Episode 6 Paul Hollywood's Pies & Puds

Pies and puddings really sum up the strengths of Britain's food culture.

It's good grub, it's easy to make, delicious to eat and I love it.

Hello and welcome to Pies and Puds.

I'm on a mission to pay tribute to the nation's favourite comfort

foods and I hope I can inspire you to recreate these tempting recipes.

Here's what's on my menu today.

I'll be making a cheese, potato and onion pie

full of rich flavour, thanks to a mature cheddar

made in a unique creamery in the North Yorkshire moors.

Now, I'm going to grate quite a big chunk of this, actually,

cos I think it's going to go exceptionally well inside this pie.

'I'll be rummaging through the hedgerows to find the flavours

'I need for my lemon and lavender posset,

'growing wild in the English landscape.'

You know what it's like? This is like going down a supermarket...

-Yeah, I know.

-..and you're thinking,

"Ah, yeah, we need some black beans, we need some fennel."

And chocolatier Paul Young teaches me the art of tempering

which turns my chocolate and prune tart into a showstopper.

Then all my guests join me to try today's dishes, and if you want

to make any of these recipes, you'll find them all on the BBC website.

My first recipe is a refreshing lemon and lavender possett which is

full of flavours that are new to me - the essence of wild flowers.

I grew up in the North West but now Kent is my home county.

I love baking with its local farm fruit and vegetables.

But someone who knows what other exciting ingredients grow wild here

is foraging expert Lucia Stuart.

Do you think then,

based on the fact that there are so many wild foods out there,

foods that you can go and pick for your own consumption,

that...could you live off the land?

We could, but why not combine it with the best of both worlds?

So, you use the wild flowers, you use the herbs to enhance the food.

Yeah. Natural flavourings, very creative.

'Lucia tells me there are lots of weird and wonderful ingredients

'in the undergrowth, but here's one I recognised - the blackberry.'

I used to pick these a lot with my folks up near Blackpool.

I don't know why it was always Blackpool.

They are fantastic, aren't they?

They're so varied, there's many species of bramble.

And right next door is some fennel.

Fennel, of course.

That's the wild fennel and this is a terrific culinary ingredient.

Much respected by the ancient Romans

and Greeks for its medicinal property.

To flavour beers.

-It's fantastic, isn't it?

-Straightaway, it's like Kent beer.

Yeah, exactly.

'Leaving the country lanes, Lucia takes me to a garden

'to explore flavours that can be found on anyone's doorstep.'

-That is a wonderful bunch of lavender.

-That's lovely.

I do know this one, usually recognised by its scent,

not its flavour.

One of the strange things is when I actually smell lavender,

and indeed, eat lavender, it reminds me of my nan.

-It's quite a versatile thing. I think it does work in cakes.

-Mmm.

Beautiful nasturtiums from Peru, peppery tangy leaf.

Fantastic shape for stuffing.

-Have a taste of that.

-You can eat this?

You can eat it and it's peppery. I sprinkle it on pasta.

Full of vitamin C so you've got all that as well.

-It's actually quite nice.

-Do you like it?

-Yeah.

It's something which... I see a lot of this,

I just don't know what it is, so for me,

it's given a different perspective on what Kent is,

it's not just about apples and it's not just about the baking,

the Huffkins, it's not just about the soft fruit,

it's also about these magic wild foods that are out there,

but I think you have to gain the knowledge to know what you're looking for.

There's a lot to be had, isn't there?

-I think so and you've just started me on a brand-new path.

-Great.

Thank you very much indeed.

And Lucia has joined me in my kitchen.

-Hello.

-Hello.

It's a few weeks have passed since I was down there.

What have you been digging round and dug out since?

Following on from the lavender,

I thought, well, let's keep going with this lovely plant.

-So I made a lavender and apple jelly.

-Oh, hang on!

This is a cake here.

This is a lavender and lemon cake.

'I baked this cake after my day out with Lucia.'

If I just take a little bit of that.

I'm thinking now, after trying this...

Mmm...

-That is a beautiful, moist...

-Together.

-Mmm.

-It's a good cake, that.

-Lovely.

OK, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to crack on and make something using the lavender.

Um, I'm going to start by making a lavender and lemon posset.

On top of that, I'm also going to make the lavender biscuits,

which I think will go really well with it.

'Heat some cream in a pan and add caster sugar.

'Then, the star of the recipe, lavender.'

About two teaspoons.

That will get infused into the cream.

Now, this needs to come to the boil,

basically to dissolve the sugar that's in there at the moment.

'Once it's boiled, add the juice of two lemons.'

Once it's all dissolved,

it's ready then to go straight into your jars here.

If I get a jug to put this in.

Once it's gone in the fridge, it then sets.

That's what makes the posset.

In medieval times, posset was a drink

split and curdled by lemon juice, but today the sugar stabilises it

into a mousse-like, velvety texture.

It's such a clean food to have at the end of a meal.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

And, traditionally, would they have a biscuit with it, or not?

-Easy, easy.

-Oh, coming in?

Now this is going to go in the fridge

-and to go this I'm going to make a lavender biscuit!

-Great!

OK? This is going to go straight in the fridge.

Now, to make the biscuits, here I have some softened butter.

To which I'm going to add some lavender, straight in.

It's a good time to add.

It releases all the oils, while you're beating the thing to death.

'Beat in some caster sugar, flour and mix thoroughly.

This is basically going to make a very crumbly biscuit.

Pop that on the bench.

'Roll the dough into a sausage.

'Wrap in grease-proof paper.

'And chill in the fridge for half an hour.'

You end up with this,

which is now easy to cut into biscuits.

You just pop this onto a tray.

'Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for 20 minutes.

'Once they have gone golden, they're done.'

And, over here, are said biscuits.

When I bring the posset out...

-Look at these fellows.

-Mmm.

These are going to be absolutely delicious.

'After half an hour in the fridge, they're setting nicely.'

Pop a couple of those on there, with these gorgeous...

..biscuits.

Do you want some fresh, Paul, because that's a bit more colourful?

-It is, indeed.

-Yeah.

There you have it, lemon and lavender posset,

with lavender biscuits.

'This is a light, delicate way to finish a lunch,

'especially if you're eating in the garden.'

As a baker, I temper chocolate occasionally,

but I'm always happy to pick up tips from a master,

and who better than expert chocolatier, Paul Young.

-How are you doing?

-I'm all right, Paul. Are you all right?

-I'm good.

'Paul is going to show me his easy, yet effective decorations,

'but we'll come to that.'

-My eyes were initially drawn to this box of chocolates.

-Good.

-Now, you've got a huge selection here.

-I have.

I know you do a champagne ganache one. Which one is it?

-It's this one, or this one in the corner.

-Or that one?

It's just champagne and chocolate. Nothing else.

Which means it's really boozy. It's really strong.

He's going to do the second one.

Mmm. You can taste the champagne.

-It's sort of fizzes, as well.

-Yeah.

-You've got that gorgeous chocolate, as well.

-It is all about the chocolate.

If you've got good chocolate, you can make good chocolates.

You can't make bad chocolate taste good.

What's that one?

That one is Bakewell tart.

It's everything in a Bakewell tart, in a truffle.

It tastes just like it, you get that almond in there,

little apricot flake in there

-and you've got those nuts on the top.

-It's lovely.

Have you got a sausage roll one?

I haven't got a sausage roll one but I've got a goat's cheese one.

-Oh! Have you?

-It's like cheesecake.

Goat's cheese? Yeah, it works. Try it.

But with a delicate, dark chocolate, you don't want the chocolate

-to overpower the goat's cheese.

-You do!

-You do?!

-I don't like goat's cheese.

'There's no limits to Paul Young's chocolates.

'He's also got Eccles cake, coffee,

'lime and lemon grass caramel with mango

'and classic rocher.'

-Is there another layer?

-No. You've nearly eaten half, anyway!

How much are you looking at for one chocolate?

One chocolate is £2.

-What?!

-I know.

We are, though, London's only handmade chocolate company,

-believe it or not.

-I've just eaten £16 worth of chocolates.

-You have.

16 quid?!

We use some of the best chocolate from small producers, as well.

What are you going to show us now?

The key thing that intimidates everybody, as we said, is tempering.

Tempering simply means introducing strength to the chocolate.

When you see a really shiny Easter egg,

or a shiny bar of chocolate, you know the chocolate's tempered.

It's been heated and cooled and mixed on a granite,

or marble, slab, to then give it strength.

You're going to show us how to do it, then?

I'm going to show you exactly how to do it.

Once you can do it, you can make chocolate Easter eggs,

decoration curls, swirls,

you can do anything with chocolate once you can temper.

In the bowl is our melted chocolate, about 55 degrees.

Pour just over two thirds out onto the slab.

'Most chocolatiers use thermometers

'and all kinds of technical equipment.

'Paul Young teaches by eye, that's a clever thing.'

-Milk chocolate's thicker.

-Yeah.

-You can see this has gone much thinner and wider.

-Yeah, I notice.

Pallete knife in your right hand, scraper in your left.

You've got to spread out the chocolate.

Once you've spread out and it's even thickness.

Hang on! I haven't done this yet!

You have to work quick or it'll set, it'll go lumpy.

-Scrape the chocolate...

-I haven't done it yet! Hang on!

If that goes lumpy, we'll have to start all over again.

-Oh, no.

-Swap hands. Do as you're told!

You're going to scrape from the outside into the middle.

So all the chocolate is going to end up where you poured it at the beginning.

So what we're doing is spreading the chocolate to cool it

and if we left it on the slab, it would set solid.

That's why we've left some melted chocolate in our bowl.

-Ah...

-To stop it setting.

-OK.

That's what we're looking for when it goes very, very thick.

What we're going to do now is scrape that thick chocolate

into my bowl of melted chocolate.

That's it, well done. That's brilliant.

Now you have two or three minutes of mixing to make sure

the temperature of the chocolate is even all the way through.

-You'll notice it's very, very shiny now.

-Yeah.

It's because everything is emulsified together.

The really traditional way to check if your chocolate is tempered,

dip a corner in...

Touch your bottom lip.

It should feel at body temperature, neither hot nor cold.

-It feels about that.

-Once we know it's tempered, we can start using it.

This is the clever bit. You can do so many things with chocolate

but the easiest way to get something really modern and contemporary,

to really lift the tart, is with acetate.

Chocolate loves acetate sheets.

All you need to do is take a sheet, start to crumple it up.

That's it.

If we just spoon on some chocolate.

All we do now is pop that in the fridge for two or three minutes

until it's really, really crisp.

Peel off the plastic and we can decorate our tarts.

So I'll pop this one in.

It doesn't take very long at all.

Then get decorating.

'After 15 minutes in the fridge, it's set.'

So, OK, now you can hold them.

Look, they've stiffened up.

What we need to do is turn it over,

and you should be able to start to peel off the plastic.

Don't worry, it will break into pieces. It's meant to.

Lift them up by their edges and position them

on the tart in whatever design, decoration you like.

-Mix it up?

-Yeah, you can mix it up.

It looks very thin but what's good about it is,

if you've got a really delicate dessert, these are paper thin.

They are really, really, great for anything where

you can't have the weight on the top.

That looks fantastic. I think, with the chocolate shards on there,

-it looks very retro.

-Yeah, it does.

'And that's not all from Paul.

'He'll be using more tempering tricks later

'to turn my chocolate and prune tart into a show stopper.'

When I was a lad, my dad's cheese and onion pasties were the best.

Inspired by him, I'm going to make a cheese, onion and potato pie.

My search for the mature cheddar that the pie needs,

led to a village in North Yorkshire,

where there's more to the cheese than meets the eye.

'For this recipe, I've found a very special cheese, indeed.

'Dale End Cheddar tastes great and has a heart-warming story behind it.

'This is Botton village, a self-sufficient community

'of five small farms, deep in the North York Moors.

'It was set up in 1955 to offer adults with special needs

'and learning disabilities the support they need to enjoy a fulfilling life.

'They spend their days farming and working and,

'more importantly, enjoying the fruits of their labour.'

The people with special needs,

they have the opportunity

to develop in the working environment -

and the creamery is a good example of that -

and reach a high level of skill

and it's very important in Botton that they have that opportunity.

Also, the work is for a reason, and for a purpose.

'280 carers, farmers and residents all live in the valley,

'most in shared houses, as extended families of all ages and abilities.

'The cheese-making process starts at the crack of dawn.

'It's 5.30am, milking time for the cows.'

Cows ready?

-Shall we get them.

-Yeah

'Farmer Gilberto and resident David are in charge.

'Each farm has its own herd.

'With 12 cows, this is one of the biggest.

'David's role is to lead the cows to the parlour

'and help with the milking.'

Without the team that we have, we couldn't produce

what we are doing. I mean, for myself,

I certainly enjoy working with the people that we have,

supporting the people we have and seeing the satisfaction

they actually get from what they do.

'The milk is then taken to Botton's own creamery,

'where Alistair and his helpers have arrived

'and are ready to make all sorts of cheeses,

'including Gouda, Brie and that all-important cheddar.'

-Morning, Alistair.

-Morning.

So, 985 litres this morning.

'Alistair starts the cheese-making process

'and work is in full swing all over the farm.

'The vegetable patch is being cultivated,

'ready for next year's crops.

'Back at the creamery, the curds have been rested

'and are ready for the next stage.

'Ian Hatcher, who lives on one of Botton's other farms,

'comes in to help Alistair every day.

'Ian's live here for the past nine years

'and he takes great pride in making the cheese.'

I enjoy it.

It's fun

and I enjoy pushing them into the moulds.

Al is a very good teacher.

'The curds are then milled and pressed into moulds by hand.

'Alistair likes to keep it fun by turning

'part of the process into a competition...'

Oh, nearly, nearly.

'..to guess the exact weight.'

-You've got too much in there, Ian.

-Oh, well.

'The curds are then stacked to allow the whey to drain away.

'Finished cheddar wheels can take up to two years to mature.

'so it's Rob Roland's job to keep them clean of mould.'

'By tea-time, everyone is hungry, which is just as well,

'there's plenty of great quality cheese on the menu.

For creamery manager, Alistair,

'community spirit is the key to Botton's success.'

Botton cheese means that it's been made with a lot of love and care,

right through from the milking of the cows,

right through to the way we try and handle the milk

in the cheese vat.

The whole production, that passion, does make the cheese taste different.

I'm delighted that our cheese producers, Ian, Rob and Alistair,

have travelled down from Botton to join me. Hello, good morning.

Alistair, I think you're doing a fantastic job.

From these cheeses here, I think they look incredible, you know.

Do you enjoy your role as well? Do you enjoy working on the farm?

I do. It's tiring.

-Is it a big...is it long day?

-Yeah.

-We start at half past five...

-In the morning?

-Yeah.

-And then we finish at half six.

Half six? That's nearly 13 hours.

-That's a big day.

-Yeah.

-Do you have a big dinner afterwards?

-Not much.

-They don't feed you either?!

So you work 13 hours a day, no food.

-I agree.

-I'm going to have to go up to this Botton farm.

I'm going to have to come up.

So you've brought a variety of different cheeses here.

This one looks interesting, the Brie.

-Wow! That's ripe, isn't it?

-Yeah.

I mean, the thing about a Brie, as far as I'm concerned,

if you smell it and it smells like my socks,

after I've been on a run...

..like I run!

Then you know that it's going to be a good Brie.

I mean, this one is so soft.

Look at that.

I did try and keep it in my socks last night.

THEY LAUGH

To give it extra flavour.

Mmm, that's delicious.

Is this popular?

Yes. The Brie is one of...a popular cheese that we produce.

-When you're looking at this cheese, here. This is your cheddar.

-Yes.

This is the one I want to use in my dish.

I'm going to make a cheese, onion and potato pie.

Now, when I was a little kid, my dad used to own a bakery

and so I used to get out of bed at about half three in the morning.

So you've got a massive lie-in.

I would work through, but only to about half one,

so I'd be on ten hours.

I'd only do it half-day, you'd still be cracking on.

What I'm going to start with is the pastry.

Now, I've got some flour here, to which I'm going to add some cheeses.

Now I've got your cheddar cheese here, which is finely grated

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

I'm going to add just a little touch of seasoning.

'I'm using butter for flavour and lard to give the pastry a crisp bite

'and I'm adding just enough water to bind it all together.'

Get it all into one bulk, one piece, pop that on the bench.

I've got some flour here.

I can get my mucky hands in there.

Coat in a little bit of flour,

just work that dough.

Now that is about right.

Now that goes into the fridge just to chill down a little bit

and it makes it easier to roll out

and I'll come back to that later.

'For the filling, pre-boil some Desiree potatoes

'until they're light, fluffy and ready for mashing.'

Give it a bit of grief. Smash this... This is a great job, this.

-Do you want to have a go?

-I'll have a go.

-I'll have a break.

-I'll have a go.

-Right, Rob, you just need to smash those potatoes, all right?

-Yes.

You've got more strength than I have.

I'm going to need two hands.

-Takes a bit of work, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-Do you like potatoes?

-Oh, I love potatoes.

I love cheese and potato pie.

I reckon that's finished, Paul.

I reckon that's done. Thanks very much indeed, Rob.

-That saves me a job.

-Yes.

-That's just good enough.

'Then chop and add some chives.'

And this is your beautiful cheese.

Now I'm going to get my grater here.

I'm going to grate quite a big chunk of this

because I think it's going to go exceptionally well inside this pie.

Now here's all the cheese. I'm going to put that all in there.

'Roughly chop and add the onion and a dash of milk,

'give it a good mix and spread it out on a baking tray.'

Now you need to flatten this off as much as you can,

a little bit of seasoning, white pepper,

bit of salt and finally on top of that, you need to put your pastry,

like so.

Once you've stretched it,

just try and trim off the ends with your hands or a knife,

take it to the outside, easiest thing to do it, with your hand,

and then drop that down into the pie on top of the mashed potato,

like so.

'Then glaze the pastry with a beaten egg

'and it's ready to go in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.'

When you bring it out, you need to leave it to cool,

because I'd rather eat this warm than hot

and there you have it. You have your cheese, onion, potato pie

with a beautiful cheese pastry lid.

'The crunchy shortcrust top is a perfect contrast

'to the smooth, cheesy, potato filling.'

'Earlier, chocolatier Paul Young taught me the art of tempering.

'Now I'm going to show him my chocolate and prune tart.

'I hope he'll decorate it.'

Now this is going to be the chocolate and prune tart.

In here, I have the flour, because it's chocolate,

I'm adding cocoa powder to that straight in there.

'Add icing sugar, an egg yolk, lemon juice and some butter.'

So, while I'm crumbing down this, Paul,

what have you decided to put on the top?

I'm going to make the same crumpled texture.

We're going to put really bright shimmering gold and bronze powders

on top of it to lift it. So that bronzy colour for the prunes

and then the gold bit will help the chocolate colours come through.

Fantastic, so you're using proper gold?

It has got some powdered gold in there, with edible pigment,

so it will be really sparkly.

'Paul's gold trick is simple but effective.

'Sprinkle pigmented powder straight onto the acetate

'before pouring on the chocolate

'and it will coat just one side.'

OK, so what I'm doing is crumbing down the dry mixture

with the butter, turn it into breadcrumbs again.

'Then add water and mix until it binds together.'

See how dark it actually becomes.

It even gets darker with the liquid,

because the cocoa powder is beginning to melt.

Beautiful pastry.

When you've lined your tart shell, it looks like this,

but what you must do is overlap the sides,

then bake it off, but you need baking beans,

the paper underneath, and it takes about 20 minutes

at around 180 degrees.

Bring it out and then trim it with a knife all the way around,

nice and carefully.

OK, that's your base done. Now the filling - what I've got in here...

I feel like a chocolate guy now.

This is the basic ganache -

so what you do is you warm the cream through,

drop your chocolate into the cream

and then slowly just carry on stirring it

and it will begin to melt.

Don't try and rush it,

as Paul said, you'll have a problem with your chocolate.

It could split if you do it too quick or it could bake

and go really grainy, it could overcook.

Yes, absolutely. So what I'm going to do is add to this...

Now, you've got a ganache. This is the unusual bit.

'In a separate bowl, put mascarpone, two eggs and whisk.'

Now that needs to be incorporated into the chocolate.

Start off with a little bit first, don't overwhelm the chocolate

and then add the remaining mixture of the mascarpone and egg.

Mix and pour into the pastry case.

'Add the chopped prunes

'that have been soaked in boiling water, vanilla and brandy.'

And then it goes back into the oven

at 180 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes.

When you bring it out, it will wobble slightly,

not as much as that, you can see that's liquid,

but you almost get a jelly wobble in the middle.

That's when you know it's baked.

-Looks good.

-Over here is my finished tart.

-Beautiful.

You've got that beautiful chocolate,

-it's full of prunes, gorgeous crispy chocolate shell, and Paul...

-Right.

..you finish that off.

So we're doing the same technique,

tempered the chocolate, acetate shape, but this time

lots of the gold powder, glitter powder,

which you can buy in loads of websites, in department stores.

It's come off as one sheet so I'm just going to smash it up,

got some big bits here as well, look,

and this is where you can really get dramatic.

You can really go to town and get something really big

and architectural on here.

And this is where, if you're not artistic, you don't need to be.

This really is about just making it a big showstoppy,

a little bit different

and this will surprise your friends.

-They'll wonder how you've done it. There you go.

-Thank you, Paul.

Beautiful. Look at that.

A chocolate and prune tart

topped with some beautiful tempered chocolate with pieces of gold.

'Delicious served on its own, with fruit or even cream.

'This is a wonderful dish to end any meal.'

'It's time for my guests who have helped me create these recipes

'to join me in eating them.'

Thanks, guys, for being so patient today

and thank you for bringing all your ingredients and expertise.

-I suppose we'd better start with the cheese and onion.

-Sounds gorgeous.

Yes, it does sound very, very good.

'My cheese, onion and potato pie, thanks to Ian, Rob, and Alistair

'who provided the cheddar.

I love the softness of it.

-It's like sinking into a duvet or something.

-It is.

-It's so soft.

'My lemon and lavender posset,

'with ingredients fresh from Lucia's garden.'

Mm, that's the perfect amount of lavender for me.

Cos I don't like it too strong.

Did you like it, Ian?

It's very...

interesting.

You cheeky monkey!

Are you telling me you don't like that?

-No...!

-That's the last time you're coming to my house, Ian.

I was going to say, "Stay for dinner!"

I love you, Ian. I just want you to know that.

Rob, do you like that chocolate cake?

-Yes, very much, very much so.

-You're welcome back again. Alistair?

-I like that.

-I'm glad you're enjoying it, but you guys here,

thank you for coming down.

-Have you enjoyed your stay?

-We have.

-I've loved it here.

-I have!

-I've enjoyed it very much.

You're going to take this home with you.

You're not leaving this table until you've finished.

It's your cheese.

I've had great fun today

and I hope you feel inspired to cook some of these delicious recipes.

I'll have more pies and puds on the menu next time.

See you, then. Any more chocolate anyone?

-Oh, chuck it over this way.

-I will do.

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