie.

I can't wait to try that.

'Filled with meaty flavour and crammed with flaky pastry,

'this scouse pie is a hearty treat and a Hollywood family favourite.'

It's time for my guests to taste the dishes we made today.

This all looks delicious

and I'm going to gorge myself something rotten.

Tuck in, guys.

Why have one pie when you can have three?

Wait!

This tasty pie trilogy is a winning combination of succulent meat,

rich gravy and three types of pastry.

Thank you.

Thank you.

-What gravy is that?

-That's the black pea one to go with the mutton dish.

-What do you think of this scouse, Nigel?

-It's a no-brainer, really.

Have you tried that mutton dish with the black peas on it?

The scouse as well, I must admit, it takes me back.

So can you actually go to Liverpool and gets scouse?

You'd probably find it in a couple of pubs,

but I hear it's going on in Nigel Howarth's restaurant.

LAUGHTER

And there's no better way to round off a hearty meal

than a light, creamy panna cotta,

and the luxurious Jersey buttermilk takes it to another level.

What colour is your panna cotta, Nigel?

It is a bit whiter than this, I've got to say.

That's really nice, isn't it?

It's long on the palate, isn't it?

It made a cow very happy.

Do you think it's done your cows justice?

I think it has, it's beautiful.

There's nothing better than delicious food that's simple to make

and great to eat.

I hope you can join me next time

when I'll have more pies and puds on the menu. See you then.