War and Strife Royal Recipes

Hello, I'm Michael Buerk.

Welcome to a brand-new series of Royal Recipes.

This time, we're at Westonbirt House,

formerly a grand country house, now a boarding school,

which has played host to royal visitors for over 100 years.

In this series, we're delving even further back in time to reveal over

600 years of royal food heritage.

You play Anne Boleyn...

and I will play Henry VIII.

And we've been busy unlocking the secrets of Britain's great food

archives, discovering rare and unseen recipes that have been royal

favourites through the ages...

..from the earliest royal cookbook in 1390...

It's so precious, so special, that I'm not allowed to touch it.

..to Tudor treats from the court of Henry VIII.

I can't wait for this!

One, two, three.

We'll be exploring the great culinary traditions enjoyed by

the royal family, from the grand to the ground-breaking,

as well as the surprisingly simple...

I did think that was going to be a disaster.

Whoo!

..as we hear from a host of royal chefs...

Prince Philip would walk past or pop his head in, "What's for dinner,

"what are we having?" Oh, yeah.

It's not just a normal kitchen.

..and meet the people who provide for the royal table.

If it's OK for the Queen, it's OK for everyone.

Welcome to Royal Recipes.

Today, we're looking at royalty during the dark days of war and strife.

The British royal families always had a role to play during times of national suffering.

From active service to rewarding bravery,

the royal family has supported British troops at home and abroad

for generations.

And just like us, they've been subjected to food rations and have

celebrated in style at the end of major conflicts.

Coming up...

We go alfresco with Michelin-starred chef Paul Ainsworth,

with a dish craved by a soldier prince on active service.

It's meant to be bangers and mash.

-Where's the mash?

-You're going to love this.

There's our potatoes.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

Dr Polly Russell explores the royal tradition of morale-boosting gifts

and sweets to overseas troops.

Ooh. It smells of, sort of,

-tobacco-y chocolate.

-It's got a tobacco kind of feel.

-Isn't that extraordinary?

And the original foil there as well.

And we visit a Kentish brewery that made history when it became

a temporary prison for an exiled king.

This brewery played a vitally important role for three days in

an event which, if it was badly handled, could have resulted in another civil war.

But we start our look at the royals' experience of wartime

with a frugal fish dish.

I'm here in the Royal Recipes kitchen with Michelin-starred chef

Paul Ainsworth. Rations, Paul?

I don't think so.

-Not here, no.

-Well, what are you doing?

We're going to do hot smoked salmon kedgeree.

Yeah. And there's a reason for this.

During the war, the royal family...

the Second World War, this is, the royal family were, in theory

at least, as subject to food rationing as everybody else.

-Right.

-Now, fish wasn't rationed in quite the same way as all the other

kinds of food. Things like haddock,

which is the normal thing you have in kedgeree, isn't it,

-smoked haddock...

-Yes, yeah.

-Well, they were in short supply.

But the royals on the estate had...

coincidentally, a glut of salmon.

-Oh, right, OK.

-And the Queen decided, that's the present Queen's

mother, decided that they'd replace the smoked haddock with salmon and

it should be a real staple diet for the royals during the war.

What's your version going to look like?

Right, come and have a look.

-I will.

-OK. So we're not going to mess around with this.

We're going to do a proper, good, old-fashioned kedgeree.

So in here, we've got our onions that have been softening down in

-a lot of butter.

-Yeah.

-We've chopped green chilli...

Next, I've peeled some ginger,

and I'm just going to grate that straight in.

So, we've got that in there, like so.

-Next...

-Next.

-..curry powder.

-Yeah.

-Really nice kind of...

-Oh, yeah.

-..dark, good quality curry powder.

-Yeah.

-Shake in that, like so.

And now I've got here some cardamom.

The seed inside, you see it all popping out?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Just want to get that in there.

So got we've the spices in there with the onions, the butter, the chilli.

And, right, you just...

You just know... Smell in there.

-You know good things are coming.

-Yeah.

MICHAEL CHUCKLES

How do you stop it burning?

Just low heat. Cooking should be a relaxed, lovely time.

And that's what we're having here, isn't it?

OK. Now we're going to add in some water, and the reason we're going to

add the water in is we're going to almost make, like, a little sauce...

-Yeah.

-..in the bottom there. It's going to coat all of that lovely,

lovely rice. Happy so far?

-Happy so far.

-Good.

-Because what's really interesting is this

originated in India as khichri, which is the South Asian name for it.

-Yeah.

-And it was just a very basic comfort food for individuals.

It was just rice and lentils.

It was the Brits, when they went there, rather liked this kind of stuff.

One of them described it as the "delightful-est food".

-That's rather a nice line, isn't it?

-Do you like kedgeree?

-I love it, actually, yeah.

-I really do. I normally have it for breakfast but it's the sort of thing you can have for lunch.

-Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. We see breakfast very different, but this is very popular

-for breakfast...

-Yeah.

-..like you say, in India, Asia and stuff like that.

-Yeah.

-That, kind of, rice for breakfast. Right, if you just keep stirring like I've done.

-I will.

-And keep just basically,

we want to coat the rice in all of that lovely chilli and that

beautiful curry powder and the butter.

-OK.

-So that's it, just keep turning that over.

It won't catch, the heat is down.

Next, we're going to poach an egg.

Now, none of that vinegar malarkey

-or anything like that.

-But surely you've got to put vinegar in, to

-stop the thing going all over the place?

-No. Do you know how you get great poached eggs?

-How?

-The freshest eggs you can possibly find.

As the egg falls through the water and it's spinning,

that's what's wrapping the yolk around.

Not vinegar. So we're just going to turn our heat down there, Michael, and just let that poach.

-That's not going to take very long, is it?

-Our kedgeree is nice and ready.

-Yeah.

Now we're going to chop some herbs.

Lovely, beautiful, flat-leaf parsley.

So this was the staple for the royal family throughout the war.

For breakfast, mainly, but they did have it for a great celebration

lunch with Winston Churchill on the Victory Day.

-Victory in Europe Day...

-Right, OK.

-..in 1945.

-Yeah.

-This was what they served up,

so they obviously liked it...

-or rather loved it.

-Michael, would you be so kind to flake the salmon for me?

You work me hard, Chef. You work me hard.

-I know, I know.

-Now, this is hot smoked salmon, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

-Whereas the other form of smoked salmon is just cured.

It's cold smoked, so it's just the flavour of the smoke...

-Yeah.

-..and no heat.

But kedgeree requires a smoked fish of some kind, doesn't it?

Absolutely. I think things like smoked haddock, beautiful smoked

salmon, smoked mackerel...

they all work really, really well.

It really takes to a nice smoked fish.

Our egg is just beautifully poaching away and I just want to make sure

that we serve it so it's lovely and runny

cos that's like a little sauce maker,

that lovely oozing yolk coming out.

OK. In our bowl, we're going to take some creme fraiche.

The reason I love creme fraiche so much, say, over cream,

is you get that wonderful acidity...

-Yeah.

-..and that is important.

-Yeah.

-So what I've done is I've just put some lovely lemon zest in there.

OK. Lemon, fish, the rice, the curry...

-Yeah.

-..all work brilliantly together.

-Have a smell of that.

-Oh, yeah!

Now, we're going to mix, like so.

Now, the purpose of this is to...

..give it a little bit more body, or...?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Now we're just... One last thing.

More lemon. OK?

You don't use a squeezer, I notice.

-No.

-Those big, hammy fists...

Yeah.

Feel, touch and feel.

Good seasoning, all right?

One last, final mix.

We're doing this because it was a staple of the royal family during the Second World War.

But it's been brought bang up-to-date, and only recently,

there was a big banquet laid on by the Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

to mark the Anglo-Indian Year Of Culture.

-OK.

-And they served salmon kedgeree croquettes,

which is a new take on this old dish.

-Cos it really is an Anglo-Indian dish, isn't it?

-It really is.

Started in India, but with a real British imperial twist.

Little bit more zest over the top.

Yeah. And...

Keeping you in suspense.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

Some more chives.

Yeah. That looks terrific.

-Wow!

-And there you have hot smoked salmon kedgeree, a poached egg,

-and some chive creme fraiche.

-What a dish

for the royal family to start their day in a country at war.

Shall we have a taste?

Yes! There we go.

-Right, you go for...

-No, no, no.

-Yeah, you go.

-Come on.

-Right...

Aw, I wanted to do that.

Look at the yolk on that.

Look at that.

It's all flavours that go.

-Curry and eggs work so well.

-Mmm!

Salmon and eggs.

Mmm!

That is very good.

It was always known, apparently, in India as a comfort food and at that

time of really great discomfort...

..well, you couldn't have anything better.

Whatever else is going around,

a nice plate of food will always make the heart warm.

Certainly makes my heart warm.

I'm going to have some more.

A tasty royal fish dish

which made the very best use of rationed ingredients.

During the Second World War,

the then-Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service

and trained as a driver and mechanic.

30 years earlier, her great aunt, Princess Mary,

decided she wanted to do her bit for the servicemen who were putting

themselves in harm's way during the First World War.

Princess Mary was adamant that every sailor afloat and every soldier at

the front should have something to cheer them up.

The result, in October 1914, was the gift fund box.

Social historian Polly Russell went to the National Army Museum to meet

curator Rebecca Newell and discover more about Princess Mary's thoughtful undertaking.

The idea was that Princess Mary wanted them to realise and think

about the fact that people at home were worried about them,

thinking of them, wanting to celebrate with them.

She devised this treat that would be sent out to the troops.

It's not sort of thrown together, is it?

-I mean, there's a real care and attention there, in all of...

-There is.

-..all of the sort of embossing.

-In these kind of embossed cartouches,

you can see the allies of Britain marked out.

-So, Serbia, France, Belgium, Japan, Russia and Montenegro there.

-Wonderful.

And then, crucially, what was inside this beautiful box?

So, the committee decided on what was a predominantly smoking box,

so tobacco, cigarettes, a pipe and some writing materials.

But it was quickly realised by them that they needed a non-smoking option.

So they put together an option that included acid drops,

-or as we might know them, lemon drops.

-Oh, OK.

When the project was extended to include other people at the front,

including nurses, yet another option was made with more chocolate in it.

And of course, she included a card from her and her father, the King,

and a photographic portrait of her.

So, the soldiers felt very connected to her and she received many,

many letters of thanks sent to the Palace.

Oh, so the response was really positive, was it?

Do we have evidence of that?

Yeah, there are many letters, and also officers that are writing

saying, "The troops feel really wonderfully cherished by the fact

"that they've received these gifts."

Where did this tradition of royals sending out sort of comfort food,

gifts, to the troops begin?

I think it really began with Victoria.

So she had championed the idea

of that personal connection with soldiers.

Victoria's 64-year reign saw a number of overseas conflicts.

The Crimean War broke out in 1853,

when Britain and her allies challenged Russian imperial expansion.

Newspaper reporters went out to witness, first-hand, the realities

of war, and sent back horror stories of the dreadful conditions endured by the soldiers.

It not only shocked the nation, but affected Queen Victoria deeply.

If you think to the recruitment at that time,

almost 90% of potential recruits are turned away for ill-health and

malnourishment. Victoria had championed the use of beef tea,

sending beef tea out, and of course this is a time when canning and

tinning becomes much more widespread.

And so Bovril and beef tea as a warming, nourishing drink,

and also to flavour very boring rations, were something that troops

really appreciated.

After the scandal of Crimea,

where soldiers were dying not just from injuries but from freezing cold

weather and lack of food,

there was a greater awareness of the cruelties of military life overseas.

In the Second Boer War of 1899,

more soldiers died from disease than were killed by the enemy -

a result of poor supplies.

Victoria resolved to dispatch gift boxes to show royal support

for her suffering troops.

In the Boer War, she sent out a gift package which is very different,

-isn't it?

-That's right, and it really moves into a kind of luxury item.

She commissioned the three leading chocolate makers of the day

to produce a chocolate box that she could send to troops.

And you can see here a message, "I wish you a happy New Year, Victoria R."

Her cipher, here.

So again, a very personal feel.

-If we open it...

-Ooh, it's still got the chocolate in it.

And it's still got the chocolate, so you can see that the...

-Quite a substantial amount of it, actually...

-That is quite a lot.

..when you're facing quite brutal conditions.

I'm going to... Ooh, it smells of sort of tobacco-y chocolate.

-It's got a tobacco kind of feel.

-Isn't that extraordinary?

-The original foil there as well.

It's actually about so much more than the contents as consumables.

Isn't it? It's really about what it means.

About being remembered, about a connection with home,

about being thought of still.

So you really get the sense that the royal family were trying to connect

with the soldiers, and really understanding the sort of plight

of the men fighting out in this Boer War.

I think so. And at the time, Boer War and First World War,

we're talking about royals who are embroiled in active service.

And so the women of the royal family were not immune from the kind of

experiences that their contemporaries were facing.

Today, it's charities which organise gift boxes, but the royal connection continues.

Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall,

is in regular contact with troops, and has been known to send flowers,

chocolates, and even whisky.

It seems likely that if Britain is ever at war with troops serving

abroad, that this royal tradition of sending comfort from the home front

will continue.

Since the First World War,

the British Armed Forces have been deployed somewhere in the world

on a fairly permanent basis, most recently in the Middle East.

And Prince Harry famously did two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Paul, I wonder what he made of the rations.

Apparently, he wasn't too keen,

and all he could think about and crave was bangers and mash.

And that is what we're going to be cooking today.

So, that is a Cumberland sausage, eh?

Very traditional sausage, yes.

All sausages were like this originally.

And it wasn't until the reign of Charles I that some enterprising

butcher had the idea that, "Ooh, I'll just snip these up,"

and made the sausage links we get today.

Yeah. So, like, the Cumberland's the, sort of, the most traditional sausage, isn't it?

It is. I mean, this one goes back, Lake District, Cumbria, for 500 years, apparently.

What are you doing?

What a lot of people do, they put sausages straight on.

There's no harm in just seasoning the outside as well.

-Yeah.

-OK? So you just bring out that flavour right the way through.

And the oil you've put on there?

And the oil I've put on there as well because, again, you've got that

casing and you don't want it to dry when it goes on top.

You want to get that cooking straight away.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-So we just turn straight over...

-Yeah.

-..like that.

Put some more oil just on top.

-It's kind of...

-And what happens is, Michael, the oil then drips down onto the charcoal.

Well, doesn't it flame up, then?

Exactly. Flame up, which is what you want,

so you get that lovely smoky flavours, roasting heat.

I've always thought, with barbecues, you had to try and stop the flames.

-When it's scorching...

-Control it.

-Control it.

-Oh, right.

And yeah, you're absolutely right.

We don't want to be engulfed now in flames,

-but we want to be kind of cooking away.

-Yeah.

The other interesting thing for me here, summertime,

I think people just think that barbecues are just for this...

-Yeah.

-..just for sausages and burgers and chicken.

-Take the whole meal out there, cos we're going to do the whole meal on here.

-OK.

So, right now I've got onion gravy cooking away.

-If you just come and have a look.

-Yeah.

We've just got these red onions which have just been on,

just in a little bit of oil, softening.

So the first thing we're going to put in is our thyme and rosemary.

Just a little bit into there.

Like so.

OK? All the while, keeping an eye on our sausages.

-All right?

-MICHAEL LAUGHS

Then we're going to add in sugar.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-Just stir that in.

Dreaming of bangers and mash... MICHAEL LAUGHS

-I suppose...

-You can't imagine Charles I or Victoria dreaming of

bangers and mash.

-But then, they weren't in Afghanistan.

-No, they weren't.

For me, man after my own heart.

-You're a bangers and mash man, are you?

-Oh, I am.

-Yeah.

-English mustard.

-OK?

-Very much more powerful than the French stuff, isn't it?

Absolutely. Another...

little bit more seasoning in there, like so.

-Yeah.

-In with our red wine.

So, you see, we're cooking on it, it's great.

Take everything outdoors.

Stir that in. Now,

what you would want to do is reduce that right down and then add in

-the beef stock.

-Why beef stock?

Pork stock's too thin.

You don't get enough body out of the bones.

-Yeah.

-Beef bones, you do.

Ooh, look at it.

It's meant to be bangers and mash. Where's the mash?

Right. You're going to love this.

-You know I said we're cooking everything outside?

-Yeah.

Come over here.

-There's our potatoes.

-MICHAEL LAUGHS

Just taken a jacket potato, rubbed it in oil,

seasoned the outside with salt.

Wrapped them in tinfoil,

pricked them all over, and then put them over this side.

All the coals are over that side, cooking our sausages and our gravy.

-So it's the colder, cooler side of the...

-Cooler, but...

-..barbecue.

..again, that indirect heat kind of going round.

And just cook them until they're really nice and soft.

So, do you see?

We're just using every bit of the barbecue.

Brilliant. Take our potatoes out.

You're a real enthusiast for this kind of cooking, aren't you?

I really am, Michael, cos we don't get chance to cook outdoors

a lot in this country, obviously, cos of the weather.

You say we don't. The royal family seem to.

Prince Philip, he seems to be always out there with his Land Rover and

his Steak Dianes and all this kind of stuff!

-THEY LAUGH Just like you.

-What I wanted to show

today was, we've done potatoes out here, sausages out here, and made a gravy out here.

-Yeah.

-Fantastic.

-Yeah, all outdoors.

-Right, so now, let's move over to the potatoes.

-Right.

So, in here we've got these wonderful...

-Oh, they look good.

-Look at those. Don't they look good?

-Yeah.

-Now, this, you're going to be really impressed.

-How long has that been there?

-About an hour.

-Oh, really?

So I've seasoned... Look how roasted and lovely...

Lovely like that. Cut them up in wedges, drizzle some olive oil and season them, brilliant.

But we're going to make a really...

None of that poncy pomme puree and cream and milk and all that.

Proper, almost, kind of, crushed potatoes with butter.

-Yeah.

-All right? So...

-And Harry, of course, can get this any time

he wants now, his bangers and mash. He's left the...

He's left the Army, hasn't he?

-Yes.

-There we go.

-What are you doing, scooping it all out?

-Scooping it all out.

Cos you got all the lovely flavour...

You know when you boil potatoes in the pan with the skins off,

a lot of that flavour...

a lot of that flavour is going into the water, Michael.

-Yeah.

-OK? This, none of that flavour...

You've got all the flavour still stuck inside the potato.

And it's lovely and dry and it's not saturated with water.

And this is a lovely way of doing mashed potato.

In with that.

Look at how yellow and gorgeous that butter is.

You're not tempted to slice it up so you've got the flavour of the skin?

And then, all I'm going to do...

-But no milk, I notice.

-No milk, just pure flavour of the potato...

-Yeah.

..with a little bit of butter and seasoning.

-Yeah.

-Absolutely delicious.

-That's really rich, though.

-And now we're ready to plate up.

-I'm just going to go check on the sausages.

-Now, how long will the sausages take?

-Quite a thin sausage, this one, isn't it?

-Quite a thin sausage.

-It's not a really fat...

Just have a feel of it there in the centre.

-I'm not going to burn my hand, am I?

-No, not at all.

-OK?

-Oh, yeah.

-Just firm to the touch.

Doesn't take no time at all.

So we'll just take...

take that one there. Look at... And see all the, pour the juices of that one on that one.

-Yeah.

-Absolutely delicious.

-Don't waste anything.

-Shall I take these out of the way?

-No, nothing at all.

Let me put these out of the way. There we go.

Lift our sausages off, like so. OK?

-Mashed potato...

-Yeah.

Look at the cracked pepper in it, Michael.

-Yeah.

-Buttery, got lovely texture...

and we want that. You know, people say,

"Ooh, lumpy mash," and stuff like that - there's a difference. It's all soft.

-You don't always want it very creamy.

-No, you don't.

-What do the French call it, pomme puree?

-Pomme puree, yeah.

Sausage on top like that.

Stir your gravy.

The trick is, get loads of onions.

And tilt off a bit of that gravy.

-So it's more onion than gravy?

-Yeah, we want more onion than gravy.

-And then...

-Right on the top?

-Right on the top.

-I mean, come on.

-Ah!

-Whoa!

There's a little waterfall of it...

You've got to admit, Prince Harry

has got it absolutely spot on, for me.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

All right?

Oh, perfect British combination.

-Can we have a go?

-Get stuck in.

-Knife and fork there for you.

-And for you.

-There you are, a fork.

-Thank you.

-There's a knife. Where do you start, the middle?

For me, yeah, go straight in.

Nah, I'm going to chop a bit off the end there.

I love sausages.

OK.

Mmm! Oh!

You've done well there. The onions, you're right, and the gravy...

It's the gravy that makes these dishes, isn't it?

And you know that smoky char on the outside?

-Mmm.

-It all adds to it.

-That's what I was going to say.

It's charred on the outside...

lovely and meaty inside.

-Oh, my God.

-Oh, it's really nice. Mmm!

-Just what I ordered, Sergeant Major!

-Yes!

A comforting classic.

The perfect welcoming dish for soldiers

returning from the front line.

Something else Prince Harry reportedly craved during

his Afghan tour was a cold beer.

And it seems the prince may have acquired the taste for a pint of

the good stuff from his father,

who's partial to a Kentish beer from a brewery that's been in

business for centuries.

Britain's oldest brewery was founded

in 1698 and has a long-standing

connection with the royal family and the Armed Forces.

Today, it's run by Jonathan Neame,

the fifth generation of his brewing family.

We like to call ourselves the home of the hop

and modern-day beer brewing.

But back in the mid-17th century,

the brewery became known not for its beer, but for the part it played in

a dramatic royal incident.

In 1688, the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution,

and this brewery played a vitally important role, for three days,

in an event which, if it was badly handled, could have resulted in another civil war.

King James II was overthrown by William of Orange.

His plan was to flee to France, but he didn't get far.

His ship ran aground on the Kentish coast.

He was over just across the water on the Isle of Sheppey

trying to take a boat from a place called Shellness over to France as a

safe haven, but was spotted and was captured by local people, we think

local fishermen, and was brought here to this brewery,

to the house of the Mayor.

James was briefly held at the brewery as a prisoner, but his

captors were sympathetic to his plight, and let him flee to France

to escape the new King's forces.

It's steeped in history.

No wonder this brewery still boasts a royal association.

Its popular ales have been given their seal of approval.

We received the Royal Warrant in January 1998.

We were graced by the presence of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales

during that year,

who came and presented the warrant in person.

People still talk about it to this day, nearly 20 years later.

On Charles' visit, he sampled one of the brewery's signature ales.

Its name is taken from the iconic warplane that played a significant

part in helping the Allies win the Second World War.

All of the skies above was where the Battle of Britain was fought.

My grandfather and a lot of employees here at the brewery

were drafted at that time.

50 years later, 1990,

we thought we really needed to do something to commemorate this

remarkable event, so we brewed a beer called Spitfire and here we are

27 years later, and I'm very proud that the beer is still going and still so well-liked today.

For centuries, Kent's fertile, well-drained soil and mild climate

have made it a perfect hop growing region.

The hops are a wonderful, magical ingredient,

that really makes a difference between English beer and what you

get in the rest of the world.

The first step in making the beer is harvesting the flowers or seed cones

from these climbing plants at the end of summer.

The machine comes along.

It's cut at the bottom on the hill here.

And then it's pulled off the string and then dragged to the machine.

And you're basically trying to take the cones away from the leaf and

it's that cone that you're then taking to the hop oast to dry and

eventually to brew with.

They make more than 50 different beers,

including the amber ale that commemorates the Spitfire aircraft.

Richard Frost is head brewer.

And the process starts in the mash tun.

We mix crushed malted barley with hot brewing water and leave it

to stand for an hour. After an hour,

we've created a sugar solution called wort.

That's run away to the next part of the process.

The sugary solution is then transferred to a vessel called a kettle.

And it's here that the most important ingredient's added.

By boiling the hops for about an hour with the wort,

we extract the bitter compound from the hops,

giving beer its bitter flavour.

We can also add hops right at the end of boil,

and that gives aroma, as well.

Next, the liquid is moved to a tank

that holds about 480 barrels of beer.

This is a fermentation vessel.

This is where we add yeast to the wort once the wort's been cooled.

And that yeast converts the wort into beer.

It takes three days to make this classic beer,

inspired by the most famous plane of World War II,

and made with passion by the oldest brewery in Britain.

-Anyway, well done, cheers.

-Cheers.

A beer named in honour of the Few, eh?

-Yes.

-With the RAF Roundels on the top, which is rather a nice touch.

They say an army marches on its stomach.

-They do, Michael.

-But if you talk to soldiers, it's a very rough ride.

Yeah, different story.

Yeah. Prince Harry made a bit of a protest, didn't he?

I don't know about protest.

He suggested, perhaps half-jokingly, Jamie Oliver should do for

army rations what he's done for school meals.

-Yeah, yeah.

-The troops garrisoned here probably get better fed,

and especially on royal ceremonial occasions, I should imagine.

Chef Rob Kennedy, who runs the kitchen at Sandhurst Military Academy,

had quite a job on his hands when he was tasked with catering

for a gathering of hundreds of officers and men.

Whilst at Sandhurst,

I've had some amazing opportunities to cook for Her Majesty The Queen.

And the most memorable year was 2012,

celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.

Royal Air Force, British Army and Royal Navy

all got together for a banquet in the grounds of Windsor Castle,

where I had the honour of taking care of the main course, and it made

the whole event something I will never, ever forget.

For this special dinner,

Rob cooked a Cornish lamb rump with a triple-roasted potato,

seasonal vegetables, and a lamb jus.

Going to start this recipe with the hero of the dish, which is the lamb.

That's been marinated for 12 hours

in the mint and the garlic and the lemon.

So in a pan, I'm just going to add a little bit of rapeseed oil.

Just push down on the lamb, and that's what you want to hear,

is that lovely sizzling fat.

We're going to roast, with the lamb, one of the garnishes.

We're just going to just pop some carrots in there, just to roast them really.

Them real succulent lamb juices are just going to drizzle into the carrots.

And it's just going to be that extra flavour, you know,

that makes this dish extra special, I guess, for an extra special occasion.

But cooking in the grounds of Windsor Castle

did come with its own challenges.

It's like a self-built kitchen, you know.

I had to put the ovens there and the stove tops there.

We had a big gantry pass but then the front of house team had to go up

the stairs. You know, so there was still a lot of things that could go wrong.

So not only did I have the pressure of cooking for Her Majesty on her

Diamond Jubilee, I also had the pressure of working in a kitchen

that was in the middle of the castle grounds.

And that's ready to pop into the oven now,

for ten minutes at 180 degrees.

While it's cooking, Rob can prep his seasonal veg.

Some really nice baby leeks here.

Just lovely, and really, really yummy.

And we use a lot of broccoli.

We actually use this wonderful tenderstem,

just parboiled in a little bit of salted water.

They'll take about two minutes when the water comes to the boil and then

they'll come out, and they'll go into some iced water.

The iced water will stop the veg from continuing to cook.

With the meat put to one side to rest,

Rob makes a start on his triple-cooked potato.

When you drop it in the lamb stock, what it's going to be doing

is just parboiling itself, like you would a normal roast potato,

so the lamb stock's going to start flavouring that potato, really, really delicious.

After a couple of minutes, it's time to check if the potato is ready

for the next stage.

It's actually just about cooked.

So you get a pan on the go...

A little bit of oil.

And get some of this, which is polenta.

And that's just an extra dusting of crunchiness.

So, the pan's quite nice and hot.

We're going to put in there some of this Sandhurst thyme.

I love using thyme because when you put it in, you know the pan's

ready, it starts to go...

So this is the second stage.

Little bit of butter.

On the day of the event, it was a muster parade, so the Army,

Royal Navy, Royal Air Force all paraded through Windsor.

The event celebrated the Queen's special relationship with the Armed Forces.

2,500 service personnel took part and, afterwards,

Rob cooked lunch for Her Majesty and 120 dignitaries.

You know, that night, you get home, I had all my family on the phone,

everybody, "What have you been doing today?"

"Well, actually, I've cooked lunch for Her Majesty the Queen."

What a great honour.

Once the potato's golden brown with a crusty top,

it's popped into the oven for about ten minutes at 180 degrees.

And it's back to the lamb.

I just want to pour a little bit of honey on top.

And that'll just add some nice sweetness.

So, when the lamb comes in, you know,

it has to be perfectly square shaped.

Every single lamb rump, then, will be cooked equal.

It will look equal.

And that's what you need for such a special occasion.

I can't emphasise enough about using the word perfection.

The vegetables have been blanched, just in salted water.

And I just want to then just glaze them a little bit.

And to do that, we just use butter.

Just goes into our pan.

All that's left now is to finish the sauce,

a concentrated gravy Rob has prepared.

This is the sauce here,

which, on the board, obviously just looks like a piece of jelly.

And in fact, when I actually cut it, you can see it is actual jelly.

Just add it into a pan and it dissolves.

It's very sticky and it's very sweet

and to make it extra sweet, we added some redcurrant jelly.

Now the potato's been in the oven for ten minutes,

it's time to plate up.

Rob has made a pea and mint puree for the potato to sit on.

And then it comes to our lamb.

Last of all, just a trickle on the plate there.

That completes the perfect Diamond Jubilee lunch of the muster parade

at Windsor Castle for Her Majesty the Queen.

For today's royals, as well as their ancestors before them,

food has had a role to play in celebrating military achievements.

Now, Paul, war and strife -

but I think you're rustling up something sweet.

-Yes.

-What are you doing?

-Something fun.

Something to... Something to be joyful about, and I guarantee,

what I'm going to make for you, you will never have had before.

-What is it?

-Gingerbread.

All right? But not the way I'm going to be making it.

-OK.

-OK?

-Now, famously,

gingerbread was part of the first feast that Elizabeth I had after

the defeat of the Spanish Armada. There's war and strife for you.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-The Spanish Armada,

the great fleet of ships coming in to invade England in 1588.

Beaten off by Drake and Raleigh and then driven by storms all the way

round the north of Scotland.

And England delivered. We had to celebrate.

What did she have? She had gingerbread at her first feast.

Now, how does it work? How does the basic gingerbread work?

We've got butter, sugar,

malt extract...

-..golden syrup.

-Oh, God!

-Yeah!

PAUL LAUGHS

-No calories in this one, then.

-No, no, no.

-This one's...

-Golden syrup.

And not very sweet, either!

-No, no, no, not at all, no!

-Black treacle.

-Have a smell. Really...

-Oh, it's rich, isn't it?

-Do you know what I mean? It's nice, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

OK. That in there, like so.

-All pure sugar, though, isn't it?

-All right?

The sugar and the butter,

as it just comes to the boil, will just basically...

almost like a caramel, come together.

So you've got those lovely, rich flavours of the butter and sugar.

Elizabeth I, you know, I mean, she had the most...

and not surprisingly, she had the most awful teeth.

-They couldn't make out...

-I'm not surprised!

In fact, they fell out, and they were black, and...

you know, halitosis, the full works.

Because she had such a passion for sweet things, that she couldn't

-talk properly, you know.

-Really?!

People said they couldn't understand what she was saying

cos she mumbled so much, cos her teeth were so bad.

-Ooh, well...

-Right.

-..you know, look at that.

So we're just going to let that now come up together and bubble away.

Here, we've got a bowl of flour, plain flour.

-Yeah.

-OK? There, I've got mixed spice, dried ginger.

-Mmm-hmm.

-OK?

-Oh, I was wondering when the ginger was going to get into it.

A bit like carrot cake. there's not much carrot in there.

-BOTH LAUGH Where are the carrots?

-Yeah.

-Right, now, can you see how it's come together now?

-It's really bubbling up now.

-Yeah.

-Like so.

-Yeah.

-All right?

-My goodness, yeah.

-All we're going to do... See, it's just absolutely gorgeous.

-That on its own's nice.

-Yeah.

-OK?

We're just going to fold that into our mixture, like so.

It's interesting it's called gingerbread,

but it's not exactly... It's not like a...

-And now, we'll just...

-..sliced white, is it?

-No.

PAUL LAUGHS

-Yeah.

-But you can now start to see, as I'm folding the flour in...

-Oh, yeah.

..it's now started to come together.

And what the folding action is, Michael, it's just, you're basically just turning.

-Yeah.

-I am the human paddle.

So, just turning it around like so.

BOTH LAUGH

-A rather thickset paddle...

-Yes!

-..but I know what you mean.

BOTH LAUGH

Right, it's... Smell it.

-Oh, I...

-I love it.

-Oh, yeah.

-It does smell...

-And it smells royal.

-It's the sort of thing you'd eat raw,

do you know what I mean? It's that kind of raw cake mix.

-Oh, look at that, marvellous.

-It's absolutely gorgeous.

It's actually not raw, cos you've cooked the ingredients...

-Absolutely.

-That makes it different to your other dough.

Ooh, that's really good. Elizabeth I absolutely loved it.

And it was in her time...

in fact, in her court, that they first started to make gingerbread men...

-Right.

-..because it was the absolute epitome...

-What, that's where gingerbread men came from?

Yeah, yeah, from the court of Elizabeth I.

Cos it was somehow... Gingerbread, you know, the actual biscuits...

-Yeah.

-..were everything that was fancy,

everything that was sophisticated, everything that was elegant.

-OK.

-There we go.

-So...

-And in a very fancy and elegant way, you've turfed it out.

-All right?

-Shall I hold that?

-Yeah, like that. OK?

-OK.

-God...

-Now...

-God, it looks like toffee, doesn't it?

With our rolling... Yeah.

What we're looking for, Michael, keep it to the sheet of the paper.

We're going to roll it to about a thickness of a £1 coin.

Yeah. Did you have gingerbread men when you were young?

-Do you know what, I didn't...

-No?

-..if I'm honest, no.

No, I always... found them a bit strong.

Elizabeth - Elizabeth I, this is -

used to have, they weren't just any old gingerbread men,

they were gingerbread men made to look like her distinguished guests.

-Really?!

-They were served at dinner.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-Can you guess what we're doing yet?

-Um...rocket?

-A rocket?!

Looks like a rocket, doesn't it? I'll hold that down. So...

Here we go.

So we just go around.

Oh, it's quite easy to work with, isn't it?

Yeah. It's a great dough to work with.

Cut off there, OK?

Mmm. Yeah.

A lot of the royals have had sweet tooths, you know?

Victoria had a notoriously sweet tooth,

-if you can be notorious about sweets.

-Yeah.

She used to get the kitchens at Windsor to knock her up goodies

that'd go to all the royal residences,

and she'd snack on them during the day.

-Cut your paper here.

-Yeah.

OK? Now, the trick is, do not lift your template off now.

-Why?

-Leave it on, because if you take it off now it's going to stick.

I'll ruin the whole effect.

Absolutely, cos at the moment, the dough's quite tacky.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Ruin the whole effect. So, I'm still not going to tell you

what I'm doing yet, but I've got two sides...

and these bases. All right?

-My goodness.

-So you'd roll out your dough and then you'd cut these out

-exactly like this.

-Yeah.

-Leave the templates on.

-And then basically, just with a tray, like so...

-Yeah.

..transfer to the fridge.

-OK.

-OK?

-Right.

Once they're set, put them in the oven at what temperature?

180 degrees?

-For ten minutes. So now I'm going to show you some that I've done earlier.

-OK.

-And see if you can start to begin to wonder what I am making.

-Do you think...?

-It's especially for you, this.

-Right. OK.

Er...

But it's not a rocket.

-It's not a rocket, cos there's more pieces to it.

-No.

-Right.

-I mean, it looks...

-Before we start...

-Yeah.

..in this bag here, I have got icing sugar and vodka.

-Vodka?!

-Yes.

That's a bit of a waste, isn't it? PAUL LAUGHS

How did I know that you were going to say that?

No, but seriously, why would you want to do it with vodka rather than just water?

No, there's a reason for it.

When you're putting it over a pastry, it's just there for the sweetness.

What we want this for is a glue.

Now, the reason you put vodka in there is the vodka evaporates off...

Oh, course. Well, you mean the alcohol in the vodka evaporates.

Yeah, exactly. The alcohol evaporates off,

which you wouldn't get with water,

and then makes it really kind of, well, glue-like.

-Do you want to give me a hand?

-I do, I do.

-This is tricky.

-All right?

-You're just gluing it...

-OK.

-..with your icing?

-Now...

-Can I let it go?

-No, no, you can't. Not yet.

-Well, I can't...

-I've got a surprise for you, OK?

-All right.

-So I've shown you how to... That will stick in no time at all.

-OK.

-There you go. All right?

Yeah, yeah, that's OK. It looks good.

Though I wouldn't mind a bit of it.

I'm going to try the vodka.

Mmm-mmm! MICHAEL LAUGHS

-Oh!

-Michael Buerk, your very own Royal Recipes gingerbread throne.

-This is a career high for me.

-And for me!

PAUL LAUGHS

If ever anything was proper regal, this is it.

You could almost sit in it!

-Yeah, well, I'm just about to go and make a version of you to sit in it...

-With a very big head.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

It's all very well, Paul, but the big question, how do you get at it?

And it feels like vandalism.

-Shall I tell you?

-Yeah.

-Hands behind your back.

-Yep.

-Lean in.

-Yeah.

-Straight in. One, two, three.

-OK.

-Look!

-Cowboy builders!

THEY LAUGH

-Oh!

-Hey, I can cook, but don't ever let me build your house!

PAUL LAUGHS

-So much for your vodka glue.

-Yeah, vodka, icing sugar...

-But this is great.

-Lovely, isn't it?

Oh, it's really nice.

Good Queen Bessie's gingerbread throne.

Join us next time for more Royal Recipes.